#Then again there would be a court case and an investigation and I don’t have time for that

[andypantsx3]

READY OR KNOT | 2 | TODOROKI SHOUTO x READER

SUMMARY: Todoroki Shouto is so unsettlingly beautiful, you’re certain he has to be an omega. That is, until a chance encounter with a pushy alpha reveals you were incredibly mistaken—and the surprises don’t stop there. Shouto's suddenly mystifying behavior adds another layer of complexity to an already confusing inter-agency investigation. It would be so much easier to figure things out—and suppress your growing feelings—if only Shouto would stop being so strangely attentive to you... TAGS/WARNINGS: pro hero au, fem + afab reader, omegaverse, alpha shouto, beta reader, misunderstandings, courting behavior, slightly case fic-y, undertones of sexual violence (not between main pairing), aged-up characters, eventual smut, 18+ minors please dni! LENGTH: 4.9k, 2nd of 7 chapters

It turned out it was not so easy to forget what had happened with Shouto. Especially when Monday morning rolled around, and with it, some very pressing questions about the party.

Mina found you first thing in the morning, already up to your eyeballs in the case file at your desk. A frown marred her pretty mouth as she rounded the corner into the case analyst area. She neatly dodged your deskmate’s ginormous stack of paperwork, nearly as tall as she was, eyes homing in on you like dark little missiles.

“I heard about what happened with Suzuki,” she said, looking you over with uncharacteristic concern. Her eyebrows were drawn, her features pinched. It was an expression that didn’t overtake her cheerful visage all too often. “Are you okay?”

You blinked up at her, the name escaping you for a moment, until you matched it up with the support alpha from the party on Friday. Your lips downturned in reflexive distaste.

“I’m fine. You must have heard that Shouto scared him off,” you answered. “All he really managed to do was imply some stuff.”

Mina’s eyebrow twitched, like she had more questions on that, but she dutifully adhered to the matter at hand first. “I did hear that and we are going to be discussing that in a second. But that doesn’t mean you’d still be okay with everything that did happen. I’ve got a meeting with HR about Suzuki this afternoon, and I’m thinking of firing him.”

You jolted, a quick pang of guilt striking through you. Firing him. That seemed a very intense option.

You thought Suzuki was an asshole, sure, and you remembered all too well the horror that had overtaken you as he’d reached for his belt. But you also knew he had been drunk out of his mind—drunk enough that he thought you were an omega of all things, somehow perceiving things that weren’t even there.

You’d thought about it a lot this weekend, running over the events in your mind, and while the whole incident left a sour taste in your mouth, you thought Suzuki probably had been close to alcohol poisoning considering how strongly he smelled of Tetsutetsu’s horrible drink. He wasn’t exactly sound of mind, the lines a little blurry.

You’d never waylaid anyone like that while intoxicated, but you had done and said your fair share of things you regretted when you’d sobered up. You didn’t know what to think.

You looked up at Mina, finding her watching you consideringly. “No?” she asked.

You scrubbed a hand over your face, unclear what the right thing was. “I saw him and he was like, really not all there, Mina. I think he should be punished for sure, but what if you gave him a warning that if this happens at all again, he’s gone?”

One of Mina’s eyebrows arched. “Shouto said he was holding you against the wall even after you said no.”

You could feel your nostrils flare in anger at the memory, the feeling of that hand against the wet patch on your shoulder, unbudging.

“He did, but he also thought I was an omega, Mina,” you said. “I think he was close to alcohol poisoning, actually. He hasn’t caused any other trouble like this, has he?”

Mina shook that head of wild pink curls. “No, he’s been a model employee thus far. But I still don’t like it. That’s not what the Pink Riot agency is.”

A sigh filled your lungs. The support of Mina and Kirishima was enough for now. “I don’t like it either. But he was drunk, and nothing did actually happen, thanks to Shouto. Give him a warning that any other tiny slip up means firing, and I will be satisfied.”

Mina looked hesitant, dark eyes searching over your face, but eventually she sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “Fine. Once and only because you’ll need an accurate record from support in your investigation and it will be harder to get if he’s gone. But he will be fired if I hear even a whiff of a rumor again.” She paused. “And you’ll have to talk to Eiji, because he’s going to like this even less than I do.”

That wrung a smile out of you.

Kirishima was a good alpha and seemed to think of the agency almost like his pack. As easygoing as he was, he guarded his people resolutely, like a farm dog patrolling a chicken coop. You could almost imagine him standing at attention, head forward and tail pointed like an arrow.

As heartwarming as that image was, that didn’t mean you wanted to be the one to tell him though. You shook your head, throwing out your hands. “Oh no. Your alpha, your problem. The one privilege of my secondary gender is I’m not part of this shit.”

Mina clucked, sighing. “He is my problem.”

You laughed, knowing very well she’d know how to solve it. But her expression shifted, suddenly looking sly, and you realized she was about to saddle you with another problem.

“You’ll have to tell Shouto then,” she said, her voice deceptively light.

You blinked, eyebrows raising. Shouto…? “Why the heck would I need to tell Shouto?”

A grin slowly crept over Mina’s mouth, and she leaned in conspiratorially, looking altogether too pleased. Her hot pink nails settled on the edge of your desk, tapping delightedly. “Because he’s your assigned supervising hero. And you’ll be seeing him again in just a few minutes.”

A sudden flurry of butterflies erupted in your stomach, your mind flashing through the feeling of Shouto over you, tall and strong and warm, pressing you carefully to the wall. You could all but feel the whisper of those pretty eyelashes on your skin, feel his careful exhale, the brush of his mouth against your throat.

Your ears prickled with heat, and you could feel your face go slack in shock. He would be here—? In front of you again?

“He’s—what?” you garbled out, trying to dispel the phantom feeling of Shouto against you.

Mina looked downright smug. “He asked to be assigned right after I spoke to him at the party on Friday. Interesting, don’t you think?”

Heat licked at your cheeks. “Is it,” you managed tightly. “That’s… nice of him.”

“Very,” Mina agreed. “Especially since I heard about what happened after Suzuki left.”

You hated her.

“I’m a beta,” you reminded her, not liking the implication.

Mina’s dark eyes rolled. “Eiji liked me even when he thought I might present as a beta.”

“That’s different,” you told her, floored that you’d sidetracked into this so quickly. “I’m actually a beta. Also what the hell are we even talking about. This is a work case.”

Mina flapped a hand at you. “I’m sure you’ll both work it very hard, very thoroughly,” she said with no small amount of relish.

You seized the case file in question, holding it up between you like a shield, flapping it at her in turn. The manila folder flopped stiffly, the pages making a sort of wobbly sound. “Why are you like this,” you hissed.

Mina’s eyes glittered, and she opened her mouth to respond, when the soft tread of a boot in the hall made her perk up. Her grin went unholy. “Speak of the devil,” she said.

Shouto certainly did not look like the devil, as he rounded the corner. The fluorescent lighting made a sort of soft halo off the glossy strands of his distinct two-toned hair, and his features were just as angelic as you remembered—finely-wrought and almost deliberately formed, as though he were sculpture from the hands of a master. He was almost too beautiful to look at this early in the morning, and you felt your breath draw up short in your lungs.

He blinked when he saw you, those heterochromatic eyes widening nearly imperceptibly as he approached.

“Morning, Shouto-kun,” she purred. You hated her.

“Good morning,” he said, his tone low and soft. Your fingers tightened on the file folder, bracing yourself against the loveliness of the sound.

A flush rose to your cheeks as you did so, and Shouto’s eyes followed you curiously. Beneath the high collar of his hero uniform, you could just glimpse a flash of his scent patches, neatly placed as usual. You wondered absently what he would smell like if you peeled them back and leaned in close. As a beta, your nose was not as good as the other genders, but if you got in close enough, and if Shouto’s scent was strong enough, you’d probably be able to tell.

He looked like he’d smell delicious.

A cackle from Mina alerted you to the horrifying fact that you’d just been staring at Shouto as he approached, mouth open and expression vacant.

“Uh… good morning,” you managed.

The corner of Shouto’s mouth quirked up, and something beneath your skin tingled in response.

“I hope you are well,” he murmured.

You could see Mina’s eyes darting back and forth between the two of you with barely suppressed glee, and a sudden bolt of shame went through you.

Just because it was super obvious how hot you found Shouto didn’t mean he felt the same. He was a fucking pro hero for crying out loud. Rescuing people was what he did—the save on Friday did not have to mean anything.

Plus, knowing for sure that he was an alpha had closed the window on your little celebrity crush. Out of the hundreds of couples you’d met in your lifetime, you’d only ever met one alpha-beta pairing—both tradition and biology seemed to win out in almost all mated pairs, alphas and omegas unable to help their inherent attraction to one another.

And with that in mind, it was actually super disrespectful of you to even think about this impending partnership in any terms less-than-professional.

You rallied yourself, inclining your head respectfully to Shouto, gesturing with the case file in your hands.

“Yep, I’m good. I’m grateful for the save and I’m sure I’ll be even more grateful for your help on this case.” You turned to your boss, routing her back on track. “Mina, what information have you shared and what do I need to get him up to speed on?”

Mina’s pout was so defined it could be seen from space. You ignored her, raising your eyebrows.

“I only put the call out to other agency heads for a supervising out-of-agency hero. Just that it’s an omega assault case possibly involving a pro, and your name as the lead investigator.”

Your gaze returned to Shouto. He was still watching you intently.

“How much time do you have before you’re needed back at your agency?” you asked him. “Do you want to grab a conference room and I’ll get you up to speed? I’m sure Mina has a lot to do just now.”

He nodded, his hair falling into his eyes in a way that should not have wrung the oxygen out of the atmosphere, but did. “I am on patrol after lunch, but I’ve asked that my schedule be cleared until then.”

Perfect. Plenty of time. You stood, hefting the case file with you, clearly dismissing Mina, who looked put out.

“Great, I’ll show you to the conference room then,” you said. Out of the corner of your eye, you caught Mina flashing you a pink finger, and you could easily guess which one. You stuck out your tongue at her as you passed Shouto so he couldn’t see, not above pettiness.

You gestured Shouto into one of the smaller rooms across the floor with especially good soundproofing, holding the door open for him. You sucked in a breath as he brushed past you, trying not to admire how tall and broad he was, the way those shoulders spanned the breadth of the doorway.

Shouto took a seat and you spread the case file out before him, trying not to look down at him as he glanced up at you. His fingers twitched on the conference table, like he was holding them in place. You carefully retreated to a safer distance, hoping you hadn’t annoyed him.

“Okay so the basic brief is as Mina said. There have been multiple reports of a suspected pro harassing omegas late at night in Bunkyo. Initially they were identified as a masked male wearing scent patches, roughly five foot ten, always wearing some dark jacket. But the suspected hero element came into play late last week when they attempted to strap quirk suppressors on their target. The omega in question had a vapor quirk so she was able to dissolve and escape before he did.”

Shouto’s eyes tracked you as you spoke, solemn and attentive.

“So far the suspect has not shown any signs of a quirk himself, and without any scent ID it’s hard to know what secondary gender to look for. Our best option is to work the possible-pro-hero angle and rule out who we can, since that’s all the identifiable detail we have on this guy at this time.”

Shouto nodded, propping an elbow on the table. You tried to ignore how even that small gesture made him look like a center spread in Heroes Illustrated.

“I’d like to read the individual reports and hear your plan once I have,” Shouto said.

You perked up, pleased with the terms he was speaking in. A good case analyst always had at least a sketch of a plan—what order to speak to specific people in, which angles had highest priority of investigation, and how the labor could be divided and work double-checked.

Most heroes were people of action and hated having to be corralled into approaching cases like some sort of assignment, instead of busting in and blowing things apart. But it was the best way to make sure all avenues were investigated thoroughly and that work was peer-reviewed in case someone missed something.

Shouto’s phraseology told you he was familiar with approaching cases like this, meaning he probably listened to the Todoroki agency analysts. You’d never worked closely enough with him before to know, only trading high-level information back and forth on a couple of joint cases, presenting findings in a meeting room stuffed full of Pink Riot and Todoroki agency heroes.

You found yourself smiling faintly.

“I’ll get you some coffee while you read. Everything is in chronological order in the file and I’ve tabulated some notes,” you said. “How do you take yours?”

Shouto’s gaze slid over you, careful and assessing. He paused. “I’ve been told I should not share that information.”

Your eyebrows went up. “Your… coffee order?”

Shouto nodded seriously. “Bakugou says it’s disgusting and embarrassing.”

Bakugou—pro hero Dynamight, that was—was Kirishima’s best friend, a loud alpha of an explosive manner and incendiary opinions who often showed up unprompted at the agency to stomp around and mean mug, all the while hiding that he was attempting to press leftovers on Kiri and Mina. You laughed, curious what Bakugou had browbeaten another pro over.

“Your secret will be safe with me,” you said coaxingly.

Shouto blinked, mouth quirking slightly again. He looked like he genuinely liked the idea of that, and your stomach fluttered in response.

Of course then he opened his mouth and provided a rundown of the inhumanly numerous sugars and syrups he liked, such that it constituted more of a soft drink than a coffee order. You tried to keep your eyebrows from creeping up into your hairline, smothering a laugh.

That was so unexpectedly cute. Especially for an alpha.

“One coma-inducing order of sugar with a splash of coffee, coming right up,” you saluted him.

He did something with his face that was a cross between a tiny smile and a pout, and you threw yourself out the door before you dissolved into a puddle of goop.

You went down to the cafe that operated out of the ground floor of the Pink Riot building, a favorite lunch spot of most of the heroes for how enormous their sandwiches were. The order took a fair few minutes, as it took the barista a good while to pump in the zillions of requested syrups, his eyebrows raised nearly to the moon as you recited them.

When you returned to the conference room, Shouto was already well into the case file. He glanced up as you entered, those heterochromatic eyes pinning you with an unexpected intensity. You started, wondering if you’d done something wrong.

But then his mouth slid into another tiny smile, and he looked so genuinely pleased to see you—or the coffee cup—you found yourself helplessly smiling back.

After depositing his cup next to him, you fetched your laptop and emailed Shouto’s agency the case files while he read. You wrote up the preliminary notes you’d been able to pull together on the case—a list of three agency heroes whose exact whereabouts had been accounted for during one or more of the incidents, who were therefore not on your list of possibilities.

Shouto was staring at you when you shook yourself out of work mode an hour later, quiet and intent. You startled, jumping in your seat.

“Oh my god—I’m sorry—did you say something? I didn’t mean to ignore you,” you said.

Shouto shook his head, another smile quirking that perfect mouth. That expression was growing familiar. “I have just finished,” he said.

A sense of relief washed over you. “Okay great. Did anything stick out to you that you think I’ve missed so far?”

“No,” he murmured. “Your work is very thorough. I would like to hear your plan.”

His tone was low, almost appreciative, and you tried not to let it go to your head.

“Okay, then we’ll begin with the active duty and equipment logs,” you told him. “I’m already through all of the duty logs available, but I still need the one from Thursday when the last incident happened—it’s supposed to be ready this afternoon. That will rule out a few heroes, and the equipment logs can tell us more about who had what out during the time of the attacks—I think we start with the heroes who had suppressors on them then.”

Shouto nodded, looking like he was following along. “You want to narrow the pool before you speak to anyone in case you arouse suspicion.”

You nodded, pleased he understood. “Yes.”

That blue and gray gaze nearly pinned you to your seat. “That is smart.”

A sudden wash of heat licked up your spine, pooling in your limbs. You struggled to keep your face neutral, your ears burning. “Th—thanks.”

“Who have you ruled out so far?” he asked.

You turned your screen to him, showing the notes you’d drawn up. “Kiri’s clear—no shock there—Tetsutetsu, and Tetsu’s sidekick who was with him on a cleanup during the first incident. I’m hoping Thursday’s log will clear at least one or two more.”

Shouto inclined his head in agreement. “And your interview plan?”

You smiled, and scrolled down to your notes on that, pleased at how he was letting you lead the investigation. He listened intently as you walked him through an outline, double-checking that everything worked with his schedule.

As you talked, he offered a few suggestions of his own, but he mostly seemed content to follow your outline—completely unlike even the most agreeable of the Pink Riot agency alphas. In fact it was so contradictory to everything you’d experienced thus far that you found your gaze darting to his scent patches over and over again, as if assessing whether they were really covering up an alpha scent.

But no—you had felt the pull of his Order under your skin on Friday. You, a beta, naturally resistant to Orders in the way omegas weren’t. And you’d gone so boneless against him, too, affected by his proximity in the most embarrassing way. Shouto was definitely an alpha, with that kind of pull—and probably a preternaturally strong one at that.

But he was also just—your eyes drifted to his coma-inducing coffee cup—kind of a strange one, too.

The two of you discussed the case for a few more minutes—until your stomach growled, loud enough to interrupt your planning, and the corner of Shouto’s lips lifted again.

“Would you like to finish up over lunch?” he asked, saving you the embarrassment of excusing yourself.

You grinned. “I think my stomach already answered for me,” you agreed.

Shouto helped you reorganize the paper files and lingered over you as you locked them into your desk cabinet, waiting for you patiently. Then he let you lead him downstairs to the cafe. You were conscientious of not standing too close to him in the elevator, all too aware of him in that tiny, enclosed space.

When you made it down to the ground floor, Shouto surprised you by steering you over to one of the tables, bidding you to sit.

“What do you enjoy here?” he asked, looking down at you expectantly. “I would like to get it for you.”

You shook your head. “Actually, I’m pretty sure I should be treating you for the save. How about you tell me what you want?”

Those heterochromatic eyes blinked down at you, and a tiny crease appeared between Shouto’s eyebrows. His mouth turned down. Against the subtlety of his expressions thus far, the look appeared almost distressed. “I insist,” he said, something strange in his tone.

“Shouto, really, I—-”

“I insist,” Shouto said, a little more firmly. There was the flicker of something strange under your skin again, like the tiny molecules of your body shifting in response to him.

You froze, startled, and your mouth opened for you before you realized what you were doing. “I—a pesto sandwich—”

You clamped your mouth shut, mystified.

But Shouto looked pleased. He smiled, wider than you had seen so far, a devastatingly handsome quarter-moon sliver that sent your pulse pounding in your ears. You watched him turn and walk off, something you might have said was almost smug in his step, had you known him better.

You sank into one of the seats, befuddled by what had just happened.

Shouto returned a few minutes later with water and an order number, placing the bottle in front of you like an offering. You regrouped, thanking him, then raised your eyebrows as he leaned forward, looking serious.

“I have been wanting to ask. Where does the alpha who harassed you work?” he asked, his tone dropping low. A strip of afternoon sunlight caught in his hair, dancing like flickering flames in the strands of scarlet, liming them in an orange glow.

He was beautiful in the sun, and it took you a minute to reroute your brain from his face to his question.

“Suzuki’s in support,” you said. “But Mina’s disciplining him, and I don’t have to see him often. I do expect he’ll behave after this. But why do you ask?”

Shouto frowned, leaning in closer. “Support maintains the equipment logs.”

It was the same at the Pink Riot agency too. “I—well, yes, but—”

“I should like to be there when you go to support,” Shouto said, catching your eye. His expression shifted into something solemn, his mouth a flat line.

You waved your hand dismissively. “I appreciate it, but don’t worry. He’s not gonna do anything, it’s literally just logs—”

“I must insist,” Shouto said again, his tone soft but unmistakably firm. His fingers flexed tightly where they rested on the edge of the table, the knuckle of his index turning white.

Despite yourself, his concern warmed you, that hot, tingly feeling heating your ears again.

“I really would be okay,” you said. “But if it means something—I’ll wait until tomorrow when you get here?”

Shouto nodded. “I would like that very much.”

A smile teased at your mouth. Now that was stereotypical alpha behavior, much as you appreciated his concern. Suzuki wasn’t going to jump you over a log file in a workplace—especially not after Mina had taken him to task. Shouto’s concern was unnecessary, but so very typical of an alpha. It felt familiar, like Kirishima’s brand of protectiveness over his tight knit agency, you thought. Harmless and well-intentioned.

