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justkending · 3 years ago

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Everest. Chapter 9.

Series Summary: She was done and retired. After Thanos and after the battle of a lifetime, she had called it quits and had distanced herself from the Avenger lifestyle. But word finds her that someone from her past is in danger. What the journey entails was never one she wanted to face nor one she saw becoming her reality again. The rollercoaster that comes with fighting evil odds arrives on her doorstep not leaving much room for a no…

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 5600+

A/N: I’m so sorry about this being late! My wifi went out the other day and I’m just now getting to posting since then. In saying that, I briefed through this chapter once, so please don’t pay mind to any typos! I’m going to fix them asap. Besides that, ENJOY and as always, let me know what you think!!!!! xoxooxo

Chapter 9:

A week had gone by. A week where Bucky felt like he was completely and utterly out of his realm.

He wanted to lend a hand, but Nat had turned into a mama bear about Y/N's recovery. She turned down missions, kept her guard up for who visited her, and only gave short and bullet-pointed notes on how she was progressing. Which led Bucky to believe it was going as well as they had expected.

There had been a few occasions Nat had allowed Sam in after he pestered her to give him permission, and Bucky and Steve had asked him how she was; he said she wasn't responsive and still hadn't healed herself.

Bucky had managed to peek around the corner the last time the doctor visited, eavesdropping as he hid and overheared the rundown of her recuperation.

"She'll be fine. Right now, it's more about the grieving process than anything else. Her genetics and mutations help her heal faster than most, even without the intention of doing it herself, so a lot of the injuries are weeks ahead in the healing process than most. She should be back to normal minus a little soreness by the end of the week."

"Thanks, Doc. It's greatly appreciated," Nat nodded before he walked away. He watched Nat take a deep breath and somehow plaster a gentle smile on before going back into the room.

He wanted to help. He wanted to fix it all. He did. But the kind of help she needed at the moment was not the same as the typical help of going and punching a guy for stealing government information.

It's not like grief was anything new to him. Hell, he grieved a lot, given his past. He grieved the life he could have had, the innocents he harmed, the families he affected, the choices he could have made... The list went on. But helping someone else navigate grief when you're still trying to solve the impossible equation yourself, seems impossible.

The only thing Nat had really let him help with, given the multiple times he had offered, was to take care of Ryker.

Y/N was never in the mood to leave her room, and her poor companion hated to leave her, but he still needed fresh air himself and bathroom breaks regularly.

Bucky seemed to be the only person whom he'd let peel away from his spot by her side. He made sure he still got exercise, food, and water, bathroom breaks early in the morning, late at night, and a few times during the day when Nat would lure him out of the room. They had bonded actually pretty well, and Ryker had formed a close bond with Bucky.

Currently, Nat was changing her sheets and forcing Y/N to at least sit on the balcony as she straightened things, so Bucky and his new furry friend were lounging in the living room. Bucky had put a movie on for background noise, and Ryker was lying against his side on the couch while they waited for the all-clear to come back.

The rottweiler had been sad and mopey the past week, so when he perked up and stared at the living room doorway, Bucky sat up at the change in manner.

"What is it, boy?" Bucky asked, looking in the same direction, then back at the dog whose nose started to twitch. "Ryker?" The dog jumped up, barked, and ran straight toward the kitchen without warning.

Bucky was quick to his feet, shouting the dog's name, hoping neither of them would have to be in defense mode. In wearing socks, he slid past the kitchen threshold and caught himself before turning into the room where Ryker was jumping up on someone.

"Ryker!" he shouted, rushing to aid the person before seeing who it was.

"It's ok," a giggle came out from the redhead. "I missed you too, buddy." She cooed at the giddy pet.

"Wanda?" Bucky quirked his head to the side.

She turned, showing her face. She had slightly bent down, accommodating the dog jumping up and down before he finally settled to nuzzling her knees with his nose and making happy noises at her.

"Hey, Barnes," she grinned softly. "Long time no see."

He let out a small chuckle and walked over to her, giving her a bear hug, which she returned.

"How are you, kid?" he chuckled with his head resting on top of hers.

"I'm good. We're good," she corrected with a small laugh.

Vision came into view with a few bags in hand, and Bucky smiled at the other friend as Wanda pulled away to help him. Even though Vision refused, Bucky ended up taking one of the suitcases instead.

"How long has it been?" he smiled, shaking Vision's hand and a pat on the back as they exchanged the luggage.

After the whole Accords signing, Bucky and Wanda became close after joining Steve's side of things. Unfortunately, they didn't get to know each other much after Wanda went into hiding and Bucky went to Wakanda. But after the snap and the final battle, healing and handling the aftermath of what they sacrificed, they had much to bond over.

"Wait," Bucky analyzed their attire and began putting the pieces together. "Who told you?" He said knowingly.

"Nat," Wanda answered with her own understanding look and pursed lips. "We had plans to come in the next month or so for a normal visit, but given the situation, I," she paused, looking back at Vis. "We wanted to help."

Bucky nodded, knowing what she meant.

"How, um, how is Captain Lavelle?" Vision stepped in, wrapping an arm around Wanda's shoulder. All the extra suitcases had been sat to the side as they talked.

It was the first time he had heard anyone call her Captain, and he wondered why no one had used the title before. Had she denounced it at some point?

"I wish I could say," Bucky scratched the back of his neck as he looked down where Ryker had positioned himself next to Wanda, effectively getting small head scratches from her. "Nat's been running a tight ship and hasn't let anyone in for the most part. I've been helping out with Ryker where I can, but that's as far as I've been given reign in," he nodded to the dog.

Wanda hummed as she bobbed her head, looking at the pet leaning on her side before going back to Bucky. "Nat updated me somewhat. From what she's said, I'm likely going to have to go about this in a different manner." Her tone showed what Bucky knew well enough to be tough love. "You never knew her before you all visited her house?" Nat had filled them in on everything, apparently.

He shook his head no. "It's a new..." How did he word this? Bond? Relationship? "Friendship. Unfortunately, it's all been through mission-based things, but I'd like to think we've gotten to know each other enough to call it that."

Wanda smiled at that. "Well, thank you for being there for her." She seemed to pick up on their connection just by looking at him but decided to discuss it another time.

"Are you guys staying in your old room?" Bucky turned the conversation away from him.

"Uh, yeah. I'm going to go put my bags up and then-"

"I've got it, darling. You go and check on Captain Lavelle," Vis interrupted her. "I'm going to check in with Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner."

"It's just Y/N, Vis. We've been over this," she chuckled, nodding before patting her significant other's shoulder and beginning to walk to the hallway.

"Yes. Right," Vis nodded with a grin, showing he'd likely still not change the formality.

She rolled her eyes, reading his mind, and patted her leg for Ryker to follow her.

______________________

In Y/N's room, Nat was cleaning mindlessly in an already spotless space, likely from nonstop dusting, reorganizing, and getting to the laundry stacked up from the mission to today.

She had lit a candle and sat in the center of the coffee table. The balcony door was open, letting in fresh air, but Y/N had grimaced when Nat tried to open all her other windows, so most everywhere else up was low-lit.

It was exactly like Bruce had said when they had first set out to bring her back home."...When she feels something, she feels it intensely, to say the least."

Energy was her thing. With her powers, the con of being so intuned with the vibrations surrounding her resulted in major dips and jumps in energy levels. Y/N had happened to be in an excessively shallow dip that she couldn't and didn't want to climb out of.

The sound of a soft knock made its way through the thick door of her room. Nat turned quickly towards it, and when she looked at Y/N to gauge any reaction, she found her unmoved from where she was spaced out, lying on her side, staring at the same antique painting hung on the opposite wall.

She sighed, put down the latest chore she'd given herself, and moved for the door.

"Hey," a soft welcome followed, and Nat smiled at the friendly face before they shared a hug.

Ryker, who had been attached to Wanda's side, knowing her destination, had rushed in at the open door and went straight to the bedside of Y/N.

"I'm glad you guys made it in. I hoped she would have sensed you and at least budged at your presence, but nothing..." Nat held on to her as they both looked back at the bed where the hollow body still lay unmoved and unbothered, even as Ryker nudged her hand limp on the edge.

"I'm going to take that as little to no progress today, still?" Wanda asked as she broke apart, Nat crossed her arms, and Wanda adjusted her jacket.

"More than yesterday," Nat answered, shutting the door softly but not making a move to Y/N's side yet as they debriefed. "I got her to drink three glasses of water so far today. And I haven't needed to remind her about bathroom breaks. She's been getting up on her own."

Wanda looked towards her friend, who seemed a simple vessel for a lost soul. She could barely see her behind the blankets she had cocooned herself into. From what she could see, unwashed and unmaintained Y/H/C hair paired with a pale face and remnants of bandages still delicately hiding her injuries peaked through the fort, barricading herself from the world.

Nat saw the pain grow in the redhead's eyes and attempted to distract her from the inevitable. "How are you and Vis? How was the flight back?"

It had been over four months of not seeing each other. Their first meeting had been spoiled by yet another unlawful death in their lives.

"Um, it was good," Wanda smiled softly. "We're good. I have a whole book's worth of things to talk about and update you on, but I'll save it for when we have time." She looked at Nat, who shared a sorry look.

"I'm sorry that-"

"Nat. You and I both know apologies for other people's actions are not something we do in our line of work," she cut her off, seeing a slight gleam of pride in her fellow teammate's eyes. A perspective the spy had taught her. "It sucks, but neither of us is the ones that need to be sharing condolences."

"You're right," Nat nodded, smiling simply before looking back at their friend, who now had Ryker lying across her feet and resting his head on the lump that was her calves. "I do hate that your coming back wasn't on better terms. Are you just as upset to be stepping in these halls as Y/N was when we dragged her back here?"

"I doubt I can reach the level of rage she likely had coming here, but I can't lie in saying it's a little hard being back," Wanda shrugged, and Nat nudged her shoulder.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll kick Tony's ass if he even gets a thought in that brain of his about asking a favor of you," Nat threw her arm over Wanda's shoulder and pulled her into a side hug. "Your only mission is to help me nourish this stubborn, hard-headed pain in my ass back to health," she lifted her head toward the bed.

Wanda shifted her head back and forth, hoping her plan to kick Y/N back into gear would actually work. Seeing her in this state didn't give her much hope, even after being warned that she was this vanquished.

"She's been asking about you," Nat whispered solemnly.

"Hm?" Wanda turned at hearing this for the first time. "You said she hasn't said more than ten words in the last week."

"Yeah, and at least eight of those words were about you."

A silent discussion was had between their eyes and facial expressions before Wanda moved toward the bed.

The closer she got to her energy, the more in Y/N's head she saw. The more her feelings and energy projected since she wasn't shielding them any longer.

Misery, anguish, grief, no sense of hope. All of those feelings multiplied by a million. Feelings that any average person's heart would have broken and shattered with no point of return. Death would have fallen on a human with that much pain.

Wanda closed her eyes for a second and centered herself before ever so gently sitting on the edge where Y/N was still staring off at the young ladies sitting in a garden in a vintage oil painting that she and Wanda had found at a thrift store years ago. Ryker moved to lay down behind her, acting like a body pillow as he comforted his human.

Without saying anything, she laid a quiet hand on the blanket that surrounded her. It took a moment, but Y/N turned her head just enough to see what made the movement. With a late reaction, her eyebrows furrowed before realization hit her.

In a groggy and soft voice, she asked, "Mirage?"

It was all she said, but Wanda knew her question of asking if she was real. The corner of Wanda's lip lifted, although no happiness accompanied it.

"Real," she replied.

No longer than ten seconds, Y/N's lips started to take the form of a pout, and her chin began to quiver. A tear started to form, and before it slipped, Wanda was already encasing her in a hug, folding over her body as Y/N began to shake and sob.

"I know. I know..." Wanda hummed, holding her friend tight and not letting her go as Y/N became unraveled, and every emotion and numbed reaction had broken through the dam and released with full force. "I'm so sorry."

Nat was still standing at the entrance with a sad look. She decided to give them a moment alone and grabbed the laundry she had piled together before quietly leaving the room.

A long stretch of silence passed, with Y/N sobbing in Wanda's arms and the auburn-headed friend crying with her. The two took the time to let their grief out together, and with understanding from another person who was close to Marley, it felt like the thousand-pound weight she felt she had been carrying alone was slowly starting to lift.

Forty-five minutes had passed when Y/N finally looked up at Wanda. Eyes swollen, nose running, hair disheveled, and clothes askew on her body. "I tried so hard. She wouldn't listen. She wouldn't let me-." she sucked in a ridged breath.

"I know. I know you did," Wanda nodded, grabbing a tissue and handing it to her while still keeping an anchoring touch on her arm. "She knew that too."

Y/N let out a bitter laugh and sniffled, using the tissue and disposing of it in the trashcan Nat had placed against her bedside. "We just got her back. Why did she fight me? She knew I could handle it. She knew we'd figure it out if she just let me..." Y/N shook her head in anger and then disappointment, unable to finish the thought she had repeated in her mind since the moment the building was nothing more than cinders.

"Sounds like someone else I know," Wanda shrugged, looking at Y/N with unphased eyes. Y/N gave her an unamused look before falling back into her bed, curling back into herself. "Hey." Wanda grabbed her hand, pulling her stubborn attention back to her. "You did what you could, putting in a 110% effort. You found her in less than a week compared to the months it took Fury and Stark to get anything on this whole case."

Y/N returned her comment with a frustrated shake of her head. "And what good is that if she still didn't get out. Again..." The last word said like a knife to the heart, and Wanda felt the ache as if Y/N had channeled her pain to her. A shock was sent through Y/N's body, and she jumped at it, giving Wanda a glare.

