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ririchanva · 10 months ago

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Chapter Seventeen: Battling In New York~! (Part Three)

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Chapter Warning: Violence, death of a minor character, blood.

A/n: Key Notes about this chapter:

There will be more Kwami Swapping. I know it can be annoying, but hey...we'll see who gets who this round.

New characters are appearing as a teaser. Fully revealed in the next and final chapter of this arc.

Ladybug and Chat Noir are gonna be super OP down the line. Then again, so are Bakugo and Deku.

As requested by you folks, more of the American teen heroes xD

So with that, let's get to part three~

“We need to find Empress Tigresse and King Stinger!” Chat Noir argued, the two having been called by Lady Dragon, the heroine reporting that Techlonizer was spotted with some allies and would need backup.

“I know! But we need to prioritize this first!” Ladybug explained as she was swinging into the scene, already ready to summon her Lucky Charm.

“Don’t be scared~“ Techlonizer chuckled, watching the United Heroez carefully with a dark smirk, “I only wish to finish what I started~”

Ladybug was about to throw her yo-yo up in the air, but suddenly felt her communicator go off. Biting her lower lip, she picked up and answering it, frantically hissed.

“Kinda busy here! Still have to de-akumatize Techlonizer!”

“It’s about Zoe. She was akumatized and we need backup” King Stinger spoke from the comm as his face was shown on Ladybug’s screen, frowning. In the background, Empress Tigresse, Pixie Girl and The Sorcerer were doing their best to stop Sole Crusher from stomping on anymore people.

“We need you here. NOW!”

“I’ll go!” Rody’s voice called as he was coming out of the fire, soot covered his body from head to toe, Pino flying frantically above him while the ladybug and kitten stayed on Rody’s shoulders, “You deal with these guys, I’ll deal with Zoe!“

Ladybug had so many questions. However, her eyes landed on the briefcase that was in Rody’s hand and immediately understood. Nodding her head, she soon rushed to get Techlonizer and his crew, Chat Noir reluctantly following after her.

Lady Dragon landed next to Rody, already turning into her full dragon form, “Hop on. I’ll go with you.”

The Otheon thief didn’t argue as he jumped on her back, the two now soaring to the sky to locate where King Stinger and the others would be.

“NO!” Nine yelled, about to chase them but not before both Deku and Bakugo jumped in together, kicking the armoured man to another building to stop him.

The current Holder of One-For-All paused in his steps as Bakugo went straight ahead to use his Exploding Gaunlets towards the villain, looking around for someone.

When his eyes landed on Bonnie Blanche, he rushed over to her, “Bon, I need you.”

Perking up with a bright smile as she was called on, the rabbit themed heroine looked over at him and hopped over to him, “What do you need, Deku?”

“We need to head to places and pick up some people. Will you help me?”

The rabbit heroine nodded, already opening a burrow with a twirl of her umbrella. Taking his hand, Bonnie Blanche soon jumped in with Deku in tow, and the two ending up in the “warren” where the other portals were.

“So what is it that you’re planning?” Bonnie Blanche asked before she saw the Dragon Pendant in hand and blinked when Izuku pointed at a portal.

“First I have to go to Shoto-kun and get the Bee Miraculous back.”

“But why?”

Deku was about to explain when he shivered for a second, frowning when he glanced over somewhere, Bonnie Blanche following his line of sight. He didn’t know why, but he felt like someone was watching him. However, the presence was gone as soon as he was pinpointing it out, making Deku narrow his eyes.

“D-deku?” Bonnie Blanche asked worriedly, snapping Deku out of it.

“…Sorry,” The green haired hero turned to her and smiled weakly, then looked determined, “Anyways! I have a plan!”

Rody looked down at the briefcase on his lap with a somber look, pursing his lips as he touched over the top of it. Taking a deep breath, he opened it with a click of the locks, peeking inside.

There, he saw a four sectioned square casings with a circular center and a gold outline. In each section of the square are four different objects and in a different color with a darker-shaded circled symbol in the center. One of the objects missing was a red section with a darker eagle symbol. The objects that were inside are some sort of traditional looking cloak pin, some sort of ring, and feathered earrings.

But his eyes was mostly focused on the middle one, which seems to be some sort of hair tie with tribunal patterns on it. Unconsciously, he reached out for the hair tie and once it was in the palm of his hand, a warm glow formed above the object. Rody didn’t feel scared about this, almost feeling a sense of dejavu as a little Kwami like creature appeared before him. This little one looked a lot like Pino in a way, only their body was green with red, black and white patterned wings along with their feathered top.

Opening it’s dark beady eyes, the creature cooed softly in warmth.

“Greetings, my new Chosen. My name is Talli.”

“I’m Rody.” The boy introduced himself immediately, not noticing Fei was looking back at him questionably, “I’m sorry that you’re stuck with me. Your master…“

“—Has completed his mission. Now your destiny shall begin,” Talli watched as Rody looked down at the Miraculous in hand, his eyes sorrowful and unsure, “Why do you not have confidence in yourself, Young Rody?”

“Because all my life, I’ve done bad things to survive. I had to cheat, lie and do anything so I could place food for the table for my siblings. Try to give them a way to have a bright future when I couldn’t,” Rody murmured as he squeezed the Miraculous in hand, “I do not deserve to be a Miraculous holder, especially not the new Guardian. Can’t I give it to Pixie Girl or The Sorcerer? They were looking for your Master and you guys—“

“Pala would NEVER give the Miracle Box to someone he was not sure of. The Spirits of his ancestors has led you to him as the next successor.“ Talli said with a sure tone, as Rody barked a laugh.

“No. It was a coincidence that we met. A mistake.“

“There is no such thing as coincidences. Do not mock a dead man’s wish for us to be in good hands. Your hands.”

Rody went silent as Talli continued.

“You are destined for great things. It starts now. I am sure your mother would be very proud of you and the man that you’ve grown up to be.”

“M-My mum?” Rody breathed out as he looked at the Kwami in confusion, “How—?”

“Rody?”

The brunet snapped his head towards the sound of a woman’s voice and gasped, his eyes widening in shock at the sight before him. Behind a glowing Pino was a visage of a middle aged woman dressed in a pilot’s suit with tanned skin, light brown hair like Rody’s that was tied as a side ponytail and bright silver like eyes.

“M…Mum…?”

Rody shakily reached a hand out to the spirit before him, tears welling in his eyes as the woman smiled softly, reaching her own gloved hand towards him.

“You’re so grown up. Time sure flies.” The woman laughed softly as Rody sobbed openly, wishing to reach up and hug her.

“Mum! Y-You’re here. R-roro and Lala, they—“

“I know. I’ve been watching you kids the whole time. I’m sorry that Ed had left you guys alone. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.”

Rody shook his head, sniffling, “N-No, it’s not your fault. If anything I…I’m sorry I let you down. I lost my way…”

“And you can find your way back. Rody,” The woman said firmly as she reached to touch his son’s cheek, softening a little, “It’s never too late to make a change. I’ve always told you to always take a leap of faith on anything your heart desires. Just as I know that flying is your dream. A big part of you that will never go away.”

“Mum, I have to look after the kiddos…”

“And you do a wonderful job, you’re the best big brother they could love and ask for. I’m very proud of you so far, and hope you continue to grow…” The woman softened as she then breathed out, “But you also have to take care of yourself too, my little wingspan.”

“Rody, we’re here!” Fei interrupted, the dragon flying near to where Soul Crusher was, already cornering Pixie Girl and the Sorcerer, both King Stinger and Empress Tigresse missing in action.

“Do what you gotta do, Rody. I know you will know what to do in the end.”

Rody snapped his head to his mother and shook his head, “N-No, no no, you—you just got here! I have so many things to say, so many things to ask…please don’t go yet, Mum—“

The woman smiled as she touched over where Pino was just floating motionlessly, and chuckled, “I’m not that far away. If you ever need me, you can always talk to this cutie right here. I’ll always be with you, Roro and Lala…I love you guys. This isn’t a goodbye. We’ll meet each other again.”

Rody sniffled, raising his hands up to catch Pino, who was floating down onto his palms. The woman slowly vanished into sparkles of light, leaving Rody to cry silently and hug his bird companion tightly to his chest. Once he got his bearings together, Talli looked to him with a knowing smile.

“So, Rody Soul…what shall you do now?“

He was quiet for a moment, chewing his lower lip as he thought for a moment. With a determined face, he took off his own hair tie and tied his hair with the Miraculous on, tightening his ponytail as he looked to the Kwami.

“Never too late to make a change, right?” Rody told the bird like creature as Pino woke up and rested on his shoulder with a chirp. Rody looked over to Sole Crusher then turned to Talli with a grin.

“So, what should I do?”

Talli chuckled in amusement, nodding their head, “All you have to say is; Talli, Soul of Unity.”

“STOP SCREWING AROUND!”

An explosion went off as both Ladybug and Chat Noir moved out of the way when Bakugo landed a hit on the bandaged covered man, sending him flying.

“Mummy Bastard…don’t underestimate me!”

“Are you okay?” Ladybug landed beside the blond, noticing then that one of his gauntlets were missing, then thought with an impressed smile, ’He sacrificed his own gear…’

“LOOK ALIVE PEOPLE!” Fury shouted as he and his other ghost partners flew above them, tackling the beast like man.

Next to them, Sparrow, Uncanny Valley and Tsukuyomi went after the woman with hair extending quirk.

“He’s right! We should take down Techlonizer and that other guy with him, and fast!” Chat Noir stated to Bakugo and Ladybug, twirling his bo-staff in his hand, “What’s the plan?”

“Judging with the fights against the pros, the new guy has more than one quirk,” Bakugo murmured as he looked to where Sir Nighteye and Eraserhead were up against Nine, then back at the duo, “You two deal with the Akumatized villain. I’ll help the heroes with those other freaks.”

“We’ve got your backup, Kacchan!”

Both Bakugo and Ladybug looked up and spotted Deku coming out from Bonnie Blanche’s portal, both he and the rabbit heroine were being followed by a few people.

“Wha…?”

Ladybug was surprised to see not just Carapace and Queen Beebeside Deku, but it seems there are new faces. The spotted heroine felt her head spin, before looking at Deku for an explanation.

“Okay, I can totally explain~”

“Anyways, I have a plan!”

Deku soon was popping his head into a portal nearby, reaching his arm out before pulling someone in. Glitter Gilt yelped as she looked around in surprise before looking back at him, then at Bonnie Blanche.

“Errrr, what’s up guys?” She asked as Deku was looking into another portal.

“Sabrina-san, power down for a moment, I need Daizzi for someone else.” He told her, soon reaching both his arms out into the portal to pull in King Stinger and Empress Tigresse.

The Bee Hero looked confused as he watched Glitter Gilt powered down, the Pig Kwami falling into her hands. Although Empress Tigresse whirled around to Deku to ask for an explanation, but Deku raised his hand up in front of her, shaking his head.

“No time to explain. Power down and hand me the Tiger Miraculous. Shoto, you as well. I will need Pollen.” Deku said all this calmly while he took the Pig Miraculous from Sabrina.

“What’s going on?” Shoto asked as he powered down, feeding Pollen before seeing Deku reaching into another portal once more, pulling in Rockershella, Feathertop and Cobalt Bull.

Deku told them to power down as well before looking back at the fire and ice hero.

“I need to give proper Miraculous to their permanent and respective owners. For this plan to succeed, I believe this is the best course of action.” He stated, taking the Bee Miraculous from Shoto before handing it to a gobsmacked Chloe, then reaching into another portal.

Sabrina, looking confused as Deku passed her the Tiger Miraculous to her, looked over at him, “Does Ladybug know you’re doing this?”

One knowing smile told her that, no, she didn’t.

Deku pulled Ubayagi into the warren with them, smiling softly at her once the Goat Heroine de-transformed and handed her Miraculous to him.

“So, um, w-what are we doing right now?” Nathaniel asked as his Miraculous was taken and suddenly was presented with…The Peacock Miraculous?

“As I’ve said, I’ve got the perfect line-up for everyone for this battle. Especially since we’re gonna be getting new recruits today,” Deku hummed, twirling the Turtle Miraculous in hand before handing it to Nino.

Which made Nino push the Miraculous back to Deku with a forlorn look.

“Are you crazy!? I screwed up as Carapace, you should give this to Nath and let him be Pridwen!”

“I second THAT. Why are you giving me the Bee again when Sabrina was doing brilliantly more so as the Bee Heroine?” Chloe argued, although Deku just looked at them as if their question was confounded.

“But you guys never screwed up as Carapace and Queen Bee?”

Nino snorted, “Do you not remember what happened with Sombre Swift?”

“That wasn’t your fault though?” Deku argued gently, while Nino was shaking his head, “Nino…”

“To be honest, Nino, I think Izuku has a point,” Nathaniel interrupted as he looked to Nino and softened, “While I know that Master Fu would be disappointed in me giving up my mantle for the Turtle, something in my whole being tells me you were the true holder for Wyazz than I.”

Nino stared at his friend and then gripped the bracelet in his hand, “…I don’t—”

“You have always been a loyal friend. Protective and true where it counts. And you’re not the only one that makes mistakes here,” The red head reasoned as he gave a smile, “So…if Izuku thinks you should be Carapace again, I do not mind giving you back the mantle.”

Nino sniffled for a moment, giving a one arm hug to Nathaniel and smiled, “…Thanks, man.”

He placed the bracelet on and watched it glow, Wyazz appearing before him and was surprised when the Kwami hugged his face.

“Duuuude~!” The Turtle Kwami let out a happy cry, which made Nino cry and pat the little guy’s head.

“Duuuude~!”

Meanwhile, Chloe stared down at the hairpin in hand then shook her head, walking towards Sabrina. She tried to hand it back to her, but was surprised when Sabrina refused.

“Pollen knows you’re her true holder. And so do I.” Sabrina explained as she smiled at her best friend, “You may think that being Queen Bee was a fluke, but I’ve always believed you were made to be her,”

“B-But…I’ve worked so hard being good…wh-what if I fall back to being the old Chloe again?”

“That won’t happen,” Shoto tilted his head as he stepped beside her, “But then again, I do not know what ‘the old you’ was like. But Chloe-san is still Chloe-san at the end of the day. Someone that wishes to help her friends and do good. Someone exceptional.”

Sabrina was relieved at his words, and she turned her head to watch Pollen appear before Chloe.

“My Queen,” The swami bowed her head as she smiled happily, “Whatever you decide, I shall support you. But as I’ve told Queen Sabrina, you are my true Queen.”

Deku watched quietly as Chloe teared up, but soon placed the hairpin into her hair and brought her confident face on. Good, he would think with a smile.

“So…I shall not be holding a Miraculous this time?” Shoto asked, noticing Kirishima and Yaoyorozu were not given a Miraculous either.

Deku grinned, “No. But I do have some ideas for you, Shoto. The same with Yaomomo and Eijiro.”

Nathaniel hummed, looking down at the brooch in hand. Curious, he placed it over his chest and watched it glow, Duusu appearing before him with a smile

“Oooohhh~ So cute~ And warm!” They cooed, nuzzling into the red head’s cheek. “Shall we?”

“I suppose we shall,” Nathaniel chuckled, stroking the top of the Kwami’s head with a finger.

Sabrina placed her Miraculous on and watched Rooar appear in front of her.

“Oohhh I can sense a fighting spirit in you~“ The Tiger Kwami said with a grin, “Ready to fight, partner~?”

“I-If you will have me!” The girl in glasses smiled, nodding her head.

Momo watched them before looking over at Deku, “So who are getting the Dragon, Ox, Pig and Goat then?”

Deku looked thoughtful for a moment.

“I…might have an idea for the Dragon. But I’m gonna need help with the rest,” Looking to her, Shoto and Eijiro, he smiled, “This is where you guys come in.”

Ladybug did notice that Momo, Shoto and Eijiro weren’t here and looked to Izuku questionably.

“Where did they go?”

“They have their own missions. Now…” Deku was looking at the new Dragon Heroine beside him, “Introduce yourself please~”

Looking unsure, the young Dragon Heroine sighed before looking to Ladybug, smiling, “I’m…Zhulong. Nice to meet you, Ladybug. I’m a huge fan!”

“Indeed she is. She even wears a costume of you—“ Izuku gulped a chuckle when the embarrassed Dragon Heroine nudged at him.

“Er, nice to meet you, Zhulong?” Ladybug smiled a little before looking back at the One-For-All user, “And the rest?”

Deku smirked, tilting his head, “On the way~”

Shoto should’ve known that he he was going to be faced with a challenge.

“So we’re going to convince my half sister to de-akumatize herself, and if that doesn’t work, we’re gonna defeat her and get her to use the Pig Miraculous?” Queen Bee said in a deadpan tone, her and Shoto arriving back to the area where Sole Crusher was, “Yeah, as if the first plan will happen.”

“We’ll have to try.” The fire and ice quirk user hummed as they rushed towards where Pixie Girl and Sorcerer were fending Sole Crusher back, but then blinked when two new faces arrived in the scene.

“Lady Dragon!…And, um…?” Queen Bee looked astounded at a colourful bird themed hero next to the Chinese heroine, and frowned, “Who’s this clown?”

“Thunderbird,” The new hero grinned as he saluted, “Nice to meet you, honeybee~”

The bee heroine narrowed her eyes, finding that cheeky look very familiar.

“About time bloody reinforcements are here!” The Sorcerer shouted at Shoto and Queen Bee and blinked, “Where’s King Stinger, and who…..?”

A small smile was on Shoto’s face and Queen Bee raised a brow, and the magician like hero felt stupid for asking.

“She’s gotten stronger since stepping on those civilians. We need a plan,” Pixie Girl breathed out with tiredness, “I’m already running out of juice as it is and might transform back…”

“I have an idea,” Thunderbird raised a hand up before looking at Lady Dragon, “Distract Sole Crusher, I’ll go from behind. Honeybee, Candy Cane, with me.”

“…Candy Cane?” Shoto raised a brow before Queen Bee snorted.

“I think that’s you.”

Lady Dragon looked at Thunderbird for a moment before touching his arm, looking worriedly at him, “Be safe.”

The bird themed hero smiled, winking, “Naturally. I ain’t gonna lose here. Just have my back, m’kay?”

Lady Dragon nodded, transforming into Lady Eagle and soon was flying into the sky to be in the akuamtized giantess’ face, making Sole Crusher roar and try to swat her away while Pixie Girl and the Sorcerer followed her lead. Thunderbird pursed his lips, turning to jump high onto a building, with Shoto and Queen Bee following after him.

“So what’s your plan?” The Bee Heroine asked as Thunderbird landed gracefully onto the top of a tall building, staring at Sole Crusher.

“First, we’re gonna need to distract Sole Crusher before I make my move and use my Miraculous.” Thunderbird hummed before looking at the two, “Honeybee, since I know your Miraculous can freeze things on the spot, I need you to sting at Sole Crusher to keep her still. As for you, Candy Cane, I’m going to need you at the ready when we destroy the akumatized object.”

“It’s her shoes.” Shoto pointed out, and Thunderbird nodded.

“Okay, good. So that means that once I got her distracted enough, you’re gonna have to use those quirks of yours to destroy them.”

While that was going on, Lady Eagle shifted to Lady Dragon once more, flying over the skies as Pixie Girl and The Sorcerer were trying to keep her in place when they noticed Sole Crusher froze with wide eyes, looking at something.

“VENOM!”

Queen Bee yelled as she managed to prick the akumatized giantess and Shoto was quick to use his ice to freeze her into place just in case the Venom won’t last long.

Thunderbird made a quick dash had landed onto Sole Crusher’s back and placed his hand onto her, his eyes glowing a soft golden hue. He soon raised his weapon, which happened to be a golden sickle, and waved it in the air.

“Sorry, Zoe. Spirit Form: Unity.“

Thunderbird felt the world melt around him into darkness, his body glowing as he stood alone in the abyss of blackness he was now standing on. Frowning, he walked around for a moment to find out where he was until he heard quiet sobbing. He followed the sound, letting his feet lead him until he stopped by a hunched looking figure. Zoe.

Softening, the hero walked over to the girl and touched her head, making the blonde jump in surprise. Whirling around, tears were streaking down her face with her lower lip quivering, shoulders and chest heaving in a way as if trying to hold back from bawling.

“Zoe…”

“Leave me alone…” The small whimper came from the girl, curling herself back up again pathetically.

“I can’t. You have to come back to your senses, Zoe.” Thunderbird murmured as he watched her, and Zoe scoffed.

“It’s not like anyone wants me back. My father doesn’t. Rody certainly doesn’t.”

Thunderbird tried to mentally not wince at that, and feeling even more awful that the statement she said was totally true. But it wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

“Be as it may, if you don’t snap out of it, you’re gonna end up hurting more people than you are right now,”

“I don’t care anymore,” Zoe murmured as she buried her face into her knees, hugging her legs close to her chest, “I just wanna disappear.”

“Oh grow up, Zoe.” Thunderbird almost lost his temper and took a deep breath, noticing that there was a shadow-y butterfly lingering close by, “Seriously. Are you just going to keep feeling sorry for yourself?”

Zoe looked up at him angrily with tears, “Why do you even care?!”

“I don’t! I just want you to stop thinking of just yourself and hurting everyone around you!”

Meanwhile, outside in reality, Lady Dragon transformed back to her humanoid form and stood with Pixie Girl and The Sorcerer, Shoto and Queen Bee rushing behind them. They all watched how a glowing Thunderbird was so still and quiet along with a frozen looking Sole Crusher, as if time stopped for the both of them.

“So this must be the power of his Miraculous?” The Sorcerer hummed, tapping his chin as he tilted his head, “What now? Do we wait? My magic could dispel the Akuma…however, I am afraid my power is not enough for one this big?”

“We should get the Akuma now while he has a hold on her. At least when it breaks free, we could contain it before Ladybug gets here.” Lady Dragon murmured as she was soon approaching to Sole Crusher’s shoes, but was stopped by Queen Bee, “Wha—?”

“We have to wait for Ladybug,” She stated to Lady Dragon with a frown, “Meaning we don’t touch until we can get in contact with her.”

“It will be too late by then, and I don’t think Thunderbird can hold Sole Crusher for this long.”

Suddenly, all five heroes heard a sound and whipped their heads to see Chimera rushing from building to building, jumping over them to reach behind Thunderbird’s back. Queen Bee growled as she was soon rushing u a building to stop him, Shoto using his ice to make steps for her to use to get up there.

“Don’t you touch him!” The Bee Heroine yelled as she was readying her fists, knocking the the wolf like man back from pouncing at Thunderbird, Shoto following her to make an ice wall in between them.

Lady Dragon, Pixie Girl and The Sorcerer following after them, ready to defend them off from the villain, but soon were surprised as a bunch of Nomus appeared out of nowhere.

“W-what? How is this possible?” Shoto looked back to see the creatures, noticing the black swarming portals and frowned, ‘Does this mean Kurogiri is somewhere around here? But how?’

Thunderbird blinked as he felt his surroundings shake for a moment, looking around before glancing over at Zoe now curled into a fetal position. He didn’t have time for this!

“Okay, look,” The bird Miraculous holder crouched down before her as he rested his arms over his knees, looking at her tiredly, “I…am not good at this whole hero’s speech thing. Heck, I don’t think I’m cut out to be a damn hero in the first place.”

He noticed Pino’s transparent form floating above him along with Lady, and then Lucky curling next to him. Pursing his lips, he placed his hand out for a moment, feeling Lady landing on his palm as she gave a soft ruby like glow.

“I wonder…” He murmured as he closed his eyes and then whispered quietly, “…Lucky Charm.”

A warmth spread from his fingertips as a weight was now placed in his hand. Opening his eyes, he blinked when he saw it was—

“…Heh, what a terrible irony,”

Zoe looked up at Thunderbird’s words, then her eyes widened as she sat up, seeing it were sneakers. The very ones that look a lot like what Rody bought her years ago, only…it was red with black polka dots.

“…How—?”

“I suppose my Lucky Charm wanted you to remember where you came from.”

Thunderbird hummed as he saw how Zoe��s eyes wavered, almost teary as he then sighed.

“It’s not too late to turn a new leaf. You can’t go back to what was, but you can move forward for a better tomorrow.”

Zoe pursed her lips, as she sniffed. Thunderbird noticed that an outline of a butterfly appeared over her face, knowing that whoever has the Butterfly Miraculous now was trying to feed more negative energy.

“B-But…I gotta c-crush those in my way…otherwise t-they’ll step all over me—“

“You don’t have to crush anyone. There’s no such thing as winners OR losers,” The hero hummed as he felt Lucky nuzzling against his leg, reaching out to pet him, “There’s just…people. With a lot of unique differences and individualities…”

Back outside,Lady Dragon flew over to where Thunderbird was, seeing the hero hasn’t move and eyes still glowing, “Thunderbird! Hurry it up in there—“

“I’m not finished!“ The bird like hero bellowed, his voice mixed with various of others, which shocked the Chinese heroine.

Thunderbird looked up at the darkness with a frown, before looking back at Zoe.

“Zoe, you can start over. You can make new friends. You don’t have to take the abuse your father gives you. Just. Be. Yourself.”

Zoe looked at him, and Thunderbird took this to continue.

“You might trip, you might fall. And there will be always someone to help you back up…do not let the voices in your head win!”

Zoe pursed her lips while thinking, and soon she was holding her head and groaning, “Get. Out. Of. My. Head….”

Thunderbird smiled as he was soon pushed out from Zoe’s head—

Shoto managed to freeze Chimera in place, but then looked up when he heard a scream and saw that Sole Crusher broke away from the Akuma’s control, turning back into regular size Zoe. Thunderbird managed to create wings behind his back and flew to catch her, the two landing back on the ground.

“NOW!”

The Sorcerer yelled as he was spinning his star staff and raised it in the air, making a bubble around the GIANT AKUMA trying to attack them. Pixie Girl soon used her own magic to sprinkle over the bubble to create her own magical sphere to keep it in. Lady Dragon flew above them to aid Shoto into keeping Chimera frozen, and Queen Bee rushed to meet with Thunderbird, who was checking over Zoe.

“W-wha…?” Zoe looked around for a moment, holding her head and frowning, “What happened?”

“Quick, give her this!” Queen Bee was holding out what seems to be a pink anklet, and Thunderbird looked at her questionably.

“Is that—?”

“Zoe Lee.”

Zoe looked up at the Bee Heroine, who rolled her eyes before pushing the Pig Miraculous into her hands.

“I don’t have to explain. But if you wanna be useful, then help us.”

“What are we doing here?”

Eijiro frowned as he and Momo were now standing in what seems to be a police station. Bonnie Blanche brought them here to find the two individuals for the Ox and Goat Miraculous.

“Deku knew that we would find the perfect holders for these particular Miraculous. And I trust him.” Momo breathed out as she then was stopping to a black door, reaching to open it and step in.

The two blinked when finding a blonde haired girl and a short dark haired girl sitting near a table, looking frightened and Eijiro placed his hands up to show they weren’t dangerous.

“It’s okay. We’re friends…w-we were sent by Ladybug. Are you…Aurore-san?”

“—And Mirielle-san?” Momo added.

Aurore and Mireille blinked as they both nodded, making Eijiro and Momo relieved.

“Ladybug is looking for us?” Mirielle asked.

“Well, technically she and some others are hoping you’d help join the fight against the forces of evil. But, you don’t have to if you don’t think you can.” Eijiro assured as Momo was holding out the Ox and Goat Miraculous.

“Aurore Beauréal. Mireille Caquet. We need your help.”

Naomasa Tsukauchi was stepping into his office when he saw a bright light, blinking in surprise before getting into gear. He rushed over to the room where he had left the poor French girls in, and once he arrived, the room was empty.

“Wha—?”

A laugh echoed behind him and the detective turned his head to see Crawler grinning at him.

“Looks like someone swiped up your guests. Wonder who~?”

“Crawler!”

The vigilante shrugged, Crawler walking over to the room and then spotted what seems to be a piece of paper with writing on it. Picking it up, he read it quietly, then laughed as he placed a hand over his face, making Tsukauchi look at him weirdly.

“What? What is it?”

Crawler shook his head, a sharp grin stretching on his face, “Looks like things are going to get interesting~”

‘She’s quicker than I imagined.’

Tsukuyomi growled as he was dodging Slice’s sharp hair extensions from hitting him along with her knives being thrown at him, Uncanny Valley and Sparrow aiding him to taking her down. The Jet Black Hero looked around, seeing his allies having their own battles going on. The Ghost Force already taking down the Mummy fellow, Deku and Bakugo were already having difficulty taking Nine down along with Ladybug and Chat Noir taking down Techlonizer as well. While the Pros and other Miraculous heroes were trying to help out, many Nomus ended up randomly popping out, making things quite difficult.

Which left himself with his two teammates to take down the red haired villainess.

‘I need an opening!’

“THIS IS PATHETIC!” Slice shouted with an evil grin, but yelped when Sparrow used their birdarangs at her.

“UNCANNY! NOW!”

The robotic girl flew above and raised her hand, shooting a laser beam at Slice, slicing bits of her hair completely.

“THIS IS IT!” Tsukuyomi yelled, about to use Dark Shadow’s abilities until he saw that Slice did not appreciate her long luscious hair being cut off.

Rage built in her eyes as she crazily started shooting spikes of her hair at them like needles, “HOW DARE YOU!”

Sparrow dodged the flying projectiles with ease, bringing their skateboard down to ride away from it while Uncanny flew in the air. Unfortunately, a few embedded themselves onto Uncanny’s legs, making her yell out as she suddenly fell into an alleyway, crashing.

“AEON!”

Sparrow was quick to rush to check on her, seeing how the robot like girl powered down, showing the very hurt Aeon. Removing her mask, Jess reached over to check on her sister, the voice changer on the ground.

“Aeon, no, please…”

Tsukuyomi was frozen on the spot, anger boiling in him but then blinked when he felt warmth in his cloak. Quickly, the bird headed hero took out the necklace that he had taken from the museum and saw the object glow. Lo and behold, a bird like creature appeared before him.

“Hello, my little fledging~! My name is Liiri, the Kwami of Freedom!“ They introduced happily, tilting their head and winked, “All you have to say is: Liiri, Wings of Liberty!“

Nodding his head, Tsukuyomi placed the talon necklace around his neck and shouted, “Liiri! WINGS OF LIBERTY!”

In a flash, Tsukuyomi felt the sensation of his clothes changing, and power surging into him, surprising not just Jess and Aeon, but it sent fear onto Slice as well.

“No…w-what is this?”

A new hero stood in Eagle like garbs, the Miraculous holder looking down at his gloved his hands before looking to Slice.

“I am Spilornis. And you shall be brought to justice!” The new Eagle Hero spoke in a powerful and deep voice, already bringing his fingers locked together and clothes his eyes, a golden feather floated in front of him, “Liberation.”

Suddenly, a scream escaped Slice for a moment as her body was glowing gold after the feather flew and landed over her heart, embedding into her. But after a minute, the light died down from her body and soon she fell forward with a thump.

“Wha…?” Jess stood up and helped Aeon up as well, watching how Slice was unconscious on the ground and twitching, “What just happened? What did you do?”

“Liberation does not work with those that would reject it.”

Suddenly, Liiri appeared on Spilornis’ shoulder, shocking all three teen heroes, although the Eagle Hero blinked slowly.

“What…how are you here?”

“Aren’t Kwamis usually, like, stuck in the user’s suit?” Jess added, as Liiri cackled softly.

“It would seem thanks to your quirk, little fledging, your Dark Shadow allowed me to appear before you and talk with you. Quite rare and useful, if I do say so~”

Spilornis hummed, looking at Slice’s body, “She…rejected Liberation?”

“Indeed. For you see, once the feather is inside the target’s body, whoever is the Eagle Miraculous holder can free the recipient from any mental or emotional restriction of their choosing that prevents the recipient from reaching their full potential, such as a code of ethics, a vow to not do something, or the fear of the destructive potential of one's own power.”

“So by rejecting it…?”

“Her will to not be taken over by Liberation adjusted the spell into knocking her out for a good while.”

“So she rather just be a bad person than to be good? That’s messed up,” Jess huffed and Spilornis looked at her, then at Aeon.

“Aeon-san?”

“I-I am alright…” She hummed and looked down at her leg that had the piercings from Slice’s locks, frowning, “But I thought my robotic shell would prevent me from being hurt…I…should not be even hurt?”

Jess winced, then saw how Spilornis was looking at her and sighed, “Aeon…t-there’s something I gotta tell you. That maybe our moms should have told you—”

“DIIIIIIIIIIE!”

Bakugo yelled as he was aiming his explosives towards Nine, Deku jumping over him to deliver his Delaware Smash towards the villain but the two were soon pushed back by two blue water dragons, making them crash into a building before them.

“We should assist them!” Spilornis told the two, Jess nodding as she was soon placing her hood and mask on, forgetting about her voice changer while she soon easily carried Aeon in her arms.

“I’ll take Aeon somewhere to safety. You go ahead,” Sparrow said and with the help of her skateboard, the two soon made their escape, and the Eagle Hero rushed to help his friends.

Ladybug looked up from fighting Techlonizer and her eyes widened at the sight of Deku and Bakugo and looked towards Chat Noir along with Hitoshi,The New Tiger Heroine: Rayures and The New Peacock Hero: Avarius.

“Guys, we need to take Techlonizer down NOW!”

