#Cape Securities investigation

[gffa]

You know what?  I’m not picking a side in this because I get where each of these characters is coming from.  None of them are right and none of them are wrong. Tim has had his entire life burned down again, so many people he loved are dead, and it feels like this is salt in the wound, that he’s being stripped of Robin when he needs it most. Damian is a child who is saying viciously hurtful things, but he thinks he has to fight for his place in anything, he thinks he has to destroy anyone who might come for what he has, he has to destroy Drake to secure a place for himself, because that’s what he’s been taught.  Dick is the only person who has shown him anything stable in this place, of course he’s going to fight with everything he has, he’ll cut open anyone who comes at him, because that’s what’s been hammered into him since he was born. And Dick's coming at this from his own experiences--he says right there that Tim is his ally, his equal, Dick’s not his mentor.  Dick is asking for someone to help him, not be someone else he has to take care of, because when is it Dick’s turn to mourn his father’s loss, too?  When is it Dick’s turn to mourn that he’s been forced to put on the cape and cowl that he hates wearing?  When is it Dick’s turn to have someone acknowledge that he had to give up his entire life to pick up Bruce’s?  And what is he supposed to do, when he’s trying to hold everything together because everyone else is pulling things apart? Tim’s at the age (and possibly older) than when Dick knew he himself needed to become his own person, to step up into a role that was uniquely his--and I don’t think he’s wrong about Tim being ready for that, either.  Tim is traveling around the world as Red Robin here, he’s doing his own thing, he’s doing his own investigations, Tim is ready to be his own superhero, not the role of Robin. Tim’s holding onto this for what feels like less because he needs the role of Robin specifically, Batman’s protege, and more because he wants to hold onto something familiar.  I keep thinking of that scene in Adventure Comics where he tells Kon about how he tried to clone him, that he knew it wouldn’t be his Kon, but at least it would have been something.  This feels similar, in a lot of ways. Tim wants the familiar, he feels like he’s losing everything he loved, and he just wants something, regardless of whether or not it was the true thing that he was actually longing for.  That’s why he can’t have any sympathy for an eleven year old child who needs a lifeline.  That’s why he can’t see that Dick needs help, rather than help from Dick.  Because Tim’s losses are mounting too fast and too high and it’s ripping him apart. They’re all just barely holding on by their fingertips and have so little left over to give each other, Dick doesn’t have time to be gentle with Tim, Damian doesn’t have the emotional tools to be gentle with anyone, Tim doesn’t have the emotional resources to do more than just make it through the day, they’re all a mess, they’re all not right and they’re all not wrong.

[lordgrimoire]

The Goonion would Like a Word, Chapter 3

[Goonion Headquarters, Gotham, New Jersey]

“ORDER! ORDER I SAY!” The warehouse, once a hideout for a minor gang operating out of The Narrows, fell into a hush as the hundreds of gangsters shuffled back into their seats or places of observation, keeping their hands occupied with papers, phones, tablets, as long as they were out in the open and away from their weapons, that was good. “Alright.” The haggard voice of Bill, the local head of The Goonion, echoed across the room. 

“The Ghost Investigation Ward, or the Guys in White as some call them, have been confirmed by the Red Hood Gang to be encroaching upon Gotham, Bludhaven, and Metropolis.” The crowd murmured at that, distress and frustration in their stances. “Yeah yeah, I know, It’s a crappy situations, specially since they want to do some unethical experimentation on the whole lot of us, Crane may actually be better than that now a days but the Joker is at The GIW’s level of things, on a good day, at worse they may be WORSE than the Joker’s “Experiments”. So keep your eyes peeled and if you see em grabbing any of ours, that includes your local Vigilantes, then make a call and get involved, the Bats may steal our bones and make our work difficult but at least they have rules. unlike these petty punks. QUESTIONS! DO YOU HAVE ‘EM?” 

The room became a shouting match for a moment before settling into several people bullying their way into the center of the warehouse, at the base of the pile of crates that Bill was using for his podium. After some muttering a short man stepped up onto one of the lower crates. “We recognize the leader of the Goonion members serving under The Red Hood, go ahead Mister Kincaid.” Kincaid nodded.

“What are the rules of engagement? Or are we suspending those since these White Suited Bastards seem to look at the Geneva Conventions and the Laws of the Alley as more of a checklist than a warning?” Bill looked around before straightening.

“I’ve spoken with the Reps from as far East as Boston to as far West as Anchorage, until the Anti-Ecto Acts and GIW are suspended and disbanded the rules of Engagement will be To The Hilt, expect No Mercy, if they catch you, they will torture you, so give back as good as you can, unless you have your bosses or your local Cape nearby. Make Noise in that case, try to get the Bat’s attention, he likes them less than we do.” The room rippled with laughter as Kincaid surrendered his stand to a well dressed woman in a three piece suit and top hat, one of Penguins Goons. “We recognize the Icebergs head of security Miss Eliza Smith.”

“What do we do with anything we take from them? Their, Ecto-Blasters? They use Bazooka’s for Pete's sake!” Bill scratched his jaw as he looked around at the amassed Goons.

“Alright, we can keep those guns stashed away, until we know what they do you keep them as secured as possible, Remember we DO have a warehouse for such things.” The crowd murmured, if the GIW was packing THIS much heat then some plans had to be made. As Miss Smith stepped back down back into the swarm of other Penguin Goons another man stepped forward, wearing a bomber jacket with a question mark stitched on the breast pocket. “We Recognize Jonathan O’Brien of The Riddler’s crew.”

“Why are the GIW here? I read the brief but I’m not all that sure what “Ectoplasm” is.” Agreements were uttered by others in the crowd as Bill reached into the backpack by his feet and drawing out a sheaf of papers.

“Gotham,” He began, “Is on a thin patch of reality, the other side? The Afterlife? That’s on the other side, the only other thin patch in the US is a place called Amity Park and that place has been under siege for YEARS by the GIW, but there's the possibility of a portal opening here in Gotham, so the GIW is planning to put us to the same type of siege, few in, few out. Ectoplasm is the equivalent to matter, to molecules and the like, in the realms of the dead, it’s radioactive to a degree, with people exposed to it for long amounts of time becoming “Liminals”, living beings who gain some abilities, usually becoming more durable and observant, blending more with their environment, hell I think the bats and birds are liminal to some degree, and some of our bosses, some of US, and some of our common civvie friends who live in Gotham are Liminals, Jason Todd-Wayne, the primary rep for The Red Hood Gang, was dead for a while, and came back somehow, current assumption is that he’s a Liminal of a higher order of magnitude. If you have friends or family members who have experienced something similar, please show them the documents regarding Liminals that were with the brief, that answer your question O’Brien?” O’Brien nodded and stepped down, no one else stepped forward. “Alright then, all leaders stick around for information packets, everyone else, go home, keep an eye on things, and try not to walk on any graves. I call this meeting of the Goonion to a close.” With that Bill slammed his foot on the crate and the crowd began flowing out of the Warehouse, mostly in small groups and pairs, but no one left alone.

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In a small town called Spittoon in Arkansas a small family of four waited, watching from a tree line as darkness filled the sky, drowning the last of the sunlight as instead the sky filled with specks of light, the stars coming into visibility as The Sun’s rays dimmed.

“Your sure you have everything?” Jazz looked over at her Aunt, still hovering near, still armed with a rifle that could probably take someone’s head off.

“Yep, just waiting on Extract.” Her Aunt nodded, patting her shoulder before ruffling Ellie’s hair and walking over to Danny. He had taken their parents alleged deaths the hardest, after they had begun accepting his Ghostly half and trying to understand more. Unfortunately when they presented their “New Research” to the GIW, they were deemed compromised. Once they had found that out they had enacted contingencies, locking the portal from the Living side, ensuring the only blueprints were with their children for ANY of their designs, and then taking the GIW on a goose chase as far in the opposite direction of where Jazz, Danny, and Ellie had fled as possible.

They made it to Olympia in Washington State, where the Ops Center had finally been forced to ground. Danny hadn’t felt anything but the reports that the “Mad Doctors Fenton” had been killed in a standoff had dealt a blow to him. 

“Danny?” The boy looked up at his Aunt Alicia, “You’ll make it through, Maddie has always been built of sturdy stuff, and Jack is just the same.” The boy nodded, seemingly dragged from whatever thoughts were clouding his mind. The wind picked up an hour later as the four of them sat in the grass, no one had pulled out flashlights but the descending aircraft turned a single floodlight on, bathing the clearing in light before the hatch opened, and out stepped Red Hood. 

Alicia turns her attention to her younger Nephew and Niece, allowing Jazz and Hood [one Jason Todd, apparently] and checked them over one last time before hearing a cleared throat behind her. When she looked over she saw the giant of a man who had taken an interest in her niece and suffice to say, he was not as tall as Jazz had made him sound. “He’s shorter than I thought he’d be.” Danny and Ellie cackled behind her as they began lugging their bags over to Jazz, Hood’s helmet not giving away his expression as he slumped slightly.

“Really?” Alicia smiled and patted his shoulder. 