"Jesus, Wands-" she gripped her wrist from the shock.

"I know you're hurt, and I'm not asking you to stand up and get over it like it's been a decade to heal, but you need to realize what's already done can't be altered. Take your own practices you've taught me and use them as the tool they are." Wanda stated sternly. "Since when has thinking of all the things we could have done in our lifetime done anything but hurt us?"

"I want to hurt right now," Y/N mumbled with a stagnant look in her eye, avoiding eye contact where she knew Wanda would scorn her. Another shock hit her. "Ow! Stop it!"

"You are causing yourself pain outside of grief," Wanda said.

Y/N didn't reply to the statement she knew was accurate but instead pouted, turning her body away from Wanda. When no reprimand followed, she looked up to see a knowing look on her friend's face. "Stop looking in my head."

"When someone dies, they don't want you to spend every waking moment of the rest of your life thinking of all the things you could have done to prevent it. Your focus on the horrors in their last moments is an insult to what beauty they've created for their life. The beauties that made their life worth living shouldn't be hiding in the shadows or put in the back of the closet while their death takes the front stage. What honor is that?" Wanda's words, or rather Y/N's words of wisdom she had recycled, had made the hit she intended. Y/N stiffened just enough for her to notice. "Do you remember that mission we went on just a few years before the blip? The one where you got distracted trying to help Sam, and someone got a lucky jump on you? I thought I was going to lose you right there in the middle of a field in Taiwan."

"I told you I was going to be fine," Y/N sighed, annoyed by the story she loved to tell, reminding Y/N of moments when she was more stubborn than she cared to realize.

"Yes, and Stark has one of the most humble personalities in the galaxy..." It was now Wanda's turn to laugh bitterly, and Y/N summoned enough energy to roll her eyes. "Someone stabbed you all the way through your sternum with a katana, Y/N. I don't give a rat's ass how impressive your healing powers can be; you were far from fine."

"Well..."

"They twisted it so bad I could hear the tear of your skin from across the way before they pulled it out and slashed you in the side for extra measures," Wanda spoke up. "And we both know that you can only heal yourself when you have the energy to do so. So, despite people thinking you are practically immortal, you and I both know that was one of the closest times you had to being your last moment on earth."

"Yet it wasn't." Y/N's bitterness was becoming clear to Wanda. And a feeling of regret hit her. Regret that she hadn't let that cut be the end of it all. And end to the pain that would always trail her as long as she outlived those she loved.

"I understand it's not the same," Wanda assured, showing she knew where Y/N's mind had wandered. "I know you're tired of the war on your heart."

"Using the word tired is the same as calling Anthony humble," Y/N turned her eyes to her finally, and Wanda took in the dark circles that were pools of darkness below her Y/E/C eyes. Her joke was not paired with any kind of humor.

"Then I say again. What honor are you giving Marely by sitting and harboring the pain of her last moments instead of the love you gave her by taking her in?" Wanda replied. "If you were to have died, and I went about the rest of my life thinking only of the things I could have done to prevent what happened to you, even if it wasn't fully under my control, how would you feel?"

"I don't know. I'd be dead," Y/N said morbidly. When Wanda didn't react but instead held a bitch face, Y/N finally relented and shifted in her spot, bringing her knees closer to her. "You know how I'd feel."

"Say it."

"Why?"

"Jesus, do I need to give you some privacy to get the stick out of your ass before you answer the question?"

A shiver of amusement at Wanda's retort filled the space before dissolving.

"I'd say you know better than that," she finally replied, sending a bitch face back, hating how reasonable her friend was being when the last thing she wanted was to be reasonable.

Wanda smiled, knowing she had the rational side of her to finally come out, but that was just one step out of the multiple steps they needed to take to get her back to health.

"Now reverse the situation. If I know Marley, which I do, I know for a fact she would want you to accept her choice and move on. I'm not saying in the next twenty-four hours, or even a year, you have to be happy-go-lucky and unbothered by it all, but you need to accept that she made a choice. A choice I'm sure she would make again if the offer were to present itself. You and I both know Marley's heart and know her reasonings were her own to make and stand by." Wanda stood up and went to the edge of the bed. "Now it's time for you to make your choice. Even if you can't make it, consider what Marley would have asked for... Please." She offered her hand.

Y/N shifted her gaze to the hand that had pulled her out of all forms of trouble and helped her from so many pits she couldn't fathom escaping in the moments.

And eventually, she nodded.

"Can I take a shower first?"

"I'd actually prefer you'd take a shower," Wanda teased. "When was the last time you did? Before the mission?"

"Haha. You're a riot," Y/N took the hand and slowly left the fortress she had made for herself.

"Maybe a nice sugar scrub would be a good idea while you're in there, too," Wanda smiled as she helped Y/N out of bed. A shock went through her arm, and Wanda wasn't the creator this time. "Hey!"

"What? Don't like the taste of your own medicine there, Doc?" Y/N chuckled, standing up with a sigh. The stretch that followed seemed to hurt her as she cringed and staggered to the wall.

"Feeling like you've been hit by a bus?"

"More like hit with the impact of a city-decimating level bomb going off forty feet behind me, but close."

"Doesn't help you haven't eaten or moved from that bed in a week," Wanda furrowed her eyebrows, and Y/N avoided the shameful look she knew Wanda was casting on her. "Hmm, mmm," she hummed, seeing the childish shunning she didn't want to be a part of. "Nat filled me in on what her taking care of an unrelenting mountain has looked like. You're the worst kind of patient there is."

"Shut up. I'm fine," Y/N waved her off, moving toward the bathroom door.

Ryker let out a bark that if it was English, she was sure he would be agreeing with Wanda.

"What he said," Wanda shouted to her back.

A nice middle finger was thrown behind her as Y/N shut the bathroom door.

_______________________________

"Nothing, still?" Steve asked as he helped Bucky set the table.

Bucky had taken it upon himself in the hours of silence from all his other teammates to make dinner for everyone. He wasn't sure if Wanda had eaten since they arrived, and he knew Nat hadn't been looking out for herself as much while tending to Y/N. Then there was the patient herself, who hadn't eaten nearly anything in a week from what he gathered.

Steve had made it home from a mission he and Sam had left on earlier the day before. After hearing that Wanda was back, he decided to shift all missions to other agents and go back to staying in the compound for a bit.

Seeing Bucky finishing up the meal upon arriving, he offered to help set up once he unpacked. Sam was doing the same but had to finish up his debrief first.

"I haven't seen more than a glimpse of her when I drop Ryker back off to her room. And even then, I just saw a lot of blankets in a bundle on the bed. Couldn't even tell you if she was under it or not," Bucky responded.

"Any news from Nat since Wanda's been back?"

"Wands been here for 5 hours, closing in on 6. From what I can tell, Nat's giving them space and finally taking the time to take care of herself. Well, at least I made her take time for herself. She was about to start a second load of laundry and was doing research on something Tony's dredged up until I finally convinced her to take a nap. Not sure she's had any form of rest that didn't involve Y/N's couch in this last week."

Bucky placed a basket of bread fresh from the oven on the counter, and Steve followed with a cloth over it to keep them warm.

"Good. Knowing her, she wouldn't do it on her own. I'm glad you redirected her," Steve nodded, moving on to his next task as they caught up.

"I'm not sure how much redirecting it was but begging with her," Bucky shrugged, stirring the soup that was finished and waiting to be served. "I finished her chores so that when she inevitably comes back to them, she can't use them as an excuse."

"Which brings me to ask, have you been taking care of yourself?" Steve stopped in his motions and turned to his friend.

"I'm fine. Remember? All healed up and just been helping with Ryker where I can," Bucky answered.

"Glad to know physically, you're well. But you know that's not what I mean."

Bucky stopped in his action and turned to Steve, who was giving him a brotherly, I'll beat you up if you answer this wrong. And there is a wrong answer- look.

"I'm worried and anxious for her. There's no hiding that, but helping with Ryker has helped me feel a bit better. Even if it's not much in my eyes, Nat's assured me it's helping more than I realize." He sighed. "I don't really know what to do on this side of the equation. I know time is really all that can pass for this to be cleared up, so until then... I'm doing what I can, and I'm being patient."

Steve weighed whether or not his answer fit in the correct box he had created or not, but after a moment, he decided it passed and gave him a head nod in approval.

"You, on the other hand..." Bucky hummed before grabbing the ladle and pouring some of the soup into a bowl.

"What about me?" Steve countered, watching him carefully.

"Oh, so we're playing it dumb then, huh?" he shot back.

"I'm fine."

"Sounds a lot like my kind of. I'm fine."

"You saying your last 'I'm fine' wasn't a real one?"

"No, I'm saying I know the difference between a real one and a fake one."

"It's real, smart-ass," Steve jumped ahead of Bucky, grabbing for the bowls he had moved for, and took them down from the cabinet himself. "I needed to get my head on another playing field since I couldn't do anything here to help Y/N. At least Nat gave you a job. I was just pacing back and forth until I got updates."

"That's why you're taking on the extra missions?"

"I've been taking on Nat's duties in the missions. I knew she'd want to stay here and help Y/N, and let's be real, she's the better option outside of Wanda being here now. One less thing for her to worry about."

"Who's saying you aren't playing a role, then, huh?" Bucky raised an eyebrow at his friend as Steve handed him a bowl to fill, and Steve rolled his eyes.

"Touche."

"We're getting good at this pep-talk thing," Bucky joked.

"I've always been good at it."

"And I haven't?"

"I still get into shit I shouldn't."

"Oh, yes. I forget. That's a pep talk problem and not your dense head."

The two playfully pushed each other and murmured names at one another before the sound of another person joining them cut them off.

"Hey!" Steve placed the bowl he had managed to keep full amongst the brotherly squabble on the counter before moving toward the red-haired old friend. "Long time no see... Or talk, for that matter."

"Hey, Stevie," Wanda chuckled in his embrace. She didn't give away her knowledge if she had seen or heard what the two had been doing before. "It's good to see you."

They stayed in an embrace for a moment and only had about a minute of talking before Bucky noticed the figure coming in from behind Wanda.

He froze in his actions and straightened quickly but didn't take any further movement like the simplicity of a step would scare her off. Steve noticed her shortly after that.

"I convinced her to get some food in her," Wanda smiled, nodding her over. "Which it smells like you have something cooking already."

Y/N walked over to Wanda's side, and Steve could tell there was a hint of healing that had happened. She still wasn't a hundred percent. No. Far from that. But compared to the empty vessel she was as of last week, she looked... Alive somewhat.

Her cuts and bruises faded for the most part, but they still changed colors as if they had a few more stages to go in the process before they were completely gone.

Her hair lay slightly damp but uncovered by one of her everyday intricate scarf updos. She looked more human than they'd seen her in a while. Her power, which usually created the slightest glow around her to prove the energy she could bend at will, was too dull to see. She may be out of bed, but it was just step one in the recovery process; they had to remind themselves of.

Bucky's enhanced senses picked up on faint scents of florals and a hit of pear. As if the wet hair wasn't enough to hint, Wanda had gotten her to shower and wash off some of the disparity that had swallowed her whole the previous week.

"It smells nice," Y/N spoke up. Both the super soldiers were surprised by her vocals, considering word had been she had gone mute since the mission.

"Bucky made it," Steve replied, a smile growing on his lips at the progression he could see. "It's a wild rice soup. Want me to make you a bowl? We have bread on the table, too."

"Thanks, Barnes," Wanda smiled, helping herself and squeezing his shoulder as she passed him to grab a drink from the fridge.

Y/N nodded, and Steve ladeled a decent portion into a bowl as Bucky moved to grab a set of spoons out of a drawer. Wanda and Steve moved to the table as they moved for the butter already laid out for the bread, and Y/N stopped as Bucky handed her a water bottle before they moved over themselves.

A wave of thankfulness and admiration that she felt toward him shocked his own system when their fingers brushed as he passed the drink on.

"I'm sorry I've been MIA, but I've been wanting to say..." She froze like she was ashamed of her reaction over this week and hated how her downfall had affected those around her.

"It's all ok, Y/N. I'm more than happy to help in any and all ways that I can," he assured her with a small smile. "Anything at all."

"Thank you," she returned the smile, and their touch lingered a moment longer. TAGS:

Everest Tags: (if I missed you in tags, comment on this chapter to let me know:)

@ginger-swag-rapunzel @annazierden

Marvel Tags:

@thejourneyneverendsx @death-unbecomes-you @mythos-writes @srrymydood @xa-dia @redhairedfeistynerd @morganclaire4 @connie326 @captain-asguard @mollygetssherlockcoffee @teenagedreams-bucky @shower-me-with-roses @livstilinski @basicallylool @starryeyeseunbyul

My Lovelies forever:

@natura1phenomenon @lauravicente @kakakatey @traceyaudette @notyourtypicalrose @laneygthememequeen @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce @sandlee44 @thorne93 @thefaithfulwriter1 @essie1876 @greyeyedsmile14 @capsiclehan @xostephanie @averyrogers83 @awesomenursingstudent @gh0stgurl @cs-please @jjlevin @rainbowkisses31 @deannotmoose @their-bibliophile @kitkatd7 @willowbleedsonpaper @mariaenchanted @snffbeebee @couldabeenamermaid @rebekahdawkins @alyispunk

Bucky Barnes Tags:

@chloe-skywalker @charmedbysarge @jbarness @bellamy-barnes @katiaw2 @aikeia @stopjustlovethemcu @enchantedbarnes

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x avenger reader #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes avenger series #bucky barnes x y/n #justkending

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a-reader-and-a-writer · 3 years ago

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Never Threaten a Man’s Profit Margin

Febuwhump 2022: #18. Forced to Watch

Fandom: Altered Carbon, Takeshi Kovacs

Word Count: 2488

TW: Death, Cage Match with Swords, Forced to Fight

Thank you to @babblydrabbly for beta reading and to @spooky-ghosts for the idea!

