#Check Point Infinity Platform

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The societal implications of digital WMDs - CyberTalk

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The societal implications of digital WMDs - CyberTalk

Bryan Neilson is an experienced Cyberspace & Intelligence Operations professional who built his career supporting Cyberspace Operations, Intelligence Collection, and Counterintelligence for the U.S. Intelligence Community. Bryan’s work, which has spanned the globe, can be directly tied to saving the lives of countless officers and assets, enabling of kinetic military objectives, and helping to build and maintain the strategic advantage of the United States throughout Cyberspace and beyond. Fusing his proficiencies in Cyberspace Operations and Human Intelligence, Bryan has become a trailblazer in his industry and has brought his unique expertise to Check Point Software Technologies – where he serves as Regional Architect, Evangelist, and global Subject Matter Expert in Sophisticated Cyberspace and Intelligence Tradecraft.

In the last several days, the cyber security industry has been rocked by a rare acknowledgement from U.S. Government Officials regarding the likelihood of extensive compromise of U.S. Critical Infrastructure by specific state-sponsored hacking groups. In a rare public pronouncement, the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) revealed the extent to which it (and other federal agencies) believes that specific Nation-State sponsored actors have been actively and successfully engaging in broad campaigns to compromise various systems controlling critical infrastructure components within the U.S.

It has been a long-held belief among many cyberspace professionals that sophisticated state-enabled offensive actors have been actively and covertly compromising various critical infrastructure systems and networks across the United States and its allies – activity that has been on-going for several years.  Nevertheless, these public statements from the NSA – an organization known for keeping such issues and ‘troubles’ concealed from the general public – suggest mounting concerns among U.S. intelligence, military, diplomacy, and congressional officials.

Furthermore, U.S. officials have noted how this observed ‘buildup’ is predominantly targeting critical infrastructure systems of little to no intelligence value; thus, raising alarm that the motivation behind this activity is for the sole purpose of gaining a strategic advantage (the ability to disrupt U.S. and allied critical infrastructure) in the event conflicts arise.

Since early 2023, when the NSA and Microsoft collaboratively identified and publicly-revealed the existence of China’s Volt Typhoon program and alluded to the extent to which this mission had gained strategic access among critical infrastructure, worry throughout Washington has been mounting. The primary concerns are three-fold: A) strategic pre-positioning and control over U.S. critical infrastructure represents a substantive threat to the United States government, economy, and society; B) such wide-ranging pre-positioning has the potential to fundamentally shift the balance of power and displace the United States’ strategic advantage and dominance within the Cyberspace Domain; and C) such pre-positioning activity positions adversarial nation states with a “first-strike” capacity against the United States. These concerns have been echoed by Air Force General Timothy Haugh (Commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the top military official in the United States for cyberspace), in a telling statement made to the Washington Times, “We see attempts to be latent in a network that is critical infrastructure, that has no intelligence value, which is why it is so concerning.”

Recent public statements from the NSA and the subsequent comments from the Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command paint a rather bleak picture for the continuing security of United States critical infrastructure – and in turn, the future stability and resiliency of the U.S. government, economy, and society. Nevertheless, it is imperative to remember that this pre-positioning activity some U.S. adversaries are being accused of is neither new, unprecedented, nor, legally speaking, an act of outright hostility. Many countries with cyberspace operations capacities that are at least moderately sophisticated are actively engaged in the premeditated, organized, nation-sanctioned, and clandestine compromise of systems and networks for the sole purpose of gaining a strategic advantage over their adversaries – the United States being no exception. Lacking the critical element of direct and overt hostility, such activity is predominantly viewed and handled in the same manner as espionage, rather than actions indicative of war.

Chartered, in part, with maintaining and increasing the strategic advantage and dominance the United States has long held throughout the cyberspace domain, U.S. Cyber Command actively engages in this same strategic pre-positioning targeting U.S. adversaries. Such maneuvers intend and ultimately result in the compromise of and surreptitious control over thousands of systems and networks deemed advantageous to the interest and strategic advantage of the United States (systems and networks critical to the governmental, military, economic, and societal functions of other nations). This type of activity neither intends nor results in any immediate denial effect and therefore, does not meet the legal standard of Cyberspace Attack – a hostile act.  Rather, this type of activity is more aligned with acts of Cyberspace Exploitation.

Understanding this subtle yet crucial nuance between cyberspace attack and cyberspace exploitation is paramount to properly framing the situation that the world now faces. Cyberspace attack and cyberspace exploitation are two sides of the same coin. While both seek the compromise of systems, networks, data, and other assets, they fundamentally differ in both execution and motivation.

Cyberspace Attack, being of more substantial concern, consists of acts carried out within or through the cyberspace domain that have either the intent or result of causing immediate denial effects (defined as any form of degradation, disruption, or destruction). Actions carried out in this manner are still classified as Cyberspace Attack, even if this denial effect impacts resources outside the cyberspace domain. Cyberspace Exploitation, on the other hand, does not arise from the motivation of causing an immediate denial effect. Rather, Cyberspace Exploitation consists of acts of espionage or enablement carried out within or through the cyberspace domain. Lacking any motivation or outcome of an immediate denial effect, acts of Cyberspace Exploitation are not considered directly hostile and, from a legal, military, and diplomatic perspective handled much differently – through espionage, military maneuvers, counterintelligence, international pressure, and diplomacy. Notable however, is the standard setting forth “Enablement Activity” as an act of cyberspace exploitation. Such enablement activity consists of actions carried out for the purpose of enabling future activity or operations within or outside the cyberspace domain – regardless of the intent, motivation, or ultimate outcome inherent to such future activity.

Cyberspace Operations (which includes the aforementioned Cyberspace Attack and Cyberspace Exploitation, along with Cyberspace Security and Cyberspace Defense) establishes the current legal, military, and diplomatic doctrine and framework adopted by a majority of countries. The pre-positioning activity that is now raising alarm within the United States, while concerning and notable, represents non-hostile enablement activity within the discipline of Cyberspace Exploitation. The inclusion of “enablement activity” under the umbrella of Cyberspace Exploitation is a direct causal factor in the increased targeting and successful compromise of critical infrastructure systems around the world.

The rapid expansion in actors capable and willing to engage in cyberspace exploitation combined with the relative ease by which many critical infrastructure components can be compromised has led to a new “Mutually Assured Destruction” (MAD) style buildup of offensive capabilities and strategically pre-compromised and controlled critical assets. Though not directly hostile, this enablement activity does tactically position an actor to have control over the critical infrastructure of another country – thus providing the actor the ability to cause substantial damage to the country’s government, military, economy, and society.

Today, the world finds itself again in the grips of a transformed Cold War – watching the proliferation, buildup, and strategic placement of weapons of mass destruction. Reminiscent of global issues faced in decades past, this race towards mutually assured destruction is now driven by computer code rather than fissile material – a new age of weapons known as Digital Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The implications go beyond the direct impacts these digital WMDs would have on the physical world to the social and psychological impacts that they could have on people. In his 1955 book titled, “The Sane Society” social psychologist Erich Fromm describes the “Socially Patterned Defect”: a systemic illness underlying and inherent to modern societies, that absent the distractions of modern technology, would present in clinical signs of neurosis, psychosis, and socially-deviant behaviors among the population. Though more than half a century has passed since originally theorized, the hypothesis of a Socially Patterned Defect has been tested and upheld throughout the decades – even in today’s modern world. The aggressive adoption by modern societies of technologies providing on-demand access to real-time communications and information represents a new social and public health threat posed by such Digital WMDs. Unfortunate, but true, is the fact that most societies and individuals within the modern world are ill-prepared and would be effectively unable to function in a world without the modern technologies they have come to rely on.

Consider, as one example, the very real possibility of disruption to a nation’s power and communications infrastructure. While undoubtedly damaging to the nation’s government, military, and economy, the impact such an event would have on the society could be far more substantial. The co-dependency and reliance most modern societies have on current technology creates an ideal comorbidity condition where, any unexpected, immediate, and long-term absence of such technology could have the potential of causing this Socially Patterned Defect to emerge – resulting in mass disorder, public health and law enforcement crises, and ultimately societal and government collapse within the impacted population(s). Such effects resulting from a population’s loss of modern technology are not simply theoretical but have been observed on numerous occasions (and in relatively small scale) in the aftermath of recent natural disasters. This scenario represents a simple and limited-in-scope example of what is possible and of interests to sophisticated actors today. Considering the enablement activity being observed intends to acquire control over the whole of a nation’s critical infrastructure (communications, energy, emergency services, healthcare, transportation, and water systems – to name a few), the outcomes could be even more grave.

While the totality of impact such Digital WMDs would have on society seems dire, there is hope on the horizon. In May 2024, the United States Department of State published the “International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy”. Laying the foundation for a brighter, more secure, and more sustainable future, this policy seeks to set the cornerstone of a more diplomatic approach to cyberspace. Though seen as a watershed moment in the history of cyberspace, it is important to remember that these efforts are still very much in their infancy and will take years to fully formalize and canonize; and could be easily disrupted should tensions between key nations reach a point where conflict involving hostile actions within or through cyberspace seem warranted. Until such time, this new strategy is only complementary to and in no way contradicting or superseding the current military-minded doctrine of cyberspace operations.

With the stakes so high and any global realignment of doctrine so far off, it now rests on the shoulders of the global collective of cyberspace operations and cyber security professionals to help drive the world to this more secure reality – one where Digital WMDs are less prolific and the thought of triggering such weapons is considered a taboo in the same vein as the use of nuclear weapons. As an industry, the most powerful countermeasures are not the cyber security technologies – they have time and again proven inadequate and unable to stand up against sophisticated offensivecapabilities – but rather the knowledge, expertise, good nature, and voices of these unique professionals. In the interest of prevention, advocating for non-proliferation, disarmament, and international oversight and control of Digital WMDs is essential. Through this, governments can be pressured to ensure such weapons are rarely used; and if so, are employed in a restrained manner accounting for all reasonable measures to ensure societal stability.  While seeking prevention would be ideal, mutually agreed global disarmament and restraint among nations who possess (or who could easily develop) Digital WMDs is doubtful. Therefore, a measure of focus must be shifted to preparation and response rather than prevention.

With this new Cold War being fought out within a realm that is largely intangible and through actions rarely perceptible or considered, the seriousness and criticality of the situation the world now faces is often overlooked or not entirely comprehended. Just as populations around the world took measures in preparation for nuclear war throughout the mid-20th century, the world once again must proactively prepare for the possibility of conflict involving actions taken through cyberspace intended to result in disruptions to critical infrastructure. Everyone, from individuals to the largest organizations and educational institutions, to governments must preemptively address these threats and plan for a reality where critical services are made unavailable for an extended period of time.

Organizations can take strategic and common-sense measures to help ensure they are better prepared for such possibilities. Building comprehensive Continuity of Operations Plans that include contingencies for loss of critical infrastructure is fundamental. Through this, organizations should identify resources and services that are deemed critical (those a company would be unable to function without) and identify alternative means of operations should these resources and services be made unavailable. Organizations should also seek to establish substitute communications strategies, alternate work site locations, and disaster-scenario personnel reporting requirements. Additionally, any continuity of operations program should account for identification and loss of human resources that provide or hold critical knowledge for the organization.

To be more proactive, organizations should build teams (or partner with services) to provide real-time monitoring, investigations, digital forensics, incident handling, cyber threat intelligence, and proactive threat hunting capabilities. Governments must also come to the table and lower the bar for entry to build strategic public-private partnerships for the purposes of sharing critical information and intelligence. While sophisticated offensive activity can very likely go unseen even with the latest incident response strategies, technologies, and intelligence, this remains the best method of identifying and curtailing the compromise of critical systems for the purpose of pre-positioning.  Furthermore, where employed, organizations should exercise restraint in the use and deployment of counteroffensive capabilities, actions, and services to avoid causing further escalation.

Lastly, while an uncomfortable conversations, all organizations and individuals must come to grips with the limitations and fallibility of many modern security technologies. Where most of these technologies are employed, a sobering fact must be acknowledged: no matter how robust a system is believed to be, the likelihood of previous, current, and ongoing compromise by a sophisticated actor is unquestionable – even more so for any system controlling or maintaining critical infrastructure. Nevertheless, there do exist some truly capable frameworks employing a consolidated and comprehensive approach coupled with AI-powered and cloud-delivered next-generation capabilities. Leveraging these advanced all-encompassing solutions (such as the Check Point Infinity Platform) remains the only method proven successful in preventing sophisticated offensive activity.

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[tough-girl9]

The Atoms of Us (An Infinity Particle Fanfic)

Summary: Three days after the showdown with Dr. Lin, Clem and Kye are figuring out what the future holds for both of them. Whatever it holds, they'll be facing it together.

Rating: K

Also posted on AO3 and FFN

Author's Note: I just read The Infinity Particle about a week ago and fell in love. I was heartbroken that there was no fanfiction for this beautiful book, so I knew I had to rectify it by writing my own. I hope this is the first of many to follow by others who discover Wendy Xu's lovely story.

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"Hey girl, later." Nadiya turned and waved on her way out the door, Cheshire clutched in her arms. The robot cat scowled and shoved a final piece of cardboard packaging into his mouth as the door shut.

Clementine did one last sweep of the shop, straightening tools, neatly stacking silicate discs, and putting away jars of nanomachine paint in the overnight cabinet. When she finished, the workshop was still cluttered, but there was something comforting about it all the same. Everything to help each robot who came here become whole and return to their human companion healthy again. Clem did one last check then swiped her wristband to clock out. Grabbing her satchel, she took off down University Street towards home, SENA riding on her shoulder as usual.

They caught the cable car heading upwards towards the residence sector. Clem leaned against the window, looking out at the reddish-brown rooftops as the car carried them upwards through Tithonium. Distractedly, she reached into her pocket then adjusted her satchel. A few seconds later she ran her fingers through her messy strawberry red hair and adjusted her satchel again.

"Nervous?" SENA chirped in her sweet little voice.

Clem immediately dropped her hands. "No," she said a little too quickly.

SENA fluttered down to land in Clem's lap. She folded her stubby arms. "You never fidget like that unless you're nervous."

Clem sighed as she caught herself trying to adjust her satchel yet again. "OK, yeah. I'm nervous. A little bit."

SENA blinked. "Why?"

Clem rubbed a hand through her hair, tangling it even further. "I dunno."

"Kye's been living with us for the past three days," SENA pointed out. "You exist around him just fine at our apartment. Why would it be any different to exist around him in a different location?

Robot logic. Impossible to argue with. Clem shook her head. "I dunno, it's just different. You wouldn't understand."

SENA fluttered her brown- and white-spotted wings. "It's not my fault you didn't program it into me then."

Clem booped her little build on the nose. "I don't remember programming that sort of sass into you either."

SENA sniffed. "I've had no problem picking that up from you, Nadiya, and Mykael on my own, thank you. Robots learn, remember?"

How could she forget? Robots had been her life since she was little. But even that couldn't have prepared her for all the events that had unfolded in the last week and a half since she'd arrived on Mars. Distracted, she went back to staring out the window. But now, instead of rooftops, she saw dark, soulful eyes gazing tenderly back at her…

"Clem? Clem!" SENA fluttered her wings in Clem's face. "It's our stop."

"Right!" Clem grabbed her satchel and stepped out onto the station platform, then jogged up the flights of stairs leading to her apartment.

Kye was in the kitchenette, trimming dead fronds off one of his beloved plants when Clem and SENA opened the door. As they entered, he lowered his sheers, a little smile brightening his face. He met Clem's eyes and she blushed. "Hey," he said gently.

"Hey," she responded. She gestured awkwardly upwards. "Um, just let me get changed and I'll be ready."

She darted up the stairs to her bedroom loft, where she tossed aside her dusty and oil-stained trousers and changed into a billowy pair of pants and a loose, comfy shirt. She hurriedly ran a comb through her hair, trying to tame the wild tangles, then took a deep breath, facing the wall. Slowly she turned and descended the stairs.

Kye was kneeling in front of their table, a Welcome to Tithonium pamphlet and map laid out in front of him. He was wearing an ankle-length, soft blue robe tied at his waist with his brown jacket over the top and his long hair pulled back in its usual ponytail. Clem plopped onto her cushion across from him. "Made a decision yet?"