A tray being placed on your table cut off any response you might have given, and your eyes blew wide as you registered the amount of food on it. Your mouth dropped open when a second tray was placed alongside the first one, the cafe worker smiling down at Shouto before she left, clearly recognizing him.

Shouto looked down at the food, his features arranged in minute shock.

“I do not remember ordering this…” he said, glancing at his receipt slip. You watched as his eyebrows furrowed slightly, that crease appearing between them again as his eyes flickered over the order. Then he cut himself off, those long eyelashes fluttering. “I… apologize.”

Apologize? Meaning, he had ordered this?

“You bought all this?” you asked, floored.

Shouto gave a tight nod. “It… would seem so.”

Your gaze picked over the trays again. They were piled high with at least six sandwiches, several pastries, a takeout container of soup, four different kinds of cookies, two fruit cups, and a handful of the granola bars they kept by the register. It was a literal mountain of food, and you sort of doubted even a pro hero could put that much away in one sitting.

“If you were so hungry we could have come down so much earlier,” you insisted, but Shouto’s embarrassed expression only deepened.

“It is… not for me,” he said slowly. It looked like it pained him to admit it.

You blinked, drawing back in your seat. “It’s…..me?”

Shouto nodded seriously.

A shocked laugh leapt out of you, bright and pleased. “Shouto, I was hungry but this is like, eleven meals!”

“You will have leftovers, then,” Shouto replied, sounding embarrassed. The tips of his ears were red where they peeked through his mop of multicolored hair.

You were so suddenly, utterly charmed by him, a splash of warmth pooling in your stomach, flooding through your limbs. You had absolutely no idea what had possessed him to do this, but it was undeniably sweet. Coupled with the easy way he’d let you take the lead on the investigation, and the way he’d moved to protect you on Friday night—it all painted a portrait of a very good, very kind sort of person.

You’d really lucked into a good partnership. You were grateful.

“Thank you, Shouto,” you said sincerely. A hint of a flush colored his high cheekbones, and he nodded.

You decided not to press him anymore, setting aside your speculation for when he’d gone. Instead, you unearthed your requested sandwich from the mound of food, and selecting a pastry at random. Shouto watched you as you bit into your food, a strange sort of intensity in his gaze.

Eventually, however, he took his own food, and the two of you chatted as you ate, moving on from the case to discuss his patrol, your shared friends, and a slew of other silly topics. You found him just as easy to talk to outside of case work—he had the same straightforward way of approaching life as he did his casework, his outlook consummately honest and thoughtful.

You regretted it when Shouto eventually had to excuse himself for patrol, but not before disappearing and reappearing with a takeout containers and a bag for all the things he’d ordered you, which he carefully but insistently packed away, before putting in front of you with a meaningful look.

You laughed again, taking the bag from him as you got up to make your way back upstairs as well.

“Thank you for lunch,” you told him, trying to convey how sincerely grateful you were. “I’m looking forward to our partnership.” You stuck out your hand to him, smiling up at him.

Shouto’s expression didn’t change much, but his mismatched gaze grew warmer where it rested on you. “As am I,” he said, tone soft.

Long fingers curled around yours, and for a moment you felt that same, weak-kneed desire to collapse against him as you had on Friday. It took an inordinate amount of focus to pump his hand in a handshake, and even more willpower to let him go.

You waved him off, and watched him go, feeling a strange sense of emptiness as that broad back disappeared through the door. In just a few short hours, it seemed, Todoroki Shouto had dug himself a comfortable little spot in your heart—far deeper than a case partner should have.

You ruminated on this as you made your way back upstairs, mind running over the events of the last few days. You couldn’t figure out why Shouto was having a weirder effect on you than any other alpha, even accounting for his unearthly good looks, nor why he seemed to be equally lost today—ordering a zillion things without even realizing he’d done so.

As you made your way back to your desk and cracked open the case file again, you resolved to solve this mystery as well. You were good at getting to the bottom of things—and Todoroki Shouto would be no exception.

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Hi hi! Can I please request Furina/Focalors with the first prompt? Tysm and congratulations on reaching such a big milestone!

“I think I’m in love with you and I don’t know what to do.”

characters: Furina x gn!reader

warnings: none, just fluff

a/n: As I’m starting to write this, it’s 22.30 (exactly 24:00 as I finish). I have school tomorrow and just returned from an exhausting hours long car drive. Why am I writing? Easy. because I felt like it.

AND FURINA IS JUST SO SLKVNLSDNVLVNLSNDVLJ

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Furina

The plan was simple. So simple in fact that Furina was sure even a toddler would be able to perfectly understand each and every of its steps, yet the simplicity of her genius plan in no way made it any less grand. In fact it was the grandest and most genius plan there ever was. All it needed you to do was simply stare in awe and feel your heart flutter at the sight of your Archon displaying her oratory and investigative prowess by defeating the renowned Traveler in the court case of the century.

She could have made it more difficult for herself, choosing their battle to be in any less one-sided field, but even Furina hadn’t expected this case to go so smooth, sneaking triumphant glances at your front-row seat whenever she made an excellent point, yet calming slightly down when instead of finding you awe-struck, you seemed more intrigued in the case, paying equal attention to both sides.

And yet, it didn’t matter. For she was sure that all it took for you to completely fall for her was one more excellent counter from her side, and then you’d be hers.

...when Furina not only found herself on the losing side, but humiliated by someone who never practiced law before, she took every opportunity to escape the opera building before locking herself up in her room and letting not a single soul in. Neither her servants, nor Neuvillette being granted entry through her door. So when you received an unexpected letter from the chief justice, asking you to give it a try, it was fair to say your expectations weren’t all that high.

A knock, then silence. Two more and you could hear the sound of footsteps approaching from the other side. One more knock and-

“What do you want?”, rang out a familiar voice, tired and grumpy as if just awoken. You took a glance at the clock. 2 pm. 

“I was told you refused to leave your room, do you want to talk it out?”, you asked, loud enough for her to hear you from the other side of the door, yet whispered so nobody could overhear you. The moment words started leaving your mouth, the footsteps grew frantic, seemingly pacing from one end of the room to the other, only for the door to eventually unlock, open in a flash before a hand grabbed you, pulled you inside and the door shut again.

What you were greeted with was a seemingly hastily dressed Archon, her expensive clothes not buttoned up correctly in some spots while her hair seemed messier than usual. And yet you didn’t say a word. You were the first person she didn’t outright refuse to talk with since the court case so you definitely were not going to make her regret letting you in.

“What are you talking about? Me refusing to leave my room has nothing to do with what happened in court, I am simply busy working on a new project of mine”, Furina began to talk in her usual manner, trying to sound completely confident only to fold her hands in front of her chest as her cheeks grew slightly red in embarrassment from recalling that day.

It was fair to say that you weren't sold.

“Are you still embarrassed about what happened? We all make mistakes from time to time, no matter if you’re an Archon, human or… I don’t know, an ant. So there’s no need to-”, you began in your attempt to console her, only for her to dodge the hand you were trying to put on her shoulder before interrupting you.

“I do not care if anyone else remembers, but could at least you forget about it”, she almost screamed out loud, just a single word removed from covering her ears with her hands as she looked away from you, the only thing visible to you being her deep-red ears.

“Are you sure the person you want to forget the most isn’t the chief justice? Why me-”

“Because I think I’m in love with you and I don’t know what to do to impress you now”, the words shot out of Furina in such a way that her voice cracked a million times, her hands now firmly pressed against her ears as her eyes closed, the Archon fleeing the embarrassment she caused herself the only way she could.

For a few moments you were left staring dumbfoundedly at the figure in front of you, face as red as if it had been used as a canvas for a group of kindergarteners that only had one single color available. If you were to take a picture of her now, you had no doubt you’d find yourself banished for at least 4 consecutive lifetimes, and yet you found the sight… somewhat adorable.

As you slowly but surely put your arms around her, Furina finally started to calm down, although the color of her face still was nowhere near to changing back to normal. And before long, the Archon hesitantly wrapped her arms around you as well, neither of you speaking a word in what felt like an eternity.

“You can remember the confession, but purge your memories of anything else that happened”, she eventually spoke up, her voice sounding almost calm, if it weren’t for the obvious nervousness.

“What are you talking about?”, you played along, only to feel her head nod in satisfaction.

[faetthorn]

Probably my only contribution to the Pathologic fandom

Some important words below, if you're a patho fan take the time to read them

TW: pedophilia, SA, grooming, racism, colonialism

So I got into pathologic in july and almost instantly got hit with a post about the allegations from back in 2021 against Nikolay Dybowski, game creator and founder of Ice Pick Lodge. He’s groomed several girls ages 15-18 and inclusively has used his position as a member of HSE University in Moscow to do so. 3 years on and people have all forgotten this and are happily cheering for the bachelor route like nothing ever happened 

Yes I know you all wanna forget abt the uncomfortable situations, after all "what can we do" right? I wish I could just pull a switch in my brain and forget too, but I'm a victim of SA and child grooming, and I can't play this game without remembering what its creator did. The worst part is that the characters mean a lot to me. I got into pathologic while suffering from ptsd related nightmares and Daniil, Artemy and Clara brought me a lot of joy and comfort. Even now they and some elements of patho’s story mean the world to me. It hurts to be constantly reminded that everyone is against you, no matter how much you appreciate their work, no matter how much time and money you put into doing it.

I'd properly join the fandom and start calling for a boycott and for these allegations to be discussed and reminded of again but I just know it'll never happen. I'd be ignored or get a thousand replies "oh but the employees, they have nothing to do with it!!" "it's just a game!" "it'll get you nowhere!" “age of consent is x y or z in this country!” "stop being a vindictive little bitch!" "*insert rape threat here*" I expect to receive 0 support on this post and I'll block anyone I need to. Just wanted to let this out of my chest even if nothing will change: Petitions don't work, they never did and they never will. Passivity and politeness never got ME shit, at least.

DOXA, the rus student newspaper investigating these allegations was raided by police (1, 2) and recently considered an undesirable organization by the government. The courts and police would never do anything about this and they’re clearly more invested in persecuting student groups that have even the most basic feminist goals. HSE University didn’t get involved in any libel suits so as far as we know Dybowski wasn’t even fired. Not only is he the creator and chief writer of the games but he's also the head of the studio. Spreading awareness and boycotting is the only way justice can be made (at least in a way non-russians can participate). If you’re considering playing pathologic i cannot recommend it and i don’t want to be the reason someone gives more money to Dybowski. You don’t need more harmful shit when you have 2 games, a dlc and wonderful fandom content the game would never make canon. Hell, PIRATE all the games if you really need to. When the bachelor route comes out the IPL employees will have already been paid for it. Also, let’s not forget that WE DON’T KNOW where the profits we give will go. They might go to CP, they might go to the rus army attacking Ukraine and occupying former USSR territory and Syria.  

I wonder why it's so easy for you all to rightfully call to boycott anything related to zionism without making excuses but then when it's a pedophile with countless cases of grooming and very probably rape you all stay quiet and do nothing just because it's your precious little interests. It's almost like it's all performative

In the same vein, there needs to be a discussion about how violently racist this game is because this art came from anger and sadness. I’m not indigenous but i’ve followed native activism for years and i wouldn’t have the beliefs i have today without the opinions of indigenous people. I know feeling betrayed by the art you use to cope with how horrible reality is is tough. Not only does this game have extremely racist stereotypes and portrays natives as a monolith, but it’s also unsurprisingly misogynistic in an extremely colonial way (need i remind you of Willow, the way the herb brides are dressed or the fixation with portraying steppe people as woman-sacrificing brutes). Not to mention the extreme cruelty of patho 2’s endings. Which is way more insulting when it’s directly tied via the in-game use of Buryat language and inspirations to the native peoples of Siberia who Russia colonized and whose culture is still actively repressed, at a time when the weight of colonization (environmental catastrophe, poverty, sexual violence and more) makes indigenous people commit suicide at a way higher rate than any other ethnicity in many countries, and this includes the native people of Siberia who this game “pays homage” to (1). This fandom in general needs to start being way more critical and checking their own racism too. And to any native patho fans i’m obviously not here to tell you how to feel abt patho’s racism

Well, there it is. I have no hope left to ask anyone to boycott the bachelor route or the other projects Dybowski's created but if this makes you think about the things you throw money at it’ll be something

Edit: I apparently need to clarify something since certain people have been pestering me about it. I'll keep standing behind the part where I say the profits (not the money used to pay the employees, the PROFITS) might go to CP and the rus army and I'll expand on why. The CP part is more than obvious, after all we're talking about a guy who has been sexually abusing underage girls since allegedly at least 2012 with full impunity. The army part might seem like a stretch but if it does to you there's things you need to understand. To pro-Palestine people it's already common knowledge that misogyny and sexual violence play a HUGE part in colonialism and in russian colonialism it's no different. Dybowski is a misogynistic, violent abuser (because YES csa is violence, always), with racist, pro-colonial views as seen in pathologic. It's a REAL RISK. No pro-Palestine person would ever buy something from an israeli with Dybowski's track record who has given absolutely no statements on the invasion on Palestine while said invasion is ongoing, so the same should apply to Russia. And let me repeat once again: we are not responsible for the IPL employees' well-being and payment. Dybowski is.

[cissyenthusiast010155]

My Guardian Angel ~Broken!Rita Calhoun xFem Younger!Investigator!Reader (Liz Donnelly x Alex Cabot) feat. Rafael Barba & Olivia Benson

Summary— AU where Rita has an abusive husband, and one night, after he storms out, Rita calls Reader. Reader brings Rita to the person who helped her with her own haunted past, Elizabeth Donnelly. Alex, Barba, and Liv makes appearances. What does the night have in store for Rita and Reader…?

Mommy… Master List

Requests & Prompt-List

Warnings: angst, a little fluff, dead dove: do not eat, implied abuse, implied sexual assault, implied abusive husband, comforting, crying, alcohol consumption, anxiety attacks, a little self destructive behavior, mentions to prostitution, SVU things, Elizabeth Donnelly, Alex Cabot, Rafael Barba, Olivia Benson, Liz and Alex are a bit of a power couple, gray ending, etc.

Enjoy (;

You didn’t know Rita Calhoun well. At least not originally. From the moment you did meet, you both couldn’t deny the connection between the two of you. You had always lived in coinciding worlds, she was a New York defense attorney, and you were an investigator for 1PP, occasionally lended out to SVU.

Originally, she was the lawyer whom you had hired for your idiot of a brother when he had been caught and charged with soliciting a prostitute. You had met with the high class woman on a couple of occasions, to discuss your brothers bail, probation, trial, payment, and anything else pertaining to his case.

You saw yourself intrigued by her elegant manner, high end fashion, and confidence. Soon you saw yourself get hooked to the tiny smiles and chuckles you managed to pull from her when in private. You found yourself fighting to make the woman laugh as much as you could, her laugh always seemed to make your day. And during the trial, your eyes were on her the entire time. You lived off those days outfits that Rita would strut into court in.

So when you checked your phone late Friday night, the last thing you expected to see what a very many handfuls of missed calls from Rita Calhoun. You saw that she had left a voicemail in the last call, so you pressed play.

“Heyyyy Y/N… S-sorry to be bothering you so I know it’s^^late… I… I just… I don’t know what to do, call me back k bye”

It was Rita alright, but something was very wrong. She had been stammering and hiccuping throughout the entire voicemail, and had broken into sobs by the end. She sounded like she’d been crying and drinking for far too long… Her sounds triggered memories of your own life, memories that you had gone to great lengths to bury.

You immediately called the woman back. The dial rang for a couple tones, then it shut off. You hit call again. The second time, she picked up. You heard a sniffle and then a choke sob.

“H-hey…” she practically whispered.

“Rita, Hi, is everything alright?”

“I…” She stammered, before the call went silent.

“Rita?” You asked, your concern growing.

“N-no” She whispered, then letting out another choked sob.

You took a deep breath and your instincts kicked in once more. You got Rita to give you her address and told her that you would be over as soon as possible. That night you broke the made the most traffic violations in your entire life.

You entered the house, the front door having been unlocked which was mildly concerning to you. You walked through the lavish, lofty apartment, until you found Rita curled up facing away from you in the living room on the floor with a full bottle of wine in her hand. Your heart sank and a lump came into your throat. You hated how normal and used to this sight you were. Because not too long ago, this had been you…

You dropped to the floor, immediately going to comfort the woman. You carefully removed the alcohol, setting it aside. Rita let out a choke sob, immediately curling up into your lap. As she turned to face you, you saw the massive black eye that she had. Your eyes scanned her entire body, finding more red, raw skin marks along her arms and some blue bruising on her neck. Your heart nearly broke as Rita sobbed into your lap.

“I—im s-sorry… I didn’t-didn’t know who t-to call…! It’s it’s stupid, nothing really—” Rita choked out, muffled as she cried into your chest.

You knew this behavior. You knew it all too well.

“Hey hey, it’s okay. I’m here Rita… It’s all going to be okay. Can I touch you, honey…? Would that be alright…?” You very gently asked the woman, coming a little closer to her, trying to show that you were no threat.

Rita nodded as her cries were muffled by her face being in the crook of your neck. She clung onto you like her life depended on it.

“Ok, good… you are doing so good for me, Rita. Take some deep breaths for me? Can you try to do that?” You comforted the woman, bringing your hands around to hold the woman in your lap.

You could hear Rita trying to take some deep breaths as she nodded, although her hiccups made it more difficult.

“Good, very good, Rita.” You praised, then bringing your hands to cup the woman’s cheeks and direct her scattered gaze to you.

“Now Rita this is important… I need you to come back to me and think, okay?”

A slow nod.

“Is he going to come back anytime soon…?” You softly asked.

Rita’s eyes widened and she began to panic at your question. Your hold on the woman only tightened and you insisted on her answer.

“I know you don’t want to think about it, but I need to know if you’re safe staying here Rita.” You explained firmly yet lovingly.

Rita took some more deep breaths before stammering,

“I… he he’s gone out… drinking…” she gulped, “Be back late…”

Her eyes were red and glossy, and they only panicked more at the idea of her husband returning. You rubbed her back and caressed her check in comfort.

“Ok. We need to get you to a hospital, Rita…” you gently said, knowing the possible outlast that your words might cause.

Rita practically jumped out of your lap and was quick to stand up and start pacing in the living room. Her fingers were red and raw and fidgeting. Her gaze scattered everywhere. You slowly stood up and tried to corner the woman into your embrace.

“No no no hospitals… hospitals means cops and that means court and no no—” Rita rambled, her thoughts spiraling more and more.

You grabbed the woman’s hands, clasping them in your own to ground the woman. Her sobbing gaze finally met yours once more.

“Okay. That’s okay. Rita, listen to me, is there anywhere you can go to stay for the time being…?” You softly asked.

Rita’s lip began to tremble and her knees buckled, her body falling into yours. Luckily, you managed to gently catch and carry the weight of the woman while she regained partial strength.

“N-not RAF—Rafael… he can’t know, no no no one…” Rita choked out in gasps.

When she wasn’t able to come up with any other options, your mind went to the person who had helped you.

“Okay okay, that’s okay, Rita. How about Elizabeth? You know Judge Donnelly? She’s a close friend and I know she can help…” you spoke with understanding and reassurance.

Rita looked up to you from collapsing in your arms and nodded slowly. But her eyes told you that she had sunken too far into her thoughts, that you would have to start making the decisions in her best interest until she came back to you.

You gently placed Rita back on the couch, quickly going to the kitchen to grab her a water, while you then ran around the place, trying to pack her a weekend back. After about 15 minutes, you had the bag in hand and you were leading the woman out of the house and into a cab. The entire cab ride, Rita was snuffling and silently sobbing in your shoulder.

Once you reached Liz’s brownstone, you violently knocked on the door, Rita protected being you and holding your hand. The door flew open but it wasn’t Liz, it was a blonde. Your eyes went wide and you gulped, suddenly regretting not having double checked with Liz beforehand.

“You’re Y/N, right…? I’m Alex.” The tall blonde spoke slowly yet confidently.

“Yes, um is Liz home?” You said, quickly getting to the point while trying to hide Rita behind you to the best of your ability.

But Liz had told you about Alex, she was sharp, didn’t miss a thing.

