#Atlas Wheel Repair

[atlaswheelrepair]

mobile wheel repair atlanta

Atlas Wheel Repair is the #1 mobile wheel repair specialist in Georgia, servicing the Atlanta area. Trusted by the best local luxury car dealerships and car owners in Atlanta, Marietta, and surrounding areas. We repair scratches, scuffs, or curb rash on rims with any color finish. We provide finishes that will look as good as new; we don't repair your wheels with cheap materials and products like your average shop. Book with us today to get your wheels repaired looking brand new again!

[sojourner-between-worlds]

Since Mechanic!Yusei isn't as unpopular of a headcanon as I thought it would be, here's more on that, lol

He doesn't really intend to go back to repair work at first. It's just something to do once he's done with the Fortune Program. But it sticks. He loves it so he just keeps doing it and pretty soon he has saved up enough to buy his own shop so he doesn't have to keep operating out of the basement of Popo Time. He buys one of those old brick garages (you know the type; they're everywhere in small town America, at least, haha). Its probably down the street from Popo Time. Its small, but its perfect for his needs.

He gets paid a retainer fee from MIDS. He kind of hates being technically still employed by them, but it means he can charge less and still pay his employees well. (Besides, they only call him maybe once every other month so it's not really that bad of an arrangement.)

Technically he's only open Monday through Friday, but you can drop off/pick up on Saturday still because he'll be there working on stuff anyway, but he never forces his employees to come in and if they choose to, they get time and a half. He is strictly not open on Sunday, but if you happen to be walking by, he's usually there working on his own projects and doesn't mind the company if you stop to chat.

The only Saturdays he is absolutely not available are when he's officiating community-sponsored junior dueling tournaments. He doesn't duel much anymore himself, but he likes being able to give back to his community, all the while giving him the excuse to engage with something he still loves.

He does still occasionally take exhibition duels for charity events. If it's for a good cause and there's no pressure being placed on winning, he doesn't mind. (He rather enjoys it, actually. It's usually quite fun.)

He gets a reputation for being able to fix anything. As a result, he gets a lot of wrecked d-wheels. Most people can't afford to just buy a new one, after all, and he has the cheapest rates around. In part because of MIDS, yes, but also because he's more likely to machine his own parts than purchase them. (Not only does it actually cost him less in the long run, but his parts tend to hold up better anyway.) In the rare occasion that he can't fix something, you don't pay a dime for time spent.

He definitely becomes the Tony Hawk of NDC. "Has anyone ever told you that you look kinda like that guy who beat Jack Atlas in the Fortune Cup?" (Since he doesn't duel much anymore, he's kinda fallen into obscurity; everyone just knows him now as "that great mechanic who can fix anything".)

Feel free to add on!

[anthonybialy]

Jerky Knee-Jerk Reactions

We’re close to seeing if liberals will pretend to care about debt.  The sole benefit of a potential very soft Trump reboot is seeing the resistance offer no such thing.  Surrendering their ideals is kind-of a principles.  A philosophy based on rejecting the claims of a loudmouth who hasn’t thought of the next word he’ll say is nearly as reactionary.

Nobody’s entitled to entitlements despite sworn foes agreeing they are Social Security is an awful mandatory obligation that leads to a pittance that bankrupts both individuals and the nation, but it’s a sweet deal otherwise.  The alleged greatest businessman can’t sniff out the worst possible investment.  I wonder if it’s part of a trend.

The math is rather imprecise.  Trump is an ’80s movie villain with a ‘30s-style devotion to telling you what you’re not allowed to buy.  That equals a 100 percent devotion to tariffs.  Being able to buy anything from around the world is one of the most basic rights with the most obvious positives, and it’s naturally despised as an America-punching swindle in the silliest time.

There’s nothing free about these markets.  Yet the tax limiting choice not involving pre-empting a baby’s life is despised by liberals who wave their copies of Atlas Shrugged while demanding the right to open commerce.  If Trump is a trick to fooling enemies of the economy into embracing selling, I apologize.

Lack of creativity in every sense is a common trait.  Those who view politics as a cult of personality will inform you of your RINO status without a care for pathetic replies featuring evidence.  A dedication to negativity comes naturally.  It’s much easier to say everyone else sucks than to figure how to remove suckiness.

Condemning both sides is too easy, so let’s do that.  Being above it all is easy when these are the factions below.  Suckers so committed to Trump that they’ll stick with him even after his term still genuflect to the embodiment of crude nastiness while he reaffirms his commitment to spending trillions we don’t have on junk we don’t want.  Meanwhile, point out to Democrats who adores redistributing money that hasn’t even been confiscated yet so they start believing in free markets.

The party that believes in America’s promise no longer trying anything wild like inspiring people to create.  The erstwhile loose gathering of individuals turned communal in every aspect, which is the sort of bipartisan agreement that should horrify the wise and decent.

Residing in a hive is popular amongst fans of the state who need to be ordered around to feel whole.  We could get liberals to stop believing in coerced cooperation by gesturing to Trump crowds and pointing out they’re just Obama fans who can’t conceal seething.

Investing everything in someone who’s lost it all is about trust.  Who could know more about the downfall of finances?  Only Nixon could go to China just like only someone who lost money operating roulette wheels could lead us into more debt.  A frequent declarer of bankruptcy is not the sort of expert needed right now.  Democrats may as well have the notion in their platform, and they may get exactly the leader they demand in the funniest way possible.

Faith in a person leads to thinking same individual will repair society.  Now, that sounds like both parties.  At least one should dissent just for variety.  A pitiful imitation won’t fool voters who want genuine grifting.  Co-opting Democratic notions won’t convince their minions to switch votes to what they hate most.  But at least doing so leads to ghastly results if Republicans are able to sneak into office by virtue of being marginally less awful.  Donald Trump is what would’ve happened if Bill Clinton pretended to care about business.

There’s nothing tricky like finding someone who both wants to be president and doesn’t want attention.  But a Republican should want to let others live as they wish, unlike the ironic RINO who showed how far life can get away from intentions.  Removing barriers so people can fix the economy through trade and crime through self-defense would barely involve the president at all.  Does that sound like Trump?  It’s a rhetorical question in the opposite way his rather committed devotees think.

Life will remain miserable, so there’s good news of those who fear change.  Discarding that irksome desire for autonomy will continue no matter which president from any party claims they’ll make you rich by decree.  Not just believing whatever one particular person claims is the great thing about having principles.  Worshiping at a cult of personality doesn’t count.

We’ve been through this before.  The only thing worse than inevitable pain is the avoidable kind.  The country walked right into the ceiling fan.  Living through a presidency so regrettable that it allowed Joe Biden to become one himself wasn’t lesson enough.

Negativity feels nice for about three seconds, which is why addicts can’t stop indulging in it.  The sole purpose of dissenters remains ticking off the libs.  That may not get the economy purring.  True aggravation of Democrats would take the form of achieving policy goals they loathe.  But there’s zero chance the ghastly handouts intrinsic to keeping subjects hooked on government will cease.

Trump may be a trick to get Democrats to oppose Democratic policies.  All it took was a soft reboot of a hardheaded aspiring strongman.  If Republicans were that clever, they wouldn’t have nominated Trump.

The republic’s best hope is turning liberals into Thomas Sowell enthusiasts because the Republican spends like Barack Obama on a bender.  Political performers couldn’t list their philosophy unless it means adulating or despising Trump.  To summer camp color war participants, that’s all enmity takes.  Having nothing but hating what those you hate like embodies childishness, which is why the country’s not growing up.

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I've read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please read the tags and warnings before deciding if the fic is for you.

DC (Batman)

Only in Gotham: Craft Store Edition by carolina_batboys

Bowie Chandler is literally just trying to pay her Gotham U tuition by working overnight shifts at Gotham’s 24/7 craft store. That’s all. That’s IT.

Then the bats start dropping in, and her job gets a lot more complicated.

the grief wheel by dustorange

“I couldn’t save you,” Alfred whimpered, fingers slipping out of Bruce’s. “I could never—”

(Alfred gets trapped in a time loop of the night that Bruce's parents die. For Bad Thing Happen Bingo: Time Loop).

ATLA

Laundry Day by Hello_Spikey (+ podfic)

Shortly after rescuing Suki from Boiling Rock, Katara introduces her to the spectacle, the magnificence, that is Zuko doing laundry with his shirt off. Sokka has to explain to Zuko why the girls are even watching him. Zuko is remarkably slow on the uptake. Poor Sokka.

Star Wars: Original Trilogy

The Rod is Mightier Than the Lightsaber by Anonymous

In which Luke sacrifices himself on Cymoon-1 to make sure everyone else gets away, and Vader takes things too far before figuring out that this insolent young Rebel is his son.

Compromising by samvelg

Five times Admiral Piett misunderstands the nature of Luke and Vader's relationship, and the one time he doesn't.

Clone Wars

A Treatise on Breaking and Repairs by glimmerglanger

Obi-Wan Kenobi survives for three years on Tatooine before Vader finds him and takes him back to Mustafar, where Vader has already gathered members of the 212th. Things... don't go well for anyone.

OR: The oof!au. Heavy whump leading to an eventual happy(ish) ending. Please mind all the warnings. Written for the first 16 days of whumptober, so each chapter has it's own prompt, but they are an interconnected, completed story.

The Other Side by RobinRoost

There was a door in the bottom of the temple that was always closed. All the Younglings told stories about what was on the other side of it. For as long as most of the padawans and initiates could remember, it had been locked. No amount of slicing, prying, or force pushing could open it.

Anakin asked Master Qui-Gon about it once. His Master’s (though not the same type of master as before) face grew cold and distant and told him never to mention it again. What was behind that door was dangerous and a threat to the stability of the galaxy.

Obviously, he had to investigate.

What Friends Do by Trixree

“You have a choice,” Cody begins. “I don’t want any of you to think that you don’t. If you want no part of this, all you have to do is say so. But if I know any of you half as well as I think I do, this choice won’t be particularly hard to make.”

He takes a deep breath and counts his heartbeats against the reverent silence of the mess hall. “We may belong to the Republic, but we were made for the Jetti.”

And thus, the 212th Attack Battalion abducts their General. (It's for his own health, really.)

Displacement by missmollyetc (+ podfic)

A moment in the exciting lives of Waxer, Boil, and Adenn Squad. What could go wrong?

[handlesscombo]

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s: Season 2 Watch Guide

Heyyyyy gamers, I’m here to provide a public service for those of you considering a 5D’s watch-through. This is a list of episodes that do not contain core plot information for the main story of Season 2, and can safely be skipped if you prefer. If you’re wondering why this is only for Season 2, it’s because every episode in Season 1 is important to its structure. So don’t go skipping those willy-nilly, or you’ll be confused!

I'll give brief, spoiler-free as possible summaries of each episode I list here so you can decide whether or not to watch them. These are generally* episodes** that aren't integral to the core plot of 5D's/do not contain any important details. If you enjoy watching these episodes, go for it! I am not in any way suggesting they all suck and have no value. However, if you’re eager to chase the core plot, this should make the process easier.

Let me know if there’s something I’ve forgotten/if I’ve listed an episode that does have significant information in it that I overlooked. I will edit accordingly. Thanks, and good luck!

67: Lua and Luca may get expelled from school; Yusei intervenes. 68: Crow duels a sad old man. 69: Jack duels a loan shark. 70: Luca vanishes into a haunted mansion in the forest; Lua duels to save her.

76: Jack Atlas takes on a gang of D-Wheel thieves.

NOTE: After finishing ep 80, you should go watch Bonds Beyond Time, a movie integral to 5D's canon. Have fun!

85: The gang's landlord is expecting a visit from her son, who refuses to repair her beloved clock. Crow duels him and finds out why.

86 - 92: These are the Crash Town arc episodes, aka the Yugioh spaghetti western. If you like Kiryu Kyosuke and want closure for his character, you can watch them, and if not, carry on.

94 - 95: Two-parter about a friend from Crow's past who was murdered; Crow duels someone for more information about the killing.

111 - 113: Three-parter about Jack Atlas visiting Bommer in Peru to uncover the secrets of his heritage and Red Dragon Archfiend.

*Other guides may suggest skipping the Team Taiyo duel episodes in the WRGP; in my opinion, these are some of the most creative and impactful duels in the whole show, and are worth the watch. You will be rooting for the country bumpkins, I promise.

That's about it! Happy watching!

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 66

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I was sprinting through the woods at night. An unbearable pain in my chest. I slid to a stop and ripped my clothes off to see something massive worming its way around in my stomach. I took the edge of Crocea Mors to my body and screamed as I tried to cut it out of me.

A massive rolling Grimm masked worm flopped out of my chest from the gaping wound I'd cut in my side. It looked up at me with a pleased look.

It was killing me.

It was killing me.

I was going to die and that would be preferable to this. This agony was too much for anyone to bear.

I woke up still on top of the building I passed out on top of. I felt like shit. My chest was crusty with blood and Neo… I felt like crying. My mistake had fucked her up. I'd need to find her and apologize.

I grimaced and pulled myself to my feet. I covered myself as best as I could then started a long painful march to Seventh Heaven. I tried not to draw much attention but I was a tall bleeding figure. I got looks. There was nothing I could do about that.

At least the mission had been a success. The White Whale was gone when I woke up. At the bottom of the harbor. And it hadn't exploded and destroyed the docks which was a nice plus.

The plan had technically been a success. But only in a technical sense.

I dragged myself into Seventh Heaven with a chiming of bells.

Jasper was there wiping down the counter.

"Cloud!"

"Jasper." I returned easily. "How was Neo?"

"She was fine within a few hours. She left. Not sure where to. But what about you? You're hurt!"

"He got a good shot off on me. It won't happen again. I need to find Neo. I need to tell her I'm sorry."

"I think she knows," Jasper countered. She pulled a medical kit from behind the bar.

"Doesn't matter. She's been all I've had. And I almost got her killed."

"I told you she was fine. She walked it off. Where have you been?"

"Sleeping it off. Taurus put a hole in me."

She started trying to pull my clothes and armor off. I jerked back away from her. I didn't even really mean to.

"Let me help you," she pleaded.

"After I find out where Neo is. She might have gone back to our hotel."

I pulled my scroll out and sent her a message.

Where are you? I'm at Seventh Heaven.

I waited a few moments and got a message back from her address.

!!!omw

I sighed. Neo was not a talker, even through text where she could have been. It was a touch annoying but I was glad she was alright.

"We told her you were fighting Taurus. I think she went looking for you," Jasper said. "We thought you died."

"Almost. I'm still kicking around though," I shot back. I kicked a barstool to prove my point. It aggravated my chest wounds. Ah, that was the stuff.

"Still think you can beat him?" She fired.