Ladybug soon made a run, Carapace ducking and bringing his shield up above him, providing as a spring board and pushed Ladybug to jump high above the akumatized villain. Raising for a kick, Ladybug dived down to Techlonizer, knowing that he has to block, Hitoshi following at her side to use his capture weapon to tie his metal arms.

“RAYURES, NOW!”

“CLOUT!” The Tiger Heroine yelled, sliding towards Techlonizer and aimed for his chest, punching him into the sky.

Shinso was quick to use his capture weapon once he was coming down, and tying him up.

“CATACLYSM!” Chat Noir yelled, jumping over her to destroy his cuffs, watching it disintegrate and a LARGE dark butterfly flew out of it, trying to escape.

Carapace was soon using his shield to trap them in, looking over to also see that some escaped but the Ghost Force managed to corner them with their own powers.

“No more evil doing for you, akumas!” Ladybug shouted, already spinning her yo-yo and quickly grabbed all the akumas together, and purifying them.

“Ladybug! Here too!”

Star Stallion had opened a portal as Thunderbird was poking his head in, but managed to duck when a frozen looking Chimera being thrown to the ground. Stepping out, Pixie Girl, The Sorcerer, Queen Bee, Shoto and a blonde pig themed heroine stepped out.

“The akuma?” Ladybug asked, but blinked when the Pig Heroine stepped forward, already holding out what seems to be a large gift-wrapped box.

“They are all in here, um, L-Ladybug.”

Ladybug stared at her for a moment, tentatively taking the box and actually observing her, “And what is your name?”

“Mangalica Majesty.”

“Huh, what a name…” Ladybug hummed before opening the box and was prepared for the huge akuma, the Miraculous Team already on breaking it apart to tiny ones, and Ladybug cleansing all of them.

“Bug! Bakugo and Deku!” Chat Noir interrupted, pointing up to Nine pinning his sapphire stoned dragons onto the heroes, “We gotta help them!”

“Everyone, help the other heroes with the Nomus. Chat, let’s go.”

The cat hero nodded, as the two then raced to reach their friends.

“It’s you and me now, Chaton!” Ladybug looked over at her partner, who nodded.

“You and me against the world once more. Let’s save our friends!”

The two then froze in their steps, feeling a sudden surge of something go from their heads to the very soles of their feet. Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other for a moment, before looking up when everything was suddenly dead silence. As if the world has stopped around them. Shaking their heads, the two rushed towards Bakugo and Deku, jumping up to them and landing on top of the dragons’ heads.

“Hold on! We’re getting you out!” Chat Noir yelled, already trying to pry the dragon’s mouth to open and release Deku.

Ladybug was already next to Bakugo, when she heard him murmur. Squinting at him, she learned closer to hear what he was saying.

“…Won’t…lose…”

“Huh? What are you saying now?”

The blond growled in annoyance, as he looked up at him, “..I…won’t…lose…”

Chat looked over at them before looking down at Deku, “So? Any other tricks up your sleeve?”

Deku gave a small grin, as he laughed weakly, “…Just one. But d-do you trust me?”

Chat Noir blinked, but nodded his head, “Course. After all we’ve been through so far…”

Deku looked over at Ladybug and Bakugo now, coughing out their names, which made them look over at him questionably.

“Ladybug…Kacchan….I-I…I have a crazy…idea…”

Bakugo was quiet as Ladybug looked confused.

“There’s…only one way…to defeat Nine…”

Something in Bakugo’s eyes clicked at that moment, and Ladybug looked between them.

“What? W-what is it?”

Deku held out his hand to them, desperation and hope in his eyes. Ladybug still didn’t understand what was going through the green headed hero’s head, but she figured Bakugo could understand what were his intentions judging the way he was reaching out. She looked down at the Lucky Charm in her hand that she had summoned a while ago…which happened to be tablet. The very same one she uses that contained the copy of the Grimoire.

Marinette looked surprised at Master Fu using her phone to picture each page of the Grimoire and sending it to what seems to be a personal Ladybug Tablet.

“So…what was the reason of doing this?” She asked as she observed him, the Master smiling mysteriously.

“One of these days I shall be gone. Which means that before then, you’ll need to study up on the Grimoire in your spare time before I shall pass it down to you and the other Guardians.” He explained.

Adrien, who was next to Marinette as he was flipping his own copy in his Chat Noir tablet, made an ‘ooh~’ sound as he pointed something on screen, “No way~? We can actually give energy to people? Like a power boost?”

“Only the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous can. As the two that are set to be the balance of the universe, they are indeed powerful enough to give strong, natural energy. Almost life energy,” Fu hummed, as he looked solemn, “I believe some theorise that this was one of the reasons that quirks were created in this day and age. That some previous holders of the Ladybug and Cat had unified with each other to give birth to the dawn of humans having powers of their own.”

“So…does it count as a wish? Making quirks exist, I mean?” Marinette asked, as Fu shrugged.

“Who knows? But I believe that you can give power to those that need it without wishing for it. But that is the choice of the Ladybug and Cat to decide…but it comes with a lot of consequences, of course.”

Ladybug hummed as she looked at Chat Noir, as she gave a look. Somehow, Chat Noir understood with that one look, nodding his head.

Deku blinked as he felt Chat Noir place his hands onto his head, looking up at him for a moment to see what he was doing. The feline hero closed his eyes, something about his aura felt…light. Almost as if he was mustering up some sort of feeling. It made Deku’s insides swell.

Ladybug was doing the same, as she had placed her hands onto Bakugo’s spiky hair, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

A pink like glow formed around Ladybug, growing brighter and brighter as Chat Noir was the same, only the light shining off of him was green. This made both Bakugo and Deku look at each other, before once more reaching out to each other. The finger tip of Deku’s almost touched Bakugo’s that had a bloody cut, almost grazing each other’s hands before quickly grabbing a full hold.

Thunderbird's eyes glowed for a moment as his head tilted.

He saw lines of green and orange strings around not just Bakugo and Deku…but around Ladybug and Chat Noir as well.

Comments and Love are appreciated~ See you in the final chapter of this New York Arc. Because after this, it's the main plot again~

- Riri-Chan

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bnha #mha #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #fanfiction #fanfic #crossover fanfic #crossover fanfiction #AU #crossover #quirks and miracles #Q&M #miraculous: tales of ladybug & cat noir

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thebrainrotsreal · 9 months ago

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NO ITS ALL GOODIE!! It was getting super duper long. AND PLEASE TAG ME ABOUT ANYTHING IN THIS AU I FUCKING LOVE IT AND LOVE DISCUSSING AND DEVELOPING IT FURTHER. I am so sorry I am going to make this long because I am a prof yapper and forever incredibly excited.

so basically they'll stay the same size for about 500 years. this is what nolan meant when he said mark would suffer…

IM CRYING SJDDKSJDSK they will this make the other’s problem or die trying. Yelling at each other to shrink. Threatening to collapse the other’s spine.

ALSO WASP KNOWING SO MANY TINY DETAILS ABOUT MARK BECAUSE HIS HATER GAME IS THAT STRONG IS KILLING ME SJDKSDK. They’re so unbelievably petty. Plus the image of Mark having to handle any/all reports because Wasp would rather bite a bitch than talk to inferior beings? Yes. Wasp simply isn't allowed.

also the petty hovering and instant competition... im crying.

WASP DOES NOT GIVE A FLYING FUCK (pun intended), he WILL NOT touch the ground. Mark considers putting weights in his shoes just to be annoying so he won't HOVER in school. Wasp takes them out of his shoes and throws them at Mark’s head. He is trapped in this dimension and no one can make this mf stay on the ground. Gnawing at the bars of this dimensional prison.

He KNOWS Mark won’t hover while Civilian Form but if he gets Mark to do it, he “wins” in making Mark embrace his more Viltramite half. Mark socks him in the throat instead.

they do not expect invincible to just fucking bite him after 8 of those comments

SDJSKDJKS EXACTLY. I think at a certain point Mark’s brain shuts off from having to deal with Wasp for more than 5 minutes at Max before he just goes back to their language of violence. He forgets the cameras and just CHOMPS.

The way public perception of Mark is changing BECAUSE of Wasp b/c Mark is cocky with villains with taunts, but IS helpful, and on the rare moments he CAN talk to civilians, he’s got a slightly nervous smile (or let's be real exhausted), but let Wasp enter the picture and again, twin terrors of heroism. Fucking Confirmed Biter. Mark hasn’t even bitten any VILLAINS (yet), it’s JUST WASP.

Also Mark saving some kid’s life from getting slaughtered because he keeps asking Wasp questions?? DJKJKFD. Mark is trying to be polite but he just ends up yelling "RUN" while Wasp goes fucking feral.

it goes from throwing cars, to throwing real life dinosaurs (mark doesn't want to talk about it) (wasp absolutely does)

Wasp just whispering, “stegosaurus” and Mark looks instantly furious. Wasp wears a Dino shirt, grinning wickedly. Mark won’t elaborate or explain why he looks like someone just pissed in his cereal. Every time Wasp tries he gets thrown out the window. Rudy is practically shaking with curiosity, and Rex drags him away for his own safety. "But-" "NO." "BUT-" "I am not explaining to your little girlfriend you died because you're just THAT nosy-"

and wasp. cries (compliment him saving somebody)

AJSKJDKS. Literally one of the best ways to get at Wasp is this. Mf looks ready to CRY on the SPOT. Haunted. Heavily considers risking the painful noise just to kill someone and even the odds. Get his hands bloody and to “wash” away that hideous sense of Doing Right Thing.

Mark fucking grins so awfully wide when he hears about Wasp saving someone too. He’s not letting this go for YEARS. Wasp tries to strangle him right than there, Mark laughs is hard he almost consciousness.

or uh. they try. sometimes they'll start fighting each other too so it's less of a 1 v 2 fight and more of a… 1v1 V another 1 fight lol

Okay but that’s also so fucking funny, the Wasp will kick Mark to the moon for TRYING to battle the bad guy Wasp already called dibs on and it makes the bad guy SWEAT because,,, “wasn’t that,, your hero friend??” And Wasp just turns back with Murder on his eyes before getting slammed into the ocean by Mark. Some bad guys just try to flee at this point because if they do that to EACHH OTHER what are they going to do to YOU? Anyways it’s a 30/70 chance for good cooperation that slowly increases as they bond.

Wasp still does the whole grabbing the bad guy by the ankle and refuses to give it to the day he dies. Menace until the grave.

unless it's to like. bring the other to their side

Mark “I NEED you have a chance to improve because that means I do, that if I ever went that far I could claw my way back, that I can STAY kind”, VS Wasp “I NEED you to submit to the need for violence, the hunger for battle, the parts you neglect and shame because I CAN’T be you, you disgust me, you weaken yourself for inferiors, you CARE, I WORKED to be this, and I DESPISE I can unravel into YOU” . Mark and Wasp "This is me at my WEAKEST." Mark and Wasp hating each other because they hate what they could be, my beloved. Mark and Wasp loathing themselves. Looking away from the mirror because the glimpse is burning, a wretched horrid thing to endure.

it's easy to start viewing them as two separate beings, but they're really. not. they're evenly matched in everything. this is why wasp likes fighting mark. this is why mark doesn't like fighting wasp

Okay I know what I’m drawing damn the imagery is fantastic, wasp's “I knew you had it in you” DAMNNNN.

But Mark? Bro is operating on hard mode, he holds back, he tries to make sure people are safe, he doesn’t have training, he has to be careful, bo is exhausted always and WANTS a fight to just fucking END. Wasp will drag a good fight out for YEARS if he could.

Also thinking about the twisted sense of nostalgia Wasp gets when he actually gets injuried in battles, when he can lose himself in the fear/excitement/adrenaline, he got good enough injuries got less and less likely back in his dimension. Now it's just scaring the people who are as tough as paper.

not all the memories from it can be bad, right?

Wasp keeping the good memories close to his chest and only dishing them out to mock mark or win an argument, because it's what he cherishes at the end of the day. It's still his. And there'ss still this version of himself who FEARS and REJECTS IT.

Wasp thinking about his Dad when he had his first kill. Nolan who soothed all his worries and his guilt. Who told him how proud he is and getting ice cream after. Nolan teaching him out to fight. How to kill. How to win. How to bury the guilt. Wasp “how could you ever make me want to hate him?” Vs Mark “How could you do anything but?" (Lies, Mark still misses Nolan. They both do.)

But if Mark ever looks at Wasp with pity (ESPECIALLY if he ever shared these memories), Wasp will try to fucking kill him right then and there. Genuinely end his life.

"your handwriting sucks, don't hold the pencil like that" etc etc etc

What makes it even better is THEYRE THE SAME PERSON. THEY DO IT THE EXACT SAME WAY SDJKF

alternate version: gasoline gets them drunk

Im crying. The image of Debbie coming home to fucking Wasp and Mark SOBBING and smelling like gasoline and just like "???" She asks if they’re okay and they just burst into tears again. They’re punching each other while they do it, but it’s with like 0 strength.

It would fucking all me if they’re both sad drunks so it’s just two sad self hating idiots that can cry over literally anything in sight.

“I hate you” “I know… I hate you too” “I know” they kick each other and fall off the couch. They forget they can fly and lay there for half an hour until one of them shoves each other again and they float against the ceiling like a balloon.

"I love flying" "you're copying me." "i am you." "no. only me. you're like some.. stupid copy." "no YOU'RE the copy. fucking evil." "fucking pussy." this goes on for hours in loops.

also WIPS VIA UR LOVELY IDEASSSSSSSS.

@thebrainrotsreal HEY SORRY FOR TAGGING(? PINGING(? U, ITS ABOUT THE AU. I DIDN'T WANT TO MAKE THE OTHER POST THAT LONG LMAO

FLYING BEING NATURAL TO VILTRUMITES MY BELOVED

ASJDAJSD MARK TRYING TO GET AWAY W SLIGHTLY HOVERING(? IN A WAY THAT IS BARELY NOTICEABLE TO ANYONE BUT HE CAN'T DO IT WHILE HE WALKS BC HE JUST, DEFAULTS TO ACTUAL FLYING

mark and wasp are the same height, and they hate it almost as much as they hate each other. even if wasp is older than mark (read somewhere he could be 20, not sure tho), he'd still look 17 bc of the weird viltrumite aging thing

so basically they'll stay the same size for about 500 years. this is what nolan meant when he said mark would suffer...

ANYWAY. That thing abt them wanting to be taller than the other made me laugh and reminded me of a shadowpeach hc i posted on 2022(? LMAO

gonna use the same hc w them too

so. they're out as invincible (they still haven't decided on a name yet. wasp says he's stronger and therefore should be called invincible, but mark points out that he's the one in charge and also that this dimension is his. mark gets to keep it. they're still arguing about what to name wasp) ("why don't you just go by "vincible"?" "no.")

mark is talking to some gda agent or a cop or smth, when he notices that wasp (who is looking at the sky w the most bored expression he can muster, bc he genuinely doesn't understand why they have to talk to such inferior beings) seems to be just, a few milimeters taller than him (he may be shit at schoolwork, but if you hate someone enough you can notice the smallest details about them)

he, w/o stopping the conversation, answers to this by floating just a little higher, barely noticeable to the human eye

ofc, i said "human" eye

wasp notices. he flies higher

mark flies higher too

eventually he's screaming instead of talking bc of how far down the cop is

wasp laughs. now mark is screaming at him

they fight

ALSO WASP REFUSING TO STOP FLOATING AS A CIVILLAIN IS SO FUNNY AJDSHFASJ, IMAGINE THE AMOUNT OF TROUBLE HE'LL GET MARK INTO

PLS. THEM TRYING TO GNAW THEIR ARMS OFF BC THEY HATE BEING NEAR EACH OTHER SM ASJFHADJFH

most normal ppl r used to mark working alone as invincible. so since wasp really doesn't do interviews and he's usually too fast to see when he fights, no one really knows what his name even is

and everyone is used to invincible being. well. invincible. sure, the news say that when he's around this guy he gets a little meaner, but it can't be that bad!

it is that bad

wasp says smth mean n sarcastic. everyone expects invincible to answer w something equally sarcastic, but not as mean (maybe making fun of how his suit looks). they do not expect invincible to just fucking bite him after 8 of those comments

wasp keeps trying to kill This One Kid, who is either super brave or super stupid and won't stop asking him questions (they go from "what's your name?" to "what underwear do you have? do you even need underwear?" in a matter of seconds) for his weird school diary thingy

he can't get close, bc mark starts pulling the other way. besides, they're stuck together, and killing people would seem awfully annoying if it's with this guy

they can't punch each other, so wasp bites him. they bite each other a lot bc of the "no punching (or kicking)" thing

"Wasp throws a car at Mark which Mark instinctively swats away and then goes flying after it to prevent it from slamming into a building. Wasp cackles so hard it gets hit by a laser beam to the throat by some other bad guy." ASJDSAJDHDSJFAH YES THAT'S SO FUNNY

they mess w each other sm

it's funny bc they do the same things to annoy each other (wasp throwing a car at mark, mark hitting him with a tree, etc) , but lose their shit when the other does it to them

they're basically this:

mark, sleep deprived, flies straight into a lamp post

wasp laughs at him. he actually laughs so hard he runs into the same lamp post

there are a lot of compilations on youtube that is just them laughing at each other mid fight and running into things or being hit w stuff the other throws at them

they grow more wild every time

it goes from throwing cars, to throwing real life dinosaurs (mark doesn't want to talk about it) (wasp absolutely does)

"Cecil remarks Mark handled something well and he looks like Cecil just told him his entire family got slaughtered."

THISSS

"you did well today. hella efficient, quick and straight to the point. who taught you that?"

mark: D:

and also,

"oh, wow. you saved an entire family and their cat from a villain that wanted to turn them into zombies while mark was off fighting the bad guys? that's great!"

and wasp. cries

"oh no, no, you think I'm gonna help you?" THIS TISHTISHTSIHIST

this really feels like smth he'd say in canon. he'd say it w a smile, half-shocked half just pretending out of amusement

he'd laugh too

it's the same type of cocky tone of voice sinister mark/wasp used when teasing angstrom

"I gotta imagine if they tackle things separately, they are also allowing each other to do they want and like to do?" YEAH!!

it's hard 'cause wasp always wants to take the bad guys on alone, but mark also likes to fight (just not w the same brutality) and he doesn't want to be just a lifeguard

it takes wasp a while (a LONG while) to stop tackling mark when he's about to attack to get to the enemy himself, or to kick mark into the next country, etc etc etc

but eventually they settle on mark getting everyone to safety while wasp stalls the bad guy. then, after he's sure no one's here anymore, they both fight the villain together

or uh. they try. sometimes they'll start fighting each other too so it's less of a 1 v 2 fight and more of a... 1v1 V another 1 fight lol

"Mark's own reaction that truly confirms it to be true"

he gets the episode 8 levels of anger and anguish

HE'S JUST SO MAD

wasp is talking shit on tv and he just loses it

he immediatly flies off and tackles wasp into fucking space

i mean, they do say that actions say more than words, right?

mark is usually making the typical superhero noises when he's fighting, but now? he's just focusing all of his anger into This One Motherfucker

wasp loves it

it's a "see? i knew you had it in you!" type of moment

he's been longing for a real fight for a WHILE

they don't kill each other but it comes close

see, the things is. they are the same person. it's easy to start viewing them as two separate beings, but they're really. not

they're evenly matched in everything

this is why wasp likes fighting mark

this is why mark doesn't like fighting wasp (never ending battles are boring to him) ( he likes to win more than to fight. i mean it's not like he enjoys getting beat up)

we could dive deeper and start talking about the self-destructive tendency these two have to getting beat up. i mean, wasp's idea of a real, actually enjoyable fight is when the other is either able to beat him, or when he can kill ppl. and mark spends sm time out as invincible, neglecting his social life and mental health to the point he quits college, and he gets beat up a lot while doing it. so yeah--

self-destructive tendencies

"-having to confront he sees the exact thing in Wasp to a slightly different degree" i will ALWAYS love making them deal with the constant reminders that they're the same person

they deal w stuff in similar ways but to different degrees and realizing that gives them psychic damage like that magic squirrel in mca so they just preted they don't exist

unless it's to like. bring the other to their side

"you like fighting too. violence is in you, it's part of you. you're always covered in blood. all that's left, would be your hands" VS "you're me, and i'm you. we have similar thoughts, and that means i- y'know. but it means you are, too. you have a chance. and get that blood off you-- you need a shower"

COMICS!! AND!! WASP!!

yeah

HIM HAVING TO CONFRONT THE FACT THAT THE DESTROYING OF HIS WORLD HURT HIM TOO

because it is, in a way, his world too

he grew up in it. raised differently, yes, but still on earth

he was always different from the rest, getting his powers at an early age and all, but it's still the place he grew up in

not all the memories from it can be bad, right?

ANDDDDD... wasp reminding ppl of how strong he is regularly

"i could pull out your spine in a second." he says that out of nowhere, in a conversation that would've seemed normal to literally anyone else. he says it like it's nothing much. "i could kill you." you know he could, but you still wonder

would he? with how he is, with his inability to escape --- would he?

also he has fun when he watches the color drain from their faces

"Rudy has psychological profiles on all his friends he regularly updates like a diary, and he has one for himself too." NO BUT THIS IS SO IN CHARACTER FOR HIM

wasp talks shit about mark to anyone avaliable and rudy is no exception. even tho he finds him deeply annoying

honestly wasp is capable of doing p much anything to mess with mark

HE JST WOULD

the self-hatred is strong with this one too master!!! (sw ref again lol)

ASDJASJDSJAD THE BETTING POOL

wasp saying mark breathes annoyingly is such a sibling thing tho. "why are you chewing like that" "stop biting your stupid fork" "the way you cut your food is so weird" "your handwriting sucks, don't hold the pencil like that" etc etc etc

ANDD "he knew what wasp was going to say" DUDE YES??

he's talking and he gets. a feeling. and he turns to wasp, who is opening his mouth, and says "don't you fucking dare"

same w wasp. mark is annoying little shit too sometimes, he's also a teenager. so he infuriates wasp too

mark calls him a hypocrite

THE TWIN TERRORS OF HEROISM I CAN'T

imagine if ppl actually start calling them that tho

one day wasp calls mark to their? his? room and is like, "holy shit look at this" and shows him their? his computer

mark doesn't understand, until he sees the title and image of the video

"the twin terrors of heroism, terrorizing the terrorists once again" and its a picture of them kicking ass

"twin terrors of-- oh, come on, really?" "yes" "they couldnt have at least called us the invincibles or something?" "that'd be even worse" "...alright, i'll give you that" "..." "...." "they think we're like the fucking mauler twins" "oh you have got to be--"

ALSO this is so funny, them being like "mark/wasp" when they show up hurt or smth. everyone just learning to accept it. i mean what are they going to do. fight against two gods??

AND YES YES YES DO TAG ME IN IT!!!! if i make anything about this au (posts, fics, drawings, u name it) i will tag u too

alcohol doesn't really affect viltrumites i think, but there has got to be something that gets them drunk

nolan could've taught wasp how to make it. if the ingredients are on earth, then he would maybe try to prepare it on mark's earth. mark shows up and sees that he's drunk. he goes "nope" and gets drunk too, maybe on accident maybe not. debbie shows up and sees her two superpowered sons sobbing over a bowl of popcorn

alternate version: gasoline gets them drunk

#get redeemed loser au #I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THIS AU MY BAD I MADE IT SUPER LONG AGAIN DFJKDJFKDF #also the way invincible makes me wanna drawwwwwwwwwww sickeningly delightful finally got an idea for this #fuck hands and fuck mark's hair but i hide them via heavy shadow <- i am a genius #invincible also making me get so good at blood jfkjfkdfd #mark grayson #invincible rotating in my mind #the brainrotsreal's art tag ✧˖°:*♡

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korgidorgi · 2 years ago

Text

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Words: 5,053

Warnings: Angst, cursing, claustrophobia, abandonment

Summary: After a mission gone wrong, your view of the Avangers, your family, has changed.

Oof, i haven't written or posted one of mine in ages. I wrote this a while ago and went back to edit it a bit for you to enjoy.

The mission was supposed to be short and simple, otherwise they wouldn’t have let you go. You’re on the younger side of the avengers. The youngest, actually. You practically grew up with the heroes, Pepper’s adopted child, and technically Tony’s too. There was no keeping you away from all the world saving and violence, but once you were old enough you were trained, and on the rare occasion, allowed on small training missions. You were never exposed to the true nature of missions, so no actual fighting was involved.

This mission’s gone sideways. Everything was going perfectly until some building system malfunctioned. It was too late when the system alarms went off and the building was quickly engulfed in flames. You and your team's priority now is to help evacuate the building. You’ve gotten a lot of people out with the help of Steve and Natasha. All of you have suffered a few burns here and there, nothing to any huge concern. The three of you are outside now, looking back on the burning building. The heat from the fire radiates quite a ways out.

“Rogers, there's more people in there, we need to help them!” You yell over the roar of surging heat.

“Y/N, it's too dangerous, the building is collapsing,” he responds, trying to get the team to safety, “we can’t save everyone.”

“I saw them on the way out, I can get to them and get them out!”

“Y/N, no.” His tone is commanding but holds an exhausted bite. “I’m sorry this is the mission that’s going to make you see this, but you can’t go in there. It’ll kill all of you.”

“We can’t just sit around and let them die! We have to try!” You plead, still staring at the building.

“I’m sorry, we have to fall back.” He steps closer to try to pull you back.

You avoid his grasp, taking off into the building and into the flames. Coughing on the smoke, you hurdle fallen supports and other debris, shouting for the survivors. You hear the muffled yells of the two people you were referring to earlier. You make your way towards their location, dodging falling debris. The building shakes and groans under the damage it's sustaining, causing more materials to fall. The room they're in is blocked by shrapnel; it's the only way in. You try to kick the debris away, desperate to get to them and get them out of here. You slam your foot into it repeatedly, moving it inch by inch until there's enough space to crawl around and reach the people.

“Hey, you’re going to be okay, I’m going to get you out of here.” You reassure them.

You grab a man's hand, pulling him and his buddy with you to send them through the crawl space you created. Just as they make it to the other side, the space collapses in front of you again, sealing you away from them.

“Just go! Continue to the left and you’ll find an exit,” you call to them, “I’ll find a way out, just go before the whole thing comes down!”

All you can do is hope they listened and left to save themselves. You quickly glance around the room for any means of escape. The vents could work, but upon inspection, it's practically crushed. There’s no windows in this room to escape out of, which leaves you trying to get past the debris in the doorway again.

You desperately try to kick and move the hot debris away, but it’s much more stubborn this time. The building gives another unnerving shake, groaning from it's severely weakened supports. More debris breaks off and falls from above, parts of the floor give out as well, leaving gaping holes into many fire filled abysses. You continue to strain yourself, now trying to lift and pull pieces of the building out of your way. The heated material leaves burns on your hands and shoulders and your legs, slowing down your efforts a lot. You stand back a bit to look around again for any other way to escape. You find yourself falling as the floor underneath you gives out. Flames reach out and lick at you as you pass, the heat burning your clothes.

You hit the ground hard. Rolling over, you try to pick yourself up but a new ceiling pushes you back down as it tumbles overhead. You crawl towards the end of it, hoping to beat it before the rest of the building crushes you. Your hopes are crushed as more pieces of the building fall into your path, blocking you from moving anywhere. You can at least look for a place where you hopefully won't get crushed, so you try to pull yourself towards a small nook in the rubble. You pull yourself over, curling up against the corner hoping to wait out the collapse. The building gives one final quake before the rest of it comes tumbling down on top of you.

•••

Your eyes open with a flutter. It's dark and your body hurts. You quickly realize where you are as the stab of the burns begin to take over you. You shuffle your body around and try to push the large hunk of debris off of you. It’s too large and heavy for you to move at all. How deep under the rubble are you? How long were you out? What about Steve? And Natasha? Shit, you’re in so much trouble when you get out of here.

You give it a few minutes, clearing your throat from dust, “Steve! Nat! I’m down here!”

Your throat is scratchy and your voice cracks as you yell for them. You yell for them again.

“Steve! Natasha! Anyone!?” You pound on the rubble above you, “Someone, please help me! I’m right here!”

As time ticks by, your voice soon completely goes, leaving you breathless and voiceless. No one has come to help you at all. It's been a few hours since you came to, you think. Rescue parties take a while sometimes, yeah. And you must be far down, so they’ll come eventually, right?

You eventually pass out again, exhaustion and your wounds taking their toll on you. Your dreams are vivid, multiple of them consisting of you being rescued by various people, only for you to wake up again to the same rubble on top of you. You desperately hope the avengers try their hardest to find you. You hope that Tony would have some of his suits sifting and scanning the rubble for you and any other survivors. If anyone is going to find you, it's Tony. One particular dream you were rescued by some people you don’t know. They didn’t look like medical professionals or rescue volunteers. By now you’re used to being let down, expecting to finally open your eyes to the same rubble.

A light is flashed into your eyes, making you wake. It’s not a dream.

“She’s responding.” A woman says, holding you.

“Great, let's move out. A dead girl is no use to us.” A male voice sounds from outside of your vision.

The woman places her arms under your legs and back, lifting you up with ease. Your head rolls to the side and a wheeze escapes your lungs.

“Don’t worry, you’re going to be okay.” She reassures you.

She carries you away. Bright lights shine across the extensive pile of rubble you were under. The sky is black, a few stars poking through. She makes her way to the back of a van, placing you on a soft material and climbing in next to you. The van starts, quickly rolling away from the scene, and the woman begins addressing your wounds. A liquid pours onto your burns, causing them to sting. You hiss at the sensation, trying to pull away, but she holds you still with a gentle hand. She whispers reassurances, but you fade in and out of focusing, finally passing out once more as she nears the end of addressing your wounds.

•••

You awaken once again, this time, bright fluorescent lights overhead instead of the dark rubble. You scrunch your eyes shut, trying to keep out as much light due to its brightness. You bring your hand up to cover your eyes and an IV needle sticks out of your arm, causing you minor discomfort to your movement.

“Hey, you’re awake.” A soft voice says.

The light turns off, the soft glow of the cabinet lights around the room being the only source of light now.

“Sorry for the bright lights.” She says.

You hear her take a seat next to you and she fiddles with a plastic bag, probably the fluid they’re giving you.

“We found you under the rubble of that building last night. You were pretty far under, but we found you.” She says. “Can you tell me your name?”

Upon trying to speak, your throat betrays you, causing you to begin a coughing fit. It burns from the dust you’d inhaled and the dryness of it. You hack for a while, the irritation refusing to go away. She quietly hands you a glass of water once you’ve settled down a bit. You nearly inhale the water, drinking it all in one go.

“There, take it easy,” she takes the glass from you, “don’t talk until you’re ready to.”

She sets it aside, turning back to you. She watches you as you adjust to the room, glancing around at everything.

“I’m Dr. Shielen, I’ll be monitoring you and taking care of you,” she introduces herself. “You’ve sustained quite a few burns, all of which needed my attention. They should heal fine with time. You’d been under the rubble for quite a while, almost three days. You’re lucky you survived that long.”

You try to speak, your throat straining, “Y-Y/n.” Upon speaking, you erupt into coughing once again, but it settles down much quicker.

“Welcome to The Voiceless, Y/N.”

•••

Three years have passed. The Avengers never came for you, they didn’t even search the rubble of the building. You’d not been released from the new group that had found you soon enough. In your time, you grew to resent the Avengers. You’d connected all the dots. All the missed holidays, all the skipped times, all the avoiding, it’s because you were never important enough for their time. You’d always asked to hang out with them, but they were always busy, brushing you off and sending you away. It didn’t surprise you as much as it should have when you realized they were never going to try to find you. You gave up on the hope that they tried and failed and kept trying. They never came. You couldn’t get in contact with them from the place you are now. These people at least treated you like someone. Like they cared.

You’re now completing your own missions with them. They plan small attacks on large establishments, notorious for mistreating their workers, the public, or the environment. Mini rebellions against the corporations. It costs lives, but it’s a small sacrifice to pay for the end goal. Local police have now involved the FBI, which have chased you from base to base across cities, states, and the country. Your teams wear masks, protecting their identities, and providing a sort of symbol for the group. You’ve kept a close eye on Avenger activity, watching them perform and grow as a team. You watched them deal with Ultron and replace you with Wanda. And suddenly, you wanted their attention.

You found a new motivation, a new goal. You firmly believe in the fair treatment of people, so why not scale up your operations? You spoke with the leaders of your establishment, fighting for larger operations as the band grew and grew over the years. More people joined the cause, more people were willing to fight. You used it to your advantage. More people means you can establish multiple bases in multiple areas, grow the fighting force, and finally take a large stand against the capitalist world.

You were selected for a project, the science division was experimenting with new technologies and ideas. They needed a willing subject to be granted superhuman abilities. The process was extensive and top secret, but they finally finished successfully and began your training. You trained to work with the shadows, and you became their best stealth soldiers. With a new role came a new outfit for missions. You were allowed to choose the design, going for comfort and practicality. You kept the mask, your own design and build.

Soon, you were leading larger scale operations. With your new abilities, high risk tasks were much easier. Your missions now are no different than what you’ve done before, except for the fact that you’ve now got abilities. You don’t use them often, but when you do, you keep it on the down low, not wanting to attract too much attention. Your abilities have earned you the code name Shadow.