“Yea, she’s in the kitchen… Is that Calhoun…?” Alex hummed, leaning against the doorway.

You took a deep breath and brought Rita to stand next to you. Alex’s jaw dropped and she took a step back in shock.

“I just… we needed a safe place to go for the night and Liz always said her door was always open and I’m sorry if we intruded, I just can’t handle this, I mean I know Liz can handle it, and so I thought—” you rambled.

Before you could say another word, the blonde was pulling you and Rita into the brownstone, closing the door behind her and marching straight up to Liz in the kitchen.

“Is that our take-out, bunny…?” Liz hummed, while sipping some wine before her gaze met yours and then Rita’s disheveled state.

“Oh my god.” Liz immediately put her glass doing and rushed over to Rita, her hands wandering all over the woman, her gaze scouring the woman’s injuries, “Rita, Darling, what happened…??”

Rita’s lip trembled before more violent sobs came out. No coherent words were possible for the woman at this point, all she could do was embrace Liz and sob into her chest. Liz happily consoled the poor woman before her gaze meet yours along with the go bag.

“I’m sorry…” you mouthed, referring to breaking up her and Alex’s obvious night together.

“Hush now, you did the right thing, take Rita’s things to the first bedroom on the second floor.” Liz told you, waving off your unneeded apology.

You immediately nodded and went to go up the stairs. Then Luz turned to Alex.

“Go run a bath, warm not too hot.” Liz spoke firmly.

Alex was off to the master bathroom after a quick nod. When you both returned, you found Rita clung around Liz like a Koala, clinging on for dear life and continuing to sob in her chest. The sight brought flashbacks of the night you had stumbled up on Liz’s doorstep, in an eerily same condition as Rita…

Liz soothed Rita while guiding her to the master bathroom. The older blonde sent you a comforting gaze with a nod, telling you that she had it. You placed a hand on your heart and took a shattered breath, nodding slowly.

It was then that you noticed Alex coming up beside you. You turned your head to her slightly.

“I… I just didn’t know where else to go… I’m sorry if I ruined your night…” you breathed out.

Alex brought a hand to your shoulder and reassuringly squeezed your skin lightly. Her eyes twinkled with sympathy and care.

“Hey, it’s okay. You made the right call. And hey, I’m glad to finally meet you.” Alex sighed, “Can I get you anything…?”

You nodded and then sighed yourself.

“Tea maybe…? Or fuck some scotch now that I think about it…”

A deep chuckle reverberated throughout Alex’s chest as she nodded in agreement, going to the kitchen and pulling a bottle out of the liquor cabinet. She poured two glasses and handed you one of them.

“Thanks” you muttered.

Alex hummed an of course in response, before going to sit down in the classy living room. You sat across from her, sipping your scotch lightly. The blonde looked you dead in the eye, as she sighed.

“Liz told me a bit about you and that night.”

You gulped and struggled to maintain the intense eye contact. You knew that Liz and Alex were close, really close, however it still was hard to reconcile another person knowing something so vulnerable about you. But if Liz trusted Alex with it, so did you.

“Yea… I was and am still so grateful to Lizzie for all that she did for me…” you confessed.

“Lizzie…?” Alex chuckled dryly with a cock of an eyebrow.

“Yea…” you breathily chuckled, “Her and my dad worked together…”

Alex smiled lightly in understanding, nodding along, waving her hand in the air and prompting you to continue, knowing from what Liz had said that that wasn’t the whole story.

“Yeah they were colleagues, and so I saw Lizzie at events and she’d been at my childhood home a couple times… I’d always been pretty independent, both my parents working all the time, and me being the oldest led to me getting used to being on my own. And then my parents divorced, and I got even more alone…” you sighed.

Another wave of sympathy washed over Alex’s face, as she sipped her scotch and listened intently.

“I’m sorry. I definitely know the pains of divorced parents…” Alex sighed.

You smiled lightly and nodded, before continuing you tawdry tale,

“Anyways, Lizzie was one of the only people who reached out to me, to y’know check on me and stuff. She’s always been in my corner, and she’s practically filled the role of a mother ever since the divorce…” you spoke out softly.

You could tell that Alex knew most of this, and that she was waiting for the part about how this all connected to Rita, so you cut to the chase.

“Anyways, about two years ago, I meet and started to see this guy… Looking back, he was a lot like my father, and I should have recognized the warning signs earlier… But I didn’t. And I let it go on for an entire year… Until…” you sucked in a breath, “I wound up on Lizzie’s doorstep, heart broken and bruised…”

You saw Alex’s audible gulp at your last sentence. You saw how her hand tightly clutched her glass, her knuckles almost white. With a deep breath, she nodded and prompted you to continue with her hand once more.

“Anywho, Lizzie helped me get my shit together and throw him out of my place and my life. I’d taken his abuse for a whole year, and I’m still recovering to this day from the number he did on me��” You concluded your story.

Alex then stood up and came to sit next to you on the couch you inhabited. Her hand came to squeeze your shoulder reassuringly.

“I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of that…” Alex sighed, “I hear you, recovery takes time.”

You took a breathy, deep breath with a shaky nod, all the memories of your past coming up as you talked about it all. But her touch was soothing. It was then that Liz emerged from the hallway and came into the living room with a sigh. The older woman sat down next to you, a hand running up and down your thigh in reassurance.

“She’s okay, Rita is going to be fine.” Liz hummed, before stealing your glass of scotch and sipping away at it.

You didn’t mind the cheeky gesture, lord knows she needed the relaxation, merely humming and nodding in response.

“She’s in the bath, and she’s asking for you…” Liz spoke once more.

You sucked in a breath and nodded, starting to stand up. As you went to leave and find Rita in the master bath, you turned back towards Liz and Alex, who were now snuggling lovingly on the couch.

“Thank you Lizzie… Really, thank you.” You breathed out shakily.

Liz met your gaze, her eyes filled with love and care, and the older woman nodded.

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

You nodded lightly with a small smile, before turning around and making your way to find Rita. By the time you reached the bath, you found Rita passed out in the warm water, snoring lightly and peacefully. You noted how graceful and content Rita looked asleep. Coming up to the tub, you sat down next to the rim, and proceeded to tuck a stray hair behind Rita’s ear.

She must be exhausted… you thought. And your suspicions were confirmed as the woman continued to sleep until the water in the tub threatened to go cold. It was then that you gently nudged the brunette out from her slumber. She snorted lightly as her eyes fluttered open. Her gaze still looked shattered and sad, and her lip was still lightly trembling.

“Fuck I’m mm sorry, I must have fallen asleep—” Rita rambled in a quiet mumble.

“Hush, none of that. It’s completely alright…” you comforted the woman, raising your hand for her to stop.

Rita shut her mouth and blushed a little, then shivering in the now cold bath water.

“Thanks…” she whispered.

“Of course. Now let’s get you out and into something warm…” you hummed, grabbing a fluffy towel from the bathroom cabinet and then reaching your hand out towards Rita.

Rita happily took your hand, then climbing out of the tub, then you proceeded to wrap the woman up in the warm towel.

“M-my clothes…” Rita murmured, looking to the ground as fear lurched in the pit of her stomache at the idea of having to wear her bloodied clothing.

You gently rubbed her towel wrapped shoulders with a light smile.

“I grabbed some things before we left your place, the bag is on the toilet. It will have to do for now, until we figure out what to do…” you cooed caringly.

Rita blushed lightly and muttered a thank you. You told her it’s was the least that you could do, before giving her a kiss on the forehead and leaving her in the bathroom to go through the bag and change.

As you exited the room and walked back into the living room, you found Liz and Alex right where you had left them, with Alex curled up in Liz’s arms. Liz’s head popped up from her gaze on Alex back to you as you came into the living room and took a seat on an opposing couch, with a pondering look on your face.

“I know that look…” Liz hummed cheekily, taking another sip of your scotch, “What’s on your mind, kiddo?”

You bit your lip, pulling out your phone, before looking over to Liz.

“I was thinking about maybe calling Barba…” you mused aloud, your mind questioning on what to do next.

At this, Alex perked up to. Liz’s eyes widened and her expression was a knowing one, one that quickly understood your line of thought.

“I see… What did Rita say?” Liz hummed, placing the scotch back on the table and much to Alex’s delight starting to massage the young blonde’s shoulders.

You looked away from Liz at her words, and back to your phone.

“When I asked where she could go, she said not Rafael… I know that their friends, she’s mentioned him before… But he could help…” you sighed, inwardly conflicted.

Liz sighed at your admission. And she seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before she spoke,

“When you came to me, did I call anyone…?” The older woman asked you.

You bit your lip and sighed.

“No…”

“Exactly. Even though I wanted to… Probably would have called Liv, but I didn’t. Because you didn’t want me to.” Liz spoke,

You once again looked to the ground instead of meeting the older woman’s gaze.

“I’m not saying that Barba is a bad idea…” she slowly explained, “I think that it would be best if we ask Rita first.”

“Ask me what?” Rita’s timid voice echoed through the expansive living room and kitchen.

All three of your heads swiveled with extreme speed to the end of the hallway where the brunette stood. She padded her way through part of the kitchen and then into the living room. You immediately scooted over and lightly waved her over to come and sit. Rita did exactly that before repeating her question, more vocal this time.

“What did you want to ask me first?” The woman spoke.

Liz and Alex immediately eyed you, quirking their eyebrows and very clearly telling you that since this was your idea, you were the one who was going to say something. You gulped, turning your body more towards the group. Your gaze met Rita’s and you reached your hands out to grasp her left available hand and reassuringly squeeze it.

“I… We were talking about maybe calling Liv… or Barba…” you shakily breathed out, squeezing her hand lovingly while speaking to comfort the woman.

The same panic from earlier this night came rushing back to the woman’s gaze. But she was a little more collected now, and she seemed to handle the surge of emotions better this time around.

“I…” Rita stammered, “I don’t know…”

She slumped forward a bit and closed her eyes, a singular tear escaping her eyes. You immediately extended your arm and brought the brunette into your soft embrace.

“That’s okay. We can deal with all that later… How are you feeling…?” You gently spoke.

“Exhausted…” Rita choked out, “and stupid… like it’s all my fault…!”

The broken defense lawyer turned completely towards you, clinging to your frame as she began to cry into your shoulder. You gently caressed her back and shoulders reassuringly.

“That’s it, it’s going to be ok, Rita… It’s all going to be okay…” you soothed the woman.

“B-but how do you know that…?”

You sighed.

“Because… I’ve been through something eerily similar…”

At this, Rita pulled back and looked at you with eyes full of empathy.

“I’m so sorry…” she uttered, fully processing the words you had just spoken.

You smiled lightly and cupped Rita’s face.

“It’s okay… I’m past that now. Now I’m here for you… Now how about bed…?” You hummed caringly.

Rita nodded and hummed a soft thank you, before you guided the woman up and to one of Liz’s many guest bedrooms. You stayed with her until she was asleep, which didn’t take too long, but you stayed nonetheless, before then turning in for the night yourself in another guest room, which Liz had so kindly offered you.

~~

Rita spent the rest of the weekend at Liz’s. Liz and Alex were more than happy to host, and they graciously let you stay as well to keep an eye on the broken brunette.

Then come Monday morning, you were walking into the SVU squad room with Rita anxiously by your side. You grabbed her shaky hand and squeezed it reassuringly, as your other hand rapped on Captain Liv Benson’s office door. Neither of you expected Barba to swing the door open, and he sure as hell didn’t expect to see Rita.

Liv ushered you in, and Rafael could immediately sense something was wrong. Rafael simply closed the door behind you, not bothering to leave.

“Rita, Y/N, how can I help you?” Liv spoke.

Rita shuffled her feet and looked to the ground. You squeezed her hand again and whispered that it was going to be okay.

“Wait what is going on…?” Rafael cut in.

Liv sent Barba a warning glance for him to be quiet to let you or Rita speak. You gently looked towards the brunette, whose lip was now trembling.