“Your not the biggest person I’ve met, these pipsqueaks will take after their Father more than likely, a little collection of giants if you will.” She could hear the poor bastard rolling his eyes. “Anyways, everything set up for them?” She crossed her arms, watching as Red Hood straightened out more. 

“Yes, Jazz’s college credits have been transferred, their identities have been hidden and new ones have been confirmed, by the way I still want to know who made those, their good. And I think I’ve found a school for Danny and Ellie.” The Groans that sounded from the two youngest was like music to her ears, she nodded in approval. “I also told some of my extended family about, well, all the stuff going on, so they’ll have people looking out for them who are in the good end of the law.” Alicia raised a brow.

“Like the Bat?” Hood seemed to still and turn slightly. “It’s not hard to figure out if you have some of the pieces, Jazz didn’t even tell me, you were the Second Robin I take it?” Hood stared at her for a moment before nodding. “Alright, good to have that theory confirmed, we’re all a little too curious for our own good, us Walkers always have been, you take care of them, got it?” Hood nodded again, seeming far more sure of himself now, good, she’d hate to spook him too badly. “Good, now,” She unslung her rifle, unloaded the old bolt action, and handed it handle first to Hood, “A little something, that thing’s been in my family for years, This was my Grand Uncle’s first, then my Pop’s, then mine when Maddie didn’t want to have a “Live Firearm” in the house, I know the GIW will come snooping, but I’ve got my own plans for them, if they work out, expect me or a letter within six months.” She turned to her Nieces and Nephews who had come up behind Red Hood. “Be good, be safe, and don’t let them take you quietly, I love you all.” She stepped past Hood, embraced each of her Sister’s children one last time and stepped back, nodding to them before retreating to the edge of the clearing. When she turned around to watch as her the floodlight shut off and the plane rose into the sky, she knew she’d see them again, it may just take longer. She stayed in that clearing for a time after they were well out of eyesight, a fistful of rifle rounds in her pocket, a bowie knife in her boot, and plans, ever churning, in her mind. Alicia Walker had work to do.

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[BEGIN TRANSMISSION, PENTAGON TO JL STATION:WATCHTOWER]

PENT: Prepare for Information Packet.

PENT: [FOLDER.FEDGOV.GIW.A-EA]

JLWATCH: Pentagon whose authority is this coming from.

PENT: Negative, Good Luck. Check on Captain Marvel.

JLWATCH: Pentagon?

JLWATCH: Pentagon Respond.

-SESSION TERMINATED-

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To: Batman, Superman, WanderWoman

From: Comms Officer Sam Thule

Subject: The Anti-Ecto Acts and Ghost Investigation Ward

Boss, the Pentagon just sent us some stuff, I think you need to see this. If you can get Captain Marvel up here too we’ll need him here soon.

[SEE ATTACHMENTS]

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Tag Section

@cass-brightwood @justwannabecat @luckykittens198 @vythika96 @ultimatebluff @amercurio @tkiesai @escelia @jaggedheart11 @lexdamo @ascetic-orange @botwadtict @nutcase8691  @delicioushologramperson @sailor-goddess @meira-3919 @icedbluesoul ALRIGHTY TAGGED FOLKS! IF YOU WANT TO CHECK ON THIS SERIES I WILL BE UPDATING THE LIST BELOW WHENEVER I UPDATE! SO USE THAT! [I may or may not link this chapter or further ones in a similar way, my brain is like, non operable at the moment.] 

Links to other Chapters

Chapter 1 

Chapter 2

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Ben Cohen

South African Jews reacted with outrage on Friday after the country’s governing body for the sport of cricket stripped the Jewish captain of the U-19 national team of his role, citing the “risk of conflict or even violence” as the reason.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced that David Teeger, who is Jewish, would no longer captain the side just one week before the opening of the U-19 Cricket World Cup, when teams from 16 nations will compete in South Africa for the sport’s top prize.

In a statement released on Friday, CSA said that its security team had advised “that protests related to the war in Gaza can be anticipated at the venues for the tournament.”

It added that such protests would likely focus on Teeger — an observant Jew and resident of Johannesburg who made his professional cricket debut in 2023, scoring an impressive 51 runs for the South Africa Emerging Players side against North Cape. Teeger was only appointed to the captaincy of the U-19 team last month.

The targeting of Teeger could result “in conflict or even violence between rival groups of protestors,” CSA said. Invoking its “duty to safeguard the interests and safety of all those involved in the World Cup,” it said that Teeger had been “relieved of the captaincy … in the best interests of the players, the U-19 team, and David himself.” Teeger would “remain an important and active member of the team and we wish him and the team every success in the tournament,” CSA concluded.

CSA’s decision — against the background of rising antisemitism in South Africa, widespread support for Hamas in the wake of its Oct. 7 pogrom in Israel, and the charge of “genocide” brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) — provoked fury in South Africa’s Jewish community.

Prof. Karen Milner, chair of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), told The Algemeiner that CSA’s decision was “an outrageous act of antisemitism.”

“There is no basis for this decision, other than the fact that Teeger is Jewish,” Milner said. “It is shameful that CSA is embarking on a path that is dangerously reminiscent of Nazi Germany, when Jews were actively discriminated against, including among sporting clubs.” She stressed that the SAJBD “would do everything in its power to fight against this vicious prejudice.”

In a separate statement, the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) said it would be calling on the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s global governing body, “to investigate the CSA’s blatant act of discrimination.”

“The ANC [ruling African National Congress] government’s political hostility to Israel and its friendship with Hamas has created a climate in which it is entirely acceptable to target a sportsman because he is proudly Jewish,” the SAZF stated.

Among those expressing sympathy for Teeger on social media was three-time MLB All-Star Kevin Youkilis. “Heart goes out to this young Jewish man,” Youkilis posted on X/Twitter. “The ‘security risk’ excuse is bullshit.”

Former Boston Red Sox star Youkilis also referred to a speech that Teeger made just weeks after the Hamas pogrom, delivered after he received the “Rising Star” Award at a Jewish community ceremony. Teeger paid tribute to the Israeli military, saying, “Yes, I’ve been [given] this award, and yes, I’m now the Rising Star, but the true rising stars are the young soldiers in Israel.” He went on to dedicate the award to “the State of Israel and every single soldier fighting so that we can live and thrive in the diaspora.”

Teeger was being “punished for showing gratitude to the State of Israel,” Youkilis commented.

[wildglitch]

Spider-man x Batfam Prompt's

Ok so lately I have seen a lot of "Spidy goes to gotham and gets adopted fics" probably cause of Dark Matter by mysterycyclone cause like, duh, that fic is a goddamn masterpiece. But I feel like a lot of them are sort of the same thing with diffrent fonts ans it feels a bit saturated. Not all of them...but most of them.

Am I saying that there needs to be less of these fics? Hell no! Keep writing them please. I just feel like there could be more variety is all.

I suggest maybe try one of these ideas out

1: Peter going straight to the Batfam or other heros (dosent always have to be Batfam) and they try to work together on how to get him home, while slowly realizing "omg, your life is terrible! We want to help you, we do, but maybe we shouldnt and try to give you a better life here. Then its just a moral delema on what to do as they get to know the spider child.

2: maybe another Spider-man is the one that goes to Hotham like Andrew or Toby. Insted of being sent home at the end of NWH, they where accidentally sent to the DCU. Or maybe one of the Spider verse characters or a cartoon version of the character. Dosent always need to be Toms Spider-man.

3: on that same note. Please give more love to What If...Zombies Peter. You guys have no Idea the amount of angst and "haha, my world ended and im fine" potental there is. And you can have the other surviving member also be there as they look for eachother (characters that "survived* (no one survived that episode) are Peter, King T'challa, Scott Lang+cape, and Ig Bruce Baner/Hulk, and Bucky Barnes since we never saw them get turned or eaten) just think about Spidey and the Batfam investigating a lab or sometbing and all of a sudden they find floating head Scott in a crate. Everyone if scared shitless while Peter is crying tires of joy as he moves to hug the floating head. Think about that and tell me Im not on to something here.

4: Have the fic start our like halfway through. Maybe skip him getting to Gotham and have him be there for a few months already or something. This will help with adding more crack fics.

5: Maybe have the fic be that Peter is there for a while, he knows everyone, they know him, they might or might not know the identitys but they trust eachother. And Peter has been looking for a way home and he finally finds it! But... he accidentally brings some of the Batfam with him. So now its the Batfams turn to learn to live in the MCU with help of Spidy and they finally understand so much about him, how he lived, and vigilanties he knows (team red!) As they learn the history and pubilc opinion or Spider-man and the world.

6: Just a react to fic. Yk, those fics where they're stuffed in a room and forced to watch something? Yeah. Have the Dark Matter cast stuffed in a room and watch some MCU clips. It dosent even have to be some magic forth wall bull shit if you dont like that. In chapter 44, Peter and co. are said to be going back to the cave, and Peter still have is suit. Canonically, Karen records everything. Maybe Peter ends up so tired he dosent even want to try to explain everything. So he just hooks up Karen to the computer and and has her show them everything from the suits recordings to security cameras and news reports, to the memes and videos spiderman fans have made.