Things have gotten slightly out of hand. Your team is falling back, taking heavy fire from security and law enforcement. Your mates are getting desperate.

“Shadow, I know you’d rather not, but we need your abilities.” Your scout says across comms. “We need a way out, all the exits are blocked.”

“On it,” you confirm, “I’ll clear a way to the west side of the building.”

A black smoke begins to emerge from your hands, allowing you to travel in the shadows and get past the opposing forces. You materialize behind them, sending a wave of dark energy across the hall to knock them off balance. Their gunfire turns to you now, but you use your abilities to block their attacks. You send your energy back towards them, taking out their ranks.

“Go, now,” you command, “before they return with more firepower.”

“Thanks, Shadow.”

Your team moves out ahead of you as you give them cover. You shoot back at them with your own weapons, only using your abilities when you begin to get overwhelmed.

“You guys head out, he’s still in the building. I’ll take care of him.” You inform your squad, holding off the building's defenses.

You hear your squad's confirmation before swiftly sending a large wave of energy across the hall, taking everyone down at once. You begin to make your way to the elevator way down the hall. You call it once you arrive, holding your weapon close as you wait for its arrival. Shots are fired upon sight of you, which you quickly return, taking them out. A whole team rounds the corner way down the way. Waving to them playfully, you step into the elevator and select the highest floor. The doors close and the elevator ascends before the team can get to you. The ride up is smooth, except for the sudden power outage. The elevator comes to a stop and the lights flicker before burning out.

“Jesus christ…” You mutter to yourself. “I have to do everything myself, huh?”

You dematerialize, sifting your smoke through the cracks in the doors, traveling up the walls to the top floor. You materialize in the hall, the smoke flowing out around you and creating a dark aura about you. A sudden surge of confidence flows through you, powering each step you take even more than the last. Security is lined up in the halls, leading straight to where you want to be. Your shadows creep outward towards them, snaking around them before dragging them around and taking them out. The smoke chokes them, causing them to fall unconscious.

The doors of the room you want in are thrust open by a wave of your energy, the smoke piling into the room in a thin layer across the floor. It leeches from your fingertips, flowing down and around you. The man in the chair at the desk ahead of you turns to face you.

“Who are you?” He demands.

“Your downfall.”

You raise your arm to give a wave of your hand to get rid of him, but a sudden projectile prevents you from doing so. A shield embeds itself into the wall to your right, stealing your attention away from the corporate leader. You look to the source of the infamous shield.

“Captain America, nice to see you again.” You greet, turning to grab the shield out of the wall.

He prepares himself to catch the shield, expecting you to throw it right back at him.

“Oh, no, I’m not going to hurl this at you,” you reassure, “relax, friend.”

“We are far from friends,” he quips, “who are you?”

“Well, my friends in the field call me Shadow.” You reply, playing with the shield in your hands.

You run your fingers over the scuffs on the metal disk, admiring its form. The scuffling of the corporate leaders movement brings your attention back to him and you wave your hand, sending a small wave of smoke to sit him back down.

“You and I are far from finished, friend.” You warn, not looking away from the shield or the Captain.

“Leave him and I won’t have to hurt you.” The captain warns, balling his fists and lowering his stance.

“Nah, I think it would be fun,” you tut, “going against one of Earth’s mightiest heroes.”

You smirk at the Captain, watching him plan his next move. You keep an eye on him as you proceed to step towards the man in the chair. You watch him straighten in his chair, stiff in his seat.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” he asks.

“I do, which is part of the reason I’m here.” You respond.

“Shadow, step away from him, this is your last warning.” The Captain threatens.

“I don’t think you understand what I’m here to do, or why.” You state, dancing your fingers on his desk. “If you don’t want him dead, then fight me.”

He tenses, watching you closely for your next move. You’re all too relaxed for facing him off.

“Coward.”

Upon hearing the word, he charges you, trying to catch you from the side to get you away from the man in the chair. You gracefully dodge his attack and use his shield to block his next swings.

“Did you bring your friends, Captain?” You tease, dodging another attack.

He continues his assault on you, missing each swing and each kick he throws at you. You continue to dance around the room, narrowly avoiding his attacks and frustrating him more.

“This is fun and all, Cap,” you shrug at him, “but I should probably do what I came here to do.”

The smoke around you thickens, darkening the room and providing the cover you want for your execution. The captain coughs and tries to clear away the smoke around him, but to no avail.

“Widow, I need backup,” you hear him say into his coms.

“Now or never,” you mutter, stepping towards the desk.

Your target tries to stand and run away, but you make sure the shadows hold him in place. The smoke sneaks around his throat, slowly suffocating him.

“W-why me-?” he chokes.

“Because your company is shit. You’re allowing abuse to run rampant in the system. You take advantage of your workers labor, abusing them and stripping them of free will.” You explain, strolling around him and giving a show of your authority. “You know it’s happening, you choose to ignore it and even encourage it. You’re too rich for your own good, and you’re just becoming more greedy. Your time of profiting over people’s suffering is over.”

The breaking of glass makes you turn your head to the source. The Black Widow stands in front of the window she’s just smashed through, ready to charge you.

“Miss Romanoff, I’d suggest you not make a move. This man is already on his death bed. You’d be stopping nothing by engaging.” You warn. “I’d end you too.”

“Save your breath. Let him go.”

“I don’t think I will.” You grit your teeth behind your mask. “Why do you protect a man that profits from his laborers suffering?”

“Enough of this.” She raises her arm to fire a projectile at you.

You dodge it, blocking with Captain America’s shield, but a second one if shot, hitting you and electrifying you. You stumble to the ground, dissipating into shadows to escape her, dropping the shield. She pulls out her gun, ready for your reappearance. You materialize behind her to strike but she beats you, hurling her fist at you. The force of her attack breaks your mask, scattering it across the floor, broken into a few pieces. You stumble back, turning your back to her, and holding a hand to your face. Pulling it away, you see blood on your fingers as it drips from your nose.

“Quite the punch, Romanoff.” You sneer, wiping the blood away.

Before you can look back at her, she has you knocked down and pinned to the floor, ready to take another swing at you. Upon seeing your raised eyebrows and wide eyes, she hesitates, her fist drawn back to knock into you again.

“Natasha, wait--” Steve’s voice rings out.

You use her hesitation to your advantage, dissipating into shadow again and reappearing behind her and to the side once more. You connect your knee with her face, knocking her down. You step towards her, but a blast from across the room knocks you away.

“Kid, I don’t want to hurt you, but you take another step towards Natasha, I won't hesitate.” A new voice enters the scene.

“Good to see you too, Tony,” you greet, standing up, a little unsteady this time.

“Y/N, I need you to stop this. We can talk this out peacefully somewhere else--”

“Talk this out? You’ve got a lot of nerve,” you stalk towards the Man of Iron, black smoke pooling around you and whirling around in your stride.

The telltale whiz of an arrow alerts you to another incoming projectile. You dodge it as it imbeds itself into the wall behind you. Hawkeye then appears, crashing through the window where Natasha first came in. He has his bow drawn at you.

His sudden appearance causes you to react, using your shadows to manifest and pool around the avengers. With a wave of your hand, Hawkeye is dragged off his feet.

“Y/N, stop this! You’re surrounded!” Steve shouts, warily watching the smoke and shadows around.

He straps his shield to his arm, ready for you to target him. Natasha points a gun at you, Tony has his hands up, ready to fire at you. They watch the room fill once more with smoke, quickly limiting their fields of vision. You swiftly make your way to the Widow and Hawkeye, aiming to take out two birds with one stone. You swing at Natasha, the movement alerting Hawkeye. An arrow whizzes by, narrowly missing Natasha and yourself. She manages to slip from your grasp, whirling around and wrapping her legs around your shoulders to bring you down. She instead hits the floor by herself as you materialize into the shadows. A metal arm shoots out, trying to knock you down. You dodge it, nearly running into Captain America’s shield in the process.

A cloud of red clears most of the smoke out of the room, leaving you in the open once more. You growl, drawing your power out again and coating the ground in a dense layer of shadows. You glance around the room, trying to find the new Avenger. You move the smoke around, using it to halt the others in their tracks as it bolts their feet to the floor and wraps around their drawn weapons to prevent them from moving and using them.

With the Avengers frozen, you spin around, eyes scanning the room for her. Your breath grows jagged, your chest heaving in anticipation. Wanda finally flies through the window, red glowing around her hands and throughout her irises.

“We have ourselves a party, I see,” you comment, glaring at the Avengers.

“Let them go, and I won’t hurt you.” Her strong Sokovian accent is present in her voice and she plays with the magic in her hands.

“Make me.” You glare at her, shadows swirling around your feet.

She takes a single step forward and you have your shadows holding her in place too. Her eyes grow wide for a second before she glances down at her feet. You tilt your head, giving her a small smirk as the shadows swirl upward around her as well.

“Y/N, where have you been?” Tony asks, fighting your hold on him.

“Oh, y’know, here, there,” you begin, taking your focus off of the witch in front of you, “grounded by the people who actually rescued me.”

You look around at the Avengers, all of them frozen in your smoke and shadows.

“You know, I was under the rubble for…” you trail off in thought, “what, two days? And no one, no one, even cared to look. I was pleading for you, begging, praying, that you, especially you, Tony, would finally lift the rubble off of me. That big piece that was keeping me from moving, from breathing.”

You examine their features, they’ve still not stood down, ready for you to inevitably snap again.

“Tony, if Steve didn’t look for me, I would have thought you, of all people, would do your damndest to find me,” you frown at him.

“We did--” Tony struggles in the smoke, trying to think of how to calm you down-- “look, can you just relax and we can talk this out. No one has to get hurt.”

“You’re telling me to relax?” You let out a dry chuckle. “I haven't seen you in however long, and the first thing you do is fire at me and then,” you let out another laugh, “tell me to relax.”

“You’re the one trying to murder people.” He shoots back.

You drop your arms to your side before swiping one through your hair, leaning back. You cross your arms over your chest, leaning towards him and glaring at him.

“Fuck. You.”

“Y/N, Steve and I tried to look for you after the building fell. I promise.” Natasha finally speaks. “We tried to find you, we didn’t want to lose you. Tony would have killed us if we came back without you.”

“And yet here you stand…” You snarl.

“I- that’s not what I meant to say,” she tries, “We looked for you, Tony tried scanning for you with Jarvis, we didn’t find you.”

“Two days, Natasha!” You yell, striding over to her. “Two… Days…” You get in her face, staring her in the eyes, breathing heavily. “Tony scanned the rubble…” you run a hand through your hair, taking a few steps away and scoffing once more, “bull… shit. I know how Jarvis works, he’s way more advanced than that, he would have found me!”

“It’s true! We tried to find you! Jarvis tried to find you!” she shouts back, “He just wasn’t strong enough!”

“I should just kill you now,” you mutter, running another hand through your hair.

“Something was blocking the signal, he couldn’t find you.” Tony confirms.

“I guess I just wasn’t important enough for you.” You mutter.

“Y/N…” Steve starts, but you cut him off, raising your hand.

“Y’know,” you begin again, shaking your finger in the air, “I’ve thought about it. Not once has anyone here dropped anything to show me that I was cared for,” your lips quiver, all the pent up anger and resentment beginning to bubble up, “even when I asked for it. You were always too busy with your own shit.”

“Y/N, I’m your father--” Tony begins, immediately getting cut off.

“You were never a dad!” You snap, your sharp voice echoes about the quiet room and the shadows swirl in response to your outburst. “Happy was more of a parent than you and Pepper combined!”

Your nose twitches and your eyebrows knit together, your eyes bore into Tony.

“The people who found me,” you lower your volume, “yeah, they used me for experiments, they beat it into me to be the best soldier thay have, but at least they treated me like they cared. I tried--” you breathe-- “I tried to reach out to you, but I was dragged back in. Soon, I gave up trying to escape and they began to trust me and treat me as one of their own.”

“Y/N, we care about you--” Steve begins, once again being cut off by the swirl of shadows around him.

“Oh, yeah? What do I find when I come back into the field?” You tilt your head in question to Steve, then to Tony. “You replaced me.”

You spin around, looking at everyone, a tight, burning feeling starting in your chest once more. Your nose scrunches and your eyebrows meet again.

“You all replaced me!” You scream, shadows swirling. “You replaced me! With her!” You aggressively point to the witch.

Hot tears blur your vision and you harshly swipe an arm across your face, brushing them away. It doesn’t stop the onslaught of tears that follow.

“You replaced me!” You repeat, wiping your face to keep the tears away. “You replaced me, you replaced me, you replaced me!”

You begin gasping for air as tears run down your face and your neck. You keep repeating it over and over and over. You claw at your chest, pounding on it, wanting the feelings to stop, gritting your teeth and sinking to the floor. The moment your knees hit the floor, the smoke clears, settling and calmly flowing out the window into the breeze. Sobs wrack your body, leaving you a shaking mess on the tile.

A soft hand finds itself under your chin, lifting your head up. The tears change direction, flowing towards your ears and down. You try to blink them away, sniffling. Red hair fills your vision and two arms wrap themselves around you, pulling you into her chest. You calm down enough in her arms to talk.

“I should kill you, you know.” You mutter, staring at the floor behind her.

“But you won't.”

part 2 is out now!!!

#avengers x reader #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #fanfic #fanfiction #avengers fanfiction

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yandere-daydreams · 4 years ago

Note

Pleaseee do anything to do with Izuku and his huge amounts of strength. Like we know hes powerful asf I just want to hear about how this man will get a bit impatient and he uses 1% of his power and you get blown across the room- you finally realize that Izuku is holding back, and he could snap your neck if he really wanted to.

He’s too strong for his own good, isn’t he? And it’d only get worse when he’s a Pro, with the skill set proper hero and none of the self-restraint, especially when it comes to keeping his Darling in line. His methods aren’t exactly encouraging, but if he’s lucky, you’ll be too busy nursing a dozen broken bones to act out.

Title: Strength.

TW: Graphic Violence, Mentions of Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Touching, and Delusional Mindsets.

In his defense, Izuku had never claimed to be a gentle lover.

He wasn’t violent, either, not when you first got together, not when he was still a stuttering, blushing mess who could barely hold your hand without having to hide his face in your shoulder or make up an excuse to let go a little too early. For weeks, every touch was tentative, every kiss preluded by a flurry of nervous questions. By the time he finally calmed down and swallowed his nerves, you’d begun to wonder how he managed to fight villains without asking if they were ‘alright’ every fight minutes. He’d been afraid of hurting you, back then… or, you guess he’d never really been afraid. He’d been aware that he could, and that’d made him anxious, it’d made him hesitant. But, hesitance was a thing that wore off, with experience, and Izuku was good at adjusting. He was adaptive, and you were too relieved your boyfriend could finally put his arm around your waist to notice just how tight his grip could be, from time to time.

That was your mistake, you guess. You should’ve been more attentive.

You should’ve started paying attention when he started leaving bruises.

But, it was too late to regret that now. Izuku wasn’t your boyfriend, anymore, he was your captor, and you weren’t his playful, fragile partner, you were his stubborn, breakable captive, with too much will of your own and not nearly enough love for him. He hadn’t really accepted it, not yet, but that didn’t matter. It hadn’t since the moment he came home, exhausted and irritated and touchy, and since you’d been as reluctant to let him near you as you always were. Every window was locked, the front door serving as the host to half a dozen different deadbolts, but running was second-nature, by now, as was doing anything and everything you could to keep his fingertips from digging into your sides, to keep that monster away from you, even you knew it’d be useless, in the end.

But, there were things you could to do draw out the process, and that was why you were currently in a half-empty cabinet, your knees pulled into your chest and your back pressed against something hard and uneven and jagged. Hiding wasn’t preferable, but you only had so many options, and it was so, so much better than the alternative.

Izuku was never happy with your small shows of rebellion, but today, he seemed more disgruntled than he usually was. Even from across the apartment, you could hear him, his incoherent mumbling filling what little empty space there might’ve been, making it hard to think, making it hard to breathe, making it impossible not to wince when a door slammed or one of his steps was heavier than it should’ve been. You could hear him looking for you, but his search was half-hearted, at best, and he seemed to be caught between the urge to find you quickly, and the temptation to huff and mutter and stomp until you came out on your own, your head bowed and an apology already playing on your tongue. You didn’t know if he liked to feel strong, but you knew he loved it when you felt weak. Weak enough to let him act like your faultless, innocent, valiant hero, anyway.

“Baby,” He called out, finally choosing to be a little more proactive with his attempts to threaten you into submission. “C’mon, (Y/n), you know I didn’t mean to scare you. I was frustrated, I didn’t want to grab you, but you were trying to get away from me, and it’s been such a long day, and…” He trailed off, a heavy sigh following a moment of silence. “You know I’d never hurt you, right? Not unless you forced my hand. I spend all day fighting people who want me dead, I wouldn’t have a reason to make you hate me, too.”

He wouldn’t have a reason to. He doesn’t want to. Not he won’t, not he couldn’t, just that if he did, you’d be the one to blame. He could go one for hours, like that, trying to convince you that this was for your own good, that if there was a better solution, he’d stop at nothing to find it, but you were still the one being kept prisoner in your own home while he was free to do as he pleased, in the outside world. And, if you tried to reason with him, if you tried to explain that you could keep yourself safe from more than just domestic trivialities and boredom, it’d be his hand around your throat, and your lungs would be the ones left to scream. You couldn’t say he wanted to, but he certainly didn’t need to. He’d just rather listen to you gasping for air than speaking your mind, apparently.

“I know you can hear me, angel.” His voice was colder, now, more collected but no less hostile than it had been. You could hear his footsteps getting closer, growing louder as he moved onto the tiled floor of the kitchen. Reflexively, you curled into yourself, doing your best to limit what little sound your breathing created, but if he knew where you were hiding, he didn’t feel the need to put you out of your misery quickly, only going on in that smooth, empathetic tone he was so fond of. “There’s really no reason to be this stubborn. I love you, and you love me, and if you’d just see things from my perspective, you’d know why having someone warm and welcoming to come home to is so important to me.”

There was a slight pause. You stopped breathing completely as he took a step towards your chosen sanctuary.

“Or, maybe you wouldn’t,” He admitted. “You haven’t tried very hard to understand me, not since we moved in together.” Since he kidnapped you. Since you woke up, handcuffed to someone else’s bed while Izuku tried to explain why this was necessary. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you don’t love me at all, anymore.”

Another step. Something came to rest on the counter above you with a quiet thud.

“Honestly, I’m starting to think you’re too much of a brat to know what’s good for you.”

With that, he brought his fist down on the countertop, and you hardly had time to think before you were flinching back, elbow colliding with the cabinet wall and making the smallest, hollowest noise. So minor and so quiet that, for a moment, you thought Izuku might've missed it.

But, he hadn’t.

Izuku was always so observant, when it came to you.

In the space between one second and another, the cabinet door was thrown open, something hot and crushing latching on to your ankle, dragging you out of your hiding place and out onto the freezing, unforgiving floor, putting out on display for your oh-so-dedicated assailant. Izuku’s expression was neutral, devoid of everything but a narrowed gaze and thin, pursed lips, but his vice-grip was more than enough to express his anger, so tight, so oppressive, it felt like your bones might cave in underneath it, collapse into little more than dust and fragments and helplessness. It was awful. It was painful. Already, tears were building up in the corners of your eyes, blurring your vision, making the man above you into little more than a muddled image of tan skin dark eyes and ugly, ugly delusions.

And then, he squeezed.

His free hand came up, his palm pressing against your mouth and stifling your scream, but that did little to soften to blow, to stop something in your ankle from cracking as pressure turned into force, and force turned into fire, racing from your heel to your knee as you tried to kick, tried to writhe, tried to do anything that might lessen the pain. It was pointless. Izuku’s grip was stead-fast, keeping you grounded and forcing you to reach out, instead, your fingers soon tangled in his hair as you pulled at his scalp and pushed at his chest, an effort that only made you feel childish, that only made you feel weak. Yelling wasn’t an option, not when it was all you could do to bite your sobs into whimpers and bury your face in his shirt as you began to cry in earnest, pain and fear turning into something dark and desperate, even if his touch had never done anything to comfort you.

Still, Izuku tried. He didn’t pull you up, didn’t move to help you, but he wrapped an arm around your midriff as you lost the will to struggle and rubbed soft, delicate circles into your side, a gesture you didn’t doubt there’d be bruises for, tomorrow. “I’m sorry, I got carried away,” He started, the words whispered against the crook of your neck. “It’s just…”

There was a light, almost inaudible chuckle.

You wondered if you’d be able to claw his eyes out before he broke your hands.

“Accidents happen, right?”

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sassyduckqueen · 4 years ago

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Miraculous: Rise of Anatis 56

~WARNING!!!~ this chapter contains scene of violence, physical and verbal abuse towards minors, mentions of child abuse and domestic abuse! Please be careful when reading this as it may act as a trigger ~WARNING!!~

So that is Mob Boss. This was a very interesting chapter to write. I got to go into some lore and history in this and there will be references. The ending scene was a little bit inspired by the Crow's final fight scene (you can watch it here). This chapter also marks the end of Issac's arc. He will appear again but he won't be causing Luka trouble anymore and probably won't have a speaking role. If he does speak, it will probably insane ramblings about demons. Anyway, hope you peeps like it :D

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Chapter Fifty-Six: Mob Boss

Marinette frowned as she looked at her phone but no text had come through yet. It had been an hour and a half since Luka had left for the metro. Even if he was going to the Liberty, he should have gotten back and texted her by now. She picked up her phone and dialled his number, putting it to her ear as she paced. She bit her lip as it rang but he didn't pick it up. Instead, it went straight to voicemail, causing her to frown and hang up. She scrolled to the Captain's number and dialed it, putting her phone back to her ear as it rang.

"Hello?" The Captain asked, sounding pretty merry.

"Captain, it's Marinette," She stated, frowning as she heard Jagged in the background.

"Hello, Lass!" The Captain roared happily. "Did Luka get back to the Liberty ok?!"

"That's why I'm calling," She replied, frowning. "I told him to text me when he got back but it's been an hour and a half and he hasn't texted. I tried to call him but it went straight to voicemail. I'm worried..."

"Jagged! We need to get to the Liberty!!" Anarka yelled, making Marinette jump. "We're gonna go look for him and hopefully he'll just be asleep and had forgotten to text,"

"Yeah..." Marinette replied but she had a terrible feeling that it wasn't that he forgot. No matter how tired he had been, he had always made sure to text her first when he got home. It was extremely out of character for Luka not to. He knew she would worry and worried she was. The Captain hung up, causing her to put down her phone and pace around her room. She bit her lip and poked Plagg, who was snoozing on his little bed. He groaned and woke up, ready to tell her off for waking him for his cheese coma but that thought dropped out of his head as soon as he saw her expression.

"Dollface, what's wrong?" He asked, floating over to her as tears filled her eyes.

"It's Luka... I don't think he's ok," She gasped, fear clear in her eyes. "He hasn't texted me to let me know he's home. He always texts to let me know, Plagg and his phone went to voicemail,"

"You don't think he ran away again, do you?" He asked, frowning. He thought Luka had enjoyed the party.

"N-No, he was in a good mood. He enjoyed the party," She gasped, making him frown before her phone vibrated. She hoped it was Luka and looked at it but it was the Captain. She swiped the answer button and held it to her ear. "Did you find him?"

"No, he's not at the Liberty," The Captain gasped, sounding panicked. In the background, she could hear that Jagged and Penny shouting his name. "The gate isn't even locked. It's like he never got here..."

Marinette's eyes widen as a possibility hit her like a ton of bricks. Her phone slipped out of her hand as she realized it was the only plausible reason as to why Luka wouldn't text back, answer his phone or not be on the Liberty. She knew he would text her or answer if she rang, meaning only one thing. He couldn't text or call her. She felt stupid as she should have realized it sooner. She quickly picked up her phone as she heard the captain calling her name.

"C-Captain, call the police," She gasped as Plagg looked at her. "I t-think h-his step father-"

"Oh god," The Captain gasped before she let out an angry growl. "If that son of a bitch has hurt my son, I'm gonna kill him!"

"Captain, stay calm," Marinette ordered as she realized that Hawkmoth might try to take advantage of this situation. "Getting akumatized won't help him,"

"You're right, Lass," She gasped before shouting at Jagged. "Lass, I need to get going to report this to the police so try and get some sleep,"

"R-Right," Marinette replied. She knew she wouldn't sleep until he was found. The Captain said her goodbyes, hanging up before Marinette pocketed her phone and took a deep breathe as Plagg moved over to her as she looked up at him. "We're gonna go find him. Plagg! Claws out!"

She transformed into Lady Noir and climbed out of her skylight. She jumped across the rooftops and searched every part of Paris she could think of, trying to find Luka. Minutes turned to hours as she searched but she couldn't find him. She searched in the Eiffel tower, the sewers and the catacombs. She searched the different parks and his usual hangout places but he wasn't there. Finally, she searched the top of the Grand Paris, hoping that maybe he had gone back there but she knew the truth. Luka was missing and it was her fault. She should have insisted that he stay over at the bakery or she should have walked him back home. As the sun rose, she landed on her balcony and went back through the skylight as she dropped her transformation. Plagg flew over to her and hugged her cheek as tears rolled down her face.

"It's ok, Dollface," He whispered, frowning. "We'll find him,"

~Issac's Warehouse, 1 am~

Tikki and Kaalki carefully followed as Luka's kidnapper carried him inside a warehouse near Paris' airport but far from the main part of the city. They had managed to sneak out the drive there without been seen and had been following since. They hid behind some boxes as the kidnap dropped Luka on the floor as a tall man walked in. He had a cigar in his mouth and was dressed in a fairly nice suit. His hair was mostly black but he had some silver hair from aging. It was gelled back and he had a trimmed beard. His eyes were an ambery brown color and his skin was fairly pale. To a certain degree, he resembled an older, male version of Juleka, making Tikki gasp as she realized who he was. It was Luka's stepfather Issac. He moved Luka's face with his boot before tutting.

"Handcuff his hands behind his back," He ordered, causing his goon to walk over to Luka and handcuff his hands behind his back. Luka groaned as he slowly came round, causing Tikki to gasp quietly as he did. As soon as he was fully awake and saw Issac, he tried to get up and away from him but failed, falling back onto the floor. He looked up at Issac with pure terror in his eyes, making the man smirk. "Hello, Luka,"

"I-Issac..." He gasped as he got up and walked over to him, towering him. "W-what do y-you want?"

"Did I say you could speak?" He asked before backhanding him, causing Luka to fall onto the floor. Issac sneered as he looked down at him. "It seems that you forgot your manners in the time that I've been gone,"

Luka didn't answer.

"First, you bite me and break my friend's nose then you ran away and now you speak out of term," Issac continued as he clicked his fingers. The goon who kidnapped him grabbed Luka's hair and made him sit up as Issac walked in front of him. "Clearly, I'm going to have to teach you a lesson, boy,"

Tikki looked away, causing Kaalki to hold her as Issac slammed his fist into Luka's face, knocking him back to the ground before he began to kick him. Tikki gasped and covered her mouth as she heard a crack. Tears filled her eyes as she wanted nothing more to fly over to him and get him out of there but if she revealed herself, it would endanger Luka more. She and Kaalki held their breath as Issac continued to kick Luka. Tikki let out a small cry as she heard Issac beat him until they both heard a thump, causing him to look over. Luka was curled up on the floor, shaking as Issac fixed his hair, pushing it back as he looked at him with disgust. Issac walked away with his goon, leaving him there. As soon as they were gone, Tikki and Kaalki flew to him, scared for the young hero.

"Luka," Tikki gasped, gently touching his face. He had a large cut on his cheek, a busted lip and his right eyes was swallowed up. She cupped her mouth as she realized he was crying. Kaalki hugged him as well. "It's ok. We're going to get you out of here,"

He didn't argue, just nodded and tried to get but fell back down and cried out. He took a deep breathe as he tried to calm himself.

"I c-can't..." He gasped, trying to look at her. "M-My r-ribs... I t-think he b-broke t-them..."

Tikki went to say something but her and Kaalki gasped as they heard footsteps. Luka whispered to them, telling them to hide. Tikki carefully placed a paw on his cheek before Kaalki and her flew off to the boxes again. Issac's goon came in and dragged Luka over to a pillar near the boxes. He uncuffed his hands before moving them so they were around the pillar, trapping him there. Luka hissed in pain as the man walked off. As soon as he disappeared, Tikki and Kaalki flew back over.

"We'll unlock the handcuffs and you can transform to escape," Tikki gasped as Luka tried to take a deep breathe but they both stopped as they heard footsteps again. Tikki and Kaalki hid behind the pillar as the goon came back in with a chair. He placed it in front of Luka and sat down, causing Tikki to frown. Now Luka couldn't transform. The two kwamis bit their lips as Luka carefully looked up at the goon.

"W-what does he want?" He asked, making the man look at him.

"I don't get paid to ask questions, kid," He replied, making Luka frown. He frowned even more as he heard talking. It sounded like a number of people. He heard a door open and multiple footsteps approaching him. He glanced up and saw Issac had returned with a number of other men. Like him, they were dressed in nice suits and were talking to Issac like they were friends. All of their heart songs were strange and messed up, making Luka feel more uncomfortable then he already did. One of the younger ones glanced over at him and frowned.

"Who's the kid?" He asked, making Issac sigh.

"Jagged Stone's boy and our ticket to more money then we've ever gotten before," Issac smirked, roughly grabbing Luka's hair so he was looking at Issac's friends. Luka hissed and flinched as Issac smirked a little. "Micky, take a photo. I plan to send it his father,"

Micky took out his phone and snapped a photo before Issac let go of his hair and walked back over to Micky. He took the phone and smirked at the picture.

"Good job," He stated, walking away with the phone as he dialed a number. Micky glanced over at Luka, frowning a little.

"What happened to your face, kid?" He asked as Issac spoke on the phone. Luka didn't answer. Micky frowned before looking over at Issac as he came off the phone and walked back over. "Hey, what happened to the kid?"

"I had to rough him up a little as he tried to escape," Issac replied as he typed on his phone before he looked up at Micky. "You got a problem with that?"

"Y-You're lying," Luka gasped before Micky or the other guys could answer, making Issac look at him in surprise. He honestly didn't expect Luka to actually try and talk back. "I d-didn't try to e-escape. You j-just s-started t-to b-beat me a-as-"

Issac growled and backhanded him, cutting him off.

"Did I say you could talk back?!" He growled, roughly grabbing Luka's shirt. Luka gasped in pain as his ribs ached before Issac punched him again before dropping him. He began to kick him again, causing Luka to try and curl up as best as he can. However, Micky and one of the others grabbed Issac and pulled him away. "Get the hell of me!"

"What the hell, Issac?!" Micky gasped as Luka carefully breathed in. "Look, I'm all for beat the crap out of guys but we don't hurt women or kids... and that boy is a kid,"

"That boy is a freak of nature!" Issac shouted, surprising his men and causing Luka to flinch. "And I'm in charge here so what I say goes and I say I can do what the hell I want to that bastard! Got it!?"

The guys nodded fearfully, causing Issac to smirk.

"Good," He stated, clicking his knuckles before turning to the goon who was guarding him. "Jose, I want you to keep an eye on him. I'll be back later. I have a meeting to attend,"

Issac clicked his fingers and pointed towards the door, causing his men to leave before he followed, leaving Luka alone with Jose, who got up and out of sight. Luka frowned and tried to move his hands, seeing if he could free his hands but the handcuffs were too tight. Tikki and Kaalki flew back over and landed on his shoulder.

"Kaalki has a plan," Tikki whispered. "She's going to go and see if we can get help to rescue you,"

"H-Help?" Luka asked quietly. "A-As in Master Fu? T-Tikki, y-you can't... he's t-too old... Issac will hurt hi-him."

"I know which is why we're not going for him," Tikki replied, causing Luka to frown. "Kaalki is going to the miracle box to the other Kwamis,"

"W-what?" Luka gasped, hissing in pain. "Y-you c-can't bring them here..."

"Luka, we have to get you out of here. Issac is dangerous and he is determined to hurt you," She gasped, making him frown. He knew she was right. His song was dark to say the least. In the time since he last saw him as a kid, Issac seemed to have gotten worse. "I'm gonna stay with you while Kaalki goes and gets the others,"

"I'll be as quick as I can, Master Luka," Kaalki gasped, placing her hoove against his cheek as he slowly nodded before she flew out and out of the warehouse.

"Ti-Tikki..." Luka whispered, causing her to look at him but before he could say anything, they heard Jose walking back over. Tikki quickly flew back over to the boxes as Jose came into Luka's line of sight before he sat down and began to read a news paper.

~At The Grand Paris Hotel, 5 am~

Anarka paced up and down as she tried to remain calm. Luka had been missing eight hours now and despite calling the police, she had been told that she couldn't report him missing. She had screamed down the phone at that point and hung up. She had then gone on to phone Roger's personal phone and told him what had happened. Roger had told her to remain calm and he would do what he could. She took another deep breathe as someone knocked on the hotel room door. She walked over and answered it, frowning deeply when she saw it was Bob Roth.

"What the hell do you want?!" She growled, surprising him. He blinked before holding up his phone. To her horror, she saw a photo of Luka. His right eye was closed up, he had a cut on his cheek and a busted lip. Issac was smirking at the camera as he roughly held Luka's hair. The message below it read as 'Bob, let Jagged know I have his son. If he wants to see him again, he needs to pay me five million euros and drop it off at the louvre. He has twelve hours to complete this or he'll never see his son again'. Anarka blinked before she suddenly grabbed Bob by his collar and dragged him into the hotel room. He tried to pull away from her but she punched him, sending him flying on the floor. "Where is Issac keeping him?!"

