#Battery Management System Share

[dh5ryxhgbctgr]

Global Energy Storage Battery Management System Bms Market Conditions and Future Expectations 2024 - 2031

The Battery Management System (BMS) plays a crucial role in managing and optimizing the performance of energy storage systems. As the demand for energy storage solutions increases, the BMS market is set to grow significantly, driven by technological advancements and the rise of renewable energy sources.

Market Overview

Growth Projections

The global Battery Management System (BMS) market is estimated to reach USD 12.0 billion by 2032, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.35% from 2024 to 2032. This growth is largely attributed to the increasing demand for efficient energy storage solutions across various sectors.

Key Drivers

Rising Adoption of Renewable Energy: With a shift towards sustainability, there is an increased need for effective energy storage solutions.

Technological Advancements: Innovations in BMS technology enhance efficiency, safety, and reliability, further driving market growth.

Applications of BMS

Industrial Applications

BMS is widely used in industrial applications to manage large energy storage systems, ensuring optimal performance and safety.

Consumer Electronics

The integration of BMS in consumer electronics like smartphones and laptops helps extend battery life and improve safety.

Electric Vehicles (EVs)

As the EV market expands, the demand for sophisticated BMS solutions that can enhance battery performance and longevity continues to rise.

Challenges and Opportunities

Market Challenges

High Initial Costs: The high cost of advanced BMS can be a barrier for widespread adoption.

Complexity in Integration: Integrating BMS with existing systems can pose challenges for manufacturers.

Opportunities

Emerging Markets: Growing economies are increasingly investing in renewable energy projects, providing opportunities for BMS suppliers.

Conclusion

The Global Energy Storage Battery Management System market is poised for substantial growth in the coming years. With the increasing emphasis on energy efficiency and sustainability, BMS will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of energy storage solutions.

[adaammarks]

Automotive Battery Management System Market Set for Explosive Growth

Market Research Forecast released a new market study on Global Automotive Battery Management System Market Research report which presents a complete assessment of the Market and contains a future trend, current growth factors, attentive opinions, facts, and industry validated market data. The research study provides estimates for Global Automotive Battery Management System Forecast till 2032. The Automotive Battery Management System Marketsize was valued at USD 8.25 USD Billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 23.56 USD Billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 16.17 % during the forecast period. Key Players included in the Research Coverage of Automotive Battery Management System Market are: Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Continental AG (Germany), Toshiba Corporation (Japan), Intel Corporation (U.S.), NXP Semiconductors NV (Netherlands), Analog Devices, Inc. (U.S.), Denso Corporation (Japan), Johnson Matthey, Inc. (U.K.), LG Chem, Ltd. (South Korea), Midtronics, Inc. (U.S.) What's Trending in Market: Rising Adoption of Automation in Manufacturing to Drive Market Growth Market Growth Drivers: Increasing Demand for Forged Products in Power, Agriculture, Aerospace, and Defense to Drive Industry Expansion The Global Automotive Battery Management System Market segments and Market Data Break Down Propulsion Type: BEV, PHEV, and HEV","Vehicle Type: Passenger Cars and Commercial Vehicles GET FREE SAMPLE PDF ON Automotive Battery Management System MARKET To comprehend Global Automotive Battery Management System market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Automotive Battery Management System market is analyzed across major global regions. MR Forecast also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas.

• North America: United States, Canada, and Mexico. • South & Central America: Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Brazil. • Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa. • Europe: United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Russia. • Asia-Pacific: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia.

Extracts from Table of Contents Automotive Battery Management System Market Research Report Chapter 1 Automotive Battery Management System Market Overview Chapter 2 Global Economic Impact on Industry Chapter 3 Global Market Competition by Manufacturers Chapter 4 Global Revenue (Value, Volume*) by Region Chapter 5 Global Supplies (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions Chapter 6 Global Revenue (Value, Volume*), Price* Trend by Type Chapter 7 Global Market Analysis by Application ………………….continued More Reports:

https://marketresearchforecast.com/reports/automotive-usage-based-insurance-market-2982 For More Information Please Connect MR ForecastContact US: Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager) Market Research Forecast Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ New Jersey USA – 08837 Phone: (+1 201 565 3262, +44 161 818 8166)sales@advancemarketanalytics.com

[mi-researchreports]

The Battery Management System Market is expected to reach USD 8.87 billion in 2023 and grow at a CAGR of 4.85% to reach USD 11.24 billion by 2028. Eberspaecher Vecture Inc., BMS Powersafe, Sensata Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments Incorporated, Elithion Inc. are the major companies.

[pearlsmith25]

Battery Management System (BMS) Market: Optimizing Performance and Safety in Energy Storage

The Battery Management System (BMS) market refers to the market for electronic systems that monitor and control the charging, discharging, and overall management of rechargeable batteries. BMS plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety, reliability, and optimal performance of batteries used in various applications, including electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy storage systems, consumer electronics, and industrial applications.

The increasing demand for battery-powered devices and the growing adoption of electric vehicles are key factors driving the growth of the Battery Management System market. With the transition towards cleaner energy sources and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there has been a significant surge in the production and deployment of EVs and renewable energy storage systems, which rely on efficient battery management. Additionally, the increasing use of portable consumer electronics, such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets, has further fueled the demand for BMS solutions.

Battery Management System (BMS) Market: Key Components

Battery Control Unit (BCU): The BCU is the core component of the BMS that performs functions such as cell balancing, monitoring battery voltage, current, and temperature, and controlling charging and discharging processes.

Battery Monitoring Unit (BMU): The BMU is responsible for monitoring the state of individual battery cells, including their voltage, temperature, and state of charge (SoC). It provides real-time data to the BMS for decision-making and ensures the overall health of the battery pack.

Battery Charger: The BMS includes a battery charger that regulates the charging process, ensuring the battery is charged safely and efficiently. It controls the charging current, voltage, and charging profile based on the battery's specifications.

Human-Machine Interface (HMI): The HMI allows users to interact with the BMS, providing information on battery status, diagnostics, and alerts. It can be in the form of a display, touch screen, or software interface.

Communication Interface: BMS systems often incorporate communication interfaces such as CAN (Controller Area Network) or LIN (Local Interconnect Network) to enable data exchange between the BMS and other vehicle or system components.

Battery Management System (BMS) Market: Application Areas

Electric Vehicles (EVs): BMS plays a critical role in managing the performance, range, and longevity of batteries in electric vehicles. It ensures optimal charging, discharging, and thermal management, as well as protection against overcharging, over-discharging, and overheating.

Renewable Energy Storage Systems: BMS solutions are used in energy storage systems, such as those based on lithium-ion batteries, to manage the charging and discharging processes, optimize energy efficiency, and prolong battery life.

Consumer Electronics: BMS is employed in portable electronic devices, including smartphones, laptops, and tablets, to monitor and control the battery's performance, safety, and charging process.

Industrial Applications: BMS finds applications in various industrial sectors, such as telecommunications, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems, and grid energy storage, where batteries are used for backup power and load balancing purposes.

Battery Management System (BMS) Market: Regional Outlook

The Battery Management System market is geographically diversified, with major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific dominates the market due to the presence of major EV manufacturers and increasing investments in renewable energy projects. North America and Europe also hold significant market shares, driven by the growing adoption of EVs and supportive government initiatives promoting clean energy solutions.

Battery Management System (BMS) Market: Key Players

Some of the key players operating in the Battery Management System market include:

Nuvation Engineering Johnson Matthey Battery Systems Lithium Balance A/S Navitas Systems LLC Valence Technology Inc. AVL List GmbH Texas Instruments Inc. Renesas Electronics Corporation Eberspächer Group LG Chem Ltd.

These companies focus on product innovation, strategic partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions to strengthen their market position and offer advanced BMS solutions to their customers.

Battery Management System (BMS) Market: Future Outlook

The Battery Management System market is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years. The increasing demand for electric vehicles, the expansion of renewable energy installations, and the rising need for efficient energy storage solutions will continue to drive the adoption of BMS. Technological advancements, such as the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms in BMS, will further enhance the capabilities and performance of battery management systems, enabling safer and more efficient battery usage.

[blogaarti]

Battery Management System Market Set to Reach US$28.4 Bn by 2029: Accelerated Growth Expected

The global battery management system (BMS) market has been experiencing significant growth and is expected to continue its upward trajectory. Valued at US$4.6 billion in 2019, the BMS market is projected to reach a staggering US$28.4 billion by 2029, with a robust compound annual growth rate CAGR of 19.8% during the forecast period.

For More Industry Insights Read: https://www.fairfieldmarketresearch.com/report/battery-management-system-market

The accelerating adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is a major catalyst behind the surge in the battery management system market. As the world embraces sustainable and eco-friendly transportation solutions, the demand for efficient energy storage and battery management systems has skyrocketed. Lithium-ion batteries, renowned for their high energy and current densities, have become the go-to choice for EVs. However, ensuring the safe and optimal operation of these batteries is crucial. Battery management systems play a pivotal role in monitoring and controlling the charging and discharging processes, maximizing energy utilization while mitigating the risk of battery damage.