7: have the Justice League get involed cause "Hes to bright to be one of yours Bruce!" And have him be a honorary member of the league of have them put him on Young Justice. Peter gets adopted by Batfam? Yes. Peter becomeing Bffs with the Young Justice kids and actually forming normal relationships with kids his age? Also yes.

Do I have more? Probably but Im too lazy for it rn

If you for some reason use one of my ideas, pls tag me and maybe credit me for the original idea (but I mostly want to be able to find the fic if you do make it ( o_o) )

Who knows, I might just write some of these myself if I ever get the motivation lol

[wolfsbanesparks]

I finally managed to make the ask game post and so I am here to ask you about lovely number 11: Teenage Adventures in Ghost Hunting

very curious about it

Hi! So happy to see you joined in on the ask game!

So I answered an ask about this one already (you can check it out here!) but I'm always happy to chat more about it!

Basically it's a no capes DC au that takes a bunch of my favorite teen heroes (Billy, Mary, Freddy, Jon, Damian, Maps, and Marcus) and puts them in a classic ghost hunting group. At first Billy is reluctant to join his friends because he thinks ghost hunting is dumb, but his friends needle him into it and even convince him to bring some of his recording equipment from WHIZ radio as they investigate an abandoned building.

The twist is that not only is the place haunted, but Billy is a medium/can see ghosts despite his friends assuming he's a skeptic. Similarly Marcus would be fighting his own sensitivity to spirits (the difference being that Billy knows that he's dealt with ghosts whereas Marcus is genuinely a nonbeliever at the start)

Mary and Damian are funding the project, Damian because he believes in ghosts and is extremely serious about it (have you seen ghost adventures? He'd be Zak Baggans talking about portals to Hell) whereas Mary is helping because she wants to support her friends and is open to the idea that ghosts might be real even if she doesn't necessarily believe in them.

Freddy, Jon, and Maps are also hardcore believers. Jon loves checking out ghost things online but is extremely jumpy while they're actually there. Maps is the one that picked location, secured some old blueprints and has a plan of attack for every room. Shes also the first to go running to check out strange noises and squeal over every piece of evidencethey get. Freddy has watched every episode of every popular ghost hunting show and thinks he's an expert and also is the one moat likely to try and fight a ghost (I also think it'd be fun to include him ranting about how most ghost hunting locations are accessibility nightmares).

It would be a really fun supernatural type mystery with a dash of teen drama and lots of ghosts!

[lazlolullaby]

temporal temp work, a Batman Beyond and WFA style fluid comic canon crossover (but mostly Bruce amnesia recovery/character study)

Bruce lost his memory. He has no idea who Batman is, or what he's done for the past 30 years of his life.

Bruce is still a detective, despite the holes in his memory. He keeps noticing little tells, bruises, signs of lying. He knows he did something in his spare time, he's not sure what.

The batfamily decide that if it's not going to come back easily, then they should treat it as a retirement for Batman. They all came to an agreement, that they would be "as civilian as possible" around Bruce as to not put pressure on him to perform as Batman when he's not ready.

Alfred and Dick had gently explained that they won't tell him anything until he comes to a conclusion by himself and tells the family. If he gets it correct, then they can talk about it. If he doesn't, they can't. The Batcave is still open for him to find.

(he's in the world's most elaborate detective game, basically.)

in the meantime, Bruce focuses more on the company, on bonding with his suddenly large brood of kids, and legal methods of fixing Gotham.

Everyone's backstories remain similar to what the press knows. Jason's case is special, as he's dead. So Jason explains that he did survive, he was mad at Bruce for a while, so he got out to get his own place. They are slowly repairing their relationship.

Damian also flat out goes: "Yeah I was grown in a jar for the League of Assassins." and everyone nods and goes along with it. Jason even says he's seen the jar.

He even starts to bond with Tim, Jason, and Duke again over investigating crime. (well. More for the kids to solve it.)

The ones that fight the most for Batman to come back, the ones that make the most progress in getting Bruce to remember are Tim and Terry, since they were the ones that got him out of his funks in canon.

Bruce has nightmares. Despite losing the context of the fears, he still has them, he still can remember some Caped Adventures. He blames that for his nocturnal sleep schedule.

The Justice League dropped by in capes, trying to get him to remember.

Bruce gets totally suspicious that he's funding an entire space station. It takes him a week to crack every. single. founding JL member's ID, and even some sidekicks...Except Batman and his merry brood of birds and bats. (It doesn't help that the Dark Knight has been missing. no new data.)

The Gotham Rogues are starting to get gutsy. The Batfamily is stretched thin. It gets to the point where either scientists or magicians step in and try to "Summon Batman".

This is where Terry comes in. He gets summoned with Ace the Bathound. They survive on the streets of Gotham, then find Nightwing and Red Robin facing off against a Joker that's "pining for his eternal rival"

Tim is barely in danger but Terry's instincts go full throttle and he starts to roast. They see Ace has a harness with a Wayne Security badge and a license that are both dated for decades in the future.

Dick and Tim take Terry home. Say he's a friend in a tight spot, but Bruce sees right through it. Terry is the seventh black haired kid to be sheltered by Bruce and he knows it's a ploy to jog his memory. He's not having it. Terry also isn't interested in playing along with that either, instead loudly acknowledging he's got family already.

Ace gets along well with lots of the Batfamily. Terry makes a comment that he was trained as a PTSD-support dog. He knows how to sit and block people from getting into your space, how to use his weight as a grounding method. Bruce starts researching getting one for the house.

The batfamily train Terry on the streets for a few nights just in case. Nightwing goes back to Bludhaven. Dick does as well, and Bruce figures the connection quickly. The Justice League is seen with a new Batman.

Terry decides to annoy Bruce into becoming Batman again. Being ever so slightly off kilter, but still dedicated to helping. Always saying "If the guy I'm temping for doesn't like it, he can come out and do the job again."

Terry sees Bruce's psych profiles and list of Batman and Batman II suspects and makes a comment. "You writing a murder mystery or something?"

"Or something."

"What's the seventh rule of Knox's 10 commandments of detective fiction?" Terry asks.

"The detective must not commit the crime?"

"Mmm-hmm. Good thing you're not writing."

Bruce is getting tired of not knowing. Not getting better. Terry talks about how he was an assistant to an old man. That he also had trouble with being less active than he used to be.

Batman II shows up to save a hostage Bruce Wayne, and Bruce plays 20 questions. "why are you here in Gotham?"

"someone has to. And I already promised that I would."

"who did you promise? Why does it have to be you?"

"What makes this work is that I chose it. I work so I won't destroy this legacy. Me. My choice."

"You didn't say who you promised."

"The last guy who wore the bat...he got swallowed up by it. Didn't even think of himself as anything but Batman at the end." He shrugged. "Separating yourself from the mask is important. You know about Superman, yeah? He needs that job. He needs his friends and family, if not to feel human, just to be the best he can. Bruce. You have your friends and family. What are you willing to do to protect it?"

idk i can't figure out a suitably appropriate and dramatic emotional situation where Bruce figures it out. But he does.

Bruce gathers all of the family in the Wayne Study for a Classic Detective Reveal. He goes through the Batfamily one by one an unmasks each of them correctly, even confirming the ones who had other identities.

Bruce takes up the Cowl again, this time with a little more restraint and respect to his Bruce Wayne identity.

Terry goes back to Neo Gotham, stronger and happier that he knows the Batfamily.

[invisibleraven]

Was it all fake?

Sweet tarts

Carrie wished she could make this situation go away by pouting and crossing her arms-her usual avoidance tactic. But no ignoring it would make the pile of threatening letters disappear. Nor the stern looks on her managers faces.

"We're hiring you a bodyguard," Felipe stated, no nonsense, no room to argue. "Plus we have a PI investigating these."

"I don't want some hulking brute following my every move-I don't want my fans to know," Carrie replied, ever petulant.

The man sighed, massaging the space between his brows. "I have a candidate in mind. He usually works undercover as a nanny for kids, but we can pose him as your new boyfriend-someone it wouldn't be suspicious to bring with you everywhere, and no one would be the wiser."

"Can I go on record by saying I hate this?" Carrie stated.

"Noted," Felipe replied. "But I would rather you be unhappy and safe than not." He slid the picture over to her. "This is Reggie. He'll be coordinating with your home security to ensure the house is safe, then he's on your arm until we catch the culprit."

Carrie surveyed the photo, humming. "Well at least he's cute."

Felipe snorted at that. "Always an upside."

Reggie it turned out, was pretty easy going, despite being as trapped in this situation as she was. He told her he would follow her lead when it came to the whole fake relationship thing-hand holding and arms around each other but no other PDA-as long as she was honest about any threats or plans to leave his sight.

And Carrie, despite herself, found they got along pretty good. They didn't have a lot in common, but Reggie was a good listener, enthusiastic about music, and even taught her a few self defense moves so once he was gone she could whoop a bit of ass.

"How did you end up doing this?" she asked one night as they shared a meal. "Like how does one get into being a bodyguard?"