@febuwhump, @lacontroller1991, @fairchildflag, @heresathreebee, @loverhymeswith, @merlehs

Takeshi Kovacs was better than this, but he had allowed himself to lower his guard for just a moment, and now you were gone. Slipped out of sight somewhere in the crowd of the Panama Rose Fightdrome. When you had told him that you had tracked a possible disciple of Reileen’s to the fight club, Tak had demanded you remain at The Raven and wait while he went to check it out. He had had dealings with the proprietor, Carnage, before and the ruthless fight promoter was not a man to be messed with. But you were every bit as stubborn as Tak and after a lengthy, heated argument, the two of you had headed to the fighting ring together.

Though you had never been to Fightdrome, Tak told you stories about the barely legal fights that occurred there. How stacks were uploaded into genetically altered mutants who fought against average people. How he and his previous partner, Ortega, had almost been killed by a fighter wielding a Reaper-infused blade. How rumors of fights to “real death” were plentiful and persistent though no one had ever been able to gather enough evidence to prove it.

And now you were somewhere amongst the mass of people waiting for the next fight to start. Alone. And his Envoy intuition was screaming at him that this was an extremely bad situation.

Just then, a voice called out from behind him. “So, we meet again, Elias Ryker…. Or should I say, Takeshi Kovacs?”

Turning slowly, he was greeted by the familiar plastic-like face, pale icy-blue eyes, and bright red swept-up hair of the owner of The Panama Rose. Suppressing a growl deep in his throat, he nodded at the man.

“Carnage. Still wearing that same creepy-ass synth sleeve, huh?” Tak scoffed, shaking his head.

The other man’s eyes narrowed. “You’re one to talk. Still wearing the skin of a disgraced Bay City Police Officer, I see.”

Tak shrugged, “Got used to it and once you make one clone, the process becomes exponentially easier. So, Ryker got his sleeve back and I got this. Seemed like a win-win for everyone.” He took a menacing step closer. “Now, where is my partner?”

“You mean the investigator who’s been snooping around here for the past few days? She’s around. I’m sure you will be seeing her very shortly.”

Takeshi took another step closer until he was almost nose to nose with the other man. “What the fuck does that mean?”

Suddenly, a loud clang from a bell sounded throughout the arena, and Carnage’s face lit up. “Ah, showtime!” With a wave of his hand, a door at the other end of the room opened and the next fighter stumbled into the fenced-in path leading to the center of the cage.

Horror and fear flooded Tak’s system as he recognized the figure. He whirled around to face Carnage, lunging for his throat. “You fucking bastard-”

But the fight promotor held up a finger as he took a step back. “Uh, uh, uh. If you want her to have a fighting chance –” he chuckled at the pun. “-I wouldn’t do that. I figured you might try to stop the match, so I implanted a little security measure into her neck. One signal from me and my boys deliver a shock to her system that will fry her stack. Instant real death. In addition to that, there are about twelve guns trailed on you at the moment. One wrong move, and you won’t live to see the outcome of the fight.”

“Why?” Tak hissed, shaking with rage. “Why are you doing this? She hasn’t done anything to you or your business. We’re just here looking for a suspect. It has nothing to do with Fightdrome.”

“But you see, it does. My clientele expects a certain level of anonymity and discretion while they are here. I can’t have a private investigator and an Envoy with the face of a BCPD officer snooping around, scaring off paying customers.” He began circling Tak, taunting him with every word as the Envoy regained his composure and stood rail straight, refusing to give Carnage the slightest satisfaction of seeing how much he was getting under his skin.

“Now, these people came for a fight, and I intend to give them one they’ll never forget. You might not put on much of a show given what I’ve seen you do against my mutants. You and the other girl with the enhanced arm. It was over far too quickly. But this one…. She's just ordinary, isn’t she? No enhancements, no Envoy skills. Just a scrappy young thing who had the misfortune of partnering up with you.”

“You know she won’t last in the cage with one of those things. It’s not a fair fight.”

“Come now Mr. Kovacs, didn’t you learn anything from your last visit here? I don’t play fair. I play to win. And me winning means ensuring an entertaining fight. So, when I saw your partner making her way through my crowd, obviously up to no good and trying to start trouble, I decided to update my fight roster. I told you last time, you never threaten a man’s profit margin.”

As he turned and began heading to the ring, Carnage called back over his shoulder. “I have to go introduce the fight, but I expect you to be right there when I am done. Or else the girl won’t make it through the starting bell.”

With the man now out of sight, Tak let himself react to the situation. Fuck! He needed to get you out of there and soon. The mutants bred for these fights were vastly larger and stronger than the most enhanced of humans, and Carnage had been right. Your sleeve was completely ordinary. You didn’t have the extra enhancements or training that had allowed Ortega and him to make it out alive last time. It was just a matter of time before you fell to your opponent.

You were the one person since Quell who looked at him and only saw the man beneath the sleeve. Even for the brief time he had been with Ortega, he had known she was only thinking about Ryker. And he hadn’t cared. But with you…. you had only met him once he was resleeved in this Ryker clone and you had never met the BCPD officer before. So, to you, this was just who Takeshi Kovacs was. And you loved every piece of him. It was something Tak hadn’t felt in over 250 years, and he would have done everything in his power to protect it.

But now for the first time in his life, Takeshi was helpless. If it had just been the guns trailed on him, he wouldn’t have hesitated about trying to rescue you. But if Carnage had been telling the truth about the shock to your stack, you could be dead before he even made it to the cage. So, unless he saw an opening during the fight, all Tak could do was watch and wait.

Carnage strutted boldly into the center of the ring as the crowd around the cage roared. When he reached the microphone in the center, his voice boomed throughout the space. “Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Fightdrome! Tonight, we have a small change from our regularly scheduled fight.”

As Carnage continued the introduction, Tak tuned him out and instead put all of his focus on your trembling form. He watched as your head whipped around, the truth of your situation finally dawning on you. As you frantically scanned the crowd, Tak knew you were searching for him. However, following Carnage’s instructions, he did not move from his spot no matter how much his body was urging him to run to your aid. He didn’t have any other options.

When Carnage finished his speech and left the arena, a door on the far right opened and your opponent entered the cage. The creature was at least seven feet tall, with massive horns sticking out of either side of its head. Its bare torso resembled a wall of muscles and each of its arms were almost as big around as your head. In each of its hands was a golden sword, one smaller than the other but both deadly looking.

As you backed up in terror, someone dropped a sword and shield at your feet. They were at least providing you with some sort of protection, a fighting chance. But Tak knew it wouldn’t matter for long.

Carnage reappeared next to him and once again, it took all of Tak’s Envoy training not to snap his neck. Instead, he kept his face and posture as neutral as possible. Carnage leaned over and said, “Five minutes. If she can last five minutes, I’ll end the fight and you both are free to go. But you try anything….”

Tak gave a single stiff nod as the bell rang out again, signaling the official start of the fight. Your opponent charged at you, swords raised. You managed to scramble out of the way, but just barely. Instead of hitting you, the creature plowed forcefully into the side of the cage, its horns becoming momentarily trapped in the chain-links of the fence. You swooped in and drove your sword deep into its side, resulting in a deep bellow of pain. But you only had time to remove the blade and dash away before the creature tore itself free. As it charged again, you ducked and avoided another blow.

“Your partner’s doing surprisingly well. She might even make it to the five-minute mark.” Carnage muttered after a few of these back and forths. However, just then a cry rang out as you blocked a particularly vicious strike, but the force of the attack knocked you to the ground. “Maybe I spoke too soon.”

Tak took a step towards you as his eyes flashed with concern and flickered to where you had landed, watching you rolling desperately to try and avoid your hulking opponent. And that one momentary lapse in composure was all Carnage needed to see right through Tak’s act. “Ah. So, based on your reaction it would seem she might be your partner in more ways than one…. Interesting. If I would have known that, I could have made this another love story fight. Thrown you in there with her. Those always seem to sell the most tickets.”

Tak couldn’t hold back anymore. He snarled at the fight promoter, teeth bared, “If she doesn’t make it, I swear I will tear out your stack with my bare hands and crush it into dust.”

But Carnage just smiled at the threat. “We’ll see.”

You had now made it to the four-minute point of the fight. So far, you had been able to block and dodge fairly well, but your body was completely drained. Tak could see you visibly shaking with exhaustion even from his vantage point. And that’s when everything went wrong.

The creature charged at you again, and you dove to the right. However, it was anticipating this and swung its massive horn deep into your side as you fell to the floor. With a screech of pain, you dropped your sword and shield and clutched at the bloody gash in your side. Your opponent stalked over to where you were laying and grabbed the back of your jacket, hurling you face-first into the side of the cage and pinning you there with its knee.

Tak pushed past Carnage, shoving his way through the dense crowd as he rushed to the spot where you were being held. He no longer cared about the rules or consequences, he just needed to get to you. When he finally managed to reach your position from his side of the fence, he grasped your hand through the links of the cage. Your gaze snapped to his, fear flaring in your eyes as you struggled to free yourself.

“Tak,” you whispered.

Before he could stay anything, he watched in horror as you gasped and violently arched back, the longer sword now jutting out your stomach. You collapsed weakly against the cage, but your hand still tightly grasped his.

You slowly lifted your head, blood dripping from the corner of your lips, and you managed to mouth, “Tak?”

But then your head jerked back, lips parting in a final gasp, as the second blade pierced your throat, directly through your stack. Instant real death. Your body immediately slumped, motionless, lifeless, the blades jammed through your body and into the links of the cage the only thing still holding you up.

“NO!” Tak roared as your hand dropped from his. Not caring about his own safety, he swiftly scaled the wall of the cage and dropped to the other side. Pulling out his gun, he shot the mutant fighter twice in the head before putting a third blast through its stack. And even before the body hit the ground, Takeshi was by your side.

As delicately as he could, he yanked out both blades and carefully lowered you into his lap on the ground. Brushing your hair off of your face, he gazed into your glassy, sightless eyes as they stared right through him. As he struggled to keep his composure, he reached out and gently trailed his fingers over your eyelids, closing them for good. Then he drew you in tightly against his chest.

This was all his fault. If he had just made you stay behind at The Raven like his gut told him to or if he hadn't let you out of his sight when the two of you entered the Fightdrome, you would still be alive instead of growing cold in his arms.

All around him, the crowd cheered and laughed, their bloodlust happily sated for now. But Tak’s was just growing stronger with each jeer and each shout. You had made him feel like more than a killing machine, more than a monster whose hands were drenched in blood. You had allowed him to imagine a different future for himself, one away from the constant violence and death. But that fantasy died with you, and now it was time for the Last Envoy to accept reality and embrace his fate.

Cradling your head in his hands, he placed a final lingering kiss on your forehead before he laid you down on the blood-stained floor. He stood up and walked over to where he had tossed the two blades that had ended your life. Picking up the smaller sword he had removed from your throat, he could see bits of your stack still stuck to the blade. Everything that you were, gone, reduced to a few broken pieces of metal.

And as his grip tightened around the hilt, Takeshi Kovacs swore to you that not a single person was leaving Fightdrome alive that night. He would make sure of it.

#febuwhump #febuwhump 2022 #febuwhumpday18 #forced to watch #fic #takeshi kovacs #takeshi kovacs x reader #takeshi kovacs x you #takeshi kovacs x f!reader #joel kinnaman #altered carbon #altered carbon season 1 #fightdrome #angst #reader death tw

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a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all · 3 years ago

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Never Threaten a Man's Profit Margin

Fandom: Altered Carbon, Takeshi Kovacs

Word Count: 2488

TW: Death, Cage Match with Swords, Forced to Fight

And now you were somewhere amongst the mass of people waiting for the next fight to start. Alone. And his Envoy intuition was screaming at him that this was an extremely bad situation.

Just then, a voice called out from behind him. “So, we meet again, Elias Ryker…. Or should I say, Takeshi Kovacs?”

“Carnage. Still wearing that same creepy-ass synth sleeve, huh?” Tak scoffed, shaking his head.

The other man’s eyes narrowed. “You’re one to talk. Still wearing the skin of a disgraced Bay City Police Officer, I see.”

“You mean the investigator who’s been snooping around here for the past few days? She’s around. I’m sure you will be seeing her very shortly.”

Takeshi took another step closer until he was almost nose to nose with the other man. “What the fuck does that mean?”

Horror and fear flooded Tak’s system as he recognized the figure. He whirled around to face Carnage, lunging for his throat. “You fucking bastard-”

“Now, these people came for a fight, and I intend to give them one they’ll never forget. You might not put on much of a show given what I’ve seen you do against my mutants. You and the other girl with the enhanced arm. It was over far too quickly. But this one…. She’s just ordinary, isn’t she? No enhancements, no Envoy skills. Just a scrappy young thing who had the misfortune of partnering up with you.”

“You know she won’t last in the cage with one of those things. It’s not a fair fight.”

Tak couldn’t hold back anymore. He snarled at the fight promoter, teeth bared, “If she doesn’t make it, I swear I will tear out your stack with my bare hands and crush it into dust.”

But Carnage just smiled at the threat. “We’ll see.”

“Tak,” you whispered.

You slowly lifted your head, blood dripping from the corner of your lips, and you managed to mouth, “Tak?”

This was all his fault. If he had just made you stay behind at The Raven like his gut told him to or if he hadn’t let you out of his sight when the two of you entered the Fightdrome, you would still be alive instead of growing cold in his arms.

And as his grip tightened around the hilt, Takeshi Kovacs swore to you that not a single person was leaving Fightdrome alive that night. He would make sure of it.