“I… I was raped…” Rita shakily breathed out, as a small tear rolled down her left cheek.

~~~

Part 2 with a happy ending…? Or maybe something more angsty…? 😏

Alex Cabot Masterlist

Olivia Benson Masterlist

Rita Calhoun Masterlist ~Coming Soon (;

Elizabeth Donnelly Masterlist ~Coming Soon (;

Rafael Barba Masterlist ~Coming Soon (;

[lokisprettygirl]

Brokenhearted (Daemon Targaryen x Female Reader) (Non Canon Modern AU) (18+)

Read Chapter 12 here // Series Masterlist

Chapter 13

Summary: Samantha's threat and Daemon's growing popularity brings you trouble.

Warning: 18+, Smut, Angst, violent thoughts, stalking, Discussion of mensuration and Pregnancy, bloodshed, flashbacks of abusive relationship, toxic masculinity, sexual abuse, Samantha, traumatic distressing content, Daemon is a big time smoker so if it’s something triggering don’t read it, alcohol drinking, mention of past trauma and therapy, cigarette smoking, possessive behaviour, violence, baby needs therapy, baby is trying

"Hey" you cupped his cheeks, being careful to avoid the bruises on his face, you hated how he seemed after a fight, so bruised and broken, all you wanted to do was take him to your bed and treat him tenderly. The conversation you had with Viserys just now had made you feel conflicted, you wanted to tell Daemon but you didn't know how he'd react, you didn't want to add to his traumas as he already had more than enough of his share. Realizing that something had happened to him when he wasn't even in his senses would crush him.

You pecked on his lips softly so he pulled away and looked at you curiously,

"I'm not fragile darling, kiss me like you mean it" he mumbled against your mouth so you clutched your fingers around his messy braided hair and kissed him as passionately as you could before you had to pull away to catch your breaths.

"I don't see you as fragile Daemon, you have the most persevering soul i have ever known of but is it wrong of me to want to treat you with care?" you whispered softly so he smiled, the kind of smile that made your heart warm and giddy.

"You flatter me darling, I love that" he pulled you even closer if it was possible and rubbed his nose against yours "I do enjoy your care and your delicate touches against my skin, I really do" he whispered before he kissed you again.

Before things could get heated you made him take a shower because he had to show up for an event and you wanted to wait until you were both in his room. He wasn't the only one with pent up sexual frustration but you didn't want a quickie like last time, you really wanted to love him and please him the way he deserved.

The talk with Viserys was looming over your head, Daemon had to compete in the finale after five days but Samantha had something against him that could ruin it for him, his reputation could take a hit and he'd definitely be prodded over the accusation meticulously which in turn would affect his concentration..

While Daemon was busy with the meet and greet, Viserys caught up with you again.

"Can I ask you a question?' You asked him so he nodded "Why does it matter now? I mean it happened years ago..it's not that big of a deal right?" You asked him so he sighed.

"She's just trying to stir up the controversy, get people to doubt his abilities..I don't think he's ready for that. It took him so long to even return to the sport, god knows how he'd react to this" He answered you in plain and simple words, Daemon was unpredictable in his actions especially when it concerned Samantha.

"So what do we do?" You asked him and he shook his head in defeat, he had no answer, they could take the matter to the court but then everything will come out in the open, every ugly truth from Daemon's past will be investigated and that was the last thing his little brother would want for himself. He knew him far too well to understand that Daemon wouldn't want his past out in the open like that.

"Well ..You know what she wants"

You turned your head to look at him as he said that, frankly a bit appalled by the suggestion.

"You're joking right I'm not letting her hurt him again or be near him anywhere..we should just go to the court, file a case against her" you said to him, your voice came out all agitated and irked. Viserys didn't blame you for that either, he knew what he was suggesting would hurt you.

"He wouldn't want that" Viserys said to you, making you shake your head in disbelief.

"Why not?"

Why won't Daemon want justice? You didn't understand that.

Daemon was at the booth signing cards and meeting his fans but he could see you and Viserys talking from a distance, he couldn't help but wonder what you two were discussing, his curiosity was piqued to say the least. Viserys liked you as a person, he had made it clear, he never really liked Samantha even when Daemon was smitten with her, maybe it was Viserys's own experiences with Allison that he had warned him that she wasn't the woman for him but at the time he was too obsessed with her to pay any heed to Viserys's concern. He wished now that he had listened.

Once the event ended, he took you out for dinner but he could tell you weren't entirely there with him, you seemed lost in your head.

'Something wrong?' He asked you as he chomped on his salad so you smiled,

"Nooo..why?"

"Just..you seem lost" he shrugged as if he wasn't affected by your behavior.

"I'm not lost..just thinking about you"

Well, That wasn't a complete lie.

"Thinking about me? I'm right here darling"

"I know"

He smiled as you said that.

"Do you remember the night we met?" He asked you so you hummed in response, for a moment you didn't respond, your mind went back to reminisce about the night.

"I'll never forget..my knight in black hood..what about it?"

"Nothing..just..glad i was there is all"

A smile graced your features at his words,

"So am I"

You couldn't have gotten any luckier that night.

As you both returned to the privacy of your room he kissed you and you took his jacket off before he picked you up and laid down on the bed with you right on top of him,

"I like you alot" he smiled as his fingers tucked your hair behind your ears,

"I thought you loved me" you made a pout and he pressed his thumb on your puckered lips.

"I do..but I loved Samantha as well and I didn't like her at all..you however..I like you..alot, more than anything"

As soon as you realized what he meant you leaned down and kissed him, never in your life a man had made you feel this way. Never in your life have you been made to feel so loved and important.

"I like you alot too mister"

"I know you do"

You unbuttoned his shirt and his breath hitched in his chest, the position wasn't something he felt comfortable with, he had never allowed a woman to control the situation in that way after everything he had been through.

"You okay?" You asked him softly so with bated breaths he looked into your eyes, your fingers were still undoing the buttons all the way down before you unbuckled his belt.

"I am just ..not comfortable with this darling" as soon as he said that you quickly made him sit up by grabbing onto his arms.

"It's okay..you can always tell me you know that right?" Your fingers curled around his neck as you kissed him. He nodded in response before he slowly flipped you underneath him.

"It's not that i don't want to ..I just..need time love" the pad of his thumb caressed your cheekbones as he whispered.

"All the time in the world baby"

He kissed you again as you finished your words.

All the time in the world? Daemon wanted that. He really wanted that. Even though he knew forever was a myth.

"Make love to me now handsome" you rubbed his lips with your fingertips and you could see his cheeks reddening, something you said made Daemon Targaryen blush. You never thought you'd see that day.

"Mmm are you going to take it like a good girl?" He grabbed your chin with his thumb and forefingers, the gesture made you bite on your lips involuntarily. Every time he dominated you in bed you felt like a submissive girl willing to do anything for her daddy. He just had that sort of effect on you.

"Yess sir" he shook his head as you said that.

"Call me daemon sweet thing"

He wasn't rough with you, not that he didn't want to but you asked him to make love to you and he wanted to love you the way you deserved to be loved. He felt your hands all over him but his mind felt numb with pleasure whenever you caressed his scalp, just the way you touched him so tenderly never failed to warm his heart.

He was so in love with you, a feeling he had sworn to never feel again, he just wished he was able to express it better than this, he wished he was able to live up to the love you had for him in your heart.

That night you slept peacefully but the next morning you woke up to a spicy headline in the entertainment section "Breaking News: Professional UFC Fighter Daemon Targaryen and his Scandal-Filled Shocking Past"

Daemon was everywhere because of his stint in the international league, normally it wouldn't have made such a stir in the media but he was special, your special boy. He had made a miraculous return to the brutal sport after years and nobody was expecting him to even clear the qualifier round, let alone have him in the finals. The sudden increase in his popularity of course came with its unwanted side effects. His past would always haunt him but this time it wasn't Samantha, it was some other woman he had dated during his hoe phase, her name was Diana.

Diana claimed to have had a six-week fling with Daemon three years ago. The article included the link of a Reddit thread she had created, in which she described their intimate encounters in excruciating detail. She rambled on about how he was the most arrogant man she has ever known in her life, she also claimed that he was emotionally abusive towards her.

You knew Daemon and his mood swings were not uncommon, you could understand in a way as how she must have made that assumption that he was abusive but daemon wasn't abusive, he was toxic for sure because of everything he has been through but he didn't lie or promised anything, he was honest with you and you knew he was honest with every other woman before you.

The post had gone viral pretty quickly because she posted a selfie of them together at a club, he seemed so sexy and so intoxicated, there were few other women who came forward in Diana's support to tell everyone that Daemon Targaryen was everything that was wrong with the world.

On that particular thread when another user asked why she stayed with him for weeks if he was so offensive and rude to her, she replied 'Because he was a god in bed'

Well that was true at least.

'How are we going to tackle this?"

Daemon' asked his newly appointed publicist James, he didn't want people talking about him like this, he didn't enjoy such gossip on his name. He didn't even look at the article or read the thread, he was not at all interested, you on the other hand obsessively went through every comment on that post.

You were just watching him converse with his publicist as well as Viserys who was in the hotel room with you two.

His publicist had asked him to just put out an apology statement which he denied quickly, he didn't want to apologize for what had happened between him and those women. As other people left the room he took a cigarette out and lit it up immediately, he was stressed you could tell, every time he reached for a cigarette with such desperation you knew he was extremely stressed and in need of comfort that he'd never ask for.

"Do you remember her?" You asked him as he sat down next to you on the couch,

"I don't want to talk about it" you nodded as he said that and got up from the couch to give him some space but he grabbed your hand and looked up at you .

"Don't be upset" he gave you unintended puppy eyes so you smiled.

"I'm not upset" you cupped his cheeks and leaned down to kiss his forehead.

"Then sit down, don't leave"

"Okay..I just thought you needed space" you sat down next to him so he sighed.

"Not from you..never from you"

"Okay..I'm here then" you smiled as you linked your fingers with his, he put the cigarette out and leaned his head against the couch, those bruises on his face looked worse somehow today.

"I do remember her ..5 '10, brunette, she was young" he told you so you hummed in response as you thought about her, you were more than happy that he wanted to talk about her instead of acting as if he wasn't bothered at all by this nuisance.

"How young?" You questioned.

"Barely in her early twenties at the time, I didn't know that when I–" he looked at you so you smiled,

"Took her home and had sex?" You asked him softly. This wasn't making you feel jealous at all, you didn't feel it, not a smidgen of jealousy.

"Yeah..she looked older in the club"

"It's alright she wasn't a child" he nodded as you said that.

"What was she like?" You cleared your throat so he snickered before his expressions turned serious,

"She was just a girl darling…just another girl"

"Do you remember everyone you have slept with?" You questioned him again,

"Who do you think I am darling? A harlot?" he chuckled before he resumed speaking "Course I remember..those flings never ended in one night stands, they all stuck around for a while, you know i enjoy stability" he said in a nonchalant manner, his voice was devoid of any emotion.

"Did you like any of them?"

"Sexually..yeah I liked all of them" You bit on your cheeks as he said that. Still not jealous, not at all.

"Emotionally?" You asked him sheepishly so he smiled and tilted his head to the side to gauge your expressions.

"Are you jealous sweetheart?"

"Maybe .. I am" your voice came out in a whisper, you didn't want to admit it so quickly.

"I'm glad you're not pretending to feel otherwise," You narrowed your eyes as he said that, "There was one…before you ..but I wasn't obsessed with her. I didn't want to get involved in that way, but she…was different from the others...had to move to LA so we ended on okay terms unlike those other chicks"

Okay you were ready to accept that you were a complete jealous mess now.

"Does she have a name?"

"Miranda" you gulped as he answered quickly as if her name was on the tip of his tongue. To think of him feeling such affections for some other woman boiled your blood.

"Why don't you want to apologize? I mean.. It's just a statement" you asked to steer the conversation so he shook his head.

"Exactly..it's a statement.. apologizing means i did something wrong with them" you nodded as he said that "I never lied, or lured them under false pretenses. They knew what they were getting in from the first day" you agreed as he said that, you also knew what you were getting into because he told you loud and clear but you also knew that you were the first one to fall for him and break that 'no strings attached" code. Maybe those girls wanted more with him as well.

"Yeah you told me the same on our first night together"

You said to him so he thought about it for a moment, maybe he was a jerk to those women he dated casually but he wasn't going to apologize for that or give any justification for his behaviour, he didn't want anyone to see that side of him, to think of him as someone who acted out like a child because he was abused by a girl he loved. He didn't want the world to see him as a victim.

"I did"

"But things have changed between us, maybe they just wanted to change things you know ..fix you ..girls see a emotionally reclusive bad boy and suddenly develop the 'I can fix him' problem"

He chuckled as you said that. The smirk on his face made him look so goddamn annoying and so fuckable at the same time.

"Did you have that problem?" He asked, his voice dripping with smugness.

"Maybe" you got up again so he grabbed your hand and pulled you right on his lap,

"Emotionally reclusive bad boy huh?" He grabbed your chin with his fingers and kissed you passionately until you were struggling to breathe in his mouth. When he finally pulled away you took a deep breath to allow the oxygen to reach your brain.

"You know what I mean"

"Have your opinions changed since then?" He asked you curiously,

"Well you're still a bad boy sometimes"

"For the world yeah" you smiled as he said that "As much as I enjoy watching you burn green with jealousy, you need not feel so. You're my girl, my only one, what you have done for me–"

"I have done nothing -" you cut him off and then he did the same to you.

"Shhhhh you never let me finish my words you know that?"

He pressed his thumb on your lips as he spoke sternly to you, his tone was authoritative, brows were furrowed in slight frustration. You knew he was going to fuck you as soon as this conversation was done and over with.

"Sorry" you mumbled meakly, making the corner of his mouth curved into a smile.

"After that bitch I had sworn to myself that I'd never make the same mistake again but then I met you ..you changed everything for me ..I'm here today because of you" you sighed as he said that. You didn't want to take credit for everything, it didn't feel right or deserved, besides you didn't want him to be with you just because you have supposedly done something for him..

"Daemon you know I love you.. but I don't want you to love me because you feel that you havee to love me" one of his brows raised as you said that.

"That is what you got from what I said?" He asked you as he looked in your eyes intently but you didn't respond "You're such a silly girl you know that?" he cupped your cheeks with his large hands and kissed you lovingly before he spoke again,

"I know I'm not the most expressive bloke but you're not an obligation for me..I am not in love with you because you're here whenever I need you. I'm in love with you because you make me want to be here with you all the time, you make me wish i could spend every fucking second of my life with you" your arms wrapped around his neck as he finished speaking.

You had your insecurities as well, you didn't feel enough for him, even more so now that you have seen how women were reacting to him. Yeah some people were put off by his arrogance but most were turned on by his prowess in the bedroom arena. The more famous he gets the more attention he will have on him, you didn't want to lose his attention or lose him to some other temptations. You didn't think you'd be able to come out unscathed if he was the one to break your heart in that way.

This feeling combined with what you knew about Samantha was enough to make you feel stressed out of your mind.

"I am scared of losing you" you mumbled softly so his grip around your waist tightened "I control myself alot ..with you" he looked at you confused as you said that.

"What do you mean love?"

"I can get emotionally clingy and it's not good ..not for me.. especially not for you"

"You can cling to me darling..it won't bother me..I'll do anything for you" you placed your palm on his lips as he said that.

"Don't say that ..I don't need such power over you"

He smiled at your words, that was the whole reason why Samantha was able to manipulate him and then ruin him slowly. She was able to do it because he allowed her to do it.

"Alright but you need to let loose love, I'm all yours i promise..why are you so anxious hmm..I can feel it" your eyes teared up as he said that, he then hugged you as warmly as he could, as tightly as possible without suffocating you both.

"I'm just .. being silly, I'm your silly girl" he couldn't help but smile. He adored you, completely and hopelessly.

"That you are, though is it an ailment a good fucking can cure?"

"Mmmm maybe"

He quickly laid you down on the couch as you said that, his shirt was off his body in one quick motion, he wasn't a foreplay type of guy but then he kissed you tenderly, so slowly and sensually, soft fleeting kisses that made your brain turn into a mush, he didn't stop until he had you squirming and humping against him for some friction against your core.

He placed his arms on the head of the couch as he shoved his cock in your wet warm slippery cunt, his thrusts were torturous, every moment of his hips was sluggish and deliberate. He enjoyed the look of ecstasy on your face, he kept his eyes on you as he drew several orgasms out of you, one after another.

He was so in love with you and he never wanted to hurt you, he really didn't want to hurt you but he knew he was going to do so, he just thought he had more time with you, he didn't want to fuck it up so easily, so quickly..he wanted forever with you.

But the moment the truth about what you and Viserys were hiding from him was revealed to him, he knew he was going to break your heart and hurt you. He was going to do everything he had promised not to do to you. He had to leave you and he knew it was a decision he'd regret for the rest of his full life.

🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

Taglist (please check your setting if I’m not able to tag you)

@simbaaas-stuff @ajthefujoshi @witchybitch2 @hypocritic-trash-baby @mariaelizabeth21-blog1 @thefallenangel21n @kmc1989

@stupidthoughtsinwriting

[thestormynobody]

Turnabout Timeloop Chapter 1

“I’ve heard enough. It’s time to declare my verdict.”

(This is bad.) Apollo didn’t have the evidence needed to turn this around. (What should I do???) He was out of options, wasn’t he? (That doesn’t matter!! I can come up with a good reason why. For now, I just need to ob-)

“Guilty.”

(….ject)

Almost instantly, a voice rings out across the courtroom. “NO!!!!! Frin would never do something like that!! Let them go!!!” Bonnie struggles helplessly in Odile’s arms. They must have found a way to sneak into the courtroom after all. Odile’s expression is unreadable as she tries to usher them back out of the courtroom. None of them had wanted Bonnie to see this.

Apollo’s client, Sifferin, nomiddlename nolastname (Still can’t believe that was allowed), stares in horror at the commotion. “Bonbon….”  They look shattered. Understandably so, considering they were just declared guilty of murder, and in front of Bonnie, no less. 

“This wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t- I just- wanted to-I’m sorry.” Their voice is small. Practically drowned out by the scuffle happening in the back of the room.

(What do they mean?) Was there something he missed? There had to have been. It just didn’t add up. (I wish I had more time to investigate, maybe I could’ve-)

Apollo

Feels 

A 

Tug 

On 

His 

Stomach 

Apollo wakes up at his desk in the Wright Anything Agency. (A dream? Man. I must be really stressed about this case if I’m dreaming about losing it huh? That dream was weirdly detailed though….weird.) 

He tilts his head back and forth to try and deal with his stiff neck. It pops unpleasantly.

“You’re going to end up with back problems like me, you know.” A familiar voice calls out.

Phoenix. Wright. His boss. Didn’t he say something like this before? Apollo had just kind of responded noncommittally in the dream, something about not doing it again. It was pretty passive, and he’d felt weird about it after. Like he was a kid getting scolded by his dad. (Gross.) 

“Dunno, Mr. Wright. You sure you’re not just old?” 

“HA. I guess you don’t want this coffee then. More for me.”

“Wait, no I was just joking-” he wanted that coffee.

“Yeah, yeah I know-” He pauses and with a devious smirk adds “....kiddo.” and ruffles Apollo’s hair.

(Eugh.) Apollo nabs the coffee from Phoenix’s hand and downs it. He’s not sure how long he slept but he needs to get to work. There was lots to do. Meet with the client, investigate the crime scene, interview the witnesses…the sooner he got started the better. He didn’t want a repeat performance of his dream.

“Alright, you know Trucy and I are going to be out of town for her next show. Gonna have to get your own coffee for a few days. “

“I’m sure I’ll manage.” It was kind of a shame. Mr. Wright did make weirdly good coffee. Maybe he worked at a coffee shop at some point when he was disbarred? Who knows. Wasn’t like he’d tell Apollo if he had.

“Good luck on your case. I know Prosecutor Von Karma can be intimidating but she’s mellowed out a lot since I faced her in court. You got this!”

Prosecutor Von Karma…she had been practicing law abroad for some time now and had only just recently returned to Ka Bue. The daughter of Manfred Von Karma, the prosecutor with one of the longest win streaks known in the law world as well as the adoptive sister of the head prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. Family legacy aside, she was well known to be very good at what she did and to take very little nonsense in the courtroom. He’d have to be at the top of his game if he was going to be facing her. In his dream she’d been as formidable as he’d imagined… Perhaps it was some sort of subconscious warning against complacency? Sure. He’d go with that.

“Athena’s out of the office today but should be able to assist you in the trial tomorrow if you need back up.” He knew she’d been enjoying some down time after her last big case and didn’t want to drag her into his own workload. Still, her skills were invaluable in many past cases so he should consider his options carefully.  

“Water Charley for me, won’t you?”

Oh, he’d been in his own head about the case and not responding to Mr. Wright, oops. “Of course. I’ve got things here Mr. Wright. Go enjoy Trucy’s show”

“I know you’ve got this, I just gotta do my job as your boss, heh. See ya in a few days.”

“Don’t forget to take a few videos of the show for me!”

“‘Course.” He says as he leaves the room with a small wave.

 He fixes his signature spikes and pulls on his suit pinning his badge to the lapel. 

His pretrial nerves were starting to get to him as well as lingering weirdness from the dream. Well. No one was here to judge him for doing his cords of steel warm ups as he got ready sooo-

“APOLLO JUSTICE IS DOING FINE!!”