"I've always been a bit of a scrapper, but also really good with kids," Reggie explained. "Got hired to be a nanny for some CEO or another, disgruntled employee tried to hurt the kid, I took him down. Went from there. There's no like, school for it, but I've trained in weapons and fighting, plus I have all my childcare courses."

"So you're like Super Nanny?" Carrie joked.

He laughed at that. "Minus the cape, sure. I don't look like the typical bodyguard, so it's an easy cover. But this is also fun, since the kids only really know about the bodyguard part if they're old enough to get it. Nice to not be a secret for once, be real."

"I get that," Carrie said with a sigh. "I gotta keep up the whole persona of Carrie Wilson International Sensation so much I sometimes forget who Carrie really is."

"Well, for what it's worth, I like the real Carrie plenty," Reggie replied, squeezing her hand. Letting his touch linger until his face burned and snatching it away.

And Carrie was wondering why she felt the loss so profoundly-none of this was real right?

It came to a head one night, they were half watching a movie, Carrie's head resting on Reggie's shoulder, pretty much drifting off, when the sound of breaking glass jolted her up.

"Stay here," Reggie stated, more serious than she had ever heard him. Pulling a knife from around his ankle, and holding a finger to his lips.

Carrie huddled into herself, covering a gasp when she heard a gunshot. She knew that Reggie had a gun, but she was certain it was locked up in his room-not on his person. She stood, unsure if she was running towards Reggie, or out the door.

The choice was taken from her when a figure appeared in the doorway. Crazed eyes and a sinister smile on his face. "Finally, together at last," he sneered. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment."

"I got your letters, I think I have some," she replied, holding herself tall. No sudden movements her mind supplied. Put them at ease.

"I had to get your attention somehow," the man stated. "So you would notice me." He came closer, reeking of booze and desperation.

Carrie stood her ground, waiting until he was close enough, then struck him in the throat with the heel of her hand-a move Reggie had taught her. He staggered, glaring at her.

"Now why did you do that?" he gasped.

She held her fists up, glaring at him. "You stalked me, threatened me, broke into my house and shot my boyfriend," she replied. "Why do you think?"

The man growled, rushing at her, but then stopped, falling over, Reggie's knife square between his shoulder blades.

Reggie himself stood in the doorway, clutching his bleeding shoulder, giving her a weak smile despite his fat lip and black eye. "Sorry doll, he packs quite a wallop."

Carrie rushed to him, tenderly taking his face into her hands. "You saved me."

"All in a day's-" whatever else Reggie was going to say was cut off when Carrie kissed him-half gratitude and relief, half something unnameable in this moment. And he kissed her back, only pulling away when the sirens in the air got close.

"That'll be the calvary," he quipped. "How about we pick this up later?"

She nodded, keeping close as police and paramedics flooded in.

Only later was filled with too much paperwork, bandages, and phone calls. Later was Felipe telling her that Reggie's job was over and he would be moving on to his next assignment.

Later was watching him pack, and standing there as the words lying in her heart staged caged. Only when he touched the doorknob did she ask "Was it all fake?"

Reggie deflated. "I was always real with you. If you don't know that..."

"I was too," Carrie whispered. "I don't want to let that-you go."

"Then ask me to stay," Reggie pleaded. "I can find a job working with kids, hang up the cape."

"You don't have a cape," Carrie said, but rushed into his arms, grinning to reflect his eager smile. "But you're still my hero."

[raincode-archives]

Chapter 0 Loading Screen Trivia

Note: Currently, I do not know which of these trivia may be general game trivia or Chapter 0 exclusives (if there is any). And there may be trivia I'm currently missing that I will add later on, if I find any more.

World Detective Organization (WDO) An extra-legal, extra-privileged organization devoted to eradicating the world's unsolved mysteries.

WDO Examination Alongside an interview, the WDO assigns a once unsolved mystery they've solved as a test, Those who do not meet the standards for character and ability are not accepted into the organization.

Detective Deed An identification card. These are granted by the World Detective Organization.

Master Detective Among the detectives belonging to the World Detective Organization, this is a detective with a specialized power called Forensic Forte that aids in their investigative activities.

Forensic Forte Those exhibiting innate talent for special powers like clairvoyance or mind-reading are trained by the WDO to develop a supernatural investigative ability called Forensic Forte or simply, Forte.

Amaterasu Corporation Many products are in development, some of which cannot be made public.

Amaterasu Peacekeepers A department of Amaterasu Corporation. They serve as a sort of police force within Kanai Ward.

Special Autonomous Zone of Kanai Ward Though initially a regional city, all of Kanai Ward fell under the control of Amaterasu Corporation as the company developed it.

Amaterasu Express A fully automated, unmanned train developed by Amaterasu Corporation. It boasts excellent amenties and a smooth ride. Kanai Ward is not a typical destination. (No, I didn't make a typo)

Amaterasu Express Direct Built with Amaterasu Corporation's cutting-edge technology, this five-car train operates fully autonomously, without a driver or any crew on board.

Gem of the Dining Car Among the liquors lining the bar is a bottle of vintage whisky, though its exorbitant price has left it untouched.

Door Security Each passenger room on the Amaterasu Express features a door that notifies a security company when an designated key is inserted into the keyhole. Consequently, crimes on the train are rare.

Restroom Urban Legend There is an urban legend about a locked door in the restroom on the express train. Knock on the door in a specific rhythm and a phantom in a black cape will appear to kill any person one desires.

Zange's Cane Used to assist with walking, but doubles as a weapon in emergencies, felling opponents with cane fighting techniques.

Pucci's Coat A treasured small panda appliqué is adorned to a shoulder of Pucci's coat.

Aphex's Boots The boots Aphex wears are fitted with metal plates in many places, like safety shoes.

Melami's Ambition Truth is, she's not a fan of the WDO uniforms and plans to submit a new design proposal in hopes of creating a "Design by Melami" line of uniforms.

Zilch's Belongings Most of his belongings are made of fur, and he always carries a brush and oil for upkeep.

Swank's Grill Swank wears a silver grill engraved with the word "MONEY" on his upper incisors. A grill made of gold is an order.

[sjsmith56]

Away Mission - Part 2

Summary: Sloan’s new job involves reporting about Bucky after a month of no word from him. Bucky adjusts to his new situation. A discovery in his tent puts him on alert.

Length: 2.9 K

Characters: Sloan, Bucky, OMC and OFC.

Warnings: Worry about Bucky, Bucky having regrets, Bucky concerned about Sloan’s safety.

Part 1

💻 ⛺️

Part 2

Sloan

I filed the piece I did on a homeless shelter that had been targeted by traffickers and leaned back in my chair, stretching my arms out over my head. It had been a month since I left Bucky and according to Sam, who checked in with me regularly it had been that long since anyone had heard from him. It seemed like he had dropped off the face of the Earth. Was I worried? Yes, a person doesn’t stop caring for another person they loved, even after they separate themselves from them. At least this person didn’t. Part of me hoped that after he hooked up with whatever “private security group” he had contracted with, he would undergo a reality check and realize he wasn’t a good fit with their philosophy of anything goes as long as the price is right. But no one, and I mean no one in the Avengers, had heard from him.

“Hey, are you coming out for drinks?”

I looked up at the face of another writer at the Daily, Devlin Horne. Born in South Africa, Dev had been a thorn in the side of certain old-school military remnants of the former apartheid regime. He was an investigative reporter into the right-wing groups that longed for a return to those days, until they planted a bomb under his bed, almost killing him, when he got up to use the bathroom during the night. Instead of the pressure-sensitive device going off right away, it malfunctioned, exploding while he was in the kitchen grabbing a midnight snack. Buried under the rubble for a day until he was rescued made him realize his life was in danger if he stayed in Cape Town, so he left, coming to New York to work at the Manhattan Daily, the online news platform I became a part of after I left Bucky. We became friendly acquaintances and he checked on me daily.

“Are we celebrating something?”

“We are,” he replied. “Someone has been nominated for a Scripps Howard Award.” He looked around as if it was a big secret. “It’s not you or me, however.”

“Let me guess, Tess Murray, for her piece on the Gaza,” I said, having already heard through the grapevine. It was a prestigious nomination for an online publication. “I already heard, and I will go for one drink, only because Tess asked me, as she has an idea for a collaborative piece.”

“Really?” His accent was particularly strong at that moment, and I thought I saw something dark behind his eyes … jealousy perhaps? “Well, I guess I’ll see you at Rafters then.” He winked. “Perhaps you and I can collaborate on something, sometime.”

He left me there, walking away without giving me a chance to answer. I knew what he wanted, as he made it clear within a week of my arrival that he was interested in me. Even though I told him I wasn’t up for another relationship he had been persistent, in a friendly, non-creepy way. My in-office messaging system dinged, and I looked at the computer screen seeing a message from Tess.

That piece I mentioned working together on? Just got more interesting. Come see me now, if you’re free.

I logged out and headed over to her office. As senior correspondent and the winner of several national and international journalism awards, Tess’s office was proof of her success. Compared to my desk, sharing a space with four others, her private corner office with a view in two directions was a reward for the level of writing she filed on a regular basis. I entered, and she indicated I should shut the door. Sitting on the armchair in front of her I looked at her expectantly.