"Give me a few days to recover and definitely. I won't make the same mistakes again. I gave him an edge over me. I handed him the power he needed to win. His semblance surprised me. It won't work twice," I promised.

And it wouldn't. It had been an odd interaction of our powers but it had only happened because I'd gone for the blade beam. Any other Limit Break would have caused things to play out in my favor. Or closer to it. He wouldn't have had that devastating slice.

Jasper was unrelenting. She pulled and tugged at my clothes, she was determined to get a look at where I was cut.

"Come on. Let me take a look at you. Let's get you cleaned up."

"You got a shower here?" I asked.

She nodded and took my hand and started to guide me. I stripped out of my clothes and armor before she'd even left the room, leaving her blushing but I was too tired to care.

I hopped in the shower and the water burned against my chest wound. It wasn't a particularly deep laceration, it hadn't opened my abdomen like some other wounds I'd had before, and it was located just above the bottom of my rib cage to the right side.

I hissed under the hot water as it started to undo the blood clot and clean the wound. I bled a lot into that small shower. The water ran red for a long long time.

I popped back out and put my trousers back on. I came down to where Jasper had the medical kit.

"Think you have stuff to sew me back together in there?" I asked her. I stood shirtless in her bar. She stared for a moment before she opened it and rifled through it. She withdrew her medical line, tweezers, scissors, and a needle.

I propped myself up and wiped my chest down with alcohol wipes and then I started to sew myself back up.

That was when Neo came rushing in. She took me in for a moment.

"Neo…" I paused. She just stared at me. "Neo, I'm so sorry my explosive got you hurt. I've been running it through in my head and I have no idea when I made the mistake but it must have been somewhe-"

She walked up and tried to put her arms around me. Her arms weren't long enough to get all the way around me. I sighed into her touch. I felt the feeling of our bare skin against one another's. It was warm despite her chilling aura.

I relaxed into the touch and shuddered once against the cold of her aura. Goosebumps ran down my arms and back at her touch. Her exposed stomach and cleavage ran against my waist.

"Sorry," I breathed. "Sorry."

I had paused mid sewing myself back up. I continued once she backed away. I dabbed at the still bleeding wound with a cloth as I worked to keep my eyes free and my hands mostly clean of blood.

There was a growing pile of bloodied bandages and cloths next to me on one of the bar stools near where I leaned.

Neo and Jasper both watched me work until I put the last knot in the wire and pulled the wound tightly closed. I gasped a little in pain.

"Hopefully this reaches you that you're not invincible," Jasper said.

"I didn't need another reminder of that."

"But you're still going to fight Taurus?"

"Got to now. It's fucking on now. The gloves are off."

"You should have had them off to begin with."

"I made a mistake."

Neo took a Cosmo Canyon she ordered by pulling on my arm and splashed it against my chest. The alcohol burned and I hissed.

I glared at her. But she just leaned on one palm and smiled at me. I figured she was allowed a little of that considering what I put her through. Maybe I deserved it more than a little. I had to clean myself off of the sticky liquid again. I threw all the bandages and cloths and alcoholic wipes I'd accumulated away.

I put my huntsman clothes and armor back on. I strapped my harness and sword back to my back. In a week or so I'd be right as rain. But for now I needed to act like I was as hurt as I was.

"They confiscated and probably impounded my bike Neo. My bike, my precious, precious bike," I bemoaned.

She only laughed at me in silence. A shuffling of her shoulders and a wide open smile. She was grinning the entire time. She was happy that I was alive. She'd been worried. She tried to cover it by tormenting me but I saw through it a little. Only a little though. The rest was on to how she was a sadist.

"Thank you Jasper." I slid her back her medical kit across the counter after putting everything away in it.

I'd need to repair my huntsman clothes. They'd been torn in the fight. We could find a place that could fix or repair it, though. It would just take time. "And let me know if you see Taurus again. I've got a blood score to settle with him, now."

Might as well add his to my list of names I was constantly looking out for.

"You're really serious about fighting him again after what he did to you?"

"He got lucky," I countered.

" You got lucky," she countered back

"I did, but he got lucky first. That's how he won. In the luck race he got to the finish line first. I'll get him the next time we fight, just wait and see."

"If you say so. I think you should avoid him."

"Enough about that. What's been going down since I was out?" I asked.

"Well the unions are in action. Schnee will have to make concessions now. He's got no reserves of dust. Well, not as many and he knows that they are not safe and they're dwindling," Jasper said. She wiped some of my blood off the counter with a disinfectant wipe.

At least I knew this place was that hygienic.

"He'll need his workers back to work to keep up with local demand. He can't afford not to. He doesn't have any other customers what with the embargo and all. He's losing money fast as it is. And he has competitors. He'll have to give us something."

"Is that where Bisque and Wenge are?" I wondered.

"They're leading the charge with the strikes. Avalanche needs to be seen at the forefront of things if we want to be major players."

"Politics," I grumbled. "I'd rather be stabbed in the chest."

"You know what? You're lucky you're cute because that shit wouldn't fly with anybody else."

"Who says anything about being cute?" I asked.

"Don't be bratty," she said, leaning on the counter.

"I'm serious," I said.

"At least take it easy for the next few days," she said. "Promise me that."

"I make no promises. Anything could happen. But yeah, I probably will. Keep an eye out for Taurus for me."

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To be honest I was in quite a bit of pain. I'd taken some ibuprofen but it only seemed to bed the beast down and not so much actually able to put it to sleep. It was still rearing to clip at me. Nipping at my heels as I made my way around.

Plus they'd taken my bike so I had no wheels which meant Neo and I were walking to the seamstress where they could repair my shirt. Walking and in pain. And I had no one to complain to besides Neo who would probably just get a kick out of it my distress. Especially considering what I put her through. I deserved that.

I needed to get my hands on some real painkillers. That meant talking to Aurum and getting up to Atlas.

I took a gondola up to the floating island and got my shirt fixed up before I made my way to The Den and through its usual din. It only took an hour or two of waiting to get my shirt fixed up.

I wasn't sure how Aurum basically lived in all that noise twenty-four seven like he seemed to. I wasn't sure how he wasn't deaf.

He greeted me with a shallow wave to come over. I plopped down on the couch and let out a groan of pain as I rattled my ribcage in the process.

"I need painkillers," I told Aurum. "I'm willing to pay extra for them if you can get them to me fast."

He reached into a pocket and dumped a few pills out on his hand from a little bottle. He handed them to me.

"What's this?" I asked. I handled the round pills for a moment in my palm.

"Vicodin," he said. "I'll get you some more. This was just from my personal stash and what I had on me."

I took the pills with no water. I groaned as I did. That was that good shit. Real dosages of painkillers was what I needed.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

"I lost a fight," I confessed. "Ass end of an ass kicking and all that."

"To who?" He wondered.

"Adam fucking Taurus."

"Ah that makes sense."

"It does?" I asked.

"He's one of the few people in town that could give you a figurative bloody nose," he spoke over the noise of his music.

"Yeah well he got fucking lucky. I'll kill him next time," I said.

"Next time, hmm?" He made a questioning noise.

"Add him to my list. I want to catch him and kill him." He nodded at that and I could see him mentally do so. It was good for his business anyways.

"I heard Schnee's ship went down full of cargo. Was that you?" He asked.

"It was." I said. I sighed. Those were strong painkillers and someone brought me a whole pill bottle of them. I forked over a few hundred Lien in exchange. I could already feel them working. That was that good stuff. They were relaxing me.

Just because I'd been hurt worse on no painkillers didn't mean I relished the experience. Maybe I wanted to be able to relax and not feel like I was dying.

He laughed at me and I managed a weak glare.

I groaned and waned in and out of consciousness in the lair of drug lord who I would argue was kind of a friend. How things change. If you'd told me I would be in this position back at Beacon I would have laughed in your face.

Well maybe not. I'd had no confidence back then.

But then a lot of shit had happened to me since freshman year. I found out I was a failed experiment who only got passed around on the off chance that they succeeded.

I had the relic of knowledge still on my belt. It was secured to my person at all times. I considered asking it when the pain would fucking stop for good. It was still there. It was just muted by the Vicodin.

"Can I get you a drink?" Aurum asked.

"Should I mix alcohol and these kinds of painkillers?" I shot back.

"I always do," he said. "It's a fucking trip."

"Fuck it," I said. "Something straight and hard, if you please."

He ordered himself a screwdriver and me a few shots of vodka.

I took two of them and the room began to slouch. I was starting to feel a lot less shitty.

I sighed into the comfortable couch. Even with the music at such a high level I might just pass out. I waned in and out of consciousness in a way that was completely different to the way I'd done that on Hyper. On Hyper it had been all rush, making things a blur and making me wax and wane. On this it was all drowsiness so that I was just on the edge of falling asleep constantly.

"Fucking Taurus."

"What's that?"

"Taurus. He fucking cheated. I handed him the power to win and he nearly cut me in half. Luckily I had armor. I can't believe shit went down like that. I should have killed him. He just absorbed my attack. Must have been his semblance. Semblances are bullshit."

"I'm told you have quite the doozy of a semblance. That's just what I heard at least. You ripped into the prisoner transport like it was a tin can."

"Maybe. It's just bullshit when somebody else does, too. It's unfair. I'm going to pass out here for a bit." I leaned my head down onto the couch cushions.

I was straight off to dreamland despite the wump-wump-wump of the music in the place.

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-WG

[aries-writingblog]

Atlas (8)

Summary: After years of being imprisoned on the Raft, Tony negotiates freedom for his sister Tessa. When she’s free- so is her past, and it will never stop hunting her.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OC(Stark)

Chapter Word count: 1810

Warnings: PTSD (subtle ish), trauma, torture (in later parts), suicidal behaviors and thoughts, mentions of death, character death, injury, violence, angst, and a lil bit of fluff in there

Disclaimer: Atlas is my own, original work with characters belonging to Marvel (except Tessa and Dr. Clifton). Plagiarism is not cool kids.

A/N: this is my first work I'm posting to this platform and I’m really excited and nervous about it. Hope you enjoy- constructive criticism is always helpful as well!!

She couldn’t breathe. There was a pressure building on her left side, an itch she couldn’t scratch. Her eyes were dry, like her mouth. Tessa peeled her eyelids open, having been cemented shut, it took tremendous effort- effort she barely possessed. She couldn’t hear straight, it sounded like she was underwater. A muted beep from a monitor. Rain pelting the windows of the white washed clinical room. Something tickling her forearm. She looked down. Tony.

He was grasping her hand, resting his head beside them, hair tickling her skin. She then moved her eyes to her side where a tube was running from a patch of white bandages. Along her right arm, bandages were wrapped around raw flesh. She could still see the burn marks on her wrists. In her left arm, an IV filtered blood and fluids into her system, repairing what had been damaged. She groaned as she rested her head on the pillow.

She wasn’t supposed to make it out of there. None of this had gone according to her plan. Tessa wasn’t stupid. She knew Clifton would be on her as soon as she stepped foot out of her cage on the Raft. She knew she would have to make a choice, a choice of repentance. So, when she noticed the trap he’d set for them, she couldn’t help but take the bait. Part of her wanted to flip the script and take revenge on him. But then... then Bucky happened. He’d been so kind to her- accepting her. She felt that she owed him a truth- even if it was in the form of a dead man’s ramblings. And so she did just that- confided in him, knowing that one way or another, she was never going to come back. He wasn’t supposed to be collateral damage.

Tony shifted, his head turning further away from her. She bit her lip, sinking down deeper into the sheets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Y’know, if you cooperated with the professionals, things would go a lot smoother.” Tony snipped at her. Tessa scowled deeper, turning her head to the side. It had been a week since the mission, since everything about Tessa had been made public amongst the team. Since Tony had released the files to the whole team, Tessa had been ignoring him every time he visited her. She was angry- the emotion palpable in the air. She had even begun to be irritable with the nurses and her doctor. Of course, they associated it with her being on bed rest for a week- knowing it would get worse because she was meant to stay there for a whole month.

She refused to allow any of the team members entrance to her room- even Bucky. Tony was only allowed in because he told Friday to over ride her command. News of her slow response to treatment had to come from the nurses or the small bits that Tony would share- which was always begrudgingly. Her therapist and parole officer were also allowed in for their visits. There had been talk of moving her back to the Raft, but Tony had shot it down, explaining in colorful detail how she hadn’t done anything wrong. Ever.

But Tessa was becoming restless. She could no longer stand the sight of the hospital room. When she was trapped within the four walls, she could only think about the botched missions and what Clifton said. She was trapped. So, she decided to take things into her own hands. Painstakingly slow, she got up from her bed, a tube no longer in her lung but it was still stitched up and painful. Most of her wounds were well on their way to healing but her mind was still fragile.

Tessa had been immediately changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t shirt as soon as she regained consciousness. So she simply unhooked her heart monitor, taking her IV of fluids with her to the door.

She hadn’t realized Bucky had done nothing but sit outside her medical room for the past week, waiting to be able to slip into the room to talk to her. Tony had been guarding her, keeping him away. Unlike his sister, Tony held a grudge. So when Tessa’s door opened and she stepped out, he was surprised. She looked like she hadn’t slept since she came back- undoubtedly plagued by nightmares. Her skin was pale, under eyes dark. When her eyes landed on his, she stiffened, her whole body freezing. They stared for a long moment, neither of them giving in.

“If you’re breaking out of your room, you’ll need to move a little faster.” Bucky quipped, a teasing tone overtaking the concern. Tessa started to take off, her gait a small, shuffle toward the elevator. Bucky stood up, stretching his arms out before sidling up beside her.

“What do you want?” She muttered, slightly annoyed and embarrassed by his presence. She almost stumbled, her left foot catching on her right. She cursed lowly, while Bucky simply hooked an arm around her waist, steadying her. She tried to push away but Bucky had an iron grip, keeping her where he wanted. He was done waiting around. He was going to talk to her whether she wanted to or not. She was going to listen to what he had to say.

“Well if you’re going for a little sight seeing- might I suggest the floor ninety? It’s got a lovely view and- bonus: less of an elevator ride.” Bucky steered her into the elevator and locked her down, his hand drawing smooth circles on her hip.

“Isn’t that your floor?” She grumbled, leaning against him to relieve some of the weight on her feet. He hummed in response and looked down at her. She was scowling, eyes glued to the floor.

“See, I’ve been waiting outside that room for a week now. I’ve had time to think about everything that was said while we were in captivity. Don’t think I’m an idiot, by the way.” Bucky watched her begin to shut down at the mentions of the cell. The mentions of her admitted transgressions. “I’ve been where you are, where you’ve been.” Tessa scoffed as the elevator dinged open.