#sfw repost #fic #takeshi kovacs #takeshi kovacs x reader #takeshi kovacs x you #takeshi kovacs x f!reader #joel kinnaman #altered carbon #altered carbon season 1 #fightdrome #forced to watch #angst #reader death tw

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eqan · 1 year ago

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what’s interesting to me is that i’ve been searching all morning and haven’t found any peer-reviewed research of the same caliber as the papers above that definitively claim any breed of “pitbulls” are inherently aggressive based off any factors other than reported bites……….. which change by year and dog breed popularity and which typically rotates among chow chows, rottweilers, dobermans, and german shepherds as #1. and there’s the fact that people who are bit by pits may call the dog a pit when it actually isn’t (people will mistake boxers, american bulldogs, and other “pit-looking” mixes as pits when they aren’t).

i did however find a super cool paper about racism & breed restriction and specifically the targeting of non-white and/or poor people by restricting the pitbull “breed”. which, as someone who grew up in predominantly non-white, rural, and poor areas until i was a teenager, i can see. there is a level of discrimination in breed restrictions imo and a reason i wouldn’t want to live in denver county because i had and currently have pit mixes in my home.

egan was an american staffy mix and ranger is predominantly american pit bull terrier. egan was reactive but not unpredictable, never harmed a person or a dog, and was generally considered very sweet by everyone who knew him. ranger is fear reactive because he was shot at as a puppy but the second a stranger sits down and offers their hand, he’s whining for pets and pushing his butt into them. he’s never hurt a person or a dog either. ryker is also an american pit bull terrier mix and the most timid, sweet dog i currently have. haven’t tested milo yet but i’m pretty sure he’s just 50% attention seeking and 50% pure hatred of anyone who isn’t me.

point blank the breeds under the pitbull umbrella can certainly be bred for aggression but those people who selectively breed for aggression likely then sell puppies to people who want an aggressive dog and therefore will raise and train that dog to be aggressive & lean into those genetic predispositions. people who don’t want an aggressive dog will do the opposite and pits, like any other living thing, are a product of both their nature and their environment.

*kisses this paper on the mouth*

waittttttt there are 0 studies that conclude that specific breeds are “more dangerous” than others yet i still see dogblr pushing the “pitbulls are inherently aggressive” agenda. actually, most peer-reviewed research concludes that factors that lead to dog bites have to do with poor ownership and NOT breed. inchresting:

here!

this one is specifically interesting as it concludes that people call dogs pitbulls when they don’t have any of that dna LMAO so bites are unfairly attributed to the breed in a high percentage of cases

this one found no significant difference in aggression between the golden retriever control group and 415 “restricted” dog breeds. hm

another study that concludes aggression is more often linked to a dog’s experience and environment!

it’s almost like uuuhhhh the science doesn’t back pitbull related breed restrictions or the “pitbulls are inherently more aggressive” take & “nature v nurture” is just as valid in dogs as in humans.

as someone who grew up with a pibble (purebred 100% american pitbull terrier) i get real defensive when dogblr comes for pits. the # of bites could have nothing to do with the breed itself and (as the studies conclude above) everything to do with poor ownership of that breed. it’s almost like uuuuhhh it’s how you raise them sometimes (:

#text

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green-army-soldier · 4 years ago

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Additional Verses

Earth-12041 (Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Verse)

Age: 19

General Ross’s past project to create controllable gamma mutate soldiers was reopened by General Ryker, with Benny becoming the first successful candidate not to perish from radiation poisoning. As Flux, Benny was manipulated into attacking the Agents of S.M.A.S.H, though they eventually managed to convince him they were not his enemies. General Ryker had Benny’s mother held hostage as a contingency measure to force Benny to continue fighting, forcing the Agents to try to rescue her. Although they successfully freed Benny’s mother, Ryker escaped during the ensuing chaos. Unfortunately, Benny became despondent at becoming a monster, fleeing before he could reunite with his mother. He lived in hiding for several months before realizing that he needed to find help, seeking out the Agents once more. Despite his uncertainties, Benny hopes that the team will be able to help him in this new stage of his life and that he can one day reconcile with his mother.

Earth-199999 (MCU Verse)

Faceclaim: Matthias Schweighöfer

Age: 19 (Infinity War)

Age: 24 (Endgame)

Endgame Verse: After the events of the Infinity War, S.H.E.I.L.D. agents were scrambling to deal with the situation and the massive loss of personnel. The chaos did not gone unnoticed at the Vault. A lack of monitoring and maintenance staff led to the cryo-cell of Emil Blonsky A.K,A. The Abonmination defrosting. Blonsky broke free of the now understaffed facility. General Ross was made aware of the situation and sent troops in an attempt to slow Blonsky’s escape. Blonsky travelled from state to state in a quest for revenge against Bruce Banner and The Hulk. His rampage eventually led him to El Paso, Texas, where he engaged in combat with the 1st Armored Division stationed at Fort Bliss. Among the soldiers involved was Private First Class Benjamin Tibbits, who was completely unprepared to deal with a threat of that magnitude. A moment of hesitant panic on Benny’s part proved fatal for his unit. He attempted to defend the surviving soldiers by trying a suicide maneuver, trying to get in close to use an experimental weapon that had been produced for the US. military branches after the Chitauri Invasion. The weapon temporarily wounded Blonsky, but his regenerative healing factor soon kicked in and Benny was impaled on the retractible spines on Blonsky’s arm. In the aftermath of the battle, Benny’s superior officers believed that he wouldn’t be able to survive the fatal wound, but were soon surprised to see that not only did he survive, but was healing at an incredible rate. It was soon found that Benny had been exposed to Blonsky’s blood during the battle and some unknown factor in his own genetics had caused him to absorb the healing factor rather than die of radiation poisoning. Various medical tests were run, which caused Benny to become increasingly fearful and eventually lash out, resulting in his first transformation into a Hulk-like form. He escaped the military base and ran until he couldn’t anymore. Once he had changed back and calmed down, his first thought was to go home to his mother, only to find that she had been one of the many killed by the Snap. Choosing to remain in the shadows, Benny wondered about what he should do next. His mind turned to Blonsky, the one responsible for what he had become. He decided to track down Blonsky to avenge his fellow soldiers, protect civilians, meanwhile hoping that his recapture would mean a potential cure for his condition. Benny now travels in search of Blonsky and anyone who might be help him return to normal.

Post-Endgame Verse: After the events of Endgame, Benny’s mother returned to life and he is currently trying to rebuild his relationship with her, while also trying to find his new place in the world by involving himself with the some of the various heroes that survived the events and trying to do good for the world at large.

#On Leave (OOC)#Soldier Boy (About The Muse)#agents of s.m.a.s.h. verse #mcu verse #Additional Verses

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when-emma-falls-apart · 5 years ago

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Please read and help answer

I'm just trying to work things out so going to put a timeline here:

Scientific families on Earth elect to go on an interstellar mission to start a colony. They are given Beca's serum to protect them from potential radiation and memory drives to store their experience and Earth's history for the new colony.

They land on Sanctum with the plan being to build a colony and to have the females carry genetically variable black-blooded offspring so that the population is diverse(?)

Three weeks in the eclipse happens and Russel kills most of the colony (I guess?)

Russel and Gabriel spend 25 years converting the memory drives into mind drives to ressurect their loved ones in black blooded people.

Where did they get the other black-bloods? Were there women left alive who implanted and carried the embryos and let their kid get killed? Did Russel have sex with one of the remaining women and then implant Josephine into his actual other daughter, murdering her? Where did Josephine II's body come from since she's younger than 25?!!?

Josephine is successfully resurrected and so Russel and Gabriel begin murdering people to ressurect the rest of the Prime's. Gabriel is given a new body so he can be young like Josephine. Not only did his original body not need to be thrown away yet, this is seriously creepy for a now 50+ year old to still be hot for a ~21 year old. They begin the god-story to keep the peace. Everyone is black blooded because they're from the embryos??

After his first couple of bodies Gabriel begins seeding dissent against the Primes and gains his followers. He destroys the remaining embryos so that it's hard to find black-blood hosts because black-blood is a very recessive trait. He is almost executed for his crimes but Ryker helps him escape.

In he ensuing years the Prime's use up most of the available black-blood hosts and begin killing red blooded infants to convince people to keep breeding perfect hosts for them. Gabriel and his Children keep trying to save people from Sanctum and capture Prime's so that they can destroy the chips and the godhood once and for all.

The Lee's decide that the Lightwood's are dangerous and must be stopped because they think the red-blooded people are still people. Kaylee kills Josephine and when our heroes land the Lee's try to leave the Moon to find safety somewhere else.

After adventure squad find Sanctum and the children ask 'Are you here to take us home?' I guess we're supposed to assume that the kids were like 'we were just hiding in a safe bunker from the eclipse, are you taking us back to our regular homes'?

But really, where did they get new babies from after Russel killed most people in the first eclipse??!? I guess we have to assume that not all Prime's were killed. Josephine, Simone and the Lee's were. But maybe Priya carried the embryos knowing that they were for experimentation??!?

Like Josephine II's body, the first successful resurrection was someone's *child* that they spent 21 years watching grow up into their own person and then get murdered for Russel and Gabriel's benefit and the only way I can understand sacrificing your non-genetic kid like this is if it was a promise that they would bring Ryker back next.

But also, would parents do that? You lost your child 25 years ago. Would you groom all of your other non-genetic kids to be murdered for 21 years over and over just to bring your first genetic kid back??!?

Also, because it would take years to grow a population big enough to have enough women to carry the embryos, would Josephine II have ever had to carry an embryo, raise the baby for 21 years and then watch her child get murdered and turned into one of her friends??!?!

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travllingbunny · 5 years ago

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So I’ve recently had a little discussion with @jeanie205 about some things about the Sanctum society in season 6 of The 100 that we find confusing. Maybe someone with more scientific knowledge could help with some ideas, or explain if this even makes sense or not.

Where did the non-Prime people of Sanctum come from? I’ve always assumed that they are descendants of people who were initially grown from embryos that Gabriel brought from the Earth.

However, in one of the recent episodes, Gabriel said that he destroyed the embryos 70 years ago - and that they had about a thousand embryos, genetically engineered to be Nightbloods.

Does that mean all the embryos were genetically engineered to be Nightbloods? But then where did all those nulls and the gene carriers who are not Nightbloods come from? It was confirmed in 6x05 that Nightblood genes are recessive. So, the genetically engineered embryos would have to have a pair of Nightblood genes, right? I suppose everyone was meant to be a Nightblood because Becca and the Eligius Corporation thought it would be necessary due to radiation. So, why isn’t everyone on the planet a Nightblood?

The only people who wouldn’t have Nightblood genes would then be the original Primes, as they were artificial Nightbloods. But most of them died when Russell killed them, and it seems that none of the Primes never had any biological children other than those that they had already had before (Josephine, Kaylee, Daniel, Ryker).

Unless they did have another set of non-Nighblood embryos, which seems like the only explanation. But I’m not sure why those would have been necessary - if the planet turned out to be feasible for living for non-Nightbloods, Nightbloods could still live on it. Would Eligius have provided regular embryos if they already had the genetically engineered ones?

#the 100 #the 100 season 6 #the primes #sanctum #gabriel santiago #nightblood #eligius 3

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mysticandskepticmuses · 5 years ago

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ALTERED CARBON VERSE SUMMARIES.

Adolphus Murtry. - Corporate mercenary / captain.

Alex Kamal. - Space pilot & navigator.

Amanda Waller. - Director, Protectorate spec ops division. (runs a protectorate kill squad made up of elite soldiers & criminals tasked to the purpose of doing the dirty deeds that need done behind the scenes.)

Amos Burton. - varies / verse; mercenary or mechanic.

A.N.N.A. (private muse.). - Artificial Intelligence,

Bucky Barnes. - Winter Soldier, ex spec ops, private stack, brainwashed. (an elite protectorate operative who remembers very little, if anything, of his life before the military; his stack is kept on ice and dumped into whatever sleeve is available or needed for a wet work job before he is once again returned to the ice. (multiple plot options available re: true identity and restoring his memory, etc.))

Cal Lightman. - Deception expert, known to work w/ Bay City PD & others.

Carl Hickman. - BCPD. (a beleaguered grounder cop, has worked a number of departments over the decades, has settled into organic damage. possibility of captaincy in his future if he wasn’t just quite so outspoken against the corruption and injustice that plagues the bay city police department & oversights.)

Chrisjen Avasarala. - Methuselah, UN ambassador / secretary general.

Clarice Starling. - Protectorate special investigator.

Clementine Pennyfeather. - sex worker / Earth, Bay City. ( a sex worker by trade who sends the majority of her funds off world to support her parents and her young siblings. clementine worked various brothels on the ground but has recently been hired to work at the head in the clouds; her stack was backed up without her knowledge by rei and her back up / stored memories have been used to revive her several times in a cloned sleeve with no knowledge of any previous deaths - she is the favorite of a particular few clients who are willing to pay the cloning costs for the repeat performance.)

Dig 301 (Annabelle Lee). - Archaeologue / co-proprietor of The Nevermore.

Emily Lightman. - student, daughter of Cal Lightman.

Enchantress. - Elder. SEE VERSE.

Frank Castle. - ex Protectorate / Wedge. Retired. Vigilante.

Galen Erso. Protectorate scientist.

Hanna Heller. - (the product of a secret protectorate project to craft supersoldiers from birth; when the project was blacklisted, the majority of the subjects were destroyed to prevent leakage of classified information; hanna was rescued by her ‘father’ erik heller. her life has consisted of learning to live off the grid while learning tactics, combat training and more to enable her to not only survive, but take down the elements in the protectorate and un that could prove a hazard to her continued existence.)