The battery management system market caters to a wide range of industries and applications, including energy storage, automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, telecommunication, renewable energy, and military and defense sectors. Among these, the automotive industry is expected to retain its dominance in the battery management systems segment throughout the forecast period. The growing demand for electric and hybrid vehicles drives the need for advanced battery systems. Additionally, the communication and power generation sectors rely heavily on battery management systems for backup power solutions, such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) and generators. Moreover, the deployment of high-voltage battery packs in stationary energy storage systems for electric vehicles further propels the market growth.

North America currently leads the global battery management system market, holding the largest market share. The region is home to several prominent players, including industry giants and emerging startups. The battery management system market in North America has been strongly influenced by the rapid adoption of EVs, HEVs, and favorable government initiatives. Government support and incentives for the development of hybrid and electric vehicles have significantly contributed to the market growth in this region. It is anticipated that North America will maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period.

Asia Pacific is poised to witness the highest growth rate in the battery management system market between 2022 and 2029. Countries such as China and India are experiencing a rapid shift towards electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions to address environmental concerns. Government initiatives and incentives promoting the adoption of EVs and HEVs have created substantial market opportunities for battery management systems in the region. The consumer electronics, telecom, and automotive industries in Asia Pacific also contribute significantly to the market growth.

Key players in the global battery management system market are actively pursuing strategies to strengthen their market presence. These strategies include new product launches, product upgrades, partnerships, agreements, business expansions, and mergers and acquisitions. Companies such as Analog Devices, Eberspächer, Elithion Inc, Johnson Matthey, Leclanché SA, Marelli Holdings Co., Ltd, Navitas System, LLC, Nidec Motor Corporation, Nuvation Energy, Panasonic Industry Co., Ltd, Sedemac, and Texas Instruments are at the forefront of driving innovation and advancements in battery management systems.

For More Information Visit: https://www.fairfieldmarketresearch.com/

[neha24blog]

Battery Management System Market Focusing On The Basis Of Battery Type, Topology, Application, Region And Forecast 2025: Grand View Research Inc.

San Francisco, 10 May 2023: The Report Battery Management System Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Battery Type (Lithium-Ion, Lead-acid, Nickel), By Topology (Centralized, Modular), By Application, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 – 2025 The global battery management system market size is anticipated to reach USD 12.23 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research,…

[foxbirdy]

hi!

just saw your pictures of you doing some marine biology fieldwork and i just wondered if you have any stories about the experience that you would like to share. Im in 1st year uni right now and i have no idea what im gonna specialize in other than “science!!” but i work on boats for my job right now (tallships, very cool stuff) and so marine environment work really appeals to me. If you have the time, I would love to get a picture of what the work you’re doing entails.

(What does the day-to day of marine biology research look like? What kind of stuff are you studying/information are you gathering? Whats it like? Is it awesome? feel free to answer none of these also)

thank you!!

OH, I'm jealous - it's a dream of my mine to get to work on a tallship. & I love to talk about this stuff!

In all honesty, the day-to-day changes pretty dramatically depending on what project work is available. Right now, as a student, a lot of what I'm involved in ties into coursework or research that's happening at the university! I volunteer with a couple different labs, and there's a huge variety of stuff to get in on. For example:

Last Saturday, I spent about six hours pulling otoliths and gonads out of eighty invasive roi, taape, and toau caught by local spearfishermen. Otoliths are the ear bones of fish, and similar to the rings of a tree, they have ringed annuli that can give a lot of information about the life history of the individual species. We cast these otoliths in resin, and then cut cross-sections to look at them under the microscope. The hope is that this information will help us understand when these species become reproductive, and how to control their populations.

The last several Fridays, I've been involved with an effort to collect some water quality and plankton data after a lot of heavy rain. This work was out on the boats, and we used deep and shallow drogues, YSI, light meter, secchi disk, and a couple plankton nets, moving out from the swollen rivermouth and into deeper, saltier water.

Last month, I spent a lot of time on invertebrate snorkel surveys, mostly looking for presence/absence in the nearshore. Next Tuesday, I'll be doing fish surveys in the same location. The Wednesday after I'm hopping on a wetlands restoration project & removing invasive bull grass, and a night snorkel afterwards. Next Friday is a lab day, working to process the plankton samples we've collected, and I'll be in the coral nursery afterwards. That's the really fun thing about university - there's so much different work going on, all the time!

In the summers, outside of school, that work is just as varied. I've really enjoyed having jobs that allow me to do a little bit of everything, and thus far, my supervisors have been very supportive of me in that. Here's some other projects I've gotten to work on, all within just one position:

Servicing passive monitoring systems! These are pictures of my replacing a SEABIRD logger, which has been taking a water temperature measurement every thirty seconds for the past 360 days. This helps conservation managers track heatwaves in sensitive ecosystems. We prepped new loggers with batteries and SD cards and waterproof tape to prevent biofouling, and then used snips and zipties to make the switch.

Scientific fishing! This helps get life history and population data for our target species, large pelagic fish. We collected biopsy samples, placed tags, and released primarily ahi, but also ono, and mahi. (Full disclaimer: this picture is from a subsistence fishing trip and not a scientific one, where people generally have too many things in their hands & are moving too quickly to take pictures. He was a very delicious dinner for our crew, though.)

Other marine tagging! I got to assist with bluewater cetacean tagging of several different dolphin and small whale species, and shark tagging for galapagos, blacktip reef, grey reef, and dusky sharks. Cetacean tagging was done with an air rifle, not easy at high speeds on the boat. Shark tagging was more hands-on, as we had to manually apply the tags.

Coral reef monitoring! The mission of these surveys was to track coral health through heat stress events, and to identify harmful species. I'm looking under the coral head in these pictures for crown-of-thorns starfish, one of the most urgent species threats to reefs in the Pacific.

This is the bastard. Notice the dead coral around him.

Oh I'm about to smack into the photo limit, huh. Please hold!

[unsoundedcomic]

I've heard it said recently that it isn't the winds that usually are bad about hurricanes, but rather how much water they dump out cause it seems flooding is harder to deal with. Has that been your experience as a Floridian? I've lived in the Gulf for a bit, but I've always lived in a place with a barrier island, so the rain has always bothered me more. Winds may knock off power, but I feel like we have a robust system to fix them and bring everything back, but flooding, we don't deal well with flooding. I don't know, care to share your experiences?

That's exactly right. The locals say to hide from the wind, and run from the water. It's expensive, but you can make a structure that is essentially windproof even up into the mythical Cat 6. You slap a metal roof on a block house, hurricane windows, no trees, underground wires, and there's not much that can dent you.

But water? It's all but impossible to protect yourself from. Even if you manage some kind of aqua barrier, storm surge comes up through the ground. It will come up through your foundation, bubble up through the bolts in your toilet, the seams in your terazzo. The water will lift up debris and smash them into your block house and bust your walls down. It'll make your batteries explode and ruin your wiring so it burns down what it doesn't inundate. And it'll drown you right there as you're hiding in your home.

So yeah, water is the killer and the real villain of a hurricane. It's why my county got absolutely fucked with this storm even though it never got closer than 100 miles from shore. It pushed the ocean up all around it as it passed, and there was nothing to be done.

[oceansssblue]

100 celebration — PROMPT 22 = FORCED TO SHARE HEAT/ONE BED.

PAIRING: WRECKER/F READER

WARNINGS: FREEZING TEMPERATURES, SUGESTIVE&MENTIONS OF WRECKERS BIG BOY BUT NO PROPER SEX SCENE (IMPLICIT AT THE END), PURE FLUFF 💖🔥

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"Fucking pirates".

Your low, grumpy mutter echoes in the Starfall; your body slumping down on the pilot's seat like a toy whose battery has finally ran out. A deep sigh of relief follows your closed eyes; stress and adrenaline slowly disolving inside of you. You can still feel your heartbeat pounding inside your chest. This has been too close to death to your liking; and even with Wrecker at the gunship, the Starfall has not escaped unfased.

You let yourself breathe for five too short seconds before you're jumping out of the chair to run a check on the ship's system; brow inmediately frowning at the flickering lights and the myriad of warning signs fighting for your attention.

"How bad is it?" The thump of Wrecker's steps are tired and heavy as he climbs up from the gunship, voice echoing against the walls of the Starfall as well.

You take a glance at his worried face –the scars pulling at his skin– and study the system again. You inmediately start to tincker with your ship –you know it like the palm of your hand by now–; redirecting energy and efforts where it's most needed.