“You don’t know me.” She bit back, eager to be out of his hold, out of his sight. She couldn’t hold herself together around him anymore. Telling him everything- trusting him with that information... she didn’t want to see him now, not when he could judge her for it. Because all she wanted from him was to be accepted. Not pitied, not scorned, not disgusted. Loved. She didn’t know what the two kisses were on that battlefield, she didn’t know what any of it meant.

“Don’t I?” He asked, opening the apartment door. The pair quickly pushed through the living room, bypassing Steve who was sat on the couch, watching the news. He had heard the door open, figuring it was Bucky so he didn’t turn. Until he heard the roll of wheels.

“Is that Tessa?” He called, watching the receding backs of the two. His brows furrowed as Bucky’s bedroom door slammed shut, cutting the pair off from the rest of the world.

“Oh, well please, enlighten me on how you know every thought I’ve ever had.” Tessa sat down on his bed, the white cotton sheets felt much better than the stiff medbay fabrics she had been confined to.

“Alright, fine,” Bucky began shuffling around his room, seemingly in search of something. “You shut yourself off from everyone, you think it keeps us safe but really, it’s just a way of excusing your pity party and prolonging suffering you feel you deserve. You keep everything to yourself, no matter how much it pains you to do that. You don’t sleep well, nightmares keeping you up. You don’t eat much- if you do it’s at random times at night, where you don’t have to interact with us. You let one person in and immediately shut them out because you felt that you could hurt them before even giving it a chance.” Bucky stopped his search, turning to look at her over his shoulder. “Am I par for the course?”

“Shut the hell up.” She growled, gently laying back on his neatly made bed. “So what if i don’t want to hurt you- why is that a bad thing? I want to keep you all safe. What’s the harm in that- what the fuck are you looking for?”

“Got it...” Bucky stood straight again before walking to her. He knelt down on the bed beside her. “It isn’t a bad thing- it’s just that you’re going about it in a destructive way. You can keep us safe and live too. The way you’re going now, that’s not living. You’re just floating from day to day. Here. They found 'em last week and sent them to me. I’ve been waiting to give them to you.” He held a hand out, intending to drop the object into her palm. Tessa sighed and held it out flat. A cool metal grazed her palm and she broke her gaze off from his to look at it. Dog tags. She held them in front of her face to read them more clearly. They were slightly rusted, but the name was still clear: James Buchanan Barnes. “I’m not judging you for a mistake made six years ago. A mistake that was made with the best intentions in mind. With the best resources you had at the time. The Tessa I want to know is still in there- I’ve seen her during those late night talks in the light of the fridge. I’ve heard her when you talked about growing up with Tony or your early days in the military. And I’m gonna do everything I can to make her happy, because she’s gone through enough.”

Tessa swallowed, feeling the beginning of tears pricking at her eyes. She was speechless- her own mind waging war on itself.

“You know just what to say to make a girl blush, huh?” She sniffled, trying to laugh through it. Bucky grinned and took the tags, slipping them over her head, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Stay here for the night, please? I know that you shouldn’t really be out of the med bay yet but... I want to talk to you- I want to be around you. Please?” Bucky asked, his bottom lip pouting slightly and his blue eyes shining with hope. Tessa pretended to think it over, pressing her hand to the dog tags that occupied her chest.

“Okay. I’ll stay here. Only for tonight- and no funny business, Barnes.” She winced, sitting up. Bucky was quick to press a hand to her back, helping her sit. He gave a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat bashful.

“No promises, sweetheart.”

[imagine-loki]

Atlas: Space, Sun

TITLE: Atlas: Space

CHAPTER NO./ONE-SHOT: 1/12

AUTHOR: fanfictrashdump

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine narrating episodes of Loki’s life with the Avengers based on the songs from Sleeping At Last’s “Atlas: Space” album. 

RATING: T-M

NOTES/WARNINGS: Welcome to my Sleeping At Last’s Atlas: Space challenge, aka Another writing project I do not have time for, but my brain insisted on doing.

This series will be less like a multichapter fic and more of a one-shot compendium, but that they all interconnect in one way or another. It will revolve around Loki and Becca’s relationship (Taking Turns, Glow, Helmet Heists–don’t worry, more Loki-Charlie stuff will be along) and I will use those one-shots as reference to the timeline. Each chapter will be one song, used as inspiration for the story.

As far as warnings go, some language, terrible writing, and just general awkwardness because I love it. Warnings will be chapter by chapter basis.

Chapter 1: Sun

Summary: Tony begs Rebecca to come with the team on mission and Loki is a surprisingly thoughtful mission companion.

=

“For the sake of all of us, I need you to suit up.”

That was the climax of her morning, she would say. Or, at least, the turning point of her day… her life… and the reason why she, a weapons development technician with bare minimum battle training ended up, smack dab in the middle of a firefight.

With golden string

Our universe was clothed in light

Pulling at the seams

Our once barren world now brims with life

It was a morning same as any other. The weapons lab was calm and quiet, save for the white noise hum of robots moving and instrumentation chugging along without supervision. Crisp, white sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, negating the need for any of the harsh fluorescents overhead to be turned on. This was how she had fallen in love with the lab–in the early hours before anyone turned on the tinting of the windows and blasted Black Sabbath for no reason other than to drown their own thoughts. Essentially, any time before Tony started his insane experiments was wonderful and full of meditative peace.

Despite the fact that it was only seven in the morning, Rebecca Brun had already put in four hours of work. One of the side-effects of working in Stark industries was that she often forgot what hours normal people usually kept. A lot of missions were at night, and she needed to be awake to outfit the team before it was time for wheel’s up on the Quinjet. More recently, her shift in schedule was mostly attributed to Loki’s inability to maintain normal hours, as well. And he dared say he had nothing in common with Tony. You know, besides the fact that the two of them had somehow roped her into friendship (though in Loki’s case, she would admit it was her fault).

Her zen moment of peace was about to be shattered as she watched her boss stride into the lab. Tony looked pensive, which was never a good sign. Their conversation had been a blur–something about needing a technician on hand to sustain any on-field repairs and how that would ensure that they could bring everyone home alive. Another comment about her being the very best, second only to himself. More importantly, there was the voice in her head that spoke of purpose. She always knew her work made a difference, but she would have never dreamed that she could make a difference. She could be a hero in her own right. She could keep them safe.

“Fine. I’m in.”

–

I guess space and time

takes violent things, angry things

and makes them kind.

Loki watched from the shadows as Stark rounded up everyone who was to go on mission that day. There were nearly two dozen, in total, between heroes and agents. And Becca. Who was shaking like a leaf in her tactical gear, matching the rest of the crew. The gear suited her, he thought wryly, gaze skimming the curves of her hips and thighs as she shifted her weight from one leg to another. He then felt a little disappointed in himself, scolding his primitive thoughts when his friend was in clear distress. He hated admitting it, but he was fond of the mortal. She was clever, quiet, and quick-witted–all things he… liked? Admired? Suffice to say, he didn’t wish her dead.

He moved like death, silent and furtive, until he sidled up to her. She didn’t seem surprised when she glanced up and gave him a smile that looked a little closer to a wince. He returned a small one of his own before fidgeting with his armor. Becca made a noise like a whine and with a chuckle, he placed his hand on her shoulder and gave a quick squeeze. He meant to reassure her, but his brain also whispered guiltily that it was giving him an excuse for contact. They were firmly just friends, but every now and then the baser part of his brain longed for a lingering touch or, heavens forbid, a hug.

“We are the dust of dust”

“We are the apple of God’s eye”

“We are infinite as the Universe we hold inside”

“Folks, listen,” Stark started, standing on a box of ammunition to look over the crowd. “This is the big one and I’m sure that your team leaders have driven home the importance of getting in, doing our job, and getting out. I know that for some of you, this is your first mission. Others don’t even want to be here. I appreciate all of you coming aboard, anyway. Because, whether we like it or not, we are the only thing between the world and those who intend to destroy it. You’re all heroes. Let’s go show them who they’re dealing with.”

Becca squeezed her eyes shut, trying to quell the feeling of nausea rising through her. They had gotten into the jet and were flying to some undisclosed location where bullets were already flying, courtesy of the advanced guard. She had fitted everyone in their armor and left instructions on how and when to double back for assistance. One of the agents had then offered her the handle of a gun and more than a handful of cartridges of bullets before exiting the Quinjet and into a very noisy battlefield. It was then that she realized she would be on her own from there on out. That didn’t sit in her stomach very well, either. 

“Hey.” Becca looked up rather anxiously. Loki was stood in full armor, golden horns and all. He looked just south of fidgety and was eager to jump into the fray. The only reason he deigned to stop and check in was the annoying sinking feeling he got when he noticed her take the clip out of her gun and count bullets for a sixth time in as many minutes. “Well, you’ve taken to battle rather well,” he teased, nudging her foot with his.

“Shut it or I’ll throw up on you,” she groused, and the green tinge in her complexion assured him of the truth behind her words.

He laughed boisterously, though there seemed to be no malice in his actions. “Midgardians, scared of a little fight. Precious, really.”

“What part of I’ll throw up on you did you not understand?” Her voice sounded rough, as if she really was fighting the bile from rising up her throat.

“You’re going to be fine.” Loki laughed again, a little less effusively. For a second he hesitated in his movement, before his resolve steeled, reaching up and tugging on a golden horn to slide the helmet from his head. “If I remember correctly, you’re well-acquainted with these. How about you keep them until I circle back, hmm?” They were placed on her head before she had even had time to argue, feeling snug and secure. Long fingers felt cool against her flushed skin as he lifted her chin to look at him. “There. Fit to be a shield maiden.” The heat in her cheeks only intensified. “Stay in the jet. And if you need to barricade the doors, regardless of what side of them we happen to be on, do it.” He stared her down until she nodded.

Before he disappeared out the hold doors, he turned his head and winked at her over his shoulder. Oddly enough, it settled her stomach to see his cocky confidence.

The one thing Becca was not prepared for, ironically, was the wait.

The jet had been empty for several hours and only Bucky had come to get some gravel out of the hydraulic gaps of his metal arm. The rest of the time, she spied outside the one-way glass at the battle ahead. It was a terrible hobby to have when you knew half of the players, but it was like watching a train wreck. You know you shouldn’t watch, but…

A flash of red caught her eye, at once. Peter had just been flung aside by some Hydra agent in a bulky exosuit. In a flash of green, Loki cut in and deliver a blow to protect the kid. Loki would never admit it aloud, but he had a soft spot for the teenager–partly because he was a child, mostly because he would bring Loki chocolate chip cookies every time he went to see him. Regardless of the reason, the maneuver had ended with Loki becoming the new favorite target of all the Hydra personnel around the pair.

Loki yelled something she couldn’t make out, and Peter began to climb upwards to get a better (and safer) vantage point. More agents converged on the Asgardian and Becca found herself chanting no’s under her breath. This was a bad idea.

She shouldn’t have watched the fight.

And she certainly shouldn’t have opened the hold doors and run straight into its center.

Becca had the advantage that she was swift on her feet from years of track and field. She could outrun nearly everyone, except for Steve and sometimes Bucky. And being a hurdler, she could clear obstacles in her path as easily as breathing. Instantly, the sound of gunfire made her regret leaving her safe, warm little workstation on the jet. It certainly was a bad place to contemplate her mortality, and a stranger place still to pray for the very first time.

Let there be light, let there be light, let me be alright.

With shaky hands, she lifted her pistol and took aim. Tony made everyone take basic gun training and get certified at the gun range–this wasn’t a new experience for her. Having buildings shudder and rumble, screams fill the air, and explosions happen less than thirty meters off–that was a new experience. And it made it a hell of a lot harder to aim at areas that were not covered by a bulletproof vest or part of her friend.

Loki started as the body trying to wrestle him down shuddered and slumped to the floor. He turned round in a neat circle and glared. “I told you to stay in the jet!”

“Yeah, well, you should’ve circled back earlier, then!” She screamed back, flinching her eyes closed with every thundering bullet leaving her gun.

“Tell me you’re not closing your eyes every time you shoot!” He had closed the distance between them and had joined his back to hers.

“Fine. I won’t tell you.”

“You could’ve shot me in the head!”

“You should have taken your damn helmet, then!” Her voice was near a shriek, another three bullets ringing through the air before she realized she had to change the clip.

Except she forgot them.

On the jet.

Did she mention she had no real battle experience?

“Loki,” her voice trembled, barely audible over the scuffle even to her own ears, “do you have bullets on you?”

He snorted. “Do I look like I have a gun, Rebecca?” He glanced over his shoulder at her and did a double-take before the information clicked. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t!” She didn’t answer, instead drawing a knife sheathed in a strap on her thigh and holding it in front of her. It shuddered in time with the tremors in her hand. She couldn’t stay here and she couldn’t make it back on her own. And for some reason, after over a millenium, his conscience decided this was the day to make an appearance. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” He growled. “If I die getting you back to safety, I’m going to be so damn cross!”

Before she could offer a retort, he grabbed the back of her suit, pulling her away from incoming threats. Every now and again, they’d stop, fight hand to hand, or rather, Loki fought while constantly pushing her behind him. Becca felt like a ragdoll, though she never thought she was being flung carelessly or without any sort of poise. It was a carefully calculated and perfectly executed dance of which she was a participant with no say on the steps.

The Quinjet doors were just a few meters away. They were almost there. Another three Hydra agents had closed in on them, trying to cut off their escape. The next minute was hazy in her mind. She could remember, as clearly as if she were seeing it right then, as a gun barrel aimed for her head and the rumble of gunpowder deafened her a second later. And then there was darkness.

With golden string

Our universe was brought to life

That we may fall in love

Every time we open up our eyes

“Becca.” The voice was soft, as were the thumbs brushing her cheekbones, though the pounding in her head was certainly not. She blinked her eyes open to find two blue orbs of concern watching her. “Oh, thank the gods. You’re alright.”

“My head is killing me.” She winced at the echo of her own voice. 

“Yeah. A bullet to the skull will do that,” he said, smirking. He had yet to let her head go.

They were on the floor of the jet, and he was on his knees. Beside him, his horns sat with a splotch of blood marring the very edge of the face opening and the metal bent slightly out of shape.

“You’re lucky I left you my helm. Not so much for the man who shot you. The ricochet was nasty.”

“The ricochet killed him?” She frowned, trying to think of the physics that would make such a thing possible.

“No, I killed him. The ricochet left him blind in the left eye, though,” he retorted matter-of-factly, smiling. He finally let go and sat back on his heels, his fingers came away red, but a cursory check with her own showed the blood was not hers. The thought did not reassure her. “I should go back, keep the Spiderboy out of trouble.” He stood and cracked his neck, squaring his shoulders to prepare himself for more gore. “Are you OK?”

She nodded. “I’m OK. I’ll just stay put.”