Hannibal Lecter. - Meth. Serial killer, cannibal, etc. (an intelligent social deviant with sadistic tendencies, whose intelligence and savvy, and now, his wealth and influence amassed over the last several hundred years enables him to toy with and take the lives of those around him that cause him displeasure, or are simply offensive to his sensibilities, with little to no fear of being incriminated in any of his many illegal activities. by day, a very well renowned psychiatrist and chef, social artiste and culinary master; by night, a man lacking any true moral boundaries, master manipulator, murderer and cannibal.)

Inara Serra. - Companion to the Meths.

John Robinson. - Retired Protectorate general, explorer.

Jessica Jones. - private investigator.

June Moone. - Meth, Elder archeologist; SEE VERSE. (june is the daughter of a 250+ old meth, daniel moone, and his wife, maria devlin-moone who is a meth and also uses her contacts to enable black market drugs, flesh trade, arms & artifact smuggling on and off world. june is (usually) oblivious to her mother’s dealings, though there is a great deal of not so subtle animosity between mother and daughter with a clear preference in her mother’s eyes for june’s older brother, jacob. june is a renowned Master Archaeologist and has run a number of dig sites across the universe. her specialty / obsession is the martians / ancients. she’s still on the ‘young’ side for a meth, coming in at 69 years old.)

Kaylee Frye. - spaceship mechanic. (she’s always had a way with machines, particularly anything with an engine, ancient or new. she works at her dad’s shop off one of the main spaceports on earth. she dreams of seeing the universe for herself, but without formal training and education, she hasn’t had much hope of that outside of virtual vacations (which she scrimps and saves for every chance she can get). )

Kristin Ortega. - Bay City police detective. (a bay city police detective, organic damage division, bay city, earth, kristin is typically overworked, tired, and dealing with way too much paperwork. her father was a detective, killed on the job and now her dad’s old partner is now her official partner after elias ryker, her partner and lover, was framed for murder – and dealing with a corrupt captain isn’t helping her uncover the truth behind ryker’s framing, or getting to the truth of the murders that ryker was investigating before things went south. (other timelines etc available, before and after season one, this is just the starting point for default.))

Laura Kinney. - (the product of illegal genetic experimentation by the protectorate, laura is typically on the run and trying to steer clear of the protectorate and or anyone else that might want to get their hands on the regenerative / healing abilities that her genetic code grants. she has a stack but it isn’t encoded / doesn’t register as anything / anyone in particular when it’s scanned which means any encounter with police, security, anything that requires registration is a threat to her and flags her location in the system. off the grid is her friend. )

Laurens Bancroft. - Methuselah; varies depending on verse/ timeline.

Malcolm Reynolds. - ‘retired’ Quellist, ship captain, smuggler etc.

Naomi Nagata. - space ship engineer.

Natasha Romanoff.- ex spec ops. ‘retired’.

Padme Amidala. - retired world governor, ambassador.

Penny Robinson. - explorer, travels w/ John Robinson.

Poe. - AI, proprietor of The Raven / The Nevermore.

Quellcrist Falconer. - leader of the Quellist rebellion.

Reileen Kawahara. - crime syndicate boss & more. (she’s got her fingers in all the black market / illicit trade / arms dealing / drug trade pies, she has blackmail and leverage on a ridiculously high percentage of those in the UN and the protectorate, on earth and elsewhere, and will do anything, literally anything, to get what she wants. yakuza era, envoy era, post envoy merc era, and kingpin era / season one era available. (more info available on request for any of these.))

Rick Flag. - spec ops, Protectorate special division.

Riddick. - sole survivor of planet Furya, criminal, rogue. ( murderer, escapee from a dozen max security prisons, somehow still in his original sleeve (what can he say, he’s attached to it), riddick is a genetic aberration, one of the few survivors of an off shoot of humanity from the now desolated planet furya. he exists off the grid, in the shadows, and if you see it coming it’s probably because he wants you to. (various plots available.))

River Tam. - Protectorate experiment; psychic; super soldier. SEE VERSE. (varies for plot.) (an elite soldier, gifted from birth and augmented further by the protectorate, river was one of the few that survived the process that created the elite unit crafted to hunt and track the envoys during the quellist rebellion. her ability to adapt, to absorb, to blend, to merge efficiently in any sleeve rivals that of the envoys, and she has altered abilities - precog and telepathy, though some say it’s just intuition and being able to predict the variables of any given situation, given enough data. envoy era & ‘modern’ season plots available.)

Rupert Giles. - historian.

Takeshi Kovacs. - ex Protectorate spec ops; Quellist. ( leveraged into service into an elite protectorate black ops squad at the tender age of ten, takeshi spent the next 20-30 years killing, torturing, decimating rebellious forces and or whomever the protectorate sent him after. when reunited with someone from his past, he fled the protectorate and went on the run, joining the quellist rebellion until that too, was destroyed. he spent the next handful of years on the run and doing various degrees of merc / wet work until he was gunned down and put on ice. 250+ years later, he gets pulled out to solve the murder of a methuselah - a 350+ year old man who promises him a fortune, a sleeve of his choice, and a clean slate / pardon if he can find the truth behind the murder… but there are so many more things at play than either of them could guess and it takes all of a night for things to go from bad to worse. (protectorate, envoy, merc, season one & post season one plots available.))

Winifred Burkle. - (a skilled astrophysicist and virtual reality coder, fred was recruited into the protectorate in her university years. it took her almost a decade for her to discover what the protectorate was truly using her work for and she waited for the opportunity to not just sabotage her research and the protectorate’s work, but to flee. backing herself up, she’s double-sleeved. she exists in the forays of the web, keeping herself mostly out of trouble, just wanting to try and find a way to undo the damage that her work was used for (brainwashing & torture). her second sleeve is root, @magicandsciencemuses who has, unbeknownst to fred, made a triplicate, whiskey, who uses her wiles and skills to ferret information and blackmail visitors of some of the elite brothels of earth.)

Villanelle. - assassin for hire.

Wilson Fisk. - crime lord.

Alena Mayberry. - SEE VERSE.

Alexander Petrakis. - Methuselah.

Ariel Hayden. - Meth’s daughter; runaway; high bounty on head.(the daughter of a methuselah who has left her world behind; traveled in cold storage in slow lanes to minimize risk of discovery. has a small fortune at her disposal that she squirreled away but knows she has to make it last. has an altered identity stack and is in a new, black market sleeve. can be on earth or any world really. just wants to see the universe without her father’s restrictive / protective rules in place. probably has a bounty for her SAFE return to her homeworld._)

Ashen Zenon. - High level merc / assassin for hire.

Belle Duponte. - Earth grounder, works to pay off father’s debt / sleeve. (the daughter of an once highly regarded scientist who has been shunned for his studies, she struggles to keep food in their stomachs and a roof over their head. she works several part time jobs, including at an antique book store that also specializes in luxury station, ink, quills, etc. and works part time as a waitress and as a ‘lab tech’ aka grunt labor at the local prison / re-sleeving facility. she is in her first, and likely, only sleeve.)

Felicia Adams. - geneticist, emergency care doctor / works at psychasec. (a doctor and geneticist, felicia plies her trade at psychasec modeling and crafting the elite and bizarre sleeves designed for the methuselahs of earth. the health insurance and re-sleeving package perks are the only reason that she continues to work there as she has a young daughter that suffers from a genetic disorder and requires constant care until felicia can afford a complete genetic makeover and re-sleeve into a healthy clone. (definitely options for her to get dragged into illegal / black market schemes for a quick buck. also possibilities for the Trouble that is the daughter’s dad to show up and find them too.))

Laurel Isley.. - Meth, brothel owner, sociopath; SEE VERSE. (a meth with her feet on the ground and her fingers in the muck, laurel runs several elite brothels that cater to the worst of the worst desires of the meths that want to play at being bad and the few grounders that can afford her services. her brothels also serve as anonymous meeting grounds for certain clients vs. service providers - mercs, assassins, etc. that she arranges for a ‘small’ fee. she also is a pro at creating false idents, which is no easy feat in this day and age. she is very much a sadomasochist and indulges her desires in the real and virtual whenever she finds a suitable playmate (willing or otherwise).)

Petra Nikonova. - verse dependent.

Rori Dearing. - bartender, tattoo artist. SEE VERSE. ( a young and rebellious meth, a social warrior, rori is the younger sister of @magicandsciencemuses ‘s claire dearing. she is a human rights / sleeve rights activist and is often found at rallies and protests regarding various lack of rights for prisoners, military service members, victims that are given the worst of the sleeves available, and in general, the money making machine that is the protectorate’s prison system, and the utter lack of opportunity for reform and education. she works as a 3-d / interactive tattoo artist and a part time bartender. )

Saori Dearing. - daughter of planetary governor, Quellist. SEE VERSE. ( the daughter of the lord governor on harlan’s world, saori is a secret ally and informant to the quellist rebellion. most of her plots take place during the envoy era where she works with quell to provide military information, travel codes, and helps supply weapons, food and basic supplies to the rebellion on harlan’s world / elsewhere. (I have verses where she is involved romantically with Quell and or Takeshi but that isn’t a necessity for plots!) she is primarily envoy based but aus / plots can be worked out for ‘modern’ day plots.)

#VERSE. ( altered carbon. )

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bi-breyer · 3 years ago

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Precious Buzz

Mother: Buzzin’ Beans

Father: Ryker’s Diamond FRF

Breed: Irish Cob

Sex: mare

Birthday: April 27, 2022

9:3:0:0

Color: Dunalino tobiano

Genotype: ee Cr D To

Genetic Potential: 479

Champion prospect: no

#horse reality #horsereality #irish cob #mare #dunalino tobiano #record book #buzzin’ beans #ee Cr D To

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sleepy-bookworm · 6 years ago

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City In Embers (Collectors, #1) by Stacey Marie Brown

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of City In Embers by Stacey Marie Brownfrom Mark My Words Book Publicity, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacts my review.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse Mention, Child Abuse Mention, Rape Mention, Blood

Zoey Daniels has been tossed from foster home to foster home, where she grows up fast and tough.When she is placed in her “last-chance” home, she finds a reason to stay and turn her life around: her foster sister, Lexie, who is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Zoey will do anything to keep her safe.

After high school, Zoey is hired by a special government agency, the Department of Molecular Genetics (DMG), where she meets the other reason to remain: Daniel, her co-worker. The man she loves.

But there is something unique about Zoey. She can see fae. Because of this, the DMG hires her to work as a Collector: catching, researching, testing, and using the fae to save human lives. The work never registers on her sympathy radar. She was raised to think of fae as beasts that feed on humans and want to destroy them.

When devastation hits Seattle, Zoey's whole world is turned upside down. The electric storm connects her to a ruthless fae, a Wanderer named Ryker, whose dealings expose them to even more trouble and danger. They embark on a journey, running and hiding from both the government and fae, both of which threaten their lives and those they love.

What initially drew me to City In Embers was the fact that this book is a New Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Now I don't know about you, but it is difficult for me to find a New Adult Fantasy novel. So I decided to give this book a try.

I'm not going to lie to you: I had incredibly high hopes for City In Embers...

(Full review on Adele Is Reading)

#city in embers #collector series #stacey marie brown #book review #book reviewer #book blog #book blogger #2018 #mine #links #adele is reading

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metawitches · 7 years ago

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In episode 7, present day Tak lies unconscious while Rei heals him. He spends the time reliving his memories of their shared past, so that his brain can try to fit this new development into place. Tak and the audience discover some missing puzzle pieces about present day mysteries as well. None of it is encouraging.

Tak’s voiceover: “The danger of living too many times is you forget to fear death. We dismiss the Grim Reaper as a quaint metaphor. But fearing death- it’s good for you.”

Young Rei sits on the floor in the Kovacs family kitchen on Harlan’s World. Her father tells her to take off her necklace, but she refuses because it was her mother’s. It’s a pendant in the shape of the infinity snake that matches the tattoos Rei and Tak will get on their forearms as adults.

Rei, speckled with her father’s blood and wearing her mother’s necklace.

Their father, Jakub, hurls vicious insults at Rei as she and Tak watch him haul her mother’s body to the edge of an industrial coolant pit and thrown it in. The coolant with disintegrate the body and destroy the evidence of her murder.

Before Jakub can do the same thing to Rei, Tak shoots him in the stack from behind, killing their father instantly. Rei is scared that he’ll be arrested and taken away, but Tak asks her to trust him.

Is Tak drugged to make him more compliant?

The next time we see Tak, he’s in a VR interrogation room with Jaeger, cuffed to the chair he’s sitting in.

Jaeger: Why did you kill your Father? You’re just a kid, and you blew his stack out.

Tak: He deserved it.

Jaeger: Because he beat up your sister?

Tak: He wasn’t going to stop. He killed my mother.

Jaeger: Cops say your mom ran away.

Tak: Cops are stupid. I told them what happened. He dumped them in the coolant pool. There was no body. Nothing left. So they didn’t believe me.

The illusion of equality for the pitch.

Jaeger: I believe you. The Settled Worlds are full of lawlessness. Killers, rapists, slavers, gangs. They leave behind victims. Innocents. We travel between planets. Protect our citizens.

Tak: Mister, I’ve got nothing left for you to take. They took my body, probably sold it off already. What do you want?

Jaeger: To recruit you. Colonial Tactical Assault Corps.

Tak: You’re CTAC?

Jaeger: Looking at you, I see potential. I can make something out of you son.

(He can make him a man. Or maybe he’ll make a man out of him.)

Tak: What about my sister? I did what I did because of Rei. I want her safe.

Jaeger: You’ve never been able to trust anyone, have you? Son, We are The Protectorate. We protect. I’ll see to it she’s placed in a good family. That she gets a good life with people who will love her and treat her well. You have my word.