"We'be been badly hit. We can't jump into hiperspace as it is" you explain, humming distractedly while you continue to work on your ship. The light's stop flickering, turned off by now, and another set of softer ones replace them. You give him the bad news, voice full of dissapointment and resignment. "It'll take us two extra weeks to get back to Pabu. Apart from that, our main worry is gonna' be the cold. I've set the emergency heat reserve on, but it'll probably only last us a day or two".

Wrecker shrugs and grins. He had almost expected to hear that they had one engine less or a wing of the ship had been completely shut down; more time alone with you and a bit of cold isn't going to kill him. Hell, the worst part of this situation is probably how worried Hunter will be; and the cost of the repairs needed.

"Are coms still available?" He asks, hopeful.

You nod tiredly; at least you can give him that...

Wrecker smiles and pats your shoulder comfortingly.

"Then we'll let them know what happened with those pirates and we'll take this as a small vacation break" he suggests, and even if you're exhausted and frustrated, it's impossible to stay grumpy around him for too long

At least you're stranded with Wrecker and not Crosshair, you say to yourself. Wrecker is a very easy-going person; and his positivity may make this delay feel less catastrophic than it is. You can't imagine how irritating two weeks of listening to the sharpshooter's dry sarcasm and complaints would be. He'd probably blame you for not navigating your ship good enough; even though everyone knows your piloting skills with the Starlight have no one to envy.

Well, there's nothing you can really do now. You'll try not to fret and follow your friend's advice.

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The first night the temperature starts to drop, but the cold is managable and only really noticed after a sneeze or two and the need to throw an extra blanket on top of your current ones. On the second, the cold hits hard; your body shivering and trembling unconsciously throughout the night and making it impossible to sleep for more than a pair of hours straight without waking up. It starts to get dangerous on the third night; fingers hurting in small pin pricks of pain and muscles and joints loudly complaining with each move.

It's in the middle of that fitfull night when something carefully dropping on top of you makes you groggily blink awake. You try to scan your room in the darkness of the Starlight, barely making sense of Wrecker's figure there.

"Mm?" You manage to mumble half asleep.

"Sh... Go back to sleep, mesh'la. Just checking on you" Wrecker's soft voice inmediately answers back.

You're so exhausted you fall back to unconsciousness almost inmediately; your body relaxing in relief at the sudden extra warmth.

In the morning when you wake up again and find two extra blankets on top of you, you quickly understand the small interruption of the night. You push them aside in order to stand up; but the cold inmediately bites back, and you decide to pad over to Wrecker's small room in front of yours with two of them wrapped around you.

When you peak your head inside and see him trembling in his sleep without any blankets on, your heart clenches in gratefullness and affection. A bit worried too, you touch his forehead gently to check on his temperature; Wrecker inmediately groaning and catching your hand in his while he blinks awake.

"Your hand feels like an ice cube" he mumbles, and you apologise inmediately, taking it back.

"Wreck..." you sigh with a small grateful smile. "You shouldn't have given me all your blankets. You're cold too".

Wrecker yawns and pulls his body up in a sitting form. He rubs his face and then his neck and the top of his shoulders with his hand before focusing on answering you.

"Mm. I have my thermoregulator blacks on, and I always run warmer than you anyways" he explains gently. "You were unconsciously whimpering in your sleep from how cold you were, mesh'la. I couldn't go back to sleep after hearing you suffer like that".

"Thank you" you say, and you really mean it. Wrecker's one of the most selfless persons you've gotten to know. "You know... We could sleep in the same cot. It'll be a tight fit for sure, but we could share all the blankets together. That way we'll both stay warm".

While your voice is completely casual and unbothered, Wrecker's facial expression fills with genuine surprise.

"Oh... If you're good with that, mesh'la" he seems a bit hesitant, perhaps not wanting to invade your space or privacy, so you smile soothingly.

"I'll get us some nutribars to eat. Let's just try it out tonight, alright? If it doesn't work we can go back to how we were" You suggest, and Wrecker nods distractedly.

His eyes don't leave your retreating figure til you dissapear in the direction of the cockpit.

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After a day of both interesting and just-to-kill-time conversations pass by, the night starts fairly well for the both of you. You're not really cuddling together at first; just laying on your sides and doing your best at fitting together in the same bed, trying to respect each others spaces as much as you can. Your natural body heats are enough to make the temperature under the four piled blankets warm enough; and for the first time in three days, you go to sleep without a single mind curse against the cold around you.

The kriffing cold doesn't take a respite, though; and perhaps because your body is no longer moving your temperature drops a few hours after and you wake up trembling again, swallowing your groans of dissapointment at the no longer functionating idea. Wrecker doesn't seem to hold the same problem; you can practically feel his body heat besides you.

You don't really think it through before you're slowly and quietly pressing closer to him; freezing toes trying to find a warmer spot below his legs.

Wrecker makes a small pained rumble with his throat, and you stop on your mission, glancing up at his sleepy face. He doesn't bother to open his eyes, though you know you've woken him up from his slumber. You fill a tiny bit guilty.

"Sorry" you whisper quietly. "Can I?"

Wrecker hums in reluctant acceptance, and one of his big hands plops down on your back, hugging you towards him with a mumble under his breath you can't even descipher even if you strain your hearing.

You shrug it off and enjoy the warmth of his body with a pleasant sigh, toes finding their perfect home under his body and hands being tucked in between your chests. You can feel Wrecker's deep sleepy breathing in front of your face. You're tempted to stay awake for just a pair of minutes if just to watch him in this relaxed state –one you've never really seing him in–; but you're so comfortable and tired you follow him into dreamland in a matter of seconds and you barely move an inch until late in the morning.

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On night number five, you take the liberty of directly cuddling against him; hiding your cold nose in his neck and hugging him gently under the blankets.

"Mm" you mumble with your lips almost pressed to his skin. "This is great".

Wrecker chuckles and his hand tightens on you involuntarily.

"Yeah... Ur' so small. Fit like the perfect teddybear".

You grin and nuzzle against him. He's so big and warm, and such a good person... You've always felt safe around him.

"Mm, so I'm Lula's replacement now?" You joke around, and Wrecker's chest moves once again with his low chuckles.

"Only til I get back to her" he follows your joke, smiling in the near- darkness of the room.

You both chat for a bit til you start doing a competetion of yawns and you decide to call it a day; falling asleep with a smile pressed against his neck. This is starting to feel like a vacation, yeah.

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A week after your unfortunate encounter with the pirates, movement wakes you up in the middle of the night. There's no day and night in space, really; but the lights on the Starfall are designed to dim with the hours until they completely turn off, so it helps you to keep track of the days that pass by.

You start making sense of your surroundings as your mind slowly drifts back to counsciousness. For once you're incredibly warm, and it pulls a satisfied smile upon your face. You stretch slowly, lazily. Wrecker mumbles behind you; pressing his body firmly against you. The movement pushes you forward slightly, not too far away because of the tight grip he has on your hip; and you inmediately understand –and feel– what exactly has woken you up, blushing in flustered embarassment. Wrecker's erection is iron hard –and so big, fuck– against your ass; his own hips slowly thrusting back and forward periodically.

You call him in a mortified rasp.

"Wrecker..." he doesn't react at all, so you clear your voice and call him more firmly, squeezing his forearm, voice loud now in the silence of the ship. "Wrecker, wake up".

The clone stirrs with a confused, disorientated hum.

"Mm? Whats'up?" He grumbles, breathing pattern changing and body finally stilling with his return to consciousness.

"Wrecker, you've been... You are..." you try to say, your cheeks on fire, and he suddenly processes the situation he finds his own body in upon openning his eyes.

He's aroused, and his erection is firmly nestled against your ass. He vaguely remembers himself moving while he dreamed of...

He inmediately backs off with a curse, back pressing against the cold wall behind his bunk.

"Kark, I'm sorry!" Maker, this is so fucking embarassing. He wishes the ground could just swallow him. "I-I didn't mean to... I was dreaming and..."

He tries to justify himself, cringing at how he's not really fixing the situation much. He suddenly grows a bit worried and anxious. He holds so much respect for you... What if you just lose it for him, what if you now see him as someone who'd take advantage of a situation like this, of you being asleep? Luckily for him, you don't seem to take it as an offense or anything of the sort; just looking as mortified as he is.

You try not to picture what he could be dreaming of and ignore your own warmth bubbling inside of you; turning around to face him in understanding.

"S'alright, Wrecker" you soothe his worries. "We all have one of those from time to time, nothing to be ashamed of. We're just happening to share a bed in a bad time for that".

You chuckle nervously, and Wrecker feels partially relieved.

"Maybe we can just cuddle the other way?" You carefully suggest. "Or do you want to..."

You let the ending of the sentence fall on him, and Wrecker inmediately shakes his head.

"I'm not going to rub one out in the bathroom" he winces at how crude the words sound coming out of his mouth, but he really doesn't want you to think worse of him.

Hell, this is uncomfortable as it is right now; he can't imagine how it would feel if he dissapeared for some minutes in the sonic before returning and joining you in bed again.