He snorted. “I doubt that. At least I already stuffed all the bullets I could find into your pockets. Don’t need a repeat of this fiasco.” He stepped lightly to the hold doors, as he had done earlier. This time, he turned around completely, walking backwards out of the open doors. “Maybe keep the helmet on, for now, and try not to get shot in the head again." 

For a long moment she looked between the cushioned seats and the hold doors, deciding the best course of action–back to her work table, safe, or…

Just beyond the doors, Loki sunk a dagger into the stomach of a HYDRA agent and kicked them back. As if sensing her gaze, he glanced back at jet and smirked, turning away only to dodge a punch. Becca took a swig of water, grabbed her gun, and ran back into the fire just as the horns settled onto her skull. Loki gave her a knowing smile before pressing his back to hers and finishing their mission.

CHAPTER NO./ONE-SHOT: 1/12

AUTHOR: fanfictrashdump

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine narrating episodes of Loki’s life with the Avengers based on the songs from Sleeping At Last’s “Atlas: Space” album. https://imagine-loki.tumblr.com/post/623647803992899584/imagine-narrating-episodes-of-lokis-life-with-the

RATING: T-M

NOTES/WARNINGS: Welcome to my Sleeping At Last’s Atlas: Space challenge, aka Another writing project I do not have time for but my brain insists.

This series will be less like a multichapter fic and more of a one-shot compendium, but that they all interconnect in one way or another. It will revolve around Loki and Becca’s relationship (Taking Turns, Glow, Helmet Heists–don’t worry, more Loki-Charlie stuff will be along) and I will use those one-shots as reference to the timeline. Each chapter will be one song, used as inspiration for the story.

As far as warnings go, some language, terrible writing, and just general awkwardness because I love it. Warnings will be chapter by chapter basis.

Chapter 1: Sun

Summary: Tony begs Rebecca to come with the team on mission and Loki is a surprisingly thoughtful mission companion.

=

"For the sake of all of us, I need you to suit up.”

That was the climax of her morning, she would say. Or, at least, the turning point of her day… her life… and the reason why she, a weapons development technician with bare minimum battle training ended up, smack dab in the middle of a firefight.

With golden string

Our universe was clothed in light

Pulling at the seams

Our once barren world now brims with life

It was a morning same as any other. The weapons lab was calm and quiet, save for the white noise hum of robots moving and instrumentation chugging along without supervision. Crisp, white sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, negating the need for any of the harsh fluorescents overhead to be turned on. This was how she had fallen in love with the lab–in the early hours before anyone turned on the tinting of the windows and blasted Black Sabbath for no reason other than to drown their own thoughts. Essentially, any time before Tony started his insane experiments was wonderful and full of meditative peace.

Despite the fact that it was only seven in the morning, Rebecca Brun had already put in four hours of work. One of the side-effects of working in Stark industries was that she often forgot what hours normal people usually kept. A lot of missions were at night, and she needed to be awake to outfit the team before it was time for wheel’s up on the Quinjet. More recently, her shift in schedule was mostly attributed to Loki’s inability to maintain normal hours, as well. And he dared say he had nothing in common with Tony. You know, besides the fact that the two of them had somehow roped her into friendship (though in Loki’s case, she would admit it was her fault).

Her zen moment of peace was about to be shattered as she watched her boss stride into the lab. Tony looked pensive, which was never a good sign. Their conversation had been a blur–something about needing a technician on hand to sustain any on-field repairs and how that would ensure that they could bring everyone home alive. Another comment about her being the very best, second only to himself. More importantly, there was the voice in her head that spoke of purpose. She always knew her work made a difference, but she would have never dreamed that she could make a difference. She could be a hero in her own right. She could keep them safe.

“Fine. I’m in.”

–

I guess space and time

takes violent things, angry things

and makes them kind.

Loki watched from the shadows as Stark rounded up everyone who was to go on mission that day. There were nearly two dozen, in total, between heroes and agents. And Becca. Who was shaking like a leaf in her tactical gear, matching the rest of the crew. The gear suited her, he thought wryly, gaze skimming the curves of her hips and thighs as she shifted her weight from one leg to another. He then felt a little disappointed in himself, scolding his primitive thoughts when his friend was in clear distress. He hated admitting it, but he was fond of the mortal. She was clever, quiet, and quick-witted–all things he… liked? Admired? Suffice to say, he didn’t wish her dead.

He moved like death, silent and furtive, until he sidled up to her. She didn’t seem surprised when she glanced up and gave him a smile that looked a little closer to a wince. He returned a small one of his own before fidgeting with his armor. Becca made a noise like a whine and with a chuckle, he placed his hand on her shoulder and gave a quick squeeze. He meant to reassure her, but his brain also whispered guiltily that it was giving him an excuse for contact. They were firmly just friends, but every now and then the baser part of his brain longed for a lingering touch or, heavens forbid, a hug.

“We are the dust of dust”

“We are the apple of God’s eye”

“We are infinite as the Universe we hold inside”

“Folks, listen,” Stark started, standing on a box of ammunition to look over the crowd. “This is the big one and I’m sure that your team leaders have driven home the importance of getting in, doing our job, and getting out. I know that for some of you, this is your first mission. Others don’t even want to be here. I appreciate all of you coming aboard. Because, whether we like it or not, we are the only thing between the world and those who intend to destroy it. Let’s go show them who they’re dealing with.”

Becca squeezed her eyes shut, trying to quell the feeling of nausea rising through her. They had gotten into the jet and were flying to some undisclosed location. She had fitted everyone in their armor and left instructions on how and when to double back for assistance. One of the agents had then offered her the handle of a gun and more than a handful of cartridges of bullets before exiting the Quinjet and into a very noisy battlefield. It was then that she realized she would be on her own from there on out.

“Hey.” Becca looked up rather anxiously. Loki was stood in full armor, golden horns and all. He looked just south of fidgety and was eager to jump into the fray. Still, he made it a point to stop and check in when he noticed her take the clip out of her gun and count bullets for a sixth time. “Well, you’ve taken to battle rather well,” he teased, nudging her foot with his.

“Shut it or I’ll throw up on you,” she groused, and the green tinge in her complexion assured him of the truth behind her words.

He laughed boisterously, though there seemed to be no malice in his actions. “Midgardians, scared of a little fight. Precious, really.”

“What part of I’ll throw up on you did you not understand?” Her voice sounded rough, as if she really was fighting the bile from rising up her throat.

“You’re going to be fine.” Loki laughed again, a little less effusively. For a second he hesitated in his movement, before his resolve steeled, reaching up and tugging on a golden horn to slide the helmet from his head. “If I remember correctly, you’re well-acquainted with these. How about you keep them until I circle back, hmm?” They were placed on her head before she had even had time to argue, feeling snug and secure. Long fingers felt cool against her flushed skin as he lifted her chin to look at him. “There. Fit to battle the enemy.” The heat in her cheeks only intensified. “Stay in the jet. And if you need to barricade the doors, regardless of what side of them we happen to be on, do it.” He stared her down until she nodded.

Before he disappeared out the hold doors, he turned his head and winked at her over his shoulder. Oddly enough, it settled her stomach to see his cocky confidence.

The one thing Becca was not prepared for, ironically, was the wait. The jet had been empty for several hours and only Bucky had come to get some gravel out of the hydraulic gaps of his metal arm. The rest of the time, she spied outside the one-way glass at the battle ahead. It was a terrible hobby to have when you knew half of the players, but it was like watching a train wreck. You know you shouldn’t watch, but…

A flash of red caught her eye, at once. Peter had just been flung aside by some Hydra agent in a bulky exosuit. In a flash of green, Loki cut in and deliver a blow to protect the kid. Loki would never admit it aloud, but he had a soft spot for the teenager–partly because he was a child, mostly because he would bring Loki chocolate chip cookies every time he went to see him. Regardless of the reason, the maneuver had ended with Loki becoming a favorite target of all the Hydra personnel around the pair.

Loki yelled something she couldn’t make out, and Peter began to climb upwards to get a better (and safer) vantage point. More agents converged on the Asgardian and Becca found herself chanting no’s under her breath. This was a bad idea. She shouldn’t have watched the fight. And she certainly shouldn’t have opened the hold doors and run straight into its center.

Becca had the advantage that she was swift on her feet from years of track and field. She could outrun nearly everyone, except for Steve and sometimes Bucky. And being a hurdler, she could clear obstacles in her path as easily as breathing. Instantly, the sound of gunfire made her regret leaving her safe, warm little workstation on the jet. It certainly was a bad place to contemplate her mortality, and a stranger place still to pray for the very first time.

Let there be light, let there be light, let me be alright.

With shaky hands, she lifted her pistol and took aim. Tony made everyone take basic gun training and get certified at the gun range. This wasn’t a new experience for her. Having buildings shudder and rumble, screams fill the air, and explosions happen less than thirty meters off–that was a new experience. And it made it a hell of a lot harder to aim at areas that were not covered by a bulletproof vest or part of her friend.

Loki started as the body trying to wrestle him down shuddered and slumped to the floor. He turned round in a neat circle and glared. “I told you to stay in the jet!”

“Yeah, well, you should’ve circled back earlier, then!” She screamed back, flinching her eyes closed with every thundering bullet leaving her gun.

“Tell me you’re not closing your eyes every time you shoot!” He had closed the distance between them and had joined his back to hers.

“Fine. I won’t tell you.”

“You could’ve shot me in the head!”

“You should have taken your damn helmet, then!” Her voice was near a shriek, another three bullets ringing through the air before she realized she had to change the clip.

Except she forgot them.

On the jet.

Did she mention she had no real battle experience?

“Loki,” her voice trembled, barely audible over the scuffle even to her own ears, “do you have bullets on you?”

He snorted. “Do I look like I have a gun, Rebecca?” He glanced over his shoulder at her and did a double-take before the information clicked. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t!” She didn’t answer, instead drawing a knife sheathed in a strap on her thigh and holding it in front of her. It shuddered in time with the tremors in her hand. She couldn’t stay here and she couldn’t make it back on her own. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” He growled. “If I die getting you back to safety, I’m going to be so damn cross!”

Before she could offer a retort, he grabbed the back of her suit, pulling her away from incoming threats. Every now and again, they’d stop, fight hand to hand, or rather, Loki fought while constantly pushing her behind him. Becca felt like a ragdoll, though she never thought she was being flung carelessly or without any sort of poise. It was a carefully calculated and perfectly executed dance of which she was a participant with no say on the steps.

The Quinjet doors were just a few meters away. They were almost there. Another three Hydra agents had closed in on them, trying to cut off their escape. The next minute was hazy in her mind. She could remember, as clearly as if she were seeing it right then, as a gun barrel aimed for her head and the rumble of gunpowder deafened her a second later. And then there was darkness.

With golden string

Our universe was brought to life

That we may fall in love

Every time we open up our eyes

“Becca.” The voice was soft, as were the thumbs brushing her cheekbones, though the pounding in her head was certainly not. She blinked her eyes open to find two blue orbs of concern watching her. “Oh, thank the gods. You’re alright.”

“My head is killing me.”

“Yeah. A bullet to the skull will do that,” he said, smirking. He had yet to let her head go.

They were on the floor of the jet, and he was on his knees. Beside him, his horns sat with a splotch of blood marring the very edge of the face opening and the metal bent slightly out of shape.

“You’re lucky I left you my helm. Not so much for the man who shot you. The ricochet was nasty.”

“The ricochet killed him?” She frowned, trying to think of the physics that would make such a thing possible.

“No, I killed him. The ricochet left him blind in the left eye, though,” he retorted matter-of-factly, smiling. He finally let go and sat back on his heels, his fingers came away red, but a cursory check with her own showed the blood was not hers. The thought did not reassure her. “I should go back, keep the Spiderboy out of trouble.” He stood and cracked his neck, squaring his shoulders to prepare himself for more gore. “Are you OK?”

She nodded. “I’m OK. I’ll just stay put.”

He snorted. “I doubt that. At least I already stuffed all the bullets I could find into your pockets. Don’t need a repeat of this fiasco.” He stepped lightly to the hold doors, as he had done earlier. This time, he turned around completely, walking backwards out of the open doors. “Maybe keep the helmet on, for now, and try not to get shot in the head again.”

For a long moment she looked between the cushioned seats and the hold doors, deciding the best course of action–back to her table, safe, or… Just beyond the doors, Loki sunk a dagger into the stomach of a HYDRA agent and kicked them back. As if sensing her gaze, he glanced back at jet and smirked, turning away only to dodge a punch. Becca took a swig of water, grabbed her gun, and ran back into the fire just as the horns settled onto her skull.

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Gateway

When you have every option available, you seek to close out those that don’t interest you.

Hauling cargo with the limited space inside this ship seems like a waste, but hauling information as a courier might suit it better. Heavy armor, added safety for those who want it with the firepower to match.

Idea proposed to the rest of the crew, flying colors, the boredom had settled in with the lack of combat or missions we had taken after retrieving the Phoenix. Like a well-oiled machine, Valkyrie and I took to the cockpit and plotted a course to the Empire capital.

Shipyard, designated as SY-2052, a branch of the larger portion carving its way across the planet. Thick mist forming as we approached the landing pad. Wheels down, engines off, we dismounted from the ship and took in the scene. Pad number 551, printed on the memory as the maintenance crew arrived.

“Welcome to Shipyard 2052, how may we assist?” Younger man, his face covered by a see through visor and a bright orange jumpsuit made sure you could not miss him.

“Refuel.”

“Understood, you have one free refuel curtesy of the Empress, after that you will have to buy the fuel like the rest of them.” The man explained as he tapped the order into his PDA. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“You have the map for this place?”

“Certainly, here you go.” Uploaded to my storage, the map showed the entire shipyard with several markers for utilities around.

“Thanks.”

“Have a nice day.” The man turned back to his work as I got back to Valkyrie and Nine.

Map shared, the landing pad connected to several of the areas services via an access corridor, engineering to our left, quarters to the front and transport hub to the right, the map showed a job station inside the hub, so we made our way there.

Greying walls with bright adverts blasted across them, the corridor was quiet but a constant flow of cargo moved by overhead on a rail, the markings unreadable from this distance. Scan my hand on the panel, the doors opened up into a large room with several monitors above kiosks of people buying and selling their goods, wherever to be transported or used here.

Scent of food, spices and cigarette smoke, I felt the looks on me as I walked through the crowd to an information desk and tapped my hand on it.

Overly happy greeting before a display showed up with a selection of jobs available.

Locked away from the higher paying ones, lacking the license and training for them, I picked out two jobs that payed out enough to refuel and rearm the gunship if required. Bullets are cheap, but autocannon shells aren’t.