“APOLLO! JUSTICE! IS DOING FINE!”

“I'M FINE!”

“I! AM! FINE!”

(Alright!! All warmed up! It's go time, Apollo!)

He hops on his bike and pedals away to the detention center. He vaguely remembers how there had been a traffic jam in his dream so he takes an alternative route where he could stick to side streets more. Silly maybe but hey if his subconscious was trying to protect him from being late who was he to argue?

  A woman is waiting for him outside the building. She is technically the one who hired him. (Odile if I remember correctly. She’s a Ka Buan citizen but has been abroad up until recently. She was part of a group that saved the country of Vaugarde.) 

This case was somewhat of a diplomatic nightmare. Despite the distance, Vauguarde and Ka Bue were in pretty good standing with one another. Convicting one the saviors of Vauguarde carried steep political implications. A citizen of Ka Bue had been murdered though and the law was clear that justice must be served regardless of the circumstances of the accused. It was his job to prove his client innocent and possibly prevent an international incident. (No pressure!)

“Mr. Justice.” She says it more as a statement than a question. HIs defense badge must have given him away.

“Yes, ma'am! At your service!”  He realizes he sounds a bit too over eager and tones it back a bit. “You must be madame Odile?”

“That’s correct.” She gives him an appraising look. Her expression does not give away any conclusions she may have drawn. “Thank you for coming out on such short notice.”

“Of course.” (Short notice is kind of the norm in my experience…) 

“Siffrin is inside. They wouldn’t let me inside to talk to them but they should let you in as his lawyer.” 

(She seems calm for someone whose friend is currently being held on suspicion of murder. She’s either one tough lady or she’s convinced they didn’t do it.)

“I’ll see if I can get you visitation privileges after I talk to them.” 

She gives him a small nod. “Thank you.”

Apollo enters the detention center trying not to think too hard about how Odile had appeared so accurately in his dream. It was probably just his brain mixing up memory with dreams after all. She just looks similar enough that his brain THINKS it's the same! (....yeah that’s gotta be it)

His client looks very distraught. Understandable considering the circumstances but they look like they’re on the verge of a panic attack. (I should do something to calm them down.)

In Vauguardian he says: “Hey, breathe for a second alright?” When their attention snaps to him he hesitates for a moment then: “Here um. LIke this?” He breathes in. Then out. 

They follow his lead and after a bit seem to have centered themself a bit. A realization seems to dawn on them a moment later however. “How did you know to do that?”

“A breathing exercise? I mean. It's a pretty common calming technique isn’t it?”

“No- You…did it differently before” 

“Before…?” (I did do it differently in the dream didn’t I? This way seemed to work better for them in the dream so I guess I just led with it? But that was just a dream. Wasn’t it???)

They seem to be deep in thought for a long moment then they fix an intense look on him. “Something of mine was found on the victim. What was it?”

“A coin.”

The answer was so automatic he surprises himself. That wasn’t right. He hadn’t even been to the crime scene yet. Sure in his dream there’d been a coin but that was just-

“Stars. You remember.”

[unicyclingskinwalker]

Ganyu with a S/O who’s the embodiment of Sin of Wrath

Okay so this has been in my brain for DAYS! How I got this idea? Well my fellow XX and XY chromosomes (please don’t come at me if I didn’t include your gender okay ily) my friend asked me to so yeah. This is my first time writing so please tell if I got anything wrong.

Warning's: Ganyu being teased by Ninggaung, Gn!Reader, violence (kinda), Beidou on her shit again, SFW, fluff.

• ARRGGGG THIS DYNAMIC IS SO CUTE. Since S/O is you know, the embodiment of Sin of Wrath, you can already assume they are a hot headed fellow.

•Just Ganyu being the absolute sweetheart she is, meanwhile S/O just blew up a whole hilichurl camp because one of them looked at them wrong.

• I’d like to imagine S/O is just very blunt with their words towards everyone else, except for Ganyu. Someone could say “Hey, am I ugly?” And S/O will just say without skipping a beat “Yes.”

• But Ganyu is a different case, because my girl has body image issues, she can ask S/O “Do you just pity me?” When she feels down, and S/O just looks at her like “bitch tf?”

• Then proceed to go on a 3 hour rant on how she is perfect.

• Now let’s talk about how Ganyu views S/O. At first encounter she was more or less fucking terrified of them. She was worried S/O would destroy Liyue, but as time went on, feelings developed and then BOOM

•Dating.

• She loves S/O with all her heart, but has to calm them down whenever something ticks them off. Some random citizen looked at Ganyu weird? Well now S/O is about to tackle the dude.

• Venting to S/O about someone was a bit snarky to her? S/O is now asking about any information they have on this person.

• My girl over works herself to exhaustion, S/O would swoop in and take her on a date as a fucking break.

• S/O would bring in small treats for her like strawberries. Also anytime you two go out on a date at a restaurant, you would be the one to say they got he order wrong.

• Also naps with her are the BEST! Pls let her rest her head on your shoulders, she needs it.

• Now her co workers.

• Ningguang would be concerned for well, the entirety of Liyue. The physical embodiment of the Sin of Wrath here? Yep, they are going into a watch list.

• Ningguang would be very on edge anytime they were near S/O but would cover it up. After a while, she be okay with S/O, since they’ve proven they’re not a threat to Liyue.

• When Ganyu and S/O start dating and news of it gets out, ohhh boy, Ganyu is in a world of teasing from Ningguang. Ning would walk up to Ganyu and start to ask her “Is your partner treating you fair? I hope he is.” Or something like that.

• Keqing would be the same case, but on edge for wayyy longer. Like even after when S/O started to date Ganyu. Idk, this girl gives off the vibes she does personal investigation on S/O for WEEKS.

•But at some point she’ll warm up to S/O, a tiny bit. Not a whole bunch but it’s progress. She will definitely be very happy that Ganyu found some joy in her life.

• Now Beidou. She honestly wouldn’t mind S/O that much but jokingly say to them, “I could use you for my crew!” While taking sip of her drink.

• One time, Beidou managed to convince S/O to help her get rid of some hilichurl camps. Well that ended with the hilichurl population at basically zero and the landscape unrecognizable.

• Yeah, S/O and Beidou got in trouble.

• Now Ganyu’s family, Zhongli, Xiao, Shenhe, and Cloud Retainer (Xianyun). (Yes I see them as a family. Yes it’s my own head cannon, idc, bite me.)

• I imagine Ganyu wanted to introduce S/O to them after they started dating.

• Zhongli would be questioning S/O. Since now he can actually see them in person we would ask so many questions about them. Bro would ask them what their most traumatic memory they have.

• Then ask if they like dogs…

• After like a whole court trial’s worth of questions, he would give the green light that he’s good.

• Cloud retainer/ Xianyun. She’s doing full on stalking. Not in a bad way, she just wants to make sure S/O is a good fit for Ganyu.

• At first she would HATE S/O because one, they are the physical embodiment of wrath, and two wrath = extreme violence, and violence is a red flag. She can’t have any harm done to Ganyu, who is practically her child.

• Now after Ganyu had to do some convincing and S/O being told to be on their best behavior, they got the green light! YAYAYA

•Xiao. First encounter and he would immediately pick up on the negative energy S/O has around them, and basically try to kill them, and Ganyu would have to stop it.

•After she explained to Xiao, he would look Ganyu, confused, look at S/O, look up and down, turn back to Ganyu and say “Really?”

• He’s gonna be so snarky towards S/O. Both of you guys would feel uneasy around each other after that incident.

• But you guys will be forced to apologize to each other at some point, likely by Ganyu. You two would still side eye each other but it’s fine.

• Xiao won’t verbally say it, but he will accept you at some point. So YAHOO

• I won’t have much for Shenhe since I don’t know much about her and I don’t want to mess her up so yeah.

• She stare down S/O for god knows how long. Just her mind thinking wether or not if S/O is a good fit.

• Shenhe would also ask some questions such as “What are you intentions with Ganyu? Will you harm her? Are you dangerous?” Answer wrong and you’re going to hear boss battle music.

• Then after some time she’s going to be all like “Okay, they’re fine.”

Alright that’s it for now! This was my first ever post and I hope I got things right enough! Okay ily, drink some water, have a snack or go to FUCKING SLEEP.

[thursdayinspace]

"Tooms" is an episode to unpack, oh man.

First Skinner (with CSM lurking in the background) telling Scully that she and Mulder have to go more by the book. Scully's answer (requesting the cases be reviewed with an open mind, pointing out their above-average case solution, "however... conventional investigation of these cases may decrease the rate of success.") . . . That's probably the closest the Scully at that point in her life gets to telling Skinner and CSM to go fuck themselves and it's a delight to watch.

Mulder trying to convince the court that Tooms is a 100+ year old genetic mutant serial killer. I mean. He knows nobody will take him seriously. But it's the truth, so he sticks by it. And jokes about it when Scully shows up. "You think they would have taken me more seriously if I wore the grey suit?" Sigh. It's impossible not to love him, isn't it?

What REALLY stands out to me in the episode, maybe more than anything else, is what happens after Scully tells Mulder about her meeting with Skinner, and then reminding Mulder that what he's planning to do is not by the book. Mulder's answer to her seems like one of the most significant moments in the entire episode. "Look, Scully, if you're resistant because you don't believe, I'll respect that. But if you're resistant because of some bureaucratic pressure, they've not only reeled you in. They've already skinned you."

If she doesn't believe, that's no big deal, they disagree all the time. But what makes them great partners throughout all of it is that the truth is more important than anything. That's their common ground. That's the foundation they build on from the very beginning. That's what he puts into words here. And it's very clear that she agrees with him. Above all, they care. And what they care about is the same thing. Bottom line: they want to know how things work and to make the world a little safer for everyone. As long as they share that, they don't have to agree on everything else.

Of course there's the 'rewind and watch again five times during every rewatch' part. Mulder: "I don’t really care about my record, but you’d be in trouble just sitting in this car. And I’d hate to see you carry an official reprimand in your career file because of me." Scully: "Mulder, I wouldn’t put myself on the line for anybody but you." Shippy af? Yes. But also? Truth is not the only part of their foundation. This is the other ingredient. Trust. Love. I mean, that is what it is, right? Even if that's a root beer in that bag and not an ice tea.

Oh, and Scully flat-out lying to Skinner about having been with Mulder at the time Tooms was admitted to the hospital? Skinner: "Agent Scully, you wouldn’t be lying to me, would you?" Scully: "Sir, I would expect you to place the same trust in me as I do in you." She's on a roll in that episode with her fuck yous to authority. I love her. (Poor Skinner. He's trying. It'll be okay, Walter! *pats his bald head*)

Mulder's "A change for us. It's coming" in the final scene . . . Somebody please give them a hug, they deserve one.

[phoenixyfriend]

Entry of the Gladiators: 2

Chapter 2: They Fucked Up

A plan is made. The plan is not very good. They cannot exit the plan. Heck.

-------

Obi-Wan does his best to focus on the problem at hand, rather than the… choice of decorum that Anakin is exhibiting.

His former padawan is sitting on the floor, legs crossed, and eating from a bag of vegetable chips that he’s scavenged from the warlord’s refrigerator. Ahsoka sits next to him, and is intermittently trying to steal some.

She really shouldn’t. As much as a Togruta does need some vegetables in their system, Obi-Wan’s willing to take Anakin’s word for it that these are liable to upset Ahsoka’s stomach if she has more than one or two. Something about the type of oil that was used. If Anakin’s way of enforcing that limit is to insist that Ahsoka can only have some if she can successfully steal them… well, so be it.

“Count Dooku isn’t a Sith yet, correct?” Cody asks. He and Rex are still wearing their helmets and the rest of their armor. Obi-Wan’s pretty sure they’re monitoring possible threats from the warlord’s court, somehow, but he isn’t sure what method they’re using. Most likely, Anakin patched them into the existing security system.

Obi-Wan drags himself back to the moment. Sith. Right. “He isn’t even a Count, yet. He’s a Jedi. It’s still another five years, at least, before he leaves the Order.”

“So probably not a Sith,” Cody prompts.

“No, probably not a Sith.”

“And whoever taught him is probably the same person who taught Maul?” Anakin asks.

Obi-Wan shrugs. “If we assume the Rule of Two… I don’t know that we ever confirmed if Ventress counted towards that number, but regardless of either, there must be someone to have taught Maul.”

“How old would Maul be now?” Ahsoka asks.

“Mid-teens?” Obi-Wan hazards. “He’s… I think he’s younger than me, but I can’t be sure.”

Cody makes a small noise. “And your local self, Sir?”

“Eighteen,” Obi-Wan says. He glances at the screen again, just to check the date, and yes, it’s after his birthday. “Yes, eighteen. If Master Jinn and my younger self haven’t finished up with the mission to Mandalore yet, we will soon. I can’t honestly say I remember which month it ended, let alone which day.”

Anakin snorts. It might even be a snicker. Obi-Wan does the mature thing, and ignores him.

“So, there are at least two Sith, one of which is Maul and the other of which is his teacher,” Rex summarizes. “We need to know who the teacher is, in order to do anything about them before war breaks out.”

Obi-Wan rubs at his forehead. “The only leads we have are Maul and Dooku, and we have no idea when the Sith Master approached Dooku. We’d have to tail him indefinitely to know. If it was something like Qui-Gon’s death that pushed him to the dark, we might avoid it entirely.”

“Probably isn’t,” Anakin says, and only then swallows the mouthful of chips. That boy. “You said he was the name on the Kamino project contract, right? According to Fett?”

“Whose word we can’t really trust,” Obi-Wan points out. He glances at Rex and Cody. “Unless you have other information?”

They both shake their heads. “Financial espionage wasn’t ever on our list of duties,” Rex says, almost apologetic.

“Then we’re down to Maul and the hint that Dooku provided when I met him on Geonosis, which might well have been a lie in the first place,” Obi-Wan says, “so really, we’re down to Maul.”

“What lie, Master?” Ahsoka asks.

“He claimed that his master, that a Sith was in the Senate,” Obi-Wan tells her. “We, that is, the Council, tried to follow up on it, just in case, but the war took up too much time and we couldn’t find anything. The Chancellor had us call off the investigation after a few months. Unless we had new information come in, we were to focus on the war effort instead of the wild nuna chase that Dooku had sent us on.”

Anakin’s making a face. Obi-Wan tenses, ready for some comment or other about the Chancellor, but his padawan just heaves a heavy sigh. “So our only option is to either find Maul or wait for Dooku to get tapped?”

“No way to draw them out?” Cody asks. “Perhaps someone at the temple might have a plan.”

It’s true, but Obi-Wan’s gut lurches at the idea of going to the Temple. It’s like a hook through his abdomen, not truly painful, but… awfully discomforting.

Anakin and Ahsoka look just as sick as he does.

“…sir?” Cody prompts, hesitant in the way he usually isn’t. “Is there a problem with the Temple?”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan says. “I don’t know what, but… yes.”

“The Force is more insistent on that than most things,” Anakin says, grimacing. “Ugh. I’m going to be sick.”

(Continue on AO3)

[jolieblack]

Jolie's thoughts on

The Retired Colourman (Sherlock & Co. podcast)

This case, in ACD's original version, is the opposite of a favourite of mine. It's somewhat pedestrian, doesn’t have particularly memorable characters, doesn’t have particularly memorable deductions, and the only memorable dialogue or interaction is Holmes famously enumerating all the ways Watson should have used his charm to get the local ladies hot and bothered. Oh boy, that just changed a lot!

Lilian Barker - In ACD canon, Barker is Sherlock Holmes's "friend and rival", the other gifted and clever private investigator that just randomly pops up out of nowhere, never mentioned before and never mentioned again after… Weird, just weird. I prefer this Barker who finally gets a personality and a narrative function (other than being a painfully transparent red herring)!

Loved Sherlock going ballistic when she turns out not to have called the police, though. And how he keeps hating her even when she provides some useful evidence. (Thank you for not letting her actually solve the case though. I was worried there for a moment.)

Another plus: The deduction that the bad guy has a prosthetic leg goes absolutely nowhere in ACD canon but suddenly it becomes an important point!

Interesting dynamic between Sherlock and Inspector MacKinnon, too. Either Sherlock has realised that the police are not always idiots or MacKinnon is a very special person, in which case I want to know more about him and how he knows and why he trusts Sherlock. And how he managed to sell Sherlock & Co. to his superiors as a "third party investigation unit"!

Details I liked:

Did it take anyone else an age to realise that Amber Lee = Amberley? I‘m so slow.

John nattering away about low emission zones for a reason.

"The plot is thickening like a thick, evil… soup."

The chess metaphors! In ACD, the chess aspect just goes nowhere, except to serve as an explanation why the miserly, unsociable bad guy sometimes has a visitor at all. Great use of it here!

Sherlock "strangling" Mr Lee when he makes fun of John's injury, and then it turns out a pretty nifty move to secure evidence. (Or was it? Interesting question, hen or egg? I guess we'll be in sweet unknowing agony about this forever.)

Mariana = Mari? Sweet but uncomfortable at the same time, for obvious reasons.

I do love the confirmation that Mariana co-owns the business and is not just an employee, though.

"Don’t say juices, it’s a family show." - "You just said fuck."

John taking his frustrations out on the wall with a sledgehammer.

And then oh boy again for how dark this whole case is. Even Sherlock actually being really considerate and protecting Mariana from trauma took a pretty creepy form. Honestly, the way he said, "Follow the thought. Don‘t run away from it. It’s natural to be scared when you know what you'll find at the end of it.", I honestly expected for a moment that he was talking her into looking at the bodies, just from the tone.

I also can’t help feeling that that moment in the attic would have belonged to John, not to Mariana. I mean, yeah, she did deserve to reap the fruit of her earlier clever deductions about the water pipe system, and Watson is absent from the final resolution in ACD’s story, too… But I‘m not sure I can ever get over the fact that John did not hear Sherlock say "check mate" in that voice.

Reality check: The police are incompetent if they missed both the walled-off extension/basement and the walled-off part of the attic after a week of searching, and if they even considered taking the bad guy to court without having done that first.

Also reality check: Like with The Cardboard Box, straight up cruel and unimaginative domestic murder hits too close to home for me to be ideal entertainment, but then Joel Emory absolutely gets points for realism. What Sherlock and Mariana find at the end of the case - two human bodies having decomposed in water for a week - is straight out of ACD canon. The podcast version just calls the horror by its name, instead of elegantly glossing over it, and gets kudos from me for that.

Check out this amazing art for the episode by @abstractfrog (Sherlock and Mariana), and @subtlehysteria 's fantastic John with a sledge hammer!

[nophunleague]

stare decisis: chapter three - ira

ira: latin for annoyance

masterlist

wc: 951

rafael barba x original female character

“I told you this wasn’t going to end well,” Quinn boasts in a sing-songy tone as Barba enters the shared reception between their offices. She’s sitting in a chair across from Carmen’s desk; almost like she was waiting for him to come into work today. She sips her coffee smugly, smirking as he stops in his tracks. 

“Morning Miss Brady. Smug are we today?” he sighs and opens the door to his office, she follows him in.

“Only proportionally to what is warranted.”

“You seemed to be worried about rights violations while we were acting in our official capacities; Amaro was arrested off duty so I’m not sure this act is proportionally warranted,” he says as he sets his briefcase down on his desk. She stalls for only a split second then speaks again.

“It wouldn’t have gone that far if they would have stopped pursuing the case when you told them to,” he rolls his eyes.

“You haven’t been here long enough to make that call. Amaro always ends up in trouble; one way or another,” she already knows that Amaro is not Barba’s favorite person so she largely brushes the comment off. 

“I heard IAB already pulled him in and started an investigation. As reckless and stupid as what he did was, I would hate to see a good cop ruin his career over a creep like Simon Wilkes,” she stares into her coffee mug, her reflection shown in the dark liquid. 

“Tucker has never been his biggest fan so I think he’ll at least take a hit on his jacket for this,” Barba admits as he pulls case files from the briefcase on his desk, eager to get to work. 

“Well that sucks. I’ve got first appearances today so I’ll see you later,” she says to him before slipping off to court for the foreseeable future. 

***

Finally leaving the courtroom after hours and hours of first appearances, Quinn makes her way back to her office when she’s stopped by her name being called out behind her.

“Miss Brady! Miss Brady,” she turns around to see a tall and slender man with short but graying hair. Cop, she thinks to herself. 

“That’s me. And you are?” she asks, he pulls out his credentials and flashes his shield. She recognizes the name from her conversation with Barba this morning. 

“Ed Tucker, Internal Affairs Bureau. I’m here about-” she cuts him off.

“Nick Amaro,” he nods but says nothing else.

“Are you going to ask me a question or just stand there and look stupid?” he almost takes a step back at her tone, she stares him down. 

“My office is under the impression that you staunchly opposed the SVU squad’s continued investigation into the Wilkes case. Is that true?” he pulls out a pen and notepad as he asks; she thinks for a moment. 

“I opposed my colleagues in the Special Victims Unit acting in their official capacities to investigate an obviously disturbed individual.”

“In their official capacities?” he asks, trying to copy down every word she says.

“Yes, but what they do on their own time is not my business,” she explains, adjusting the strap of her tote bag on her shoulder. 

“So you have no opinion on what Detective Amaro did to Mr. Wilkes?” she can sense he’s getting annoyed with her answers.

“I do not,” a small smirk twitches at her lips. “If that’s all Mr. Tucker, I haven’t eaten lunch yet and it’s oh, well, three o’clock. Have a great day,” she glances at her watch and begins to walk away. 

“They fought awful hard to not lead me to you. There’s something more, I’m sure of it,” he calls out from behind her; she keeps walking. 

Olivia is in Barba’s office when Quinn returns from first appearances and her first run in with Tucker. She’s only really returned to the office to grab her wallet before she slips out for a late lunch. 

In Barba’s office she can faintly overhear a charged conversation. “Rafa, if Nick is going to have a chance at getting back on the squad, she’s got to stay away from Tucker,” she hears Olivia plead to Rafael. 

“She’s never met him, so I don’t know how you expect her to stay away from him,” she hears him respond. Grabbing her wallet from her desk drawer she decides to peak into his office as she steps out. 

“I’d really hate to butt into a conversation that doesn’t involve me; but oh wait, this one does,” she speaks and she pushes his office door open, their eyes widening as they realize she’s back. Barba springs to his feet, Olivia merely turns around to face her. 

“Sergeant Benson was merely expressing her frustration with the IAB investigation into Detective Amaro,” he explains. 

“No need to cover it up, I heard. It just so happens that Tucker tracked me down on my way back up here. We had a little chat,” she crosses her arms across her chest as she leans against the door frame, her slender arm saved from the cool metal of the frame by the sleeve of her blazer.