You try to ignore the situation and act unbothered. It's the best way to dissolve this awkwardness. It's not his fault, really. You're feeling a bit aroused yourself now, inevitably.

"Okay, turn around then" you encourage him with a grin. "I'll be the big spoon for once".

Wrecker sighs and gives you an unsure smile.

" 'Kay" he whispers, moving to face the wall and showing his back to you. "Jus' hit me if I make you uncomfortable, please".

You laugh quietly and settle on your side behind him.

"Noted" you whisper cheekily, and to your own surprise, you spontaneously gift his left shoulderblade with a quick affectionate peck.

Wrecker hums almost as a way of saying "thanks"; and you're left awake with a million thoughts and questions in your head.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

It happens a few more times along the week –sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes in the early hours of the morning–; til the point you both develop a kind of rutine out of it. You nudge him and gently push him away as he lingers between reality and sleep; both of you re-arranging your positions in the bunk quietly before losing yourselves to dreamland again. If it's in the morning you just stand up and check the Starlights' curse in the cockpit, update Hunter; while he stays alone in bed until he appears through the corridor with a tiny guilty smile on his scarred face.

"We'll be arriving Pabu tomorrow" you announce finally one day, shooting him a grin. "Not having to share a tiny bed with me much longer, Wreck. You're gonna' have your Lula back".

He gives you a hesitant smile. You don't know if you're seeing things after the recent sudden realisation of your own feelings or if he is indeed dissapointed by this.

That night when you cuddle in bed your grip on him is a little bit tighter than usual. You'll miss this.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Hunter is inmediately relieved upon your arrival on Pabu. Omega, already recovered from her injury –the main reason why they had stayed back this time– runs to greet you; and you chat with her while you answer all of her questions about your encounter with the pirates. Tech greets you politely and inmediately asks permision to take a look at your ship; and you don't think it twice before giving him full access to the Starlight. You know he must have enjoyed a bit of de-stress time with Phee; but also miss putting his incredible mind to the test. You'll let him entertain himself.

After two weeks without natural light and a permanent scenery, Pabu looks prettier than ever with it's colourful sunsets and the beauty of the sea. It'll be great to eat something other than nutribars as well.

That night, though, when you lay down on your bed in the bedroom you share with Omega, you can't help but feel a bit lonely. You're surprised at how incredibly quickly you've goten used to Wrecker's sleeping presence beside you; at how much you wish he were still here.

When at breakfeast he asks you if you slept well, and lightly comments on how good you probably feel with your big bed back, you hesitantly push the truth out there with the slightest bit of humour. You're not sure if he really likes you or if all of his reactions these past few days have been a result of needed closeness, and there's nothing more to look in there. You don't handle rejection well, you don't like feeling vulnerable; so you'll joke around it for now til you're sure of it.

"I don't know, Wreck. You make a good pillow" you smile at him, and Wrecker answers with his own personal grin.

Un-noticed by the two of you and having his breakfeast in silence, hip pressed against the kitchen counter and bandana abandoned in his nightstand for once, Hunter studies you in quiet surprise.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

That night when you're unable to fall asleep again, mind always spinning in the direction of the man sleeping in the adyacent room, you make up your resolve and quietly pad to Wrecker's door. You open it as carefully as possible; scanning his sleeping form while nervously biting your lip. He's awake, thankfully; taking a glance at the door sleepily to see who it is.

"Hi" you whisper, adding in a shy, unsure tone. "I'm cold. Can I..."

You're beginning to think this was not a good idea. It's definitively not that cold. There's no excuse anymore, and maybe you've read it all wrong and...

Wrecker opens the single blanket to the side and makes a lazy gesture for you.

"C'mere" he answers, interrupting your spiral of thoughts, and making you sigh in relief.

You climb in bed with him and melt onto his welcoming hug.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Every night after that one, once Omega falls asleep, you quietly move to Wrecker's room; the clone always inmediately making the space for you to lay with him. He doesn't ask, and you no longer explain; both of you tip-toing around your growing feelings, just a tiny bit hesitant to take the final step.

Summer starts to arrive in Pabu. First you both abandon the warm blanket; then the bedsheet, and finally swith to short-sleeved pijamas. You're a bit wary and nervous about the lack of an excuse; but Wrecker chuckles and softly tells you that you can go cuddle with him even when you're not cold. You give him a happy smile and your lips slowly press against his cheek; Wrecker blushes, and you grin. Everyone notices the slow progressive development between the two of you; the rest of the Batch arching eyebrows and glancing at each other while they try to remain patient in their expectancy.

The next lazy morning, when you wake up spooning and feel his erection again, you bite your lip and squirm involuntarily. Wrecker wakes up with the shuffle –not jumping away anymore at the realisement–; and mumbles a sleepy "sorry" before moving to turn around to face the other side of the bed.

You're quicker than him. You feel your body burning in affection and heat. You grab his hand so that he stays as he is; and turn around to look at him. You finally sigh and give in.

The kiss is slow, sweet and soft; yet deep and heartfelt. Wrecker makes a tiny surprised sound with his throat before he's completely melting in the bed; hesitantly resting his right hand on your hips and gently tugging you towards him. You hum in delight and welcome him; one leg going over his own hips so you can press your bodies closer together, feel him against you. You kiss him more intently, heart beating furiously inside your chest and impatience growing; Wrecker's hand finally cupping your ass and pulling a small pleased moan that makes him groan as well.

You take a moment to breathe and bite your lip. Wrecker makes another low sound with his throat; glancing at them before looking at you in the eyes.

"Not fair for you to be this sexy this early, mesh'la" he whispers in a raspy voice.

Your cheeks flush, but you smile suggestively and caress his scarred cheek affectionately.

"I can show you sexier if you wanna' " you whisper back at him.

Wrecker's big hands gently squeeze your ass before he's pulling you on top of him in a smooth movement. His smile is radiant while they travel upwards to caress your back.

"Oh, I wanna' " he chuckles, joining your lips together again inmediately, and you grin into the kiss.

I'll have to thank those pirates for this, you think, some minutes later, while you lose yourself into the bliss.

THE END.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Here we have the first prompt of the 100 celebration! Hope y'all liked it. 9 more to go!

Xx,

Blue.

PS. You'll be able to find all my other prompts under the tag "100blueprompt" or in this list as I publish them (I recommend saving the following link and check it from time to time):

Or You can also let me know if you'd like to be tagged in any/all.

In the mean time you've got a lot of other stories in my sw masterlist!

<3

[asukaskerian]

prompt 4 for moshang with the mood "incensed" would be hilarous i imagine

Mythology - Foretold by the gods - moshang

--

So he might have, maybe, at some point -- some late at night or maybe very early point -- tried to figure out an OC for Mobei-jun to ship w fuck. Dude was so perfect, it was a shame his dump truck ass and sequoia thighs remained unembraced. (Also the whole "he's so mysterious and never opens up and unveils his deep thoughts and tender feelings except for me" fantasy but never mind all that.)

He'd gone exactly as far as 'Meeting: why tf would he notice anyone. Dashing rescue? Why does he need a rescue he's too cool and basically untrappable anyway, what are they rescuing him from socializing with his cousins lmao???' on his notes before giving up on making it realistic. The next scribble was 'cuz i said so ok next'. 

There had been no 'next'. His battery had died and when he managed to get home and get his laptop plugged in it was time for another word vomit on the topic of Bing-ge's meat truncheon.

[Secret side-quest: Easter egg! 1/536 discovered. Keep going!][Category: "is it a headcanon if you didn't think it up with your upper head?" 1/413]

'System-bro, what the entire fuck!?!' Airplane screeched inside his heart of hearts; ass on the floor (bruising), clothes askew (from sleeping in them!!), and the most gorgeous, terrifying man he'd ever seen staring down at him from the bed they'd crashed into (Mobei-jun first, because unconscious, Airplane later, because idiot) the previous night.

Because he had expected being sneered at; being talked down to; being attacked on sight. Being haughtily ignored, after sufficient groveling at crotch level.

But his most perfect, most unattainable creation, that Himalayan peak made flesh, saying that --

--

The problem with Airplane was, he didn't trust people. He didn't trust them to share their feelings and decisions with him freely instead of leaving him reeling at yet another swerve of which he was merely collateral damage. He didn't trust them not to lie to themselves, or even know they were lying to themselves, so even if they did tell him what they thought or felt he assumed they were doing the polite 'the real reason is none of your business but telling you to fuck off is rude' thing at best.

So yes, his favorite game from childhood had been to pick someone in the crowd and tell himself stories about their life. This guy is a grandfather of seven and doesn't know the birthday of a single grandkid and his eldest son just pointed it out to him, but not even angrily which is worse because that's how low the bar he failed to clear was, that's why the fancy package and the gloomy expression. That girl just broke up -- she's so angry though -- he was fucking her sister. No wait, her nails are short, it was a girlfriend for sure; she fucked her brother, a double betrayal. It had evolved into telling himself stories about his classmates and his half-siblings and his parents, since they were never ever gonna bother to invite him to take a real glimpse inside, anyway. 