“Well, I’m going to give you a name, and if you don’t want to be part of the story because of that name I understand,” she said. “He’s been off the radar for a month, and I know you have history with him.”

To say my heart didn’t come up into my throat, threatening to choke me with its increased beating would be lying. I tried to stay neutral but even her face showed a level of excitement that I knew could make this story another award winner.

“Bucky Barnes has resurfaced,” she said. “He was spotted at an arms show in the Middle East last week, scoping out some pretty high-tech weaponry. The word in certain circles is that he is connected to the Excalibur Security Group and is leading one of their infiltration units.”

Of all the groups to be associated with, why did it have to be Excalibur? Filled with former military and CIA shadow operatives, they were known to be involved in bringing oligarchs to power in resource rich third world countries. Tess brought an image up on her computer screen, turning it so I could see photographs of Bucky handling a very advanced rifle at the show. It seemed to be made just for him, as he tried out several stances with it. There must have been a look on my face because Tess suddenly put her hand on mine.

“You, okay? Is it too soon to ask you to investigate and write about your former boyfriend?”

I swallowed then let out a breath. “Yeah, it is too soon but if he’s involved with them, it’s not a good thing. Any idea what country they’re targeting?”

“Considering the fact that he lived there for two years … it has to be Wakanda. The vacuum left by the death of King T’Challa and subsequent challenge by M’Baku to take control has convinced some consortiums that the time is right for a coup. Barnes had a very public falling out with Princess Shuri with plenty of witnesses hearing her threaten to kill him if he showed his face there again. His knowledge of the country is invaluable to the right people. I heard Excalibur offered him 8 figures, just as a bonus to go in with them. For a man who ended up in this century with nothing, many wouldn’t blame him for accepting the money. The Avengers certainly couldn’t afford that.”

I leaned back in the chair and Tess turned her computer screen away from me. I looked past her, to the view of the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. Completed within 11 months of each other in 1930, Bucky was a teenager when they were built. The view of them was something he never got enough of, a reminder of who he used to be, before World War II and HYDRA turned him into the man he was today.

“Alright,” I said. “I’m in. What do you want me to do?”

As she outlined her investigation objectives, I tried to still the hesitancy I was already feeling about this. The Excalibur Security Group had been implicated in the kidnapping, torture and deaths of several people in the countries they had already “helped” transition to a different government; people whose only real crime was standing up to outside influence and interference. I couldn’t help but wonder why, after all his years of being a puppet of HYDRA, Bucky would align himself with an organization who seemed to follow their playbook for taking control.

Bucky

It had been five weeks since I took that ride in the windowless panel van. Being taken at gunpoint and having my head covered didn’t exactly fill me with confidence but once I was vetted and went out on a few pickups myself I realized it was SOP, Standard Operating Procedure. All new hires went through the same thing. Their bags were checked for trackers, their weapons checked for serial numbers (they were supposed to be filed off), and once we arrived at a second secret location, the operative was required to strip down and prove they weren’t wearing a wire. Because of my arm and shoulder unit I had to prove nothing in them was traceable. I must have been convincing because they allowed me to keep the arm.

There were the usual types that thought they were the baddest of all badasses but when I easily dumped them on said ass during some one-on-one confrontations, they all soon realized none of them had my skill set. It would have been laughable if not for the fact that most of these guys had received their training with the military of several different countries. Either training methods had been watered down since I took basic in 1942, or these guys had faked their resumés. I must have pleased someone because I didn’t have to prove myself after that. One of the suits hanging around where our small army was holed up, made a big deal of transferring my $10 million signing bonus into the Swiss bank account that I set up once I agreed to join. Told me that after this mission I could begin to live the high life that I was entitled to. Of course, the suit didn’t realize that as soon as the money went into the account a forensic accounting team would begin tracing the source of that transfer. The forensic team were the best of the best, and their work would begin the accumulation of evidence that would be used to prosecute the money people behind the Excalibur Security Group.

Now, five weeks after that van ride, I was in a camp, located somewhere on a remote Australian ranch, in a tent by myself, since I was also made a unit commander. It was hot, dusty, and there was no wifi for miles. But the beer was cold, the food plentiful, and I just bided my time until the day we were in a place with internet so that everything I had recorded in that time could be uploaded to the cloud. Yeah, I was getting better at the tech thing as well. Sam would be proud of me. I paused as I stopped sharpening my knives for a moment. Lying to Sam had been hard. It started with challenging his decisions on missions, then openly mocking his authority. Like the counsellor he used to be he tried to deal with it with understanding. But I was surly with him, asking what made his plans better than mine, considering I had years more experience than him. Then I deliberately didn’t follow his plans during missions. I never did it to the point of endangering lives on those occasions, but my actions did cause problems and when he called me out on it, I reacted like one of those fake badasses I took care of. Before I ended it with Sloan, Sam was the last person that I broke relations with. The look of hurt on his face when I put my face into his and told him to fuck off out of my life was something that I’ll regret forever. I hoped to hell that when this mission was done, he would accept my apology and forgive me for the terrible things I said and did.

“Barnes, CO wants you,” said Ducharme, a former French special forces sergeant, sticking his head inside my tent.

I put my knife and sharpening stone aside, then headed over to the CO’s tent. Colonel William Moorehouse was a former Marine, who was unceremoniously dumped from his command, after being caught stealing gold from a drug lord in Afghanistan. The government of the moment wanted the gold to go towards reparations. He thought it his just due for taking out the drug lord and his small army. He had to give it back then was canned after. I stopped outside his tent, as the flap was down.

“Captain Barnes reporting,” I announced. Only took me 80 years to be made Captain.

“Enter,” said the Colonel’s voice. He had a computer up and I realized at that moment that he must have wifi. With luck and some time, I might be able to upload everything recorded so far. “Barnes, we’ve been monitoring online news sources to make sure word of our upcoming excursion doesn’t get out before we execute the plan. Looks like someone had loose lips but we’re not sure who spilled the beans.”

“Sir?” I questioned, not quite sure what he wanted me to do.

The tall grey-haired man turned the laptop screen towards me, and I saw a brief article from the Manhattan Daily. Its title stood out. So did its byline of the writers.

WAKANDAN COUP ATTEMPT EXPECTED: PRIVATE SECURITY FIRM MAY BE INVOLVED An unnamed source advised that the former Avenger, James Buchanan Barnes, recently fired from the group for increasingly disturbing behaviour has been hired by the private security firm, Excalibur Security Group. While his skill set would be coveted by any private security firm, the news of him being hired by ESG hints that his extensive knowledge of Wakanda may be utilized as part of a coup. Excalibur Security Group is no stranger to transitioning uncooperative governments, especially if they are in resource rich countries. Since the deaths of Wakandan king T’Challa, and his mother, Ramonda, the country appears to be troubled with the ascension of tribal chief M’Baku to the throne, after his challenge to the heir presumptive, Princess Shuri, was uncontested. Shuri and Barnes were recently witnessed in an unsettling encounter, threatening the other with death. The Daily will monitor the situation and report updates as they occur. Story filed by Tess Murray and Sloan Hunter.

I stood up, saying nothing for a moment. “I haven’t spoken to Sloan for over a month. She wouldn’t have known I signed with Excalibur as I only accepted after I broke it off with her.”

“I didn’t think you were the leak,” he replied, turning the laptop back to him. “That Murray woman has been a thorn in the side of several private security firms. She has eyes and ears everywhere. How are your assassin skills?”

“I would rather not use them,” I replied, as it was made very clear when I signed that I didn’t do that anymore. He gave me a look that said he didn’t like that answer. “My skills are still the best. You’re not considering a hit on the women, are you?”

“No, I just want it as an option if they start naming names,” he said. “Our contract is specific that we protect our client’s name and reputation, at the expense of our own. We have an operative in the same office as the Manhattan Daily. That person will be monitoring progress on the story. If they get too close, they will be dealt with, hopefully by our operative. If that isn’t possible, I’m afraid you may be sent to complete that operation.” I started to argue but he put up his hand. “It’s actually in your contract that you may be required for specific tasks. A hit would qualify.”

I wracked my brains trying to remember if I saw that clause before I signed. He bent over his laptop and brought up a document, turning it towards me.

“You can read it again, if you wish,” he said. “It was buried pretty deep but it’s there. Page 2, clause 4.8a.”

I read it and swore openly. “That was not in the contract I signed,” I insisted.

“Well, it’s there now,” he said smugly. “If you’re going to be a soldier of fortune you have to earn the money doing the dirty jobs, Barnes. Now get the hell out of my tent.”

Seething, I stepped out and swore again as I headed back to my tent.

“I hope you heard that,” I said, in a low voice once I was out of earshot of his tent but hopefully within range of the wifi, knowing it would record me. “It wasn’t in the contract I signed. You better make sure she’s safe and find their operative.”