"I don't know," Bob gasped as she grabbed the phone. "I swear, Anarka, I do-"

"Don't lie to me, you pirate!" She screamed, making him blink as Jagged and Penny rushed into the room. "You know Issac so where would he hold him?! Where is Luka?!"

"Bob?" Jagged asked, looking at him before Anarka shoved the phone in his hand. His eyes widen as he saw the picture and the threat before he looked over at Bob with a dark look that didn't suit him. "Roth, I want you to think very carefully about your next answer because if you know where Luka is and you're keeping it to yourself, I will not hesitate to feed you to Fang. Got it?"

Bob nodded as he looked pale. He had never heard Jagged speak so calmly.

"Good," Jagged replied, still eerily calm. Fang came over. "Now where would Issac hold Luka?"

"H-He has a warehouse near the catacombs," He gasped as he eyed up. "I don't know the exact address but I swear, Jagged... I didn't think anyone would hurt the boy-"

"Shut up," Jagged growled before turning to Penny and Anarka. Penny was already on the phone to the police and Anarka looked like she was about to kill Bob. Jagged was honestly surprised that there were no akumas yet but right now, they didn't care. They couldn't rush to Luka's rescue as they didn't know the address but Penny was telling everything to the police that she was on the phone to. Within an hour, Roger and a number of officers were at the hotel and actually taking the case seriously. They took Bob away for questioning and asked a number of questions to Penny, Jagged and Anarka before promising they would do their best to find him before the deadline. Once they were gone, Jagged held Penny and Anarka as they sat in the hotel room, terrified for Luka.

~Back at Issac's Warehouse~

Luka tried to move to try and get more comfortable as his ribs ached. He glanced up and saw the sun was slowly peaking through the windows, making him frown a little. Jose was still reading his news paper, making Luka frown. He moved his hands a little and glanced back over to Tikki, who was keeping an eye on for the other kwamis. Luka jumped as he heard the door open and Issac came into view. He tapped Jose's arm, making him look at him.

"You can head back now," He stated, causing Jose to nod and get up. He folded up his news paper before walking off, leaving Luka with Issac. He turned to Luka. "I thought we could talk, Luka,"

"Y-You never w-want to t-talk," Luka gasped, causing Issac to look at him as he gave him a nasty smirk. "W-What do yo-you want?"

"Money," Issac replied, walking over to him and crouching down. "And your mother of course. She was the love of my life you know. We dated when we were younger and then she ran off to join the 'circus' so to speak. That's where she met that sinner, Jagged. He seduced her and then she had you..."

He roughly grabbed his hair again, making Luka flinch as he leaned closer to him.

"You should have never been born!" He snarled, making Luka flinch again. "But I guess that couldn't be helped. It wasn't Anarka's fault that she was seduced and I was even willing to look past you been the son of that devil worshipper... until I realized that you were a witch,"

"W-What?" Luka gasped, looking at Issac in surprise. "I'm n-not-"

"Don't answer me back, boy!" Issac roared, causing Luka to flinch again. "I saw you using magic when you were little. You would 'talk' to demons and evil spirits and your mother... bless her... she couldn't see what evil she had given birth too. She tried to say it was just imaginary friends and that you were just a sensitive child but I knew the truth. You're a witch and in league with the devil,"

"Y-You're insane," Luka gasped, causing Issac to punch him. "I-I'm not a witch!"

"Don't lie to me, boy," He growled, standing back up. "I know what you are and I made a promise to myself that I would protect Anarka and my daughter from you. I thought I could beat it out of you and force it out of you through pain. I came close but you used your magic on your mother and forced us to break up,"

"Sh-she left you bec-because you were a p-psycho!" Luka gasped as Issac walked back over to the chair. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and took it off before unbuttoning his sleeves and rolling them up.

"She left because you enchanted her!"

"I-I'm not a witch!"

"Then explain how you woke up from a coma that you shouldn't have woken up from?! Or how you had no brain damage?!" Issac shouted, shocking Luka. He briefly remembered been in hospital for a number of weeks when he was younger but he didn't know he was in a coma. Issac growled and punched Luka before roughly grabbing his shirt again. "You are a witch and you should have stayed in that coma but I'm going put you back there and this time you won't wake up!"

Luka's eye went wide as Issac punched him repeatedly. Tikki cupped her mouth as she tried to look around for something to distract Issac with. She saw a rope and flew over to it before glancing around in luck vision. She pulled on the rope, causing a chain reaction to make a number of boxes fall. Issac stopped attacking Luka and looked up, dropping him back down. Luka's head flopped down as Tikki back to her hiding place before Issac turned back to him.

"What did you do?!" He growled, lifting his head. "Answer me,"

"I... didn't... do... anything," Luka gasped, causing Issac to growl and hit him again before his phone rang. He rolled his eyes and answered it. He frowned and said something. He hung up and walked towards the back of the warehouse. He came a few minutes later with a roll of duct tape. He ripped some off and knelt back down.

"Don't want you to draw any unnecessary attention, don't we?" He stated, pressing the tape over his mouth. "Now we'll have to continue this later so don't go anywhere,"

He smirked and stood up before grabbing his jacket and leaving. Luka tried to look up but he was finding it hard to stay awake. He was in a lot of pain, felt close to collapsing and was more then terrified. Issac had made it clear that he had no intention of letting Luka leave this place alive. He flinched as Tikki flew back over and placed her paw on his cheek, frowning as tears rolled down his face. He was shaking as well, clearly close to having a panic attack.

"I'm getting you out of here," She gasped, flying over to his handcuffs but she stopped when she saw an akuma and an amok fluttering towards him. "Oh no,"

"Hmm?" He tried to say something, making her fly back towards him.

"Luka, whatever you do stay calm," She gasped, making him look at her with a confused look. She decided it was best to warn him. "There's an akuma and an amok,"

Luka's eyes widen, causing Tikki to place her hand on his cheek.

"Just focus on my voice ok?" She stated, making him nod. "Hawkmoth and Mayura only target those who have no solutions but you are Anatis. You always have a solution,"

He nodded and tried to take a breathe but he had to breathe through his nose, which was hard in itself as his nose was busted. He wasn’t sure if it was broken but it hurt trying to breathe. He flinched as the akuma and amok entered his bracelet, opening the connection between him, Hawkmoth and Mayura.

"Escape Artist, I am Hawkmoth," Hawkmoth declared as Luka froze up. "You're trapped and afraid hm? Well, I can give you the power to esca-"

The slightly buzzing noise interrupted his speech but it currently wasn't too loud.

"All I ask in return is-" The buzzing noise got louder. "Miraculous,"

"Escape Artist, I am May-" Mayura declared as the buzzing noise interrupted her as well, getting louder and louder by the second. "I will give you Cell who will assist you in your escape and help you capture others. It will be-"

The buzzing reached a new height, causing his eyes rolled up in the back of his head again. Just like last time, his body began to shake and convulse violently but this time, it was more violent and he was finding it hard to breathe due to the duct tape around his mouth and his busted nose. Tikki flew over and grabbed the tape, pulling it off his mouth as he continued to shake and fit. It only eased up the seizure a little.

"Luka, focus on my voice!" She gasped, feeling afraid too. She gasped as she heard the door to the warehouse opening and hid inside Luka's jacket. She tried to calm him down silently by place her hand on his chest.

"Issac?" Mikey's voice echoed as he came in. She could hear other people walking as well. "Yo, Issac! Are you- oh my god!"

Mikey rushed over and grabbed Luka's shoulders as he continued to convulse. He frowned deeply when he saw the akuma mask around his eyes.

"Shit, John! Keys to the handcuffs now!" He demanded as blood dripped down Luka's noise as the seizure got more violent. Mikey moved his hand behind Luka's head so he didn't hit on the pillar. He was lucky that he hadn’t already. "Kid, can you hear me?!"

John rushed over and unlocked the handcuffs, causing Mikey to move Luka onto the ground and place him in the recovery position. Mikey let out a sigh as he held Luka's head still and tried to keep him calm. He only knew what to do because his sister was epileptic. Who knew that Akumas could trigger seizures?

"What's wrong with him?" John asked, looking at Luka with concern.

"He's having a seizure," Mikey declared, making John frown. "He must be epileptic. Call an am-"

"What the hell is going on?!" Issac roared as he came in. Jose walked behind him. Issac stopped and glanced at Luka with an emotionless look. "Nice try, boy but you can stop pretending now,"

However, Luka continued to shake, making Issac frown. He pushed Mikey away and grabbed Luka by the collar, pulling him up. Luka's eyes were rolled up in his head and he was convulsing. The butterfly mask was clear around his eyes.

"I knew it," He growled, dropping him. "Behold, gentlemen, proof of evil. The boy is possessed,"

"By a fucking akuma!" John gasped, making Jose step back. "We should break the item! It might stop the seizure,"

"He isn't having a seizure!" Issac growled, making them look at him. "It's just the evil inside of him taking a hold!"

"Issac, he's having a fucking seizure!" Mikey gasped, surprised of the lack of empathy from Issac. He may have been a criminal but he had rules that clearly Issac didn't. He took out his phone and dialled 112 but Issac grabbed his phone and threw it on the floor, stamping on it until it broke. "He needs help!"

"As I say before, I'm the boss and I say he doesn't!" Issac yelled, causing his goons to frown as Mikey knelt back down and put Luka back into the recovery position. "Besides, if we alert the authorities, they'll arrest us because in case you have forgotten... we kidnapped him! What do you think they are going to do if they find us?"

"We can't just leave him like this!!" Mikey argued, making Issac frown. "We should break the item with the akuma,"

"And let the akuma go free? Possibly possess someone else?" Issac pointed out, making them frown. "It's not like the bug is around to purify it,"

The men mumbled as he had a point but they also couldn't do anything. It was clear that Luka needed help.

"What if we did it as an anonymous phone call?" John suggested, causing Issac to look at him as the seizure slowly came to a stop. Issac and his men stepped back as the akuma and amok suddenly broke free from the bracelet they had been in. "Did he just reject them?"

Mikey went to answer but to their surprise, the akuma lose it's purple look and turned white and the same happened to the amok, making it into a white feather. Issac blinked as Luka had stopped fitting but was still laid still. His eyes were still rolled up his head but he was still. However, his eyes moved back to their normal position and he suddenly sat up as if nothing had happened. However, his eyes were no longer blue but a beautiful silver color that resembled stars.

"Demon," Issac growled, going to hit Luka but before he could, they heard the sounds of shouting, causing them to look up. Kaalki pointed to them as the other kwamis came in through the window.

"Charge!" Kaalki declared, causing the kwamis to shout and flying towards Issac and his men. Issac tried to hit and attack the kwamis as his men ran away while been chased by them. One of the goons went to call Sass cute until he hissed and bit them, causing him to shout and warn the others not to be deceived by their cuteness. Barkk, Kaalki and Pollen rushed over to Luka as Tikki poked her head out. "We need to go, Master Luka,"

Luka, however, didn't answer. He just simply tilted his head to the side.

"Luka?" Tikki asked, looking up at him. "Are you ok?"

"Tikki, his eyes..." Kaalki gasped, looking at them. Pollen and Barkk gasped as they looked at them. Tikki flew up and looked at them as well, gasping as she did. It was impossible yet there was no mistake in whose eyes they were and they certainly weren’t Luka’s.

"...Finni?" She gasped, surprised. He merely smiled and placed his finger across his lips before he carefully stood up. He hisses quietly, holding onto his ribs before a golden glow came from his cuts. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Kaalki's miraculous before putting them on.

"Kaalki... full gallop," He whispered, transforming into Appalo. He turned his hand as he created a ring of energy. "Voyage,"

It opened a portal out of the warehouse. Luka or Finni as it techqually was turned and whistled loudly, causing the rest of the kwamis to fly over after tormenting his captors. They all stepped through, causing the portal to close but not before Issac shouted and tried to run towards them. The Kwamis looked around as they saw they were now on some rooftop.

~Luka's POV~

Tears rolled down Luka's face as he curled up and covered his ears, trying to push away the sound of the buzzing noise. Like the last time, he had ended up in the same hut that he had met Hao Feng but this time, he was alone. The buzzing sound was louder then ever and he was more scared then before. He thought the first time was terrifying but this time was a hundred times worst. He just wanted it to stop. The sound of footsteps caused Luka to glance up as someone walked over to him. They stopped in front of him and crouched down, gently placing their hand on his shoulder. He looked at them as the buzzing noise calmed down but unlike last time, it didn't go away.

"F-Feng," He gasped, tears in his eyes. "W-Why is this happening?"

"We have always been chased and condemned by those who are darkly influenced," Feng whispered, making Luka frown. "I can't help you today. Not in the same way I did before. The akuma and the amok are stronger together but I can bring you to someone who can,"

Luka nodded as Feng held out his hand, causing the younger to take it. In an instant, Feng had pulled Luka to his feet and led him over to a door. He pushed it open and brought him inside. It was just a separate room and part of the hut but inside there was a pile of ash, making Luka blink in confusion. However, he slowly let go of Feng's hand and walked over to it. His instincts took over as he knelt down and gently touched the ash. To his surprise, it began to glow a golden color before swirling up in the air as it reformed to create a beautiful bird unlike anything Luka had ever seen before. It had orange, yellow and red feathers and had a golden circle on it's forehead. It's wings were multicolored and it had three feathers coming from it's head that were blue, purple and green. They also matched it's tail feathers. The bird's eyes opened, revealing that they were silver like Feng's but in a different way. When looking into them, Luka felt like he was seeing the stars. It was eerie but beautiful at the same time. He slowly reached out, causing the Phoenix to lean it's head forward, placing it against Luka's hand. Luka blinked as it nuzzled his hand a little before looking back at him. He jumped back in surprise as it suddenly disappeared in flames, causing him to look at Feng.

"A Phoenix?" He asked, looking at Feng. "Why did it leave?"

"To help you," Feng replied, walking back over to him. "He will be back once your body is safe,"

"My body?" Luka asked, frowning before he gasped and looked at Feng as he sat down next to him. "I'm having a seizure again, aren't I? Why does that kept on happening to me? Is there something wrong with me, Feng?"

Luka glanced down as he thought about Issac's beliefs about him. Issac believed him to be evil and right now, he was beginning to wonder if he was correct.

"Am... I evil?" He asked, looking up at Feng. "Is Issac right about me?"

"No," Feng stated with certainty. "Luka, your stepfather isn't right about you. You are not evil,"

The way he spoke was bitter, surprising Luka but he didn't question it. Somehow, he knew that Feng understood what it was like to be an outcast. Feng gently placed his hand on Luka's shoulder.

"Your stepfather is like most of his kind. He fears what he doesn't understand and unfortunately, that means he's afraid of you," Feng explained, making Luka frown. "But that is on him. Not you. He chose to be afraid. He could have tried to embrace your differences and gifts like your mother did but instead he refused to try and understand and his ignorance only fueled his fears,"

"You know what it's like, don't you?" It wasn't a question but a statement. Feng frowned and looked to the side.

"Like you, I was born... different..." He stated, frowning. "I saw things that other people did and had visions. I saw spirits as well and I didn't realize that other people didn't so I would talk to them. It caused my village and family to grow afraid of me. I would predict things and they became convinced I was the cause. They feared me and thought I was a demon too but I'm not. I was an empath like you and just happened to have the ability of foresight,"

"You were an empath?" Luka asked, surprised as Feng nodded. "Did you hear songs as well?"

"I admit I'm not quite the same level as you," Feng replied, making Luka frown. Of course, it made sense though. Feng would be more powerful. "You are much more advantaged than I was at your age,"

"What?" Luka asked, surprised. "I am?"

"Yes," Feng nodded. "But I know some ways to using that you don't. For example, you can give the emotions you felt to other people,"

"I can?" Luka asked, completely surprised. "How do I do that?"

"Hold out your hands,""Feng replied, moving so he's facing him. Luka nodded and did as told. Feng placed his hands on his, causing Luka to gasp a flood of emotion waved over him. He could literally feel what Feng felt but then he realized it was more then just feeling. He could feel Feng's experience. He could feel the way Feng pushed his emotions forward. Feng was sharing his experience with him, teaching him how to use the method without instruction. Luka closed his eyes and followed the technique. He took the emotions he felt and in his mind pushed them forward, showing Feng what he felt in return. He could feel a connection between them begin to forge. Well, it felt more like he was repairing a connection between them. However, Feng cut it off, causing Luka to frown and open his eyes. "You're not ready for that yet,"

"But-"

"It will hurt you if you do that right now," Feng replied before standing up and holding out his arm. The Phoenix appeared in a flame and landed on his arm. "Besides, it's time to wake up,"

"What?" Luka gasped before suddenly it went dark. He blinked and looked around in confusement, finding himself on a roof surrounded by kwamis. His ribs still felt sore but not as bad and his other injuries were healed. He looked at Tikki as she floated over to him.

"W-where am I?" He asked, glancing at her. "Tikki? How did I get out of there?"

"Kaalki got you out but are you ok?" She gasped, deciding not to tell him the full story yet. "You had a seizure again and Issac had beaten you. Are your ribs ok?"

She looked at him and blinked in surprise. All of his cuts and bruises had been healed. Luka moved his hands onto his ribs ad pressed them. They felt bruised but no longer broken.

"I'm ok," He stated, making all of the kwamis let out a sigh of relief before they suddenly tackled him, making him smile a little as they hugged him. "Thank you for coming for me. Now let's get you guys home and then me. I'm sure Ma is worried,"

He reached into his pocket and took out his phone, trying to turn it on but found it was dead. He frowned before calling his transformation on and heading towards Master Fu's with the kwamis.

~Hawkmoth's Lair~

Both Hawkmoth and Mayura stared in surprise as their connection to the akuma and amok was completely cut it off. They couldn't even recall them back. Somehow, the Couffaine boy had not only rejected the possession but actually cut off their connection to it. However, it didn't put Hawkmoth off and he could feel a strong emotion he could take advantage of. Issac's anger made him perfect prey for his akuma. He held out his hand, causing a butterfly to flutter over but Mayura placed her hand over his.

"Are you sure you want to akumatize him?" She asked, making him look at her. "He doesn't just dislike the boy. He loathes him and blames him for everything that has gone wrong in his life. What if you can't control him?"

"Don't worry, Mayura," Hawkmoth smirked. "I can simply cause him a lot of pain to get him in order,"

She frowned but let go of his hand, causing the butterfly to land on it. He turned it into an akuma before letting it fly away.

"Fly away, my little akuma and evilize his angered heart," He ordered as it escaped through the window. A few minutes later, the connection between him and Issac opened, causing him to smirk. "Mob Boss, I am Hawkmoth and I'm giving you the power to hunt down Luka Couffaine and prove that he is in fact a force of evil. All I ask in return is for you to take Anatis and Lady Noir's miraculous and bring them to me. Do we have a deal?"

"Let the hunt begin, Hawkmoth,"

~Back to Anatis~

Anatis stopped on a roof and leaned his hands against his leg as he took a breathe. Despite been better then he was, he still felt weak, his ribs ached and he felt ill and warm, like he had a fever. He took a deep breathe and shook his head, jumping back across the roofs. He stopped a few more times but finally, he came to Master Fu's place. He jumped across and landed on the edge of Master Fu's window seal, opening it carefully before climbing inside and turning to the kwamis.

"Alright, you lot... back to the box," He stated, making them nod and head back apart from Kaalki. Wayzz headed in the back to where Master Fu was. He let out a sigh and turned back to the window but his yoyo buzzed, causing him to open it and press on the notification. He almost dropped it as he saw Anarka, Penny and Jagged on the video. The three of them were tied to stakes by the louvre and were surrounded by some sort of mob who were yelling and shouting as Nadja Chamack appeared on screen. Two of the members of mob shoved the mic in her hand and demanded that she report what they wanted her.

"An a-akuma calling himself m-mob boss has taken over the louvre and- ah!" The akuma grabbed the microphone from and roughly backhanded before she was dragged off by the crowd. He turned to the camera, revealing his skeleton face and blazing eyes. He was dressed in a suit with a dark gray trench coat.

"Luka Couffaine!" He growled, making Anatis feel pale. "I know you're watching this so listen up, you brat. If you don't want your father, his bitch and your whore of a mother to burn then come and face me like a real man!"

"I-Issac?" Anatis gasped, feeling sick and fearful. The kwamis looked at each other.

"You have ten minutes or they will burn in your place," He stated before lifting his arms, causing the crowd to yell and chant 'burn!' repeatedly. Anatis shut off the screen before turning back round and swinging towards the Louvre. He landed in an alleyway close to the scene as the kwamis caught up to him. Issac was throwing up his arms, making the audience chant louder. What disturbed Anatis the most was he could see his friends and some family members there. Juleka and Rose were there and so were Marinette's parents. Luckily, Marinette wasn't there but he was concerned as to where she was. Mob Boss turned back to his hostages as the crowd continued to chant. "Time is almost up,"

He roughly grabbed Anarka's chin, causing Anatis to flinch.

"Still think your son isn't evil?" He asked, making her narrow her eyes before he laughed and let go. "Once that brat turns up, I'll be able to get rid of him once and all and finally things will be right again,"

"You laid a hand-"

"One minute!" Mob Boss shouted, causing Anatis to frown.

"Tikki, Spots off," He whispered, making the kwamis gasp. "Stay here,"

"Luka, you can't!" Tikki gasped but he shook his head.

"I can't let him kill them," He gasped, looking at him. "And I can't be certain that he won't burn them if I turn up as Anatis..."

"Luka, this-"

"This is the only way," Luka replied, turning on his heel and running out of the alleyway as the crowd counted down. "Stop!"

Mob Boss moved his arms, silencing them as he smirked evilly.

"Let the witch through!" He shouted, causing the crowd to part. Luka took a deep breathe and began to walk through the crowd. Issac frowned and narrowed his eyes as Luka walked over to him. He roughly grabbed his arm. "Where are they?!"

"Whe-Where are what?"

"The demons you summoned!" He growled, making Luka frown. He must meant the kwamis. However, he apparently took too long to answer, causing Issac to hit him. Jagged, Penny and Anarka shouted out and tried to break free from their binds. "Answer me, boy!"

"I d-didn't summon any demons," Luka gasped, making Mob Boss growled and hit him hard enough to knock him to the floor and bust his lip again. He roughly grabbed his hair, dragging him back.

"You can burn with your father and his bitch," He snarled, going to drag him over to the fourth stake but before he could a baton came flying at him and slammed him in his face, causing him to stumble back as Lady Noir jumped down, causing Mob Boss to growl. He yanked Luka up and wrapped his arm around his neck and placed his other on his head.

"Let him go!" She snarled, beginning to stalk as her eyes glowed a little. Luka couldn't help but feel a little fear of her. He had never seen Lady Noir look so fearsome.

"Move closer and I'll snap his neck," Mob Boss snarled, making her stop. "Now why don't you be a good cat and hand over that ring of yours, sweetheart?"

"Lady Noir, don't!" Luka called out as she actually looked down at her ring. However, Mob Boss suddenly let go of Luka as he swore. Luka blinked and saw his hand was burn, confusing him but Mob Boss charged at him. A crack appeared in the platform as Lady Noir suddenly slammed her hand down onto the platform and summoned her cataclysm. The wood broke from Mob Boss's weight, causing him to fall through it as Lady Noir suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled her to him, causing them to fall and him to land on her, causing a blush to appear over his cheeks. "S-Sorry,"

She didn't answer as she rolled them over and jumped up as Mob Boss climbed back up and threw fire balls towards them, using her baton to block them.

"Get your family free while I distract him!" She ordered before jumping across and attack Mob Boss. Luka rushed over to Penny, Jagged and Anarka before freeing them. Anarka hugged him before pulling away and cupping his face.

"How did you get away? Do you know why his hand got burnt when he touched you?" She asked, worry clear in her eyes. It become stronger as she noticed he was hot to touch. "Luka? What happened? You're burning up,"

"I'm... fine..." He replied as Mob Boss punched Lady Noir and got on top of her, trying to strange her. Luka gasped and rushed over to the pillar, grabbing a plank of wood. He slammed it into Issac's face, causing him to stumble as Jagged and Penny helped Lady Noir up as Luka stumbled back, feeling dizzy. His eyes flicked silver but luckily no one saw it. Lady Noir rushed over to him and picked him up like a bride as Anarka punched Mob Boss before Penny broke a plank of wood over his head again, knocking him down before Jagged kicked him in the first. Luka held onto Lady Noir as she used her baton to propel them away from the scene as the three of them ran off, away from Mob Boss. Once they were a safe distance away, she lowered him down to the floor but he was taking swallow breathes, reminding her of when he got possessed by an akuma.

"Luka, you're sick," She gasped, placing her hand on his cheek. Even through her glove she could feel how warm he was. "I need to take to the hospital,"

"N-No, he'll look there," He gasped, making her frown. He was right. Mob Boss would look for him there. She frowned as she thought about the most unlikely place that Mob Boss would look. An idea popped in her mind, causing her to click her fingers before she picked up Luka again and jumped off. She set him back down and opened a manhole before helping him climb down. She closed the manhole as he leaned against the wall, breathe in and out but his breathing sounded heavy. She picked up again, making him blush a little but he held onto her as she ran off with him.

"So why is Mob Boss after you?" She asked as they moved through the tunnels. "You don't seem the type to have enemies,"

"H-He's convinced I'm evil..." He whispered, making her frown. He sounded out of breathe and tired. "H-He kidnapped me and I managed to escape s-so he's pissed..."

"I know about the kidnapping," She stated, kicking open a door and bringing him in the room. She set him down on a bench and gently moved his hair, making him blush a little as she looked at him with a soft but concerned look. "Marinette asked me to look for you when she realized you were missing,"

"S-She must have been worried since about me..." He sighed, looking down. "I o-owe her-"

"No, this is not your fault," She gasped, making him look at her before her ring beeped. "I have to go and charge up my kwami then I'll deal with Mob Boss but you need stay here. As soon as Anatis and I have defeated him, I'll get you to the hospital ok?"

He nodded, causing her to run out but only to wait a few moments before Tikki and Kaalki flew in. He went to get up but stumbled and fell back down, making Tikki gasp and rush over to him.

"I'm ok," He whispered, making her frown. "We need to transform and help Lady Noir,"

"Luka, you're in no fit state to-"

"I have to," He gasped, making Kaalki and Tikki look at each other. "I can't let her fight that monster alone,"

They both remained quiet as they knew he was right. He took a deep breathe and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself and replicate the feeling he had when he faced Blackout. Slowly but surely, he felt his energy come back to him as the same feeling washed over him. He opened his eyes as they turned silver, causing Kaalki to gasp a little.

"Luka?" She asked, making him look at her. She wasn’t sure if it was Finni again.

"I'm fine, Kaalki," He smiled, standing up. Both kwamis look nervous. "I take it my eyes are not blue right now?"

"No, they're silver," Tikki stated, biting her lip. "Just like when you faced Blackout,"

"Then it worked," He replied, making the kwamis look at him with surprise. "I kind of learn that I might be able to trigger the same thing that happened during Blackout from Feng . Admittedly, I still don't understand what it was but it gave me enough strength and energy to face him,"

"I see," Tikki gasped, nodding. "So if you can trigger it, it would do the same,"

"Exactly," Luka smiled before frowning. "I just hope I don't faint this time when I go back to normal... but we're worry about that when that happens. Right now, I need to help Lady Noir. Tikki, spots on!"

He transformed into Anatis and took out his yoyo, opening it. He frowned a little as he saw Lady Noir's location wasn't moving but she was at the Louvre again. He put his yoyo away and gently patted his shoulder for Kaalki to sit on it. She flew over and did before he ran out of the room and to the nearest exit. He climbed up and threw his yoyo up, pulling himself into the air and swinging through the streets. He landed on the building opposite the Louvre, frowning as he noticed the flames surrounding the area. He scanned his eyes before noticing Lady Noir, trying to use her baton as a shield against Mob Boss' flames. However, he managed to knock her baton out of her hand and smirked to himself, stalking over to her.

"Kaalki, hide," He ordered, causing her to hide in a nearby alleyway before he jumped down and threw his yoyo. It wrapped around Mob Boss' arm as he lifted it to punch her. Anatis yanked it, pulling Mob Boss into the air and slamming him down into the ground. Anatis freed his yoyo and rushed over to Lady Noir, helping her up.

"You ok?" He asked, making her nod. "Sorry, I'm late,"

"No worries, Annie," She smiled, pushing a bit of her hair out of her face. "You're just in time,"

He went to answer but quickly blocked a fireball from Mob Boss with his yoyo, moving Lady Noir behind him. Feeling a shiver down his spine as they backed away, he took a deep breathe.

Any advice on facing him? He mentally spoke, hoping that Feng might answer.

Don't hold back. This man will take advantage of any weakness you show... Feng's voice echoed in his mind, making Anatis nod. Mob Boss growled and summoned fire balls in his hands, causing a few of his goons to flinch and he heard Lady Noir whimper a little. His flames grew in size, making Anatis gasp as he realized how his flames worked. Show him you're not afraid...

"Of course... fear is his power..." He whispered as it clicked into place. Of course, Issac would be an akuma who feeds off fear. Mob Boss threw the flames towards them, causing Lady Noir stumble back in fear as they flew towards them at full speed. Mob Boss smirked evilly as Anatis stopped spinning his yoyo. Instead, he swiped it up and bring it down, cutting through the flames and destroying them. Mob Boss' smirk turned to a look of shock as Anatis glare at him, standing tall in front of Lady Noir, who was looking up at her partner with awe in her eyes. He turned to her and offered her his hand, causing her to take it before he pulled her to her feet. "He's just like Horrificator, Lady Noir. Fear fuels his flames, making them bigger. He uses his mob to power himself up by making them afraid. Well, I got some news for you, 'Mob Boss'..."

Anatis narrowed his eyes towards him.

"I'm not afraid of you," He stated, enraging Mob Boss. He summoned more flames and threw them at him, hoping to make him coward but Anatis didn't. Instead, he stood his ground, not even trying to block his attack. He had a feeling that the flames only hurt you if you were afraid. Lady Noir gasped and went to take out her baton but he gently placed his hand on hers, making her look at him. "Trust me,"

She looked into his eyes and even though they were silver, she could still see what he was feeling. Smiling to herself, she nodded and turned to face Mob Boss as well.

"We're not afraid of you!" She declared as the flames got closer but as soon as they touched them, the flames completely snuffed out. "Whoa!"

"No!" Mob Boss screamed enraged before summoning a massive amount of flames. "I'll burn it!!! I'll burn it all!!"

"Ok, he's lost it," Lady Noir gasped as Anatis took out his yoyo and threw it into the air.

"Lucky charm!" He declared, causing a hose pipe to appear out of thin air as Mob Boss began to create a fire tornado. His mob became even more afraid, making it get bigger. Lady Noir stepped back as fear got to her as well.

"Annie! Please tell me you have a plan!" She gasped as he looked around in his luck vision. It lit up a fire hydrant and the hose pipe. He smirked to himself.

"I have one!" He declared, making her rush over to him as he opened the fire hydrant. He worked quickly, attaching the hose to the fire hydrant before standing up and pointing it towards Mob Boss, who's flames were huge. He was laughing like a manic as well. "Hey! Mob Boss!! I hope you like rain!"

"What?!" He gasped as Lady Noir turned the switch on the fire hydrant to full power. A powerful stream of water burst through the hose and hit Mob Boss straight in the chest, sending him flying into a wall, causing him to gasp and splutter as he tried to push back the water. His flames completely disappeared as his influence on the nearby crowd weakened. Lady Noir ran up to him and summoned her power, tapping his ring. It turned to dust and the akuma climbed out as Anatis turned off the water. He threw his yoyo and captured it, pulling it back to him. He released the butterfly then unscrewed the hose before throwing it up in the air.

"Miraculous Ladybugs!" He declared, causing it to burst into the cure and swarm around Paris, fixing the damage Mob Boss had done. With him defeated, he turned back to Issac, who looked around confused before seeing the heroes. Almost instantly, he jumped up and ran off, clearly afraid of what the heroes might do to him.

"Should we go after him?" Lady Noir asked but she got her answer when her ring beeped. "Oh no! I need to go get Luka!! He's pretty badly hurt,"

"Ok," Anatis nodded as his earrings beeped as well. "We'll track him down later,"

She nodded and went off before Anatis went the other direction. However, he slipped into the alley Kaalki had hid in, making her fly over to him before he took out his yoyo, reaching into it. He took out the horse miraculous and put them on.

"Tikki, Kaalki... unify," He declared, turning into the merge form. He threw out his arm as he created a ring of light. "Voyage!"

It opened a portal into the room Lady Noir had left him. He stepped inside, causing it to disappear.

"Tikki, Kaalki, divide," He ordered, causing him turn back to Anatis. "Spots off,"

He caught Tikki before sitting down on the bench as his eyes began to turn back to blue. A wave of nausea to wash over him making him to feel weak again as he covered his mouth to stop himself from gagging. Slowly, a headache began to creep through. He took a shaky breathe and held his jacket open, allowing Tikki and Kaalki to hide in it. A few minutes later, the door opened and Lady Noir rushed in.