Kye frowned thoughtfully. "There are more choices than I realized. Do you have a suggestion?"

Clem scooted the map over to her side. "Let's see. Nadiya mentioned that Masala Corner is really good. Hmm, Valles Café, that's down by the University, right? Oo, Mars Casa. Ever had Mexican before, Kye? …Kye?"

The android seemed to shrink in upon himself, his smile faltering, his shoulders dropping. Even his beautiful hair seemed to wilt. "Maybe…maybe not that one," he said quietly, and Clem would have almost sworn he sounded apologetic.

He looked up to find Clem looking at him with concern. He smiled a little, his dark eyes soft. "I'm okay," he answered her silent question. "It's just…" He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Mother took me there, years ago. I hadn't been activated very long. She ordered a plate of arroz rojo, and I was so fascinated that I asked if I could order something too." He glanced away, down at the table. "She scolded me – yelled at me really – told me I was selfish to make other people work to fix food and clean up after me for something that I couldn't even enjoy." He shrugged, a sad, defeated gesture. "I never asked Mother for food again after that."

Clem reached across the table and gently laid her hand on the back of his. The round sensor panels on the back of his knuckles were smooth and slightly cooler than his skin. "You're not selfish," she said with conviction. "You're allowed to want things, just like any human."

He looked up at her, soft gratitude and fondness on his face. "You make it easier for me to remember that, Clem."

She blushed and glanced down, letting her hair fall in her face to hide the glow of her cheeks. "Just being a decent person isn't something to be proud of."

He turned his hand over, so he could twine his fingers with hers. "No, but I'm still grateful all the same." He reached up and ran the fingers of his free hand through her curls, smiling affectionately. "You know what I want right now?"

Clem flushed deeper, enjoying the feel of his delicate fingertips brushing her cheek. "What?"

He grinned. "For us to have an amazing first date!"

She giggled. "That sounds like an amazing thing to want."

He squeezed her hand. "Then let's both stop overthinking it and choose the first place that sounds nice."

They returned their attention to the map and almost immediately Clem pointed excitedly. "There! Don't you think that would be perfect?"

Kye looked at where she was pointing. "Arbor Bistro," he read.

"It's right by the park. I bet it's got a lovely view of the walkway." Clem paused. "Unless you have any negative experiences with it…"

Kye grasped her hand again, this time more firmly. "No. No, it sounds perfect."

Clem tried not to grin like an idiot and wasn't entirely successful. So this was it! Her first date with Kye. And Kye's first real meal after finally being able to smell and taste!

They headed to the door. "SENA?" Clem called out. "You coming?"

The little moth robot fluttered down to hover between the two of them. "I'm going to have a night in. I think this outing needs to be just you and Kye."

Clem felt a moment of something almost like panic. SENA was always with her. The thought of not having those comforting little feet clinging to her shoulder or the brush of velvety wings against the back of her neck made her feel uncomfortably vulnerable.

SENA must have sensed Clem's discomfort, which wasn't surprising since that was part of her core programming. She landed on Clem's hand. "I'll be here when you get back. And I think you'll still have a perfectly good robot to keep an eye on you."

She made a tiny face. "Plus I won't have to look away every time you and Kye make kissy faces at each other."

Kye gently put an arm around her shoulders. "She's right, Clem. You're not alone anymore. Neither of us are."

Clem put her arm around Kye's waist and leaned into him a little. "I know." She smiled at SENA. "Looks like the apartment's yours for the evening."

SENA made a little humming sound. "Enjoy your evening out together."

Clem and Kye headed out onto the narrow street between the rows of apartments. Clem's building was about halfway up the canyon wall, affording a lovely view of Tithonium spread out beneath them. Above them, the biodome glowed a faint blue, contrasting against the dusty red all around them.

They linked hands as they made their way to the cable car and descended. As usual, Kye got some curious looks from the other passengers in the car, and one woman holding a cute rabbit-like bot in her arms asked Clem if he was her build. Clem just shook her head. "No, he belongs to himself," she answered firmly. Kye wasn't looking at her, but she saw the corner of his lips twitch upward anyway.

The rest of the trip to Arbor Bistro was uneventful, at least in conventional terms, but inside Clem was just about bursting with excitement. The whirlwind of events over the last several weeks had been adrenaline-inducing, but it had also left her with the distinct disappointment of just how little time she'd been able to spend simply getting to know Kye, without the pressure of solving the mystery of his glitch in the forefront of both their minds. Now, with his glitch fixed and his living situation vastly improved, Clem was beyond eager to get to know the cute, sweet android for whom she'd fallen so hard.

As it turned out, Clem couldn't have imagined a better location than Arbor Bistro for their first date. The moment both of them walked in, Kye made a soft sound and Clem looked up at him to find him gazing about in gentle awe.

The walls were painted with large murals of Earth's forests: tall trees with glimpses of mountains beyond and woodland animals peering at them from under the tree shade. Several live potted plants that Clem was sure Kye would know all the names of were placed tastefully around the cozy restaurant. Windows lined one side of the room, affording a beautiful view out into Valles Park, and soft piano music played in the background. The atmosphere was peaceful and welcoming.

Clem and Kye seated themselves at a booth by a window where they could look out at the street and the tree-lined park walkway. An interactive hologram menu in the middle of the table glowed red as they sat down. They swiped through the menu, chatting occasionally about the options, then Clem tapped the order button when they were both ready.

A robot waiter rolled up to their table to take their orders. She was humanoid, though not like Kye of course, with a large round head, a flat panel face with large digital eyes, and wheels instead of feet. "Hello, my name is Veronica," she said in a tinny voice. "What would you like to order today?" she addressed Clem.

"I'll take the soup salad sandwich combo, Veronica," Clem replied. "I'll try the broccoli cheese soup, the house salad, and the swiss roast beef panini. And just water to drink, thank you."

"Very good." Veronica's digital eyes blinked in and out several times as she downloaded the order file. "That will be ready for you in a few minutes."

"Excuse me." Kye sounded nervous. "I'd like to get something too."

If Veronica was surprised (if surprise was even part of her programming), she didn't show it. She pivoted to face him. "Yes, sir, what would you like?"

Her nonjudgmental response seemed to embolden Kye. He sat up a little straighter. "Um, I'll take the combo too. Tomato soup, house salad, and grilled cheese sandwich, please. And I'll try a lemonade."

Veronica rolled off with their orders, leaving Clem and Kye alone at their table again. For some reason, all Clem's bursting energy had transformed back into nerves again. They met each other's eyes and quickly looked away, Clem staring down at the table and Kye scratching the back of his neck shyly.

"So…how was your day at the shop?" Kye finally asked.

Clem fiddled with a napkin. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Quite a few pick-ups and there was one sweet little bird robot with a broken voice simulator. We had to replace the simulator unit, but once we brought her back online she was singing just like new." She didn't mention the little girl who had brought her in, crying that her companion was "hurt" and who had insisted on staying during the entire replacement procedure. They technically had a drop-off only policy, but Nadiya had taken one look at Clem's face and had gently scooped the bird out of the crying girl's hands, reassuring her that they'd have her friend fixed in no time. Once, not long ago, Clem had dreamed of going into artificial intelligence studies to be like Dr. Lin: a pioneer and cutting-edge scientist. But now, more so than ever, Clem was realizing that it was moments like these that made her career matter. Not the grand moments, but the little ones that made all the difference to the right person.

She looked up to find Kye watching her with compassion in his deep, dark eyes, as if he had guessed some of what she was thinking. At the very least, she suspected that his empathetic programming allowed him to perceive her mood. "How about you?" she asked. "How did your visit with Dr. Han go?"

Kye's expression turned pensive. "She ran a comprehensive diagnostic of all my systems. She seemed pleased with the results."

"Were you pleased with the results?"

Kye's smile was melancholy. "I'm grateful to no longer be glitching and to have my systems functioning perfectly again. But there was no longer any trace of whatever part of my code showed itself to me as the child. The child who was a part of me ever since my first codes were written. In a way, I feel even lonelier now."

"Did you have Dr. Han look at your encryptions?" Clem asked. Kye nodded. "Yes. It's extensive, but Dr. Han believes with enough time that she can bypass the encryptions and allow me to interface with my fellow AI."

"Is that what you want?"

Kye gently stroked his fingertips back and forth over the smooth table surface. "I'm not sure. I've been alone for so long that I'm confused about what my life should look like now. But I think I'd like to have the option."

He continued to stare downward. The faint lines of circuitry just underneath the skin of his cheeks glowed with blue lights racing back and forth, the way they always did when he was processing or experiencing a particularly strong emotion.

Clem reached across the table and laid her fingertips next to his. "Are you doing okay?"

He was silent for a moment. "I miss her. A lot. I guess that's pretty weird, huh?"

In Clem's mind, she saw herself sitting in the seat for her interplanetary flight, her ticket to Mars clutched tight in white-knuckled fingers, her face turned to the window as tears streamed silently down her cheeks. She hooked her fingers around Kye's. "No, it's not weird," she said softly. "I get it."

Kye looked up at her, his eyes locking to hers, and his beautiful face was softer than anything else she could imagine at the moment. His eyes were as dark and deep as outer space.

At that moment, Veronica wheeled over with their food, and Kye's attention turned down to the plate and bowl in front of him. His eyes went wide and he took in a deep breath. "Clem!" he exclaimed. "It smells…so nice!"

"As nice as my hair?" Clem teased.

Kye however seemed to consider her question. "There's a qualitative difference between the two so I don't know if I can properly compare them. The smell of your freshly washed hair is…light, but there is a deepness to this smell." He shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't have the vocabulary yet to describe it."

"Well if you think it smells nice, just wait until you taste it," Clem said.

Kye lifted his sandwich carefully. Cheese oozed liberally out onto his fingers as he took a delicate bite. A moment later, his eyes went wide and the blue circuitry raced across his cheeks. He chewed slowly then swallowed. "It's delicious!" he exclaimed in delight.

"Try dipping it in your soup." Clem demonstrated with her own sandwich.

Kye mimicked her, dipping the corner of his sandwich into his bowl and bringing it back up dripping red. He took a bite out of it and closed his eyes. For a moment, the only sound that came from him was a low hum, more mechanical than human, but Clem hoped it had the same meaning as such a sound would have from an organic being.

The android's eyes snapped back open and a beaming smile cut across his face. "It's fantastic." He shook his head in wonderment. "It's amazing how the flavoring of the soup, instead of masking the taste of the sandwich, instead enhances it. I've wished for years that I could taste and never thought I would. It's so much better than I ever thought it would be."

For the next several minutes, they both dug into their food heartily.

Kye sampled his salad and his blue processing lights flashed back on. He frowned in concentration, then used his fork to sort through the salad until he found a green chunk of cucumber. Gingerly, he popped it in his mouth and made a face. "I don't think I like that one," he said. He sampled another. "Yeah, I don't care for that," he confirmed. He fished around with his fork and took another bite of salad. "I love the tomatoes though. They're sweeter than I always imagined they'd be." He brightened. "Do you think I'd be able to grow my own tomatoes at your apartment?"

"I think the front window gets enough sunlight that you'd be able to get them to grow," Clem said. "And it's your apartment too now. As long as you choose to stay."

Kye looked slightly abashed. "I'm not used to anything being mine. Even the plants were all gifts from Mother."

Clem watched Kye with gentle concern. The few times that he'd mentioned Dr. Lin in the past three days had seemed difficult for him and to weigh heavily on his heart. Clem could guess a little of what he was feeling. Dr. Lin had been Kye's life up until now: his creator, his caretaker, his teacher. Clem could only imagine how jarring it must have been for Kye to be faced with the naked truth that his mother would rather see him obliterated than living as an individual. Clem's stomach knotted up as she remembered just how close Kye had come to having his existence wiped completely away.

A small tear slid down his cheek and plopped onto the front of his jacket, so quickly that if Clem hadn't been watching she would have missed it. She wondered if she should mention that she'd heard him last night: soft sobs drifting up from down below when she'd woken briefly in the middle of the night. It broke her heart to know he was hurting.

She bumped her foot up against his under the table and he looked up at her. Their eyes met and a silent understanding passed between them that no words would have been able to elucidate. A quiet companionship hung in the air between them.

Clem decided to lighten the mood after a minute. She tore a chunk off her panini. "Here, Kye, want to try mine?"

Kye took it from her fingers and popped it in his mouth. "Hmm, good, but I still think mine is better." He tore a chunk off his grilled cheese and leaned across the table to pop it into her mouth.

"Now try my soup!" Clem giggled around the grilled cheese.

Kye was giggling too as he fed her a spoonful of his tomato soup.

"And I'll take all your cucumbers in exchange for my tomatoes," Clem bargained.

They exchanged vegetables. The mood between them had brightened as the nerves and awkwardness dissolved into the giddy playfulness of young love. They laughed as Kye bit into an extra-large tomato, squirting himself in the face with juice, and Clem leaned all the way across the table to wipe a spot off his cheek with her napkin. She watched as he finished off his salad, his excitement wonderfully childlike. Being around him woke something playful and curious in her that she hadn't felt in a long, long time, like a childhood glimpsed in a far off dream.

Before long, nothing was left of their meal except soup stains around the rim of their bowls and bread crumbs on their plates. Across the street, the park was now covered in shadows and the lamps lining the walkway were coming on. Everything was cast in the reddish glow of a Mars evening. Clem grabbed his hand. "Want to go for a walk?"

Valles Park was mostly deserted as they strolled down the walkway. The biodome regulated the temperature, keeping it warm enough for the humans of Tithonium to live comfortably, but there was still a noticeable drop as the sun disappeared beyond the craggy red rim of Valles Marinaris's towering walls. Clem shivered slightly, and Kye glanced down at her. Without a word, he slipped off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She smiled at him and he smiled gently back.

At the center of the park, there was a gigantic circular mosaic of the solar system, ringed with benches and trees. The artificial wind blew gently through the treetops, causing them to rustle softly in the dark. Kye and Clem sat down together.

Clem gave Kye a shy sideways glance then scooted over a little closer to him until her hip bumped against his. She felt him look down at her as she laid her head on his shoulder. He slipped an arm around her shoulders, holding her closer to himself, then he leaned over a little to kiss the top of her head. His long hair brushed softly against her cheek.

"Clem?" he asked after a moment.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you came to Mars."

She snuggled closer to him. "So am I."

"Was it scary? Leaving everything you'd ever known behind."

Clem considered his question briefly. "Yeah, it was really scary. It felt like diving into a big black hole, and I had no idea where I'd land. I mean, I'd already been offered the job at the repair shop, but other than that, I had no idea what was going to happen. It was like being surrounded by emptiness, like everything was falling away and I had no idea how it would be filled."

She felt Kye nod. "Yeah, emptiness." He sighed. "At least you don't have programming telling you how you should be living your life. If I'm not doing what I was literally created to do, what do I do?"

"You write your own code," Clem answered. "And I can help if you like."

Kye nuzzled her hair with his nose. "I think I'd like that very much. I'm so glad you're here while I'm going through all of this. I don't know if I ever would have left her, if it hadn't been for you."

Clem suddenly felt a fierce protectiveness towards him, the way she had when Dr. Lin had threatened to destroy him. "Well, if this is the only good thing that ever happens from me coming to Mars, then I consider that worth it all."

Kye cupped her cheek. Clem closed her eyes as his lips gently locked with hers, His kiss was as soft as his dark eyes, and Clem sank happily into it. She reached up and twined her fingers into his flowing hair and leaned into his chest, returning his kiss with a full heart.

When their lips parted, they remained deeply twined in one another's arms. "Have you ever been in love before, Kye?" Clem asked.

"No," he answered softly. "Before you, I wasn't even sure if I'd been programmed with the ability to fall in love." He laughed. "And now I'm going on dates. With my girlfriend."

It was the first time he'd called her that. Clem's cheeks and chest glowed with warmth.

"I'm glad that of all the futures that could have happened and all the places in the universe that I could have ended up, that I ended up here with you, Kye."

He squeezed her tightly. His arms were comforting and strong around her. "And I'm glad that of all the people that could have chosen to come to Mars and get a job at the University City Robotics Repair, that it was you, Clementine Chang."