When I stepped inside my tent I stopped immediately. I could smell aftershave and it wasn’t mine, although I had a vague memory of the scent. Someone had been in my tent while I was with the Colonel. Carefully, I scanned the inside of my quarters, checking to see if anything was misplaced from where I left it. Then I checked the obvious and not so obvious places to plant a bug, finding it on the side of one of the tent’s supports, in the shadows where it wasn’t readily visible. It wasn’t a standard issue bug, at least not one used by the Avengers or law enforcement. As I looked closer at it, I noticed a tiny symbol made up of four vertical lines. When I was with HYDRA some of the Russian guards and staff had it tattooed on the back of their hand, as it meant order in an ancient hieroglyphic of the culture present from about 5000 BC. To HYDRA, always using ancient cultural symbols to justify their measures, it was just another way of saying what they wanted for the world. With a smirk, I broke it in half then smashed it under my heel for good measure. I looked for another but didn’t find anything. It bothered me that someone would use a bug with that symbol on it. Was there a HYDRA sympathizer in the camp? If there was, I needed to identify them and find out what their game was. Were they part of the plan to infiltrate and destabilize Wakanda or was I a target? Either way, my mission just became a little harder.

Part 3

Short Fiction Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Please support the author by reblogging.

[gumnut-logic]

The footsteps on the metal decking were so obviously familiar fine footwear, Virgil didn’t need to look up to know his eldest brother had finally returned. The fact they were accompanied by wet squelches and the tap of his brother’s cane only informed him further of Scott’s mood.

Not a good one.

Virgil sighed and with a final yank on the bolt to secure it, he pushed his goggles onto his forehead, no doubt adding to the grime already in his hair.

Looking over from under Number Four and her propellers, all he could see was that fine set of shoes standing in a puddle of water. The tempered brass end of the cane, an affectation that was only partly required by his brother and was more for show than anything else, tapped again impatiently and rather loudly on the deck plates.

“You’ve returned.”

“Obviously, Virgil.” The feet shifted. “Where exactly are you?”

“Under here.” His back was on wheels and with a shove, he slid out from under his little brother’s Thunderbird.

Blue eyes as crystal clear as the ocean they were currently floating in targeted him immediately.

Virgil couldn’t help but smile upside down at his brother. Scott was far too serious most of the time and his appearance and dress clearly illustrated that at the moment. Black top hat, deep blue waistcoat, equally deep red cravat, charcoal long coat over black pants and those fine black shoes.

Virgil felt positively grimy in his dirtied shirt, old breeches and worn boots. But then his work was of a different kind to that Scott had in New York.

“What did father say?”

“He did not approve. Claimed the risk was too high and the chance too small.”

Virgil frowned. “But John’s calculations were exact. We have to investigate. If there is land there, I am sure Alan could have made it.”

Scott shifted where he stood. “Yes, well, father disagrees.”

Virgil thinned his lips. Their father wasn’t here. Their father lived in a different world despite the man creating the infrastructure and funding the efforts of International Rescue, Virgil sometimes wondered if he actually understood what his sons experienced.

A sigh and he pushed himself up off the trolley and onto his feet. Several nuts and bolts clattered to the floor, prompting a sigh from his brother.

Virgil arched an eyebrow at him before bending over to pick up the metal pieces of submarine. As his brother shifted again, he was reminded of the squelch of his entrance. “What’s leaking?” More work most likely.

“I believe Eos has been gnawing on the airlock rubbers again.”

“Again? I only repaired them last week.”

“I’ll speak to John about it.”

“He’ll love that.” The pilot of Thunderbird Five, the great docking submarine they were currently standing on tended to ignore a lot of the ‘advice’ their eldest brother offered. Since they had lost young Alan, their master navigator had taken to locking himself away for long periods of time.

Virgil made a point of barging in on him as much as possible with his medic and ‘mancy excuses. John, of course, saw through all of them to what Virgil’s interruptions were – genuine worry.

Unfortunately, Scott was much more direct and arguments often happened between the two of them. Virgil found them stressful. Fortunately or unfortunately, his brothers knew that and would stop the moment he walked in.

But still…

“Are we going anyway?” Virgil eyed his brother.

Scott’s posture was always ramrod straight, but still he managed to gain a few thirtyseconds of an inch at that comment.  “We leave at dusk.”

Damn. This was going to cause a rift the size of the Grand Canyon. Their father would be furious.

But Scott had no choice, Virgil agreed, Gordon was inconsolable and John was on the verge of losing his mind. They had to do this.

Scott’s eyes narrowed on Virgil as he grabbed a rag and wiped his hands.

A sigh. “We’re looking at least ten days travel time at Five’s top speed, give or take Cape Horn.” He knew where he would prefer to shove Cape Horn. “Best guess, I’d say a fortnight to the middle of nowhere.” He eyed his brother. “Any word from the colonial offices in the South Pacific?”

Scott’s gaze dipped. “Unfortunately, no. Neither by telegraph nor IR broadcast.”

“John has more balloons in the air.” It was a faint hope. The whole concept was a faint hope. But Virgil, like his brothers, refused to accept defeat. They would find Allie. “And the closer we get, we can launch One.” And Two. There was no way Virgil was being left out of this any more than John or Gordon for that matter.

Scott raised his head again. “If we find Three, do you think you can revive her?”

Virgil’s fingertips tingled at the thought. His affinity for mechanism had helped make this all possible. Hiram built the craft under the direction of their father, but Virgil tended them, kept them alive.

Sparks flickered at the ends of his fingers. “I will.”

Or die trying.

-o-o-o-

[theultrablog]

Starting now: PULP STORYTIME!

I’ve been running one of the best games of my life over the last few years. I’ve been writing them up over at SA, but that site is gated and I wanted to share those stories with a larger audience. I’m gonna be posting some tales of pulp adventure from my table, weekly. Enjoy!

The Park-North Snipe Hunt!

“You don’t have a piece,” laughed the gangster, “and now you won’t see your 14th birthday.” “Bang,” said Devika, pointing a finger gun. Kulfi obliged from a block away. The mook wouldn’t see the sunrise. In this game, we play a collection of pulp gentlemen thieves, grabbing & nabbing in 1930s New York. And an errant detail changed the course of the entire session. The session started with us trying to steal the Doomsday Clock, a pastiche of the Antikythera mechanism. Someone beat us to the punch, forcing us to investigate…which led us to the local Syndicate. While looting a safe in a mafia speakeasy, I decided to forge a note, taking credit, signed “the Gray Gargoyle”. Who’s that? Well, it’s a costumed adventurer who smashes crime, especially art crime! Total ass-pull, but it fit the setting. We didn’t think much more about it, until our adventures led us to an upstate airfield, where mafiosos were trying to smuggle the Clock out of the country. I spent a fate point to declare that they were already being stopped… by the Gray Gargoyle! Yes, he dove off the air control tower and with his Gliding Cape, intercepted the plane! We rescued him from airfield security, but we had a plan. Since we were gentlemen, it wouldn’t make sense to just kill the guy and take the artifact. After all, that’s not thievery, that’s mugging. So we engineered a plan where we gathered the mob boss who was after the artifact, killed him with a sniper rifle, and escaped in the confusion. Unfortunately, the Gargoyle didn’t take the bait and get himself killed in the fracas, instead watching our escape from the valet stand.

Running the circus from the monkey cage!

The campaign continues, with a rotating GM. This week and last, we were joined by Evelyn St. Cloud, insecure Circus Aerialist*. This week was a flashback featuring her and mystic orphan Devika Velyapur, trying to pull some scams at the Hagenbeck–Wallace circus. And while we prevented an accident, saved the circus and altered history, most notable were three things: —Evelyn only agreeing to help prevent a train crash because of Devika goading her, targeting her aspect “Anything you can do…”. —In order to chase the villain, we convinced the circus strongman to bend the frames of two penny farthings together to create an ersatz duo bicycle. —We discovered the villain of the adventure, Mabel Smith Douglass, was someone we met last week. And since this was a flashback, that limited our options. Highwire-walker Evie jumped onto the plane. But while she couldn’t open the door, all she could do was force a landing. And without a suitable escape route, there was no way to convince airport officials that the villain had stolen property. So after some fisticuffs, we swore revenge on someone who died at the end of last session. *There was a brief cameo by Smuggler ��Typhoon’ Mike McGinty, but he had to leave after the first hour. He discovered a tiger sleeping on his boat and used his connections to try and sell it to a buyer in Canada.

For reference, Devika, Lord Simon, and Javid, our initial trio:

[winged-wolf-s-collection-of-arts]

How's it going? Uh, it's... going.

[ID: A digital drawing of Mr. Russel, near the security checkpoint of vault 111! They're wielding a security baton and pointing at someone offscreen. A speech bubble next to him says "You can't make me put the vault suit back on!!!" He has light skin and short light brown hair. He has a grey and black baseball cap with a dog pawprint marking. He's wearing a pink checkered short sleeved shirt and slacks. They have various scars but most notably, a dog bite on his left forearm. /End ID]

It was just a suggestion, Russel!! (oh well, it's your problem if you get radiation damage...)