"Sorry! I had to charge my kwa- Luka?" She gasped as she reached him. He had closed his eyes and was taking short breathes as he felt himself warm up. "Oh god, you're worse than before,"

"I-I'm... fi-" He started but she helped him to his feet and began to lead him outside. As soon as he stood, he felt very weak and ended up leaning against her. It didn't take her long to get him out of the sewer before taking him to the hospital. The doctors and nurses took him from her as she promised to bring his family. Soon, he found himself in a hospital room, lying on a bed while the doctors try to get down his fever as they asked him a number of questions. He answered them as best as he could, even telling them about the almost akumatization and amok. The doctors and nurses shared concerned looks when he told them about it but he felt tired and just wanted to sleep. Seeing how tired he was, the doctors concluded their tests. As soon as they left, he ended up falling asleep and when he next woke, the Captain was sat next to him. Her eyes were closed but he could see how stressed she felt. "M-Ma?"

She groaned and stirred, opening her eyes.

"Luka?" She gasped before standing up and hugging him. He hugged her back. "Oh I am so sorry, Lad. I should have walked with you-"

"It's n-not your fault, Ma," He whispered, gently pulling away from him. "Issac was convinced that I'm the reason you left him. He said I was evil and a witch... I don't understand why..."

Anarka frowned and sat back down, taking his hand.

"He was afraid of you," She stated, making him look at her. "When you were younger, you had what I thought were imaginary friends but I realized very quickly it was something else when I saw you talking to something in your room. You must have been three years old when this happened but when I asked you who you were talking to, you told me it was your grandmother,"

Luka frowned a little.

"The thing was she had died two years before you were born and I hadn't told you about her at all. We didn't get on," She mumbled, looking down. Luka frowned as he listened. "You knew her name and described her down to a tee. I do not doubt that it was your grandmother but it scared me and I told you not to make up stories. You never told me if you talked to anything like her again after that but I would hear you speaking to other things but then Issac heard you talking to them and he became convinced you were 'in league with the devil'. That's what we argued about a lot of the time and it just got worst as time pass. I told him you had imaginary friends and were just sensitive but he didn't believe me. Soon, you stopped talking to things that weren't there and I thought you had grown out of it. I didn't realize Issac had hurt you every time he caught you talking to them. It got worst when you showed an interest in music. He would scream that it was the devil's influence and would break anything that could cause that then he went too far and you ended up in hospital in a coma for a week. It wasn't long after that when I realized he was hurting you. I had been at work that day and Issac had called me, saying you had fallen and hit your head. I only found that it had been him that had hit hit you and caused you to hit your head months later during an argument. It was the moment that I decided to leave him. I hated myself because I should have realized sooner that you were been hurt by him. I packed our bags ready to leave but Issac..."

She took a deep breathe as Luka listened.

"That was the day Issac got physical with me. He then threatened to take you and Juleka away from me if I left. I realized that I would need to be clever and crafty to outwit him so I saved up any spare money we had while trying to protect you and Juleka while we were still there. That's why we were so poor. Issac would spend whatever he had on booze and I was putting anything I could into an account he knew nothing about," She explained, making Luka frown as he listened. "The christmas he walked out, I saw a chance and got the locks changed but he kept coming back. He would try to kick the door down and even tried to take you and Juleka from school one day. After that, I had you both home schooled. Since you were frequently ill, it helped to keep you at home. During the time of having him locked out of the house, I contacted an estate agent and sold the house, which gave us our money. Since I had finally enough money, I brought the Liberty. I packed up our basics and moved us to Paris with the Liberty,"

"How did we get away from him?" Luka asked, causing her to sigh. "Didn't he try to wait outside the house?"

"I called the police that day and had him arrested. I knew he would get out but it gave us a few hours to escape. While he was in jail, we left the house for good. I don't know if you remember but I legally changed our names. Not by much admittedly but before our surname was Couphène but I had it changed legally to Couffaine. It's slightly different pronunciation and spelt differently. The change was small but it was enough that Issac wouldn't be able to find us. Besides, you and Juleka always pronounced it as Couffaine anyway,"

Luka frowned to himself as he listened. He did briefly remember spelling his surname different and got confused when he was first corrected but he assumed that because he was a kid, he just didn't realize how to spell it properly. It never occurred to him that his mother had changed it.

"Why did you change it?"

"So if Issac ever looked us up, he wouldn't be able to find us. It's also why I brought a boat. We could move it and would never be in the same place," She admitted, frowning. "I thought it was safer that way... but I should have protected you better. I'm so sorry, Luka.,"

Tears rolled down her face as she cried, making Luka frown. He carefully moved so he was closer to her before opening his arms. Anarka looked up at him before moving so she was sat on the bed and hugged him.

"It's ok, Ma," He whispered, hugging her before they pulled away. "I was afraid to say anything and when I got old enough to say, Issac threatened to hurt you and Juleka. I wasn't going to let that happen,"

"You shouldn't have had to," She whispered, looking down as she wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry.."

"Ma, it's ok," He smiled, glancing to the side. "But I don't remember seeing them?"

"The coma you were in..." She muttered, looking down. She had beaten herself up for ages when she had realized it was Issac who had caused it. She still felt guilty to this very day. "The doctors... they thought you wouldn't wake up and warned me that you would have brain damage if you did but then you proved them wrong and woke up. Despite been in a coma for a while, you only had a little bit of memory damage. You just didn't remember seeing spirits or ghosts... The doctors and I called it a miracle..."

"But Issac saw it as proof of me been evil, didn't he?" Luka asked, making her frown. "He called me a witch and said I was evil..."

Anarka frowned as she saw the expression on his face. He thought it was possibly that he was.

"Luka Couffaine, you listen to me," She stated in a firm voice. He looked up at her. "Issac is wrong about you, Lad. You're not evil or wicked. You're a pure and gentle soul and he's the evil one for harming you. People like Issac fear what they don't understand... and I was afraid too but not because of you seeing ghosts. Our family have always been different and strange but that's what had me afraid. I feared that people would treat you differently and I was wrong. We should celebrate our differences and gifts, even if other people are afraid of them. If it turns out you are a witch then I will be proud of my witchy son,"

"Thank you, Ma," He whispered, hugging her before pulling away. "Though I think Juleka might be the witch of the family,"

Anarka laughed and ruffled Luka's hair, making him smile before someone knocked on the door and entered. He glanced over and smiled a little as Juleka, Rose and Marinette looked at him. Relief flooded their eyes and before anyone could move, Juleka had rushed over and hugged him, causing him to hug her back as she cried.

"I'm ok, Jewels," He whispered, stroking her hair before he looked up at the other two and stretched out his arm. Both of them rushed over and joined in with the hug. Rose was crying worst then Juleka and Marinette was holding back tears. The three of them pulled away as a doctor entered and asked to talk to Anarka. She got up and walked out as the girls sat on the chair. "Is Dad here?"

"He was talking to the doctors," Juleka mumbled as Luka leaned against the pillow. "And Penny is looking to get Bob Roth in trouble too. He's been arrested as Issac had sent him a photo of you with a message for Jagged. He wanted 3 million euros to release you,"

"Why did he give the message to Bob Roth?" Luka asked, frowning. Juleka looked at Rose who bit her lip. "Jewels?"

"I overheard Ma and Jagged shouting at Mr Roth... apparently he was friends with Issac. He admitted to confirming that it was us to him when Penny threatened him. He's the reason why Issac kidnapped you," Juleka explained, making him frown. "He tried to claim that he didn't know that Issac would do that but Penny, Ma and Jagged don't believe him,"

"What about Issac?" He asked, looking at them. Juleka and Rose looked sad and pale and Marinette looked angry. Luka sighed as he felt their emotions. Disappointment and rage. "He got away didn't he?"

"The police are looking for him," Marinette stated, taking his hand. "And they've placed an officer here in case he tries to come after you..."

"I see," He frowned, making a mental note to track him down as Anatis. "I hope they find him soon. I want this nightmare to be over,"

"I hope it ends soon," Marinette whispered, linking their hands together. Rose gently tapped Juleka and pulled her up, leaving the room so Marinette and Luka were alone. "I'm sorry..."

"For what?" He asked, looking at her.

"Letting you walk home alone and not insisting you stay the night. Mama and Papa wouldn't have minded. They like you," She whispered, looking down. "So I'm sorry..."

"Marinette, none of this was your fault so please don't blame yourself," He whispered, making her look at him. "It's Issac. He's always hated me and this was just part of that,"

"How are you so calm?" She asked, wiping her eyes. "You got kidnapped and you're in hospital and you must have been so afraid..."

"I was..." He admitted, looking down. "It was terrifying. I was almost akumatized too but-"

"Oh no, did you have a seizure again?!" Marinette gasped, looking more worried. Luka nodded and went to continue what he was saying. Only for Marinette to hug him again. "I'm so sorry!!"

"It's ok," He mumbled, making her look at him. "I'm ok. The seizure... it passed pretty quickly and actually helped me escape. Issac and his men were arguing about taking me to the hospital so while they were distracted, I slipped away. Admittedly, it was hard because I was tired and just wanted to curl up but I got out. Anatis found me once I got out of the warehouse he kept me and helped me get away properly... but then Issac ended up akumatized and threatened to hurt my family so I slipped away from Anatis to go and save them..."

"You're so brave, Luka," Marinette praised, making him blush as Jagged and Anarka came back in. Marinette gave them a small smile. "I'm gonna head home but I'll come and visit tomorrow,"

"Ok," Luka smiled, nodding. She smiled back before getting and leaving the room. Jagged hugged him, causing him to hug back as Juleka came back in and took a seat with the others. He yawned and laid back down, trying to stay awake.

"Go to sleep, Lad," Anarka ordered as Jagged sat down. "We'll be here when you wake,"

He nodded and closed his eyes, drifting into a dreamless sleep.

~A Week Later~

"You sure this is the place, Barkk?" Anatis asked as they stood opposite a warehouse. After he had left hospital, he went straight to Master Fu to ask if he could borrow the kwamis. He wanted their help in finding Issac. Since Master Fu was aware of the situation as he had visited Luka in hospital to make sure he was ok, he agreed to let the kwamis help Luka. It had surprised him but since Lika had decided it was time to end Issac's reign of terror, Master Fu had agreed to let the kwamis go with him so he had some kind of back up. At first, Master Fu had tried to convince to let the police do the work but Luka told him he couldn't let it go. Issac hadn't just tried to kidnap him. He was intent on killing him and hurting his family. He knew that if Issac got him out of the way, he would go after Juleka and his mother and he was not about to let that happen. No, he was done living in fear and he would protect his family at any cost. With his mind settled, Master Fu tried to come along himself but his back began to play up and Luka told him to stay back. Part of him wanted to ask Lady Noir to come with him as well but he also knew that this was something Luka had to do and not Anatis.

"This is the place, Master Luka," Barkk replied, making Anatis sigh before the little dog kwami looked at him. "But are you sure you don't want to go in as Anatis?"

"I have to do this as Luka," He replied as the other kwamis surrounded him. "You guys keep back but the moment Issac shows any possibility of hurting me, attack him and don't hold back,"

"Yes, sir!" The kwamis declared, saluting him before he jumped from the building and landed on the ground. As soon as he was on the ground, he detransformed and caught Tikki, giving her a cookie. She took it before flying up and kissing his cheek lightly.

"Good luck," She smiled, making him nod before he walked over and tried to the door. It was lock so Kaalki flew over and unlocked it, causing him to smile and step in. He walked through glancing around as he recognized the place he was held in. He kept his hand on his phone as he walked through. He felt his fear sneak up on him but he pushed it to the back of his mind. He stopped as he looked around. The warehouse seemed completely emptied. He frowned but stopped when he felt someone walk up behind him. Judging by their song, it was Issac. He flinched a little when he felt Issac stop behind him.

"Well, I knew you were dumb but I didn't think you were this stupid," Issac growled as Luka took a deep breath and slowly turned around.

"You'd just come after me anyway," He answered, staring at the man who made his life a living hell. "I'm here to end this,"

"You? Want to fight me?!" Issac laughed before taking out a gun and pointing to him. "You don't stand a chance,"

"I'm not here to fight you," Luka stated, keeping his mind clear and calm. Fear would do him no good.

"Then what do you want?" Issac growled.

"To prove you wrong," He stated, making Issac frown. "Hand yourself over to the police and let this grudge. It will only cause you more pain so please, give yourself in. It’s not too late to change,”

"You are pathetic!" Issac growled, making Luka sigh. He had given him a chance. "You think I'm going to listen to an evil bastard like you!"

"I'm not evil, Issac," He stated, sighing before his eyes turned silver, making Issac stare at him. During his rest in the hospital, he had dreamt a few times of Feng and the bird that he learnt was called Finni. Feng had finally told him that he had natural magic and started to teach him how to chanel it. He still had ages to go and he was still confused about a lot of things but Feng had taught him more about projecting emotions onto others. He could show them love, hope and even feelings like fear and sadness. "But I am different,"

"Demon!" Issac shouted, going to fire his gun but the kwamis flew him, taking the gun out of his hand. "No! You trickster!"

"I'm not a demon and I'm not a trickster," Luka stated, walking closer to Issac. He tried to back away but tripped over when Pollen, Kaalki and Barkk pushed a box behind him. He scrambled backwards until his back hit the same pillar that Luka had been chained to. He went to get up but the kwamis had handcuffed him to it, stopping him from getting up.

"No!" He gasped as fear caught up with him. He didn't expect Luka to reverse their roles. He was the one in charge here. Not the demon child. Luka sighed and crouched down in front of him. "You bastard!! I'll kill you!"

"I have something for you, Issac," He stated, making him blink. "Something I don't want anymore,"

He reached out his hand, causing Issac to try and pull away.

"Don't touch me, you demon!" He shouted but Luka ignored him and rested his hand against his cheek, causing Issac to flinch. For a second, nothing happened but then Issac started to scream in absolute pain and terror as he looked at Luka, who eyes slowly turned from silver to a glowing golden color that resembled the sun. If anyone else had seen them, they would have described them as beautiful but for Issac, they just added to his fear. His eyes widen as he saw a golden aura round Luka that resembled a bird. However, he let out a scream of pain as Luka's touch actually hurt him. Slowly, Luka pulled away as Issac screamed and cowarded away from him, crying as he did. Tikki flew over to him as Luka stood up and looked at him with a mixture of pity and sorrow.

"What did you do to him?"

"I gave him the fear and pain he caused me," He explained, wiping a tear sliding down his cheek as the kwamis flew over to him. "All sixteen years worth and all at once..."

The kwamis looked over at Issac, who was reduced to a crying, broken mess. Receiving all that fear and pain at once had broken him but they could not think of a better punishment for him. This way, he would never hurt anyone ever again. Luka blinked again and wiped his eyes before taking out his phone and placing a call to the police but hung before they could ask his name. He left the warehouse and transformed into Anatis before swinging off. Once he got to the Liberty, he slid in through his room and dropped his transformation before curling up on his bed and began to cry, surprising the kwamis.

"L-Luka?" Tikki asked as Luka shook. She looked at the other kwamis as he slowly sat up.

"I'm s-sorry," He whispered, wiping his eyes. "It's just... I find it hard to believe it's over..."

"It's ok, my prince," Pollen gasped, hugging his cheek. The other kwamis followed suit and hugged him, making him smile despite his tears.

"Thank you for coming with me,"

"Luka!" The Captain called, causing the kwamis to hide as she burst in. "He's been caught!"

"What?" He gasped, pretending to be surprised.

"Issac! Officer Roger called me. They got a tip about where he was hiding and arrested him!" She gasped, hugging him. "It's over, Luka. He's never gonna hurt anyone again,"

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Next Chapter: Chapter 57

18 notes · View notes

anika-ann · 4 years ago

Text

WINSoD - Pt.3

...from Here on Now

Type: series, soulmate AU series (part 1, part 2, part 3)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader Word count: 2810

Summary: In which Steve’s soulmate does something a bit risky that bites her in her ass. Almost. Matt Murdock loses his mind too. A bit.

Warnings: blood and violence, mention of death, brief flashback, language

Part 2

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The second thought? Oh shit.

No, scratch that – your second thought was ‘Holy shit, Steve has very quick reflexes.’

The same moment the sound reached your ears and shook your very core, you were tackled to the ground and shielded by Steve’s impressive frame, a flash of panic in his bright eyes. He wasn’t losing any time gazing into yours though, assessing the sudden chaos and switching to his Avenger mode in a fraction of second.

Your mind was slower than his, but one thing wormed its way through your brain immediately; yes, it was in fact an army of fucking robots crashing the party, lined up and levitating two feet above the ground.

The fuck-

You suspected that the robots were mind-readers on top of everything, when one of them, bigger than the others, spoke up into the momentary stunned silence, his voice hoarse and rough as if he was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day: “Sorry to crash the party, folks.”

Another beat of silence and the robots rocketed off simultaneously with the first scream that set off a cacophony of horror.

Steve’s voice broke through the eardrum-tearing noise.

“Stay down and get the hell out of here,” he hissed, jumped to his feet in an impressive speed and took off to be the hero he was.

Why was he giving you opposite orders? That didn’t make any- it took you a moment to realize he didn’t mean for you to lie on the floor and make your escape at the same time, just wanted you not to run with your back straightened.

To be fair, you were too dumbstruck by the desperation stuffed into the simple order, carrying so much more meaning than the actual sentence, to have a clear mind.

Run. I don’t care how and where, I don’t care what you need to do to get out of here, but you run and don’t look back. Get to safety, no matter what.

As you crouched, your eyes flickering over the chaos of a room, you caught Tony’s calculating gaze and gave him an inconspicuous nod; a second later, his gaze fell on something else and you followed his line of sight to Pepper. You exchanged a silent conversation and sprang to action.

Here was a thing: Tony Stark was a technical genius.

His trust in his own technology and security systems was immense.

His trust in his own technology and security systems was not unconditional.

Tony Stark was a paranoid bastard of a man, which was something he could bond over with Steve; the Steve after your death that was.

Because of Steve’s paranoia and understandable fear, Natasha had been forced to teach you a bit of hand-to-hand combat. Jarvis had been forced to go over the plans of the Avengers Tower and escape routes for million times with you.

The part Steve was clearly forgetting now was that Tony hadn’t failed to inform you about the two different panic rooms, technology free; or maybe he was just forgetting the part in which he tended to inspire people around him.

In this case it meant there was no way you would park your ass in one of those panic rooms and let the hell that had broken loose rain on everyone else, on people who were as much of civilians as you were.

And Pepper was about to help you.

Steve was about to kill you later, but you would have to live long enough to let him, so that was the least of your concerns.

As the Captain had told you, you did run and tried to stay down. You just happened to pick everyone you could reach on your way and beg them to pass the information about the panic rooms over. You cursed Tony for his fondness of crowds. This would have been much easier if it was the Avengers and close circle only; mostly because nearly everyone would be able to protect themselves and wouldn’t be busy running while the Earth’s mightiest heroes tried to keep the fight away from civilians.

But life wasn’t always easy.

You spotted Tamara’s blond hair in the sea of faces and soon realized she joined you on your mission, clearly having been informed on the panic rooms as well. You saw several people you had barely become familiar with tonight, a pair of charming dorky lawyers among them; you were relieved when you saw the one with longer hair helping his very much blind friend.

Some women were losing their shoes on purpose, some due to being dragged away by the crowd. You fought your way forward, happy you weren’t wearing any killer heels, people following you like a herd; at least the individuals who hadn’t followed Pepper three floors lower.

“End of the hall, come on. Heavy door, no electronic locks. Just open it and squish as many inside as you can,” you urged a responsibly-looking man whose name you couldn’t recall at the moment, but he didn’t seem bothered by it, instantly following the instruction and speeding up to let the others in. You stayed on the corner, making sure everyone headed the right direction in their panic.

The screams were deafening, the influx of people seemingly never-ending and you silently prayed no one had been left behind. You tried very hard not to think about Steve and others fighting fucking robots.

Finally, the last guests ran past you; well, ran as much as they could. You joined the duo of lawyers (an occupancy that somehow got stuck in your mind), of whom one was an ironic representative of the justice being blind.

“You think that was everyone?” you asked, purposely not addressing one or the other. For one, you didn’t want to be rude, but to be honest, you managed to forget their actual names as well.

“Yeah, I hope so. This is insane,” the one with longer hair hurried and maybe it was only your imagination, but he appeared rather calm considering how insane the situation was.

Then again, some might say you were too. You felt like in some sort of a haze; your body was doing things you couldn’t remember ordering it, acting despite your insides clenching, heart so frantic you might as well go into a cardiac arrest. You were thankful for the autopilot mode; running side by side with the two men definitely looked like a good idea, even if you weren’t aware of coming up with it.

Until you were yanked back by your shoulder and the hem of your dress, sent flying and landing on your side.

“Shit,” you hissed as the sharp pain shot through your whole arm, your ribs crying out as well.

Fuck, fuck that hurt. How was Steve doing it, landing like that all the time and almost making it look like fun?!

Not relevant.

Really not relevant right now.

You scrambled away from the mechanical torso hovering above the ground, almost appearing to examine you. Perhaps it was wondering whether you were about to get up? You didn’t want to, FYI. The pain was coming in waves now, pulsating somewhere deep inside of your muscles. Or was it your bones?

The voices at the end of the hall fell silent and you guessed the last people made it to the room. The raging fight in the party space was still rumbling through the walls, vibrating in your chest. Or was it just your heart?

“Well, this is ironic,” the robotic voice you remembered from when the big robot crashed the party hummed.

How the hell did all the robots have the same voice?

NOT RELEVANT.

You pushed up to your feet, ready to either fight or flee, unsure which you had better chances succeeding at.

You doubted you had the slightest chance at either.

“You’re out of luck. Guess the Captain will have to deal with your loss once more.”

The two simple sentences froze you on spot, crushing something deep within you. A memory of a mad smile, of a desperate voice, of fire and agony coursing through your veins turned you into a statue.

‘With your loss.’

With your death. You were gonna die.

There was no fighting off this thing; certainly not with your simple human nature and lame skills.

You felt the uncontrollable tremor in your muscles, your throat closing off with surging panic. You couldn’t even breathe, let alone defend yourself when the mechanical monster with glowing red eyes raised its arm, the sound of charging nearly causing your ears to bleed.

You spotted Bucky with the corner of your eye, but you knew it was too late. He was too far away; no matter how much he sped up, horror having his face lose all colour, he wouldn’t make it, because he carried no long-distance weapon.

You squeezed your eyes shut, curled into yourself and thought of your soulmate, the way he held you when he found out you were alive and with your memories back.

Steve’s heart will break, for real this time, a small voice whispered in the back of your head, and he’s not gonna handle it. You sent a quick mental sorry.

Funny how you thought of him instead of yelling ‘I don’t want to fucking die!’

And the blast was still not coming.

Instead, there was a loud crash that had you snap your eyes open in an instant, only to come face to face with shocked Bucky; with Bucky, who was still several feet away, crossing the remaining distance in an impressive speed.

Another man was engaged in a furious battle of limbs, a punch there, a spin-jump-kick a second after, knocking the heap of components right onto Bucky’s metallic arm; the robot was cut in half, Bucky’s arm going through it like a knife through butter.

What was left of the machine hit the ground with a clatter, the glow in its eyes fading until it died completely.

A man in a cheap suit was standing with his bloody fists raised, facing a very cautious and panting Bucky. You wanted to say thank you to your saviours, but you couldn’t find your voice, still struggling to breathe in.

It wasn’t until a pair of warm brown eyes appeared in front of your face, blindly staring onto your mouth, until your brain rebooted and made the connection along with telling you to how to breathe in.

It was the lawyer. The very much blind lawyer, an incarnation of the famous saying, one of the dorky pair of defenders of justice.

He just saved your life. By fighting the robot like a Bruce freaking Lee.

“What the- the hell just- hap-happened?” you rasped, the palm of your unharmed arm pressed against your ribcage to feel your own heart, your chest expanding with every breath.

Still breathing. Heart still beating. Not dead. Just really fucking scared and confused.

“Yeah. I was wondering the same thing,” Bucky growled, but with an audible trace of gratitude towards the man. His worried gaze fell on you, searching your face as his intimidating fighting stance eased. “But now is not the time. Let’s get you to Steve before he loses his mind. He flipped out when he saw you helping others instead of running off.”

You took a shuddering breath, closing your eyes and letting the sudden absence of the roar of battle wash over you.

“Hey. You’re okay. It’s gone. Can I touch your shoulder? The one that’s not injured,” a voice coaxed you and you mentally catalogued it as the lawyer’s.

A low warning grumble sounded on your right, but you nodded. You tried not to think about how the hell a blind man, who was apparently moonlighting like a ninja, knew about your shoulder pulsing with agony, hence avoided it skilfully, his gentle touch grounding.

“Hmfg. Let’s go. You have a lot explaining to do, Murdock. But thanks.”

Right. Murdock. He had a nice alliteration in his name, you remembered now. Matt Murdock. His friend called himself Foggy Nelson.

“Yeah…” you whispered, fluttering your eyes open and letting the two men lead you towards where the horror had started. “Thank you, Mr. Murdock.”

“You’re welcome, miss.”

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The previously fancy room was a complete mess; furniture in splinters, clothing torn to shreds, glass in shards, mechanics whirling and cracking with electricity, sometimes with sparks flying around. All of that rained with drops of blood.

Your stomach turned over, but you were able to swallow your nausea and fight the vertigo as your name was shouted from across the room, rapid strides of a huge man crossing the distance in seconds.

“Don’t touch-“ Murdock tried to warn Steve, but that man had already made up his mind, pulling you against his chest, arms winded tightly around your body.

You swallowed the cry of sharp pain in order to let him hug you and you breathed in deeply; freshly washed suit, his cologne, sweat, blood and him.

Your arm throbbed in agony, ribs crying out, but your heart was finding its peace despite still racing.

Now you were truly safe.

And Steve was alive and well. All would be good.

“Oh thank God, you’re okay,” he whispered to your mess of hair, his chest heaving. You could feel his heart hammering against your cheek, a prove of the fright you had given him.

“Punk, stop it, you’re going to smother her,” Bucky noted, sighing. “Plus, she was thrown around and did not land exactly gracefully.”

Steve released you in an instant, his face a mask of horror. Funny how Steve was much more expressive than Cap. You always loved it.

His attentive gaze was scanning you from head to toe, finally taking in your tense posture and stiff shoulders.

“What the hell are you talking about? Doll? What happened?!”

You opened your mouth uselessly, struggling to find words to break it to him gently and without freaking him out too much.

Unfortunately, Matt Murdock beat you to speaking. “A robot grabbed her-“

Steve’s eyes widened, assessing your state again, his choked inhale loud enough to hear. You shot Murdock a glare.

“Traitor,” you hissed at your saviour and then turned back to Steve, your uninjured hand laid on his shoulder. “Mr. Lawyer here took care of it. But yeah, I’ll have a trip to hospital or medical voluntarily. It kinda hurts-“

Steve’s eyes narrowed and you corrected yourself when he wordlessly called out on your bullshit.

“-okay, kinda a lot, but it’s not as bad, considering…“

Steve closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, only to slowly release it and giving the lawyer a look radiating immense gratitude despite him probably not being able to see it. Which, what the hell, by the way.

“Thank you.”

Matt Murdock only smiled humbly and nodded, at which Steve returned his attention to you. Taking him in, you only thought of four words.

Exhausted.

Serious.

Relieved.

Injured.

He didn’t sustain any life-threatening injuries as far as you could tell, but you did smell and see blood on him and since his opponents had been fucking robots, it was definitely his own blood. There was an angrily-looking gash on his forehead which was not bleeding anymore, few more scratches peeking through his sliced clothes.

Still. He was not unharmed.

“You’re hurt too,” you whispered. Your company clearly decided that it was the right moment to leave you some privacy and went to discuss other things. A game plan, perhaps. What happened in the first place. Oh, and who the hell Matt Murdock was anyway. You only had eyes for Steve now though. “How do you feel?”

His shoulders slumped, careful hand tenderly brushing your cheek, his eyebrow furrowing in concern and indignation.

“Like I can’t decide whether smothering you for not running like your life depended on it – which it did – is an option,” he said honestly, eyeing your injured shoulder.

“That’s fair,” you hummed, not surprised. If he could be sassy though, so could you. “But consider this: I have a great role-model for heroics in my soulmate, so there’s no wonder I tried to help, as pathetically as I did at least.”

His lips parted at the implication of your behaviour being even remotely his fault, but you could tell he was too relieved to be actually mad at you.

“Smothering it is.”

You chuckled, trying not to wince at the tiny motion of your body that sent a fresh wave of pain through you.

“…can I have my arm checked first though? Also, I think you have bigger problems than me coordinating the rescue…”

Steve unwillingly casted a glance to the group of his friends, who all glared at Tony Stark, before looking back at you.

“My biggest problem right now is to get you some medical attention. Then, yes, it does look like I have things to deal with. But remember, doll. You are not off the hook.”

You smiled at him sweetly and kissed his cheek.

“A troublemaker like me? Wouldn’t dream of it…”

༻༺༻༺༻ღ༺༻༺༻༺

Part 4

༻༺༻༺༻ღ༺༻༺༻༺

Well. This spiralled quickly, didn’t it? :D Also, I couldn’t resist little Matty in here since I introduced him to Bucky in the previous part of the series ;)

Thank you for reading and for your patience... I know I posted a lot of different stuff before getting to this chapter...

#fanfiction #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers soulmate #soulmate au #avengers #captain america #steve rogers #steve rogers x you #steve rogers imagine #captain america x you #captain america x reader #captain america imagine #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fanfiction #winsod #anika ann

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sammysdewysensitiveeyes · 4 years ago

Text

Once again, I’ve done that thing where I get progressively more annoyed the more I think about a scene in a comic book (yes, this blog really deals with the important, hard-hitting issues), and that’s how I now feel about this scene.

Under a cut, because I have too many thoughts.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that Pyro is getting some small taste of character development, and maybe the beginnings of a redemption arc. I’m all for that! I appreciate this line being in there. But it’s clunky dialogue for both Iceman and Pyro, and for Pyro, especially, it comes out of nowhere. Bobby has at least had some build in in earlier issues showing that he’s starting to become more vicious, especially the scene in Savage Avengers (during King in Black) and his revenge-for-Kate maiming of the soldier.

There has been no indication up until now that Pyro has any kind of regret over his past actions (at least not in Marauders, although he did show back regret when he was dying of Legacy), or that he’s starting to learn some kind of “better way” from the X-Men. There have been no little suggestions of Pyro starting to embrace the Marauders’ mission, or to start to realize that you don’t have to kill people to win. (He does say that in the Storm-centered issue, while relating a flashback of something that we didn’t actually see happen in the books originally). Pyro has just been bopping along with the group, merrily burning things and getting into fights and drinking, and he suddenly announces that he’s been rethinking his old ways. It’s actually kind of odd that Marauders is the group that leads Pyro down this path, because they are generally more vicious than X-Men usually are – you’ve got Lockheed maiming people, and Kate solidifying a rifle through two soldier’s legs. In fact, given the maimed soldiers coming after them as new Reavers, and Verendi continuing to cause trouble, I’d expect Pyro to be arguing that mercy doesn’t actually work – their enemies keep coming back strong than ever.

So I don’t know where Pyro’s change of heart is actually coming from? It’s like this character development has been happening in the background, and Duggan suddenly gave us a little glimpse of it, rather than actually showing the readers what’s been happening the entire time. Like I half expect Pyro to also suddenly announced that he, Iceman and Bishop are now in a three-way poly relationship, and also they all helped Shinobi deal with his father issues while beating up Fenris, so that’s why Shinobi is so friendly and cooperative with the group. You didn’t actually get to see it happen on panel, but trust me, it happened!

And the idea of Pyro and Iceman on opposite character arcs, with Bobby becoming more aggressive and no longer holding back, while St. John learns restraint, is potentially very interesting! But we’ve barely seen any of this in action. As I’ve said before, Pyro’s supposed role as the loose cannon of the group is mostly an informed trait, he hasn’t really been shown getting out of control or crossing the line. It would have been interesting to contrast Bobby and Pyro’s different fighting styles, to show how they are rubbing off on each other (yes, innuendo intended).

Actually, I have a whole list of little ways that Duggan could have seeded Pyro’s “redemption arc” far in advance, so that he doesn’t just awkwardly blurt out things like “I think this group is bringing out the best in me.”:

- Pyro actually getting out of control in battle and having to be reined in, not just being frequently reminded of the “no kill” rule. Obviously he couldn’t step too far out of the line without being kicked off the team, but something like Pyro starting to indiscriminantly torch a building, only for Emma to stop him because she senses that there are civilians hiding inside. Then Emma can mentally yell at him for being careless. Pyro maybe reflects and feels a little bad, because he will happily kill the hell out of soldiers, but he doesn’t want to accidentally kill bystanders.

- Storm (or even Callisto) having a “talk” with Pyro about restraint, and how he can work more effectively in battle by using his fire to carefully target enemies rather than just flame-throwing all over the place (although sometimes his “shock and awe” method works, too).