He was fully aware that statistically speaking he was probably wrong a lot of the time, but 1. coming up with coherent narratives was satisfying enough to smother the jealousy and loneliness and 2. as far as he was concerned it was true until proved otherwise, which was never.

But a guy who gave him nothing to work with. That was a challenge. That was fascinating. 

....

But a guy who greeted him by "You are to be my husband?" with a tone of dismay?!

What the fuck! What the fuck!! What the flying dick-flapping fuck!!!

He was so shocked, he forgot to kowtow. 

"You uh. My king?" He hadn't made the guy so above it all that he landed straight back into a a naive ingenue, right? "Just sleeping on the same mattress doesn't -- people don't have to be married to share--" 

The muggy air of the inn room went so cold so fast that condensation rolled cold drops down his back. 

(The effect didn't last; there was a haze in the air, briefly, and then a suffocating breeze from outside ruined the surprise air-con.)

"You will not speak to me like an idiot child," Mobei-jun-to-be rumbled threateningly, and then ruined the cool by continuing in that wtf vein. "My husband will show respect to his wife or his wife shall reign as a widow."

Holy shit, now Mobei-jun was the wife???!?!??? What? What! Airplane was dead. Again. For good. 

He stayed down there sitting on his ass, waiting for the world to make sense. It didn't happen. The man of his masochistic dreams had crossed his arms over his massive bara titties like a barricade and was now sulking up there like an offended wi-- no, he couldn't even think it. 

"My -- my king? It's only, ah, your humble servant doesn't... recall... getting married...?"

Eyes as blue as the afterimage of a lightning strike speared him through, metaphorically.

"Not yet. But we must." 

He let out a long sigh; and his face didn't twitch when he moved to aggravate his wound, but the way he stilled for a breath was telling. Shang not-yet-Qinghua winced in reflexive sympathy.

"There is a prophecy."

"... Ah?" A prophecy. About his king. That he hadn't put into the story. That he hadn't even scribbled into the margins or thought about. 'System?!'

[Yes, valued User?]

"There is a prophecy for each generation, and most of them don't matter," the ice demon using that shitty inn bed as his throne said with a bitter tone. "But the eleventh ruler of the Northern Desert will be heralded by his foretold spouse; that is how he is confirmed."

"Ohh," Airplane said intelligently and with characteristic eloquence. 

"'You will know them by these things," his king quoted sourly, "first, they will heal you; second, share your bed; third, offer their hand, and service, and their soul."

'Their soul! Their soul!! I was offering my sneakiness and maybe my dick, ah?! System!!! Who told you to mess up my creation with made-up prophecies?!'

[The easter egg category: "is it a headcanon if you didn't think it up with your upper head?" belongs to the third rung of canon : Word of God.]

But he hadn't told anyone--

But he'd written it down, he remembered now. 'Cuz i said so.'

Oh god. Oh immortals ascended before him. Oh little ancestors in both and either worlds. Someone fix this for him. "My king. Haha. My king, that is -- so vague! So vague?! How can there not be a dozen candidates with criteria so -- so stupid? And if the prophecy is common knowledge then people knew them in advance?! How were you not sabotaged right and left--"

...Oh no. He was gorgeous when he smirked like this, slow and feline, satisfied. My king, so unfair.

"This prince has long since made it a point not to sleep where others may catch him." A delicate pause. "He has also made it a point to return misplaced agents to his most obstinate siblings's chambers at a time his elders may not miss them."

"--Oh. Disqualifying them for trying to disqualify you -- so smart, my king!" For a moment, he had gotten enthused. But then he remembered that they were discussing his sudden non-canon matrimony, and then he started poking it for plot holes. "But -- just anybody can share your bed."

"The language is old, and clear. The prophecy speaks of the only person to ever share this king's bed."

... Hhghhhk.

That stare. So hard. Offended. Those cheekbones. So cutting. That nose, regal; that hair.

"My king," Airplane said as he climbed up to his feet, eyes trained on the floor and his knees and the things spread on the table and anything else at all. "Have you ever thought that the 'sharing a bed' section was metaphorical?" 

He met the demon's eyes then, incredulous and angry, buoyant with it. "You haven't even shown me your dick and you think I should be making recompense?! What the fuck! Passing out on the same shitty mattress doesn't mean getting deflowered! I didn't knock you up with a snowball ass egg, why the fuck should I--"

Oh, he was tall. Also wide. Especially wide. Flatten me daddy indeed. 

Oh, he was angry.

"It is not. Metaphorical. Though if all you need is to see my body--"

His hand landed on his belt. Shang eventually-Qinghua stopped breathing, body hot and bubbling with too much emotion--

It read like one of his waifu plots, the Joan of Arc types, unconquerable holy virgins except via the pressure of greater good.

A vague scrying over some random-ass kingdom, a little prophecy and welp! Nothing to it, just gotta fuck it out for the marital bed and then never again. At least you getting lawfully reamed has saved Bumfucknowhereistan.

'System. Demerit if I say hell no?'

[The bonus Mobei-jun questline remains optional, and brings User no penalties on opt-out.]

'Great.'

Like hell he was jumping into marriage because he liked some guy's face and didn't want to be bothered by geriatric busybodies tittering over his lack of wedlock. Who was he, his mother?

"I'll pass. Sorry, my king, at least I'm ditching you long before the altar?"

And with a sweep of his hand, he dumped all his things off the table and into his qiankun pouch, and was jumping out the window and doing a sick flip trick on his trusty borrowed blade. Airplane over and out, bro! 

Thanks for nothing. Now his spank bank was forever tainted.

--

Three days later he was still dealing with bursts of anger and anguish and other moronic emotions, which didn't help navigating his miraculous return to the sect ("I was so scared!" lost its impact if he broke a sneery judgmental Shixiong's ankle with a well-placed kick) or the medical peak's nosiness ("Who cares about the bruises, my biggest injury is my blue balls and broken heart, thanks!") or Shen not-quite-Quingqiu's scalpel eyes.

His king's eyes were prettier. 

His king was never going to be his king. Optional quest line. Yeah. He vaguely wondered how the System planned to make him betray the sect, then, who for, and then decided it wasn't his problem. Fuck it. He was sure it could do blackout poetry with his notes and pull out some contrived justification that would amount for half as much incentive as Mobei-jun's everything. 

His fierce determination, his fearlessness, his skill, his -- his body.

His body that was extremely too visible on Shang in-his-soul-Qinghua's disciple bed, shoulders draped in furs and bountiful meaty muscle on full frontal display.

"I will not," he growled low and quiet, "be discarded by my spouse."

"Hhg."

He had snow leopard rosettes on his flanks in dusky blue, secret patterns never appeared in any cover art Airplane had commissioned. 

[Secret side-quest: Easter egg! 2/536 discovered. Keep going!]

... Oh god, it turned out Shang Qinghua was exactly as stupid as Bing-ge's most ice-cold chaste wives. Because 'lie back and think of England?' Yeah, he was going to think of England and that dick.

[emwritesstuff]

DYNAMO | Steve Rogers x Reader | part 4.

HYDRA has made their share of human experiments. You're just one of them. One of the least successful ones. One of the least functional ones. At least your life in the facility gave you a few things: unwavering resilience, cool(ish) superpowers and a great sense of humor. Steve Rogers would strongly disagree with that last one. A single chance encounter with him reluctantly brings you into the Avengers Compound, and you're determined to make his life as miserable as you can. Feeling's mutual.

AO3 | Masterlist | Playlist (coming soon!)

notes: You meet an old acquaintance on your first mission as a probationary Avenger. Tensions arise from multiple fronts. The plot thicken's y'all. (warnings: mentions of human experimentation, violence, cursing, sexual tension) (5.1K words)

4: ENTROPY

Fury uses a laser pointer to indicate a location on the holographic map. The Avengers are about to be sent on a mission, and for the first time you’re invited for the briefing. It’s not the worst thing they dragged you to. There are snacks, and you get to sit and not get your butt kicked. You’re only supposed to help with the details of the facility they’ll be breaking into. “Our drone intel says it’s been evacuated; it’s completely empty. Of people. I doubt they left the security system disarmed.”

You nearly choke on an Oreo when he continues. “Which means it’ll be simple enough that we can send Sparky here for a test drive.”

“No!”

“No.”

You scowl at Rogers when he echoes your word. It’s one thing for you not want to do this – another entirely for him not want you to.

Completely different things.

Still. You really don’t want to go.  Especially not back there, no matter how much Fury insists.

“Look. I know it’s part of my pardon, or whatever, to be a Revenger, okay? But I thought it was just so the government could use me as a lab rat and keep me locked up inside this building, which I’m fine with, by the way, thanks Stark for the mini fridge—”

“Y’er welcome.” Tony is leaning all the way back in his chair, munching on a cookie-Reese’s Cup-cookie sandwich.