[ID: A digital drawing of Melissa Able and Claudia Whitfield, in front of a monitoring terminal! Melissa's reading a terminal entry and her arms are crossed. She has short dark brown hair that's slightly wavy. and medium toned skin. She's wearing a vault suit, and has a turquoise shirt with red flowers on it tied around her neck like a cape. There's a speech bubble next to her with ellipses. Claudia's standing next to her with a sad expression and she's holding a clipboard. She has light skin, and straight red hair with grey streaks. She's wearing a vault suit with a tan dress over it, and the dress has pink flowers embroidered on the collar. /End ID]

Melissa and Claudia are investigating! Disgusted at what Vault-Tec has done, but somehow not too surprised. Big companies at it again.

+ items acquired!! Security baton, 10 mm pistol, stimpaks- There's purified water in the vault, but they'll need to find food soon...

Notes-

Background credit to Gejzirowski of the Fallout Wiki and HomelessGamerGO of NexusMods! (I'll credit others' screenshots I use/paint over)

Somebody must have put the idea in my head that Russell was a conspiracy theorist, because it's not brought up in dialogue or anything?? Ah well, it's already in my notes, not changing it. Melissa's a veteran and former pilot, she's ready to face the wastes! Claudia is... still in shock over the situation, and from losing her husband. :(

Yes I pulled Claudia's voice actor's first name, it sounded nice. Changed Melissa's outfit a bit, that's an over-shirt she's wearing as a little cape haha. I also gave Russel that hat!

I'll have more drawings with the other vault folks, stay tuned! Reply if you want to be on the taglist :D

Taglist: @typosandtea, @pure-vanilla-lilies, @mottinthemainpot

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 3 February 1953, the Batepá massacre took place in São Tomé and Príncipe as Portuguese colonial authorities tried to quell protests of native Creole people, known as forros. The colony faced labour shortages. Plantation owners relied mostly on contract workers from Cape Verde and Portuguese colonies on the African mainland like Angola and Mozambique, and public works were often undertaken by forced labourers, kidnapped by police. Forros considered plantation work as slave labour, and refused to do it. So colonial authorities implemented various measures to try to force them into wage labour, like outlawing sales of alcohol that they made, and increasing the poll tax. They also planned to bring 15,000 more people from Cape Verde, and rumours spread that the government planned to seize forros' land to give to the settlers, and forced them into wage work on the field. Large protests, mostly by forros, broke out across the colony on February 3. Authorities claimed that they were part of a communist rebellion, and formed militias to crush them. Over the next few days, security forces and militias killed hundreds of forros. Some were suffocated, others burned to death, and many more beaten, tortured and sentenced to forced labour. Bodies of the victims, the governor reportedly told his subordinates to "Throw this shit into the sea to avoid troubles". A subsequent investigation by Portuguese authorities concluded that there was no communist plot, however the governor was still praised and promoted. None of the murderers were prosecuted, but seven forros were convicted of murder for killing two police officers. The massacre spurred a growth of support for independence, and February 3 is today remembered as the Day of the Martyrs of Liberty, and national holiday. The Portuguese dictatorship was eventually overthrown by a revolution in 1974. Learn more in our podcast episodes 41-42: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e41-42-the-portuguese-revolution/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2201302406721564/?type=3

[giddlygoat]

Is Drake extremely jealous of Launchpad, despite loving him? Does LP know this?

drake is great at finding things to be jealous about, so i wouldn’t be surprised? like, he would be jealous of launchpad’s easy charisma a bit i think. he could be jealous of any number of things depending on his mood. but in general, i don’t really think of him as jealous of launchpad as a whole. more like, he envies launchpad’s easygoing nature and his being quick to forgive, because drake doesn't feel like he can be either of those things. but i think in his mind it sounds less like “it should have been me” and more like “i wish i were more like him” if that makes sense.

launchpad is absolutely very aware of drake’s jealous nature. he’s pretty finely tuned into drake’s emotions as a whole, but i think as someone who doesn’t experience a lot of jealously, it’s easier for him to step back and look at drake with a fresh perspective.

like. launchpad wants a lot of the same things drake wants. he wants attention, he wants recognition and support, he needs to feel useful at all times. but the way this looks on him is vastly different. he turns his desire to belong into acts of service, because if he can be of use, people will keep him around longer, right? he feels like it’s inevitable that he will be outgrown or left behind by everyone he attaches to. he doesn’t feel like he can ask for anything so he’ll give as much and laugh as often and smile as wide as he can because all he knows to do is freely give what he might not feel he quite deserves.

i think it took drake much, much longer than he’d care to admit to realize what’s going on inside launchpad. like, he quite literally crashes into the pilot’s life one night, immediately tries to brush him off, until - “wait, you’re a pilot?!” how can you be of service to me? how can you help me? at which point do you become a burden?

launchpad didn’t even think twice. he threw himself into the fray with drake, giving it his all, joking and smiling despite the chaos and tension. i imagine that’s the most alive either of them have felt in years. launchpad had a purpose, drake had a fan, and it was all kind of magical right before they crashed into a power line. like a slap to the face, drake walked away, sputtering and livid, and launchpad just couldn’t let all of it go yet. he begged for drake to let him stay, give him that purpose and allow him to belong. i think they were both frazzled and frightened; LP of losing this and drake of having it, and so it came to an abrupt end then and there. but everything was changing quickly and i think both of them knew it. i don’t need to tell you what happened in darkly dawns.

at some point, drake has got to investigate launchpad’s behavior. he’s a details guy - often bogged down in the smallest of details and unable to see the big picture. he picks and picks apart but doesn’t think to blink and look up, so of course he would take launchpad’s eagerness to help for granted. he must be well adjusted and content with his life. well well, good for him [sarcastic]. of course drake wishes he could be that unbothered sometimes, but it’s not a thought he can entertain for long before he’s already exhausted with it.

like, drake needs to wear a mask and cape to feel any sense of security. he needs to be clamored over and monologued to and hit hard a couple times before he feels any semblance of stability. of course he would take one look at good ol’ unconcerned launchpad and completely disregard the notion that he possibly struggles with a similar problem. of course launchpad wouldn’t say anything.

but i don’t think it remains like this forever obviously. like, at some point drake does begin to realize where things don’t add up. as they get more comfortable with each other, they both let the ‘mask’ slip a bit more. and from this, i think any jealously drake experienced before might actually intensify in some twisted up way. that launchpad could turn his loneliness and suffering into something so beautiful and downright productive while drake has to masquerade around the city at night in his clown getup? yeah he would probably resent that at first LAWL

but i think very quickly it would start to untangle a bit. as their strange similarities come to light more and more, drake would probably feel inspired more than anything. he finds that for the first time in his life he can look at someone doing better than him and want to follow him rather than belittle them. he doesn’t want to be better to spite launchpad, he wants to better himself because of LP.

also, if you were asking about drake’s jealousy regarding launchpad’s looks and i totally misinterpreted this ask, sorry LMAO. if that’s the case, i don’t think drake is jealous of his looks because launchpad doesn’t look anything like drake’s personal ideal. he’s so vastly different that they don’t really compare or overlap. of course drake has insecurities regarding his own figure, but i think he’s more self assured than anything. i think the euphoria he gets from the costume is enough to stave off any doubts he has about his looks lawl

[hank-the-hedehog]

Hank's journey: Sonic Adventure 2: part 1

Disclaimer: This series would be about Hank's journey through various events, be it the canon events with alteration or fan-made ones in no chronological order. Said events will be researched before writing about them. Canon characters may be portrayed differently as this series is set in a parallel dimension/au to the main Canon.

A week after Eggman's break-in to the secret military base and keeping out of sight, Hank listens to the police and military frequencies. "They are after Gerald's grandson." His ear twitches as someone or something is approaching him. "Time to move." He uses chaos control to teleport before the military personnel find him. The personnel looks around the area Hank was in. "Sir, the signal disappeared." The commanding officer enters the premises. "It could be the escaped Project Hank." The personnel looks at her superior. "Sir, wasn't Project Hank eliminated 50 years ago?" The officer shakes his head. "He escaped along with the scientists who made him. We have been looking for them for 50 years since our raid cadet." The cadet hears footsteps. "Sir, someone's coming." The officer pats the cadet's shoulder. "I will take care of it. Continue with the scan." The cadet salutes her officer. "Yes, sir!" She continues her scan as her officer goes to secure the perimeter.

Standing on top of a building, Hank observes his pursuers. "Those must be G.U.N agents. Luckily, it's night right now, or they would have spotted me." He pulls the hood of his cape on. "I will need to be extra careful from now on." He checks the movements of the local government and notices something. "They are heading to one location." He hears explosions nearby and glances in its direction. "That's probably why." He races to the scene to investigate. Arriving at the scene, Hank sees two hedgehogs with different colors fighting. "Who are they?" He recognizes one of the hedgehogs as he feels a chaos surge when that hedgehog teleported. "That's must be Shadow." He sees the other is surrounded by armed personnel. "I guess I will have to help them." He teleports to the remaining hedgehog.