- Someone like Emma or Bishop actually talking to Pyro about his tendency to jump straight to “kill” when he’s angry. When Pyro wants to kill Yellowjacket and burn the Verendi kids, he just comically dismissed by both Magneto and Emma. It would have been interesting to have someone actually talk to him about it. I’m not looking for a therapy session, but something like Bishop pointing out that leaving Yellowjacket alive to “escape” will be more effective in the long run, etc. etc. Instead Emma just leaves Pyro standing there, just to reiterate how unimportant he is in this book.

- More contrast between Bobby and Pyro’s fighting styles, especially near the start of the book, with Pyro obviously more vicious and aggressive, while Bobby is holding back. Maybe have let the boys talk about the use of violence, and whether it is justified. This doesn’t have to take up much room, it could be like one page of after-battle discussion, or even little comments during battle. Then we could also see their styles gradually change as they come to like and respect each other.

- Pyro actually having to face some of the horrifically burned victims that he has maimed (or family members of those that he has killed). I know the Reaver confronting Bobby was part of Duggan’s “Bobby is turning into a badass” arc, but I think it would have been meaningful to have one of the Reavers be a soldier that Pyro has burned. (In fact, none of the Reavers seemed to be soldiers that Pyro, specifically, had injured, which is odd given his status as the supposed “violent loose cannon” of the group.) Duggan could have actually done both, and contrasted Bobby and Pyro’s reactions. Bobby is defiant at maiming a soldier that he thinks had a hand in killing Kate. Pyro is confronted by a soldier that he burned (maybe while the soldier was even trying to surrender or run away), and reflects that he may have gone too far.

- Pyro giving some indication that he is starting to care about the Marauders’ mission beyond just a job, and a fun excuse to drink and fight. You’d think Pyro might have some warm fuzzy feelings about delivering medicine to people, given his slow, painful death from illness. And maybe feeling empathy for sick humans would show Pyro that he can feel some greater empathy for humans in general. We do see Pyro put a comforting arm around Proteus when the Moira McTaggert hospital is unveiled in Madripoor, so I’ll give Duggan that (even if that gesture also feels like it came out of nowhere).

- Pyro receiving praise from people that he has rescued, and basking in the attention. Pyro has in the past been written as a show-boating attention hog (and Duggan even reflects that in his “funny” fantasy of Pyro being greeted by an adoring crowd on Krakoa, not that I think Duggan actually put the research in). During his Freedom Force days, Pyro seemed to get into the idea of being a “hero,” and is very cocky and cheerful when saving Longshot and some kids from a dinosaur. I think Pyro likes being perceived as a hero, and getting attention, even if he isn’t really a very heroic person. So show Pyro getting thanked by a mutant child or a little old lady that he’s saved. Show Pyro feeling touched and gratified by that, since he spent so long as a bad guy.

- Pyro talking about saving Senator Kelly. Does he regret it? Does he stand by his actions? Is he completely disillusioned by Kelly’s death shortly afterwards? Or is he happy that he at least managed to change Kelly’s mind. Pyro probably wouldn’t bring it up himself, but I’m surprised that no X-Men have said anything to him about it.

- Pyro talking to his old Brotherhood pals about his experience on the Marauder, maybe showing how his way of thinking is changing, arguing that the X-Men aren’t so bad, and that their “non-violence” can actually get things done.

This sounds like a lot, but even a few little moments or bits of dialogue could have gotten slipped into fight scenes to build up to Pyro’s changing attitude, rather than just have him announce it out of nowhere.

Of course, the series isn’t finished. Duggan might have some really interesting development planned for Pyro in future issues! But I hope that if he does, it’s actually seeded early on and develops organically, rather than coming out of nowhere. 21 issues in, I’m not optimistic. The sad thing is, I like some of the “funny” things that Duggan has done with Pyro. I like him gambling with Bishop, Shinobi and Bobby at the Gala. I like his bet with Storm. I even like him biting Batroc. I just wish he would treat the character as something other than an afterthought, and I wish we saw more of Bobby and Pyro’s newfound friendship and development, because it could be genuinely interesting if they actually got some proper time in the spotlight!

In conclusion, I should change my URL to @constantlysaltyaboutmarauders, because that’s all I talk about these days.

#pyro #st john allerdyce

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artsyxloner · 4 years ago

Text

Not Just a Monster

Warning: blood, violence etc...

21: Outside Invaders

I felt a sense of guilt overwhelm me. When they began to drag Jae-Heon's lifeless body out of the elevator. Leaving the monster inside. I was stuck in a daze, I couldn't hear anything or anyone.

He didn't deserve to die not like this. He should still be alive and with Ji-Su. What will she say? I can't imagine her face finding out he was dead.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but reopened them when I heard my name being softly called. Hyun-Su was still leaning on the storage lockers struggling to get up. He was crying, seeing him in that state made my heart ache never seen him cry before.

Wiping my damp face off I got up and trudged over to him. I couldn't help but to shake Seeing Jae-Heon's blood everywhere and also his decapitated arm laying on the floor.

I averted my scarce eyes, remembering when his arm came flying off. I kept moving until I got to Hyun-Su he looked like he was in pain. But then I noticed his leg, blood was dripping from it and also his bone was sticking out like it had been snapped.

I was sick to my stomach. Seeing all this gore. I held my breath. " Are you okay?" His voice came out as a low whisper. I nodded, my gaze softening. " you're not though." Taking the spear from him. I bent down wrapping my arm over his back pulling him up as he tried to help.

He was heavy when I was successfully done pulling him up. I sat him down on the storage locker. He had brought his leg up, too. I was about to find something to wrap it but I felt his arms sling around my waist.

He buried his face into my pudgy stomach, I stood there frozen As his tears wet my shirt bringing my hand slowly up I ran it through his messy hair, he had given himself a haircut he looked different.

" This is my fault!" He whimpered, blaming himself. But why? He didn't do anything. I shook my head, " it's not your fault. How could've it been?" This just made him sob deeper tugging me closer if possible.

" if I— if I had just rung the bell sooner he wouldn't have died!"

" you don't know that for sure Hyun-Su."

So that was him that tried to warn us. " you did what you could do— no one blames you so don't feel guilty." I hugged him rubbing his back for comfort

" you tried, In the midst of it you got yourself hurt." I motioned towards his injured leg, " this just shows you care and that you're willing to get hurt to save people. You want to be a decent person even though it's fucking hard."

I said this meaning myself included. Bending down I kissed his head, " let's get you out of here okay?" I mentioned, hosting him up by wrapping my long arm around my chest as he slung his over my neck. We began to walk with him slightly limping.

As it still was dripping blood, but it will heal in no time. Making our way through, I had to stay tough for him. I didn't know the relationship between Hyun -Su, and Jae-Heon but I know that he cared for him and Ji-Soo since they came down from the upper apartments that day.

Soon after, Hyun-Su healed the guys had already buried Jae-Heon with the other dead. We were all standing in front of his grave, it was quiet. Hyun-Su stood beside me, he had a Sorrowful frown.

So I slid my hand in with his, he was hesitant as our fingertips brushed against one another. But our hands ended up locking together.

I gave it a gentle squeeze as Gil-Seob came over with a yellow paper flower laying it on Jae-Heon's grave. " you died when you should have lived, and I lived when I should have died."

He stepped back folding his hands together bowing his head. Gil-Seob is right Jae-Heon, he was the one that should have lived and I was the one that was supposed to die.

The funeral lasted for a short while after that, others gave a few words and slowly left. But I stayed, letting go of Hyun-Su's hand. I walked closer to the grave.

" I didn't get to say thank you for the praying session we had earlier, you've helped me I just wish I could've helped you I wish that you got your happy ending with Ji-soo,"

It wasn't fair even if this world was full of unfairness it could have given them a chance. I signed deep, " I'm going to check up on Ji-Soo I'll be back soon." I grabbed Hyun-Su's hand giving it a little squeeze leaving the room.

I figured he had to say some words to Jae-Heon by himself so I didn't want to intrude. Looking everywhere for Ji-Soo it took a while until I found her in a back room. I haven't been in before.

She was sitting in behind a couch, holding half of The katana sword, crying and looking more paler than ever. I frowned, " mine if I take a seat?" she noticed me and nodded. I sat down leaning my head back.

" I'm sorry about what happened, to be honest, it's my fault." I played with my fingers. She looked over at me, a lump formed in my throat I swallowed it continuing.

" I was trying to get Ms. Cha to safety, but the monster kept coming and he was about to hit me and me... I just stood there frozen but Jae-Heon came along and saved me." It was my turn to look at her.

" that doesn't mean it was your fault that could have happened to anyone." Her words were raspy and quiet, but I nodded. " yeah, I guess that's true." I picked up a little piece of my fingernail throwing it.

" it's just I know you're upset, and I know that you guys liked each other." She gripped his sword when I said this. " and it's not fair, but just um think of it this way. He died a hero if that makes you feel any better."

He did die a hero, that's probably the best way to go. I saw a little smile appear on her lips. " He didn't he," she pulled the sword closer to her. We sat there for a while up until I heard a big crash, it sounded like it came from the lobby entrance.

I was about to get up but Ji-Soo grabbed my shirt tugging to stop. " don't... don't go," she coughed, I realized if it was outside Invaders or a big monster they somehow would find Ji-Soo and kill her, she couldn't protect herself right now.

There were all kinds of screaming, I wondered if Hyun-Soo and the others were alright. But soon there was gun a shot that made me jump a little. I don't remember us having any guns?

It was definitely outside Invaders, we kept quiet, not knowing who was shot. I wanted to help and get rid of these bastards. Maybe it has to do with that soldier that came in he acted all weird.

Remembering what he was saying something about the run he was probably warning us. Soon after there was another gunshot followed by footsteps walking this way.

I went stiff seeing the light turn on, and hearing dragging footsteps. I took the half-sword from her ready to use it if necessary. I breathed hard, squeezing my eyes shut then reopening them.

When I felt someone's presence on the couch we were behind, " it's two girls," it was a guy and he said it in a seductive way I didn't like, biting my lip I saw him bringing his crowbar down, " and one of them hurt."

He was about to touch Ji-Soo until I gripped the half-broken sword, swinging it up I smashed the hard end of it in his face. He let out a cry, falling back hitting the floor I was probably sure I Struck his nose.

Getting up he was cussing every breath-holding his face, it was bleeding his nose was all red and starting to well, the dude had crazy hair with ear and lip piercings.

I didn't waste time I ended up kicking his dirty face, in his head flew back. " try and touch her again you bitch!" I threatened, about to hit him where the sun doesn't sunshine until I felt something hard come in contact with my head right near my eyebrow.

They both threw the crowbar at me. Blood soon blurred my vision, seeing the creep get up he tackled me to the ground. I kneed his stomach, hearing him grunt I pushed him off me trying to get up but a sharp pain went through my leg.

I screamed out as He kept making weird-ass sounds, I saw him lick the bloodied crowbar, I almost puked feeling sick. I was about to hit him with the sword again up until I heard another voice.

I stopped, " that's enough," my head turned it was another guy about my age again he looked more decent but I didn't trust its looks were deceiving. " that's not the time to be doing that right now."

He suggested, piping his head out the door. but the crazy bitch looked up in anger. Like he was about to Growl. " get out." He tried to seem threatening but the boy just sighed walking in. " Jeung-Seop is looking for you." He took a small glance at me.

I tried to control my breathing as my leg was gushing blood I was in serious pain. " don't call him by his name you sad little pussy!!" He yelled at the boy but he just rolled his eyes Unphased. " It's not the time to be doing that right now. You could be killed."

He mentioned towards me, " by Jeung-Seop." Staring at the creep, he looked scared with his mouth wide open. But I saw him give the other boy a mean look getting up he walked away. With the other guy.

I let out a breath I didn't know I even had, I was shaking Scooting my leg up I hiss in pain, I ended up grabbing a cloth wrapping my leg tight. The dirty was fabric was already beginning to satin red.

Slowly I pushed myself up with my hands standing on my feet I wobbled a bit, I felt limping over towards the couch. I looked over it seeing Ji-Soo holding her side. " are you okay." I asked taking a deep breath.

My head felt fuzzy, I could see she nodded. " okay, I'm going to barricade the doors so they won't get in." I was about to go until she spoke up. " aren't– aren't you hurt." She whispered, I nodded.

" I'll be fine." Knowing it will heal soon mine just takes a little while. Even though it hurts I blocked the back door pushing furniture and other things against it. Making sure they won't be able to get in.

Next, I shuffled towards the other door giving back the sword to Ji-Soo I was about to shut it. " where are you going?" she questioned, " I'll come back later, I have to make sure you're safe first." was all I said locking the door from the inside shutting it.

I had grabbed a weapon, making sure if I run up on one of them I may be injured but I would surely use it. As I walked down the hallway ready to attack. I could feel my leg healing up by the minute.

@xetherealbeautyx

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number-one-micoverse-fan · 3 years ago

Text

“Beware the Fury of a Patient Man”

Quote by John Dryden

Dom’s on a mission. And he’s not going to stop until he sees it through to the end. Even if it costs him. Warnings: blood, graphic descriptions of violence, injuries, angst, gun violence, acts of violence against children

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Dom wrestled the gun away from his assailant and slammed the butt of it into the man’s head. Then he did it again. And again. And by the fourth time there was blood splattering hot and fresh across his hand and the man wasn’t moving.

It took a minute to catch his breath again, casting a wide-eyed gaze around him to make sure no one had come running to investigate the noise. But the yard remained dark and undisturbed, and Dom climbed to his feet, legs shaking, clutching the gun in his hand tight enough to make his fingers ache with the grip. He was already tired, his body sore and drained from tracking the van all the way out to the run down house outside of town.

But he wasn’t going to leave without doing what had to be done.

Breathing shallow to muffle the noise, Dom crept around the back of the house, his steps as light as he could make them on the dry grass. There were only a few lights on inside, filtered through grimy windows and barely lighting the night. None of the windows were open and Dom didn’t dare try them, expecting them to creak or at least make too much noise for him to safely enter. There was a sliding back door, however, and Dom pressed himself against the side of the house, squinting through the dirty glass to try and see what was inside. An empty dining area, cluttered with garbage and broken chairs, and what looked like a kitchen, cleaner but only just.

Dom bit his lip as he hooked his fingers into the door handle and carefully applied pressure. It stuck, at first, and then gave way with a low hiss and a dull creak. Dom froze, ears straining to listen for footsteps. When nothing happened, he eased the door open further, squirming through it, trying to suck in his stomach, his back scraping against the threshold. He thought about leaving the door open, making an easy escape route, but if someone noticed then it could spell trouble if they suspected an intruder was in the house.

There was muffled laughter from somewhere above him, the sound of floorboards shifting under foot, tangled with the dull buzz of a television or radio.

Good, they were distracted.

Dom didn’t know how many there were, but he hoped they were all in the room upstairs.

He moved quietly through the house, sticking close to the walls and trying to move only when there was an influx of noise. It felt like it was taking him hours to make his way towards the sounds, even longer on the stairs, and more than anything he wanted to charge down the hall and kick the door in like an action hero. But he kept his slow and steady pace, heart pounding in his chest, mouth dry, palms sweaty where he gripped the gun.

The sound of the television was louder, coming from a cracked open door at the end of the hall, blue light flickering across old floorboards.

Very carefully, Dom nudged the door open further, blinking in the brighter light of the room. His gaze swept over the room, searching. There was a television on an old shelf against the opposite wall, backlighting the three adults sitting on the couch, laughing and chattering to one another. Dom eased forward, trying to see into the shadowy corners, and the floor creaked under him.

He froze.

“Ey, Jamis, you get them beers already?” One of the men on the couch turned to look over the back of it towards the door. He frowned when he didn’t see his friend, but Dom, his mouth opening to call out.

Dom pulled the trigger.

Blood exploded out of the man’s skull and he went flying off the couch to crash to the floor.

The other two were on their feet in an instant, one of them throwing himself forward in front of the couch and the other diving over the armrest to roll away. Dom followed the one who’d jumped the arm rest with his gun, firing off a few more rounds, splinters from the wooden floor erupting where he missed.

A movement in the corner of his eye made him turn and he saw the first man scrambling to his feet. Dom aimed the gun to fire but his hand froze, finger brushing the trigger without pulling it.

Because as the man rose to his feet, he had someone else with him.

Cody.

The boy was wrapped painfully tight in duct tape, a piece pressed over his mouth, bucking against the hold of the man whose arm was around his neck. There were tears streaking down Cody’s face, his eyes wide and terrified, rolling wildly until they locked on Dom. Then he made a desperate sound behind the tape and Dom could only hear his son’s voice desperately calling for help.

It made white hot rage over power the cold fear in his heart.

But before he could move, the second man dived at him, knocking them both to the floor where they scuffled. The man sat on his chest, pinning him to the floor, and grabbed Dom’s wrist that held the gun, slamming Dom’s hand into the floor over and over, trying to get him to drop it. Dom snarled at him, using his free hand to try and claw at the man’s face. The man twisted away from him, taking a second to punch him in the face a few times until Dom’s head was spinning. He felt his grip on the gun weaken and a growl escaped him. His head darted forward and he sunk his teeth into his attacker’s arm as hard as he could.

The man screamed, trying to wrench away and beat him off. Dom took the opportunity to throw them both to the side, rolling over so he was the one on top, and tried to point the gun at the man’s head. The man struggled, shoving at Dom’s face and clawing at his throat, trying to strangle him.

“DROP THE GUN OR I KILL THE KID!”

Dom froze, head snapping around to stare up at the first man.

He was still holding Cody pressed against his chest, an arm around his neck. In the other hand he held a gun pressed against Cody’s temple.

The man under Dom shoved him off and wrenched the gun away, kicking Dom in face as he got to his feet. Dom felt his nose crunch and coughed as blood splashed down his face, eyes watering with pain.

“Shiiitt,” The second man hissed, checking the gun, “This guy killed Zach! And probably Jamis too, I think this is his gun.”

“Just kill him,” The first man lowered his own gun, but kept his grip on Cody who was still struggling and thrashing, “We’re gonna have to burn this place down anyhow, it’s been compromised. We can—OW! WHAT THE FUCK!”

“Hey! How the hell did he do that!?” The second man abandoned Dom and ran around to the front of the couch to see what was going on.

Dom took the opportunity to scramble to his feet, breathing heavily through his mouth. The first man had dropped Cody, who was now squirming backwards across the floor as best he could, and was more preoccupied by the second captive. Milo had sunk his teeth into the man’s ankle and wasn’t letting go, even when the man started kicking and punching at him. What was astounding was that Milo had clearly been gagged with duct tape too, remnants of it still clinging to his face. There was blood on his face too, but it was hard to tell if that was from Milo or from the man he was biting. The second man was pulling at Milo’s legs, trying to pry him off, but that only had the first man screaming at him to cut it out and pry the little shit’s mouth open.

Dom wasn’t going to let them lay another hand on those kids.

He launched himself over the back of the couch with a roar, shoving the second man down hard enough that he smashed his head into the shelf and lay on the floor groaning. Before the first man could level his gun, Dom snatched the one from the second man’s limp hand and fired. The bullet punched the first man in the stomach, making him stagger back. While he was recovering, Dom shot the second man in the head and scrambled to his feet to charge the first man, the last enemy standing.

But his opponent was quicker.

There was the crack of a gunshot and Dom felt something hot and sharp bloom in his side. Another one ripped into his shoulder and his arm dropped limply to his side. Dom ignored it. There were more important things to take care of.

He screamed at his son’s kidnapper, firing his own gun again and clipping the man’s leg. He dropped to one knee and Dom bowled into him, sending the two of them sprawling. Both of their guns flew from their hands. The man yelled and squirmed, punching at Dom, but Dom barely felt the blows, his one remaining hand clawing at the man’s face through watering eyes, blood, and wailing fists. Teeth scraped his knuckles and then his fingers found a fistful of the man’s hair. Dom clenched it, pulled the man’s head up, and slammed it back into the floor as hard as he could. His opponent shouted and his hands paused their wild punching, one of them remaining to claw stupidly Dom’s shirt.

Dom could only see red, his heartbeat thudding in his ears. He lifted the man’s head again and, again, slammed it into the floor. And again. And again.

Distant pain wrenched in his stomach but he shoved it to the back of his mind. His only focus was on getting rid of the monster that had hurt these children.

He slammed the man’s head down again. And again. Again, again, again. Even when the body under him stopped moving, he kept mindlessly smashing the broken skull into the floor, blood soaking his hands and staining his jeans, his breathing labored and wheezing.

It was only a sniffling whimper that snapped him out of it.

“Cody…” He croaked, looking around.

The boy was curled on the floor, eyes squeezed shut, shivering and crying. Dom staggered to his feet, wincing and putting a hand to his front, only to have his fingers bump against the handle of a knife. Ah. He’d been stabbed.

Gritting his teeth, Dom pulled the knife from his stomach, choking down the pained noise that wanted to leave him as blood rapidly stained his already ruined shirt. Couldn’t let Cody know how hurt he was.

Breathing heavily, Dom dropped to his knees next to his son and put a hand on his shoulder. Cody started and pulled away, eyes snapping wide open.

“Sh, sh, Cody, it’s okay, it’s me,” Dom murmured. His touch had left a red hand print on his son’s shoulder. He tried not to think about it, “I—I’m going to cut the duct tape. It will probably hurt, I’m sorry.”

He slid the knife carefully into a gap and began to saw at the tape, first cutting loose Cody’s arms, then his legs. Peeling the tape off did make Cody whimper and fresh tears sprout in his eyes, but he took it like a champ. Dom was extra careful with the piece of his mouth and as soon as Cody was free, he threw himself into Dom’s arm, sobbing into his chest. Dom winced at the pressure on his wounds but wrapped his good arm around his son reassuringly,

“I’m s-sorry I didn’t come sooner. It’s okay now. You’re safe. I promise, you’re safe. Will you h-help me with Milo?”

Cody sniffed and nodded, clutching at Dom as the man shuffled across the floor to kneel next to Milo. The kid was a lot more battered than Cody, blood oozing from a split in his forehead where he’d been kicked, matting his hair, one of his eyes already swelling shut. It looked like he’d ripped through the duct tape on his face with the edge of something sharp because it had cut into his cheek, leaving it to bleed freely down his chin and into his mouth.

“A nail,” Milo explained with a feral grin while Cody picked the remains of the tape off of his friend’s face and Dom cut him loose, “It was sticking out of the floor a little and I used it to rip off the tape!”

“It’s probably infected,” Cody said in a shaky voice but he was smiling as he helped Milo to his feet. Dom smiled tiredly at the pair, leaning heavily on the wall as he stood up, one hand pressed over the hole in his stomach. There was a slice in his side, hot blood still leaking down his pant leg, and his shoulder ached something fierce, but it was worth it. The kids were safe.

“Let’s get outside,” He said weakly, making sure to keep a smile on his face when they looked at him. He followed them out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door where he sagged onto the steps with a sigh. The van was parked in the drive and he’d thought to take it and drive them home but he was too worn out now; probably wouldn’t have been able to stay awake for the journey. He reached a shaky, blood soaked hand into his pocket and tugged out his phone,

“C-Cody…need you to call…call…” His vision blurred and he heard his son shouting his name and then Dom fell into darkness and knew nothing at all.

———

He woke up in in a white room with tubes and wires attached to him and a dull pain throbbing distantly through his numb body. Sleep tugged at him, urging him to go back to sleep again, but Dom struggled against it as his bleary gaze roamed around the room.

Miranda was slumped in a chair behind him, asleep, circles under her eyes and her hair in the messiest ponytail Dom had ever seen. She looked beautiful. Like an angel in the white room.

He shifted slightly to call to her when he felt something warm and heavy pressed against him. He looked down slowly and felt instant relief and comfort and warmth fill him.

Cody was tucked against his side, cleaned up and with a few bandages, but looking none the worse for wear. His hands were fisted into Dom’s blanket, head against Dom’s chest, having squirmed carefully under Dom’s arm. His glasses were crooked; he’d probably fallen asleep with them on.

Dom smiled, very faintly, tiredly, and let himself relax. His eyes closed.

They were safe.

Everything would be okay.

#pays emily in violence and angst as i always do #dominic #violence #injury #angst #whump #fan fiction

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96thdayofrage · 3 years ago

Text

How White Violence Turned a Peaceful Civil Rights Demonstration Into Mayhem

Winfred Rembert on Protesting in the Jim Crow South and Getting Arrested

It was 1961 or 1962. I was working in Jeff’s poolroom. One day I was surprised to see all these Black folk, especially adult Black men, coming in the poolroom. They were all sitting around, having a meeting and talking about civil rights. I never heard people talking about civil rights before. They were NAACP people, though I didn’t know it at the time. I thought they were coming in there to shoot pool, but, lo and behold, they were talking about civil rights. It turned out, if I got it right, that Buddy Perkins, the funeral home director, was the headman of the NAACP in Cuthbert. Jeff was some kind of official too, and Jeff’s poolroom became the meeting place for talking about ideas, businesses, and civil rights.

Black people in Cuthbert had to sacrifice to make a change. In the 1950s, Ben Shorter Sr. was president of a voters’ league in Randolph County. The authorities in Randolph County would not let Black people vote. I remember Mama talking about wanting to vote, and it was obvious that she was afraid. Ben Shorter and some other folks from Cuthbert—Ulysses Davis and Charlie Will Thornton—worked with an NAACP lawyer named Dan Duke to get Blacks onto the voting rolls. As Ben Sr.’s son Wesley tells it, “During the time my father was meeting with a lawyer from Atlanta, they would meet at our house. The lights would be turned out and they would meet in the back room. There were people outside for protection because of threats by the Ku Klux Klan and others.”

The voters’ league was successful in court, but after that Ben Shorter lost his job as a mechanic. Charlie Will Thornton lost her job as a schoolteacher. Ben was also the leader of a swing band that had been very popular in our part of the South since the early 30s.

Wesley’s brother, Ben Shorter Jr., told me that when his father played in some White places, they couldn’t come through the front. He talked about how they all had to come through the back to set up, and how he sat there in this chair waiting on his dad to get through playing. After the voting rights case, it was several years before Ben Sr. was able to get gigs in Cuthbert again.

Ulysses Davis’s granddaughter, Naomi Jenkins, lives in Cuthbert today. She remembers sitting on her grandfather’s knee in the Albany law offices of C.B. King. “Somebody could threaten your life or threaten your livelihood. It just so happened that my grandfather was a carpenter, so he was able to maintain. You shouldn’t have to die for things to be equal and fair, but people died. You should not have had to lose your source of income, but people did. It was very very difficult. The fear was greater than you could ever imagine. Charlie Will. She is my hero. She was very outspoken. She was never able to teach again in Randolph County, simply because of her stand on equal rights.”

I had never been to a demonstration or a sit-in. It was all new to me. The NAACP guys talked about how, if you go to the marches, you’d get in the fetal position to keep from getting kicked in the stomach and to keep the dogs from biting you. They taught us to cover our heads if the police were beating on you with those billy clubs, and to fall on the children to protect them. Those were the conversations. My buddies Charlie Brookins and Eddie C. Howard came by the meetings too. Their parents didn’t want them to get involved, so they had to slip out of the house. Charlie says there was no way his parents would have allowed him to go to the demonstrations that were going on in Albany. “It was real dangerous back in those times. White people had guns and they were killing Black people in those marches, far more than you would ever think about or that you saw or heard in the news. It was unbelievable. Stuff you read about in a book is on the good side. My mama would have killed me if I had left and went over to Albany.”

Later on, at the meetings, people talked about Americus. Americus was a tough one. They had this terrible sheriff named Fred Chappell. He was a mean monster. He was above the law. He was the law. He was worse than Bull Connor, the commissioner of public safety in Birmingham who attacked the Freedom Riders. This guy wouldn’t bend. This sheriff was kicking Black folks’ butts every chance he got, hitting them upside the head with his nightstick and giving orders to turn the fire hose on. Back then they would deputize just anybody that was White and give them a badge, and I’d be willing to bet that some of those people wearing the badge and turning on the hose were Ku Klux Klan.

I heard about the demonstrations in Americus in the early days of the Americus movement, and sometimes I would ride over there in a car with guys from Cuthbert and we would sit around in a place on Cotton Avenue called the Bryant Pool Hall. We would play pool and listen to people talk about strategy and what was happening. In 1962, SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) started a voter registration drive. Americus had a population of 13,000. Over half of the people were Black, but there were only 300 Black people on the voting rolls. Sam Mahone was a high school student at the time. I didn’t know him back then. I met him in Albany in 2010. He talks about how he escorted people to the courthouse to register.

One day, when he was 17 years old, he took ten people down to the courthouse. Sam was standing across the hallway from the registrar’s office, waiting until each person had a chance to register, when Sheriff Chappell attacked him from behind. “I didn’t hear him coming or anything. He knocked me down, literally, with a fist to the back of my neck. I immediately curled into a fetal position, as we were trained to do, to protect our most vulnerable parts, like our head and our midsection, and he commenced kicking me.”

People who witnessed what the sheriff did would go back and tell others what had happened. Some people who were standing in line even left the courthouse without registering. As Sam tells it, “There was intimidation from the moment you walked into the courthouse, not just from the sheriff but all the Whites who held office there. They were just menacing people who came in there. They did not want Black people to vote.”

People got arrested for trying to buy tickets at the “White” window of the movie theater. The demonstrations got bigger after that. The police brought in dogs and burned demonstrators with electric cattle prods. After the civil rights bill passed, in 1964, there were confrontations over segregated restaurants and a swimming pool. Some SNCC workers, including Sam Mahone, were beaten with tire irons and baseball bats by a White mob after they were refused service at the Hasty House restaurant.

Now you had a lot of people in Cuthbert who were afraid to demonstrate. They didn’t want to jeopardize their families or businesses. They didn’t want to take a chance on losing any of that. They would come to the meetings, but they wouldn’t go to the marches. And you had this other group that would put their life on the line. It turned out that was the group I fell into. I was a young boy, 19 years old, in 1965. There were 15 to 20 of us ready to go. We got into a big gray bus that looked like it used to be a school bus and we rode to Americus, which was about 45 miles away. We gathered at the Bryant Pool Hall there on Cotton Avenue. Cotton Avenue was a Black street, with all Black businesses—Black clothing stores, Black poolrooms, Black restaurants, Black funeral home. It’s the main drag for Black folks who hang out in Americus. It was familiar to me because I frequented the place when I thought I was a good pool player.

People were gathering around there from Americus and every which way, too many people to fit into the poolroom, so some were standing around on Cotton Avenue. The leaders say where we’re going to march, and they told us what our strategy was. The strategy was to obey orders—when the authorities say move on, then we move on. We marched from Cotton Avenue down to the main street in Americus. Cotton Avenue ends right at the main street downtown. That’s where we went. It was a peaceful demonstration. People carried signs. The police were there, and the fire department, but they didn’t intervene. People sang freedom songs like “We Shall Overcome.”

Even though it was peaceful, the demonstration was scary. Angry-faced White folks were standing around with their weapons. It was like they were just waiting to jump us. They had guns and axe handles, and we had nothing to fight back with, not even a stick. I had never participated in anything like that, and I wasn’t really demonstrating like I was supposed to. I wasn’t up front, ready to take a beating. I was holding back, somewhere in the middle of the crowd. I was more watching than anything. I didn’t want to take a chance on getting bit by a dog or hit with a billy club. But while I was there, and afterward, I thought about it and decided that if I was going to go, I might as well get out front. So, the next time I went, I didn’t hold back. I jumped off the bus and started yelling, “Come on, y’all. Let’s do this!”

A big crowd was gathering. People came in together, from every which way. This time, the strategy was that when they ask us to move on, we won’t, because we want to get our point across. We want to integrate. We started marching down the street, singing and demonstrating. It was a slow march, just nice and slow, so we know we’re going to get into a confrontation. I’m talking about when they come and ask you to move on, and you don’t move on. You might slightly move on, but you don’t move to the pace that they want you to move.

The first thing they bring out is their dogs, holding them back some, but they are threatening you. I really didn’t want to get bit by those dogs. Then here come the fire department with the hoses. A lot of people get hurt when they turn the fire hoses on you, and I’m pretty sure people got hurt that day, but all that was a little farther down the street. I was up at the other end where the dogs were.

What happened next is that some civilian White folk showed up with shotguns. No uniforms. Some used their guns as billy clubs and were hitting people. Then a gunshot went off and everybody started running and scattering. It was mayhem. I started running too. I knew a little bit about Americus, so I knew where to run. I didn’t wait for anybody to run with. I ran down an alley that was just big enough to drive a car down. It was a small alley off Cotton Avenue, just north of West Forsyth Street, right in the center of Americus. There were a few cars parked here and there. I ran down that alley, and when I stopped to catch a breath, I looked back and saw these two White men coming with shotguns. They didn’t have those shotguns just to shoot squirrels, I’m telling you. They weren’t playing. It happened there was a car sitting there, and I saw the keys sitting in it. Folks left the keys in the car back in the day. I jumped in and took off.

I took that car and drove it to Cuthbert. While I’m driving, I’m thinking to myself, What am I going to do? I didn’t know whether to ditch the car in Cuthbert or to keep driving it, or where to go or who to tell. I was worried about staying alive. That’s what I was thinking about most. I took those folks’ car and I thought I was going to get killed when the police caught me. One thing you just don’t do in Georgia is steal. You can kill somebody and you won’t get as much time in jail as you would if you took something from White folks. White folks in Georgia don’t like for you to take things from them.