As Kye cuddled her and nuzzled her cheek, Clem found herself looking over his shoulder into the night sky. Beyond the faint glimmer of the biodome, she could see the countless stars stretching out into the infinite universe.

There's no place in the whole universe I'd rather be than right here in your arms. Every atom of me is glad to be here figuring out the future with you. Together.

[pikethepicklearts]

I've gotten a little bored and I'm deciding to post something because I want to start talking about my interests more as well as just getting used to how Tumblr works lol. So, in honor of that, I'd like to make a little get-to-know-me I guess. So if people start making art requests or such, just refer back to here! :)

Fandoms

Twisted Wonderland. Favorite Characters: Leona Kingscholar🦁, Ruggie Bucchi🍩, Kalim Al-Asim♥️ and Sam🐸

Mortal Kombat 1. Favorite Characters: Reptile (Syzoth)🦎, Kung Lao🧢 and SubZero (Bi-Han)❄

The Legend of Vox Machina. Favorite Characters: Grog🍺, Vex'ahlia🏹 and Vax'ildan⚔

Frostbite/Purpleverse. Favorite Characters: Tate Frost🐺 and Mya Graham🐱

Dead By Daylight. Favorite Characters: Renato Lyra☀️, Yui Kimura🛵, The Trickster (Ji-Woon Hak)🗡 and The Oni (Kazan Yamaoka)👹

Resident Evil (ALL GAMES). Favorite Characters: Rebecca Chambers🏥, Albert Wesker🕶, Carlos Oliviera🔫, Karl Heisenberg🔨 and The Baker family

Obey Me! Favorite Characters: Beelzebub🍔 and Diavolo👑

Sk8 the Infinity. Favorite Characters: Cherry Blossom (Karou Sakurayashiki)🌸 and Reki Kyan 📱

Stardew Valley. Favorite Characters: Shane🍕(My beleoved I marry him every playthrough😌), Emily💎, Maru🔧and Elliott✒

Yuri!! on ICE. Favorite Characters: Yurio🐯, Otabek🛵 and Viktor🐶

Black Butler. Favorite Characters: Sebastian Michaelis🖤, Grell Sutcliff👠, Soma Kadar🐘 and Mei-Rin👓

My Hobbies

Drawing. I'm a traditional artist, but I'll very rarely do digital art because its a total pain and I'm not used to drawing online nor digital drawing techniques

Baking. I can make almost any dessert and I especially love cakes and cupcakes because I get to decorate them more easily than cookies or scones

Singing. I like to sing in my spare time and cover songs (mainly Disney songs because they're just better dont judge lol). I'm an alto. And MAYBEEE I'll upload a song cover at some point...

Swimming. I'm a competetive swimmer (will not say team nor school because PRIVACY) but I just started last year. I swim Freestyle and Butterfly

Gaming. I especially love horror games and visual novels (ESPECIALLY DATING SIMS). I do like parkour games as well like platformers and side scrollers like Little Nightmares and It Takes Two

Writing Headcannons and little scenarios that pop into my head. I LOVE talking about my interests and I hope I can connect with some people about my likes.

Occaisonal story writing. Its not my strong suit, but I try to write when a really good idea pops into my head. I'll write anything from OC stories, to fanfics or even k!nk-fics (CHECK WITH ME TO SEE WHAT I'M COMFORTABLE WRITING WITH)

Why did I join Tumblr?

I mostly joined Tumblr to look at stories my friend reccommended me (lol) but I've honestly realized there are so many communities here that really seem friendly that share my interests. Also, I fond way funnier memes here than any other website. So, thanks Tumblr 👍

[davidmariottecomics]

Brandifying the "Geek", or How Funko Became the Band-Aid

Hello again! 

Last week, I was talking about comics job (in)security, particularly in light of the majority of Comixology staff being let go, and also touched on the continued migration of comic creators to Substack, despite some public problems that platform's had.

Discussing both of those things had me thinking about the safety of a default, which is going to be a lot of what we're talking about today, and we're going to be talking about that through the highs and lows of association with a brand. I'm not here to specifically call out or bash anyone's interests or even any big companies, so much as using this as a chance to talk about trends in the larger sphere of "nerd culture" that effect audience expectations and, often, the thought processes of creatives and creative companies--the parts that actually matter to people trying to make and tell stories.  

Why Brands Like Being Brands Starting at the most basic level, let's talk about what makes a brand and why they're important to this conversation. 

Take a look at your stuff. Chances are there's a lot within pretty easy reach that you call by a brand name, rather than a generic name. Band-Aid (bandages), Tupperware (plastic containers), Kleenex (tissues), whatever.

Or maybe you don't always refer to it by the brand name, but you make assumptions about it related to the brand: tablets are iPads, cell phones are iPhones, simple and cheap furniture's from IKEA, plastic building blocks are LEGOs, sodas are Coke, and sports drinks are Gatorade. That sort of thing.

Brands like being brands because when their name is commonly associated with a product, it's good for business. More name recognizability, easier market penetration. The more a brand exists in the cultural consciousness, the more self-sustaining it is, allowing for longer lifespans and more money. If a business is lucky, at some point they corner the market and either really or artificially box out their competition and become a default. We'll get more into this later on how creators engage with each other and their audience, but keep that in mind. The other key to having a "default" is it sets a sort of standard that people can judge against, but it may or may not actually speak to quality or reliability. 

Ready Player One

If you've been reading through my blog for a while, you'll know I've been slowly making my way through the Blank Check Podcast back catalog. I'm finishing up Spielberg right now and was just listening to the Ready Player One episode. And part of their discussion, which at this point is 5 years old anyway, is the change in the pop cultural landscape between the release of Ready Player One the book and RPO the movie. The book released in 2011. I really enjoyed it on my first read as a young man who liked older pop culture and was looking forward to this crazy idea that there could be a good Avengers movie on the way because outside of X-Men, team superhero movies were practically not a thing and even something so mainstream to me as a comic reader felt like a major crossing-over event in the wider public consciousness. But by the time RPO the movie came out, the Avengers were about to have an Infinity War with characters from a dozen other movies. The language of Cinematic Universes was well established. Star Wars was back and doing a new trilogy! And Hot Topics around the world had walls of little toy statues making every property imaginable a uniform little big-headed guy. 

There's a lot I could talk about in terms of how nostalgia plays into all of that or Warner Bros. multiple attempts at creating a "multiversal WB brand" between RPO, Space Jam 2, MultiVersus, Etc. But why I'm actually bringing it up is in the past little over a decade--and particularly over the past few years as the state of the world has necessitated changes to both shopping and media consumption habits--the brandification of "nerd culture" or "geek culture" or "collector culture" or whatever you want to call it has exploded as businesses have really tried to expand their brands to become pillars of the pop culture landscape. And I think that has started to influence not just the audience, but creators too. 

The Brands of Geekdom

If I go into my local Target, chances are I'll stop by the "Collector's Spot" or whatever they call it. It's a little section by the books, video games, and whatever remains of their movies & music, usually within eyesight of, but not part of, the toy aisles. It makes sense. According to a recent report, "kidults" or--checks the description--anyone 12 or older who enjoys toys (rolls eyes), make up roughly 1/4th of overall toy sales.  At my local Targets, at least, it always seems like an odd selection. There are usually some of Super7's ReAction Figures, but specifically ones where there isn't a space in the toy aisles for the rest of the line. Star Trek & TMNT & horror movie figures end up here while G.I. Joe and Transformers sit with their kind a few aisles away. Also there are Sanrio crossover plushies, NECA figures for TMNT and Gargoyles and horror characters, sometimes the Godzilla toys, and of course the wall of Funko Pops (which is different from, but very similar to, the Hot Topic wall of Pops mentioned above). If you have ever liked a property and wanted to see it made into a physical commodity, there's a Funko Pop for that (okay, looks like ALF only had a Wacky Wobbler from Funko, but still...). 

The reason I focus on Pops is A. They're all over the place. They have an amazing amount of market penetration and there are still stores that exist primarily as Pop retailers. B. Because they work with so many other licenses, they're a good gauge of what's actually catching on--when a Pop is a shelf-warmer, it is a SHELF-WARMER. If people didn't want Ready Player One Pops, you knew. C. Points A and B have made Pops, whether you like them or not, a cornerstone of the general perception of "things nerds like." And it's one that overlaps with the others more than almost anything else--I'd contend that the GoodSmile Company has a pretty robust catalog too, but with a key difference.

Pops reflect a general audience--sure nerds/geeks/collectors/etc may like them, but they're also something a grandma might buy for you because it's cheap, it's of a thing you like, and your grandma's heard of a Pop before. But something like GoodSmile, be it Nendoroids or Figmas or other lines of figures/statues, are not as uniform and not as accessible, even if they have a lot of variety. They tend to be sought out by people who have that interest, rather than distributed to be easily findable for anyone and everyone. 

The other cornerstones that I think are often looked at in modern "nerd culture" understandings include the Disney Trifecta (Disney/Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars--less the latter, but how many of us have heard someone refer to an animated movie as a Disney movie, or a superhero movie as a Marvel movie, when the Disney Company had no involvement whatsoever), Pokemon, Studio Ghibli, Stranger Things, Dungeons & Dragons, and in some cases where people find themselves incapable of separating their interests from the damage done by the brands' creators, Rick & Morty and Harry Potter. While I may not cater to those last two and don't personally really like Stranger Things, I certainly enjoy stuff from the rest. I even own a few Funko Pops. So, again, I'm not trying to say these things are inherently bad or markers of a false "nerd" or whatever. I'm saying that they're common and because of that, they are getting to be viewed in that default status, which can set a very strange standard which changes how we interact with stories because of the brandification of pop culture.   

A Ranger, a Warrior, and a Bard Walk Into a Bar...

The other part of why this is on my mind is that there's been a lot of conversation about Dungeons & Dragons recently. Most recently, they've reversed their position on becoming more restrictive of their open game license, and have committed to having D&D be under a form of creative commons license. And while I think that's the right decision, and am happy to have worked on a couple of D&D things in the past, I also found the conversation really interesting because I think in some ways, D&D has become an interchangeable term for some people with both tabletop role-playing and Fantasy in general. 

It makes sense, right? D&D's 5th edition is pretty popular as a game. It's got comics from IDW. There's an upcoming D&D movie. Plus, it's central to the premise of Stranger Things and is the game that like half of all podcasts play. This sort of brand rehabilitation--from the Satanic Panic era--has really built D&D into a powerhouse. Regardless of how many other tabletop RPGS there are, the controversy around the open game license inherently revolved around how many businesses and resources have been created specifically based off of and in interaction with D&D. 

And that's one of the kind of downsides to this, right? There is so much wrapped up in the understanding of what D&D is and what is and isn't allowed within it's framework. Beyond this one issue, Wizards of the Coast has been dealing with the ways in which the tropes of D&D have been harmful and how they can minimize some of that harm going forward. But because it has built into a "default" brand, it also means there's a lot of shorthand that comes to talking about setting up fantasy worlds that still uses some of the worse D&D tropes. Or, on the flip side, there are people pitching every property in the world as having a Fantasy version, but are specifically trying to get it tied to D&D for the name-recognition, regardless of whether or not what they actually would want to do with it works within that D&D framework.

Again, this is not me saying that I haven't had fun playing and working on D&D in my time. I have. It's more to say that sometimes I see conversations speculating how much fun it would be to put whatever franchise in a D&D world (often through the characters playing the game) that spends so much time figuring out the ways in which to incorporate those characters and their attributes into D&D, it kinda ignores that it isn't a story being pitched, or that it doesn't further the understandings of the characters at all. Which is fine in casual conversation, but I'm sure myself and other people in my type of roles have also had to have these types of conversations about the other "default" brands and the things that are made within their terms. The more the Marvel movie method becomes understood as superhero storytelling, the more complicated conversations about the nature of comics storytelling, particularly with first time and non-regular comics readers becomes, right? 

When the Default is Unsafe

That all gets us back to what I was talking about last week and my larger point about keeping an eye on these trends. Comixology became the default for digital comics retailer and now is going through being killed by their parent company and that's leaving an uncertain gap in the market, uncertainty in how digital comics will continue to be fostered and grow and become more accessible, and a lot of people out of jobs. Substack brings new people in for a number of reasons, but not the least of which is enough reputable people have taken to it that it's getting name recognition. 

Or, to look at it another way, I'm sure many of us unfortunately still use Twitter. Even with all the problems and the criminal owner, by virtue of being the default social media for years, it is where the majority of creators remain and their fans remain and our conversations as a community remain. And when we tried to diversify, it split too much. Not only did audiences not follow, it was hard to just find your friends and peers again. And that is unfortunate, but one of the considerations we make to keep in touch and the never-more-unified community together, even if we're all kinda still certain it'll all fall apart any day now. 

All of which is to say, I guess, be wary of what we look to as the default--in the larger pop culture landscape and the ways in which criticism of Marvel movies gets projected onto different types of storytelling or popularity is defined by Funkos or whatever to the styles you see other artists using and getting work with and the platforms we use to promote our work and engage with each other. Because while the default might be familiar, that doesn't mean it's the best representation of what could be. 

Next week: I dunno yet. We'll talk about something else.  

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Honkai Impact (Video game), House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Book), 17-21 by Tatsuki Fujimoto (Manga), Nope (Movie), Black Adam (Movie--No doubt, it was kind of a mess, but I'm a sucker for the JSA, so it was nice seeing my friends, I guess), Persona 4 Golden (Video game), Poker Face (TV show), The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World (Manga), Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Anime), working on some wedding planning/registry stuff, bought a new mattress that should be here tomorrow (please buy stuff from Becca and me because we just spent a lot of money buying a new mattress). 

And for the sake of something fun, here's a roundup of the webcomics/comics I read digitally most weeks and when I read them: Nancy (daily), Gil Thorp (daily except Sundays), Lore Olympus (Sundays), Zatanna & the Ripper (Sundays), Batman: Wayne Family Adventures (Sundays), Vixen: NYC (Sundays), Skullgirls (Sundays), Aeonian Red (Sundays), Alfie (Wednesdays & Fridays--ADULTS ONLY), The Rock Cocks (Mondays & Fridays--ADULTS ONLY), Blissverse (Mondays--ADULTS ONLY), 1.1.23 (As I catch updates), and then my Shonen Jump block: Chainsaw Man (Tuesdays), Jujutsu Kaisen (Sundays), My Hero Academia (Sundays), Witch Watch (Sundays), Fabricant 100 (Sundays), Spy x Famiy (Sundays), and One-Punch Man (Sundays), with other stuff that updates less frequently sort of thrown in whenever I remember.     

New Releases this week (1/25/2022): Godzilla Rivals: Round One TPB (Didn't work on this, but plugging Zilla)

New releases next week (2/1/2022): Off week for my books!

Final Order Cutoff (1/30/2023): Godzilla Rivals: Mothra vs. Titanosaurus (Editor)

Announcements: Arizona Comic Book Arts Festival - 2/25! Less than a month away! It's a one day comic-focused event in Phoenix, AZ. Tickets are only $10. Attending artists include me, Becca (who once again is dropping some new stuff on their Patreon, see below), Mitch Gerads, Steve Rude, John Layman, Henry Barajas, Jay Fotos, Jeff Mariotte, Marcy Rockwell, John Yurcaba, Andrew MacLean, Alexis Zirrit, Meredith McClaren, James Owen, Ryan Cody, and many more! Come and see us! Becca'll have some very cool new merch, too!

Becca contributed to Aradia Beat, a Magical Girl Anthology Magazine! It's now on Kickstarter! It's both a tribute to 90s magical girl stories and part of a larger project about the overall preservation and mutual support of magical girl stories!

Pic of the Week: Caught the cats looking really goofy! 

[starktonygg]

Tiranga Game App: Revolutionizing Color Prediction Gaming

The world of mobile gaming is ever-evolving, introducing innovative concepts that captivate users across the globe. One such trend taking the gaming community by storm is color prediction games, and at the forefront is the Tiranga Game App. Combining strategy, entertainment, and a patriotic theme inspired by the Indian flag, the Tiranga Game App has become a favorite among casual and competitive gamers alike.