The hedgehog looks around to figure out an escape route only to see more people pointing guns at him and smirks. "Bring it." He feels a hand grabbing his arm and looks at who it belongs to. A cloaked figure teleports himself and the hedgehog away. The hedgehog takes his arm away from the cloaked figure. "Woah, what!?!? You can teleport like that faker I fought. you've a Chaos Emerald on you too? " The figure removes his hood and shows who he is. "You can say that. My name is Hank." He offers his hand to the hedgehog. "And it is good to see another hedgehog like me." The hedgehog shakes Hank's hand. "Same except for that faker hedgehog who calls himself Shadow. Anyway, the name's Sonic." Hank looks at his comm device as it beeps. "We should go now. Can you keep up?" Sonic rubs his nose and chuckles. "Of course, I can." Hank puts his comm device in his bag and warms up. "Good. Follow me." He hops down to the streets and speeds off with Sonic following him.

After outrunning their pursuers, the two hide in a nearby forest. Hank checks his comm device, then looks around. "Our pursuers won't find us here. We can use the downtime to rest." He grabs a couple of protein bars and hands half of them to Sonic. "Here. You must be hungry. You will need the extra energy if we are going after Shadow." Sonic takes them and eats one after unwrapping it. "You know him or something?" Hank eats a piece from one of his protein bars. "Yeah, I was created as a failsafe in case he didn't come through." Sonic raises a brow. "What you mean by created?" Hank removes one of his gloves and looks at the back of his hand. "I was artificially made in a laboratory -" He shows Sonic a Chaos Emerald shard embedded in his hand. "- using a Chaos Emerald and an alien DNA." He puts the glove back on.

Sonic whistles, then pokes Hank’s arm as if in disbelief. “Wait, so that Shadow from before is artificial too?” Hank nods. Sonic blinks. “Ooouu Huh..” He ponders on the intel. He seems lost in thought as he rubs his chin. Hank continues. “I was designed with a similar purpose as him.” Sonic’s ears perk, alerting him back to the present. He angles forward, squinting one eye as he fans his hand, anticipating an answer. “And that would beee..?” Hank takes another bite from his snack. “A solution for incurable diseases.” Sonic’s eyes widen. “Whoa, really? That’s cool… So then why is *he* making a scene and making me look like I’m the bad guy here? He gone rogue or something?” He drops his tone to almost a mumble as he continues rambling on amongst himself. “How does anyone even mistake him for me? He looks nothing like me-" Hank looks at Sonic and shrugs. "It doesn't matter to them. They view us as aliens to lock up and experiment on." Sonic crosses his arms. "Then I need to find my friends before they do." Hank finishes his snack. "Alright. Who do you want to find first?" Sonic points over to Hank's hand. "High chance my bud Tails'll track us down with your chaos energy, so we should probably go look for the others. Come to think of it.. Knux can actually sniff out chaos energy as well. Don't ask me how, probably just some special quirk he got for being the guardian or something." He shrugs, shaking his head. "Not sure how he'll take it if he finds out you got a piece of an emerald embedded into you." Hank takes his comm device from his bag and opens something on it. "Okay, can you put their descriptions in here?" He hands his comm device to Sonic. Sonic looks at the device and then at Hank before taking it. "Why?" Hank emits some Chaos Energy and focuses it around him. "To find your two friends. And I will guide your third friend to us." He mutters under his breath. "Hopefully, they won't find us first." He focuses his energy into two large bolts.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the sky above. A fox flies his plane and notices the attached chaos emerald start to glow. "Huh? A chaos energy signature nearby? I should check if it is an emerald. I hope Sonic is okay." He follows the signal to a forest and looks down to see a bright light shining below. "That must be the source." He looks around and finds an open field. "This will do to land the cyclone." He flies to the open field and lands his plane. He pushes a button, and the plane transforms into a bipedal mech. "Now, let's see who this chaos energy belongs to." He heads to the light source.

Hank stops emitting his chaos energy and looks at Sonic. "Your friend is probably on his way." Sonic squints one eye and hands the device to its owner. "How'd you know?" Hank walks past Sonic. "I had a momentary link with his or her chaos emerald through my emerald." He looks over his shoulder. "We will meet your friend halfway." Sonic follows Hank. "Then it must be Tails. He has an emerald with him." Hank's ears perk and glances around him. "Good. Do you want to see who can reach him first?" Sonic notices the noise and nods. "Sure, slow poke." Hank chuckles and takes a running pose. "We will see." Sonic takes a running pose as well. "Ready. Set. Go!" The two of them start racing to Tails' location.

Tails glances at the Chaos Emerald and notices it starting to glow brightly. "Hmm, whoever is producing chaos energy is getting closer." He looks around to where the energy is coming from. "Where are you?" He stops as two hedgehogs zip past him. "Huh?" He looks at one of the hedgehogs and sees his friend. "Sonic!" Sonic walks to Tails with Hank following behind. "Tails! Are you okay, buddy?" Tails hops out of the cyclone. "I'm okay. I'm glad I found you." He looks at Hank. "Oh, hi. I'm Tails." Hank nods. "Hank. You built that mech?" Tails looks at Cyclone. "Yes. It has a chaos emerald in it." Hank admires the design and glances at Sonic. "Your friend is a genius. And I assume you heard what I heard before our little run, right?" Sonic nods. "What's your plan?" Hank points at Tails' mech. "You and your friend get out of here while I distract them." He looks at Tails and shows him the emerald shard in his hand. "And you can track me later." Tails touches Hank's hand. "That's what the cyclone's emerald detected. It detected you." Hank puts his gloves back on. "That's my plan." Sonic rubs his chin. "Okay." Hank fist bumps Soinc. "Don't get captured." Sonic chuckles. "I'll tell you the same." Hank goes back in the same direction as Sonic and Tails goes the other way.

To be continued

----------------

[ Next ]

Master post

Hank belongs to me @lionwriters-blog and @hank-the-hedehog

Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and G.U.N. belong to Sega

I like to thank @hammie-heart for helping me with some parts of this chapter.

[doctorstrangereview]

Marvel Feature #1 (Backup Story)

Cover Date: December 1971 On-Sale Date: July 20, 1971

Doc has been absent from the Marvel Universe for nearly two years. Editorial has brought him back to create the new "non-team," The Defenders. The "non-team" differs from The Avengers or The X-Men in that they only come together for threats and don't have cool things like a charter or a clubhouse. Initially it consists of Doc, The Hulk and Namor, the Sub-Mariner. He fought beside them in his previous two appearances in their titles, thus the final Doc solo issue being the seed of The Defenders.

This issue has the initial Defenders story, but also a backup feature detailing how Doc got his mojo back. Even though it appears second in the book, I'm reviewing it first because it occurs first chronologically.

Walking along the streets of New York City, our depowered Doc finds himself wandering to his old haunt, the Sanctum Santorum. Doc has gotten himself gigs as a consultant to other docs. Now he's questioning himself if this was the right thing to do. He finally reaches his old pad. Don Heck may have given us some great stuff in the modern Marvel age, but this isn't it. His rendition of the Sanctum is better than Everett's or Severin's but it's still rather blah. The street level entrance rather than having a stoop is an odd choice.

The house looks just like he left it, but it's supposed to be boarded up. Something is definitely wrong here! Heck, the front door isn't even locked. (Not locking his door seems to have been a serious security issue early in his career. Anyone and everyone seemed to come and go as they pleased.) Our former magician and current physician decides it's a good idea to investigate. He goes inside and finds his old employee, Wong. They question each others' identity and yell at each other.

Wong calls for his master who promptly shows up. Doc registers his indignity at being usurped with those present.

Good to know that Doc's imposter has killer abs! Doc and fake Doc bandy some words back and forth. Fake Doc challenges Doc to cast a spell and prove who he says he is. Doc says they know he can't do that. Fake Doc decides to toss real Doc around a bit and even attempts to break his neck.

Powerless real Doc actually manages to hold his own against fake Doc for a while. Fake Doc eventually manages to subdue real Doc with the Cloak of Levitation. We get a view of muscle-y fake Doc without the cloak. (Don't know where the All-Purpose Amulet went.)

Sleepy real Doc reaches out to the one person who can help him. Who might that be? The Ancient One! Good thing he crawled out of that sarsen stone a few years ago. The Ancient One offers Doc a shortcut to getting his powers back. With the price being he can't retire again.

The Ancient One manages to bolt just as fake Doc comes back. Now real Doc and fake Doc can have a poorly drawn mystical battle.

Real Doc then gets tricky with what he's really good at: illusions.

Fake Doc then basically admits he's an imposter. Real Doc then mystically knocks out fake Doc. Then real Doc claims he can't fly without his funky cape. I'm pretty sure this is wrong.

Now comes the Scooby-Doo moment as real Doc unmasks fake Doc. Ruh-roh! It's Baron Mordo!

Doc turns away and the Baron disappears, taking that terrible masked costume with him. Doc explains to Wong: "I'm back baby! And I'm stuck with it!"

Doc's back and he's all set for the decade of terrible fashion and atrocious décor. This wasn't the main story of the issue and I think it was last minute and rushed. The plot is middling and the art is simplistic. Don Heck is capable of much better. I imagine the level of effort he put in for this is a minimal "just get it done." I guess they just needed something to explain how Doc is mysteriously back in action in the main feature.