“But not missions, alright? I’m not going.”

“Unfortunately, little-battery-who-could, you have no choice.” Fury puts his hands on the table, and you look at him. He has dark circles under his eyes, and you wonder if they were just part of his look at this point. “Or, you do. S.W.O.R.D made a big investment in you. It’s time to show them why – or go to the Raft.”

Your jaw went slack. A big investment.

An investment. An Asset.

Your eyes roamed the others present at the meeting – Tony, Natasha, Sam – and Rogers. You felt betrayed, and stupid for feeling so; none of this should come as a surprise for you.

Hands clench at your sides, opening and closing, weighing your options. You didn’t want to go back. Getting out had been hard enough.

“The Raft it is.” In a flash you’re up and everyone is set in motion at the same time as you – certainly to stop you from causing damage to government property.

Fury manages to suggest you reconsider before you storm out, fingers sparking as your temple starts to throb.

It’s Sam Wilson who reaches you at the elevator, and you curse how slow that thing was despite the building being filled to the brim with advanced technology.

Not advanced enough to make quicker elevators, apparently.

“Wait up, kid. Fury has a point, you know.” Sam raises his hands in front of his chest when you give him a nasty look. “Not about the investment thing. About the test drive!”

You cross your arms against your chest. “I’m not a car.”

“I know, I know—”

Natasha joins him on your other flank, essentially cornering you against the elevator doors.

“You’ve been holding back during training, so this is the perfect opportunity to—”

“I’ve been holding back because of the side effects, not because I care about hurting any of you!” It’s a half-truth. The migraines, nosebleeds, dizziness and everything else are annoying as shit.

But after two-something months, you have started to look forward to Pizza Fridays, to yoga with Wanda and to help Tony on his eternal quest of annoying Steve Rogers.

And knowing all of this you just recently got was at stake, balanced precariously on your Avengers performance, was harrowing. Because there is no way in hell you’re going to do well.

You know yourself. You’re not a hero. Not even close.

You’re not wired for that kind of stuff.

“I don’t want this! I don’t want to be owned by the United States Government, or S.W.O.R.D or any other acronym puns they come up with next. I’m done with that.” The elevator opens just in time, and you slip into it, but not quick enough that the two can’t follow you inside.

“So are we.” Natasha says, and she leans in as if she has a secret. Maybe she does. She looks around like she wants to tell you, but can’t. “We all got to sign some sort of Devil’s Deal after the Sokovia Accords, and Steve’s was this place. But this, is all temporary.”

“What do you even mea—”

“You’ll know. But in the meantime, use all the resources you got at hand to find your missing files.” She holds you by the shoulders, and you blink. She has a point. She has an excellent point.

You had agreed to all this circus for a reason, after all. If they wanted to use you, you might as well use them too.

“And kick some Nazi butt as an added bonus, Sparky.”

You exhale heavily, punching the button of the floor the three of you just left from. “Don’t. Call me. Sparky.”

“And what exactly are the bangles for? Style points?”

“Are you done being a smartass? I’m gonna explain it—but I won’t if you keep this up.”

Rogers is leaning against the wall, an amused little smirk on his annoying face while Stark – the inventor – gives you a taste of your own attitude. “You can see your vitals on this little screen right here. See? And if your brain activity spikes towards the dangerous level, it’ll beep so you can stop yourself before you go Weekend at Bernie’s on us.”

Tony finishes securing the two metal bands around your wrists and makes you get up from your chair.

“I have no idea what that is. Is it a club? I wanna go.” Tony looks at you in shock.

Then he looks at Rogers in shock when he speaks up. “It’s a movie, did you really not see—”

“Does he have to be here?”

“—it? It’s a classic.”

“It is a classic! Thank you. I’m actually surprised he’s seen it and you haven’t, Sparks.”

You put on your hands on your hips. “I’ve been a little busy these past few years. You know, escaping? Sorry if I haven’t seen one stupid old movie.” Rogers crosses his arms as Tony looks at you in disappointment. Only you could get them to agree on something. Awesome. “Does he have to be here?”

“I’m waiting for Bucky to finish his thing.”

“What thing? Can’t you do some sudoku outside his door like any other centennial?”

He rolls his eyes but doesn’t answer, and Stark begins messing up with the software on your wristbands. On a screen you can see what you assume to be the 3D view of them, and as he works you can see your new accessories light up.

“Rogers. What thing?”

Before he can give some snappy response, Barnes himself appears on the door. “Deprogramming. Shuri comes once a month. Ready, Steve?”

You frown, another question ready at your lips, but Tony adds in. “For his murder words. Y’know, HYDRA’s favorite brainwashing technique?”

Steve scowls at Tony, but you don’t see it. You don’t see him clap Bucky on the shoulder, and say that he’s ready. You don’t see them both leave. You’re busy looking at your own hands.

The Wakandan scientist can do that?

Erase the programming from his mind, just like that?

“How—” They’re already gone when you look up. Tony is seemingly oblivious at the thoughts running a million miles per hour inside your head.

“Genius. That’s how. The bracelets are obviously not in your brain, but they can connect to your suit and give us the full body scans we need.”

“What? Wait.” You pause, just then registering what he had said. “My suit?”

“Yes, Sparky! You can’t go on a mission wearing those rags you call T-shirts.” You’re about to cuss him out when he asks FRIDAY to begin the grand reveal.

And grand it is indeed. A robotic hand descends, with a silver and dark grey tactical suit hanging neatly on it. It almost gleams under the fluorescent lights of the lab.

“Cool.”

“I know, I know. Don’t thank me yet though. It needs extra adjustments, but you can take this baby for a ride tomorrow. And we’ll fix whatever issues we find when you’re back.”

You have no words, and Tony knows it, looking at you smugly as you inspect the suit closely. It looks like it has the potential to… make you fit in. In a picture, at least.

The suit is really something. It has a set of lines on the torso, arms and legs that light up bright blue when you absorb electricity. It’s light and flexible. And it looks really good on you, as you find out the next morning.

Your butt looks exceptionally good in it, especially with the new set of muscle you’ve been building up. You spent a good five minutes staring at your rear in the mirror after you put it on.

“You look put together; I’m surprised.” Rogers said after you both entered the Quinjet, the first ones to arrive. He from his punctuality and you from sleeping very little the night before. You narrowed your eyes at him.

“Thanks. Sorry I don’t have bloomers and a ballgown though, was running late this morning.” Giving him a sickly-sweet smile, you begin strapping yourself down on the farthest seat from him available.

Your hands are shaking as you fiddle with the many buckles – where’s Sam when you need him? – and it’s easy to say you’re a bundle of nerves. It’s not just the mission. It’s the destination. It’s the chances of it all going horribly wrong and going to the Raft being the best-case scenario.

You don’t even see Steve until he’s right on your face, yanking the buckles off your trembling fingers sternly, and looking at you through furrowed brows. “I don’t think your ensemble allows for the bloomers anyways,” He rasps, and you hold your breath from the proximity.

His eyes look like the sea during a storm from where you’re sitting, framed by perfectly thick eyelashes and expressive eyebrows. The smallest freckle on his cheek.

Fuck this dude. You had your seatbelts all under control.

“But for next time I’ll expect nothing less than a ballgown.”

He’s off you in an instant, and you snort at his little quip. “When did you grow a sense of humor?”

“Always had it. Sparky.”

And the moment’s ruined. You’re not a cat, but you feel like hissing at him. “Don’t—”

“Morning, children!” Tony enters the Quinjet like he owns it – he probably does – and with his arms up like he’s a popstar. One of them is holding Cap’s shield, and you frown.

You’re still looking between them when it’s given to Rogers. “Don’t forget I want it back as soon as you’re done with this – you’re still in probation no matter how many times you let me beat you at air hockey.”

The image of Steve Rogers playing air hockey – and losing – is almost as strange as Stark having custody of the shield. The very symbol of everything he stands for, and he has to give it back like a pair of shoes at the bowling alley?

You and him are back to being the only ones inside the jet after Tony leaves. “If you’re gonna say something—get it off your chest now.”

“I just— I don’t understand. Why does he have it? You clearly wear it better.” You gesture vaguely to his very poster-like form, standing by the opposite row of seats.

He frowns, but for once it’s not at you. “Howard Stark made it. I trust you know what happened to him. Who did it.”

Your jaw goes a little slack. Taking out Stark Senior was one of HYDRA’s biggest victories, you remember it well. The date was almost a holiday for them.

You don’t know what happened last year in detail, but you can guess, given the time of things. The death of the King of Wakanda, and Barnes’s arrest. The whole Avenger vs. Avenger match was a media frenzy at the time, even though the motives were still somewhat vague.

All of that happened, and yet, they’re all still sharing the same roof.