“Well I certainly hope you didn’t contribute to ruining a good cop’s career?” Liv stares the attorney down, not letting up on her position that Quinn should not be involved in the investigation. 

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Quinn doesn’t let up either. Even though she knows she didn’t help or hurt Amaro’s case, she knows the squad still doesn’t like her so whatever she says isn’t going to help in building the relationship with them. “I’ve had a long day. Barba I’m stepping out for lunch. Good to see you Sergeant.”

[petertingle-yipyip]

WORLD CLASS SINNER - FRANK CASTLE

ten - is it over now?

tags: n/a // nine // finale // masterlist

Pairing: frank x reader, billy x reader

Word Count: 11, 189

Summary: A long time coming, one fight comes to a bloody conclusion. Another lurks in the near future, and the connection between two friends and two lover is severed.

You weren’t supposed to be in the room, so you weren’t. You weren’t supposed to linger by the door and eavesdrop, so you didn’t. You were involved in the situation after all.

Highly involved.

And not just as FBI, protecting a civilian reporter from a terrorist during an active investigation, but as an agent that let Frank Castle get away.  That sided with Frank Castle.

You may not have been in the room, but you heard it all. You managed to get a surveillance piece onto Brett’s jacket so once you flipped your implant, it was as good as being in the room with them.

They talked about Lewis’ attempt at Anvil, Billy’s denial and your consultation. You almost cursed at the connection, but at least you weren’t on the payroll for Anvil anymore. It did show that you and Billy had a relationship outside of the company, but should he and Anvil go down for Sam Stein, you wouldn’t be connected to him. Only connected to Dinah.

The word negligence was thrown around and you almost laughed. It reminded you of how Billy shoved his own team into your line of fire to save himself. A pathetic excuse of a man, cloaked by his confidence and good looks. You were glad you saw who he truly was but that didn’t make it sting any less. Not hurt, per say, just sting.

Brett interviewed Ori and then Karen, and you pretty much knew how those interviews would go so you didn’t care to listen. Dinah next, and you last.

“Best for last, huh?” You joked as you sat on the couch, running hands over your pant leg. There was no blood beside the dried remnants from the prior chaos, but they still felt soaked. Dripping, ready to stain whatever you touched. 

“Who’s story you hoping I corroborate?”

“None.” He shrugged. “I just wanna know yours.”

“Castle wasn’t working with Lewis.” You said plainly. “Everyone’s throwing the allegation but it’s not true. Lewis was a guy who was misguided by a fraud to the point that he radicalized the Punsiher’s ideology.”

“Seemed pretty radical on its own.”

“Consequence?” You brows raised. “Castle didn’t hurt random people. It was intentful. It was specified. He killed drug dealers and rapists and murderers.”

“Guess after defending him in court you’re bound to take his side.”

“You’re saying I have a bias.” You pointed out. “I was here at my bureau’s direction. Nothing was about Castle from my end.”

“So the FBI doesn’t want Castle?”

“I wasn’t dispatched for Castle. My team and I were sent to apprehend Lewis.”

“So why do my officers tell me you and Billy Russo were pointing guns at each other?”

“He shot at me first.” You shrugged. The shot was meant for Frank in all actuality, but at that point, it was all the same. “Interfering with a federal investigation. Attempted assault of a federal agent. Aggravated assault against Castle. Should I go on?”

“You’re making me wish I was dealing with Murdock again.” He huffed. “Even Nelson and the cigars he would buy my mom.”

“Yeah, they’re a lot nicer.” You agreed.

“Not even that… Just less combative.”

You shrugged. It was all the same at that point.

“You fired your weapon, Y/N.” He sighed.

“Yeah.”

“Then took off with Castle.”

“Mhmm.”

“Why?”

“Cause he was helping me get to Karen.” You said honestly. “We saw Lewis take her and I knew Frank wasn’t going to hurt me. Wouldn’t let anyone else hurt me either.”

“Why are you so convinced he’s innocent? You want me to see a bigger picture here. Paint it for me.”

“You worked the Castle case first time around. You, on some level, know him. You don’t think he’s a terrorist anymore than I do, but the question now Brett, is whether anyone is going give someone a chance to prove that before they put a bullet in him?”

“You’re insane, you know that?”

“Yeah.” You laughed a little before you turned to leave. “So I’ve been told.”

“We’re not done.” He said, though there was no effort to stop you.

“I’ve got my own team to catch up with and an SAC to debrief. You know where to find me.”

You found Dinah and Karen talking down the hall so you walked up to them with a small smile for greeting.

“You two have a connection, I know that.” Dinah looked over at you. “So do you… If you know where he is or how to contact him, please.”

“Micro reached out to you, didn’t he?” You said quietly as you realized something. “You said a name in the stairwell.”

She nodded slightly before facing Karen again.

“I’m the best chance he’s got.” She urged.

“I’d beg to differ.” Karen looked at you and you gave a small nod before she took Dinah’s card. “He’s not what they say he is… Saved my life, again.”

You excused yourself at that point because Dex had made his way up, along with the other two from your team. They were in rough shape but definitely better than you. You could feel the bruises across your torso growing but EMS had removed the shrapnel. Your forehead was cleaned and bandaged, you having refused the stitches. 

Your SAC thoroughly chewed you out at debrief. She scolded you for abandoning your team, disabling comms, and ultimately going rogue. She said you should’ve eliminated Lewis at the beginning, before the hostage situation, then taken Castle into custody. She yelled that Billy Russo never should’ve been a player in the game. When you tried to reason that Billy had his fair part in it, she didn’t want to hear it.

You didn’t care enough to manipulate her either so you just let her talk.

Dex stepped in and backed you on siding with Castle. He said that since you knew Castle, you knew whether or not he was an asset or a threat in that situation. He even said that more people would’ve died if you tried to fight Castle.

“Wanna tell me what your plan is?” Dex asked once you two were out of your SAC’s office.

“Partner with Madani from Homeland.” You began. “Find Castle. Go after Russo.”

“What’s your deal with Russo anyway?”

“He killed a Homeland agent and a military colonel, both that I witnessed. He shot at me, obstructed a federal operation. I want to go after him, Dex.”

“So it’s personal. You’re gonna risk your career on a vendetta?”

“Exactly, my career.” You agreed. “You’re not gonna talk me out of it.”

“Alright.” He nodded. “How do we do it then?”

“We don’t do anything.” You shook your head. “Madani and I will build a case and I’ll let her bureau do the rest.”

“C’mon, Y/N/N. That’s it?”

“He killed one of theirs.” You shrugged. “What else am I supposed to do?”

“If you need my help with any of this, you call me. Got it?”

You nodded with a grateful smile before you hurried out the building. You practically ran to your car and sped across town to the compound, thanking Matt’s God for every green light.

When you got in, you found both men in the poorly lit bathroom. Shrapnel bits were littered in the sink and Frank’s shirt was torn in pieces on the floor. Lieberman moved to try and stitch the gunshot line on Frank’s temple but he jerked away. You went over and took the supplies from Lieberman’s hands, easily switching places. Lieberman wished you luck, said Frank won’t talk, and patted your back before he left.

You said nothing as you cleaned up the blood on the side of Frank’s head. A million questions lingered in the air yet neither of you dared to voice them. Saying it out loud made it real, and despite you both seeing it with your own eyes, some part wanted to deny it.

“I’m sorry.” You finally said, focusing on your stitching instead of Frank’s stare reflecting off the shattered mirror. “About Billy.”

“You knew he was dirty?” He said lowly, angrily. “That was you were trynna tell me, hmm?”

“I knew he was working with Rawlins, yeah. I wanted proof but I was holding out, hoping he was doing what I was doing. Playing both sides, looking out for you, y’know? … I was wrong.”

“How long have you known?”

“I never trusted his involvement to begin with. But I didn’t know until after he started airing the radio call. We went to that CIA safe house you found Rawlins at. I met the guy and pretty much called him out.”

You dared to look at his expression and saw a blank canvas.

“It was just before Bennett. He was there, part of my way in was being on his team, and he didn’t stop me from helping you so I guess I figured…” You shrugged, sighing heavily before you broke the thread. “It’s my fault this happened.”

“What?” He turned to you. “What are you talking about?”

“This.” You gestured to the gunshot. “I let my feelings intervene again and someone else got hurt.”

“Feelings? Y/N, what do you mean, feelings? You think you having a crush on Russo changed anything?”

You were quiet.

“You said he was dirty the whole time, so you sleeping with him or going out with him, it wouldn’t have changed anything! No, Bill… He made his choice, okay? And it’s got nothing, nothing, to do with you.”

“I should’ve led him away.” You said instead. “I should’ve smokescreened and left him in the dark like Dinah was.”

He scoffed at her name.

“I know he went behind your back going to Dinah, but he just wants to get back to his family.” You tried to defend. “Cut him some slack… I was probably gonna slip Dinah some information to get her on Rawlins’ tail soon anyway.”

“What are you gonna do now?” He asked instead.

“After cleaning you up?” You tried to joke while you moved his arm to see the gashes left from the shrapnel. “Partner with Dinah. Pretend to look for you. Go after Russo.” You rattled off the items on your mental list.

“What about the FBI?”

You shrugged. “My partner knows what I want. He’s got my back if I need him.”

“Sure you can trust this one?”

“Nope… But I’ve taken bigger gambles before. No one believed I should’ve defended the Punisher in court and he turned out to be a good guy.”

He snorted slightly.

“Madani’s gonna wanna do it the right way.” He commented, an off-handed remark that was meant as a question.

“I know.” You answered honestly.

“Do you?”

“I'm not looking for revenge. I’m looking to win. As long as he goes down, for now I don’t care how.”

You two didn’t talk about it after that. You cleaned and dressed the rest of his wounds. He offered to return the favor for your forehead but you assured him your body was already taking care of it, utilizing the heat that lived under your skin to weld yourself back together. You didn’t stay much longer either.

After you got home. Dinah called and asked for you to come to her office the next day. She assured you she had a plan and she would explain in person. Since you had no ideas on where to start, you agreed.

“Did you see the news?” She asked when you shut her office door behind yourself.

“About the hotel?”

“Billy’s interview.” She clarified.

“Oh… Not much.”

“He doesn’t get to pretend he’s a hero here.”

“Okay. So what’s the plan?”

“Well, you and I both know he killed Stein.” She began, a haunted look in her eyes.

“During a blacked-out sting attempt.” You specified. “Aren’t you worried about that at all?”

“Rafi already knows.”

You made a face at the name since you weren’t exactly sure who that was but said nothing as she continued.

“What you and I need is to get him to admit it. Or even admit just being there.”

“How do we do that? Billy’s gonna be expecting both of us to come after him.”

“Not together.”

“Probably together. He knew I’ve been talking to you about everything lately. Both of us had guns on him at the hotel. It’d be more surprising if we didn’t team up.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She said tightly, a controlled outburst. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“That’s why I’m here.” You nodded. “Even if he admits it, how do we-“

Your question was cut short when another agent stepped in and said “He’s on his way up.”

“Who’s he, Dinah?” You asked, moderately annoyed since you already knew the answer.

She simply gathered her paperwork and gestured for you to follow her. You let out a long, silent sigh as you obliged. As you went down the hall, you could feel it coming up the elevator.

Confidence, bordering on arrogance.

Billy.

“When this inevitably goes sideways, step aside and let me handle it.” You said once you two were alone in the conference room, seconds ticking down till Billy’s arrival.

“Listen, just because you have some undisclosed skills doesn’t give you any authority here. You are in my department.”

“I know.” You nodded.

“This is my investigation. You don’t get to tell me how it’ll go.”

“That’s not what that was.” You shrugged. “But this is. He’s gonna come in here and it’ll seem like you’re in control until he flips it on you and suddenly, you’re playing his game. At that point, there’s three choices. One, you walk away with your tail between your legs and he thinks he’s won, which he would have. Two, you miraculously keep your composure and work your way through it. Or three, the most likely, I take over and worst case scenario, it’s a stalemate.”

“You don’t ge-“

“You came to me for help.” You cut in as light knocks sounded. “Remember that.”

Billy was ushered in and his eyes met yours first. It was as if he was looking for you. You simply gestured to the other side of the table while Dinah opened with pleasantries and moved to the camera.

“Lawyers are for the guilty.” Billy said, a pointed glance at you.

You rolled your eyes and reached behind Dinah to press the record button.

“Special Agent Y/L/N with the FBI, assisting with today’s interview.” You continued to rattle off the date and time before Dinah did her introduction. “State your name for the record, last name first.”

“Russo, William.” Billy said flatly, not making any effort to hide his annoyance.

“Mr. Russo, laid out before you are several photos from a recent crime scene.” You began as Dinah laid out the pictures. “Please examine them carefully and let us know if anything looks familiar.”

“Are you gonna Mirandaize me, Agent Y/L/N?” He deflected instead, using your name mockingly.

“No need.” Dinah answered. “Unless I decide to arrest you. We’re just talking.”

You didn’t miss the emphasis she put on it being her choice.

“Why am I here, Dinah?”

Dinah placed a photo of Stein on the table. Covered in his own blood, blood that was also on your hands. You rubbed your hands in the side of your legs when they suddenly felt warm and wet.

“Because you’re a murderer who’s gonna pay for the lives you took.”

A faint blue trail followed her fingers, hovered over the photo.

“Agent.” You said in quiet warning to which she shrugged you off.

“The only reason I was there that day was you.” Billy answered after a few seconds of him silently looking at the picture. Whether he was fabricating his story or simply digesting the empty look in Stein’s eyes - eyes you had watched the light fade out of - you couldn’t tell. “I was there to take you home. I remember going back to your place, cleaning you up, holding you all night in the same bed that you and I had repeated sexual encounters.”

“Did you and Frank Castle conduct illegal covert operations in Kandahar?” She asked instead.

“What the hell?” You muttered and dropped your forehead to your hand.

“I’m sure you’ve perused my service record. Does it indicate that I was in Kandahar?” He countered. “Here’s what I think happened. I think you’re pissed that Frank Castle got away from you. Agent Y/L/N made sure of that, didn’t she?”

The mention of your name made you lift your head and he offered your a quick smirk, leaving as fast as it came on.

“But you’re looking to blame me so you sent your guys to come down to pick me up. But now you’re realizing that maybe that wasn’t such a smart move.”

“Make your choice.” You told her quietly, nodding slightly towards Billy to say that it was the moment you had predicted.

“Now if this was official,” Billy continued and you could

practically see the gears turning in Dinah’s head. “You wouldn’t be sitting there alone.”

“She’s not alone, Mr. Russo.” You spoke up, making the decision for her. “I’d like to circle back to something if you don’t mind.”

Billy turned to you with an amused expression and gestured for you to continue.

“You mentioned sexual encounters with Agent Madani.” You began.

“What are you doing?” She asked tightly but you ignored her, refusing to break eye contact with Billy.

There was a challenge in his expression as well as yours. Neither of you would back down.

“Yes. Don’t worry, I was getting to you and I as well.” Billy replied. “And this whole thing.” He made a vague gesture to the table and between you two. “Calling you agent, kinda hot.”

“Do you have some proof of you recently being at either of our residences for any extended periods of time?”

“Meaning?”

“Cell tower pings, location tags, GPS directions. Anything like that.”

“Most likely.”

“Great, and can you provide any specific dates?”

He scoffed lightly.

“Along with that, do you have proof of what occurred during these alleged encounters?”

“Proof?” His brows raised.

“Photos, videos, explicit text messages, audio recordings.”

“You wanna know if I made a tape?” He chuckled in disbelief.

“I want to know if you can back your allegations with evidence, should anything escalate.” You countered firmly. “Can you?”

“I don’t have pictures or videos.” He spat back in annoyance.

“Audio?”

“No.”

“Texts?”

“Doubtful. You’re very careful.”

You hummed slightly and he rolled his eyes, knowing you had beat him on that.

“Then your allegations are baseless and therefore irrelevant.” You smirked with a shrug.

Dinah pushed yourself up and shut off the camera. You sat back in your seat and folded your hands over your stomach, swiveling slightly side to side. Billy was still looking at you, an almost proud expression on his face that you didn’t acknowledge.

“You’re gonna tell me this room isn’t bugged?” Billy asked after a small stint of silence. “Can never be too careful.”

“Funny you mention that.” You offered a sarcastic expression. 

“I’ve got an offer for you, best and final.” Dinah said quickly and you spun in your chair to face her. Your brows were raised with an expectant expression. “I’ll guarantee leniency if you give me the executioners, the tortures, everything. And when I say everything, I need William Rawlins.”

You turned enough to see Billy’s reaction.

“You didn’t know I had Rawlins’ name.” Dinah bragged and again, Billy looked to you.

“Wasn’t me.” You shrugged. “Some NSA ghost story came around.”

“You killed Sam Stein.” Dinah continued. Her rage was filling the room, pushing out the air and threatening

to choke you. It was more than justice for her, though she’d never admit it. 

It was revenge. It was consequence. It was right up your alley, everything Exodus was built off of.

Maybe this was more her fight than Y/N’s. She could do more for Dinah than Y/N could. Avoid the red tape and bring a real conclusion.

“…life won’t be worth the termination-of-parental-rights form your mother scribbled her signature on.” Dinah spat and even you were taken back.

You almost said something about it but then remembered you weren’t with Billy. It was a sharp blow, even for you, but the woman was angry. And hell has no wrath like a woman scorned. You focused back in on the conversation as Dinah’s as vaguely threatening Billy before she left, leaving you and Billy alone in the room.

“Your head’s healing nice. Almost forgot you got hurt in the first place.” He commented instead of the question in his eyes. He didn’t trust the room wasn’t bugged so he didn’t dare to say what he really wanted.

“Yeah, cuts and bruises heal pretty okay for me.” You nodded. “The rib still hurts on deep breaths but that’s never gonna go away.”

“What are you doing, Y/N?” He asked quietly. “Getting mixed up in all this.”

“I’ve always been part of this, just not the way you expected. Started long before I met you, Bill… See you soon.”

You were barely out of the room when his hand was around your arm. You let out a quiet sigh while he pulled you down one of the nearby halls.

“I never wanted to hurt you, Y/N.” He said softly, the grip on your arm loosening while his thumb began to move against the fabric of your shirt. You made sure to put a hand on his chest to keep a fair distance between you two. “If there was another way…”

“Bill, all of this is your choice.” You insisted gently. “You could change it at any point if you let it.”

“I can’t…”

“I tried giving you the benefit of the doubt but you kept

proving me wrong time and time again. You put me in a position where I have to defend you time and time again. I have to bend my conviction again. I have to choose between you and him.”

“Then stop fighting!” He urged as a loud whisper.

“I can’t!” You answered in the same hushed tone. “As much as I like you, I can’t be on your side. You’ve proved that you’re not loyal to me and you’re not loyal to Frank… That man saw you as his brother, his family. How could you do this to him?”

“You like me?” He asked in genuine amazement.

“That’s what you heard?”

You scoffed to yourself and left after that, making your way to Dinah’s office. You walked in on her arguing with someone else that she introduced as Rafi, the man above her. They were yelling about the conflict of interest and you offered they watch the rest of the video but Rafi didn’t want to hear anything from you. You listened to the rest in silence but were told to find Castle and Micro.

You didn’t need to work very hard to do that.

Leaving Dinah’s office, you went straight to Frank and Lieberman. You walked in in a hurry to update them on what was going on. Dinah had gained nothing by bringing in Billy other than pissing the man off, but there was still some underlying desire to have you in his life. He didn’t want to lose you for good and you could manipulate that  but before you could say anything about the spray painted vest you caught a glimpse of, Frank had grabbed your arm.

You opened your mouth for a question but he pulled you against his chest and had his arms around you before you could find your voice. You froze for a second before returning the embrace. Maybe it was an apology for being a jerk the last time you two spoke or maybe it was just his way of saying he was glad you were okay since he hadn’t said anything about it before. Maybe even his way of saying he felt bad you lost someone else you had trusted, that he understood you were betrayed too. In all likelihood, it was all three,

“Love you, Frank.” You muttered against him. “Figured I should say it before whatever happens next.”

“Yeah, love you too, Princess.” He answered and stepped back, patting your cheek before stepping away.

There was tension in the air lingering from an argument that just finished between him and Lieberman. You looked at the former NSA agent and he gave you a look that said he wasn’t going to talk about it. Frank was rushing around, collecting gear and throwing it into the back of the van. You had moved to follow him when something on Lieberman’s monitors caught your attention.

“Guys?” You called as you moved closer to the screens. “What happened here?”

Frank was by your side first. “Go back.”

Lieberman reversed the footage and found a quick scene of two alleged cops taking Sarah and Zach. But you noticed Leo was nowhere to be seen. Lieberman and Frank were going back and forth about what to do, who would be coming, and whether Sarah would give up ‘Pete’. You were more worried about why Leo wasn’t in any of the footage.

You pushed past the bickering men and ran out to your car. You rummaged through the backseat and under your passenger seat, throwing everything out of your way until you found it. The cracked, blood-stained mask. You didn’t care if anyone saw you with it as you ran back into the compound and then began rummaging through Lieberman’s cluttered desktop. You examined different cables and adapters before finding one that matched close enough to the shape of port your mask had.

You were moving to plug both ends in, one to your mask and one to a computer, when you saw a new angle of footage. It showed the driveway and Leo jumping from one of the windows.

“Atta girl.” You said to yourself with a small smile before resuming your task, ignoring Lieberman trying to get you to stop.

“Call her.” You said, simply stating his hands away when he reached for yours.

You were furiously typing, overriding your own security protocols and verifying the use of the new device. You scrolled through the various connections and tracking devices until you found it. It was old, probably had terrible range and reception, but it was usable. With Lieberman’s interconnected network, it just might do it.

SUIT - Y/L/N

The emblem you gave Leo was one of the original trackers before they were embedded in your bodies.

You laughed in slight relief when the screen showed a mask with a small blip of the familiar hourglass shape. You were piecing together where exactly she went when Frank put the call on speaker and leaned over your shoulder to see what you were doing. You pointed to the blinking logo and looked back at him, knowing both hope and worry were reflecting in your eyes.

“Hello?” Her voice came through, panic evident.