You know how you might think one thing and you do another? I was thinking about getting rid of the car, but then the more I rode around in it, I’m saying to myself, Let me keep it for a while. I asked Duck whether he’d like to take a ride in the car. I was riding around in it just for the hell of it. It was something to do. The next thing I knew, the police were riding behind me. If I got it right, my friend Jimmy Greene was in the car with me. I said, “Jimmy, you want to get out? Because I’m going to keep going. I’m taking them for a chase.” Even though I knew I was going to jail, I didn’t want to give up. I wanted the police to have to earn their money. After all the abuse I’d seen them put Black folks through my whole life, I didn’t want to make it easy for them. That’s another reason why I think they hated me so. I gave them problems. They’re used to telling a Black man to stop or come back, and he’ll do that. They actually thought I would stop. I didn’t.

Jimmy got out, and I gave the police a chase until I ran the car in a ditch. Then I ran like hell. I was running and running and running until I got tired and climbed up a tree. A little while later, here they come with the most sorry-ass country hound I’d ever seen. I was up the tree and the dog was sniffing around underneath it. Nobody saw me and they left.

They probably went back there and talked to Jimmy. He might have told them it was me driving the car. People will talk when they think they’re going to get in trouble. Some time after that, I was sleeping in an old raggedy car in Cuthbert. The police came and shined a flashlight through the window. They said, “Oooooh Shiiiiit. Look what we got! We got Winfred.” They were really happy to get me.

The police roughed me up and locked me in the calaboose. A couple days later, the sheriff showed up and took me to the county jail. The cook in the jail, Minnie Cooper, told me that Buddy Perkins had been up there looking for me, like he had done before. But they wouldn’t let me out. I never saw Perkins’s face that day. I was in too deep. I don’t know whether they told Perkins I was there or not. But there was nothing he could do; they weren’t going to let him have me.

Weeks went by and I sat in jail. Poonk’s sister, Yolanda Carter, yelled up to the window of my cell from the street. She wanted to know whether I was going to get out. She had to scream to talk to me. That girl got a lot of nerve. The police tried to run her away and she come right back.

I thought about my family, about Mama and all the things she tried to teach me about surviving in a White world, and I knew that old lady was worried about me. I was a young Black man with no structure in his life headed down a path with no good end. I could see that. I remembered men in prison stripes working by the side of the road in Cuthbert. I expected to end up there too, I just didn’t know how long it would be before they sent me to prison.

Excerpted from Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South. Used with the permission of the publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing. Text copyright © 2021 by Winfred Rembert and Erin I. Kelly. Artwork copyright © 2021 by Winfred Rembert/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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nastybuckybarnes · 5 years ago

Text

By the Fire

Pairing: Geralt X Reader

Summary: A hunt goes wrong and Geralt finds himself in a most precarious situation. Until a surprising hero saves his life.

Warnings: Smut, Language, Injuries, Violence, Minor Angst, Fluff

Word Count: 3.1K

A/n: A little something while I ponder Bad Dreams. I hope you are all doing well and staying safe!

~*~

Geralt knew. He knew instantly that he was in over his head. He knew this day would come, he just never expected it to be so soon. But as the ghouls grow in numbers, their shrieks echoing louder and louder in his ears, he knows he can't fight them all.

His eyes are pure black, senses amplified tenfold as he fights off the ghouls that keep throwing themselves out of the dark forest. Sword swinging, blood splattering, he knows he's killing most of them, but for every ghoul that goes down, two more take its place.

Their brittle jaws snap at him, trying to puncture his skin and get a taste of his flesh. His heart starts beating faster, faster than he's felt it beat in a long time. As he throws two ghouls off of his back, a third finds it's way to his leg, claws digging into his thigh. He curses and kicks the pasty monster off of his leg, only to be tackled to the ground by three more. One of them locks its jaws around his bicep while the others focus more on his head, trying -unsuccessfully- to take a bite of him.

He manages to get all three off of him, but the shrieks coming from only a few feet away aren't promising. Grabbing his sword with one hand, he pushes himself to his feet.

"Come on!" He yells, not going down without a bigger fight.

He swings his sword almost carelessly, the venom from the bite seeping into his bloodstream.

He gets taken down again and this time he's fighting weaker, less intensely.

He struggles hard as the ghouls swarm around him, his black eyes squinting with the effort of fighting them off.

Just as he's about ready to give up, his muscles burning and straining, two ghouls collapse away from him.

Something, or rather someone, has grabbed the attention of the monsters, which gives Geralt newfound energy. He snaps the neck of the ghoul on top of him and stumbles to his feet, grabbing his sword and getting into a slightly wobbly fighting stance.

He only has to cut down a few ghouls, all the others distracted by something in the distance. Something that's shooting them down two to three at a time.

He squints in the dark as the last of the ghouls fall to the ground, the forest falling silent. He can hear the wind moving past the lithe body of something in the trees, but before he can figure out what it is he's falling to his knees, the venom taking hold of his consciousness and dragging him to blackness.

~*~

The fire in front of you crackles softly, the flames burning auburn, small flecks of gold spiralling upwards to the stars then fizzling out softly.

The heat of it warms your face as you clean the tips of your arrows, having retrieved them from the many dead ghouls.

The Witcher behind you groans from his spot on the ground. Initially, you'd tried moving him, but his large frame was too much of a challenge so instead, you set up camp around him.

You look over at him, frowning at how slowly the herbs are working to fight against the venom. You crawl over to him and sigh heavily as you see the darkness creeping through his veins.

If his heart wasn't so damn slow he'd be dead by now.

You remove the bandage from his arms and replace the venom-stained leaves with some new fresh ones, ignoring his hiss of pain as the mixture burns his wound.

You take the bowl of leaves and move back to your place in front of the fire, salvaging what you can from your arrows and making new ones with the old parts.

The Witcher groans again, this time sucking in a sharp breath. You don't move, far too focused on the task at hand.

"Who are you?" He asks, his voice hoarse and deep.

"Don't move. You'll only make your injury worse," you whisper, not answering his question.

"Why did you help me?" You set the arrows down and rummage through your pack until you find your small bag of herbs. Taking out the long plant, you bring the roots to your mouth and chew them up while squeezing any and all liquid out of the stems and into the small bowl in front of you. You spit the stems out into the bowl then add a few powders before mashing it all together.

"You were dying. Struggling. Why let the monsters kill you? What purpose would that serve?" You place the long leaves into the bowl then set it aside.

"You're an elf, aren't you?" You glance over at him for the first time, his Amber eyes stare at you, squinting slightly.

"You need to rest. The venom nearly spread to your heart. It will take a day at least to get out of your system. Even with your... enhancements." He pushes himself into a seated position then curses softly. You roll your eyes and turn back to the fire.

"Moving will only slow down the process," you mumble, knowing he probably won't care.

"Where's my sword? And my horse?" You sigh and stand up, walking over a nearby tree to grab his sword.

"Your beloved sword is here. And your horse is with mine in a small village just through the woods." You grab a small leather canteen and scoop the bowl off of the ground then kneel down by his side. He stares at you, taking in your features in the dim light of the fire.

You're pretty. Beautiful, even. Your skin is smooth and soft looking, your eyes filled with hidden emotion and depth beyond comprehension. There's an airy-lightness to your presence that makes Geralt feel surprisingly at ease.

"You've halted the healing," you whisper, gentle fingers removing the fresh leaves so you can inspect his wound.

It still looks awful. Black and blue and absolutely horrendous. But it's better than before.

You apply the new leaves, making sure to wrap the long cloth bandage around his bicep a few times, tying it tightly.

He watches in slight confusion and a little bit of awe as you treat him so gently.

His eyes analyze you, zeroing in on some nasty scarring on your left ear.

You glance up at him and his eyes flash down to yours.

"You're an elf," he repeats, looking pointedly at your ear. You push a lock of hair back and sigh.

"Yes. Or, I was. There's not much left of the elves anymore. Humans made sure of that." He's quite as you hand him the canteen.

"Did they take them?" You shake your head and show him your other ear, perfectly pointed.

"Just the tip of this one. I didn't let them get far with it though." Your eyes glaze over for a moment as the painful memories slam into you.

"That must've been hard." You shrug, standing up and walking over to the fire.

"What's your story, Witcher? How does one find himself battling a swarm of Ghouls in the middle of the night? And where's your Bard? You two are never apart from each other." He rolls his eyes at your comment.

"I was doing what Witcher's do."

"Well, surely you knew it was suicide to be here with all those bodies. You must've known that the ghouls would be coming." He sighs and shrugs then winces.

"I didn't plan on being attacked by so many." You hum, staring into the flame as you think about what this means.

"Is it true?" You suddenly ask, not turning to face him. "Is what true?"

"Your... encounter with Filavandrel." He sighs again. "No. Not the way the Bard sings it. Filavandrel wanted to kill the both of us but... he decided letting us go would be the 'lesser evil'." You nod slowly, fighting memories.

"My brother was always one who could negotiate." Geralt raises his eyebrows.

"You must be (Y/n)." You nod, looking over your shoulder at him. "Do I live up to the tales they tell of me?"

He huffs out a breath and cocks his head to the side. "The lost Elven princess. Many think you to be dead. The others... they think you've strayed so far into the woods that you've become a monster." You scoff and shake your head. "They thought I was a monster before they chased me out of my home. The humans are so barbaric. I don't know how you can stand to live with them." He shrugs and scoots closer to the fire, closer to you.

"They fear me. That fear protects them from me and silences rooms. So I have few headaches when the Bard isn't around." You chuckle softly and sit down beside him, rummaging through your pack until you find some of the food wrapped tightly. You hand him some bread, watching as he takes a bite of it.

"Why continue helping me? Why not leave me here and go on your way?" You shrug, looking down at the dirt smeared on your hand. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't lonely. I suppose I like having someone to talk to. Someone who responds." He furrows his brows.

"And... why not join Filavandrel?" You look down. "My brother and I don't always see eye to eye. I'm sure he thinks me to be dead. I'd like that it stayed that way. To him, I'm probably as good as dead anyway."

"Why? What could have possibly happened that was awful enough to destroy the bond between family?" Geralt knows there are many things that could sever family bonds, but the bonds that elves share with their kin? Not easily destroyed.

"Our parents. They were killed and my brother and I had different ideas on what we should do. We fought and... I left. And look at us now. He cowers, hides away and spends his days having his food brought to him while his people suffer. And I hide away in the trees, free to roam, but always by myself. Thought to have been killed. A shunned princess with no kingdom and no people. I have no place in the world."

It's silent for a few minutes as Geralt ponders your words; the soft sounds of the crackling fire, insects, and small forest-dwellers keeping it from being deafening.

"You don't need a place in the world," he finally says. You look over at him in shock. "Take it from someone who has never had a place in the world, you don't need one, and you'll never find one. The world is cruel and full of evil, and hate, but that doesn't mean that you can't seek out joy, or peace. Even in small things." The words surprise the both of you and Geralt turns back to the fire, shutting his mouth.

"I've always been told that Witchers were heartless. Monsters who could never feel emotions. Of course, I've learned a lot about monsters and I must say, you are not one." He hums and nods at you. "I could say the same about you." You smile a soft half-smile and Geralt loves the way it looks.

"How long have you been alone?" He asks after another stretch of silence, his eyes lingering on your lips for a moment. You huff out a breath and shake your head. "Decades? I stopped keeping track. Since shortly after 'The Great Cleansing'." He stares at you, amber eyes full of wonder.

"Alone, for all those years?" You nod, looking down for a moment. "I've gotten used to it. Although there are some things I can't help but miss."

He hums, urging you to continue.

"I miss waking up in a bed, bathing in a tub, instead of a stream. I miss the warmth of freshly baked bread. I miss..." you bite your bottom lip, not wanting to overstep but so desperately wanting to.

"What?" He asks softly, watching intently as you lick your lips.

"I miss the warmth... of another person. The feel of a man. The touch of a lover." You look up at him through your lashes, licking your lips as he swallows hard.

"Fuck," he whispers, looking down for a moment.

"You couldn't understand. The women in the taverns and brothels are more than willing to let you in, so long as there's coin involved. I... I'm never so lucky." You're beyond surprised when his warm fingers interlace yours.

"I'm not always so lucky. I find that I... know quite well the feeling you're talking about." You look up at him, eyes begging him to do something. He licks his lips and leans forward, using one hand to push your hair over your shoulder.

"No one should have to endure such a feeling," he murmurs, his warm breath fanning out across your cheek. You let out a shaky exhale and close your eyes as he lowers his head, lips dusting over your clavicle.

"Help me feel again, Geralt. Please." The words are no more than a breath on the wind but he hears them, and it's all the permission he needs to start pressing kisses to your neck.

He kisses all the way up to your face then holds your chin in his hand, waiting until you open your eyes to do anything more. When you finally open your eyes, a small pout on your lips, Geralt is looking at you in a way you haven't been looked at in decades.

He looks into your eyes, a warmth spreading through you as his pupils dilate. He leans down and captures your lips in a searing hot kiss, all teeth and tongue and passion. You turn to face him, hands finding his shoulders and pulling yourself closer to him until your front is pressed against his. He drops his hand to your waist and grabs at the fabric covering your body, tugging on it gently.

You pull away for a moment, lips tingling and warm. He watches as you shed your cloak, then your shirt and trousers, leaving you bare in front of him. He strokes your skin gently, lip pulled between his teeth. You feel no shame in your nakedness, however, you quickly get impatient with the way he's taking his time.

You push his shirt up and over his head and he tosses it somewhere behind himself. The way his skin glows in the light of the dying fire makes your mouth water. You push him to lie on his back and he groans softly, hands coming to rest on your thighs as you straddle his thick waist.

He traces his thumbs over different scars and bruises, wondering about the stories behind them.

You untie his trousers and pull his hardening cock out, a gasp leaving your lips at the impressive size of him.

He's long and thick, easily the biggest you've ever seen. He stares up at you with hungry eyes and you bite your bottom lip. You place him between your folds and slowly rock your hips, moaning as he bumps against your clit.

Geralt grinds his teeth together beneath you, wanting to take control and pound into you, but the way you look on top of him... it's bliss. Pert nipples hard in the cool night of the air, hands pressing against his chest as you rock your hips, and when he raises his head to look to where the two of you are most intimately connected, the view of your wet pussy sliding along his hard cock, soaking his trousers... it's enough to keep him on his back beneath you. For now.

The scent of your slick is tangy and mixes with the smoke of the fire only a few feet from you. He inhales deeply and you do the same, enhanced senses making the smell so much more erotic. His hands come up to your waist, fingers pressing hard against the supple skin of your waist, and he flips the two of you over effortlessly, not bothered in the slightest by his injury.

You gasp, looking up into his eyes as he holds himself on top of you, kicking his trousers down. to his ankles. Your left leg raises up and hikes over his waist, pulling him closer to you as you buck your hips. He grinds against you, his cock pressing hard against your clit, and you throw your head back in pleasure. A gentle moan leaves your lips and Geralt basks in the sound for a moment before lining his cock up to your slick entrance.

He pushes in slowly, grunting hard as your walls clench around him. You wriggle beneath him as he stops moving, his hips flush against your body.

You've never felt so full in your life. So complete. You look up into his eyes, mouth agape as he starts thrusting. He's gentle with you, tender, his thrusts long and slow, making you feel every inch of his cock. Your hands come up and your fingers tangle in his hair, pulling his head down so you can kiss him again.

He groans against your mouth and starts thrusting faster, pressing against your g-spot with each thrust. You moan loudly, gripping his hair tight in your hands and throwing your head back while your back arches, your nipples pressing against his warm chest.

"Fuck," he whispers, teeth dragging across your bottom lip as his thrusts get hard. You whine and bring your other leg over his hip, urging him deeper. He fucks you deep and hard, teeth biting into your neck while you pull his hair, the coil in your belly tightening.

He pulls your left nipple into his mouth, teasing the bud with his teeth, and that's all it takes to send you flying over the edge, the coil in your stomach snapping as you cum.

The way your pussy squeezes him so tightly has him cumming not long after, shooting warm bursts deep into your body.

The two of you pant together, coming down from your highs slowly but not breaking apart from each other. He lies on your chest, supporting most of his weight to save you from being crushed while you massage his scalp gently.

He slowly pulls his soft cock out of you, groaning at the way you squeeze him one final time. You push yourself into a seated position as he cleans himself up beside you, your bottom lip tucked between your teeth as your body tries to pull you to sleep. You watch as Geralt gets dressed, graciously taking your clothes from him and covering yourself up. He lies back down next to you and sighs heavily, his eyelids falling closed.

You lie down, scooting closer to him than before and you can't help but smile when he wraps an arm around your waist.

You fall asleep, Geralt's strong frame keeping you warm as the fire dies out, leaving the two of you in the darkness.

#geralt x reader #geralt of rivia #reader x geralt #geralt x reader fic #geralt of rivia x reader #the witcher #the witcher fanfic #the Witcher x reader #reader x the witcher #elf!reader #geralt x elf!reader #geralt x elf #elf au

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blossom-hwa · 4 years ago

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Fall [Spiral] - MARK |Swing!|

There are some spoilers for Captain America: Civil War in this chapter, so spoiler alert! Once again, thank you @deathbykpopboys for inspiring this series :)

Pairing: Mark x fem!reader

Genre: fluff, angst, Spiderman!au

Triggers: a lot of cursing, violence, PANIC ATTACKS IN THIS CHAPTER (I in no way meant to romanticize these triggers. If you feel I did, please let me know and I will fix it.)

Word Count: 7.5k

As the year goes on, the world starts crashing down.

Arc { 1 - Drifting Apart | 2 - Coming Home } >> Fall { 1 - Spiral | 2 - Rise } >> Release

NCT Masterlist | Swing!

A couple of weeks pass. Dr. Charles Roberts and several other people are arrested. Things go more or less back to normal here at home. There’s a shitshow happening on the international scale – someone fucking killed the king of Wakanda and tried to take out a whole UN conference with him, and apparently the Winter Soldier is involved, what the fuck is up with that – but at home, things are okay.

The university labs are more or less fixed, so you start heading back there after school. It takes some time to get used to the new layout of things, but the explosion didn’t touch too much – Wang’s lab was much farther down the hall. AcaDec takes a new member, a sophomore named Ash, who’s smart but can’t seem to really fill the hole that Lia left on the team. You find that you do miss her presence.

Patrolling is no longer filled with stewing silence. Instead, it’s comfortable again. Peaceful. You and Mark don’t swing through opposite sides of the city now. You still split up to cover more territory, but you’re never more than a few minutes of swinging from each other.

The cuts heal. The bruises fade. The scars appear, barely paler than your skin, and far fewer of them than you’d expect. Johnny and Mei don’t suspect anything.

So things are back to normal. For the most part.

Until they aren’t.

You and Mark are walking home one day from the bus stop. It’s early evening, but you don’t plan to patrol tonight. Mei just got a raise, so Johnny’s planned a little celebratory dinner for all four of you. It’ll be fun.

Mark stops first. Lost in thought, you don’t notice until you bump into him. “The fuck, Mark –”

And then you see the fanciest, sleekest, most bougie fucking car you’ve ever seen, parked right in front of your shitty little apartment.

You’re burning with questions as the two of you ascend the stairs. How did anyone here get the money for that car?

“Johnny!” you yell, flinging open the door.

“Hello to you too, troublemaker children,” Johnny calls from somewhere. “How was school?”

“Boring,” Mark yells.

“Also boring here, but Dr. Wang made something explode on accident in the lab today.” You carefully leave out the part where the explosion brought you back to that terrifying night on the beach and you spent a couple seconds hyperventilating before one of the graduate students, Yuta, helped you calm down. You drop your bags in the kitchen, then come out to the small living room. “But there’s this crazy fucking car parked outside –”

Mark’s footsteps stop behind you.

You fall silent.

Because Tony fucking Stark is sitting on your tiny ratty couch next to Mei and Johnny, scrutinizing one of Mei’s (probably awful) cookies between his fingers. His eyes flicker toward you, then Mark, and he smiles. “Oh, Ms. L/N, Mr. Lee!”

Mark mumbles something under his breath that sounds something like “dreaming.” You pinch yourself.

Definitely not dreaming.

“Um.” You take a breath, trying to wrap your head around the fact that Tony fucking Stark is in your living room. “Hi?” You wince when that comes out more like a question than a greeting. “I’m Y/N…”

“I’m Mark,” Mark echoes, sounding vaguely dazed.

“Tony,” Tony fucking Stark introduces himself. As if any of you here didn’t know who he was already.

“Uh…” You rack your brains for a polite way to say what you’re thinking. “What… what are you doing here?”

Nice, Y/N, real nice. That’s the definition of polite right there.

“Well, it’s about time we met.” Tony fucking Stark starts winking. Actually, you can’t tell if it’s just a tic or if he’s actually winking. “You’ve been getting my emails, right?”

Definitely winking.

“Yeah…?” Mark replies. “Right. Um, emails about the…”

“You didn’t tell us about the grants!” Mei bursts out.

“Right, the grants.” You swallow. “Um…”

“September Foundation,” Tony fucking Stark supplies. “Research projects. Remember when you applied?”

You nod mutely, feeling slightly sick. Johnny looks something between super elated and incredibly proud and utterly betrayed. He catches your eye and mouths we’re talking about this later.

Something inside you wilts and dies.

Tony fucking Stark smiles. “Well, I approved!” He puts down the cookie. “So now we’re in business.”

“Do you visit all the people to whom you give grants, Dr. Stark, uh, sir?” Mark asks timidly.

“Oh, please don’t call me Doctor. I don’t like that. Mister is fine. And no, just a few.” Tony fucking Stark – you need to stop adding “fucking” there like it’s his middle name – winks again. “We don’t usually give grants to high schoolers, you see, so every time we do, we do something a little special.”

Do you usually do special things for high schoolers who never applied for your grant in the first place?

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Johnny pipes up. He pouts slightly, and you want to melt into the ground out of embarrassment. Why is he pouting. “What’s up with that?”

“Well, uh…” You bite your lip, racing to come up with a believable lie. “We didn’t actually think we were going to get it? Since, uh, on the website, it says that high schoolers are rarely given grants and are discouraged from applying…” You swallow. “So we just didn’t tell anyone we applied.”

Tony fuckin – Tony Stark looks at you appraisingly. You’re not sure if that’s a good thing.

“But even after you got it?” Mei looks between you and Mark. “You couldn’t tell us when you got it?”

Surprisingly, Mark steps up. “Um, well, we know you love surprises.” He scratches the back of his neck. “So we just wanted to wait for the… right time? To surprise you? Didn’t want to steal your thunder with the raise…” His voice cracks slightly at the end of his sentence. You stifle a snicker.

Tony fuck – Tony Stark picks up the cookie again and takes a bite. “This cookie is exceptional,” he says, winking at Mei.

He’s lying. Mei can’t bake. She can barely cook, and then only the most basic things. Why the fuck is he lying –

Oh, no no no, fucking NO, Tony fucking Stark is NOT flirting with Mei.

As it turns out, Tony fucking Stark is flirting with Mei.

You glance at Mark to see him looking extremely uncomfortable and ready to die. Johnny’s looking at you with an evil, amused smile on his face, so he won’t be helping. You decide to put Mark out of his misery.

“Okay, uh, so what exactly did we apply for again?” you say loudly. “Because it was a long time ago. I don’t know if we’ve started on new projects since then.”

“That’s what I’m here to hash out!” Tony Stark flashes a winning smile. “Can I get a few minutes with these two lovely children?”

A chorus of “Sures!” and “Of courses!” sounds from the two other adults sitting on the couch. You zip over to your room, ignoring Mark and Tony fuck – Tony Stark following behind, and immediately slam the door shut.

. . . . .

There are a few seconds of silence before Mark finally decides to cut the crap. “Okay, so, uh, neither of us actually applied for your grant –”

“Nuh uh.” Tony Stark holds up a hand. “Me first.”

Mark shuts up.

“I have a quick question of the, let’s say, rhetorical variety.” He holds up the latest Starkphone – shit, it’s nice – which projects a hologram of Mark swinging off a building and kicking a mugger in the head. You swoop down a second later, pulling another one out of a car.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck –

“That’s you, isn’t it?”

“No,” you snap. “No, that’s not us.”

Mark is ever thankful that you’re by his side, because there’s no way he could keep talk without stuttering right now.

The hologram video changes to Mark catching a speeding vehicle just before it crashes into a building, then to you dodging a hail of bullets. Tony Stark raises an eyebrow. “Look at you go. Impressive.”

“That’s – that’s all on YouTube, you know that, right?” Mark can hear your heart thudding and takes over. “Like, it could be anyone, obviously. Or anything.”

“Yeah, uh huh.” Tony Stark begins looking around the room. “Like those UFOs in Phoenix…”

“Yeah!” Mark nods quickly. “Exactly –”

And then Tony Stark flips up your mattress, revealing the suit neatly folded beneath it. “Oh, what have we here?”

Fuck –

You snatch up the clothes so fast Mark barely realizes you’ve done it. Your eyes are wide.

Utter silence falls in the room.

“So, you two are the spiderkids. Crime fighting spider-people.” Tony Stark raises an eyebrow. “Spider…lings? Spiderboy, Spidergirl…”

“Silk,” you mutter.

“Spiderman,” Mark mumbles. He thinks he’d like to jump off a cliff right about now.

“Not in those onesies, you’re not.”

Okay, that’s a low blow. Mark opens his mouth to retaliate, but you beat him to it. “Not a onesie if it consists of two articles of clothing,” you snap, shoving your clothes back under the mattress. “Can’t believe we were actually having a good day…”

You look like you’re going to start crying or screaming or both. Mark knows that look. It’s the look you get before you start getting really pissed.

He grabs your hand. “Calm,” he murmurs out of the corner of his mouth. Your body relaxes slightly.

Tony Stark looks over at the two of you, both eyebrows raised. “Dating?”

“No,” Mark snaps, ignoring the slight twinge he feels when he says that. “Now seriously, why are you here?” Tony Stark might be one of his technological heroes, but if he doesn’t get to the point soon, he just might lose it.

The billionaire genius mutters something under his breath that Mark can’t quite hear, even with his enhanced hearing. Something about “dating” and “yeah right.”

Mark’s stomach curdles. His cheeks feel hot.

Tony Stark sits himself down on the bed. “Just wanted to thank you two.”

“For what?” you ask.

“You don’t remember?” He raises his hand, fluttering it like it’s flying. “Crashing jet full of dangerous alien tech? Vulture man?”

Oh, right.

The knowledge must register on your faces, because Tony Stark continues. “I’d heard a little bit about the two spiders swinging around Queens at night, but that was what made me actually curious about you two.” He leans his chin into his hand. “So who else knows?”

“One friend,” Mark gets out. “That’s it.”

“Really?” Tony Stark jerks an eyebrow at the door. “Not the older brother? Not the unusually attractive aunt?”

“Okay, no. Just no.” Mark rubs his face with his free hand. He hears a soft, disgusted eep issue from your throat. “No, Mei and Johnny do not know, because if they did, they’d freak the fuck out, and then we’d freak out, and that would be very bad for everyone.”

“Mhm.” Tony Stark throws something. You catch it without blinking an eye. It’s a little canister filled with a sample of your web fluid. “You know what I think is interesting? This webbing. Tensile strength is off the charts. Who manufactured it?”

You swallow. “I did.”

“Interesting. The… web shooting things?”

“Me,” Mark says.

Tony Stark whistles. “And sticking to walls? How do you do that?”

Both of you wince. “Long… story?”

But Tony Stark’s already pulled your suit back out from under the mattress and is peering into the pair of darkened goggles you’ve sewn into the mask. Next to him, Mark sees you cringe. “Lordy! How do you see in these things?”

You snatch the mask back with more force than necessary. “Heightened senses,” you snap. “Sometimes feels like everything’s caving in on you. Goggles make it easier to focus.”

A beat of silence.

“Well, that confirms it.” Tony Stark stands up, only to place himself down on your small desk chair. “You two are in dire need of some upgrades. Systemic. Full-body. One hundred percent. That’s the other reason I’m here.”

Mark can’t deal with this while standing up. He sits on the bed. You follow suit.

“So why do you do this?” Tony Stark waves a hand at the two of you. “I gotta know. What’s your MO? Motivation? What gets you out of bed and into the streets to do the police’s job for them?”

“Well, first of all, the police don’t fucking do their job, so jot that down,” you hiss, fingers digging into Mark’s palm. “Second…” You soften slightly. “If you have the ability to help people. Stop crime. If you have the ability but you don’t use it, and then shit happens…”

Mark takes over when you falter. “Then those things happened because of you.”

More silence.

“So you want to look out for the little guy, make the world a better place.” Tony Stark raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

“Move over.” Tony Stark stands up, motioning to the space on the bed next to you.

You move over.

“Got a passport?” He sits down and raises an eyebrow.

Well, yeah. But the two of you haven’t traveled in a long time, so you don’t know if they’re expired.

“Ever been to Germany?” Tony Stark presses.

“… No?”

He smiles. “Oh, you’ll love it.”

“We can’t go to Germany,” you say, bewilderment etched across your features.

“Why?”

“We have…” Mark winces before he says it. “Homework?”

Tony Stark, Mark’s technological hero, looks supremely disappointed and nonplussed at the same time. Mark thinks he wants to die. “Okay, I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”

“Hey, I’m being serious!” Mark protests. “We literally took the SAT two weeks ago. We can’t just, I don’t know, drop out of school and go out of town –”

“Might be a little dangerous,” Tony Stark mutters, walking to the door. He places his hand on the doorknob. “Better tell handsome brother and Aunt Hottie I’m taking the spiderlings –”

A glob of webbing pins his hand to the door. Mark and Tony Stark swing their heads over to look at you.

“Don’t. Tell. Johnny. Or. Mei,” you enunciate carefully.

For a moment, there’s just dead silence, where Mark tries to figure out what the hell is actually going on and how his day went from being so boring to so eventful in such a bad way.

“All right, Silk.” Tony Stark nods, then points to the webs with his free hand. “Now get me out of this.”

. . . . .

You don’t know how Stark did it, but this suit literally fits you perfectly. Even as you’re hiding in your position, you can’t stop marveling about how smooth it feels against your skin.

It’s black and white, with a hood that keeps your hair back and a mask that somehow lets you breathe easily but is still tight against your skin. There are no visible holes for eyes, but some weird technology lets you see through the material anyway.

It feels perfect.

Tony Stark is a motherfucking genius.

A loud whooshing sound comes from the sky. From your vantage point, hidden inside one of the upper levels of the parking garage, you watch Iron Man and War Machine swoop down to meet Captain America in the middle of the airport.

“Wow, it’s so weird how you run into people at the airport,” Tony Stark says in the most deadpan voice possible, his helmet lowering to reveal his face.

You snicker slightly.

The two sides go back and forth for a bit. Mr. Stark didn’t explain the whole argument, citing the fact that you’re too young to understand (to which you bristled a bit), but he gave you your roles, and you’re not about to question him. Stay quiet and hidden, only come out if there’s actual fighting.

Mark, on the other hand, gets to do something you envy a bit.

He gets to take Captain America’s shield.

Just then, Mr. Stark yells the code word. “Underoos!”

You really stifle a laugh then as Mark swoops in, snatches the shield, webs Captain’s hands together, and lands on the roof of a nearby car.

“Nice job, kid,” Mr. Stark calls.

Somehow, even hidden behind the suit, Mark looks awkward. It’s both embarrassing and endearing at the same time.

Classic Mark. Can barely take a compliment. You cringe slightly as your best friend starts rambling.

“Well, I could’ve stuck the landing better, it’s just, uh, new suit – wait, no, it’s perfect, Mr. Stark, thank you –”

Thankfully, Mr. Stark cuts him off. “That’s good, kid.”

A beat of silence.

“Hey, everyone.” Mark waves awkwardly.

No one waves back. You cringe harder.

The awkward atmosphere turns serious when Mr. Stark opens his mouth again. “What are you doing, Cap?” He sighs so loudly you can hear it even from your hiding spot. “You’re being an idiot. You dragged in Clint, took Wanda from a place she didn’t want to leave, a safe place?” His eyes blaze. “I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart!”

You blink. What?

There’s more that you don’t understand. Something about turning over Barnes, no compunction about hurting people, and then Lang? Who’s Lang?

Apparently Lang is a small dude who becomes a regular-sized dude all in the process of kicking Mark’s face and returning Captain’s shield.

His suit looks like an ant.

You can practically hear the what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck running through Mark’s head as he stands up because you’re feeling it too.

“Two in the parking deck, one of them’s Maximoff,” Mr. Stark says. “I’m getting her. Rhodey, can you take Cap?”

Colonel Rhodes answers in the affirmative. “Got two in the terminal. Wilson and Barnes.”

“Cool. Spiderling? Got that? Keep your distance and web them up.”

“Yeah,” Mark replies, eyes narrowing. He jumps onto the terminal glass.

You race out of the parking garage, careful to stay hidden, then leap across to the terminal in plain sight to many yells of confusion on the ground below. Someone yells, “There’s another one?”

You smirk. “Ready?”

. . . . .

Mark thanks every god he can think of for his sticky abilities as he races across the glass, keeping Wilson and Barnes in sight. He lashes out with both hands, sending two strings of webbing onto the terminal overhanging, then shoves backward.

The momentum of his swing crashes him through the glass. He grits his teeth, waiting for the pain as glass shatters around him, but Mr. Stark has somehow made his suit so that the glass can’t pierce it, no matter how thin the material feels.