Confirmed with the rest of the squad, a courier job for data and a small cargo run of medicines to a system close by. Gate connection up and running, I confirmed the job and filled the details. Easy to miss between the larger kiosks, a woman in rags sat behind a table covered in weapon parts. Burnt, damaged, unusable, many of the parts would pass as salvage to anyone without the tools to repair them. The woman glanced at me as I looked through the parts.

“See anything you like?” She leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms as the light hit her face, revealing a burn mark across it. “Most of the stuff is useless to the builders around here, too damaged.”

“Do you have a revolver cylinder?”

“A few, yes, what caliber?”

“.44.”

“Going with the classic, I see… Gimme a moment.” She turned around and dug around the cardboard box next to her, finally picking up a cylinder from it and placing it on the table before me.

“There, 50 credits and it’s yours.”

Mild scrapes, but otherwise fine. The Empire reward had contained a small amount of credits amongst everything else, the balance on my end sat around 250 after it had been shared to Valkyrie and Nine. Shake of hands, confirm the sale and credits transferred, I left with the cylinder in my pocket.

“Pleasure doing business.”

Back at the ship, the orange suited man had confirmed the loading of the cargo and fuel; all we had to do was get it to its destination in one piece. Cylinder secured in the armory with the gun, I sat down in the pilot’s seat and went through the preflight checks. Switches hot, the engines spooled up and the cooling systems kicked in, status showing up green on the HUD as we were given the all clear for takeoff.

Stick with the limited speed while in the access corridor; speed up once out of it, the instruments steady and the tank full as I pushed the throttle forward and felt the acceleration push me into the seat. Soon enough in orbit, the navigation systems made it easier to find the gate and know how far it actually was. The sense of scale gets messed up when you’re sitting in the pilot’s seat, everything looks small and close by but the distances are vast and everything is massive.

Hell, even this ship is larger than I think it is. The crew compartment in the back can sit around twelve passengers and the cargo bay fits an ATV along with the few crates we currently have in there.

Back to the task, we approached the gate, even while sitting at 10 kilometers away several larger ships paled in contrast. Signals crossing over everywhere, requests and adverts for those without the drives to get through the gate, the flight control guided us to the correct position for passing through as an electric mist formed between the gate segments.

The ship shook lightly as sparks formed amidst the mist, hit a few more switches on the panel above me and turn the key, Rapidly speeding up spooling from the drives, I lifted the safety cage off the button on my throttle and waited for the green light.

“Atlas, you’re cleared for gate travel. See you on the other side.”

Hit the button, sparks from the gate matched with the ship as it was pulled in. Spark in the dark, the acceleration was heavier than with the normal engines, but stabilized soon after we were in witch space.

Short flight through the darkness, dot of light approaching rapidly from it before the mist started forming around the ship again, the flash happened again and we were in the other system. Could have gone worse, the ship felt a bit heavy before I turned the drives off and switched us back to normal engines.

“Welcome to ZG-522, Atlas.”

“Thank you Control, Atlas resuming own navigation.”

“Skies are clear, safe travels.”

White star, the navigation panel showed a few targets; amongst them was our target, an outpost on nearby planet’s surface. Earthlike, breathing shouldn’t be an issue, we took the short time we had been in the black as enough for the day and headed to the surface.

Storms brewing.

Hi again. So it took me a while to regain my creativity after the last post, but now I have an idea on where to take this short act.

Thank you all for the follows and likes, see you in the next one. Harry

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Yu-Gi-Oh!: Renegade

Chapter Two: Dragon vs Phoenix Part 1-

Just as Yuko reached her garage in Underground City, the metal door to it slid open, a small figure bursting out. "Yuko's back!" The shout of a tiny but loud voice rang out, the small figure bolting towards her. Yuko couldn't help but smile as she moved the kickstand down with her foot, setting the old Duel Runner down and bending down, extending her arms just in time to catch the child in front of her. Giggles left the child's mouth as Yuko gave the young one a big hug before smiling down at the six year old in her arms.

The child was one that Yuko had known since the youngster was a baby, having been raised by the same foster mother. The child's name was Holden, a young boy left on the steps of their foster mother's home with a right arm missing. Thanks to Yuko's older brother, Holden had a metal arm in place of his missing limb, however it did have a tendency to act up from time to time. Since Yuko had first held the little boy, they'd grown attached to each other, so much so that Holden was practically Yuko's little brother. Big green eyes met her own, shinning in happiness with the biggest smile. Holden's small head was covered by dark brown hair that hung in his eyes, and Yuko was reminded that at some point she needed to take him to get his hair at least trimmed out of his little face. There was a bandage over the bridge of his little nose, as well as one on his left cheek, a reminder of just how clumsy the poor kid really was.

If Yuko had been paying attention, she would have seen the rest of her chosen family running out to join them. "Big sister, did you get all the parts you needed to finish your project?" Holden asked, practically bouncing in Yuko's arms with excitement. Yuko nodded in response with a smile and gently patted the Duel Runner beside her with her gloved hand. "That's not the only thing I found." She told the young boy, turning his attention to it. Holden's little jaw dropped, making Yuko laugh as the boy gaped in awe at what he was seeing.

"Is that the Phoenix Whirlwind?" Yuko turned her attention to a girl around her age. Since no one knew her true name, she had been called Raven as a joke and it had stuck with her. What gave her the nickname was her raven-black hair, the girl's eyes a warm, dark chocolate brown. In response to her friend's question, Yuko nodded. "They got him... I was hoping the rumors about Jack Atlas getting caught by the Chasers were wrong but..." Raven cut herself off, not wanting to finish the horrifying sentence in front of Holden, who was innocently blinking at her.

"Of course they got Jack Atlas. They got Yusei, and Yusei was the champ of Turbo Duels back in his day." One of her other friends, this time a male, piped up. He had a slim, but athletic build, short jet black hair, his eyes being a striking crimson red that could be warm with kindness or ablaze with hatred depending on who you were.

"But, Adom, what if Jack was able to get away and crashed his Duel Runner so they would never find him?" Holden asked before looking up at Yuko with his big green eyes, a determination there that caused a smile to come to Yuko's face. "It's possible, isn't it, Big Sis?" Yuko nodded in confirmation.

"It's possible all right, Holden." Yuko replied before noticing the look on Adom's face. "What? He's got a point." Yuko shrugged at him.

"Even if Jack managed to away from the Chasers, -and that's a very big if- he's more than likely dead by now or a really, really old man. But, we'll argue about that more later. Let's get this inside before Chaser Rejects see it." Raven put in, Yuko standing to full height as she, Raven and Adom worked together to wheel the old, broken down Duel Runner into the garage. Hilariously, little Holden marched in front of them, acting like the little leader of a marching band. Yuko's shoulders shook in laughter as she pushed the Duel Runner, eventually getting it inside where the rest of her friends were waiting for her. Her other two friends were both male, muscular in stature, and both tall. One had piercing cobalt blue eyes with dark red hair that made him stand out like a sore thumb, meanwhile the other had golden blond hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. The boys watched as Holden led the way into the garage with the older three teenagers behind him. As Holden raced off to grab Yuko's tool box, the two boys closed the metal garage door, the outside of which had been spray painted with a jade green phoenix rising from the ashes, the symbol of the 5 friends....

"Any luck on finding the parts you needed?" The blond, Jacob, asked Yuko. Yuko nodded in response.

"I have all the parts I need to finish it today." She answered him, putting the kick stand on the Duel Runner down and letting the old Duel Runner rest as she began walking over to her work desk in one of the corners.

"Will it work?" The redhead, Isaac, asked her, a brow raising.

"I'm hoping it will. If it does, this'll change dueling as we know it." Yuko answered as she removed her messenger bag from  her shoulders.

"It'll definitely work, Big Sis!" Holden excitedly told her as he came back into the room, setting Yuko's tool box down on the work table next to her. Yuko smiled down at him in thanks and ruffled his hair, making him grin.

"How was business while I was away?" Yuko asked. Being the main prosthetic mechanic in Underground City meant that Yuko had her own shop, the base where every and all repairs and replacements took place.... Part of which was the garage they were currently in.

"Only a couple people came in, mostly the old geezers again... All they really needed was the joints on their prosthetics oiled... Is it me, or is DracTech's prosthetic quality going downhill?" Jacob asked. Yuko shrugged.

"That or they're just giving us the ones that barely work." Yuko answered as she opened a drawer, pulling out the unfinished Duel Disk and setting it on the desk in front of her.

"Figures. In the past month alone, business has been extremely busy when you're here." Isacc reminded her as she pulled out the parts she had gathered and began fixing the ones that needed minor repairs before the parts were put in the Duel Disk.

"Something shady's going on, and I don't like it." Raven added, keeping an eye on Holden as the boy pulled up a chair next to Yuko to watch her work.

"It's Dracnus, of course something shady's going on." Adom pointed out. "The guy might as well be a coin, there's two sides to him."

"A face that he shows to the people of Cypher City, and then there's his true face... I still can't believe he manipulated people into thinking that the destruction of Daedalus Bridge was caused by Duelists." Isaac told them.

"Anything to avoid blame being put on himself. If he had to, he'd blame everyone that worked for him before he took the fall. Dracnus is a coward." Jacob replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"One of these days, we'll show everyone the truth." Raven put in.

"That won't be enough." Yuko spoke up, having stayed silent until that point. "If we expose what he did to everyone without taking him down first, we run the risk of him covering it up and labeling it as propaganda."

"Propaganda? Yuko, we're not in a war." Adom told her.

"Not yet, we're not." Yuko stopped what she was doing to look at Adom for a moment.

"Look around, you two. We may not be locked in a war with Cypher City, but we are fighting our own war down here... Ever since Chasers started losing Derby Duels and retreating down here, Duel Gangs started resurfacing and taking over Underground City. It's been an all out war between Duel Gangs ever since the first five came down here about 15 years ago." Isaac added in.

"It hasn't been much of a war nowadays. Ever since the Dragon Kings first showed up in Underground City, they've taken over almost all of it, taking down the rival gangs along the way." Raven's brows furrowed as she spoke, reminding everyone of the tyrant Duel Gang that ruled the streets for years.

"For sure... The Dragon Kings are getting stronger, and it doesn't help that they're the Duel Gang that normally recruits the recent ex-Chasers. Besides, they're upholding the same rules Dracnus and the Chasers enforce topside." Jacob added in. "They take away and destroy any Duel Disk they find, and any duelist that loses against them loses their deck."

"Which is why the design I created for this Duel Disk is so crucial." Yuko said, having resumed her work while the others were talking, not looking up from her work as she talked. "If it works, this prototype'll make it easier on us duelists to hide in plain sight."

"Yeah... If  it works." Isaac retorted.

"Don't be so negative!" Everybody turned to look at Holden, seeing a little scowl on his face. "It's gonna work, I just know it!" His little arms quickly moved up and down, the force causing the chair to tip backwards a bit. Yuko quickly put her hand behind Holden's chair, catching it with one hand before it could hit the ground and returning it to the correct position.

"I hope you're right, little man. It'd be a step towards reviving Duel Monsters for the people if this is complete." Jacob told him, everyone stopping as they heard the last part click into place. Holden's green eyes widened in excitement, looking up at Yuko. Yuko placed the bottom cover on.

"Speaking of which, time to test it." Yuko replied as she rose to her feet again, clipping the brand new Duel Disk to her gloved arm.

"Moment of truth." Raven added, crossing her fingers. Yuko nodded in reply and tapped the engraving of a phoenix on the underside of the Duel Disk. Just as she had hoped, the Duel Disk's nanotechnology activated, transforming from a Duel Disk into a small, silver ID bracelet with the engraving of a phoenix rising from the ashes. All the teenagers except for Yuko went wide eyed, meanwhile Holden could barely contain his excitement.

"It works, it works!" Holden exclaimed excitedly, jumping down from the chair and jumping up and down in excitement.

"The transition part at least... That was a lot smoother than I thought it'd be." Yuko told him.

"Looks like you programmed it just right... You still gotta test it in a Duel though, don't you?" Raven asked. Yuko nodded in reply.

"Yeah, but that'll be later on... Right now, I gotta get up to the shop before more people come in." Yuko replied as she cleaned up the spare parts. Just as she reached for her tools, a little bell went off, letting Yuko know that someone was in the shop and waiting to be helped. "Shoot... You see?" Yuko asked her friends before turning to put away her tools... Only to find little Holden already ahead of her, smiling up at her for a second. Yuko smiled down at him. "What would I do without you, little man?" She asked him, rufflinng his hair a bit before working together with him to put away the rest of the tools. Once they were picked up, Yuko grabbed her tool box and went up the stairs to put it back in it's proper place. "Be right with you!" She called to the customer, almost stopping in her tracks when she heard a familiar chuckle.

"No need to rush, Yuko. You know I don't mind waitin' for you." The old man's voice was deeper than anybody would have remembered him, his once blue-green hair had gone completely gray, but it was still pulled back in the high ponytail with the shoulder length side bangs it had been in when he was a boy, his green eyes still twinkling with the mischief of his childhood years. Yuko smiled as soon as she saw him, moving around the counter to embrace the old man.

"It's good to see you, Pops." She told him, feeling him hug her back. The old man before her was only known as Pops, the nickname he often told the duelists he mentored to call him. His real name, he kept secret, though no one was sure why. "So, how are you doing? Everything okay?" Yuko asked.

"Whelp, I'm 110 years old, and I'm feeling pretty dang good." Pops grinned before a cough racked him, making Yuko's brow furrow in worry. "Heh, that is... As good as an old man my age can feel, anyway." Pops replied. "I just came by to check on you and your friends."

"We're doing just fine, Pops, don't you worry." Yuko smiled slightly.

"Aw, come on now, you know this old man can't help it. You six are like the sons and daughters I never had. Hey now, I gotta ask you, Yuko... How's that new Duel Disk design coming along?" Pops asked, dropping his voice to a whisper and leaning in close to Yuko so she could hear him. Pops had known about Yuko's Duel Disk design since day one, and regularly checked up on it's progress, whether it was a quick drop by like that day or if he came in for a service to one of the prosthetics he had. It was a secret he took great joy in knowing. Yuko replied with a smile, showing him the ID bracelet on her left wrist. Pops' green eyes went wide, lit up with excitement. "Is that..." He started to ask. Yuko nodded, her smile growing. "I can't wait to see it in action, my girl."

"Hopefully it'll actually work during a duel." Yuko sweatdropped nervously, rubbing the back of her neck with a hand.

"It will, I know it." Pops told her, making her smile.

"There's something I wanna show you, Pops, something I found in the Junkyard while getting the last parts for my Duel Disk." Yuko told him. Pops tipped his head to one side curiously, seeing Yuko's friends walk into the shop from the back out of the corner of his eye.

"What is it?" He asked.