(That first part is a totally strange, manipulative answer. Why on earth would Tak trust him right now? I wish they would’ve had Tak show some hesitation about joining Jaeger, to see what approach Jaeger would’ve taken next. But obviously he wants to convince Tak to think of him as his new father figure.)

The man to man pact.

Tak: What happens next? Will I get my body back?

Jaeger: I’ll requisition it for the core. You can use it if you ever come back.

Tak: Where am I going?

Jaeger: You’re casting off this planet with me. Train on different worlds, in different sleeves. This time tomorrow, you’ll be in a man’s body, and no one will ever hurt you or yours again.

Tak: Off-planet? What about Rei?

Jaeger: You disconnect from this life. Anyone who knows what you are will be in danger.

Tak: I have to tell her!

Jaeger: If you want her to be safe, you’re never going to be able to see her again. Trust me.

Jaeger is Tak’s new family.

Jaeger just told Tak that no one would ever hurt “you or yours again”, but now Tak can’t be close to anyone. Which is it? Plus, the picture keeps blurring in and out, making it look even more like Tak was drugged into compliance, Then there’s the fact that he’s in a high stress situation in which he feels like he can’t say no, and is a child who isn’t old enough to give clear consent for something like joining the military.

Jaeger must have spies who keep an eye out for violent child criminals with little to no family so he can recruit them into his special ops unit. Once he resleeves them, no one can tell that they started out as child soldiers. He becomes the parent they never had, ensuring their loyalty. That also must make Tak’s betrayal sting all the more, since he’s the father that saved Tak from prison and made him an elite soldier. Jaeger would feel that Tak owes him his life.

Important question: Is Jaeger still alive in the present day? He seemed pretty well set up with the clones and backups. He also doesn’t seem like a guy who’d forget a grudge.

In the present day, Tak is mortally wounded from the fight with Dimi at Fightdrome. Rei has taken him to her house to tend to him. When he comes to, she tells him that his sleeve is going to die. It’s covered in lacerations, bleeding internally, gone septic, and drugged with Reaper, which is counteracting her efforts to save him.

She tries to give him an injection to kill the sleeve, so that she can resleeve him more quickly, but he stops her and insists that she fight to save it. Rei argues with him, but gives in after he passes out again. Odds are good that she was eager to kill the sleeve because it’s Ryker’s, as well as to get Tak back into a sleeve that looks like her brother, her stated motivation.

Being with Rei causes Tak to remember his previous life with her. He dreams of when they were young children playing on Harlan’s World.

When Tak wakes up, his superficial wounds are healed, and he looks much better, though he’s still sick and weak. Rei comes to sit next to him again and they press their matching tattoos against each other, proof that they are who they say they are. The tattoos match the pendant on their mother’s necklace.

Tak says that Rei was supposed to be dead, and she says that it didn’t take. They reminisce about how long it’s been since they were together (Rei says 250 years-shouldn’t it be more?) and how gaijin he looks. (Gaijin is Japanese for foreign and can be used as an insult.)

Tak asks how Rei survived the shuttle explosion that he thought killed her at the end of the battle of Stronghold. She tells him that an archaeology student found her stack and some genetic material among the wreckage, and resleeved her in a synth. She took off with her genetic material, made her fortune and her clones, and has been on her own since then. Tak caresses her face and tells her she’s not alone any more.

Then he passes out again. He dreams about the first time he cast back to Harlan’s World after joining CTAC, about 25 years after he left as a child. He cast into his birthsleeve, now a grown man who had been used by others in his absence.

As Tak looks over his sleeve and gets to know it again, Jaeger describes their mission.

Jaeger: This team has been thrown together from who was available on cast. ReAc for half day, then we stand up at 0300. Kovacs, how does it feel to be back in your original skin?

Kovacs: Lot more mileage than I expected. Reflexes still good.

Jaeger: Thank the Corps for keeping it in shape.

CTAC Grunt: Who is this guy, he gets a retread?

Kovacs: It’s my home world. First time I’ve been back since I joined up.

Jaeger: The target is a yakuza kumicho by the name of Gottfried Saito. Domestic terror, murder, prostitution, and he doesn’t pay his taxes. They need to be taught a very public lesson. The must-kill is Saito. Slag his stack. Everyone else is kill as kill can. Most kills, most days off, most bonus money. Even you guys could figure out how that works.

Once they get to the mission site, Jaeger puts Kovacs on Saito, which means he’s in the lead. Once they’ve shot their way into the building, Tak shoots his way past the worst of the enemy, and makes it into the room where Saito is. He’s approaching Saito when Rei sneaks up behind him and tells him to put his weapon down.

Tak recognizes her necklace as having been his mother’s, and asks where she got it. Then he takes off his mask, and they both realize who they must be looking at. Rei asks where Tak’s been, just as a Praetorian approaches from behind to kill her, and Saito tries to kill Tak. Rei kills Saito, and Tak kills the Praetorian.

They take a long look at each other, decide that they’re in it together again, and start firing at everyone else. They fight throughout the warehouse. When they’re done, only Tak and Rei are left standing.

They go to a bar to discuss their options and catch up. Rei was sold to the yakuza rather than being adopted by a good home, which Jaeger had to know. Now both the yakuza and CTAC will be out to kill both of them. Tak decides they should hide out in the woods they used to frequent.

Rei and Tak hike into the forest where they played as children. Rei says that she used to think that the Patchwork Man lived out there.

Harlan’s World–It’s a Magical Place.

They hike for hours, until they are deep in an isolated area. Rei gets worried that they’re lost, but Tak sees Songspire roots growing across a boulder and knows exactly where he is. They will follow the roots east to get to the caves.

Tak admires the way the Songspire roots thread through the boulders. He wonders if the Elders designed it that way, to create underground structures with branches as scaffolding? Rei isn’t impressed with his thought process. He’s barely talked to her for hours, and now he’s talking about rocks.

She wants to keep moving, but Tak insists they stop for the night. They talk about their plan, and Rei says she’d want to find allies, but they just killed everyone they know, so… Tak bursts out laughing and Rei joins him. She tells him how much she missed him. He tells her that he’s sorry for leaving her behind. She asks why he did. They both cry and hug.

Modern Tak’s voiceover: “Death isn’t only about the destruction of the body. Sometimes, just like that, you extinguish one self, and another is born. But every birth is violent and there’s no death without pain.”

They are sleeping in the same positions as they are in the beginning of the episode when Rei is saving Tak. That means that the present day story is also about to include the painful death of his current life and the beginning of something new.

Quell and the rebels sneak up on them while they’re sleeping. Rei tells him she doesn’t care if she dies, he should try to escape. But Quell knows that he cares too much about Rei to risk her life. Tak is knocked out.

He wakes up tied alone in the middle of a long foot bridge over a ravine, with guards at either end. DeSoto, one of Quell’s Envoys, wants to kill Tak before they even talk to him. Quell can think of better uses for a former CTAC SpecOps soldier.

She approaches Tak and lets him know that she knows exactly who he is and why he and Rei are on the run. Word has spread all over Harlan’s World. Their faces are all over the wanted beacons with a high bounty attached.

Tak says that he knows who she is, too. She tells him she’d be disappointed if he didn’t. Rei is fine and being given something to eat.

Quell says that between Rei and Tak, they “know the secret workings of crime and government, which are more or less the same.”

Quell: On some level, you know we’re on the same side. The enemy of my enemy–

Tak: Is just one more person who might knife me in my sleep.

Quell: You’re a little cynical, Takeshi Kovacs.

Tak: I’m tied up. I’d say I have reason to be.

Quell: Join us. Make a difference.

Tak: Nothing makes a difference. I’m done fighting in this war.

Quell: War is like any other bad relationship. You want out, but at what price.

Tak: If they knew an Uprising base was on Harlan’s World, they’d tear apart this planet to find you. Aren’t you worried I’ll tell them?

Quell (cuts Tak free): No.

Tak: If I killed you, the Protectorate would forgive everything.

Quell: Do you want their forgiveness? The innocent, the person you were before all this, he’s still there. I see the boy inside the man. Tell me something, Takeshi Kovacs, what did the Protectorate take from you?

Tak: Everything.

Quell: What would you do for revenge?

Tak: Anything.

Quell: That’s a good start. (She begins to walk away.)

Tak: You don’t want me. Don’t you understand what CTAC does to make someone like me? They burn out every evolved violence-limitation instinct in the human psyche. And they replace it with the conscious will to do harm.

Quell: And yet you haven’t hurt me.

Tak: I might still.

Quell (turning back to him): No, you won’t, Kovacs. You’re only pretending to be one of the monsters.

Tak and Rei are taken to Stronghold, the Uprising hideout and base of operations. Rei told Quell she’d stay if Tak stays, but she doesn’t particularly want to stay. Now, she makes Tak promise: From here on out, family, no matter what. He repeats her words- Family, no matter what. The next order of business is finding their weapons.

They’re surprised to discover that Stronghold is more than just a military base. It’s filled with families and children living their daily lives, and a beautiful, tall Songspire tree grows toward the sun in the center of the cave.

Without them having to ask, Quell tells them to see DeSoto about getting their weapons back. They’ll start Envoy training the next day. But despite them living and training side by side with the rebels, it takes a long time for trust to develop.

We’ve seen pieces of Quell’s Envoy training in earlier episodes, always geared toward viewing the mind and other people as the most important tools available, while shunning the material world as unreliable and burdensome. Drugs and physical weapons are useful, but can’t replace the strength and determination of the mind that wields them. Even other people eventually become expendable, and we are reminded of this over and over.

Quell: CTAC troops shoot themselves up with reacclimation drugs to try to make the sleeve obey them. But none of their techniques touch the pure mind, and that is what you must control. Master yourself, and you can ride any skin, anywhere in the galaxy, at a moment’s notice.

The scene switches to the training session in the woods that’s been shown in part in multiple previous episodes. Quell brandishes a handgun and tells her students that they must learn the weakness of weapons. When Tak scoffs at her, she tosses the gun to him, and tells him to shoot her in the stack. When Tak refuses to shoot her, she throws a gun to her righthand man Jimmy DeSoto, and a knife somewhere in the crowd. She tells both men to work together to bring her down. But they hate and would rather shoot each other.

As the two men draw on each other, Quell leaps between them and uses hand to hand skills to disarm them, ending with Tak pinned to the ground. She reminds them that the sleeve and the weapons are tools. They aren’t what gives you power.

I’ll remember that.

As Quell finishes talking, Rei fires on her from behind. Without turning, Quell shoots the gun out of Rei’s hand. Quell tells them all, “You are the weapon. You are the killer and destroyer.” Then she turns to Rei and says, “You had the right idea. But next time, if you wanna save someone you love, move faster.” Rei answers, “I’ll remember that.”

After Quell lets Tak up, she gives the speech about the strength of the wolf being in the pack. She tells them to gain the loyalty of a few capable locals wherever they go, even if the locals will ultimately be expendable. They are Envoys. They take what is offered.

Eventually, Rei and Tak start going on missions with the Envoys.

Tak: These are the access protocols on the CTAC barracks on Taurus 4.

Vidaura: The secure military R&D facility?

Tak: They leave the backdoor open on a squad of combat sleeves, just in case the locals ever breach security and get inside. It’s a fail-safe.

Okuluv: So we’re casting into Protectorate meat primed on the slab?

DeSoto: Or we’re walking into a trap.

Rei: You trying to say something about my brother, DeSoto?

DeSoto: You can’t f*ckin’ trust him. How can you trust him?

Quell: Because he gave us the intel that’s getting us in. We’re going for the site database. Where we’ll download the security specs on the facility listed here. Then we blow the database, make it look like simple sabotage. They won’t even know we took anything.

The team needlecasts out to the facility, then back to base. DeSoto is back first, upset because Tak made him leave first, potentially sacrificing himself to whatever the threat was. After a very long minute, Tak comes back as well. Rei and DeSoto are happy and mad at the same time, but Quell, who’d been staring in silence at Tak’s chamber the whole time, looks shocked at her own actions.

At dinner that night, DeSoto rushes in and sits down next to Tak. He tells Tak that they need to be clear: he could have gotten in and out without Tak’s help. He’ll never need Tak’s help. Are they completely clear on that? Tak doesn’t answer. DeSoto takes a swig from his flask, then hands it to Tak. Tak takes a swallow, too. DeSoto laughs, everyone laughs, and everything is fine. Men. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Quell and Rei are also at the table. Both watch the interaction, and draw very different conclusions from it. Rei sees her brother being happy and settling in, but won’t stop watching out for his safety. Quell sees a team that has bonded and is ready for the final, and most important, step in her plan.

Tak is unaware of the machinations going on around him.

Tak’s voiceover: I can’t remember all the things Quell taught me. It was like oxygen, soaking into me. She gave me the life I never had.

It’s not long before Quell is ready to make Tak pay for his good times.

Quell: I have lied to you. We cannot win a conventional war against this enemy because it’s not the Protectorate we’re fighting. It’s immortality itself. The creation of stacks was a miracle and the beginning of the destruction of our species. A hundred years from now, a thousand, I can see what we will become. And it’s not human. A new class of people so wealthy and powerful they answer to no one and cannot die. Death was the ultimate safeguard against the darkest angels of our nature. Now, the monsters among us will own everything, consume everything, control everything. They will make themselves gods and us slaves in all but name.

Rei: What?

Tak: You see what I see?

Rei: Pretty much never. I hate that intuition shit.

Quell: Civilization is at a tipping point. We are riding the fulcrum between hope and oblivion.

Rei: What do you see?

Tak: Doubt.