Genius.

Swinging through the new hole, you lash out with your feet and and Wilson goes down with a grunt. Another swing, and then Mark’s inside, ready to fight off Barnes.

He doesn’t even think when Barnes swings his arm. His mind flashes back to a fistfight he dealt with a few weeks ago, and on instinct, he catches Barnes’s fist in his hand.

The sound of metal hitting something fills the air. Mark looks, really looks, and sees that it was Barnes’s fist that made the sound.

“You have a metal arm?” Mark blurts out, unable to contain himself. “That’s so cool!”

And then Sam Wilson, apparently recovered from your kick, swoops in and lifts Mark right off the ground. As he tussles with the Falcon, Mark hears you engage Barnes and yell, “Shit, that metal arm really is awesome!”

See? He really can’t be blamed for how cool a bionic arm is, right?

Wilson twists around in midair, giving Mark the opening he needs to attach to the ceiling and swing out of his reach. A terminal sign falls under his weight as he leaps across steel beams, narrowly avoiding blasts of Wilson’s gunfire.

“DUCK!” you scream from farther below.

Mark’s danger sense already warned him, but your added reminder is helpful as he flattens himself on the beam, just in time for the ripped-off billboard to sail over his head like a large frisbee. “Get out of the way!” you yell, leaping onto the same beam just in time to web up Falcon’s chest, sending him spiraling to the floor. As he goes down, Mark webs up the engine pack on his back, then sticks him to the glass barricade around the escalator.

“Those wings carbon fiber?” you call, clinging to one of the directory posts nearby.

“This stuff coming out of you?” Wilson looks at the webbing on his hands in disbelief.

Mark fully ignores him. “Well, if it is, that’d explain the rigidity-flexibility ratio, which is fucking awesome.” You make a noise of agreement.

“I don’t know if you’ve been in a fight before, kid, but there’s not usually this much talking,” Wilson growls.

You snort, beckoning to Mark. “Well, if he wants to be unfriendly, guess we’ll just have to hack up the blueprints later.”

“My bad,” Mark echoes, then leaps back into the rafters as Barnes comes barreling over. One string of fluid and a well-placed swing later, he’s crashing through the glass escalator barrier, sending both men to the ground. From your position on the ceiling, you web them down before they can get back up.

“Hi hello, sorry about this, but all we had to do was impress Mr. Stark.” You shrug, leaping down to crouch next to him on another directory post. “We’d love to talk some more – especially about that bionic arm, that’s so cool, like the wings are cool but the arm is better, but –”

Mark sees Wilson’s hand move before you do. Just as you send out another string of webbing, something flies out, catches it and drags you out of the glass. “Oh, come on!” he hears you yell.

He tries to think of something clever to say to the pair lying on the ground before leaping off to follow you, but all he can come up with is, “For fuck’s sake.”

Mark doesn’t yell that aloud. He just mutters it under his breath before following you out of the terminal.

. . . . .

The rest of the fight, to put it lightly (and in Mr. Stark’s words) is a shitfest.

You think that you and Mark did fine, if there’s even a way you could measure fine in this kind of scenario. You guys actually manage to fuck around with Captain America for a bit until his physics-defying shield clocks Mark’s face.

Something rips apart in your chest during that one horrible second where Mark goes down and you can’t tell if he’s alive or dead. Inwardly, you swear that if Captain America killed your best friend, you’ll murder him, symbol of America or no.

Mark turns out to be fine. He rolls over and just gasps at the sky. You yell at him to stay away and then Captain America drops a passenger boarding bridge for planes onto your head, nearly causing you to spiral into memories of that time Adrian Toomes sent an entire building crashing down on you and Mark.

(“You got heart, kid.” Captain America looks at you appraisingly as your knees buckle under the weight of the bridge. “Where’re you from?”

Between a pounding heart and spiraling thoughts, you somehow manage to answer. “Qu-Queens.”

“Brooklyn.”

“As if –” you gasp, trying to head off the increasing panic – “my history teacher from Brooklyn didn’t repeat that bit of information about you twenty times in the space of one fucking hour.”

You’re not sure, but you think Captain America smiled at that.)

No, you two aren’t the problem. After Mark helps you out from under the bridge and uses his brilliance and love of Star Wars to come up with a fantastic plan to take down a now not-tiny Ant Man (“Okay, anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they’d like to disclose? I’m open to suggestions.” “Uh, no abilities here, but I’ve got an idea?”).

Ant Man’s hand eventually smacks you and Mark down. Mr. Stark then forces you to stay down with the threat of leaking your spidery secrets to Mei and Johnny, so you two limp out of the picture.

By the time Mr. Stark comes back to collect the two of you – Mark has a splitting headache, and you think you’re on the verge of an anxiety attack or something – the fight’s over. Captain and Barnes have escaped. The other “rogue” Avengers are going to some high-security prison. Colonel Rhodes might possibly be paralyzed.

Mr. Stark doesn’t look great when he tells you two the news. You think you’re just going to pass out.

Two perfect scores on the SAT cheer you up slightly. Johnny and Mei video call in the hotel room in Germany to congratulate you. But Mr. Stark’s anger at Colonel Rhodes’s state – well, more like anger at himself for not having saved his friend – dampens your moods more than slightly.

Mr. Stark apologizes to the two of you back at the hotel. “I’m sorry, kids.” He sighs, rubbing his forehead. “I didn’t think this was really going to come to blows. I shouldn’t have brought you in, though.”

Neither you nor Mark knows exactly what to say to that other than a slightly concussed, “It’s fine.”

You get to keep the suits. Mr. Stark demands you let him know if anything malfunctions, though you have a feeling he’ll know anyway. He designed the suits – there’s no way he wouldn’t install some sort of tracking device or whatever that would let him know how damaged it is.

This Mr. Stark is a far cry from the cocky, flirtatious one you met back at the apartment. Here, you see a softer, more broken side of the confident guy that makes an appearance on TV. He’s nice, you realize. Kind. He’s got a lot of baggage, but he’s trying to do what’s right.

And isn’t that just what you and Mark are trying to do?

Mark’s concussion heals quickly. Mr. Stark postulates that your spider bites gave you speedier healing, which would make sense – now that you think of it, your cuts and bruises after that disastrous homecoming healed rather quickly, quickly enough that Johnny didn’t really notice them.

Mr. Stark takes the two of you back home after a couple of days of rest in the hotel. He’s all cordial smiles when Johnny and Mei come down to get you guys. You’re supposed to go to Stark Industries every Sunday now for regular suit repairs, under the guise that you’re conducting research with that grant he gave you.

Now, you’re not stupid enough to go around publicizing your sort-of relationship with Tony Stark. The man’s practically a god. But someone from school apparently saw the two of you getting out of his car the day you got back from Germany, so now people have a lot of questions they want you answer.

During the space of one week, Flash tries a grand total of five times to bully an answer out of you. Mark has to hold you back from clocking him in the face after the fifth time. After that, you tell everyone you have an internship at Stark Industries, and even though that just spawns more questions, there’s nothing more you’ll say about it.

So life goes on. No one at school knows about your spontaneous, long-weekend trip to Germany. Johnny and Mei just think it’s a perk of being chosen as a September Fund grant winner as a high school student. Only you and Mark know differently, and that’s good. It’s what you decided in the beginning, wasn’t it? You even webbed Tony fucking Stark’s hand to your door to prevent him from blabbing.

Life is normal. You go to school, work in the lab, practice for AcaDec, and patrol. Life is normal.

Until it isn’t.

. . . . .

Mark remembers the exact day he saw the first article. It’s December 15, about a month after Germany. He’s just scrolling through his phone at lunch, half-listening to Haechan complain about something or another, when the story pops up on his news briefing.

Spiderman and Silk: Friends or Foes?

Curious, he taps on the link.

Later, as he sits in physics, shell-shocked, he’ll wish that he never bothered to look at it. He never really searches himself up – it’s just kind of weird. After the fight in Germany, the two of you are more well-known than ever, but when he hears mentions of Spiderman or Silk at school or on the streets, it’s usually good stuff. Or neutral, at least. He hadn’t really felt the need to see what people online have to say about him until that day.

Mark doesn’t know what possessed him to open that article in the first place, but he wishes it had never happened.

Because it isn’t a friendly article. It denounces you and him as half-breeds, some sort of escaped experiment gone wrong. It doesn’t actually pinpoint what experiment or the company that fucked it up – for that, Mark is thankful – but it really does hurt to see that people don’t see the good you two are trying to do, just your strange abilities.

They don’t even think you two are human.

Some of the comments defend the two of you, pointing out the enhanced abilities of other heroes like Captain America. But far more agree with the article’s words, even going so far as to demand the two of you be tried as criminals and put in prison.

That, Mark thinks, is bullshit. Neither of you have ever killed anyone, just knocked people unconscious and webbed them up. Compare that to the gunfights, the muggings, the rapes that could have happened, and he doesn’t think those comments are justified.

But they stay in the back of his mind, and when you ask him why he’s brooding on the train ride to the labs, he’s forced to show you the article. He’s forced to watch you read it, watch your smile fade, and watch you try to put your usual confident face back on. “It’s just an article,” you say flippantly, handing back the phone. “And I think we’re doing fine.”

Mark half agrees. It is just an article, he knows that’s true. But he doesn’t think you really believe that.

Hell, he doesn’t even think he really believes that.

Still, he tries to explain away the extra hour of patrolling he tacks on for himself every night. He leaves you out of it, at first – he just stays on the rooftop for a while longer until he’s sure you’re in bed, and then swings around for a bit more.

Until the night (well, morning) that he returns from that extra hour to see you standing on the rooftop in your pajamas, arms crossed.

“I’m not stupid, you know,” is the first thing you say when he guiltily lands in front of you.

And of course, now he has to let you go with him.

So patrols extend. Mark tells you that it’s just because he wants to make sure he cleans up as much crime as possible. You take that reason with a nod and a “sure,” because even though you believe Mark is a good person to the core (you’ve told him this many times), you also read that article.

You’ve also caught him reading more.

He feels strangely guilty each time you pluck his phone out of his hands and exit the browser app, raising an eyebrow. When that doesn’t stop him, you resort to giving him a punch every time you catch him.

“Are you trying to, like, classically condition me?” Mark complains, rubbing his shoulder. Yeah, he’s extra strong now, but so are you. And your punches hurt.

“Pretty sure it’s operant conditioning. And yes, if that’s what it takes for you to stop reading those shit articles,” you snap, punching him again in the same spot.

It’s hard to stop, though. Mark doesn’t know how celebrities do it. He’s anonymous – he can count the number of people who know his secret identity on one hand – but he still feels so much pressure from these articles to prove them wrong.

But that’s hard to do when they all contradict each other. Some complain that he does too much. Some complain that he does too little. Others just dislike him in general and he really shouldn’t pay attention to those, but he can’t. Day by day, he forces himself to do more – swing faster, punch harder, help more people, put more criminals behind bars.

What else can he do?

. . . . .

You’ve suspected something was wrong with you ever since that explosion in Professor Wang’s lab, the day Tony Stark came to your apartment. Explosions, though uncommon, are still a part of lab life. Usually you’d just look up, snicker at whoever did it, laugh if it was Wang, and get back to work.

That day is the first time you freak out over an explosion. It wasn’t even that big or loud, either. Mei has definitely caused bigger messes in her own apartment.

But it doesn’t matter, because suddenly, you’re back on the beach under a pitch-black sky, feeling yourself being thrown backwards as metal vulture wings tear themselves apart in a shower of beautifully dangerous blue and purple sparks.

Yuta, once you’ve calmed down, tells you that you were hyperventilating. That makes sense. You remember a burning sensation in your chest and your heart beating faster than you ever thought it could. When you’re finally calm, you’re shaking slightly, sweat beading your forehead.

At the time, you don’t plan to tell anyone about it. For all you know, it was just one isolated experience. It probably won’t happen again.

And then Captain America – who is very different from the PSA videos Coach shows you during PE – drops a passenger bridge onto you, sending you back under crushing concrete blocks. You can practically feel the dust clogging your throat and entering your nose as you struggle to respond to what the Captain is saying – because fuck if you’re going to show weakness to a superhero – and even though some part of your brain knows that what you’re feeling isn’t actually real, it feels like it is and that’s enough to start sending you spiraling.

Mark helps you out that time, helping push the bridge off of you even through his pounding headache. As you collapse on the ground, heaving, you’re not sure if he notices the imminent panic attack you’ve just managed to pull yourself out of. You really hope he doesn’t, because he doesn’t seem to be dealing with the same thing – flashbacks, panicking, hyperventilating.

What does it say about you that you are?

But once you get back from Germany, the panic attacks (you’re pretty sure that’s what they are – the symptoms seem to match, at least) subside. You relax back into your friend group, and even though school is more stressful than ever, things feel normal. You feel… fine.

Until Mark finds that article.

There’s a lot on your plate. Even before you got your spidery abilities, you were involved in a lot of things, most of which you haven’t given up because if you did that, a lot of people would get suspicious (or disappointed, which is almost worse).

You and Mark used to just not patrol on AcaDec practice or competition days. You also wouldn’t patrol on nights before big tests, or when you stayed late at the lab to finish something up. But now you do.

It isn’t that article, specifically, that causes you to double down on yourself and work harder than ever. That article was just about stupid things you can’t control, which basically consists of every ability you got after the spider bite. No, it’s the other articles, the ones that point out crime rates increasing and Spiderman and Silk not having enough of an effect on them, that first spawn the problem.

(You’re a hypocrite. You know that. You tell Mark to stop reading the articles because they’re bad for his health, but you read them too. You’re just better at hiding it.

It’s somehow addictive, reading the sickening things that people like to write about the two of you. It’s bad for you, and you know it. But you just can’t stop.)

Stress is a sneaky thing. It’s almost impossible to realize just how stressed you are, you think, until it’s too late. Johnny, when he was at university, put on a confident face for three weeks before midterms and then had a breakdown the day after he finished.

The same thing is happening with you, but you don’t notice it for a long time. The fact that crime rates are increasing just rests in the back of your mind, fueling the extra hours of patrol you do every night, even when you have tests or practice or research papers to write. Not to mention all your homework, too.

The rational part of your mind logically explains away the increasing crime rates. International-scale problems started increasing after the Avengers Initiative became public in 2012 because people believed they could go up against the Avengers and win. They drew the attention of aliens and evil public figures. It’s probably a similar thing here in Queens – people believe they can go up against you and Mark and win. You’ve caught their attention because you have the potential to take down malicious plans.

But what about the crime in other parts of New York, the places you can’t get to? Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t. Queens is big enough on its own. You can’t tackle Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx too.

What do people even want you to do? Everyone always says to just do your best and that’ll be enough, but why is it that once you get a few new abilities, that suddenly isn’t the case?

You can’t save everyone. As much as you want to, you’re only one person.

You can’t.

Then the first panic attack after Germany happens.

You’re at home. You don’t even feel terrible. There are no flashbacks or anything to trigger it, so maybe you don’t have PTSD.

(That conjecture is the one good thing that comes out of this panic attack.)

You’re just lying in your bed, resting for a bit before you go out to patrol, when it suddenly feels like your chest is constricting and you can’t breathe.

Time doesn’t seem to flow. Your heart beats wildly, you’re hyperventilating, and you honestly think you’re about to die. When you finally come out of it, your phone tells you you’ve been stuck in your head for ten minutes.

It felt like so much longer.

You should probably call off patrols tonight. Your mind feels exhausted and you can barely drag your suit out from under your bed, but a recent article eggs you on – crime rates have been spiking recently, and New York’s newest spider vigilantes don’t seem to be doing much for it – so you wave Mark off when he asks if you’re okay and swing into the fading afternoon light.

The next day, you drag yourself to school feeling physically and mentally wiped out (someone decided a rape was necessary at around one in the morning, and you can still feel the poor girl trembling under your hands as you walked her to the nearest hospital) and you sit yourself down for a history test that will determine half of your semester grade.

It’s fine. The test is fine. You get an A, anyway. But the second you walk out of class, the chest pains start coming in again, and you all but sprint to the bathroom to safely panic in one of the stalls.

You’re not fine. You’re definitely not fine. A week later, someone bangs a locker door shut a little too loudly and you barely make it to the bathroom before you start hyperventilating. It’s like the world won’t fucking stop.

Then during winter break, there’s the fight with Johnny.

. . .

You don’t usually fight with your older brother. When you were younger and your parents were still alive, maybe. But after they died, the two of you only had each other, so the fights more or less stopped. Sure, there are the occasional petty spats that devolve into laughter and hugs, but that’s all.

Johnny isn’t stupid, you know. Even with speedier healing than normal, there are still sometimes cuts on your face and bruises on your arms that he can see. And one day, as you two sit down to dinner, he brings them up.

“So, what exactly do you do with your Stark grant?” he asks a bit too casually.

“Oh, I’m working on trying to synthesize that degradable plastic I started on with Wang,” you reply as coolly as possible. “Stark’s got a lot more supplies in his departments than Wang does, and for the most part, he lets Mark and I use whatever we need.”

“He really trusts you a lot,” Johnny says.

You don’t know what to say to that, so you just nod.

“Okay, I’ll cut the crap.” Your brother sighs, putting down his chopsticks. “I don’t like your Stark grant… internship thing, Y/N.”

Several thoughts fly through your mind, but first and foremost is what the fuck?

“W… why?”

“You’ve been hiding things from me ever since you started with him.” Johnny gestures to your face and your arms. “There’s no way you could get scratches or bruises like that from working in a lab. I don’t know what Stark is doing, or whether or not you’re a willing participant in… whatever it is, but if it were up to me, I wouldn’t have you working there anymore.”

“I’m not doing anything dangerous!” you protest, even though you know that’s a lie. Well, it’s not really in relation with your Stark internship. “I’m just – clumsy!”

“Clumsy is Mark’s thing, not yours,” Johnny snaps. “Why are you lying to me?”

Deflect, deflect, deflect –

“Why do you want me to give up the best opportunity that’s come to me in years?” you retort, pushing your chair back.

“You want to talk about giving up things?” Your brother stands up, eyes blazing. “I gave up everything after Mom and Dad died!”

Something cold settles in your stomach. It’s just as you feared. Johnny’s given up so much, and what have you done? Compared to him, you’re so selfish for taking the opportunities that land in your path – AcaDec, working with Wang and now Mr. Stark.

But you can’t give up what you’re doing with Stark. He’s been teaching you and Mark how to repair your suits, but you can’t do it alone just yet. You need to keep learning. You need to keep going.

How can you explain this to Johnny without revealing everything?

A tear slips out of your eye before you realize. Johnny looks slightly stricken, like he didn’t mean to say what he did, but you can’t look at him. “I’m sorry,” you mumble. “Sorry that…” You don’t even know what you’re apologizing for, you just know that you have to.

Then it clicks. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you everything,” you say around the lump in your throat. “If I could, I would. But I can’t.”

If anything, Johnny looks even more upset and confused than before. “Why can’t you tell me?” he asks, voice softer.

“I just can’t,” you say again, trying to convey just how impossible this whole situation is. “It’s not Mr. Stark’s fault. It’s not anything I’ve been doing with him. It’s just me. I… you can’t understand. Not now.”

“I think I should be the judge of that,” Johnny replies.

You shake your head firmly. “Not this time.”

Silence reigns. Your unfinished dinner bowls stand on the table, forgotten.

“I’ll tell you at some point,” you say, biting your lip hard. “You don’t have to trust me. I know how shady this all sounds. I’m not selling drugs or doing anything like that.” You try to breathe calmly. “I’m not going to stop my work with Mr. Stark. It’s important to me. I can give up other things, just not that.”

“Why?” Johnny’s talking again with an acid bite to his voice. “Is he like a father to you now?”

At that, you really flinch. “What?”

“Are you seriously replacing Dad with Tony Stark?” he snaps.

Your brain processes his words.

“What the fuck?” Now you’re angry too, and it’s taking all your effort not break literally anything in the room. Your fists clench into your sides so hard you can feel your nails biting into your palms. “How – how dare you?”

Johnny just looks at you like you’ve betrayed him. “It’s clear to see, Y/N.” His voice is softer, though no less cutting. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Memories of your own father flash through your head. You don’t know what Johnny is even thinking, but there is no way you could ever replace him. “You’re wrong,” you snap quietly. “You’re completely wrong.”

Then you walk to your room and slam the door shut.

The rest of winter break is awful. Neither you nor Johnny will apologize, and you spend a lot of time crying or heaving on your bed. It doesn’t feel like anything could get worse.

Then Mark gets himself shot.

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firewoodfigs · 5 years ago

Text

into each life some rain must fall

Six times he stands before a grave in the rain, grieving. But this time, courage is reborn. [5+1 Things]

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Riza Hawkeye is terrifying. This is the first thought that crosses Roy’s mind when he sees her slicing up the carcass of a chicken (or is it a duck?) without even flinching. So when it rains that day, he doesn't think it’s necessary to find her, in hopes of passing her an umbrella. Truthfully, he doubts someone like her is even capable of catching the common cold.

Perhaps it’s childlike bravery, or sheer stupidity, but Roy decides to search for her anyway. He can think of many reasons why this is an awful idea. First, Roy knows he’s kind of good-looking, the same way he knows he’s sort of ingenious and incredible. But he also knows his aunt is paying a lot of money for his lessons, and that he’s here to learn; not to chase girls or get a girlfriend. Second, he knows from his sisters’ stories that the female imagination is capable of unimaginable things, and he most certainly does not want her, of all people, to get the wrong idea.

If word ever gets out about the little stunt he’s about to pull, his sisters would never let him live it down.

But thunder rumbles in the distance, and rain pelts down incessantly, relentlessly. It’s enough to make even a grown man shiver. So he jogs over to her school in quick strides, searching for a socially awkward urchin with messy golden hair and a terrifying glare.

Roy only manages to find her in the end, after what must have been hours of searching. She’s not at school, no. She’s kneeling in front of a tombstone with a bunch of wilted freesias and roses, staring blankly at the inscription written on it.

He says nothing, only lifts his umbrella over her grieving form and lets half of himself get drenched.

Miss Hawkeye glares at him when she finally notices his presence, but accepts the umbrella begrudgingly nonetheless. As she turns around to face him, he sees rivulets streaming down her cheeks, and Roy wonders if it's the rain or her tears.

She rubs her eyes impatiently. “It’s just the rain,” she insists, even though the umbrella shields her from the raging storm overhead.

ii.

Master Hawkeye dies in his arms after begging him to take care of his daughter. He’s only twenty, halfway through the academy and still unacquainted with death. He’s too stunned to care about decorum and propriety and honorifics at the moment, and ends up yelling for Riza to come.

She appears a moment later, hair still a dishevelled, dampened mess; knuckles white from gripping the doorframe so hard. Her eyes are hollow and she’s too numb, too shocked to say or do anything as she stares at her father’s unnaturally still form.

For a long while, nothing he says seems to elicit any kind of response from her. It’s almost like she’s catatonic; trapped in another dimension where he can’t reach her.

He ends up taking care of the burial and the estate and everything else.

The funeral passes by in a haze. It’s a small, quiet affair. His master has never had many (or any, actually) friends to begin with, anyway, given his eccentricity and preference for seclusion.

Roy stays by her side before a gravestone again afterwards. It’s a sunny day. She doesn’t kneel this time; only stares quietly at the name engraved on it like it belongs to a stranger rather than a father.

To his dismay, he learns that, unlike him, she has no other living relatives or family to turn to. How lonely must it be, then, being trapped in this nondescript, deserted town all by herself?

So he offers her his contact details; his dreams and aspirations for the future as an excuse for them to maintain some semblance of a friendship. It’s probably closer to an acquaintanceship, given that they hadn’t really spoken much even during his stay at the Hawkeye manor. Either way, it’s better than being all alone, he thinks.

In exchange, Miss Hawkeye simply responds with a small, sad smile before asking if she can entrust her back to his dream; offering her own naive ideals and hopes for a better, brighter future.

And then, she unbuttons her blouse as soon as they return to the manor to unveil an intricate array begging to be deciphered. For all his brains and talents Roy can only stare, shell-shocked.

What the hell had his master done?

The sky begins to weep for the abuse she’s endured for the sake of bearing an alchemist’s legacy. But the misty rain can’t wash away the ink splaying out like blood on her back; the pain she must have suffered during the excruciating procedure.

“I’m sorry,” is the only thing he can say to break the silence that hangs over them like a death sentence, as he crosses the distance between them to ghost his fingers over the apology inscribed onto her back.

Miss Hawkeye offers him an impassive shrug. “It… it doesn’t matter,” she mumbles, but her shoulders are quaking and her hands are trembling as she grips on to her blouse for dear life.

iii.

The war finally ends. Rain descends from the heavens like drops of silver after what must surely have been hell on earth. A rarity, Roy thinks, where condensation in the air is caused only by blood, not water. A gift from the gods (do they exist?), perhaps. He lifts his palms heavenward, as if begging for the rain to wash away his sins; his scars and his very soul.

It doesn’t. A soldier like him now inured to violence and gore doesn’t deserve such a reprieve.

At the very least, though, the Hero of Ishval is grateful that it renders him useless. A hero. The title sits uncomfortably on his tongue, in his gut. He’s nothing more than a murderer; a monster, and he doesn’t want any medals of gold or glory emblazoned across his military garb. Not when they’re just symbols celebrating death and destruction.

Roy watches from the distance as a sorrowful silhouette with a familiar tuft of blonde hair kneels over a makeshift grave.

“An Ishvalan child, shot and left to die on the roadside alone,” she explains reverently with a forlorn smile, when he inches closer to ask whether it’s a fallen comrade.

He swallows thickly. God, if only he’d kept his ugly mouth shut back then. Then maybe she’d still just be shooting birds and rabbits and antelopes. Maybe she’d still be making chicken soup for dinner now (imagining the smell of cooked meat is enough to make him nauseous). Maybe she’d still be stuck in the raffish countryside; in that countrified, eerie manor all by herself.

Being alone, he thinks, is still infinitely better than being surrounded by cadavers in a deluge of blood-stained sand.

The… sniper (The Hawk’s Eye leaves an awfully bitter taste in his mouth, like he’s biting a bullet) clenches her fist when she’s done, before asking him for the impossible.

“I have a favour to ask of you, Mr. Mustang,” she begins. “Please burn and crush my back.”

“There’s no way I can -” Roy replies immediately, almost yelling. How in the world could he burn her flesh, with the alchemy he’d learnt from her back?

“Please,” she says, begging for him to liberate her from the bonds chaining her to a deceased man so that she can be her own person. Just Riza Hawkeye, not the keeper of her father’s secrets.

“Damn it,” Roy curses under his breath. She makes it sound like it’s her fault for entrusting her father’s research to him. But isn’t he the one who had abused the power entrusted to him; defiled her trust, destroyed her hopes of everyone getting their happy ending somehow?

And yet... endings like these only exist in grand castles and fairy tales. Not in arid, scorched deserts, and most certainly not in their horror stories of ruthless murder and bloody genocide and endless strife.

If only he’d been a little less foolish back then. If only.

Roy relents.

iv.

Rain pours down in heavy, roaring torrents when he burns her back. Roy wishes it could fall through the roof somehow; douse the fire eating her at her flesh so he doesn’t have to hear her suppressed screams that come out as whimpers as she bites down on an old, ragged cloth. It breaks his heart to burn her, a friend he’s come to cherish and appreciate through all the hell they’ve endured together over bland coffee and stale bread.

But he does so anyway. Because it’s what she wants - no, what she needs. He lets the massive downpour swallow the sounds of their cries; lets the wind carry away the lethal secret that has killed hundreds (or thousands?) into the dark, endless void.

“It… it’s done,” Roy whispers breathlessly at last. He removes the burnt tissue carefully, mindful of her quivering frame before covering them with sterile dressings. Then, he gives her the painkillers he’d gathered from the apothecary, which she eagerly swallows.

He doesn’t dare meet her eyes while she’s still conscious, fearing that he’ll only see hatred swimming in them. How could she not, after all that he’s done? He wouldn’t blame her, to be honest. She has every right to, and he deserves every ounce of it.

Fortunately, the medicine kicks in quickly. Roy kneels before her half-lucid form as her eyelids begin to flutter shut. God, he wants to beg for forgiveness, but...

“I forgive you,” she murmurs sleepily even before he says anything, before finally falling into painless oblivion. Roy stays by her side, nervously close and gentle as he wipes her forehead with a cool, damp cloth to make sure a fever doesn’t develop.

Afterwards, he goes to her parents’ grave to beg them for forgiveness; to repent for all that he’s done to their daughter.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t fulfil your last wish, Master,” he cries, filled with regret that he hadn’t listened to his warning back then. The stones only stare back at him wordlessly. Self-reproach swallows him whole, the way squalls of driving rain completely engulf him.

A little less than a month later, Riza Hawkeye marches into his office, stoic and stalwart with an unrivalled expertise in guns and an unyielding duty to the living and the dead. He’s inclined to believe that maybe, just maybe, he can make the necessary reparations and restitutions with her by his side. And so he makes her his personal adjutant; gives her the right to shoot his back if he steps off the path.

It’s the least he can do after he’s defaced hers, after all.

“Will you follow me?” Roy asks apprehensively.

“If that is your wish, then even into hell,” she states, not flinching in the least. He wants to tell her that she’s already been through hell with him, and she doesn’t deserve anymore of that.

Instead, he grits his teeth and looks on ahead resolutely, determined not to let her down this time.

Brigadier General Maes Hughes is buried on a relatively bright afternoon. The sun shines as birds sing and flowers begin to bloom. The spring sky shimmers overhead in a vibrant, cheerful shade of blue like it’s paying an ode to his sprightly nature.

And yet, the ceremony is distinctly somber: it’s filled with soldiers who aren’t allowed to break protocol and say their eulogies and prayers; a wife whose heart is torn asunder, who still yearns for him to return home, and a child who’s far too young to understand that he’s not coming back.

Colonel Mustang stands at attention as the soldiers lower his best friend six feet under. His stomach coils as his heart wrenches. He feels like throwing up again. A part of him wishes his body would stop behaving in this manner so that he can at least attempt to convince himself that this isn’t real; that it’s just a feverish dream which will be chased away by the morning light.

But it’s real. It’s not a dream. Because Elicia, darling Elicia is crying for her father. “Why are you burying Papa?” she yells. “He has to return to his work!”

Roy only barely manages to stop himself from grieving aloud. Years of military training, perhaps. He continues watching quietly as the bugle sounds off in Hughes’ honour instead, and waits for everyone to leave before saying his piece.

Well, almost everyone.

“... Are you alright?” His Lieutenant asks.

“Yes,” he answers unconvincingly. “It’s… it’s a terrible day for rain.”

She looks up at the vast horizon above them, a pretty pastel pink with tender ribbons of lilac streaking across. “It’s not raining -”

“Yes, it is,” he whispers, before donning the military cap once more.

Thankfully, Hawkeye understands. She gives him a moment to grieve, not bothering with senseless platitudes or empty sympathies. A crow caws in the distance, calling for the departed soul of his friend as he stands, uniform dry but cheeks inexplicably damp.

“Let’s go, sir. It’s getting chilly here,” Lieutenant Hawkeye calls gently. Colonel Mustang nods and obliges, leaving his best friend behind in the setting sun.

Daybreak arrives once more, like clockwork. His eyes are raw and red and swollen shut as he mulls over the consequences of ditching work for the day.

Hawkeye turns up at his doorstep with freshly baked bread and a warm cup of coffee just then: the morning light that offers him a brief respite from grief.

vi.

It’s pouring this time as he stands in front of Hughes’ grave. Somehow, it always does whenever he stands alive before death.

The sky and rain are like sackcloth and ash, Roy thinks, as it falls on his shoulders and shrouds him from the rest of the world in a sad, pearly grey. But he’s been so scared and frustrated and exhausted over the past few months - from losing his closest friend, to dealing with a government corrupt to its very core and an impending nationwide catastrophe - that it’s a welcome relief.

“It’s almost time, Colonel,” comes a gentle voice in the midst of the gloomy darkness.

The downpour gradually lessens into a soft drizzle.

It’s impossible to miss the scent of her, lavender and petrichor masked beneath gunpowder even in this graveyard reeking of death. And it finally dawns upon Roy then, why the time they’d spent apart had felt like an eternity; why it’d pained him so badly like someone was ripping his innards out. Because he loves her. He loves her so much that it pushes out through every fiber of his being; that he almost can’t contain the urge to kiss her; hold her, keep her in his arms forever.

Behind him, he hears her feet shift subtly. Her breathing is weary and slightly laboured. A well-timed reminder that she’s very much alive, not buried underneath soil like the other rotting corpses in this god-awful place.

Roy bites on his lips, hard, to restrain himself from crushing them on hers. They don’t need any more fires between them when they already have enough to extinguish.

But she’s here now, at least, and that’s more than enough. It’s enough for him to keep moving forward despite having buried a part of himself alongside the man he’d seen as a comrade, a friend and a brother. It’s enough for courage to be reborn; for him to face another day with strength and hope.

“Let’s go, Lieutenant,” he says at last, a genuine smile crossing his features for the first time in months. She hesitates for a moment before trailing behind him, footsteps quiet and steadfast. And when they depart the land of the dead (together) to meet the maelstrom awaiting the living he’s not afraid anymore.

#royai #royai fic #royai fanfic #5+1 fic #5+1 things

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