"If you wanna show him, we'll watch the shop until you get back, Yuko." Isaac told her. Yuko nodded in thanks and smiled at Pops.

"How about I show you right now?" Yuko asked him, Pops chuckling and going down to the garage with her. Yuko slowly descended down the steps, helping Pops down as well. When Pops stepped down the last step, he looked up to thank Yuko, but his words stopped dead in his throat with what he saw. Noticing Pops' silence, Yuko turned a worried glance to Pops. "Pops?" She asked, watching as the old man walked over to the old Duel Runner, feeling like the young man he was the last time he saw the Phoenix Whirlwind in action. He gingerly placed a shaking hand on the Duel Runner's side.

"It's been 99 years, 4 months and 27 days since the last time I saw this old girl..." He spoke, his voice shaking. Yuko approached Pops, gently placing a hand over his shoulder.

"This is my next task to complete, Pops... Restoring her. Hopefully, one day I can use her to get the people of Underground City reunited with the people of Cypher City." Yuko told him. She felt Pops place a shaky hand over hers as he turned to her.

"I hope I'm still around when it's finished, Yuko. If I'm being completely honest, this Duel Runner is the only thing left that still reminds me of the good times with my friends... and my sister." Pops told her.

"Your sister?" Yuko asked. Pops nodded.

"My younger twin... We were separated when the Hunt was ordered. If I had to guess where she might be, I'd guess the Duel Spirit world, but I'm not certain." Pops told her, gently squeezing her hand.

"You must miss her." Yuko replied. Pops nodded in reply.

"More than you know, my girl... More than you know." Pops answered before looking at the Duel Runner again. "Have you run a diagnostic yet?" Pops asked. Yuko shook her head.

"I gotta run the shop before I can do anything with it." Yuko told him honestly, causing Pops to raise an eyebrow. Yuko blinked at the sudden shift in behavior. "What?"

"Have you been pulling all nighters again, young lady?" Pops asked, his voice getting a little stern which made Yuko blink and look sheepish.

"In order to finish anything I start around here, I don't really have a choice. Especially recently, it's been so busy..."

"That's no excuse for not getting enough rest, Yuko Adonis. My word, you remind me of someone I used to know. Always wanting to do things himself until it landed him in a hospital bed over and over. That'll be you if you don't get enough rest." He scolded her.

"I'll get some rest tonight, Pops, I promise!" Yuko told him. Pops deadpanned.

"Everytime I scold you about it, you say that. You never seem to follow through." Pops replied.

"You know me, Pops, I don't like leaving anything unfinished." Yuko responded, blinking when Pops raised an eyebrow at her.

"Swear to me on your brother's grave that you'll get some sleep tonight." Pops told her, making her flinch. "You know your brother would force you to go to bed if he were here, no matter how stubborn you can get." Yuko sighed in defeat.

"Fine, Pops. I promise on my brother's grave that I'll get some sleep tonight." Yuko promised. Pops smiled.

"Good." He replied before going back upstairs with Yuko.

Just as Yuko came back upstairs with Pops, the door to the store opened, a little girl bursting through. She looked only a couple years younger than Holden, 3 at the youngest, with the biggest brown eyes and sapphire blue hair in tangles. The little girl hid behind Holden, her little face pale on fear and her entire body violently shaking. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy, little one. You're safe." Isaac tried calming her down, but she only hid behind Holden more. The door burst open again, this time a group of 5 young men entering the shop. All of them were as muscular as Isaac and Jacob, a bit taller with varying colored short hair and different eye colors. But, each of them had a taunting smirk on their face, a tattoo of a roaring dragon on their left arms.

"The Dragon Kings." Adom growled out. Yuko's jade flecked sapphire eyes turned as cold as ice as they narrowed into a threatening glare.

"Holden, take her downstairs and stay there until one of us comes and gets you." Yuko ordered Holden. Holden nodded and gently took the little girl's hand, reassuring her as they walked down the stairs together. Once the kids were downstairs, Yuko parkoured over the counter. "You boys better explain what you're doing in Jade Phoenix territory." She snarled, a threat in her tone.

"We don't want any trouble, just the kid that ran in here." The leader smirked, his hazel eyes showing an overconfidence that was often the downfall of many rivals of the Legendary Duelists.

"You mean the little girl that's scared half to death?" Jacob asked.

"She's got a Duel Monsters deck, morons." One of the thugs told them.

"You know the rules, no one's allowed to have a deck but us." A second one told them, walking toward Yuko to push past her. Yuko punched him in the gut. When he bent over to hold his stomach, she kicked him across the face, causing him to go crashing into his buddies.

"Too bad. You want the kid, you go through me. If I win, you get out of my turf and never show your ugly mugs around here again." Yuko barked.

"That so? What's in it for me if I win?" The leader snarled back.

"This becomes your turf. You'll have all of Underground City to yourselves... We're the only Duel Gang left standing in your way, right?" Yuko asked. The leader smirked.

"Oh no, I want something more than control over the last bit of Underground City that's left... I hear you have a rare card by the name of Phoenix Mage." With his words, Adom's eyes widened while Yuko's narrowed. "If I win, I gain control of your turf and your card." The leader smirked. "I'll even put up my most rare card as an ante, just to make things even. If I somehow lose the Duel, it's all yours. It's just too bad Phoenix Mage is the only card you have. According to the rules, you can't have a deck, let alone a Duel Disk." In response, Yuko held up her entire deck, making the eyes of the 5 members of the Dragon Kings widen.

"As you boys know all too well..." Yuko pressed the phoenix engraving on her ID bracelet, the nanotechnology once again activating and transforming from a bracelet into the Duel Disk Yuko had designed and built herself. "Rules were made to be broken." Yuko told them as she put her deck in place, all of the cards being shuffled. "If you boys want a Duel, let's head outside so I can use you for practice." The leader glared at her.

"Practice? You'll be sorry!" The leader stormed out of the shop, Yuko behind him.

"Be careful, Yuko." Pops warned her. Yuko merely smiled at the old man before glaring at her opponent.

"Kick her butt, Yang!" One of the boys cheered for his friend, the other three following suit.

"Age before beauty." Yuko taunted, causing her friends to snigger. The leader glared at her.

Yuko Adonis: 8000 Cornelius Yang: 8000

"I'll wipe that stupid smirk off your face starting now! I'll kick things off by setting a card and ending my turn with a facedown."

Yuko Adonis: 8000 Cornelius Yang: 8000

"With that, it's my turn. I draw!" Yuko drew a card and looked at her hand. 'All right, not a bad hand to start off with: Amazoness Chain Master, Shield Crush, Amazoness Sage, United We Stand, Swift Scarecrow, and The Warrior Returning Alive.' Yuko thought. "All right, I'll start by summoning Amazoness Sage in attack mode! Next, I'll activate the spell card Shield Crush, which destroys any defense position monster of my choosing, and I choose your facedown monster!" Yang grimmaced as his monster was destroyed, glaring at her. "Next, I'll equip my Amazoness Sage with United We Stand, which gives my Sage an additional 800 attack and defense points for every faceup monster I control (2200 attack points/ 1500 defense points). Now, I'll attack you directly with Amazoness Sage!"

"Not so fast! I activate the trap card, Negate Attack! This stops your attack dead in it's tracks." Yang smirked.

"Don't think this is the end of the Duel, Yang. I end my turn with a facedown." Yuko replied.

"I thought so, I draw!" Yang exclaimed, drawing a card.

Yuko Adonis: 8000 Cornelius Yang: 8000

"I summon Archfiend Soldier in attack mode!" Yang shouted.

"1900 attack points?" Jacob gulped.

"Yep, and that's not all! I equip my Archfiend Soldier with the Sword of Deep-Seated, giving my Archfiend an additional 500 attack and defense points!" Yang shouted. "Now that I have everything I need to destroy you... Archfiend Soldier, attack Amazoness Sage!" Yang commanded.

"You've got her now! With 2400 attack points, Archfiend Soldier easily overpowers her Amazoness Sage!" His friends cheered.

"You mean he would have.... If I didn't activate the special ability of Swift Scarecrow from my hand. By discarding it to the Graveyard, I can negate your attack, and end your Battle Phase." Yuko replied. Yang growled.

"I end my turn, but don't think you're going to win this." Yang told her.

"Then it's my move now! I draw!" Yuko drew another card, a smile coming to her face when she saw the card she drew. "I summon Amazoness Chain Master in attack mode, and since I summoned her successfully, my Amazoness Sage gains an additional 800 attack and defense points." Yang's eyes widened as Amazoness Sage's attack and defense points rose from 2200 attack points and 1500 defense points to 3000 attack points and 2300 defense points.

"3000 attack points?!" Yang exclaimed.

"Wow, I'm surprised you can do math that fast. But, I'm not done, because now I'm activating the spell card Black Pendant from my hand, which allows the monster I equip it to an additional 500 attack points, and I'm equipping it to my Amazoness Chain Master!" Yuko smirked.

"That means Amazoness Chain Master now has 2000 attack points!" Isaac exclaimed. Yang's face paled.

"Now, I attack your Archfiend Soldier with my Amazoness Sage!" Yuko exclaimed. Yang grunted as he took 600 points in damage. He growled. "Oh, I'm not done yet, Yang. I still have one more attack to make. Amazoness Chain Master, your turn! Attack Yang directly!" Yuko exclaimed, Yang exclaiming in pain as he lost 2000 more life points. Yuko smirked. "And with that, I end my turn. Let's see what you've got for me this turn."

Yuko Adnois: 8000 Cornelius Yang: 5400

"I draw!" Yang drew a card, looking at it. He smirked before his eyes turned to Yuko. "I activate the spell card, Mind Control! With this, I take control of your Amazoness Sage! It's just too bad I can't attack or tribute her." Yang laughed, the spell card activating and switching Amazoness Sage to Yang's side of the field.

"Even if you could, she loses 800 attack and defense points due to her being the only card on your side of the field." Yuko pointed out.

"She won't be for long. I summon my level 4 monster, Dragon Hunter!" Yang told her. "And with 2200 attack points, this is gonna hurt... Dragon Hunter, take out her Amazoness Chain Master!" A grunt left Yuko as she lost 200 Life Points.

"You better be ready to pay the price for that move, because now I'm activating Black Pendant's second ability. When it's destroyed, you lose 500 Life Points!" Yuko yelled.

"What?!" Yang asked, his voice going up a pitch before he lost 500 Life Points. He growled. "I end my turn, and Amazoness Sage returns to you due to the effect of Mind Control."

Yuko Adonis: 7800 Cornelius Yang: 4900

"Then it's my turn! I draw!" Yuko shouted as she drew a card. She smiled when she saw the card she had drawn and looked up at Yang. "Before I do anything more, I'll activate my facedown card: The Warrior Returning Alive. With this card, I'm allowed to bring a Warrior- type monster back from the Graveyard and add it to my hand, and thanks to you, there's only one Warrior Type monster! Return to my hand Amazoness Chain Master!" Yuko shouted, the card returning to her hand. "Now, I summon Amazoness Swords Woman in attack mode, and due to my United We Stand spell card still equipped to Amazoness Sage, her attack returns to 3000, her defense rising to 2300."

"Uh-oh..." All of Yang's friends said at the same time.

"Uh-oh is right! Amazoness Sage, you're up first! Attack Yang's Dragon Hunter!" Yuko yelled. Yang groaned in pain as he lost 800 Life Points. "Now, Amazoness Swords Woman, your turn! Attack Yang directly!" Yang cried out as he lost 1500 more Life Points. He growled.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Yang yelled.

"From where I'm standing, you're the one about to pay! You're about to pay for picking on a toddler! You've got 2600 Life Points left, whatever you're about to do during this move, I'd make it count if I were you! If I happen to summon something strong next turn, your goose is as good as cooked!" Yuko yelled.

Yuko Adonis: 7800 Cornelius Yang: 2600

"I draw!" Yang drew, a smirk crossing his face when he saw the card before he started laughing. "This duel's gonna end real soon, but I'll just end my turn with a facedown! You're up, Birdie!"

Yuko Adonis: 7800 Cornelius Yang: 2600

"My move then! I draw!" Yuko yelled. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Phoenix Mage. 'What the? Why now?' She thought before shaking it off. "I summon Amazoness Chain Master to the field, which increases my Amazoness Sage's attack points to 3800 due to the effect of United We Stand. Now, I attack you directly with Amazoness Sage! Amazoness Sage, time to end this!" Yuko yelled, getting thrown off when Yang started laughing.

"That's what I was hoping you'd do! I activate the Trap Card: Mirror Cylinder! This handy little trap takes your attack and directs it back at you, destroying all your monsters along the way and inflicting damage equal to the combined attack points! Say goodbye to 6800 of your Life Points, Yuko!" Yang laughed as the trap activated, inflicting the damage. Yuko cried out as she was thrown backward by the force of the attack, hitting the ground hard with a groan.

"Yuko!" Raven cried.

"She's only got 1000 Life Points left!" Jacob shouted, his eyes wide.

"I can't watch!" Isaac replied, covering his face with his hands.

"Quitting on your friend already?" Pops asked, directing the other's attention to him. For a majority of the Duel, he'd been silent, smiling with Yuko's moves, but chose now to speak up. "You forget that I'm not the only one who taught her how to Duel. You remember her older brother Liam? That young man never gave up until the final Life Point was lost, and Yuko's no different. Have more faith in her. She may have lost a good chunk of her Life Points, but this isn't over." Pops told them, scolding them slightly.

"You've got a point, Pops...." Adom trailed off. "Liam was one heck of a duelist, and he was able to pass some of his tricks onto Yuko before he passed away. Yuko's got just as much determination as he did, if not more..." Pops nodded.

"All she has to do is believe in her deck." Pops replied. 'Let's just hope it'll be enough...' He thought.

Yuko Adonis: 1000                 Cornelius Yang: 2600

To Be Continued.....

[ariesgamesandminis]

Massive Restock for BattleTech!

MASSIVE restock for BattleTech from Iron Wind Metals...and this isn't even ALL of it!

PLEASE REMEMBER...I'm out with my kids this weekend for some fun before they go back to school, so there will possibly be a delay in shipping depending on order volume.