Quell: If we do not stop the curse of eternal life in our realm, our children will inherit despair. The ebb and flow of life is what makes us all equal in the end. The Uprising must end Immortality.

Vidaura: You’re talking about bringing back real death.

DeSoto: What about you?

Quell: I’m prepared to die to reset the balance. That’s my decision. You have to decide for yourselves. I’ve created a program called Acheron that downloads into DHF and rewrites it, giving every mind exactly 100 years. No matter how rich and powerful you are, death will no longer be optional.

Gomez: But how is that even possible?

Tak: You’d have to download the program into every stack on all the Settled Worlds at the same time.

Quell: I’ll run a DA mission into the on-planet Protectorate garrison here. Steal the casting source codes for the Central Core. Once we bring back the codes…

Tak: You’ll use the codes to cast into the Central Core.

Quell: Full mobilization. The Uprising will fight our way in and spike the Core with Acheron. It will spread into every DHF in every system.

Vidaura: Nobody’s ever come back from the Central Core.

Quell: I’m not planning on coming back.

Rei: You’re asking us to die.

Quell: I’m asking you to embrace being human. We aren’t meant to live forever. It corrupts even the best of us.

The camera looks straight at Rei when Quell says this.

Quell tells the crowd that anyone who wants to leave can go, she won’t stop them. The mission of the people who stay will be to save humanity. She stands and asks if the crowd is with her. In a world where living multiple lifetimes is entirely possible and immortality has been achieved by a few, asking the crowd to agree to limit everyone’s life to 100 years is a radical action. And that’s in addition to the fact that it’s a suicide pact for some of them.

At first, everyone is still and silent. Tak is the first to raise his fist in solidarity, then others from her inner circle join in. After a moment, the rest of the crowd raises their fists as well. Rei is the very, very last, clearly only bowing to peer pressure.

Quell needs a 5 person team for the first stage of the plan, the raid on the garrison on Harlan’s World. Quell’s usual core group, including Tak, Jimmy DeSoto, Vidaura, and Okulov volunteer. Rei tries to stop Tak, but he wants to make a difference.

They break into the garrison at night. Quell is able to upload the data she needs easily. Everything goes smoothly until the last moment, as they are almost past the perimeter on their way out.

Something trips an alarm and a force field goes up between Tak, who was guarding the rear, and everyone else. A squad of Praetorians appears immediately. Quell doesn’t want to leave Tak, but there’s no other choice. As she’s being dragged away, the Praetorians use an energy weapon to knock him out.

When Tak wakes up, he’s back in the same VR program that Jaeger used to recruit him when he was a child. It also looks distorted in exactly the same ways that it did when he was a child. Since Quell is going to tell him in a minute that he’s drugged, it’s safe to say that Jaeger drugged him as a child as well. It’s not like Jaeger plays fair.

Jaeger spends a little time gloating that they’ve captured Tak, and a little time nostalgically marveling that it’s been 28 years since they were last in that “room”. Then he goes for the fatherly neck hold as he asks if the woman with Tak was his sister.

Tak isn’t 12 anymore and Jaeger’s routine doesn’t work on him. He gives sarcastic replies in return. Jaeger repeatedly smashes Tak’s face into the table. Then he manifests a knife and threatens to cut Tak’s nose off. Quell appears and fights Jaeger off. She tells Tak that they can’t pull him out of VR because of the drugs, so he’s going to have to get himself out. She begs and bullies Tak into pulling himself out while she also fights Jaeger. Tak is dazed, but finally manages it.

They wake up in the real with the whole team waiting to help him escape. Jimmy runs over to give him a helping hand.

Back at Stronghold, Tak and Rei play a game while Rei tells Tak off for getting captured and for planning to go through with the next mission. Tak is impressed that the team rescued him. No one has done that before. Rei claims that they only went back for him because Quell ordered them to, so that he wouldn’t give away her plans when tortured. Rei says that everything Quell does is calculated. None of her feelings are real. It’s all move-countermove. Pretty sure Rei’s actually talking about herself here.

Quell is the equivalent of a general fighting a war. Of course every move is calculated. It’s called strategy. That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t also have human emotions. Tak tells Rei that she’s exaggerating. Rei says that Tak’s naive.

The soft amber glow of the torches and the handholding suggest that Tak’s life might have gone better if he’d left with Rei that night. He would have hated himself, but he did that anyway. With Rei, he would have had family and he wouldn’t have been alone. But it could also just be the manipulative picture Rei is creating. Her timeline from innocent child to evil Meth isn’t clear yet, and neither is when she became someone who lies more than she tells the truth.

She asks him to consider that Quell could be wrong. Maybe the Protectorate will find a way around her program, and all of this will have been for nothing. Rei doesn’t want them to die when they’ve had so little time together. Tak says he’s not leaving, no matter what. Rei moves away from him, and he follows. He asks her what they are, and she gives the expected answer when that question is asked between the two of them: We’re family. But Tak corrects her with Quell’s answer: We’re Envoys, and we have a job to do. If he hadn’t lost her already, that exchange just did it.

Tak finds Quell sitting on the beach, writing in the journal that Laurens gave him in episode 1.

Are we ready for this scene, knowing how things end up for them? Get your tissues, or a friend, or whatever you need, because it’s a killer.

He sits down a view feet away from her, giving her a knowing smile. He reminds her that she saved him, when no one else ever has. She tries to keep her walls up, and says, “Why wouldn’t I?” He asks about her journal, and she tries to make it sound impersonal, saying it contains the names of the fallen, and other things she should know by now. Then she reminds him that she plans to be dead the next day.

Tak tries to apologize for bringing their group and her plans to the attention of the Protectorate, but Quell won’t let him. She confesses that everything is her fault. She invented stacks and created the whole mess. Tak is confused, because stacks were invented by a woman named Nadia Makita.

This is why he needs to work with a smarter more devious partner. Years on the run, and it doesn’t occur to him that someone can change their name.

Quell/Nadia gives him a look and he figures it out.

Nadia: I wanted to be an explorer, see other worlds with my own eyes, but one life wasn’t enough time to see the stars, so I found a way to transfer the human consciousness between bodies, and in that creation, soar. Suddenly anyone could travel distances beyond imagination faster than light, and no one would ever be limited by one lifetime again. (Tak: That’s…That’s beautiful.) Rome was a town of refugee cattle herders, but it became the most powerful empire of ancient earth. Do you know how? Roads. Roads were the technology that let them send their armies all over the world. I thought I was freeing the human spirit, but I was building the roads for Rome. Eternal life for those who can afford it means eternal control over those who can’t. That is the gift I gave humanity. And that is the reason we are all going to die. So stop looking at me like I’m a hero, because I am not.

Tak: I can’t stop looking at you. I won’t.

He goes to her and kisses her. After a moment, she stops and says they can’t. He says, “Forget heroes and monsters. You’re the woman who set me free.”

The kiss is initiated by both of them this time. They spend the night on the beach, making love all night.

When Tak wakes up at dawn, he writes a poem on a page in Quell’s journal, amongst the branches of a drawing of a Sunspire tree.

Our bodies twined like tree roots tearing stone, Voiceless cries to a blind sky, Heard only by our shared secret skin.

It’s the poem and the page that he turned to, when Laurens handed him the journal in episode 1, more than 250 years later. This is the stuff epic romances are made of.

Tak puts the book down and turns to embrace Quell as she wakes up. As he does so, Rei appears and sees them together. She realizes that they’ve become even closer, and runs away.

Tak tells Quell that he’ll go talk to Rei. Quell reminds him that their mission to the Central Core begins in less than 5 hours. Then she tells him that their night together wasn’t a mistake. He agrees with her. They kiss one more time, and he leaves to go find Rei.

Meanwhile, people are starting to feel strange back at the base.

In the present day, Tak wakes up. Rei tells him that she saved the sleeve, but he’s still weak. He’ll have to juice up if he wants to get back his fighting capabilities quickly. She offers him Goliath, a CTAC stim that works great if it doesn’t make you stroke out. One last attempt to kill the sleeve? Tak refuses the stim, anyway.

He asks what she’s been doing for the last 250+ years. She tells him that she went back to Harlan’s World, but everything had changed. She’s found the constant change the hardest thing to get used to. Nothing survives. Tak takes Rei’s hand and says, “Nothing but us.” She gives him a faint smile.

In the past, Tak runs through the forest calling for Rei, but she doesn’t answer. Fighter jets fly overhead. Tak runs back to the caves, knowing that Stronghold must be under attack.

When he gets there, almost everyone is already dead and the cave is covered in ash and rubble from CTAC weapons. The Songspire tree is dead.

He sees Vidaura, who is terribly injured, in the back of the cave and goes to her. She rambles incomprehensibly about monsters and enemies, until Okulov, also seriously wounded, wanders near. Then Vidaura jumps up and shoots Okulov in the head. Vidaura says, “It was us. The enemy was us,” and falls down, dead. Tak stands looking at them in shock. How could this have happened so quickly?

Rei shouts at Tak over the coms, trying to find out what’s happening. Tak tells her to get to the shuttle bay. As he’s talking, Jimmy DeSoto grabs his ankle. DeSoto’s left eye is gone. He wrenchingly tells Tak that he did it to himself, but he doesn’t know why.

Just as Tak helps DeSoto stand so that they can get out, Jaeger and a squad of Praetorians enter the cave. Tak and DeSoto hide behind a table, but DeSoto is screaming uncontrollably with pain and madness. He thinks he’s in VR and can’t get to the next screen. Tak has no choice but to shoot DeSoto in the stack, so that the Protectorate can’t capture and torture him and Tak can at least escape.

Tak makes the emotionally devastating shot, grabs the biggest gun he sees, and runs for it. He makes it out to the burning forest (we’ve seen shots of this in previous episodes) and radios Quell and Rei. He tells them that Stronghold has fallen. Quell and Rei have made it to the high footbridge where Tak first woke up after being captured by Quell. From his position on the ground behind a large boulder, he can see Quell on Echo Bridge in the distance.

Quells asks him what happened. He tells her that CTAC were in the caves, but before that there was a viral strike with direct stack download. The virus caused everyone to go crazy and kill each other. Quell recognizes it as Rawling virus, and says that the three of them must have been out of range.

Tak orders the other two to get to the shuttle so that they can still complete the mission. They still have a chance to escape the planet and deploy Acheron. He’ll lead CTAC off so that they have time to escape. Rei and Quell argue with Tak at first, but then accept that he’s right. Before she runs from the bridge, Quell orders Tak to, “Survive!”

Jaeger hears Tak talking with Quell and they exchange fire, then Tak keeps running. He stops to watch the shuttle take off, happy that Jaeger won’t be able to get Rei or Quell. But his happiness is only momentary, because the shuttle is quickly targeted and shot out of the sky. Quell screams for Tak as it explodes. Tak falls to his knees, his world destroyed.

But Quell ordered him to survive, so at some point, he finds a hiding spot, lies flat and still on the ground, and lets himself be covered with falling ash. The ash confuses the Praetorians’ devices, so they can’t find him. Jaeger is furious, yelling to the forest that he’ll find Tak, no matter how far he runs, or how long, or how many sleeves he goes through, or how many planets he casts to, or how many other people Jaeger has to kill in the meantime. He’ll always be there, a few steps behind Tak, hunting him down.

Sorry, got a little carried away with the evil villain references. This part really called for a Jean Valjean/Javert style duet. Maybe when they make Altered Carbon: The Musical. Renée Elise Goldsberry can keep her Fantine-type role when it moves to the stage, and sing a song about the dreams she dreamed when she created stacks.

Anyway, once the Praetorians are gone, Tak rises from the ashes like a very sad phoenix and looks around. Ashes swirl around his head as he turns and walks away.

Present day Tak sits on Rei’s couch and broods. Hallucinatory fireflies swirl like the ashes after Stronghold. Rei is finishing saying something about Dimi: “Apparently, he was a real pain in the ass. Nobody liked him. I heard you decapitated him. I mean, a head’s portable, I guess…”

Tak interrupts her to ask how Quell died when the shuttle exploded. That seems like a question that answers itself, but maybe there’s some nuance that I’m missing. Rei tells him that everything happened fast and she can’t remember, which should be a realistic answer, but maybe stacks don’t have memory lapses the way injured, traumatized brains do.

Tak’s hallucinatory fireflies have been hovering around Rei off and on throughout the episode. His Envoy intuition tells him that it’s time to do some investigating, so he says he’s going to splash his face with some water. He follows the fireflies where they lead him, as he hears Quell’s voice chanting “hallucinations, displacement, retreat” again, the brain’s coping mechanisms when it’s under duress. “You have to fight the despair,” Quell continues.

He’s led into a clone storage room, with three waiting clones: Clarissa, the art and antiquities dealer who convinced Laurens to hire Tak and get him out of prison (who also put a human stack in a snake); Hemingway, the handler for Tanaka, Dimi and Ghostwalker; and the little girl from the Quell-Envoy exhibit at the museum, who told Tak about someone stealing her best friend. Rei has been following Tak around all season, secretly interacting with him. She’s also been the one giving the orders to Dimi and Ghostwalker, and paying Tanaka to look the other way. This is probably the tip of the iceberg, given that Clarissa is the one who said, “Laws don’t apply to people like us.”

Flashback to the shuttle, just before it crashed: As the shuttle leaves its bay in the mountainside, Quell realizes that Rei has programmed in the wrong escape route. Rei pulls out a knife and attacks Quell. They fight. Quell stabs Rei in the stomach. Rei pulls out some kind of device and activates it. Quell asks, “Why?” Rei answers, “They gave me life,” as she triggers the device. Two red streaks of light intersect each other where they hit the shuttle as it explodes. The streaks go through the shuttle, both toward the sky and toward the ground.