“Hey, kiddo.” You said softly. “It’s me and Pete. We’re gonna help you but you can’t talk to anyone about it, okay? Not the cops, not anyone. You remember who I told you I was? I’m gonna handle this.”

“They took Mom and Zach.” She sniffled and your heart broke for her. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I know what they did.” Frank answered. “You have no reason to trust me but I’m right here and we’re the only hope you and your family have.”

“After this call, I need you to take the battery out of the phone.” You instructed calmly. “Throw it as far as you can. Then the SIM card, you do the same thing in the other direction. If those people try to find you, they’re gonna come up empty, okay?”

“You know where the pool in that park is, sweetheart?” Frank said after a whispered exchange between him and Lieberman. “I want you to go there, okay? You wait for us and we will come for you. Okay?”

“Okay… Okay.” 

The call ended after that and you turned to Lieberman.

“You need to go to her.” You said pointedly, pushing past him.

“You just said you two were going.” He reasoned. “She thinks I’m dead. Am I supposed to just go up to her and say ‘Hey, baby. I’ve been living in a basement for a year. I’m not dead. Come let’s-“

“Goddammit, David!” You shouted in frustration. “Your daughter is scared and on her own!”

“Hey..” Frank said quietly, putting his hand on your shoulder. You took a deep breath and nodded, collecting yourself before talking again.

“Go to your little girl, David.” You said in a calmer tone. “I’ve been where she is and when I tell you all I wanted was my dad…”

“Meet us at the Greenpoint Terminal. If we’re not there by midnight, you go to Madani.” Frank instructed.

“Only to Madani.”

“What are you two gonna do?” David asked hesitantly.

“I’ve gotta change.” You shrugged, looking down at your dress shirt. “Then wait for these sons of bitches to show up.”

“Make ‘em tell us where Sarah is. Then we’re gonna kill them all.” Frank finished.

You ran to your car and drove home quickly. You practically ran up the stairs and slammed into the locked closet. You kicked a small box that was left outside your door and figured you’d look at it later. You changed your clothes quickly, the familiar tight fitting material of your suit on your body. Instead of your specialized top from Matt, you wore your newest vest. You fit your Bites into place at your wrists, knives at your thigh and back of your belt, a gun on your hip, shock disks at the front of your belt, retractable at your wrist as well. You threw on a loose pair of sweats and a hoodie for the drive back and sped back to Frank.

You ditched your covers at your car and kept your head down as you went inside. You announced your arrival with a whistle, two quick notes that usually would’ve been answered by a second pair of notes. You arrived just as Frank was finishing his prep, hiding rifles and other gear while you made your way to the bloodied mask. You unplugged it, deleted any trace off David’s computers, and put it over your eyes.

You hauled yourself up into the rafters, tucking your feet to conceal your presence. You and Frank said nothing to each other, only exchanging looks from time to time. It wasn’t until you saw the lights coming from down the hall that you focused up. You tapped your mask and counted the bodies, noting the thermal imaging device your mask detected with one of them. Your presence wouldn’t be secret for long, but it was never intended to be. 

One of the men strayed from the group so you moved carefully from above. You timed your steps to his, careful to shift your weight evenly to avoid any sounds. Once he was completely isolated, you dropped down and landed behind him. You covered his mouth and nose with one hand while flicking out the retractable blade. You dragged the knife along his throat and felt the warm blood spill across your hand.

The familiar metallic smell lingered in the air as his body went limp in your arms. His blood was dripping from your hand and your blade as you tucked it and moved to the next one. A man a few dozen feet away. You clipped the wire between your Bites as you crept up behind him.

In a swift motion, you got the wire around his neck and yanked backwards to throw him to his face and put a knee between his shoulder blades. You pulled the wire tighter and he gasped for breath, clawed at the wire and reached behind to try to grab you. Your hand took hold of either side of his head and twisted, a sick snap echoing in the empty hall.

You met with Frank a few minutes later and made your way into the main room. There was a small team spread out so you and Frank split. You watched one of them begin a phone call so you crept closer and turned your implant to listen in. Your body grew tense when you heard the voice on the other end.

“Конечно.” You muttered in annoyance. (Of course.)

Billy warned that it was a trap but it was too late. A decapitated head came rolling in with an explosive strapped to it and when it went off, you began your next assault. Gunfire rang out on the other side of the room while you took on your targets. The three closest to you.

Panic rose in the trio as you armed your Bites and a threatening red glow emanated from the devices. You quickly fired at one before moving to a second. He raised his rifle but you ducked it and knocked it aside, causing him to fire into one of his teammates’ leg. You grabbed the knife from the back of your belt and dropped to a knee, swiping it along the inside of his knee. He cried out and buckled before you flipped the blade in your hand and drove it down through his foot.

You yanked the other leg out from under him and he fell to his back. You rolled over him and took control of the rifle to fire a quick burst at the first man you had hit with your Bite. You then pressed your device against the second one’s temple and fired, the smell of burnt flesh filling your nostrils quickly. At that point, one target remained.

You grabbed the helmet of the closest body and threw it, slamming the nose of the man limping towards you. You ran at him and took hold of the front of his shirt before flipping over him, pulling him backwards over the desk. You yanked him to the side to get him to face you before slamming your fist against his face. Bloodied punch after bloodied punch until his face was a mangled mess of blood and swollen lumps. At that point, you pulled your pistol and came around to the other side of the table. You held the man by his hair and placed your gun under his chin. He coughed up blood before you fired and he fell limp.

You made your way to Frank again as he was getting hit with heavy fire from three men. You ducked by his side and pulled the discs from your belt. Using the reflection off the blade of your knife, you ricocheted your discs to hit the furthest two. They cried out and doubled over, providing enough of a gap for you to move one way and Frank to go in another.

You went for the two you electrocuted, kicking out at the closest one’s chest to slam him into the wall behind him. You jabbed the heel of your hand into the other one’s throat before he could gather his rifle and he stumbled back, holding the tender flesh. The man behind you grabbed your arm but you quickly breaking free of his hold. You grabbed his forearm instead and forced his arm to extend. You threw your other elbow against the joint and heard the rip tendons. Without releasing his arm, you grabbed his shirtfront and threw him into his teammate.

You pulled a blade and jammed it into the closest one’s stomach, dragging it across until it came out the other side and even more blood spilled over your hands. Using the same knife, you buried it in the last man’s neck. Watching the blood spill from his lips as he choked on it.

You found Frank again in the kitchen, yelling for Russo.

“He’s not here.” You said simply, you accent in your voice as you wiped the blood splatter off your cheek. It wasn’t until then, when the adrenaline was fading out, did you feel the sharp sting on a bullet graze on the outside of your arm.

You heard groaning and turned to see one man crawling away. Or at least trying to. You walked over and pressed a foot against the slices at the back of his legs and he cried out, going limp under your weight.

“Where’s Russo?” Frank asked when he got to your side.

“I… I don’t know, man.” He said through labored, pained breaths.

“The woman. The kid. Where’s they take ‘em?”

“I don’t know, man! That was…” He tried but you shifted your weight to bring a new wave of pain. “That was need to know. I don’t know anything.”

“Fair enough.” Frank said lowly before a quick shot ended the man’s life.

“One of them called Bill when they got here and told him about that.” You stepped off the body and nodded towards the desks that still replayed Zubair’s torture and the countdown. “Check him for the phone.”

Frank patted through the pockets and found it, sitting against one of the pillars before dialing. He put it

on speaker and you sat beside him, rubbing your bloodied hands with a towel.

Sam’s blood.

Elektra’s blood.

“Frank?” Billy said after a short silence.

“The Billy Russo I knew… Oh, he’d have the balls

to come himself, y’know.” Frank said, more to you than Billy.

“The Billy Russo I knew wouldn’t be on the wrong side of this fight.” You added, letting your accent tint your words.

“I’ve got staff for that these days.” He answered calmly. “You know the saying about having a dog and barking yourself?”

“Someday, sometime, this is gonna come down to you and me.”

“What about your little friend? Sounds like she’s pretty involved too.”

“Little friend?” You repeated with a small laugh. “You haven’t figured out who I am yet?”

“You’re a wanted man, Franky Boy.” He chose to ignore you, or at least not admit that you were still a wild card. “They’ll catch up to you eventually, just like last time.”

“Guess we’re both running out of time then, huh, Bill?” Frank answered flatly.

“What’s in those computers, Frank?”

“Woman and the kid. Where are they?”

“They’re with me. Right here. Safe and sound.”

You tapped your mask and gave it a second to find the phone call. It lagged due to the cracked lens but you were able to catch on and begin tracking the call. You needed Billy on the line as long as possible to give your broken mask a chance to do its job.

“It’s everything on you, Billy.” You explained, watching the progress bar fill itself at an agonizingly slow speed. “Listen to me carefully. If anything happens to that family, the whole world will see it. They’ll see you, Bill. After that, you’re done.”

“And Zach and Sarah will be dead.” He countered sharply. “You want that family back? I want Lieberman, and I want you, Frank.”

“Sounds about right… And what about my friend in the mask?”

“The girl?” He paused, thinking it over.

“Not just some girl.” You said plainly, dropping your accent for your next sentence. “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out, Billy.”

“Y/N…”

“Exodus.” Your accent found you again. You looked to Frank and he gave you a small nod. You sighed to yourself and pushed your mask up. “Set up the exchange.”

“You’re giving up that easy?”

“I’ve got a bigger picture.” You shrugged though it was more trust in whatever plan Frank had. “Last chance.”

“We’ll be in touch.”

You and Frank cleaned yourselves up and headed to meet with David. You called Dinah on the way and gave her the meeting point. You had thrown your sweats and hoodie back on, your mask hanging at your neck under the fabric and Bites hiding under your cuffs.

“How about it, Madani? You gonna pull your weapon on me again?” Frank joked and you smacked his arm.

“Do I have to?” She answered, making you and Frank chuckle.

“Surprised you called her.” David said, nervously looking between you two and Dinah. You looked past him and offered Leo a small wave that she returned.

“You and the princess trust her.” Frank answered and you glared at his use of your nickname. “I guess I do, too.”

“Princess?” She looked at you with a pointed expression.

“Not like that.” You shook your head and began to step away “He says it in a jackass kinda way.”

“No, it’s a ‘she gets everything she wants’ kinda way.”

“Exactly. Jackass.” You laughed.

You went around the van and opened Leo’s door. She was looking at you until Frank had joined you, then her eyes dropped to her lap.

“You did good, kid.” You said honestly. “I’m glad you had it.”

“Had what?” Her brows furrowed and she met your eyes.

“The symbol.” You smiled slightly. “Told you I’d have your back when you got it, didn’t I?”

“You guys knew he was alive this whole time?”

“Sorry about that.” You nodded. “It wasn’t safe.”

“I don’t know what to call you.” She glanced at Frank before dropping her eyes again. “Seems stupid to call you Pete.”

“I’m Frank, Frank Castle.”

“He’s a lot scarier than Pete.”

“Nah, he’s the same.” You offered and nudged Frank with your elbow before leaning closer to Leo to loudly whisper. “Honestly, I like Frank better anyway.”

Next thing you knew, you all went back to Dinah’s office. David and Leo waited in the hall while Dinah interrogated Frank. You hung out in the room, behind the camera. Initially, Dinah was against it but it didn’t take much of your power to change her mind. You knew you didn’t need to be in there but you felt protective of Frank, as both his lawyer and his friend. You simply wanted to make sure Dinah’s questioning didn’t cross a line.

Next was David’s interview, which you also hung around for. He spoke about wanting his family back, about that being his priority.

She tried to convince you to sit in front of the camera but you adamantly denied, saying your word wouldn’t change anything. You were too biased. As Frank’s lawyer and partner, you couldn’t speak on his actions without a conflict of interest. As Billy’s ex, you couldn’t speak on his actions either. As David’s associate, same thing. As Dinah’s freelance partner, nothing you said would be credible. So you erased any confidence in the idea and moved forward, getting ready to meet with Billy for the exchange.

You and the guys arrived just before the meeting time. You had no idea what would happen but you had to trust Frank had a plan, more of a plan than just killing Billy. But just in case, you gave him a hug before you got into position. You ditched your covers again and slid your mask to your face before disappearing into the shadows.

You watched the red van pull up and you pulled your gun from your belt. You felt a rush of relief when Sarah and Zach were revealed unharmed. You gripped your gun tighter when you saw the lit flare and your eyes shot to Frank. He lifted the phone to his ear so you tapped the scar in your hair and listened in, hearing Billy’s voice in your head.

Your mask was already tracing the call so you quietly began to follow the path you were given. You moved carefully, testing out ladders and walkways before putting your full weight onto them. You used the sound of the incoming DHS vehicles to cover your rapid footsteps. You came up behind Billy and grabbed the back of his jacket, pressing the other Bite against his temple.

“Miss me?” You asked, your accent dripping off your words.

“I can still pull the trigger.” He warned before you pressed your device harder.

“On who?” You looked over the scene.

Frank was nowhere to be seen and David was being grabbed. Sarah and Zach were safe behind Dinah but the firefight continued. Moments later, David went down and the scream that left Sarah froze you to your bones. It reminded you of your own scream outside Midland, watching the building go down and take Matt with it.

Billy took advantage of your distraction and as your hand gripped the railing in front of you in an attempt to jump it, he grabbed your arm and yanked to the ground. He pinned an elbow against your back and had your face pressed against one of the poles. You quickly looked down his barrel and saw he was aiming at Dinah.

“Go ahead then.” You spat, struggling under the pressure he was applying. “Kill her, then me. Make your life easier.”

Instead he shot out the front tires of both DHS vehicles and you let out a sigh of relief. You heard the clatter beside you when Billy dropped his rifle and grabbed both of your arms to haul you up with him. You struggled in his grip until he let go of an arm in favor of putting his hand on the side of your head. You had just armed your Bite when he slammed your head down to the railing.

One, two, three times till you fell unconscious.

You woke up on the cold concrete floor. Your head pounded and as you lifted it, you felt the slick feeling of drying blood. Looking over, you were in a small puddle of it. It had soaked into the band of your mask, which miraculously was still in place. Your hands were pinned tightly behind your back with zipties, practically tucked under the Bites still locked around your wrists. Your ankles were secured the same way and as you rolled yourself to your back, you felt nothing at your hip or back.

Your gun and knives were gone.

You managed to sit yourself up and began to glance around, looking for something to break the plastic restraints with.

“…geek friend is no longer with us.” You heard Billy’s voice from across the room.

“You killed him?” Frank asked quietly.

You looked around, craning your neck to see where they were. Across the room, you could only see Billy’s back and the arm of someone in the chair. That had to be Frank. The men continued their back and forth, unaware that you were awake on the other side.

“Did you pull the trigger on my wife?” Frank asked angrily and you felt a surge through your own veins, anticipation for Billy’s answer.

“On my son?”

The ultimate betrayal, more than simply siding with Rawlins. Killing Maria and the kids.

“My baby girl?”

“No.” Billy finally said and you felt some sense of relief. “No, I wasn’t there. If I was, you’d be in the ground because I wouldn’t have missed. But I told them I’d have no part in it.”

Your relief was short lived as you rolled your eyes and scooted down so your fingertips could reach the floor. You began to sweep your hands along, looking for anything. A rock, a loose screw, some debris from the previous fight. As you searched you wondered why Billy would have a part in it now. If he could so easily tell Rawlins and Schoonover no before, why not do it again? Especially when it was just Rawlins.

They continued their conversation as your search came up empty. You realized there was no other option and you closed your eyes and tilted your head against the wall. You clenched your jaw as you wrapped a hand around one of your thumbs. You pulled on the joint, moderating your breathing through your nose until it finally popped. You swallowed the groan as you released the limp digit. You flexed your hand up and got your nails under the edge of the zip tie and began to shimmy it down, over your dislocated thumb. You were silently grateful for your seemingly permanent blood soaked gloves, just as Frank was yelling towards someone else.

Your head snapped up and you tried to see again, but you knew your position was too hidden for him to see. You shrugged it off as your hands were able to separate. You pulled them in front of you and stretched out the ache in your shoulders before you looked at your ankles while popping your thumb back into place with another muffled sound.

You tried to get a finger under but those were done tightly as well. You sighed slightly and looked again, just in case your fingers missed something but you couldn’t miss what was never there. You rested the heels of your hands on your forehead and felt the edge of your mask.

The mask.

You pushed it off your head and turned it over in your hands, looking at the already cracked lens. You didn’t have the means to break it quietly but there was enough chipped off the edge that it was sharp. You tried it on the zip tie around your hand first and with a good tug, you got it to break through. At that point you brought it down to your ankles and began to saw through until it finally popped apart.

You smiled to yourself before you fixed the mask back over your eyes and crept closer to the scene, though you had to ignore the ache in your arms from your escape. Rawlins had come and gone but there was someone typing away at the computer screens, trying to get through to stop the countdown. Your first instinct was to go and help Frank, untie him before drawing Billy away, but the persistent tapping on the keyboards beside you kept plucking the strings of your nerves.

You’d deal with her first.

You crept into the area with the computers and woke one of your Bites. It hummed gently around your wrist while you stayed low to the ground to ensure no one in the next room could see you. You took one steadying breath, calculating the time you’d have between first contact and one of the men coming into the room.

Less than a minute was your best guess.

You kicked out her chair and the wheels scraped aggressively across the floor. She hit the ground with a loud groan so you reached across and covered her mouth with your hand. You aimed the other Bite and fired on her quickly, a sharp yelp coming from her before she fell limp. Small convulsions raked through her body though her eyes were closed. You stayed in your kneeling position and peeked over at the screen, finding comfort in the countdown that was still ticking. Cursor blinking in the box asking for a password

“Who are you protecting, hmm?” Billy asked and you dared to stand fully, relieved to see just him and Frank in the room and neither were looking at you. “Maria? Y/N?”

Your heart jumped at your name, triggering the set of explosions in your chest that you thought would betray you. You watched in quiet interest while Billy wiped some of the blood dripping from Frank’s mouth and nose.

“She’s probably the one person in this city you don’t need to protect.” He chuckled and you saw the faintest of pinks falling from his words. The thought of him loving you, it really made his firm stance against you so confusing, but for all you knew Billy was just as confused.

“Doing all this for Y/N/N isn’t gonna change anything. They’re dead. They’re dead because of you. And I get it. It’s a heavy, heavy burden… Time to put it down.”

“Don’t die on me, Frank.” You said to yourself. “I need a little more time.”

You ignored the words Billy was saying while you went back to the desk, finding the cable you had used when you first connected your mask to find Leo. You tried to move things quietly, given your rummaging was the only sound in the place. After what felt like an eternity, you found it. You pulled your mask around your neck and connected it. You typed carefully, gently pressing the keys to work through the security. When it came to the ocular scan, you were able to use a zoomed image saved in your mask. You had just gotten in when you felt slapped with the despair, the submission, and it left a cold feeling across your skin. You collected whatever would be dispersed when the timer ended and slid them over to be copied to your mask before picking up your head.

“It’s gotta be you.” Frank said and your heart sank immediately. “It’s gotta be clean. Just don’t let him take me, Bill. Don’t let him hurt her.”

“Who?”

“The… The princess. You gotta promise me that.”

How could he be worried about you in a time like that?

“Frank…” You tried to speak but you had no voice. Just a strained whisper of your friend’s name.

No, not your friend.

Your family. Your brother.

You understood then, the reasons you expected Billy to be loyal to Frank were the exact reasons you were, and that’s why it twisted your stomach so tightly. You fought beside Frank by chance, same as Billy. You risked your life at Frank’s side, same as Billy. You stood beside Frank in a storm of blood and bullets, same as Billy. Parched him up, trusted him with your life even when everyone told you not to. But on the other side, you stayed at his side without doubt. Billy left.

“He’s not gonna touch her.” Billy said honestly. “I promise.”

You weren’t exactly sure if you found comfort in that or not. What you did know from that was you had leverage, and you’d need as much of that as you could get.

There was a subtle pinging from your mask so you held it up enough to see that the files were copied. You disconnected the device and fit it back to your face as Billy summoned two men - who you hadn’t noticed and miraculously didn’t notice you either - to bring Frank to the computers.

Billy got into the room first as you were finding a hiding spot. Under the back corner of the desk, behind the leg among the mess of cables underneath. They stepped over the woman’s body and you saw Billy’s steps falter. Your hand hovered at your hip but remembered your gun was gone. You sighed to yourself and rested your hand over your bent knee, forced to depend on your own strength and your Bites. He said nothing and a bit later, the men slammed Frank’s chair down. You watched him draw closer, blocking your hiding spot from view as he spoke. Rawlins had entered as well while Frank was typing.

Soon after, a small alert popped up in the corner of your mask. You carefully tapped your mask and it displayed the live camera feed from David’s systems on the roof above you. You realized quickly that Frank was potentially going to push Rawlins, that way if he died that day, at least it’d be on tape.

That crazy son of a bitch.

The screaming was next, sending a jolt of adrenaline through you. Billy had moved out of your way so you reacted quickly. You kicked out his knees so he fell to the ground and you climbed out of your hiding spot. 