20-209 Rifleman RFL-8D 20-217 Crusader CDR-5K 20-223 Saladin Hover Tank (2) 20-235 Partisan Heavy Tank 20-264 Marauder MAD-9S / MAD-5R 20-279 Clint IIC 20-290 Ajax Assault Tank Prime 20-305 Scorpion Light Tank (2) 20-346 Crimson Hawk 20-382 Heavy LRM Carrier 20-397 Orion ON1-M 20-424 Bombardier BMB-12D 20-450 Hiryo Armored Infantry Transport 20-451 Copper SecurityMech CBK-6 20-482 Xanthos XNT-30 20-496 Thunderbird TRB-D36 Aero Fighter 20-497 Moltke M1 Main Battle Tank 20-5007 Turhan Wheeled Vehicle (2) 20-5016 Apollo APL-1M 20-5021 Deimos 20-5023 Hyena Salvage Mech HYN-4A 20-5025 Mad Cat IV "Savage Wolf" 20-5041 Nyx NX-80 / NX-90 20-5049 Carnivore Assault Tank (Standard) (2) 20-5074 Dola DOL-1A1 20-5082 Gyrfalcon (Standard) 20-5088 Hollander III BZK-D1 20-5093 Lament LMT-2R 20-5096 Dragon II DRG-11K 20-5098 Black Knight BLK-NT-5H 20-5106 Tiburon 20-5110 Carronade CRN-7M 20-5114 Zeus-X ZEU-X4 20-5121 Lu Wei Bing LN-4B 20-5122 Tenshi TN-10-O Prime 20-5123 Wendigo Prime 20-5126 Gun GN-2O Prime 20-5127 Flashman FLS-8K Resculpt 20-5131 Centurion CN11-O Prime 20-5132 Templar III TLR2-O Prime 20-5133 Gotterdammerung GTD-20S 20-5134 Juliano JLN-5A 20-5148 Flea FLE-14 20-5151 Avalanche AVL-1O 20-5155 Cougar Prime / B Resculpt 20-5163 Mongoose Gunslinger MON-66GX 20-5167 Raven II RVN-5X 20-5169 Shadow Hawk SHD-2Hb 20-5170 Ryoken III-XP (Skinwalker) Prime 20-5173 Scourge SCG-WF1 20-5182 Catapult CPLT-C1 / K2 20-5183 Locust LCT-1V / 1E / 1Vb Royal 20-5184 Griffin GRF-1N 20-600RE Vulture "Mad Dog" Prime 20-603RE Mad Cat "Timber Wolf" Prime 20-695 Fire Falcon Prime 20-706 CHIPPEWA FIGHTER CHP-W5 20-723 Warrior Helicopter H-7 20-739 Ontos Heavy Tank (2) 20-741 J-27 Tow Vehicle 20-747 Zhukov Heavy Tank (2) 20-774 Black Knight BL-6-KNT 20-777 Falcon FLC-4N 20-779 Manticore Heavy Tank (2) 20-798 Hammer HMR-3M 20-800 Hex Bases (4) 20-800 Hex Bases (4) 20-802 Mongoose MON-66 20-803 Hoplite HOP-4D 20-806 Hunter Missile Tank (2) 20-822 Demolisher Tank 20-865 Commando COM-2D 20-869 Jenner JR7-D 20-876 Dervish DV-6M 20-879 Clint CLNT-2-3T 20-898 Imp IMP-3E 20-899 King Crab KGC-000 20-932 Vindicator VND-1R 20-976 Hellion Prime 20-983 Mad Cat Mk II 20-991 Shadow Cat Prime AR20-246 EAGLE EGL-2M AR20-248 DONAR ASSAULT VTOL AR20-249 CRONUS CNS-5M AR20-294 MAGI INFANTRY SUPPORT VEHICLE AR20-325 Morpheus MRP-3S AR20-344 Flashfire FLS-P5 AR20-349 HACHIWARA AR20-363 Koto KTO-2A AR20-367 SPIDER SDR-7K / SDR-7K2 AR20-405 Great Turtle GTR-1 AR20-418 Huron Warrior HUR-WO-R4L AR20-421 Ronin SA-RN7 AR20-429 Mantis MTS-S AR20-445 Longshot LNG-2 AR20-466 Neptune Submarine (full and waterline) AR20-637 MANTIS LIGHT ATTACK VTOL (2) AR20-655 Fire Scorpion AR20-720 THRUSH AR20-745 SKULKER WHEELED SCOUT VEHICLE AR20-785 DEMOLISHER II HEAVY TANK AR20-790 SALAMANDER PPR-5S     AR20-931 URBAN MECH IIC     AR20-943 ARCTIC WOLF AR20-957 LAO HU  LHU-2B   AR20-977 CESTUS CTS-6Y   AR20-985 ARCAS 20-9122 Battleforce Hex Base 99-201 Large Flat Top Hex Base #1 99-202 Large Flat Top Hex Base #2 99-203 Extra Large Flat Top Hex Base ATLASLTD-12 Limited Edition Jumping Atlas BT-004 Afreet Battle Armor BT-005 Grenadier Battle Armor BT-006 Phalanx Battle Armor BT-008 Void Battle Armor BT-011 Thor "Summoner" B BT-019 Leopard BT-026 Union BT-028 Cavalier Battle Armor BT-031 Infiltrator MK 2 BT-064 Trike BT-065 Minigun Cycle BT-067 Golem Battle Armor BT-129 Infiltrator Mk I Battle Armor BT-130 Hauberk Battle Armor BT-132 Clan Medium Battle Armor BT-133 Corona Battle Armor BT-160 Elemental Battle Armor Point BT-172 Prowler Tank BT-178 Jade Hawk JHK-03 BT-187 Djinn Battle Armor BT-192 Purifier BA C (2 pc) (advancing) BT-197 Aerie Battle Armor BT-198 Tengu Battle Armor BT-199 Asura Md. Battle Armor BT-200 Shedu Assault Battle Armor BT-201 Nephilim Assault Battle Armor BT-202 Rogue Bear Heavy Battle Armor BT-207 Delphyne ProtoMech BT-209 Se'irim Medium Battle Armor BT-210 Armorcast 28mm Elemental Battle Armor BT-217 Dragon's Breath BT-224 Heavy Jump Infantry BT-230 Kopis Battle Armor BT-231 Ironhold Battle Armor BT-232 Warg Battle Armor BT-234 Davion Firefighter ATV BT-239 Jump Support Infantry BT-243 XTC Marine BT-245 Heavy Infantry - Firing BT-250 Ignis Infantry Support Tank BT-251 Blood Asp A BT-252 Blood Asp E BT-253 Cauldron-Born "Ebon Jaguar" Prime BT-257 Concordat Frigate BT-260 Sprint Scout VTOL BT-269 Sling SL-1G BT-270 New Sytris Carrier BT-271 Conqueror Battle Cruiser BT-272 Davion Destroyer BT-273 Osteon D BT-276 Maxim Hover Tank (3058) BT-278 Panther PNT-9R BT-282 Pandion Combat WiGE BT-283 Svartalfa Ultra ProtoMech (Standard) BT-291 Super-Griffin GRF-2N-X BT-292 Shiro SH-2P BT-294 Hatamoto-Suna HTM-30S BT-303 Vulture Mk III Prime BT-305 Thor II Prime BT-306 Thor II B BT-311 Savior Repair Vehicle BT-312 Gun Trailers (2) BT-319 Wheeled APC BT-320 Tracked APC BT-321 Hover APC BT-322 Rifleman RFL-1N BT-326 Stinger LAM MK I STG-A1 (Air Mech) BT-335 PWWKA S-PW-1LAM (Air Mech) BT-343 Tomahawk II A BT-346 Griffin GRF-1A BT-348 Centurion CN9-D / CN9-AL Resculpt BT-349 Lament LMT-4RC BT-351 Mad Cat MK II 5 BT-363 Swiftwind Scout Car BT-364 Gabriel Hovercraft BT-369 Elemental Battle Armor (3) BT-370 Kurita Infantry (3) BT-371 Davion Infantry (3) BT-372 Savannah Master Hovercraft BT-381 Basic Inner Sphere Battle Armor (3) BT-385 Grey Death Legion Battle Armor (3) BT-387 Gnome Battle Armor (3) BT-388 Salamander Battle Armor (3) BT-390 Fa-Shih Battle Armor (3) BT-391 Fenrir Battle Armor (1) BT-393 Kage Battle Armor Squad (4) BT-395 Centurion CN9-YLW / CN9-YLW2 "Yen Lo Wang" BT-397 Gùn GN-2O A BT-399 Shadow Hawk SHD-2K BT-403 Highlander HGN-738 BT-407C Orion ON1-H Arm Sprue BT-408 Loki II A BT-411 Archer ARC-1A BT-413 Marauder Battle Armor BT-416 Testudo Siege Tank (Standard) BT-418 Saladin MK II HCV BT-419 Wolverine WVR-1R BT-425 Uziel UZL-8S BT-427 Balac Strike VTOL (Standard) & (LRM) BT-429 Catapult CPLT-C2 (Dark Age) BT-430 Wulfen H BT-434 Leonidas Battle Armor BT-437 Regulator Hovertank (Arrow IV) BT-438 Von Rohrs (Hebis) VON-4RH-5 BT-439 Black Wolf Battle Armor BT-440 Bellerophon BEL-1X BT-442 Wulfen A BT-444 Flatbed Truck (2) - Cargo & Wpn options CE-001 Primitive Shadow Hawk FT-002 Boomerang Spotter Plane FT-003 Sea Skimmer FT-005 Monitor Naval Vessel FT-008 Avatar AV1-OB FT-012 Nightsky NGS-5T FT-025 Samurai Mech Scale Fighter FT-026 Sabre Mech Scale Fighter FT-027 Gotha Mech Scale Fighter MS-001 Union Dropship OP-005 Thor B Arms (2) (from BT-11) OP-007 Thor C Left Arm (from 20-320) OP-029 Gladiator C Left Arm OP-030 Gladiator C Right Arm OP-033 Gladiator E Left Arm OP-034 Gladiator E ATM 9 OP-040 Gladiator E Torso OP-045 Black Hawk C SRM4 OP-084 Masakari Torso OP-097 Generic Missile Launcher (3) OP-098 Missile Launcher Front Panel (3) OP-099 Gauss Rifles OP-100 Ultra Autocannons OP-101 Hyper-Assult Gauss Rifles OP-102 Inner Sphere PPC's OP-103 LB-X Autocannons OP-104 Extended Range Lasers and PPC OP-105 Pulse Lasers OP-106 Small Launcher Plates OP-107 Medium Launcher Plates OP-108 Large Launcher Plates OP-109 XL Launcher Plates OP-110 XXL Launcher Plates OP-111 Inner Sphere Small, Medium, and Large Launchers OP-112 Inner Sphere XL and XXL Launchers OP-113 Clan Small, Medium, and Large Launchers OP-114 Clan XL and XXL Launchers SFB-016 Upper Stackable Steel Building 20-220C Longbow Missile Pod Sprue 20-233C Warhammer IIC Missile Sprue I 20-233D Warhammer IIC Missile Sprue II 20-317D Ostroc 4C Arms Sprue 20-325C Morpheus Left Arm 20-325D Morpheus Shoulder Pad 20-326D Loki Anti-Personal Pod Sprue (From 20-326) 20-360C Paladin Arms Sprue 20-412E Grigori Weapon Pod Sprue II 20-413B Archangel Spikes/Arm Sprue 20-432B Valiant DA Mech Legs 20-432C Valiant DA Mech Arm Sprue 20-432D Valiant DA Mech Shield Sprue 20-442B Copperhead Arm Sprue 20-453G Pariah Jump Jet Sprue (from 20-453) 20-5136 Hound HD-2F Weapon Sprue 20-603E Mad Cat (Omni) Missile Pack 20-605E Masakari (Omni) Right Arm 20-605F Masakari (Omni) Left Arm 20-610D Black Hawk (Omni) Arms 20-613C Koshi (Omni) Arm Sprue 20-616B Grand Titan TIT-N10M Right Arm 20-616C Grand Titan TIT-N10M Left Arm 20-616GN Grand Titan TIT-N10M Small Gun 20-617B Tempest TMP-3M Right Arm 20-617C Tempest TMP-3M Left Arm 20-627BTUR LRM Carrier Turret 20-699AMG Emperor EMP-6A Arm / Gun 20-779TRT Manticore Heavy Tank Turret 20-780AGN Hussar HSR-200D Arm / Gun Sprue 20-793GN Hollander BZK-F3 Gun 20-802ARM Mongoose MON-66 Arm Sprue 20-810B Hatamoto-Chi Fin / PPC Sprue 20-864ARM Hatchetman Arm Sprue 20-873FNS Spider Fins 20-888ARM Grasshopper Arm Sprue 20-969B Banshee Arm Sprue 20-987A/WP Locust Arm / Weapon Sprue 20-988ARM Phoenix Hawk Arm Sprue 20-993D Thunderbolt Arm Sprue

www.ariesgamesandminis.com

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[atlasci]

for @canefought

     the marriage is loveless, as they both expected, but they can tolerate each other well enough. █████ makes him breakfast in the mornings and they spend their evenings working for the heir that their marriage contract requires. they are... marginally pleased when the tests come back positive. arthur knows not to celebrate; he’ll be forced to send the child away, to make them live the empty life he grew up with, to give them the same scars.

      █████ goes into anaphylactic shock in the middle of her delivery and all arthur can think is how furious his parents will be with him if he loses a child. the doctors quickly discover that they can’t save both mother and child. arthur chooses the child.

     as he sits with the child in his arms, watching them wheel out a corpse still swollen with her own afterbirth, he looks down and watches green eyes see the light for the first time. he cries. a nurse comes to his side to console him, tells him that his wife is in a better place. he doesn’t have the heart to tell her that he isn’t mourning his wife--he’s mourning his son.

     a year passes. arthur refuses the help of a live-in nanny and lays off most of the staff in the manor solely to spend as much time as he can with oscar. code is written with a harness upon his chest. prosthetic repairs are interrupted to praise first steps. oscar’s first words are, at least he thinks, “occipital lobe.” he’d been reading off a medical report while oscar bounced in a walker nearby. arthur hears an earful from his commanding officer the next day for hanging up on him to teach oscar how to properly pronounce it.

          “i have given you more funding than you could possibly need for this, arthur.”

          “it’s doctor to you, general. please, let’s try to follow protocol if we can’t be civil.”

          “this isn’t about civility! you and your department are bleeding our resources dry and you have next to nothing to show for it!”

          “that’s mostly because you and the board refused my original concepts, which would have saved us time and resources--”

          “your ‘original concepts’ were unethical, arthur!”

          “doctor! three PhDs and you can’t even respect that?! let’s not forget that it’s lieutenant doctor now--!”