It clicks for you like a puzzle piece.

“This was your Devil’s Deal! This place, the shield—” It makes you almost sorry for him, giving up so much for the greater good. And somehow it doesn’t surprise you at all.

It’s been his modus operandi since 1945, hasn’t it?

“Wow, you guys are here already?” Steve is looking at you like you’ve gone insane when Sam walks into your transport. He takes one look at you and grins, cooing at you as he would a baby. “Look at you, all cute strapped up on your seat.”

You roll your eyes and give him the middle finger.

“You’re late.” Steve says, finally placing the shield on the back of his suit. It makes him look like a buff turtle, and you have to keep yourself from giggling.

“No, you two are just early.” Natasha is the last to join you, Banner following suit at her back. Your eyebrows shoot up and she ignores your questioning look as she takes over the command panels.

You know well that Banner isn’t coming with, and you doubt his reasons to see you all off is friendship or worry.

He fakes it by checking the connection of your wrist cuffs to your suit, but Stark had done that already. You know he’s too shy to give out any information. You’ll have to squeeze it out of one of them later – a mission more difficult than this one, you’re sure.

Planning a strategy for it is almost enough to distract you from your nerves—almost. You try to focus on Sam’s ever good-spirited rambling while you’re in the air, but your hands are back to being unsteady and your breath becomes shallow when the F.R.I.D.A.Y announces initiating landing sequence.

You manage to be discreet about it, unclasping the seat straps with what only seems like your natural ungracefulness. Watching silently as the distance between you and the permafrost grows narrower.

The ramp descends, leaving you once again vulnerable to the cold wind of the Norwegian mountains. 

You’re freezing and nearly bare, running desperately through the snow, against winds at your chest and bullets at your back when Natasha nudges you on her way out. The last to leave the safety of the aircraft, you walk until you’re facing the tall iron doors of The Brutskaten, the others having stopped behind you.

You scowl at it like it can see you, like its doors are the maw of a beast ready to swallow you back in and bellow a welcome back, child, after it’s satisfied.

“Seems like the power’s still going.” Sam says, and you turn to see him inspecting a panel to the side. “Which means the security system is still on.”

He and Rogers move their eyes to Natasha, who promptly shakes her head. “I can try my way, sure. But we have to be careful. This place isn’t something you just break into, it—”

“I got it.” Moving away from the entrance, you approach the panel. What are the odds of they erasing your code amidst all that hurry?

Could one credential still be left? There’s only one way to find, and you take the safest route. Your oldest form of identification. Hiking up your right sleeve, you expose your forearm and the numbers tattooed on them to the cold air. All the breaths are held as you offer them to the camera on the panel.

A soulless voice fills the silence, followed by the heavy groaning of iron.

Projekt: Blitz. Asset-7463. Zugriff gewährt. Dostup Predostavlen. Access granted.

Easy enough. You’re entering this hell again and the only thing you can think of is that you’re damn lucky.

The accumulated dust inside makes you cough as you walk through the doors. You and the others move quietly and carefully, making little noise despite Sam’s constant sneezing.

“Damn allergies.”

The place seems like it’s been evacuated in a hurry, supplies and papers scattered everywhere, no one bothering to clean up their messes. A lot has been left behind; Natasha skims through at least five manila folders that were just sitting out in the open.

Everything is monochromatic, grey and lifeless; the high ceilings have always reminded you of some sort of temple, in which God is order and obedience is a prayer.

You’re not very religious.

It’s almost too easy – you go through the Via Crucis that is going deeper into the fortress, clearing room after room with the others, ignoring the memories that surface so you can get to your main objective: the research labs. Next to it there is a room with computers and files that should provide you with all the information this place still holds.

Natasha takes to that right away, pulling Sam with her in the dick move of the century. You’re left to inspecting the lab – your lab – with Cap, his shield and his high-strung mood that you’re not sure where or when he acquired it. You guess it happened right as you landed here. It was all going so well, and then he saw you be allowed back in like its Prodigal Daughter.

Your palms feel clammy as you eye the row of medical beds in slight disarray, most without any bedding whatsoever – a good long while since its last use.

“Is this a bad time to announce I’ve been a double agent all along? You’ve all fallen into my trap, yadda-yadda.”

You smirk as you can almost hear a vein in his forehead pop, even though you have your back to him, inspecting a surgical table next to the beds. Nothing much but a metal tray and empty bottles of sedatives.

“Do you really think this is time for jokes?”

You turn to him with a shrug. “It’s called lighting up the mood, Cap, you should know by now I’m an expert at that. In more ways than one.”

Rogers crosses the room in an instant, leaving you to stare up at him. “You need to focus. I won’t have you jeopardizing this mission—”

“Or what?” You hiss. “You’ll send me to the Raft? Haven’t I been a good girl for you?”

He leans in. You’re almost chest to chest, and you stiffen because any movement seems dangerous. “You’re so far from it I’m surprised you know the words.”

“Oh yes. I’m bad.” You chuckle, and his gaze becomes stormy. It’s new. It’s almost exciting. Your voice lowers as you whisper to his lips. “What, are you gonna punish me, Captain?”

Dumb ways to die.

Arms cage you against a desk, and pink lips curl into a smirk. “If I have to… Is that what you want?”

You swallow. His eyes follow the movement before returning to yours. His fingers ghost at your hip. Your skin tingles. He knows.  It’s like standing at a cliff. If you fall, it will be into pink lips and large arms. And you’re tethering at the edge.

He smells like aftershave and something sweet you can’t put your finger on. You don’t dare take another breath.

If there is a god inside this place, it’s the same one who put wheels on the desk. It rolls back and pulls you with it, separating you from him and from a stupid thing you don’t want to do. The coffee that was left behind on it spills over on your hand, and you groan as you wipe it away. It takes you a couple seconds to notice what’s amiss.

“Is that really what gets you to be quiet—”

Steve stares as you lower yourself to the desk’s height. As far as anyone knew, it has been sitting in here for two years at least.  Except there’s steam rising from it. “Coffee’s still hot.”

Steve blinks at you, and by the time he’s processed it the alarms start blaring, casting everything in a menacing red glow. Nat and Sam run in from the other room. “I think we set off some kind of—”

“It wasn’t us.” You say, and they frown at you as the information registers in their heads.

“We’ve got company. Someone was here just now, must’ve triggered the alarm.” Steve explains and turns to you. “If you were running out of here, where would you go?”

You lick your lips, a list of names going through your head when Rogers’ question brings you back.

“The Hangar. This way.”

Almost on autopilot, you speed through the endless corridors with the others on your heel. It feels strange to be the one chasing, but you shake it right off once your sight narrows on your runaway target.

Doctor Steiner is a little weasel of a man, beady, evil eyes behind thin glasses and a gravely receding hairline. He’s still wearing a white lab coat even though it has probably been a while since he tormented anyone with his profession, stains all over it as if he had been wearing it nonstop for days.

The big gate at the end of the hangar opens up almost lazily, bringing flurries of snow inside. You barely register the vehicle he’s trying to start and make his escape on, a large ATV that was surely no match for the Quinjet outside. But he didn’t know that. You don’t remember it, either.

Your focus is on the grin he gives you. “My, my, Fräulein, how far you have fallen.”

Fingers crackle with energy. The light flickers. The ATV groans but fails to start. Your head hurts.

He chuckles as you stalk towards him. You don’t even remember you have three other Avengers behind you, managing to follow close behind you. You should cool it down.

But it doesn’t matter how much the freezing wind chastises your skin, there is fire blazing behind your eyes.  “I want my files. I know you have them.”

He cocks his head. Your hand shoots out and a blast of energy makes the gate stop halfway up. “You were to serve a greater purpose. Now you walk with these… Avengers.”

The corners of your lips turn down. You’re trying to summon more electricity to your palms, but all that happens is little snaps of lightning between your fingers. Steiner tuts, very much aware of your tribulation. No, fuck no. Not now, come on!

Some reprieve comes in the form Natasha and Sam landing on the other side of the hangar, right by the gate. Steiner isn’t going anywhere with the ATV. He knows it.

You realize you’ve gotten too close when he points a gun right at your forehead. “The Baron’s shining star. Such a waste. But surely you know I can’t let my work fall into the wrong hands.”

Before he pulls the trigger, you channel every Volt running inside your body to fry his brains out. Your hands spark to life – the edges of your sight darken and the monitors around your wrists beep – but if he manages to put a bullet in your skull at least you’ll have done one thing right in your life.

Except you don’t get to. The bullet hits a shield first, the same that blocks your vision of the doctor as your pulled away by the waist, then maneuvered to stay behind Captain America’s back.

“Are you out of your mind?” His mouth twitches as if he’d received some of the blast instead.

Serves him right.

“I had him!”

“You had a gun pointed right at your head.”

“I had him, Rogers.”

“You’re so goddamned reckless—” He says, but the German protests of a now restrained Dr. Steiner stops him.