This article explores everything you need to know about the Tiranga Game App, how to get started, its unique features, and how it compares to other trending games in the industry.

What is the Tiranga Game App?

The Tiranga Game App is a color prediction game inspired by the tricolor of the Indian flag—saffron, white, and green. Players are tasked with predicting color outcomes in specific patterns or sequences. Correct predictions earn them rewards, which could range from points to real prizes, depending on the platform.

The app’s patriotic theme resonates with Indian players, while its straightforward gameplay ensures accessibility to a broader audience. It’s a perfect blend of cultural pride and modern gaming, offering a unique experience in the world of casual gaming.

How to Download and Install the Tiranga Game App

Getting started with the Tiranga Game App is quick and easy. Follow these steps:

Search for the App:

Android Users: Open the Google Play Store and search for “Tiranga Game App.”

iOS Users: Visit the Apple App Store and type the same in the search bar.

You can also check the official website for direct download links.

Download and Install:

Tap the “Install” or “Download” button. Ensure your device meets the app’s requirements, such as operating system version and available storage.

Register or Log In:

Launch the app and sign up using your phone number, email, or social media account. Existing users can log in with their credentials.

Learn the Basics:

Use the in-app tutorial or demo rounds to understand the rules and mechanics of the game.

Start Playing:

Make your predictions, strategize, and enjoy the thrill of earning rewards.

Why Choose Color Prediction Games Like Tiranga?

Color prediction games are simple yet engaging, making them a favorite among casual gamers. Here’s why the genre is gaining traction:

Straightforward Gameplay: Anyone can play without extensive knowledge or gaming skills.

Quick Rounds: Perfect for players looking for short bursts of entertainment.

Rewarding Experiences: Many games, including Tiranga, offer enticing prizes for correct predictions.

Cultural and Emotional Appeal: The Tiranga Game App adds a patriotic touch, making it more relatable to Indian players.

Other popular color prediction games include Hue Match, Rainbow Spin, and Color Bliss, each offering unique twists on the concept.

Other Exciting Games and Gaming Trends in 2024

The Tiranga Game App isn’t the only exciting option in the gaming world. Here are some other trending genres and titles worth exploring:

Blockchain-Based Games:

Play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity and Gods Unchained combine entertainment with cryptocurrency rewards.

Hyper-Casual Games:

Games like Stack Ball and Knife Hit are dominating app stores for their addictive simplicity.

Augmented Reality (AR) Games:

Titles like Pokémon GO and Angry Birds AR offer interactive experiences that blend the real and virtual worlds.

Metaverse Platforms:

Virtual worlds such as Roblox and Decentraland provide immersive spaces for socializing and gaming.

Puzzle and Strategy Games:

Popular games like Wordle and Sudoku Royale challenge the mind while offering entertainment.

Why the Tiranga Game App Stands Out

The Tiranga Game App offers a unique combination of simplicity, cultural relevance, and rewarding gameplay. Its patriotic theme inspired by the Indian tricolor sets it apart from other games in the color prediction genre. Whether you’re a casual gamer or someone exploring new trends, the app provides a fun and engaging experience.

Conclusion

The Tiranga Game App is a perfect blend of culture, strategy, and entertainment. Its easy-to-understand mechanics and rewarding gameplay make it an ideal choice for gamers of all ages. As the gaming industry continues to evolve with innovations like blockchain, AR, and hyper-casual games, the Tiranga Game App remains a shining example of how simple concepts can lead to engaging experiences.

Download the Tiranga Game App today and immerse yourself in the exciting world of color prediction gaming, while exploring the vibrant themes it celebrates!

[infinitywebinfopvtltd]

Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway API Integration by Infinity Webinfo Pvt Ltd

In today’s digital age, the need for secure and seamless online payment processing has grown exponentially. For businesses, selecting the right payment gateway can make or break their online transactions. With so many options available, finding a reliable partner is key. Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway is one such solution that stands out for its reliability, flexibility, and robust features. At Infinity Webinfo Pvt Ltd, we prioritize offering top-notch API integration services, and Atom Payment Gateway is among the finest payment solutions we recommend for businesses of all sizes.

Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway API Integration BY Infinity Webinfo Pvt Ltd

What is Atom?

Atom Technologies is a leader in the digital payment space, offering solutions that cater to merchants, enterprises, and customers. Founded in 2006, Atom specializes in providing secure payment services across various industries including e-commerce, retail, hospitality, and education. Over the years, Atom has established itself as a trusted payment service provider, supporting both online and offline payment methods.

What is Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway?

The Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway is a versatile, secure, and scalable payment platform that allows businesses to process payments efficiently through multiple channels. Atom supports various payment modes such as credit cards, debit cards, net banking, UPI, and mobile wallets, making it a one-stop solution for businesses looking to expand their payment acceptance options.

As an API-driven platform,Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway offers easy integration, allowing businesses to incorporate it into their websites, mobile apps, and point-of-sale systems with minimal effort. Its high-performance infrastructure ensures smooth transactions, even under heavy load, while maintaining security and compliance with industry standards.

Key Benefits of Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway

Wide Range of Payment Options: Atom supports various payment modes, including credit/debit cards, net banking, UPI, and wallets like Paytm, Mobikwik, and more. This enables businesses to offer customers a flexible payment experience.

Ease of API Integration: Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway offers simple and seamless API integration for websites, mobile apps, and other platforms. With clear documentation and dedicated technical support, developers can integrate Atom quickly and efficiently.

Highly Secure Transactions: Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway complies with PCI-DSS standards, ensuring that sensitive customer data is protected during transactions. It also supports multi-factor authentication for enhanced security.

Real-time Transaction Monitoring: Atom/ NTT DATA provides real-time reporting and dashboards to monitor transactions as they happen. Merchants can track payments, check transaction statuses, and generate reports effortlessly.

Fast Settlements: Businesses using Atom can benefit from quick settlement cycles, ensuring that funds are transferred to their bank accounts without unnecessary delays.

Multi-channel Support: Whether you are selling on a website, mobile app, or physical store, Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway can handle all these channels seamlessly.

24/7 Customer Support: Atom’s dedicated support team is available around the clock to address any technical issues or payment-related queries, ensuring smooth operations.

Key Features of Atom Payment Gateway

Multi-payment Mode Support: With Atom, businesses can offer multiple payment options to their customers, which leads to higher transaction success rates.

Customizable Payment Pages: Atom provides businesses with the ability to design and customize payment pages that match their brand identity, offering a seamless user experience.

Mobile-Friendly Payments: The gateway is fully optimized for mobile devices, providing a seamless payment experience across smartphones and tablets, which is crucial in today’s mobile-first world.

Automated Refunds and Dispute Management: Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway simplifies the refund process with automation, ensuring that refund requests are processed swiftly. Additionally, dispute management tools allow businesses to handle chargebacks efficiently.

Fraud Detection and Prevention: Atom uses advanced fraud detection systems to identify and mitigate fraudulent activities, giving businesses and customers peace of mind during transactions.

Recurring Payments: For businesses offering subscription-based services, Atom supports recurring payments, making it easy to set up automated billing cycles.

Comprehensive Merchant Dashboard: Merchants have access to a detailed dashboard that tracks transactions, manages refunds, and provides insights into their payment operations in real-time.

Why Choose Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway?

Seamless Integration with API: Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway offers straightforward API integration, making it a go-to choice for developers and businesses alike. At Infinity Webinfo Pvt Ltd, we specialize in implementing payment gateway API integration for businesses of all sizes, and Atom stands out due to its flexibility and developer-friendly nature.

Scalability for Growing Businesses: Whether you are a startup or an established enterprise, Atom grows with your business. Its robust infrastructure can handle a large volume of transactions, making it suitable for both small and large-scale businesses.

Cost-Effective Pricing: Atom offers competitive pricing models that are tailored to businesses' needs, ensuring cost-efficiency while maintaining high-quality service.

Comprehensive Support: Atom offers extensive developer documentation and technical support to ensure a smooth integration process. At Infinity Webinfo Pvt Ltd, our team ensures that the integration is flawless and efficient, allowing you to focus on your business while we handle the technical details.

Compliance and Security: With PCI-DSS compliance and high-level encryption, Atom ensures that all transactions are secure. Businesses don’t have to worry about security breaches or data leaks, as Atom takes care of it all.

Fast and Efficient Payments: Atom is designed to minimize transaction failures, offering customers a seamless and fast payment experience. This leads to higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Choosing the right payment gateway for your business is a critical decision, and Atom/NTT DATA Payment Gateway is one of the top choices due to its robust features, security, and seamless integration. Whether you're looking to accept payments via websites, mobile apps, or offline channels, Atom offers a flexible and scalable solution.

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[gamersguide]

Lian Li Galahad II Trinity Performance 360 AIO CPU Liquid Cooler | All You Need To Know About.

Performance:

The Galahad II Performance 360 doesn’t just boast increased cooling capacity compared to its standard counterpart; it provides quantifiable improvements. Lian Li claims an 11% increase in heat transfer efficiency thanks to the larger copper cold plate and improved fin design. This translates to lower CPU temperatures, allowing you to push your overclocks further or simply enjoy cooler and quieter operation under stock settings.

Lian Li’s benchmark results show the Galahad II Performance 360 keeping the Intel Core i9-12900K at an average of 63°C under full load, a significant improvement over the standard Galahad II’s 72°C. Independent reviewers have also reported similar impressive temperature control, with some even observing overclocking headroom thanks to the cooler’s enhanced capabilities.

Noise Concerns:

Additional Considerations:

The 360mm radiator offers a larger surface area for heat dissipation compared to smaller AIO coolers, further contributing to efficient cooling.

The increased pump speed (31% faster) ensures efficient water circulation throughout the loop, maximizing heat transfer from the CPU to the radiator.

Aesthetics and Features:

Beyond performance, the Galahad II Performance 360 shines in its visual appeal and user-friendly features:

The radiator and fans offer feature customizable RGB lighting, allowing you to synchronize colors and effects with other RGB components in your build, creating a cohesive and visually stunning aesthetic. The 45-Degree Swiveling innovative connectors offer greater flexibility during installation and cable management. This allows for cleaner aesthetics within the case, improving overall build quality and airflow. The black braided nylon sleeves on the tubing add a touch of sophistication and durability to the cooler’s overall look.

The Liquid Crystal Polymer fan blades offer a unique visual element while ensuring efficient airflow and quieter operation. Lian Li includes three different pump cap options: Dazzle Mode, Sink Hole, and Duo-Infinity. These caps allow for further customization, letting you personalize the look of your cooling solution to match your system’s theme.

Compatibility and Installation:

The Galahad II Performance 360 boasts broad compatibility with popular CPU sockets, ensuring wider user accessibility:

Intel LGA 1700, 1200, and 115x sockets

AMD AM5 and AM4 platforms

Lian Li emphasizes a user-friendly installation process thanks to the included mounting system. This caters to both experienced builders and newcomers, simplifying the integration of the cooler into your system.

Here are some additional points to consider regarding compatibility and installation:

Case Size: Due to its 360mm radiator size, ensure your case has ample space for the cooler’s installation. Check your case’s radiator clearance specifications before purchasing.

Pre-applied Thermal Paste: The cooler comes with pre-applied thermal paste for your convenience. However, some users may prefer to choose their own thermal paste solution.

Software Control: The included L-Connect 3 software allows for monitoring and customization of fan speeds, pump speed, and RGB lighting effects.

Competitors:

It’s important to consider its competitors and alternatives before making your final decision. There are many other robust CPU coolers for gamers. Two of the key contenders are:

Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 ARGB: This popular option offers similar cooling performance to the Galahad II Performance 360 at a slightly lower price point. It also features addressable RGB lighting and quiet operation. However, it may not have the same level of visual customization and premium aesthetics as the Lian Li cooler.

Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML360 Sub Zero ARGB: This high-end AIO boasts even better cooling performance than both the Galahad II and the Arctic Liquid Freezer II, thanks to its integrated fan controller and support for push-pull fan configurations. However, it comes at a significantly higher price tag.

Also Read: Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 CPU Cooler | Gamers Guide Review

Alternatives:

Air Coolers: While not as visually striking as AIO coolers, high-performance air coolers like the Noctua NH-D15 or be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 offer excellent cooling performance at a lower cost and quieter noise levels. However, they require significant case clearance and may not be suitable for all builds.

Smaller Radiator AIOs: If your case size is limited, consider 240mm or 280mm radiator AIOs like the NZXT Kraken X53 or the Corsair H100i Elite Capellix. These coolers offer decent cooling performance for mid-range CPUs and still feature RGB lighting and user-friendly installation.

What to Consider:

Consider the following factors:

Budget: The Galahad II Performance 360 sits in a mid-range price point. Consider how much you’re willing to spend and compare it to the cost of competitors and alternatives.

Cooling Needs: If you have a high-end CPU and plan to overclock, a powerful AIO like the Galahad II or the MasterLiquid ML360 Sub Zero might be necessary. If not, a smaller AIO or even a high-performance air cooler might suffice.

Noise Levels: The Galahad II offers a balance between performance and noise. If near-silent operation is crucial, consider air coolers or AIOs with lower RPM fan profiles.

Aesthetics: The Galahad II shines in its visual appeal with RGB lighting and premium details. If aesthetics are important to you, compare it to other visually striking AIOs.

Case Size: Ensure your case has enough space for the 360mm radiator of the Galahad II. Smaller cases might require alternative cooling solutions.

Know More

[dtoken]

Axie Infinity SLP and AXS Tokens Explained

Everything you need to know about the tokens of the hot blockchain game

Axie Infinity is the original play-to-earn game. It’s the platform that launched an industry and still acts as key feature of the Web3 ecosystem. As with all blockchain-based games, Axie Infinity is powered by a native tokens. But what are the tokens, and what do they do? This article will tell you all about Axie Infinity’s SLP and AXS.

What is Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity is a Pokemon-inspired digital pet universe where players use their cute characters called Axies in various games. It’s a Vietnamese project that became the world’s most played play-to-earn blockchain game in 2021.

Therefore, it played a massive role in taking the Web3 technologies in gaming to a larger audience. As you can see on the DappRadar Top Blockchain Games Ranking, Axie Infinity has a stable position in the top spots for months.

Read more about it in our complete article What is Axie Infinity and How Does It Work?

Axie Infinity Data

What is Axie Infinity’s SLP Token?

Smooth Love Potion, aka SLP, is an uncapped utility token players can utilize within the game to breed new Axies.

The token can either be mined through playing Axie Infinity, bought via Uniswap, or earned by participating in various promotions or tournaments.

Whenever you want to breed new Axies, you need Smooth Love Potions. In this instance, the spent SLP will be burned and be replaced with a new Axie.

Prior to the introduction of SLP, Axies used experience points, or XP earned through the original auto-battle system to breed.

With the release of the Community Alpha on 12/19/2019, XP was given a new purpose, so SLP was injected to take its place as the new “currency” behind breeding.

Breeding With SLP

Each time users breed an Axie, SLP is consumed. The cost per breed depends on the breed count of both parents Axie’s — the higher each parent’s breed count, the more SLP will be used.

Each parent breed # is multiplied according to the information below to determine the # of potions required:

(1st Parents Breed # x Potions Required) x (2nd Parent’s Breed Count x Potions Required) = Total SLP Required

See the below chart to determine the cost for each parent breed count:

First Breed: 100

Second Breed: 200

Third Breed: 300

Fourth Breed: 500

Fifth Breed: 800

Sixth Breed: 1,300

Seventh Breed: 2,100

Read further: Axie Infinity Boosts SLP with Breeding Fee Adjustments

Buying and Trading SLP

Go to your Profile Dashboard, and in the bottom left-hand corner click the button that says “Sync Love Potion”. This will move your SLP from your game wallet to your Ethereum wallet. It is now available to trade.

You can now go to Uniswap, which is currently the only place you can Buy or Sell SLP.

The price of the Smooth Love Potion has been a significant driver for activity in Axie Infinity as it enables players to earn value from playing the game as they sell their SLP tokens to players who require it to breed their Axies.

Check SLP Price

Without SLP users cannot breed and breeding Axies to sell has become a popular pastime for some.

Looking at the data, it’s easy to see why when some Axies got to reach values of more than $60,000. Furthermore, fractional ownership is allowed through the sharding of a single Axie.