Quell says, “Tak!” just before she’s consumed by flames.

It’s not clear whose memory this flashback is. Is it what Tak imagines happened, Rei’s real memory, or the lie she’s pieced together by the time Tak is done questioning her? My current guess is that it’s her current lie, but she does remember the explosion. She’s been lying to him and toying with him for the entire season. Lying is her native language now.

In the present day, Tak says to Rei, “There’s only one reason why you wouldn’t remember what happened. You were backed up before the explosion.” Rei responds, “I never could lie to you.” (Ironic lie about lying.)

Tak: “Why would you do that?”

Rei: “That’s what she asked. I told her it was because they gave me life. But the truth is, Big Brother, I did it all for you.”

“I did it all for you.” Think about that for a minute.

I’m not clear on who Rei was working for when she escaped Stronghold- was she a CTAC spy, or was she still in the yakuza? Or both? Is Jaeger in league with the yakuza? Who gave Rei life? I assume that we (and Tak) are supposed to think she meant the yakuza, and that she only turned back to them when Tak started signing up for suicide missions.

It’s clear that nothing Rei says can be trusted to be the truth. She likely sold the Uprising out to Jaeger with the condition she and Tak would live, but when? The most obvious time for her to betray them would be after Tak told her they were Envoys instead of family and refused to leave with her, but that seems too close to the attack for her to have gotten word to Jaeger and him to have planned and executed the attack. But she was never on board with the Uprising and probably always had an escape plan in mind.

Did the red beams of light that were aimed at the shuttle also include transmissions to back up Quell and Rei? Since she probably does remember the explosion, that implies that she was backed up at the last moment. Was it supposed to be Tak in the shuttle with her? Does Rei have clones ready for Tak? It seems like part of her deal to sell out the Uprising would have included backups and clones for him as well.

It seems strange for the show to put so much time into Quell and not back her up. It sounds like stacks have been around for a long, long time, so Quell’s been keeping herself alive for the same amount of time. That would usually mean she would have her own backups, at the very least.

Clarissa’s snake represents Tak, and Rei’s disappointment in him, both when they were reunited on Harlan’s World and on earth.

This brings Dimi’s story about dogs put into human bodies from ep 6 into focus. The dogs are metaphors for people given immortality. We’re not meant for it, or for switching bodies, and can’t handle it long term.

Rei’s three extra clones are her ego, superego and id. Clarissa is the id, who does whatever she wants and fulfills her every desire- the rules don’t apply. The little girl is the conscience, who wonders if she should get over her grudge against the person who stole her best friend. Hemingway is the ego, the administrator who attends to business arrangements and keeps things stable, in control.

Did Rei keep Quell’s journal and get it to Laurens to give to Tak?

Rei must have been the one with the drone that was watching the night Tak spent with Miriam, since Leung was watching the video.

Quell invented stacks for idealistic reasons, but was too idealistic to realize what they could lead to. The Uprising was her way of righting the great wrong she started, but she failed. Neo-Catholicism is trying to right the same wrong, but is being used against its followers.

The implication seems to be that the Elder Civilization died out for the same reason that Quell predicts humans will die out, though we know almost nothing about them.

Tak was taken when he was 12 and turned into an adult soldier. He didn’t have a chance to grow up properly, so he’s wise beyond his years, like the resilient abused child that he is. At the same time, he’s naive and innocent, a person who doesn’t know what normal looks like, and has very little experience with real life as it is for most people. Quell says she sees the boy inside the man, the child who had to grow up too soon. Was that a ploy, as Rei thought, since recruiting child soldiers was probably common in the Protectorate, or was Quell being honest?

Quell gave Tak the normal life that he’d never had, living within a happy community, with friends and loved ones, being a person, rather than an abused child or a child soldier. She taught him how to be a person, and she especially helped him remember how to be a good person again. Then she did the thing no one had ever done for him, and took care of him when she didn’t have to by coming back for him, even going the extra mile to get him out of VR instead of leaving.

So in some ways, Laurens is right, Tak hasn’t put in the physical time that Laurens has. But Tak has made extreme sacrifices, over and over, for the people he cares about. Laurens never, ever chooses to sacrifice for others, even when presented with the option, and he does have options. He could move over and give his very capable son a chance. He could use his wealth to make the world a better place for real. Instead, he clutches everything to himself, as if ostentatious power and wealth are the keys to immortality.

Like Tolkien’s dragons, Meths are natural hoarders of valuable objects, whether they are of any use to the dragon or not. Everything and everyone count as an object to a Meth. And they will defend their useless hoard with possessive fire.

Which brings us back around to Laurens line to Tak in the plague city about hidden power. How much does Rei have, vs Laurens? She paid off Tanaka, controls Ghostwalker, sent the drone Tak’s room, and has had eyes and ears on this whole thing since Tak woke up. As Clarissa, she manipulated Laurens into hiring Tak and waking him up. Did she also shoot Laurens? She must have single cloning ability. All she’d need is a bit of DNA, which wouldn’t be hard to get, since bills are paid with DNA. Is Rei also the one who sold the DNA from Tak’s last sleeve to Carnage?

I forgot to ask again in ep 6- where was Laurens when Isaac was pretending to be him? Did they just drug him unconscious and stash him somewhere in Osaka?

Tak and Quell were close, always on the same wavelength, but they weren’t lovers until the end. She kept her distance because she knew she was working up to a suicide mission and didn’t want to have attachments. He was in love with her, and she likely was with him, but the work was always going to be first for her. He would have happily followed her anywhere, and did plan to follow her into death.

But Rei was jealous. She wanted to be Tak’s first choice the way he was hers. When they were reunited, she thought it would go back to being her and Tak alone, against the world. And she was angry that Tak would choose dying with Quell for what Rei considers a worthless cause, over living with Rei. For Rei, it was another huge betrayal in a life full of betrayal, but she didn’t have to accept this one. She could take control of the situation.

We’ve been seeing a romanticized version of Quell in Tak’s mind, the Quell she let him see during their last night together and who lived in her book. Quell did know how to manipulate people, as Rei suggested. She was working toward getting them all killed. But it also seemed like she really did care about Tak. Or was their last night together simply to keep him motivated to go through with the plan? There’s no doubt that she was self-loathing and didn’t think she deserved love, or a life after the completion of the mission. But was she as much of a calculating user as Rei thought, or was she a naturally charismatic leader who was trying to draw people to her just cause before it was too late? Or both?

In the end, she treated the Envoys like expendable locals. She trained them and cultivated their loyalty. She especially cultivated Tak, who had the specialized knowledge she needed to get to the heart of the Protectorate. When she knew that they had gelled as a group and enough of them would follow her to complete her mission, she presented her real objective. It took her many years to lay the ground work to get there.

But Quell didn’t count on Rei having another agenda and skills of her own, so Quell ignored and underestimated Rei. Quell was sincerely trying to right a terrible wrong that she’d started, and turned that into a cause that other people believed in. But it’s also true that she sprang a fully formed suicide mission on them at the 11th hour instead of working with her team to develop the best possible plan.

She had that plan from day one, and used people in a calculated way, rather than laying out the truth and trusting them to see the importance of stopping immortality. She didn’t give anyone else a crack at the problem. Rei was right about that much. From what we saw, she was the sole leader (“It’s not a democracy.”) and talked in mystical terms much of the time, making herself a mystical figure, basically a cult leader. She got them all to fall in love with her at least a little bit.

Rei recognized this more easily than Tak because the yakuza would have been run in a similar way, based on loyalty to the family-like organization and manipulative rewards for good work as much as it was on punishments. CTAC is much less personal, as we saw when Tak and the strike team cast in and hadn’t even met before.

Quell let Tak in more than anyone else, and he saw a side of her no one else saw. But she was doomed before she met him, from the crushing guilt of what her invention had already done and what she could see it doing in the future. She wasn’t capable of true love at that point, because something so much larger was eating her up. Tak could see that, and love her anyway. Rei could only see Quell’s calculating side, which every good leader and strategist has to have. Rei misinterpreted it as being the same narcissistic use of people that Rei herself indulges in.

Tak might have brought Quell’s softer side out more over time had they both lived, but she was much colder and detached in real life, much more singlemindedly about the mission than she is in his mind. She was also dedicated to her people, as a group, and to her cause, which was ultimately about saving all people.

Rei was an envoy too, so she has all of the skills that Tak does. She just isn’t dedicated to using them for good/honorable purposes. So she can control the construct in VR. She has Envoy intuition. (She denied it to him at Stronghold, but it would be too useful for her not to develop. A person like Rei would develop every skill she could.) She has the ability to quickly acclimate to cultures, languages and sleeves.

But the Envoys’ legendary reputation is strange compared to the reality of a few people living in a cave in the jungle. When were they going and doing all of this blending in? All we saw were guerilla missions to CTAC bases. There may have been other cells on other planets, and Stronghold was one of the last to fall, but the war and the timeline haven’t been shown clearly.

I also suspect that the legend of the Envoys was based mostly on Quell, the genius leader, and Tak, who was a superior soldier that eluded capture for years. Or was it decades, or even a century? That’s also not clear yet. The rest of the Envoys were good, but didn’t seem superhero level great, and seemed to have strengths and weaknesses like anyone else. It’s also possible that Rei purposely exaggerated the Envoy legends over time to raise Tak’s value.

Tak is torn between the three women in his life. Sometimes he’s literally torn and bloody. If he lets go of Quell and the past, he lets go of the best part of himself and his life, and the mission he believed in. He gives up. But if he doesn’t, he’s alone, with nothing and no one to live for.

If he chooses to move forward into the future with Ortega, he chooses rootlessness for himself, but he becomes part of her community, if they’ll ever accept him. He becomes part of her mission for justice, which he believes in. But the option to stay with Ortega might not be open, if they solve this case, since fully solving it should also exonerate Ryker.

If he chooses family and Rei, he’s also choosing the path of corruption and abusive, selfish violence that she chose- essentially following in the footsteps of his father. He’ll become everything he’s always hated, everything he hated about himself when he was with CTAC.

Could Rei be turned back toward the light? Could she ever have, or did she inherit their father’s temperament? And would she even let Tak go a third time? She’s very possessive of him, and just happens to have attacked and nearly killed his closest friend in this time, once again.

Who was Tak’s partner that Jaeger killed before he went to prison? Was it really a nobody? Her fighting style looked like Rei’s did when they fought CTAC and the yakuza together after they first met up again. Was that Rei but she didn’t tell Tak who she was? Did she set Tak up for capture that time? They had sex, so maybe not. Rei acts like an obsessive girlfriend though. Wouldn’t be surprised if sex with Tak would be a fantasy for her, especially since they spent their teenage years apart, with her likely being raped routinely and Tak being the type who would never do that.

Wild Speculation:

I keep wondering about the original mission on Harlan’s World to kill Saito that reunited Tak and Rei. It was a thrown together strike team who didn’t know each other and had little time to acclimate to their sleeves. They had no time to train together. Yet this was a high priority, difficult to catch target. It doesn’t make sense to treat that kind of mission so casually, unless it was actually a set up.

Jaeger had to know that Tak’s sister had been sold to the yakuza. He might have even brokered the deal himself. He probably knew that she was close to Saito. He’d kept Tak off Harlan’s World for 25 years.

Why bring Tak back for a mission that had a high probability of bringing him into contact with his sister? Why put him in his birth sleeve to heighten the feelings of nostalgia, love and loss? Once Tak and Rei ran, why not search the areas that he would have played in when he was growing up?

I think it’s possible Rei was given a similar offer to Tak when she was a child, but she was turned into a CTAC spy placed with the yakusa. When she and Tak were reunited, CTAC wanted her to draw Tak into going AWOL and joining the Uprising. Jaeger knew that Tak was sincere enough to be drawn in by Quell’s cause, and that would get Rei in the door as well. He would act as a red herring to draw the rebels suspicions and attention away from Rei. She’d just be seen as a poorly trained yakuza nobody, compared to the 25 year CTAC vet. In reality, she might be a trained CTAC operative herself with years of experience working undercover alongside the yakuza.

Once Tak and Rei were admitted to the rebel group, they could learn everything about how the Envoys were trained to be such formidable fighters and what the plans for the uprising were. If necessary, Rei could quietly sabotage plans, or pass them on to CTAC to be stopped in a way that wouldn’t blow her cover, like the way Jaeger conveniently showed up at the end of the garrison mission.

Maybe Rei was always going to betray the Uprising when the time came, and was always in touch with the yakusa and CTAC. Tak wasn’t supposed to buy into the rebellion as wholeheartedly as he did. Part of her deal was that Tak get away at the end of the spy mission, and that’s why he got away. But Jaeger never promised he’d let Tak walk free after that. The ease with which Tak walked away from Jaeger’s command after 25 years of fighting together stung. Jaeger has his own personal score to settle.

Rei had enough money to become a Meth because she’d been amassing it from the time she and Tak were separated as children, then made much more for spying on the Uprising. Actually, part of her deal to spy on the uprising was probably that CTAC give him back to her, and having him be unaware of the plan was one less person to blow their cover.

Tak exits the Uprising

Pages from Quell’s Journal:

Whole Sunspire tree page from episode 1.

Tak’s poem up close from episode 1.

Sunspire page spread episode 7.

Tak’s poem up close episode 7.

Nihilistic page spread.

Nihilistic page spread with left page in focus.

Altered Carbon Season 1 Episode 7: Nora Inu Recap In episode 7, present day Tak lies unconscious while Rei heals him. He spends the time reliving his memories of their shared past, so that his brain can try to fit this new development into place.

#Altered Carbon #Joel Kinnaman #Laeta Kalogridis #metacrone #netflix #Nora Inu #recaps #review #Richard Morgan #science fiction

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