Natasha barks for him to shut up. “I think you have something we’ve been looking for.” Sam crosses his arms, and Steve steps towards the doctor. It’s strange to be on the same side of the ring, you realize.

You don’t necessarily hate it.

“Give. Me. My. Files. And then maybe I’ll let Cap here be benevolent and lock you up.” Your hands ball into tight fists.

 “Empty threats. There are no files, Fräulein. It is all in here,” You’re sure he’d be tapping his forehead if his hands weren’t bound behind his back. “you need me more than I need you.”

“We’ll see about that.” Steve growls.

Your eyebrows twitch as your hope dilutes itself. He was probably right – as the head of the Brutkasten Research department, there was no one who knew you more than he did. If there were no files anymore, then…

Fuck it. You’d rather let your brain explode than have another “appointment” with him ever again.

“Look at what just happened. You have always been a liability. Useful, yes—”

You want to scream at him, but for some reason you can’t. The feeling that you were something HYDRA and Captain America could finally agree on makes your lungs burn and your words vanish, nails marking crescents on your palms already.

“Effective, even! But dangerous when not on a tight leash—”

Steiner doesn’t get to finish. Steve’s fist lands heavily against the side of his head, and he isn’t built to take that kind of hit. “Fuckin’ windbag.”

The doctor’s head lolls to the side, and you finally manage to breathe. You push the shock that comes with the act for later; there’s more important things at hand.

Dr. Steiner made Steve Rogers say fuck.

The Doctor from Hell is whisked away to a government prison facility as soon as you land – that means you don’t get to spend even 10 minutes under the same roof, and you’re thankful for that.

He manages a “I’ll be expecting your visit, Fräulein!” before Steve drags him away, and a shudder runs down your spine. Never seemed like a good date for that.

You’re also thankful Natasha is put in charge of his interrogation – you don’t hear anything about it, not even the intel she’s gathered. The knowledge that you’re being shielded from all of this should be comforting.

Still, as you watch Bruce scribble and cross off things in his notebook during your weekly check-up, you get restless.

Nothing new. Just his own theories and counter theories. Which means Steiner isn’t talking.

Which means the fucker is waiting for you.

You sleep on the idea for a couple days – it’s one of your worst, honestly. Nothing good can come from a chit chat with your old doctor, but at this point you feel like you don’t really have a choice. You’ve searched for your files. You’ve returned to the Brutkasten.

The last tether to your past and the possible answer to your troubles is sitting on a prison 40 minutes away from the Compound.

You already know Rogers and Natasha’s answer before you ask them, and Sam would never take your side, not on this. On Mario Kart, sure. That’s why your hopes are on the greyest morals you can find on site. The most questionable methods.

Nick Fury has an office on the lower levels of the Compound, past the conference room and behind so many security protocols it’s almost as difficult as getting inside a bank. You wonder if he is some kind of mind-reader or psychic, because you don’t get to state your business when the multiple doors open one after another.

“If you’re here, then it must be interesting.” He says as you finally get inside.

“Wouldn’t call it interesting—more like reckless and stupid.”

“Sounds like your style. I’m listening.” Almost offensive, but you don’t take it to heart.

It’s kind of true.

 “I’d like to make a doctor’s appointment.”

“I knew you’d come, Fräulein.”

“That’s what she said.”

He chuckles. “You haven’t changed—I’m glad.”

You sit in front of Dr. Hermann Steiner, finally. His wrists are affixed to the table with magnetic cuffs, and you stare at him, ironically at your mercy for the first time. You don’t remember why you used to be so afraid of him.

Without his needles, his goons and his unbridled cruelty, he’s just a man.

He’s wrong, too – you have changed. Something in you has, you can feel the flipped switch. You’re not sure what or you simply don’t want to name it, but it’s there.

It’s in the way you stare at him.

“I take it you haven’t been very talkative lately?”

“Oh, my dear, what is there to say? They didn’t exactly offer me a place in the Avengers in exchange of my help.” His lips quirk up when you tense – the subtle insult hitting you on the jaw like a right hook.

“Then what would you want in return?”

“You.” He says, and now you feel like you’ve walked into the den of a single viper. “You have no idea what you are capable of, do you? Of the extent of your abilities. The potential is endless.”

You frown. “If you want to cause a power outage in the entire tri-state area, of course. Are you sure you’re remembering me right?”

Steiner smiles. “The Baron has never let me truly fine-tune you like I wanted. But if you allow me to—”

“I am not going to be your lab rat again.”

“Think of what we could achieve, my Asset! Of what you could achieve.”

You ignore the pet name change, splaying your hands on the table. They stop shaking like this.

“Tell you what. You tell me how I stop being the mess I am right now, and I’ll achieve getting Fury to let you have sunbathing time in prison. How’s that?”

He shakes his head, still with that stupid little smirk on his face, and you have to hold back from punching it out of him.

“This should be useful to you.” He slides a tiny SD card in your direction, and you wonder if he’s been holding it in his hands all this time, and more so – how he had smuggled it inside.

Your answer comes in the shape of a small wound on the back of his hand. Subcutaneous incision, one of the old methods. It makes you shudder. “The information you need is all in here. This will return you to me, I know it.”

Fingers hesitate but take the drive anyways. The smallest Pandora’s box.

“I already have a doctor. But thanks.”

[thorburned]

Big fan of fantasy settings that turn classic monster types into more abstract archetypes that fit within the magic system.

Dragons in Pact aren’t just big magic lizards that sometimes fly or breathe fire, they have a specific place in the universe, with each one being an ouroboros, a perpetual motion machine, an infinite feedback loop of some kind of power, often but not necessarily elemental. A god that worships themself, a fire that burns itself as fuel, a spring that acts as its own water source, a battery that powers itself. They aren’t always reptilian, but default to forms reminiscent of dinosaurs as the last dominant group of organisms before the rise of mammals and humans. They’re one variation on a broader concept in the universe, of knots, places or beings or circumstances where the usual balances and flows of the universe have stopped working as they should. 

Bogeymen in Pact are a way of unifying the wide variation in specifics of horror movie monsters and slashers, preserving the uniqueness of each one while keeping the shared themes of fear and implacability and refusal to stay dead in the sequel; each one is someone who fell into the Abyss, a dimension that feeds on pain and fear and specializes in forcing its victims to sacrifice their humanity to improve their own situation, and got out by agreeing implicitly to become the Abyss’ agent in the mundane world, dragging more people down to keep themself afloat. 

@artbyblastweave also has a great non-Otherverse concept of Minotaurs emerging from mass death in a labyrinthine area. 

So I was thinking about Gorgons. There’s a lot of variation to this Greek myth, but the gist is that if someone looks at a gorgon, they turn to stone. Also they have living snakes for hair which is sick. The Basilisk and Cockatrice are other monsters that are usually described as having similar powers, though in some versions they poison or burn rather than petrify, and in others it’s what they look at that ends up poisoned/burned/petrified, instead of what looks at them. Also they tend to be more bestial and might incorporate some bird parts in addition to the reptile parts.

The reason for why they have this power ranges from “cursed by gods” to “they’re just like that”, but I think an interesting interpretation would be in a similar vein to Pact’s dragons. They’re beings that embody such a potent source of a particular element or substance or power, that they’re incredibly reactive or contagious, so much that even looking at them or being seen by them provides an avenue for their essence to cross and infect. They arise from too much power being forced into too small a container, until pressurized enough to burst out along any path of least resistance, rapidly conducting along any connection. The ‘snakes’ seen in some gorgons are in fact plumes of their energy leaking out, like the corona of a star, reptilian emission spectra. The heads of some gorgons may appear to those who manage to view them indirectly as like blooming flowers, bristling with invertebrate legs, pierced with spikes, or radiant with halos; these are only ever brief glimpses however, as even indirect viewers are almost immediately blinded. The ‘crown’ that gives basilisks (from basiliskos, ‘little king’) and cockatrices (spelling influenced by resemblance to a rooster’s comb) their names is the same phenomenon. 

‘Gorgon’ could be interpreted as specifically the stone or earth infused variant of this being, while ‘Basilisk’ could be fire and ‘Cockatrice’ poison, or they could all just be treated as interchangeable. A fire gorgon cause viewers to spontaneously combust, a water gorgon melts its spectators, to look on an air gorgon is to vaporize. Gorgons vary in power, and not all are able to instantly convert the whole body, but even the weakest are usually fatal due to the close proximity of eyes to brain. The victims that escape direct eye contact with only blindness or nonlethal brain damage are few and lucky. Even a reflection of some more powerful gorgons can be enough to turn eyes to stone or melt them out of their sockets. A potentially related phenomenon is seen elsewhere in Greek myth, with Zeus and Semele, and in the Bible, with Lot’s wife. While mortals gazing on Lovecraftian horrors may lose their minds, those who witness the true power of a god are annihilated or become a pillar of salt.