Looking at the total dollar amount accrued by Axie Infinity in Ethereum over its short lifespan it is clear that the blockchain game has found its place within a market dominated by a few.

Land sales have clearly generated the most community interest and revenue and interestingly represent a future activity in the game.

What is Axie Infinity’s AXS Token?

The Axie Infinity ecosystem also has its own unique governance token, known as Axie Infinity Shards (AXS). These are used to participate in key governance votes and will give holders a say in how funds in the Axie Community Treasury are spent.

AXS tokens were introduced on Binance in November 2020 and are an ERC-20 governance token for the Axie universe.

Holders will shape the future of Axie Infinity by signaling their support for upgrades to the ecosystem and directing usage of a community treasury.

Check AXS Price

AXS holders will be able to claim rewards if they stake their tokens, play the game, and participate in key governance votes. Players will also be able to earn AXS when they play various games within the Axie Infinity Universe and through user-generated content initiatives.

Source: Axie Infinity

Keep Tracking Axie Infinity Tokens With DappRadar

As always, we at DappRadar will continue to track and monitor developments in the Axie Infinity space.

Do you want to learn even more about the best projects in the exciting world of Blockchain Games? Follow the DappRadar blog, YouTube channel, and Twitter.

Carry your Web3 journey with you

With the DappRadar mobile app, never miss out on Web3 again. See the performance of the most popular dapps, and keep an eye on the NFTs in your portfolio. Your DappRadar account syncs with our mobile app, giving you soon the option to receive alerts live as they happen.

[technuter]

Check Point Software Reinforces Commitment to India Market with Essential Local Data Residency of Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration Solution

Check Point Software Technologies announced the launch of its India instance of Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration Security Solution, underscoring its commitment to the Indian market. Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration is the most advanced email security solution in the market, leveraging a unique and patented technology to be the only API-based email security solution that is also inline. Using advanced AI/ML engines, Harmony Email & Collaboration also detects and prevents compromised accounts and is able to protect a variety of Collaboration applications, such as Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Google Drive and many more. The solution will also address an essential requirement of data residency requirements from RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and more, whose compliance is vital for the Government and organisations in the BFSI and Pharmaceutical sectors, which are required to maintain records of data locally. This new capability will now enable native customers to comply to their data sovereignty requirements, in line with the stipulated local compliance norms for critical data to be stored within India’s geographical boundaries, to keep their data safe locally. Aligned with this commitment, Check Point Software has already made Check Point Software ’s other solutions such as Harmony Mobile, Harmony End Point (EDR), Threat Cloud and Threat Emulation available in India. The Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration Solution (HEC) detects and blocks phishing attacks across inbound, outbound and internal communications in real-time, before they reach end-users. This patented technology reduces phishing emails from reaching the inbox by 99.2%, leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to analyze over 300+ indicators of phishing and ingesting data from ThreatCloud, Check Point;s service based on a global network of sensors. HEC also gets embedded seamlessly within O365/GSuite to provide multi-layered security architecture as well as provide post-delivery protection. It not only secures O365/GSuite, but also secures data moving through SaaS based collaboration tools such as MS Teams, One Drive, SharePoint, Google Drive, Slack, Dropbox, Box etc. “India is an absolute strategic market for us within the Asia Pacific region. With the alarming cyber security concerns in the India’s digital transformation journey, the new product offering will provide users widespread and advanced level of phishing and malware protection for emails without worrying about emails or data moving outside the country, thus staying compliant to local laws,” Mr. Sundar Balasubramanian, Managing Director, India & SAARC, Check Point Software Technologies He continued, “According to our Threat Intelligence report, an organization in India is attacked on an average of 1787 times per week in the last 6 months, compared to 983 attacks per organization globally, with 80% of the malicious files in India, delivered via Email in the last 30 days. . With the pandemic outbreak, the majority of enterprises which migrated to SaaS-based Email Platforms such as Microsoft 365 and Google GSuite struggled with the current limited options of legacy Email Gateway solution or could only adopt the native security provided by SaaS based email platforms. As enterprises eagerly look at adopting the next-generation Cloud API based email security amid the new data sovereignty laws, our Harmony Email & Collaboration (HEC) powered by highly effective AI/ML engines will help bridge the demand and will significantly strengthen our customers’ cyber security posture.“ The Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration Solution joins other Check Point solutions hosted locally like Check Point CloudGuard, Check Point Harmony Endpoint and Check Point Harmony Mobile through the Infinity Portal which provides unified management, as well as unprecedented protections, visibility, control, and insights for IT and security teams. Furthermore, Check Point has deployed multi-tiered India PoPs on AWS and Azure infrastructure to provide stable and practical Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution to the Indian customers. Read the full article

[mass-piplup-outbreak]

(shipper DNI)

okay but could you imagine a submas infinity train au?

those two would be WAY too excited to get abducted by a weird ghost train, which is exactly how they get got in the first place. a strange train they’ve never seen in the subway before rolls up and they just go “that must be for me!”

as for the plot details...

ingo disappears first. he stays late at the station, something he’s done plenty of times before. something he’s done a lot lately. there’s paperwork that needs to be done after all, safety checks to carry out, maintenance to run. emmet’s always been a bigger fan of the battle side of things, there’s no need for him to handle the trains.

the security cameras the next day show ingo walking past the platforms. there’s an eerie green light coming from one of the tunnels. there shouldn’t be any trains running so late. the feed glitches, and by the time it’s stabilized, both ingo and the light are gone.

this, obviously, wrecked emmet. his brother just vanished into thin air.

the disappearance threw emmet’s life off the rails. everything starts to revolve around ingo, ingo, ingo.

have you seen ingo? have you heard from him? have you found anything yet? anything at all?

running a subway on your own is much more challenging that running it as a duo. was ingo really doing so much? he must have been swamped with work. he must have been miserable. why didn’t he say something? did he not trust emmet?

did he resent him? is that why he left?

emmet does it all. he doesn’t complain. everything must be perfect for when ingo comes back.

there are parts of his (their) apartment that he hasn’t touched in months. ingo wouldn’t like it if he messed with his stuff.

when it becomes apparent that the official investigation into ingo’s disappearance isn’t making any headway, emmet takes it up. he’s burning the candle at both ends, between keeping the battle subway running and looking for ingo. he only goes home to sleep.

YEARS go by like this. elesa tries to convince emmet to talk to a professional, but who has the time for that these days? she finds it harder and harder to reach him.

one night, he decides to walk the platforms where ingo disappeared again. maybe he’ll see something he didn’t see before. something that could make sense of these last few years. anything.

and then, an unscheduled train arrives at the station. it looks nothing like their trains.

this has to be it.

emmet does not hesitate. he boards the train.

for the infinity train itself, i’m not sure how different it would be in a pokemon crossover. the only difference i can think of is that the animal-like denizens leans more towards certain pokemon than their real-world counterparts. like, the cat would definitely be a glameow, right?

i don’t actually have many ideas for what kind of denizen would accompany emmet.

while emmet loves the idea of traveling through a HUGE TRAIN, every time he makes the transfer between the cars, his only thought is, “ingo would have loved this.”

because he wears gloves (and it’s also uncommon to encounter other passengers), emmet doesn’t notice his number at first. when he does, though, it’s at 134.

the whole point of emmet being on the train is to find that balance in his life again. it hurts that ingo is gone, but he can’t spend his whole life waiting on him. he needs to be emmet again, even if that means being only emmet.

and for a time, it does work! emmet has fun on his own for the first time in years. some of these cars are straight up goofy! his smile starts to feel genuine again.

because of this, his number starts to gradually go down. 129, 118, 115. he hasn’t made the real progress yet, but he’s gotten a start.

there’s just one cog in the wheels, so to speak

ingo has been on the train for years. he knows the point of it already. you get a number, you sort yourself out, the number hits zero, and then you leave. simple, right?

of course, it’s hard to fix what’s wrong with you when you don’t exactly remember who you are.

his memory starts in a snowy car on the train. he has his jacket pulled around him, and he has a death grip on its ends. he doesn’t know why.

ingo’s number has been stuck at 134 for as long as he can remember. which, to be fair, isn’t so long. it isn’t going down, but at least it hasn’t gone up.

anything that ingo knows about the world outside of the train is spotty at best. it’s familiar to him, in a nostalgic sense. he thinks something similar was part of his life before.

he doesn’t really have much to go on. when he meets another passenger on occasion, they’re always reluctant to help him.

sometimes he sits on the platforms near the cars’ exits. he just watches the wheels spin.

i think if ingo had a denizen who travelled with him, it would probably be similar to a sneasel. maybe he has a flute, too. being able to play melodies is very soothing, even if he can’t remember how he learned them.

the twins’ reunion is not pleasant

emmet hears rumors, some of which he puts stock in. sometimes, a denizen will look at him and realize they aren’t talking to the human they thought they were. they always try to ask him to play a song.

he enters a desolate car, a sort of desert. except he can hear a flute in the distance.

when they finally come face to face, for the first time in years, it’s like a dam breaks

for some reason, emmet’s first instinct is anger. he’s never been more upset with his brother. literal years of heartache and searching, and this is where he’s been the whole time? playing the flute on a fun little magic train? he CHOSE to get on this train, CHOSE to leave emmet. 

ingo just can’t wrap his head around any of this. he doesn’t know who this man is, but at the same time, he has the distinct feeling that he’s come across something very important.

both of their numbers are skyrocketing, by the way. they only notice when they breach 300, at which point their argument comes to an abrupt stop.

they’re quiet for a while.

“I’m sorry,” Ingo suddenly speaks up, breaking their silence. He doesn’t look up when he says it, too busy running a thumb over the neon green number on his hand. “I think I hurt you.”

Ingo looks small when he sits like that, with his legs drawn up. It reminds Emmet of when they were kids.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Emmet admits, shifting his position to sit next to his brother. He bumps their shoulders together, having the distinct impression Ingo isn’t in the mood for hugs right now. “I missed you.”

Though Emmet waits for it, Ingo doesn’t respond. He almost seems to shrink in on himself.

Ingo takes Emmet’s hand, the one with the number, and turns his palm up. “If you get it all the way down, an exit will appear, and you’ll be able to go home. Take it. Forget about me.”

“But how could I do that to you?” Emmet asks. It’s innocent enough, but the way Ingo goes stiff next to him...

“Ingo?”

It’s when Ingo looks up at Emmet that their eyes finally meet.

“It’s funny,” Ingo says, but Emmet can tell that neither of them can find any humor in this situation. “When I look at you, I feel like you’re someone very important. But I don’t even know your name.”

[samueldays]

Several bluecheka started impersonating Elon Musk on Twitter to make some kind of point about misinformation and verification, so Twitter started suspending them. Impersonation is against the Twitter rules, and has been since before Musk bought it.

The privileged class felt that equality before the law was oppression. Indeed, some even thought it was fascism!

You wouldn't know a fascist if he danced naked in front of you, Lindsey.

Unlike one of my mutuals, I do not stan Elon Musk per se, but I respect him for having the right enemies. Musk's acquisition of Twitter really is pissing off a lot of shitty people, and they are making a lot of shitty complaints.

Some of the most blatant, IMO, are the complaints that Musk's changes might allow people to spout misinformation/disinformation on Twitter, particularly disinformation from the cover of a bluecheck -- but that was already a deeply entrenched problem coming from inside the house.

To recap: Olbermann is lying, Olbermann is lying about an important topic, Olbermann is lying in an unambiguously verifiable way, Olbermann continues to lie after being corrected several times, and to cap it off, Olbermann exists in a misinformation ecosystem of journalists and the like who have the gall to boast about their commitment to honesty and fact-checking, and award each other prizes about it.

That's the sort of aggravated misinformation which was on Twitter long before Musk, from verified sources, and it wasn't taken down.

May God strike them all with cancer of the tongue for the abuse they have put the gift of speech to.

In addition to the ones being projectively dishonest about misinformation, there's quite a few other general types:

The innumerate: "Musk could have used his money to solve world hunger!" No, he couldn't, that is the sort of nonsense believed by idiots for whom numbers over a billion are interchangeable with infinity.

The kafkatrapping: "Isn't it a bit fishy that you feel the need to write so much in defense of Elon Musk?" No. That is a wicked form of argument.

The wordcel: "Musk says he supports free speech but he [blocked me/suspended an impersonator/deleted spam email/other thing that sounds vaguely speech-related]." Do you want the Curse of Babel? Because this is how you get the Curse of Babel.

The worrying about things which already happened: "Musk might start to [revoke checkmarks/arbitrarily suspend people he doesn't like/allow hatred and lies on the platform]."

Special dishonorable mention for Robert Reich: "Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an uncontrolled internet. That's also the dream of every dictator, strongman and demagogue". I swear he not only said that, he got it past editors and into newspaper publication.

And finally,

The aggressively illiterate. Musk said "To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic." and bluechecks started a circlejerk of selectively quoting each other that trimmed out everything before the first comma, everything after the second comma, as well as the word "therefore", and then paraphrased the out-of-context sub-sentence-fragment with headlines like "Elon Musk Says the Quiet Part Out Loud, Tells His Minions to Vote GOP". If you ever wonder why there's such a lack of nuance on the internet, I think This Fucking Shit Right Here is part of it.

Boy, there sure are a lot of loud idiots on the internet!

These seem a little different from the common-or-garden variety of loud idiot, though.

First, of course, is the Checkmark of Nominal Verification. C-o-g idiots generally don't get that. So many of these bluecheka are not merely wrong-on-the-internet, they are wrong with credentials, wrong about that same credential, wrong in a coördinated way about it, and recursively doubling down about the professional, verified, credentialed, expertise that bluechecks supposedly have, particularly bluechecks of a prestigious-sounding profession like journalists.

Second is a certain Orwellian-named coalition, and related coalitions like it organizing against Musk, where I have the sensation that these "coalitions" are more like... hm, "astroturf" is overused and it's not exactly "grassroots" they're pretending to be anyway. Let's go with "loudspeakers".

Loud, prominent, pushy, often sounding important and official but did you know you can just buy them?, pointless to argue with because there's nobody in the loudspeaker, the speaker element doesn't have its own opinion, there's a million outlets talking with a single voice, sometimes presenting as though it were a much larger crowd than it is, and it's indicative of a degree of coordination and infrastructure in the background that sometimes gets labeled "conspiracy".

And this framing also appeals to me because it lets me [compress/explain/predict] a lot of the complaints as metaphorically "I want sole control of the microphone." Musk has bought a chunk of loudspeakers, and the current broadcaster hates competition.

[lipstickbisous]

𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 (𝐲/𝐧)

PAIRING: steve rogers x reader

SUMMARY: it’s been a long time, and steve tending to your wounds is all it takes for you to crack.

WARNINGS: well i cant seem to write a fic without angst so, some (just barely) fluff

WORD COUNT: 1.9k

A/N: inspired by but barely like malcolm and marie because it’s steve and the reader and it’s just after infinity war. i guess the reader is pretty much just gonna be like an assassin kinda like bucky and nat mixed together? also i pretty much write for (y/n) but i do it in third person; i suck at first person

the following work is my own writing. do not plagairise or copy and paste my works onto another platform. message me about credit.

masterlist

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

his fingertips were calloused and rough whenever they would swipe over her skin to check for other bruises and scrapes that could at least use ointment or ice. he was hardly focusing on the actual presence of her in front of him and more so her safety. the worst wound had been a blade cutting through her side. the large gash had been bleeding into steve’s hand until they landed at the avenger’s compound.

(y/n) knew the last time he’d been there was years ago; it was hard to believe that the building had once been their home. everything had been peaceful and they were finally a family.