          “i don’t have time for this.”

     he is escorted from general james ironwood’s office by armed security. he goes without question and glares at pietro as he steps in after him. the cretin has the audacity to smile and wave as he passes.

     a week later, he’s told that he’s been demoted from project leader. the atlesian soldier project is now pietro’s, and he spends his time spouting off inane nonsense about heart, soul, family.

     arthur presents his blueprints: a towering beast of a soldier, the perfect image of man, broad-shouldered and battle-worn. pietro turns him down. arthur presents a woman, smaller and daintier, but no less weak, wicked in her gaze and sly in her smile. pietro tells him no. he whittles away at his designs and when pietro steps in with his own blueprints, arthur has to leave.

     they’re his blueprints from two weeks ago: an unassuming teenager meant to blend in with the crowd and catch enemies by surprise. the only difference is that this is a girl, not a boy.

     he’s knocked down from writing code to building parts to designing a damned wardrobe and he decides he can’t take it anymore. the only thing staying his hand when he reaches for the houndtooth’s trigger is oscar, babbling away the tune to his favorite television show’s theme song and offering giggles and smiles when he sees his father step into the room.

     arthur is woken by a cold breeze and he finds an intruder at the foot of his bed, holding oscar in her arms and singing a lullaby. he fires at her without question, but the holes in her skin close over and she simply smiles at him. “what a lovely little boy he is.” she tells him. “and so quiet; hardly a sound when i came to play.”

     her name is salem, she says. she is an acquaintance of ozpin, she says. she wants to destroy remnant, she says. “your mind has been squandered, left to rot and fester, while those undeserving bask in the glory you earned them. i think you deserve a chance to work properly. to create freely.”

     they talk. he asks her if oscar would be safe if he brought him along. she tells him the grimm would adore the cries of a child in distress. arthur feels ice settle in his stomach.

     he’ll have to kill himself. he spends a year perfecting it, stitching together blueprints from pietro’s trashed ideas to make a replica of himself. he teaches oscar what every screw means, how to mix the components needed for synthetic skin, watch closely and you’ll see that this wire works both eyes and not just one.

     he’ll have to kill himself. he spends a year searching, far away from atlas, for a mother for oscar. he refuses to leave the boy in atlas, refuses to risk his own parents sinking their claws into something so pure and beautiful, refuses to risk what might happen if this siren who calls him to the trench beyond can wrap her cold arms around him.

     the woman’s name is ████, and she doesn’t ask many questions. he researches her on his own time, finds out she suffered a string of miscarriages caused by infertility and a single stillborn. he finds out that she lives in the fields of anima, far from the kingdom and far from the school, on a farm that prides itself in grain processing and animal care. he offers her three times the amount it would cost her to spoil oscar rotten from cradle to grave and she accepts, though she tells him it’s not for the money. he only half believes her.

     oscar’s weight only seems to grow as he walks toward the door of the house, isolated but warm, in the middle of nowhere. she brings him tea and feeds him a homecooked meal. she asks him for the details he can give her about why he must do this, and he gives them. she asks if she might have permission to one day tell oscar the truth. arthur tells her, “when he’s grown, perhaps. i’ve not the slightest clue how he might react, and if it’s poorly, i would rather he not be a boy still.” she laughs. he doesn’t.

     she shows him the nursery and where she plans to eventually move him to as he grows older. she gives him a tour of the farm and names all the animals. she coos at oscar and sneaks him pieces of cake when she thinks arthur isn’t looking, and his heart aches from how perfect this will be.

     when oscar starts to yawn, he decides it’s time. ████ lets him go upstairs to the nursery by himself, knowing this will be hard. he sings a lullaby under his breath as he readies oscar for a nap. soft clothes, a blanket wrapped around him, his favorite pacifier in his mouth. he leans in toward oscar’s ear as he drifts off.

          “stay away from the academies.” he begs. “stay far away from them. don’t be come a huntsman. don’t ever fight beyond what tries to ruin your work here. stay here. grow old. forget me.” a kiss on his forehead as oscar starts to drift off.

          “i love you.”

     he is dead in twenty-four hours.

[vyraxhaalas]

Hello, my old Tumblr blog. Haven’t used you in a while. But Twitter is getting increasingly difficult to look at with the way my mental state’s been lately, and I want to write about something that I definitely would not be able to fit within 280 characters.

I’m quiet and Tired™ almost all the time anyway, so I don’t know how obvious it’s been, but something pretty traumatic happened to me in November. I’m still getting hit with aftershocks and probably will be for a while.

The gist: I was in my first car accident in November, it affected me deeply, and things haven’t yet been sorted out.

I don’t expect anyone to read the ten-thousand-character write-up I spent this morning getting out of my head, but if you want to, here it is:

So.

It's mid-November. Daylight hours are short now, so I've been habitually leaving work as early as possible so I can avoid rush-hour freeway traffic in the dark. But I can't do that today. A bunch of work has gotten piled up—I don't know how; other people were supposed to be handling some of the stuff, but it didn't get handled—and it needs to get done today. So I stay an hour overtime to make sure we meet our deadlines. It's dark when I leave, and it's started to rain. This will be the first night this year, actually, in which I’ve had to drive home in the dark.

My usual route home involves getting on I-405 and then almost immediately getting off it again to get onto WA-520. Soon after my lane joins WA-520, it turns into an HOV lane. I'm a single driver; I need to get out of the lane. And I don't have very long to do it before the HOV lane starts and I could be fined for being in it.

Changing lanes is the worst part of driving. Doing it in the dark, in the rain, during rush hour, and on a freeway is about the worst it gets. I turn on my blinker before I even move to leave my lane, and I leave it on while I check and double-check and triple-check that the lane I'm trying to get into is clear. It looks clear. I start to change lanes. I take half a second to check my blind spot one last time as I make the transition. I look back out in front of me and realize traffic is suddenly at a dead stop. I slam on my brakes. I am not fast enough.

At 5:52 p.m. on November 19, 2019, I lose the ability to say I'm a driver who's never been involved in a car accident as the front of my '05 Celica—my baby, my life-blood—slams into the back of a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas.

It's dark and it's raining and I'm in the middle of a freeway and cars are still moving by on both sides of me. The Atlas makes it to the shoulder. My car won't move. It's dark and it's raining and I'm in the middle of a freeway and cars are still moving by on both sides of me and my car will not move. I stumble through a 911 call, and then I just have to sit there in the middle of a freeway and hope I don't end up causing more accidents behind me, which could potentially involve someone rear-ending me.

Every moment feels like an eternity, so I don't know how long it actually took for the highway truck to show up to assist. All I remember, really, is how I didn't have power steering anymore and how crushing it felt that my car needed to be pushed off the road and how scared I was of how much damage it would take for the engine to be knocked out like it was.

The police report says the officer arrived at 6:10 p.m., less than twenty minutes after the collision. I'm not sure I believe it. The officer arrives, and she's decent enough as she explains that I'm by default at fault in this case and that I'm getting served with a ticket. It's hard to tell if the tiny bit of sympathy was real or just a practiced response to dealing with a woman who's clearly shaken and has obviously been crying, but I appreciate it. I don't appreciate that the law says someone must be ticketed. I'm notorious for bothering family members by leaving “too much” space between me and the vehicle in front of me, so despite the officer's gentle delivery, getting a ticket for “following too close” still feels like a kick in the teeth on top of the evisceration that is the knowledge of the state of my car.

Since I don't have a dashcam to figure out what actually went wrong and I drive a Hot Wheels car that you would look at and guess is never driven below the speed limit, I assume everyone else involved—the officer, the other driver, everyone who had to deal with my dead car blocking a freeway lane for a few minutes—believes that I'm a reckless idiot.

The officer calls a tow truck for me, and soon she and the Atlas are gone. It's just me then, sitting in my dead car on the shoulder of WA-520 while other cars zip by at freeway speeds less then ten feet away. I fill the time by being on the phone with family members who were probably five or ten minutes away half an hour ago, but now I won't be home until sometime around 8:00. The tow-truck guy is really pleasant, though. I appreciate that (and how he tries to give me a discount for, I guess, also being pleasant to deal with; his boss doesn't allow it, but it was still a nice gesture), so I make sure to give him a big tip. He says I bought him dinner, and I hope I did.

I take the next day off work, both because I'm still rattled as hell and because I need to get my car on the path to being drivable again. I send pictures to my insurance, and they estimate at around $3,000, which is fine, because I have collision insurance. My cost will only be my max deductible of $1,000, and then my car will be fixed, and everything will be okay again. I have a phone conversation with a guy from my insurance who gets blindsided by how much of my claim I've already handled, reading off parts of his script that involve things I already did and then laughing and apologizing as he realizes that. He says that he hears about accidents of the sort I described happening all the time and agrees it's unfortunate but unavoidable that I was declared at fault.

I'm feeling a little bit better about things at this point. The view to having my car back seems clear. I just need to find a trustworthy collision-repair shop. I get a recommendation from my mechanic, and we get my car dropped off with the recommended shop. They say they have a backlog and won't be able to start until the end of December, but I'd rather wait than get a bad repair, so that's fine. They also say that they might be able to start taking a look at it earlier if some time opens up before then.

Around 10:00 a.m. on December 17 (which, funnily enough, is the third Tuesday of the month, just like the day of the accident), I pull out my phone while I'm at work. I don't even remember why at this point. I'm distracted away from whatever I was going to do by a notification that I have a missed called from my insurance. I think, “Oh, maybe the shop has been able to get started earlier than expected.” I get up from my desk and get into one of the noise-insulated booths strewn around the office that people can use to make phone calls. As I open up my missed calls, I see that the caller ID is not listed as just the name of my insurance, as it was on the notification. It's listed as “State Farm Total Loss.”

So now my mental state is completely shot. While I'm at work. At 10:00 a.m. I have to play phone tag and try very hard not to cry throughout my work day. At the end of that day, all I know is that State Farm will pay out about $5,000, but the total repair estimate is now “over $10,000.” I don't have any idea by how much, so I spend most of my day being terrified that it'll be not just “over” $10,000 but way over. I'm amazed I didn't go cry in a bathroom for fifteen minutes. (Instead I did that in the driver's seat of the truck I'm borrowing from a family member immediately after parking in the driveway at home.)

I call the repair shop after I manage to stop crying and get out of the truck. The final estimate is around $11,000. I tell them to go ahead with repairs. I think about how lucky I am that I have the ability to drop about $6,000 on car repairs. I think about how guilty I feel about how “privileged” I am to be able to drop $6,000 on car repairs. I remember how I was told soon after the accident by family members and a guy at the repair shop that I probably would have avoided the accident entirely had I reacted half a second faster, and I think about how bitter that tastes.

Things seem settled once again until I open some mail on the last day of my holiday break and discover that when a car is declared totaled by insurance, the state of Washington treats the car as if it's been destroyed, regardless of whether you repair it or not. Not only has my car's registration been canceled but so has its title. I'll have to redo the entire process of titling and registering my car before I can drive it again. It would have been nice if State Farm had warned me this was coming. I'm so tired.

On top of it all, it feels stupid to be so attached to a car, as if by virtue of it being an inanimate object I'm not “allowed” to be as attached to it as people get to a beloved longtime pet. Sometimes I feel like a bad person for wanting to drive a car at all, because of all the bad things associated with the American lifestyle of everyone owning and driving cars. But I'm a thousand-percent serious when I say that I was stuck crying for, like, fifteen minutes this morning, nearly two months after the accident, just because I was looking over the paperwork associated with things I still need to handle in regards to getting my car back.

Having to read the words “total loss” again. Know that my car currently is illegal to drive even if it were repaired. “Please see the enclosed notice of options available to you regarding the Insurance Destroyed Vehicle.” Looking at my car's title and thinking about having to write “TOTALED” along with the “date of loss” across it before I “surrender” it for “destruction.”

I feel stupid even posting this, because I expect people to read it and go “That's all? It's just a car. And you're wasting money fixing it—money you're lucky to have when a lot of people don't.”

But I've had this car nearly half my life. It saw me through the hardest times I've ever had. It is freedom, autonomy, escape mechanism, comfort zone. I've had breakdowns in grocery-store parking lots in this car. It's, like, a third of who am I. I feel like part of my soul has been missing since the evening of November 19, 2019, and I have been constantly two negative thoughts away from crying since then. I’m able to drive the stretch of road the accident occurred on, but rarely without at least feeling the urge to tear up. Hell, I can’t even drive the truck I’m borrowing without the experience being depressing simply because it’s not my car.

I don’t know how to end this off, because there’s no pretty pink bow to wrap it all up in yet. Things seem like they’ll turn out okay in the end, but it’s not the end yet, so who knows. I’ll just have to get through it, whatever happens. So, there you go, I guess. That's what's been going on with me lately.

[majornelson]

Construction Simulator 3 – Console Edition Is Now Available For Xbox One

Construction Simulator 3 - Console Edition

astragon Entertainment GmbH

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$14.99

Get it now

Construction Simulator 3 returns to Europe! Discover an idyllic European town in the sequel to the popular Construction Simulator 2 and Construction Simulator 2014 with officially licensed vehicles by famous brands: Caterpillar, Liebherr, CASE, Bobcat, Palfinger, STILL, MAN, ATLAS, Bell, BOMAG, WIRTGEN GmbH, JOSEPH VÖGELE AG, HAMM AG and MEILLER Kipper. Take on diverse and challenging contracts. Build and repair roads and houses. Shape the skyline of your city and expand your vehicle fleet. Discover a completely new map and unlock new contracts and vehicles with your growing company. CONSTRUCTION SIMULATOR GOES EUROPE Explore a 10km² map, lovingly designed to resemble the idyllic Alpine foothills and play in three different districts: The village where you establish your company, a spacious industrial area and a modern town. Use the time between jobs to explore the freely drivable open world. BRAND NEW FEATURES: LIEBHERR LB28 & COCKPIT VIEW Enjoy the Liebherr LB28 drilling rig for bridge construction for stable and deep foundations during bridge construction and other exciting missions! Another feature long-awaited by many fans is the cockpit view. Now you can enjoy Construction Simulator 3 from the inside of every vehicle and get a first hand feel of what it's like to take control of epic machines! OVER 50 VEHICLES BY 14 BRANDS A huge amount of vehicles is waiting for you! Choose the right machine for every job: Take on the challenges of road works and refurbishments with machines by Caterpillar, BOMAG or WIRTGEN GmbH, VÖGELE AG and HAMM AG. Available for the first time: The E55 compact excavator or the T590 compact track loader from Bobcat will make earth moving a walk in the park! Get behind the wheel of the MAN TGX truck to visit your local gravel pit or supply store and discover new heights with the Liebherr 150 EC-B 8 tower crane. OVER 70 NEW CONTRACTS Prove your skills on the job: From small Bavarian style family homes to industry warehouses and skyscrapers - more than 70 challenging contracts demand all your skills and precision in Construction Simulator 3. Refurbish crumbling roads and use your large vehicle fleet to master every challenge. Shape the skyline of Neustein through your unique work!

Product Info: Developer: weltenbauer Publisher: astragon Entertainment Website: Construction Simulator 3 Twitter: @weltenbauer3D / @astragon_GmbH

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via Xbox Live's Major Nelson https://ift.tt/2XfybsX