“don’t move,” he whispered, pushing a thread through a tiny needle and tying it closed. “this is gonna sting.” he pushed the point through her skin just at a cut on her shoulder blade. she hissed at the first stitch, but once he finished and cut the thread, closing her wound, she sighed. 

he set his hands on her shoulders to turn her around. she’d gotten the worst wounds out of anyone, especially in her combat to protect wanda and vision after his attempt. however, both wanda and her lover were gone now and the remaining two were left to deal with it. 

she didn’t like how silent it was. there was a time where her and the adonis in front of her had held each other to sleep every night, sneaking kisses after missions, and holding hands when no one was looking. the accords had torn them apart, along with the fact that he’d chosen his best friend over her. but (y/n) couldn’t really blame him. he’d known bucky from the start and she was merely a pit stop along the way. when she sat to face him, it was then that she truly caught sight of the man who used to be hers.

steve rogers was an exhausted and drained shell of a man. his eyes were hollow and emotionless. with a few scrapes on him that he hadn’t paid any attention to (mainly because his first priority was and always had been her), he looked lost. he’d watched his best friend from childhood wither away into ash; he’d even held his remains in his hands. he’d watch the woman he loved almost die with a blade through her stomach. now, he sat tending to that exact wound. the way his lips parted made him look as if he were giving up, and she wondered on what exactly? 

“it’ll be a really bad scar,” she tried to joke. there was reason for a little bit of humor in that moment but the last time she’d had a real conversation with steve was years ago. 

he hummed without sounding entertained. “you know i never cared about those,” steve muttered, running his thumb over the open gash that was now numb. he looked at the wound as if it was tearing his heart apart, and even though (y/n) didn’t know it, it was doing so much more. he’d made a promise long ago to protect her; he’d broken it first by choosing bucky and second by letting her face thanos by herself. he took a piece of gauze and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. the smell of the liquid suddenly flew through the air as he let a few drops soak into the gauze. he sighed as he swiped it through her gash, and when she winced, his heart fell. steve didn’t want any pain inflicted on her.

“i’m sorry about bucky,” she spoke rather loudly through the silence. the way they conversed as if they were strangers just meeting sent a crack through both of their hearts.

steve shrugged and threw the bloody gauze into the trash bin beside him. he took the sterilized needle again and thread a string through it. “’s alright,” steve whispered almost inaudibly and poked the needle just outside her gash. by now, (y/n) didn’t notice it. “left him alone in a country with people he didn’t know. then i ran.”

as much as she didn’t want to say it--because this was a nice moment with a man that used to love her and (y/n) didn’t really want to ruin it--she fretted, “you ran from me too.” another suture in her wound was followed by more silence. she guessed that steve didn’t know how to respond because what she had said was the utter truth that he hadn’t confronted through the years. with their eyes both facing each other, it was only the slightest bit awkward through the quiet. she fumbled with her fingers and steve finished the rest of her stitches.

“i know i did,” he finally whispered, and even though steve rogers was one of the sweetest, kindest, and most caring person she’d ever met, (y/n) was also aware that this would be his apology. she was hoping for something a little bit more.

“you said you wouldn’t,” she sniffled, but she hadn’t been crying. the day he’d broken into that prison to save his friends, the day before he’d finally gone on the run, he visited her. he had sneaked into her apartment in brooklyn and said his final goodbye. “you promised you wouldn’t.” this was said with more anger, but steve didn’t blame her. he’d loved her and doted on her for years only to give a quick kiss goodbye before leaving again. 

“i know i did,” he repeated himself.

when steve had returned to inform (y/n) of the current situation arising with thanos, she could barely recognize him. she had been watching the news about a flying donut in new york to turn around and see a man who she first thought was an intruder. his face was no longer clean-shaven and his hair was now slicked back and was down to his chin. his uniform was dull and worn-out and without the shield, captain america didn’t seem complete. then she realized that there was no more captain america. he had died when the accords threatened to take his freedom, to take his bucky. they’d threatened to take her too but that didn’t seem to bother him at the least. 

and the worst part about it was that (y/n) had just gotten used to living without him. she’d retired as an avenger after the fight in germany, and for once in her life, she felt normal. she had a job in the local market with fruit produce, a small apartment (but it was enough) in new york, her and tony would occasionally stay in touch. life was finally becoming normal, she could kick her feet up every evening and watch the sunset, until steve fucking rogers came back and reaked havoc on her life again without even knowing it. 

“and i shouldn’t have.” he interjected. i guess he’s trying. she thought to herself.

at first, she’d refused to talk to him. whether the world needed her or not, (y/n) (l/n) had thrown in the towel and bid adue to life as a hero. steve had tried to reason with her, but when the man who broke his promises and your heart at the same time sits in front of you, trying to tell you he needs your help to “save the world. it’s in our hands.” it’s a little hard to look at the bigger picture. but after she hadn’t responded to his plead for ten minutes, he sat back and they sat in silence again. it wasn’t exactly a peaceful silence. there were deadly words and back-stabbing phrases she wanted to scream. she wanted to punch him and make sure he left with a bloody, broken nose but instead, (y/n) sat quietly in her armchair. 

and just for a second...just a quick split second, steve--her steve--had returned to her. it was life in the avengers compound again, and they were holding each other as the sun rose. she could feel herself tripping back into his embrace and she did nothing to stop it. 

“the only reason i came back was for you,” she admitted quietly. it almost felt like a sin to say it. she’d noticed that steve had stopped tending to her wounds for a while now and she didn’t even know what time it was anymore. her scrapes and gashes were stitched and bandaged, and now, the two shells of people who used to be devoted to each other sat broken across from one another. “i didn’t care about the world. i didn’t care about thanos, or if tony was even in space,” she laughed with a broken sob and it shattered steve’s heart into pieces. “i had you back and that was all that mattered to me. and now i just almost fucking died, so...” she trailed off and never finished.

steve knew it was his turn to speak. he knew this was an apology because in order to keep his freedom and protect his friends, he had to leave the girl he loved. it was an inhumane trade, really, but he’d been selfish enough to take it. and now, those friends weren’t even here. but she was. he owed her everything in the world. and as much as he wanted to lean into her neck and cry “i’m sorry”, he didn’t. he remained quiet and still. 

“who are you, steve?” it was the first time he heard her say his name in years, and it was taking its toll on him. he suddenly felt woozy, like he had when they’d returned from missions to take showers together followed by cuddles; like he had when he’d almost lost her during sokovia, and they’d spent the rest of the night in each other’s embrace because steve realized how broken he’d be without her. and then he did lose her. 

it was love, just starting to bloom between the two again. of course, they had never stopped, not when steve had left her with a blissful kiss, but it was the spark beginning to form. he felt something fiery in his veins, and when he looked to her eyes, his stomach was turning upside down. “someone who’s sorry.” he lamented, delicately toying with the needle between his fingers. when he deeply pricked himself, drawing a drop of blood, he didn’t even notice. (y/n) grabbed the last piece of gauze on the table and held it against the pad of his calloused finger. 

“you pushed me away, steve,” she sighed, applying pressure to his finger and holding his hand at her heart. 

he chewed on his bottom lip. “i know i did,” he felt pathetic for saying nothing more. steve removed the gauze from his hand and wrapped it around her smaller one. he felt warmth radiating from that area in his chest again. it hadn’t been there for a while. he pressed her hand to her lips and gave her bruised knuckles the slightest peck. 

“please don’t do it again.”

who did he have now? natasha had stuck herself alone in the avengers compound and really denied any sort of human interaction. tony was missing--god, steve hoped he wasn’t dead because he owed tony an apology as well--and sam and bucky were...gone. when no one else could love him, when no one else was there to hold him, she was. and for the first time since she’d seen him again, his eyes softened with brightness and he smiled sweetly. “i don’t plan on it.”

tags: @honeysucklesteve @iguessweallcrazyithinktho @worksby-d @allthingscevans @capsiclecevans @mrsevans1981 @capsiclecevanss

[chrossrank]

Do you know what happened to Villainous now that HBO MAX got bought by Discovery and many shows got purged from the platform. Most of them were cartoons, such as Infinity train, Close enough, Mao Mao, victor and valentino, etc. Since I am in North America, I can not check.

The fate of Villainous is up in the air like every other animated series at the moment, there have been no official statements regarding CN LA originals like Villainous and Frankelda. As of now, both shows are still in HBO MAX LA, but that could change in the future. However, I'm hopeful that this show will be alright for a couple of reasons.

Do keep in mind however that all I'm about to say is purely speculation, there's no hard evidence for anything and the show could be renewed/canceled for unknown reasons. Don't twist my statements as the official word, I don't work for Cartoon Network.

The first reason that makes me think Villainous is safe is because the marketing for the show is crazy in Mexico. Villainous gets to have mascot suits in panels, a multi-book deal and a promotion with the VUALA candy. It gets more marketing than some US cartoon shows, so that's a point in its favor. The money it makes could convince Warner Discovery CEOs to let the show be.

The second reason I want to mention is this Instagram post he made a few days ago:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alan Ituriel (@alan_ituriel)

The post says:

Me and my son at an important meeting.

Planning wicked cool news!

Now this could be just him fooling around and maybe he's not actually in a meeting, but Alan rarely posts imaginary scenarios like that on his social media, and I doubt he would start now. It's hard for me to believe this is unrelated to the HBO and Discovery merger since it happened the same week they were cancelling and removing shows. He promises good news and not bad ones, so I think there's the implication that this show is safe for now.

As I said, it's nothing but speculation now, Warner Discovery is making many irrational decisions right now, so maybe none of this matters. But I'd like to believe these factors would help Villainous stay airing one way or another. We can only hope for the best.

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Out Of Time ~ 141

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 3,200ish

Summary: Things start to get real. (gifs aren’t mine) PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE END.

“Now, you better be on your best behavior for your Aunt Pepper and Uncle Happy, alright?” Y/N said. She was kneeling down to Morgan’s level, brushing the little girl’s hair behind her ears.

“Alright, momma,” Morgan agreed with a nod. 

“Daddy and I will call you every day.”

“Can’t I just come visit you? The—the com… compod… com—“

“Compound,” Y/N gently fixed with a smile.

“Yeah! It’s not too far away. I can come and help a wittle!”

Y/N sighed. “I wish you could, honey, but this is grown up stuff. Someday you’ll understand.” She pulled the girl into her arms, holding a kiss to the side of her head. “I love you, Morgan, so much.”

“Don’t tell daddy,” Morgan giggled, trying to whisper, “but I love you more than 3000.”

“Hey!” Tony exclaimed with mock hurt, coming onto the porch after packing the car. “I heard that.” He came and joined in on the hug. “But I forgive you.” He kissed the top of Morgan’s head before him and Y/N pulled back. “Don’t give Happy too much grieve, okay?”

“Okay, daddy!”

Tony leaned closer to Y/N. “If we’re going to do this, we’ve got to get going,” he whispered, placing a slight kiss near her ear.

“Okay,” Y/N whispered in reply. She leaned in and gave Morgan one last kiss on the forehead. “We’ll call you later tonight. I love you.”

“I love you too, momma and daddy,” Morgan responded.

Y/N and Tony stood up. She had an arm around his waist, holding herself close to him. Pepper and Happy came up behind Morgan.

“We’ll take good care of her,” Pepper promised.

“Thank you guys,” Y/N said before Tony led her to the car.

He opened the passenger door for her then got into the driver’s seat. Y/N waved and blew kisses to Morgan as they drove off. When they were too far away, she sighed into the seat. Tony reached one hand over and gave her knee a slight squeeze. They didn’t talk though, they were both too overwhelmed with what they were both headed to do.

~~~

Steve was standing outside, staring at the ground. His hands were on his hips as he looked beat. Bruce, Scott, Natasha, and himself had just tried to send Scott back in time, to no success. All they did was age and de-age Scott. Steve needed to get out of the hanger and clear his head. It had gotten his hopes up to bring everyone back, but it was looking like their plan wouldn’t be a possibility.

As a noise broke the silence, Steve looked up to see a car speeding towards the entrance. The car pulled over to him, passing him slightly, before reversing. As it backed up to stop in front of Steve, Tony rolled down his window to reveal himself and Y/N.

“Why the long face?” Tony asked. “Let me guess: he turned into a baby.”

Steve looked away with a slight smile on his face and a nod. “Among other things, yeah,” he responded looking back at the couple. “What are you two doing here?”

Tony got out of the car, Y/N following, and walked around to the back. “That's the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should've cautioned you against it.” He leaned against the car as Y/N moved to stand beside him.

“You did.”

“Oh, did I?”

“Tony,” Y/N scolded quietly, knowing Steve did deserve the sass.

“Thank goodness we’re here. Regardless, I fixed it.” He held up his right hand, device on it. “A fully functioning Time-Space GPS. I just want peace.” He made a peace sign. “Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it.”

“Me too.”

“We got a shot at getting these Stones, but I gotta tell you our priorities: Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what we got? I have to, at all costs. And... maybe not die trying will be nice.”

“Sounds like a deal.” 

Steve reached out his hand to shake, in which Tony took it. Pulling away, Tony opened his truck. He reached in to pull out Captain America’s shield. He handed it toward Steve, who didn’t take it.

“Tony… I don’t know,” Steve said.

“Why?” Y/N asked. “Howard made it for you.” 

“Plus, honestly we had to get it out of the garage before Morgan took it sledding,” Tony added. “She’s been way too eager to take it out since she found out it belongs to you.”

With a light sigh, Steve took the shield, placing his arm in the straps. It had been too long since it had rested on his arms, seven years in fact. It felt nice to have it back.

“Thank you,” Steve replied.

“Will you keep that a little quiet?” Tony asked as he pulled out a few more things from the car. “Didn’t bring one for the whole team… we are getting the whole team, yeah?”

“We’re working on that right now. You guys might be able to be of some help.” Steve began leading them back into the hanger. “Who’s with Morgan?”

“Pepper and Happy,” Y/N responded. It was clear to the men that Y/N was feeling hesitate to do this and leave Morgan. “You’re going to have to join in on the call tonight. She’s upset she didn’t get to talk to you that much when you guys showed up a few days ago.”

“Y/N? Tony?” She heard Natasha gasp. Her friend quickly ran to her, engulfing her in a hug. “You came to help. Thank you so much.”

“Woah there, Banner,” Tony said, causing everyone to notice him studying Bruce, who had merged with the Hulk. “What did you do?”

“I know, it’s different,” Bruce responded. “But I finally found a way to live with both my sides.”

“That’s wonderful,” Y/N smiled. “I’m so happy for you, Bruce.”

“Thank you.”

“What’s the plan with the team though?”

“I’ve called Rocket and Nebula,” Nat explained. “They’re on their way. Once they get here, Bruce with go with Rocket to fetch Thor from New Asgard. Rhodey needs to finish up a few things before he comes. They should all be here tomorrow.”

“What about Clint? Is he still off the grid?”

“I’ve pinned pointed his location and am going after him tonight.”

“Do you need any help?”

“I think this is something I need to do on my own.”

~~~

Night had fallen and Tony had already started building a platform for the time travel. Natasha had left to retrieve Clint and Y/N was just finishing up her video call with Morgan.

“It’s time to go sleepy night-night, now Mo,” she told her daughter. “I love you, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight.” She blew a kiss.

Morgan blew one back. “Love you, momma!”

Y/N smiled softly as she hung up. Turning the phone in her hands, she looked around the bedroom she was sitting in. This old bedroom was filled was so many memories, good and bad. Y/N honestly never thought she’d ever come back here, again. With a small sigh, she pushed herself up from the bed and walked out onto the small balcony that was attached to the room. She leaned on the railing by her forearms and looked over the once bustling grounds of the compound.

“I thought I’d find you out here,” Tony said, snaking his arms around her and pressing a kiss to her neck. She jumped slightly. “Sorry, did I scare you?”

“A little. I guess I was too caught up in my thoughts,” Y/N responded.

Tony rested his chin on her shoulder. “Care to share?”

“This place used to be so lively… even after the team broke. There were people running around and working hard. Now… now It’s empty. Too empty… I don’t want this to be the world Morgan grows up in. I want to her see busy streets and cheer in crowded arenas. I want her to experience what life should be like. Not this… this mess.”

“I get it… I want her to meet Peter. I can already imagine the chaos those two could cause.” 

Y/N laughed. “Me too… And Harley.”

“And Harley… we have to get our boys back.”

“We have to. And not die trying.”

~~~

The next day, Tony and Y/N spent building the platform, while everyone else came and went, going about their assignments. Natasha left to get Clint, having got some concrete leads about him being in Japan. Rocket, Nebula, and Rhodey arrived. Rocket and Bruce quickly left for New Asgard to fetch Thor. Nebula, Rhodey, and Scott began thinking of suit ideas for the time traveling. Steve gathered together everything he could find on the Infinity Stones, the whole time itching to ask Y/N questions. He wondered if she knew more than they had learned from past experiences. And it wouldn’t surprise him if she did.

Rocket and Bruce arrived back with Thor first. It shocked the team to see Thor in such a state as he was. His hair and beard were long once again, and he had gained more than a few pounds. It saddened Y/N to know that this had all taken such a toll on Thor. Her and Tony really had been one of the few lucky ones. 

Rocket quickly began helping Y/N and Tony with the platform. Which Y/N was extremely grateful for because she could only understand, or do, very little of what Tony was asking of her. 

Thor was drinking a beer as he clumsily walked towards the platform. Tony was walking from behind Thor, dragging a long hose.

“Drifting left,” Tony warned Thor as he began to pass him. “On the side there, Lebowski.” He faced Rocket, who was working underneath the platform. “Ratchet, how’s it going?”

“It’s Rocket,” the raccoon corrected. “Take it easy. You’re only a genius on Earth, pal.”

“Thank you!” Y/N exclaimed jokingly, pointing at Rocket.

“Hey!” Tony exclaimed, a little hurt.

“I love you!”

Tony scoffed. “Sure.”

Y/N giggled as she came up to Tony. “I’m sorry,” she pouted slightly as she grasped his hand. “Forgive me?”

Tony sighed, rolling his eyes playfully. “I guess.” He gave her a light kiss. “Want to go check out how the suit is coming?”

“Of course.”

They intertwined their fingers and headed to where they were figuring out the suit. When they arrived in the room, Scott was in the suit with Nebula and Bruce working on it around him.

“How’s it coming with the thingamajigger?” Tony asked as him and Y/N walked over to the Scott. “What’s our status?”

“Now?” Bruce wondered. “Yeah, it’s just about ready.”

“Alright, let me see. Wow. Got a little Pym,” Tony pointed, “Stark styling.”

“Yeah.”

“And the, uh, noggin bubble, courtesy of, uh,” Tony turned to Nebula, “Rings of Uranus. What’s your troop called?”

“The Guardians of the Galaxy,” Nebula answered.

“We just need someone to test it,” Bruce said, as he grabbed some small glass tubes with a red liquid and started doing something to Scott’s suit.

“Time travel suit?” Rhodey questioned, walking in. “Not bad.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Scott exclaimed, stopping Bruce. “Easy, easy!”

“I’m being very careful,” Bruce responded.

“No, you’re being very Hulky.”

“I’m being careful.”

Scott held up a red tube. “These are Pym Particles, alright? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more.”

“Scott, calm down,” Rhodey advised.

“Sorry. We've got enough for one round trip each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs.” Accidentally pressing a button, Scott quickly shrunk and returned to his normal size. “One test run.”

“Shit, Scott,” Y/N muttered, shaking her head.

“Alright, sorry. I’m not ready for this.”

“I’m game,” Clint’s voice suddenly came from behind them. They all turned to look at him. “I’ll do it.”

He looked different. It wasn’t just his hair cut and his sleeve tattoo. It was his eyes. Clint had lost his wife and three kids. Y/N couldn’t even imagine what he was exactly going through.

“Clint,” Y/N gasped softly.

“Y/N,” Clint responded with a nod.

Tearing up, Y/N let go of Tony’s hand and quickly wrapped her arms around Clint’s neck, bringing him in for a hug. Clint didn’t hesitate to hug her back.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered.

“I’ve missed you too, Y/N/N,” he responded. He pulled away and looked back at the others. “Suit me up. Let’s do this.”

~~~

Tony and Y/N got the platform set up and gathered everyone while Bruce, Rhodey, Scott, and Nebula got Clint situated. As everyone slowly gathered and Bruce came to help Tony, Y/N stayed back and close to the wall. She had started to tremble at the thought of the time travel actually working and all that came a long with it. Her head had also started to get fuzzy. And, from past experience over the years, she knew that a seizure could easily be triggered. Steve had noticed at discretely came over to her.

“You alright?” He whispered.

“I-I-I… I don’t know,” she responded, shakily. “This all… what if it works? And… what if it changes things? I… I can’t lose Morgan. I-I can’t.”

Steve came around and cupped Y/N’s face with his large hands. “You are not going to lose Morgan. I will not let that happen, I promise.”

“You can’t control that Steve… you don’t know… I’ve seen things. I know things… something’s still coming.”

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head quickly. “I can’t say anymore. I can’t.”

“Y/N—“

“Don’t push this, Steve. I…” She swallowed, getting a tad dizzy. She gripped onto Steve’s arm, trying to keep herself steady. “I… oh…”

Steve held onto Y/N’s upper arms, noticing that she was struggling. “Talk to me, Y/N. What’s going on?”

“Just keep me close. I’m not feeling so good.”

“Maybe we should sit you down in the other room.”

“No. I want to be here. I need to be here. Just wrap your arm around my waist and keep me close to your side. I don’t want Tony to worry.”

Steve gave in with a sigh before turning so that they were both facing the platform and wrapping an arm around Y/N’s waist. Everyone else was at the control panel and Clint was taking his position on the platform.

“Alright, Clint,” Bruce said. “We’re going in 3… 2… 1!”

A helmet formed over Clint’s head before he went quantum. That was the longest minute of everyone’s lives. Y/N could barely breath as she stared at the space Clint once stood. When he finally rematerialized, Clint was on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Natasha rushed up the platform, crouching down and cupping Clint’s cheeks. Scott and Tony rushed up onto the platform as well.

“Hey, hey,” she called. “Look at me. You okay?”

Clint held up a baseball glove and threw it at Tony. “Yeah, it worked,” Clint said. “It worked.”

Tony smiled triumphantly, holding the baseball glove, as he turned towards Y/N. She was the only one that didn’t seem excited. In fact, her complexion was off and her breathing pattern had changed. Tony knew what was about to happen before her eyes even rolled back.

“Rogers!” Tony shouted, surprising everyone. “Get her on the ground and on her side. Now!” 

When Tony had called out to Steve, that was when her eyes rolled back and Y/N began to seize. Steve quickly did as he was directed, already familiar with the routine. The whole team quickly surrounded them, with Tony and Bruce pushing to the front to help.

“What’s going on?” Thor asked, confused and completely worried.

“She’s having a seizure,” Natasha responded. “She had a car accident a few years back, left her with some brain issues.”

“When was the last time she had one?” Steve asked as he kept his sister on her side. 

“Probably a little bit over a year,” Tony replied, helping Steve.

They all let out a breath of relief when she finally stopped moving.

“Let’s get her to her bed,” Bruce suggested.

Tony picked her up. “I’ll handle it,” he said. “I’ll get her settled and then we can figure out a plan.”

They watched as Tony carried Y/N away.

“Steve,” Natasha called gently, looking at her friend. “What triggered it?”

“I have absolutely no idea,” Steve asked, keeping his eyes on the pair as Tony walked away.

~~~

Y/N immediately knew what had happened the moment she opened her eyes. She was laying in her bed, all tucked in, and Tony was sitting next to her, reading something on his tablet.

“How long have I been out?” Y/N asked, voice slightly horse.

“Hey, you’re awake,” Tony said, placing his tablet down and turning to face her. “You had us all worried.”

“Sorry.”

“What happened?”

“I was just thinking about… well, everything… and I guess I stressed myself over the edge.”

“Maybe you should go home, stay with Morgan.”

“No. I need to be here.”

Tony pursed his lips as he studied his wife. He definitely didn’t like the way she emphasized need. “Why? Why do you need to be here?”

Y/N sighed and closed her eyes. “You know why.”

“No, I really don’t. You’ve always been so vague around your destiny and the Stones and shit. Just tell me what’s going on. What do you know?”

Y/N tossed her covers off and sat up, sitting on the edge of the bed facing away from Tony. “I can’t say Tony.”

“Like hell!” Y/N stood up, walking onto the balcony with Tony following. “If you’re scared of the Stones, no need. They’re gone, Y/N. You felt that yourself.”

“You don’t understand… Things could still happen and I can’t have more lives on my hands than I already do.”

“Y/N, what happened is not solely your fault.”

“But it is. I was tasked to save everyone. And I failed…I failed Wanda, I failed Vision! I failed Peter! And Bucky!”

“Bucky,” Tony scoffed. There had always been a question lingering in Tony’s mind, fighting for an answer. But he was too frightened to know the truth. Until now. He had to know. “Are you still…” He studied Y/N for a quiet moment. “Are you still in love with him?”

“Tony…” She tried to turn away, but Tony grabbed onto her arms, keeping her facing him.

“No, you don’t get to run away right now. I need an answer. If we’re going to do this, bring everyone back. I need to know the truth, once and for all. That I wasn’t the second choice, that I wasn’t just the only option so you went for it… So, tell me, would you have chosen me if Barnes was still here?”

Ending 1: It’s Always Been You >

Ending 2: I’m From Brooklyn, Too >

I hope this wasn’t complete crap. And I couldn’t wait to post this! I know I’m on a break, I just got too excited about getting to the 2 separate parts!

I would love to hear your theories/hopes for the endings! I would love for everyone to read both, especially because they’ll take on Endgame very differently!

Also, my tag list is struggling to work. So please be patient with me. Also, Chapter 140 did not get a tag list because tumblr is the WORST right now and hates me and kept deleting it. So, again, please be patient with me. I’m just a human trying my best.

If you want to be added to the tag list, please dm me or send in an ask.

OUT OF TIME TAG LIST:  

@paintballkid711​

@cherthegoddess​

@capstopavenger​

@tommy-holland (won’t link)

@marinettepotterandplagg​

@bestofbucky​

@demidia​

@maia030 (won’t link)

@thatrandomcatoverthere​

@xwackk​

@idkanymoremansstuff (won’t link)

@loveisallyouneed1125​

@jasbins​

@thewidowsghost​

@pukklv​

@thegayseance​

@allonszassbutt​

@caligrl1992 (won’t link)

@superunnatural23​

@fangirl-swagg​

@ihavenocontrolofmylifeeither​

@laic2299​ 

@lilred254​

@livinglikebritishroyalty​

@azure23x​

@sammyrose222​

@taina-eny​

@mallyallyandra (won’t link)

@paintmekala​

@booksarebae2000​

@supernatural-bangtanboys​

@a--1--1--3​

@irrelevantyettopicalusername​

@supernaturallover2002​

@loveyou3000tonystark​

@jatriciaaaa (won’t link)

@radicaljoy​

@newheart97​

@roxytheimmortal​

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@mikariell95​

@bihoeofmanyfandoms (won’t link)

@dontputyourfckingdrinkonmytable (won’t link)

@sxpxrnxturxl (won’t link)

@follow-hi-this-is-my-brain (won’t link)

@booknerd-3000​

@captain-of-my-game1992​

@pastel-boy-sungjae​

@the-person-in-the-circle (won’t link)

@topstory21​

@the-hell-is-life​

@cspr-2​

@bellamy-barnes​

@nish-xiii​

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@23victoria​ 

@austynparksandpizza​

@stuckupstucky​

@aubreeskailynn​

@finnologys​

@love-couldbe-my-weakness​

@i-dumb-bitch​

@osugahunnyicedtea​

[after-avenging-hours]

Out of Time [Epilogue]: Steve x Reader

Series Masterlist

Summary:  After Steve gets injected with a mysterious substance during a mission gone wrong, you come to find out that the only thing that can save his life is a pure sample of Dr. Erskine’s Super Soldier Serum. Unwilling to let the love of your life die without a fighting chance, you travel through the quantum realm back to 1943. Equipped with little more than your knowledge of past events, you have to figure out just how exactly you’re going to get your hands on that serum. Not only that, but with the infinity stones no longer protecting the reality you’ve come from, there is now a chance that your presence in the past can change the future you’ll return to. Can you succeed without messing things up? And if things go wrong, can you fix it before it’s too late? Or will you run out of time…

Word Count: 4614

Warnings: You might die from cuteness

When you land back in the future, your entire body is shaking. You have just enough strength to hit the button on the time watch to dissolve your quantum suit before you collapse to your knees.

“Vic!” Bucky vaults onto the platform. He kneels in front of you, taking your face into his hands. “Vic, what’s wrong?”

“Did you get the serum?” You can hear Bruce’s voice.

Your breaths come out in sputtering gasps, but you try to fight through it and nod your head. “Yes,” you choke out. “I have it.” Your hands are shaking as you reach for the internal pocket on your coat and hand it over to Bucky. “Dr. Erskine said that the components will begin to degrade the longer it’s left unused. I don’t know how much time we have left.”

Bucky takes the vial and quickly hands it off to Bruce, before returning to you. He places a comforting hand on your shoulder. “What happened?” he coaxes gently.

Tears well up in your eyes when you look back at him. “I think I messed up.”

He gently helps you to your feet and takes you to your bedroom to get cleaned up and changed into something more comfortable as you begin to divulge in full detail what exactly happened when you traveled back in time. He sits patiently on the corner of your bed as you pace up and down the room. You talk until your voice is raw and then you keep going.

“But then he threatened to drop the vial if I didn’t tell him who I worked for! I didn’t know what else to do, so I told him the truth…”

“And he believed you,” Bucky surmises, already putting the pieces together.

“He did,” you confirm, going a little soft as you recall his reasoning for believing you. “But Bucky…” you begin to shake your head fervently. “I broke every rule! I changed everything! None of that was supposed to happen!” You gesture wildly off to the side in a vague attempt at pointing toward the past. “And now, it’s too late to fix any of it,” you say brokenly.

Bucky releases a long breath, his mind spinning after everything you’ve just revealed. “Look, I’m not the science expert here and my only experience with time travel is getting shoved into an icebox every few years,” his lame attempt at a joke makes you scoff at best. “But I’m pretty sure that if anything got changed from this, you would be the only one that knows any different. So, let’s start small.”

You tilt your head as you look back at him, not understanding where he’s going with this.

“Look around your room. Is anything different here?” he asks.

As soon as you realize what he’s getting at, you start to walk around the room. Everything is exactly as you had left it. There’s a picture frame on the nightstand on your side of the bed. You’re tucked under Steve’s arm and smiling brightly at the camera. You remember that the photo was taken during one of Tony’s parties. Steve is wearing that tight blue button-up shirt that always drives you crazy and you’re decked out in a pretty red dress. Not even ten minutes after this photo was taken, you and Steve had snuck off for a quickie in the bathroom, because you just couldn’t handle how sexy he was in that damn shirt.

You smile fondly at the picture and move around the rest of the room. The books on your bookshelf are all the same. Half of them are yours, half are Steve’s. The closet is still divided between both of your things, but it’s all the same outfits you’ve seen hundreds of times. The bathroom still has both of your toothbrushes in the cup by the sink. A few different makeup products are scattered over the counter from when you’d been trying to figure out what you were going to take with you to 1943.

You make your way back over to Bucky, shaking your head and shrugging your shoulders. “It’s all the same.”

“Okay,” Bucky nods. “And I assume that I’m not any different, right?” He asks. “Now be careful with what you say, because if you tell me I didn’t have to lose my arm, I may just pull this one off and throw it at you,” he jokes again, pointing to his metal arm.

That one manages to successfully pull a laugh out of you, even if it’s a small one. “No, you’re the same. Metal arm included.”

“Alright…” Bucky grunts quietly as he pushes off the bed to stand up. “Then let’s widen our scope. While we’re at it, let’s head to the kitchen and get some food in you.”

You’re not very hungry, but you know that Bucky is just trying to take care of you in Steve’s absence, so you don’t argue. The two of you leave the living quarters and head for the shared kitchen. It’s strange being back. Not only because of the abundance of technology, that you had seriously taken for granted, but also because that feeling of uselessness was beginning to sink back in.

You’d completed your part. You got the serum. Now all that’s left is to wait and see if it paid off. You’re of no use at this point and that is really starting to weigh on you. “Bucky… what if it doesn’t work?” you ask, your voice sounding hollow.

“Don’t say that, Vic. Don’t even think it,” he responds swiftly. “You busted your ass to get us that serum. It’s going to work.”

You have to bite your lip to keep it from trembling, your eyes are already so raw from how much you’ve been crying that it physically hurts to tear up. “How can you be so sure?”

His gaze softens when he looks back at you. “You said it perfectly yourself. I have faith.”

--

Bucky was lucky enough to get some food in you but was wholly unsuccessful in getting you to rest. So here you are, 24 hours after arriving back from the past and you’re sitting at Steve’s bedside, desperately scrolling through a tablet reading through as many historical events as you can from the last century, trying to figure out what’s changed. So far, you’ve come up empty.

Bruce showed up at about 3 in the morning to tell you they had a breakthrough with the serum and had been able to synthesize a cure. He had even reached out to Shuri in Wakanda to have her double-check their work before preparing the antidote to administer into Steve’s IV. You gave her a quick phone call to let her know how grateful you were for her help and to tell her how handy her healing gel had been during your travels. When you asked how you could ever repay her, she’d laughed and told you to take her to Disneyland, because T’Challa still refused to take her himself. That made you crack a smile and you quickly agreed to get a trip planned.

Everyone else had, for the most part, left you alone to be with Steve. You are completely exhausted, both physically and mentally, but you can’t seem to let your mind rest. You can’t help but feel in your gut that your presence in the past had to have changed something. You just can’t for the life of you figure out what.

“Vic?”

The rough voice has your head snapping up so fast, you get whiplash. “Steve!” You quickly place the tablet down and scramble to your feet.

He blinks heavily, and he looks groggy as all hell, but he’s definitely awake.

“Oh, you big idiot. You scared the shit out of me!” You’re already crying again, just from the relief of seeing him awake.

“Sorry,” he grimaces. “What happened?”

“Those Hydra scientists injected you with some type of anti-serum poison. It almost killed you.”

“Would explain why I feel like shit…” he mumbles.

You scoff out a wet laugh. Reaching up, you push his bangs off his forehead then curl your fingers down his temple and over his smooth cheek. “Jerk,” you tell him affectionately.

His lips tilt into a half-grin before immediately falling into a frown. He grips your arm to stop you from pulling it back. “Vic, what is this?” he questions, looking at the bruise around your wrist. Figures he would notice that in mere seconds of being awake. You hadn’t even gotten a chance to have anyone else look at it yet.

“Oh, it’s nothing…” you try to brush it off and take your arm back, but his grip is surprisingly firm for someone that had literally been just steps away from death. Damn Super Soldier.

“It’s not nothing,” he insists. “That’s a handprint! Vic, who did-” he cuts himself off, gaze flickering down to where his fingers are wrapped around the middle of your arm and then back up to the bruise. Slowly, almost hesitantly, his hand travels up the length of your arm until he’s circling your wrist. He’s gentle and doesn’t press on the bruise at all, just hovers over it enough to see the exact match. “I did this,” he states upon the realization. His brows then furrow in confusion. “Why don’t I remember…?” He inhales sharply, his grip going slack, causing his hand to drop into his lap. In the next moment, his head whips around you meet your startled gaze. “You went back!” he exclaims.

“What-” your jaw drops as you stare back at him, wide-eyed. Your heart begins to pound in your chest. “How…”

“Vic, honey, this is serious. Did you go back to 1943?” Steve questions insistently. He looks just about ready to jump out of the hospital bed if you don’t answer immediately.

You release a shaky breath. “How did you know that?” you question, your mind racing to come up with an explanation for whatever seems to be happening here. You jolt when the medical equipment hooked up to Steve starts beeping because of his elevated heart rate. He pulls the heart monitor clip off of his finger and tries to push himself into an upright position. “Whoa, Steve!” you place your hands on his chest to make him lie back again. “Hon, you need to take it easy. Your body is still trying to fight off the poison and you haven’t received the full dose of the antidote, yet.” You hit the button on the side of the bed to lift him up into a seated position.

“Vic, where’s my suit?” he asks urgently.

“Your suit?” you question, not understanding why he’s asking about it. “It’s right here,” you point to where it’s neatly folded on a table behind you. He’d been stripped out of it so they could work on him, but you hadn’t had the time or mental capacity to put it away, yet.

“Look under the chest plate, on the inside of the suit,” he instructs. “There’s a hidden pocket on the left.”

You give him a perplexed look before slowly turning to move toward the table. You slip your hand under the collar of his uniform and feel around under the chest plate. Sure enough, your fingers brush against the small pull tab of an invisible zipper. Pinching it between two fingers, you open the pocket and try to feel for what could be inside. Your fingers brush against some kind of paper. The beat of your heart fills your ears as you slowly pull the paper out and carefully unfold it.

“Oh my god…” all the air rushes out of your lungs at once.

It’s you. Drawn out in charcoal. Asleep on the cot in the barracks at Camp Lehigh. The drawing is unmistakable. You just saw it yesterday morning, so you can recognize it instantly. But the version you hold now is faded and smudged. The paper is soft and worn, the edges have turned yellow. The one you hold now didn’t come through the quantum realm. This one passed through the passage of time one single day at a time.

“You said I should carry you in my heart,” Steve’s words pierce straight through your scattered thoughts, making you gasp. “So, I did.”

Your hands begin to shake. You quickly set down the sketch, afraid that you might damage the delicate paper. “I…” you huff, your mind racing faster than you have the strength to comprehend. “I don’t understand.” Your breath hitches and you cup your hands over your mouth.

“Vic,” Steve calls for you gently.

When you turn to face him, he’s got his hand stretched out, beckoning you closer. You feel dizzy as you walk on unsteady legs over to him, taking his hand and letting him pull you closer until you’re sitting on the side of his bed. “Steve… I don’t- What does this mean?”

He gives you a small smile, squeezing your hand gently for comfort. “You just spent the last two weeks in 1943, right?” You swallow thickly and nod your head. “Vic… those two weeks happened 80 years ago for me.”

You choke on your next breath when his words confirm what your brain is trying to grasp at. “So, that means that I did mess up the timeline, then. Oh, God. Bruce warned me that-”

“Honey, you didn’t mess up anything,” Steve cuts you off, using a soothing tone. 

“But…”

He runs his fingers over your hand, tracing out the lines on your palm in a calming gesture. “Do you remember when you were trying to figure out my Ma’s potato soup recipe?” he asks. “You would get so sad whenever it didn’t turn out quite right.”

You release a shaky breath watching how his fingers trace over your palm again and again. “I almost gave up.”

“I know. But then I begged you to try again. Just one more time. I told you that I knew you would get it right and what happened next?” he prompts.

You huff out a laugh at the memory, “The next one was perfect.”

Steve nods in confirmation. “I knew you would get the recipe right because you’d already made it for me once…” He stops the ministration of his fingers on your hand and waits for your gaze to lift to his. “In 1943,” he finishes.

You hold his gaze and let that sink in. “So… These last two weeks… That was always supposed to happen?”

“Yes,” he confirms with a breath.

“But…” you shake your head trying to wrap your head around this new concept. “You never said anything… Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

He fixes you with a sad look, “For the same reason you were terrified to tell me the truth,” He explains. “I wanted to tell you. In fact, there were several times when I almost did. But I was scared that if I told you before it had a chance to happen, then it wouldn’t happen at all.” He’s gone back to fiddling with your hand, now that he’s the one that needs comfort from the contact. “Vic, look at me,” he implores. “Why do I make you dance with me whenever Taking a Chance on Love comes on?”

He’s never given you a reason before, which means there’s only one answer. “Because I made you dance with me to it in your apartment,” you answer.

He smiles. “Why do I always ask to make sure you’ve checked the expiration date on your emergency inhaler?”

Your breath catches in your throat. “Because I had to give it to you during your asthma attack.”

“Why do I kiss you on your stomach and on your back where you now have a set of scars underneath that t-shirt?”

Your press your free hand to the side of your stomach absentmindedly. “Because you helped me patch up the gunshot wound.”

“See?” he asks. “You didn’t change the timeline, Vic. You completed it.”

The words have no sooner left his mouth before you’re promptly bursting into tears. However, these tears aren’t coming from a place of sadness or fear, they instead stem from pure relief. You crumple forward against his chest, openly sobbing as he wraps an arm around you. “I was so scared that I had messed things up!”

“I know, Honey. But it’s okay. Everything’s okay.” He places a kiss to the top of your head and rubs soothingly at your back. He holds you close as you cry out the last of the stress and tension out of your body.

When you’re no longer racked with sob you push yourself off of him and rise off the bed. You grab a few tissues from the side table to blow your nose and dry your eyes before tossing them into the trash. You release a long sigh, feeling the last of the tension leave you. This, however, allows pure exhaustion to settle over you in its place.

“Vic, I mean this in the most loving way, but you look like crap.”

You release a dry scoff, shooting Steve with a light glare. “Gee, thanks.”

He looks back with concern. “When was the last time you slept?”

Your gaze softens up. “In 1943,” you tell him honestly.

“Come here,” he lifts his arm in invitation.

“Steve, you’re still recovering,” you protest.

“I’ll recover a whole lot faster if you don’t make me get up and come after you.”

You huff out a laugh, but relent and move back toward the bed. “Stubborn jerk,” you mumble. You kick off your shoes and raise the thin blanket covering his legs to tuck yourself in close next to him. You lay on your side, with your head on his chest and a leg thrown over his. You shift around a bit until you find the most comfortable spot. “You were easier to spoon when you were smaller.”

Steve releases a low chuckle, settling his arm over your shoulders and resting his hand at your back. “At least you never called my penis adorable when I was this size.”

“Oh my God,” you grumble. “I never said that, but I can certainly start!”

He snickers when you slap his chest. His hand slips beneath the hem of your shirt and crawls back up until his fingers touch the scar on your back. He releases a low hum. “As soon as I get out of this hospital bed, we’re having crazy hot reunion sex.”

You snort in amusement. “I’m sorry, we’re having what?”

“Hey, you got some like two days ago, but I haven’t had sex in like a month,” he protests.

“Are you seriously jealous of yourself?” you ask dubiously.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he admits, continuing to run his fingers over your scar. “Usually whenever I missed you enough to make my chest ache. It happened a lot when you first left, but it would also creep up on me whenever things got slow on the war front. It always made me think about how there was a version of myself somewhere out there in another time that got to spend every night wrapped up in your arms. A version of me that got to touch you whenever he wanted. Kiss you whenever he pleased. It killed me not knowing when or if I’d ever see you again.”

You rub your cheek against his chest and listen to him talk. “When I was in the Valkyrie while it was going down and had to decide what to do… You were my first thought. If I crashed the plane and died, then I’d never get to see you again. And that thought scared me more than anything else. But then I remembered what you told me the day you left.  Don’t make your choices based on what you think will bring you back to me. Make the choice because you know it’s the right thing to do. And I knew at that moment that this was exactly what you had been talking about. So… I grabbed onto my faith and plunged into the ice.

“When I woke up in 2012… I was terrified that I had overshot the timeline and missed my opportunity to be with you. Then the battle of New York happened and suddenly I had bigger problems to deal with. When I got assigned to the DC SHIELD office, as soon as I got my credentials, you were the first thing I looked up. Imagine my surprise when I found out you’d actually been in New York with me.”

“Like two ships passing in the night,” you comment, watching your fingers draw random patterns against his chest. “I was re-assigned to the LA office after New York.”

“I know. I purchased a plane ticket to California.”

Your heart skips a beat at his admission. “What?”

“Yeah. I flew out there to find you. When I got to the SHIELD base, the director made a big deal about my arrival and wanted to give me a grand tour of the facility. You were training when I first saw you.” You shift up onto your elbow, so you can look down and meet his gaze, eager to hear what he’ll say next. “You were with a guy. Sparring. I could tell you both were pretty friendly with each other. The way you fought was more teasing than actual combat training and whenever he pinned you to the mat, you would laugh. From where I was standing, it looked like you were flirting.”

You rack your brain, trying to figure out who he could be talking about. “Was that my old partner?” you question. “The one that was already married?”

Steve purses his lips and scrunches his nose. “And gay… It would take me a few years before figuring that one out.”

“Ugh, Steve!” you groan and flop back down onto his chest. To think you could have been with him even earlier if he hadn’t jumped to conclusions.

“I know,” he agrees with a sigh. “I really shot myself in the foot with that one. But you’d also been younger than I remembered you, so I was pretty sure I hadn’t missed our chance. I flew back to DC and then waited for you to come to me.”

“How the hell did you manage to keep all of this a secret? You suck at lying.” You ask in disbelief.

That gets a laugh out of him. “I honestly have no idea, but I am so glad that I can talk about it with you now.”

“Well, then I guess while we’re on the subject of clearing the air, I also have a confession to make.” Steve looks at you curiously. “I kind of had a ‘klepto’ moment,” you admit.

His brows pull together, “What does that mean?”

You bite your bottom lip and grimace, “I took something that doesn’t belong to me and brought it back through the quantum realm.”

He raises a brow, unsure if he should be amused or disapproving of your actions. “What did you take?”

Pushing yourself back up, you crawl halfway over his body and stretch an arm out to the wheeling table by his bed where all of your friends have put flowers and little trinkets to express their well wishes. Steve grabs onto your hips to make sure you don’t fall out of the bed as you drag the table a little closer. Plucking an object off the table, you settle back against Steve’s side and hand it to him.

“Vic…” even with just the one syllable, you can hear him choking up.

“Our last morning at the camp, you left to take a shower and your suitcase was just sitting there. Open. I saw where you had tucked it, and I don’t really know why, but I took it. I knew that when you woke up in 2012, anything that hadn’t been with you on that plane had been lost forever. I just… I wanted you to have them back.”

He stares down at the picture frame for a long time, unblinking.

“Are you mad…?” you ask hesitantly.

He finally blinks and a single tear travels down his cheek. “I never thought I’d see this again,” he says quietly. As you reach to wipe away his tear, his gaze lifts to yours. “Thank you,” he tells you, his voice filled with so much love you can feel it.

You smile tenderly back, rubbing your thumb gently against his cheek. “They would have been so proud of you.”

He swallows thickly and you have to wipe another tear from his cheek. “My Ma would have loved you.”

You lean your head down to rest your forehead against his. He takes a moment to process through his emotions before tilting his face forward to capture your lips in a sweet kiss. You release a content hum and fall into the kiss. This kiss feels a little different somehow. It’s pure and clarifying. It wipes away all the pain and stress you’ve felt over the last two weeks. It mends the cracks in your heart that formed when you had to leave him in 1943. You made it back. The serum worked. He’s alive and speeding down the road to recovery.

When you pull back, you’re crying again, because your heart is just so full that there’s nowhere left for your emotions to go. “I love you,” you whisper wetly against his lips.

He looks back and gives you the sweetest smile, “I love you too, Vic.” You help him put the picture of his parents back on the side table before settling against his side once again. “Okay, reunion sex first, but then we’re getting married like immediately after,” he comments.

You grin wide and release a laugh at his words. “Do I get a say in any of this?”

His arm tightens where it’s wrapped around your waist. “Only if you plan on saying yes.”

“Normally you’re supposed to ask these kinds of things,” you tease. As if there was any other option.

“I am way past the point of asking,” he huffs. “Would have done it years ago, if someone hadn’t told me in 1943 that we weren’t married yet!”

“What was I supposed to say?!” You ask, wanting to laugh again. You can’t believe that this is your first argument after coming back.

“You were supposed to say that I married the shit out of you the second I saw you again! Maybe then, I would have tossed you over my shoulder and taken you for myself in California.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” you giggle at his pouting face.

“Say you’ll marry me, or things are about to get a whole lot more ridiculous. I will toss you over my shoulder and go right now,” he threatens, but the twitch at the corner of his mouth is giving him away. 

“Yes, you stubborn idiot. I will let you marry the shit out of me.”

He shoots you a smug grin before his laughter starts to break through. “What happened to stubborn jerk?”

“You’ve been promoted for suggesting we should get married while you’re still hooked into an IV bag and I haven’t slept in 80 years.”

He looks over his shoulder up at the IV that’s still slowly administering fluids and the antidote into his system. “I can bring the IV stand with us and you can nap on the way. It’ll be great.”

You laugh at the goofy grin plastered across his mouth. “Good luck with that.”

If possible, his grin widens even further. “I don’t need luck. All I need is my Victory.”

-

The End