You moved to stand but Billy grabbed your ankle, causing you to stumble and give him enough time to get up. You spun quickly when his grip released, a small growl at the base of your throat as you faced him. He looked at you with slightly widened eyes before you moved at him. You threw sharp combos of punches, alternating hands and targets, switching your feet and ducking his attempts to hit you back. On one swing, he pushed your hand away but the movement was enough to flick out the knife at your wrist. You chuckled in disbelief, having completely forgotten about the discreet weapon, before yanking your arm back and slicing the tip of Billy’s shoulder.

You shoved your shoulder into his chest to knock him back before you hurried to kneel at Frank’s side. He looked at you in complete shock and you ignored the look while you wiggled the tip of the blade under the ziptie. Before you could break it, a heavy boot slammed your side. It knocked the air from your lungs as you fell to the ground. Looking back and clutching your side, Rawlins stood over you with blood dripping down his chest and neck. He was breathing heavily before he slammed his foot into the side of Frank’s head and your friend went limp.

He came closer to you and you saw Billy coming up behind him. You quickly decided you didn’t need or want that man to save you so you helped yourself. You waited until Rawlins was within your reach and you swiped your blade in a wide arc and sliced both of his legs. You then kicked out at the new wounds and the man fell into Billy. You ran after that, just far enough away that you could get into the rafters, though neither man had the audacity to chase you.

You waited a few minutes and just as you were going to sneak back in, your implant was pinging with a phone call. You denied it but it came again. With a silent groan, you climbed down and snuck out the back entrance you usually crept in through.

“What?” You said sharply.

“What did you do to my cameras?” David asked quickly on the other end.

“Your cameras?”

“I’m trying to access them but it says they can’t broadcast. You said you messed with them. What did you do?”

“What are you…” You began before you remembered. “Right, shit. When I first got here and I didn’t know or trust you, I blocked any and all broadcast. Only connected devices can get to the feed.”

“Well unblock it!”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Dinah asked, her voice further away than David’s.

“I don’t have that tech with me.” You said honestly. “I might be able to do it through my mask but there’s no guarantee… What do you need the cameras for anyway?”

“These men need to be arrested!” She urged. “We need to see what’s happening.”

“There are no arrests to be made here!” You argued. “Madani, I worked with you because I needed to know what you knew. But this talk of- of trials and arrests, you sound like Daredevil and look where that got him. It ends the way Frank decides it ends…. Жизнь за жизнь.” (A life for a life.)

“Can I undo it from here?” He asked instead.

“Maybe.” You shrugged, not caring to argue. “Can you read Russian?”

“What?”

“It’s a Russian program. If you can read it, the override key is Daredevil, Отчаянный. And the confirmation is Romanoff, Романофф.”

“Why would you do it in Russian?”

“It’s my first language, dude. Look, I gotta go.” You hung up quickly.

You took a deep breath of fresh air and looked back at the door.

You could leave. You didn’t have to stay, didn’t have to fight. You could go home, lick your wounds and take on Billy on your own if Frank didn’t finish it.

But what kind of friend would that make you? What kind of person would that make you?

You’ve gotta see it through, sweetheart.

You could hear Matt’s voice in your head.

You’ll be alright. Save Frank to save yourself.

You weren’t even worried about yourself.

So you went back inside. You snuck in quietly and stayed low, hiding in shadows and behind the clutter David left behind. You watched the scene unfold with a sick feeling in your stomach, enough to make you want to puke. But you swallowed it down, forced it to the bottom of the chasm in your chest.

Every punch Rawlins landed on Frank was paired with an echoing explosion. You were still there, in front of Midland as it went down. And the Matt in your head might’ve been right. To get yourself out of there, to save yourself, you had to save Frank.

“I made him a promise.” You recognized Billy’s voice as you got into the room, shimmying behind some pile

of crates.

“I don’t care about your promise.” Rawlins spat and the anger was hot, even in your hiding spot. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and go find the girl?”

“The girl?” Billy nearly laughed. “You do realize that was Exodus, right? She wiped the Russian syndicate off the map by herself. She cleared Yakuza from the city. Took on Wilson Fisk. She don’t wanna be found, no one’s gonna find her.”

“Oh… I see.” Rawlins nodded and you clicked your mask to watch from the camera. “You’ve gone soft for her.” He mocked. “You think she cares about you, Russo? If she’s so dangerous, then you're only alive to serve her purpose. Once she’s done, she’ll put a bullet in you unless you get to her first.”

“She’s not gonna kill me.” Billy shrugged and your brow quirked at the confidence. “And I’m not gonna kill her. But I am gonna kill him.”

“He does not get to die easy!” Rawlins yelled.

“He’s taken too much from me.”

“Like what?” Billy challenged and in any other scenario, you would’ve thought it to be sort of hot.

You stopped paying attention after that, wondering how you were going to get the men out of the room. You considered going after their hacker again, but you’d already shocked the girl once. Doing it again might just kill her. You could head back into the rafters, call them and lure them away. Throw something down the hall and watch them panic, but that might only get one. You were calculating different options when Frank’s agonizing scream sounded and you nearly exposed yourself.

“This doesn’t serve me!” Billy yelled and you saw two sets of feet moving away. Looking at the small camera image at the corner of your vision, Billy had pulled Rawlins off.

Rawlins calling Billy a gutter rat seemed to strike a chord with you that you didn’t understand, nor did you try to. You stepped out carefully, gently guiding the blade out of its position hidden under your Bite, and crept behind Rawlins. Billy’s eyes darted over and saw you coming but instead of saying anything, he moved to be behind Frank and put his gun to his head.

You reacted quickly in turn, putting an arm around Rawlins’ neck and kicking out his knees to force him to the ground. You pulled back the arm around his throat and pressed the tip of the blade under the man’s chin.

“Nice to know you’ve got good things left to say, Bill” You said simply, your familiar accent rolling off your tongue with ease. “But if you hurt him, I will kill you.”

“Stand down, Lieutenant!” Rawlins shouted, a strained sound.

You heard a faint click, not one of the handgun Billy held but something else. Like plastic breaking. After a second, Billy stood and held his gun up in surrender.

“And you.” You said to Rawlins, pushing the tip enough to break skin. “Beating on a man who cannot fight back. That’s low, even for me. Is it because you’re afraid?”

“I’ll kill you.” He breathed. “After Castle, you’re dead.”

You looked up and saw Billy moving closer, a hand out to you in question. You clenched your jaw and yanked your blade, cutting a long line across the bottom of his chin before you threw him to his face. You reached down and took the gun from his holster, tucking it into yours instead.

“No, I don’t think I am.” You answered. “I took out Russians and Yakuza, remember?”

You let Billy grab both of your arms and put them behind your back. Rawlins had gotten to his feet and reached for something off the table, a blue rod in either hand. You tried to see it better but he shoved the object against your stomach, between the armored plates and you felt a needle pierce your skin.

You gasped in shock and Billy pulled you backwards as Rawlins turned to Frank and laughed. You sudden felt a tingling sensation across your body, as if all of your limbs had fallen asleep and were waking back up. You could feel your heart steadily picking up in your chest, a strange stutter in its rhythm. It made you dizzy, uneasy on your feet and falling into Billy. You watched him stick Frank with the other and he sat upright in his chair.

“Adrenaline…” You muttered, shaking your head to clear the symptoms. You could feel them fading, the heat under your skin burning through the excess hormone, but that didn’t make the physical effects any less.

“Frank…” You tried but got no reaction, not even when Rawlins leaned in with what looked like an ice pick in his hand.

“Frank!” You yelled, using every square inch of air in your lungs as Billy dragged you towards the computers.

You watched as Frank got his revenge, beating on Rawlins before shoving his thumbs into the man’s eye sockets. It was a grotesque scene but well warranted, all things considered.

You fought out of Billy’s hold and stumbled down the short stairs, making your way to Frank’s side. The two exchanged comments as you fell to your hands and knees beside your friend. You were reaching for the gauze at your belt when you heard the Homeland announcement. Your intent shifted to the borrowed gun and you lifted it as Billy aimed his gun at Frank.

You fired without hesitation and grazed his hand. You didn’t pay attention to where he went. Instead you dropped the gun and focused on Frank. David was quick to get to the ground beside you and Dinah stood a few feet away in quiet shock.

“Dammit, Dinah.” You said sharply. “Help me. Help him!” You began shouting. “He did all of this for your goddamn justice and all you can do is stand there!”

“Put your hands up!” An agent yelled but you ignored him, staring daggers at Dinah while you were holding Frank’s hand. You knew you were projecting your desperation, the need for him to survive, but you didn’t know how it came across to him.

“Hands up, now!” He yelled again and you felt the rifle at the base of your skull.

“Jesus Christ, Madani, do something!” David shouted.

“Если нет, ваши люди снова умрут.” You warned lowly. (If not, your men will die, again.)

[landfilloftrash]

May I ask for more of your ShinKaru headcanons please? 😀🙏 or even about Manfred, do you have any HC about his wife?

Not gonna lie with you Chief, it took me longer than it probably should’ve to realize that you were using “Karuma” for the second half of the ship name lmaooo (very jovial)

But headcanons for Gregory and Manfred!!! I have those in spades! I won't go into tooooo much detail because we'll be here all day but I can give you some I sent to my partner! But as always I must preface; this is mostly based on vibes, certain lines I cannot quote off the top of my head, and fanfic-- because both characters and their backstories have not been TOUCHED let me see how they GOT HERE

Anyways /lh

In actual canon, my guess is that they met for the first time during the IS-7 incident. More specifically, the first time they’ve actually TALKED.

However, this alone is boring; So I imagine they’ve seen glances of one another in the courtroom. On Gregory’s end, he has seen von Karma in passing, fresh from the courtroom, going into battle, or going over something in the lobby and scowling, given a polite nod to the man or a nice tip of his hat if he was wearing it and mostly classified MvK as “older gentleman with nice taste in clothing.” if he ever sees him again.

MvK on the other hand might have heard of Gregory in passing? Extremely good defense attorney who regularly beats prosecutors; that’s not saying he’s perfect, that would catch the older man’s attention after all, but MvK has probably heard of him and his Justice filled ways and gone “bah. these fools don’t know how to prosecute that’s all, and he’s a naive fool.” If SEEING him without first noticing his badge, might politely nod back or huff a breath in lieu of greeting. If seeing his badge, 100% a nearly uncontrolled sneer. A mere defense attorney. A bug to crush.

And if later down the line Gregory wants to be that cool bug that Manfred studies closer and finds interesting, that’s his own damn business, thank you very much /lh

The only way I see them happening would be if Manfred's wife was either divorced or dead; He brags about his wife's cooking in a contest about baking that man is a wifeguy fo sho

Anyways

They are court rivals!

They match each other blow for blow, which means whatever Manfred’s brand of insane is that trial, Gregory is ready to go with it and turn the tide, and even if he doesn’t win (perfect win streak), the crowd goes away with a sense of “wow. Von Karma was really on the ropes a couple of times.” and Manfred HATES IT. Not the crowd’s whispers— but now people know there’s someone who can actually MATCH his damn insanity and that riles him up to the point of bloodthirsting lust

Gregory ALSO hates it but for a different reason; he's fighting for his gawddamn life with these cases, doing his best as a defense and usually coming so so close but missing just that little something, and von Karma wins.

But he’s stubborn. He will get people their Justice, and he WILL literally die trying so help him gods. That stubbornness extends to von Karma; he WILL win against this man one day, and he’s tenacious and firm, so one day, it WILL happen.

On other hand.. he’s also interested in the amused expressions and sometimes even delighted smile that pops up on extremely brief and rare one second occasions when Gregory pulls a trap of his own or turns von Karma’s trap around; It’s a predator amused that his prey thinks it can win, but playing along and once again trapping the poor creature, but he can’t deny that the expressions make him pause for a moment. Von Karma is very intrigued as he is incredulous about Edgeworth; the fact he only smiles when cornered, so deadly serious and matching fire with fire, a little bit of a nerd! What is this man and why is he so amused by him? He's gonna have an aneurysm

Outside of the courtroom, there’s not much interaction. But… on occasion, they will cross paths while investigating, and almost make a game of it.

They’ll bicker, snip at each other, get close to violence on a couple cases, occasionally even laugh at a stupid/funny comment the other made, quip and quote back and forth like their lives depend on it and should they fail they’ll disintegrate.

Most detectives, especially Badd, the one they most regularly have to deal with, have caught onto this and stay the FUCK out of their way; no matter if von Karma demands they don’t let Gregory onto the scene, they find out later he snuck past them and is up to his thighs in a mystery he’s two thirds of the way figured out

Meanwhile von Karma is already ‘hiding’ witness testimonies and figuring out what he might need to smudge to keep the 'innocents' safe and the 'culprits' put away. While this is a tried and true tactic, and a very welcome one, if he can get away with not doing those things, he prefers it.

Gregory on the other hand, has a notebook for every case he’s been on with MvK as the prosecutor because every time they go against each other he needs to write down every thought that comes to mind in regards to the case. In other cases not against Manfred, he’s decimated the prosecutions arguments before they get off the ground thanks to having to deal with the god of prosecution. But he goes over these notebooks and regularly writes new theories and ideas on what might’ve actually happened, or if he came across the truth and was unable to prove it, circles it, and when they're all actually solved, he closes that notebook permanently.

On the extremely rare occasion that they have NO culprit, but there’s a crime they’ve been assigned to, they have tossed theories at one another, simple to try and one up each other of course. But it’s a different kind of race and game. It’s slower, much more careful.

Manfred once couldn't get to a crime scene up on a hill because it was a terrible pain day and Gregory said nothing about it as he supported Manfred’s almost full weight and let him recover before they actually approached the police and the scene. They never bring it up again and Manfred hates the fact that it even happened, but Gregory soon after finds a small gift basket and a note that says “tell no one. they will never believe you.” and Edgeworth keeps the note.

Gregory is a very calm and chill man, but he has on multiple occasions yelled in true anger at Manfred for certain topics, and Manfred purposefully doesn’t bring those topics up again unless truly relevant, which is almost never.

Manfred absolutely hates Gregory the way you hate a dog. Gregory hates Manfred the way you hate a season.

That's where I'll leave those for now lmao-- but now. Ouuuh. Headcanons about Manfred's wife, huh? She's not so closely my department in headcanons/personal canons like my buddy @.nwdolphin is! But if I were pressed...

May perhaps not be a perfectionist like her husband, but probably strives for it in a way that Manfred saw, appreciated, and partially married her for

I'm not quite sure on ethnicity or name-- depends on if they met in Germany or Japanifornia, and even then it's a mixed bag either way-- but definitely not "noble birth" or whatever if going on with MvK's edwardian outfits /aff Just a normal person from a normal Ace Attorney universe family, so of course her name is a pun/irony.

That being said-- Business woman though. Possibly a CEO of some kind? Possibly just a simple worker. Either way, she commands attention

Softer face for Franziska? She's who it came from!

Like I said earlier in the post; Manfred brags about her cooking! Wifeguy for sure. Her cooking may not be "perfect" but it's made with a genuine effort and a love of the task/people it's made for, so it's perfect to him, goddamnit all, and he will stand by this until he dies

This is all not to say that she's perfectly fine with her husband's bullshit; she calls him out when he gets too Into It

Definitely challenges her husband in more than one way-- whether it be verbally, mentally, or maybe even physically in a sparring match when they were younger and Manfred's leg didn't act out as much!

Manfred fr wouldn't have it any other way; he strikes me as the kind of guy who would decay rapidly without a proper challenge in some way or another (enrichment for the caged tiger in his enclosure please)

I could definitely see her being the one that completely and utterly endorse her youngest daughter wielding a riding crop as little more than two so even she could defend herself

Both of them were definitely so proud of her

Of course her eldest also got a weapon (<- the one who gave them their weapons) who do you think she is

Their granddaughter is named after her, methinks; the eldest keeps in contact enough for Manfred to know her dog's name is Phoenix (whether or not he was simply bluffing on this is irrelevant, I'm taking it and running with it /lh) and even if it isn't, he still knows his granddaughter has a dog who she very much adores.

I think around the time she left his life (death, divorced, missing, etc.) is around the time he truly started to lose the way of how he wants Perfect Justice and instead started to perfectly embody everything wrong with the Law

[kuralkara]

Whumperless Whump Event- Day 19

Tending to Injuries/ Domestic hurt-comfort/ “Let’s check the bandages, okay?”

Robots Beloved. Again, torn from a concept for New Blood, Old Sorrows (link to Ao3 will be applied soon. For those of you who don’t want to go to Ao3, here’s the context. Spoilers:

Reader is a non-human/other of unknown/mixed origin who was turned Cybertronian, ends up courting/being courted by Soundwave both before and after. This is after Soundwave manages to get you back onto the ship after fleeing the lab where the transition happened.

You didn’t wake alone, thankfully. 

A face was pressed between your wings; arms holding you snug. Data cables were coiled protectively around more than a few of your limbs, feelers spread out and tracing the mesh wounds even as he slept. 

You didn’t actually know where you were, admittedly. The room did look like something Soundwave would live in, though: a large desk with a work interface and console took up pretty much the entirety of one wall. The wall without the bed pressed up to it was covered in shelves, covered in various data pads and potted plants that thrived in the near pitch black. The rest of the wall where the bed was held more planters; two hanging, another couple larger ones sitting on the floor. Your mind couldn’t find a proper equivalent of plants you were familiar with to place the few you could sit. 

Was that one a succulent ish? Maybe? You didn’t know. You wouldn’t be able to investigate without waking Soundwave up, and going off the grip he had on your armor, that was not happening any time soon.

You couldn’t really bring yourself to mind, though. Your partner of choice was- much like yourself- the type to gladly skip on personal care in favor of efficiency. For better. And worse. Mostly worse in your case, as your nagging frame with too many complaints felt the need to ping you about every couple seconds. Anomalies in sensory suites. System processing errors. Potential neural circuitry malfunctions and defects. Fun things. None of which made sense to you yet.

But for some stupid reason, you couldn’t just flat out ignore them anymore. They flooded your sight and made that stupid little not there sound that kept you awake, even if you wanted to just press yourself lower into the sheets and go back to sleep for the next couple decades. So instead, you shifted a little back. 

Claws lessening their grip slightly was something someone could do while unconscious. What no one could do while unconscious, however, was adjust your body with data cables so that your damaged leg was properly supported still, arms adjusting on your sides as he went. You rolled your head back, reaching a stubbornly heavy arm up. It made contact with a mandible crest, and you gladly pulled him closer. “How long was I out for?” you asked. No static. That had to be a win, right? Maybe? 

Soundwave didn’t answer for a moment, very still under your grip. Then he moved. Out from behind you so that your top was where he was laying, and hovering over you. Sort of caging you between his frame, his limbs, and the bedding. If your body wasn’t screaming fifteen million things at you all at once, you might have assumed the situation to be mildly compromising: between the tentacles and the good two to three meters of height he had to you? 

And then he kind of… slumped. Once he was done examining your face for whatever it was he was looking for, his shoulders drooped, and he bent down to bump his visor against your forehead. “Let me check the bandages?” he eventually asked. You hadn’t known there were bandages. You pushed yourself upright, using his shoulders to steady yourself until you had your (barely) still working leg off the bed, and the bad one still propped up. 

“I don’t see why not,” you managed through grit denta. It hurt. No wonder he didn’t want you moving it. An ache like a bad thumb sprain, but covering your entire right leg, from your ankle to just above your right hip. Bleeding a little into a stabbing sensation the closer it got to your pelvis and low back. 

Soundwave made an odd chirping sound, before shuffling a little further back. The cables were back, feelers barely ghosting the battered metal as he traced knuckles down what you now knew were apparently bandages. They felt more like staples with how they were situated and kept in place. It took a moment to tear your gaze away from him, but when you did, your optics landed immediately back onto the plants. 

One of them was definitely succulent shaped. You thought the proper word for that particular style of succulent was lotus but you weren’t entirely sure. It had a lot of leaves, and they were short and very closely clumped together. Sort of pinched looking at the point; there was a slight dip in the middle of the leaves you could see that reflected the barely there light like there was no tomorrow. Maybe it was a carving. Organic or not, you weren’t sure plants did that.

"How long have you kept plants?" you eventually asked. It was easier than letting your pain consume you.

"Couple millennia," he hummed, not in his voice. You snuck a glance to the black visor. You didn't think you were imagining the ghost outline of yellow-ish optics glancing up at you. "Felt strange not having anything - it fills the space - gives me a - mighty fine distraction - when - the war gets slow."

You thought about that. Deep space would make the war slow; so would, you know, being stuck on a world with a species with wildly mixed reactions to aliens. You supposed you were a testament to that now. "You should tell me about how to care for them," you stated, simple and quiet. "Give me something to do while recovering."

He tilted his helm. The connective feelers of the data cables pulled back as they twitched for a moment, before relaxing and returning to the injuries they were addressing. You forced yourself to not stare at the jagged tears in the metal, or the weeping blue soft metal under the armature. "When I'm done," he answered, just as soft. "I will show you. Not much in variety - but enough - to prevent diseases."

Your lips twitched a smile as he continued talking. You had missed him.

@whumperless-whump-event

[mariacallous]

When access to reproductive health care is threatened in the United States, a growing number of women stock up on abortion medications to keep on hand in case they need the pills in the future, new research shows.

A study analyzed 48,404 requests for “advance provision” abortion medications made to Aid Access, an Austria-based nonprofit offering telehealth abortion services in the US, between the beginning of September 2021 and the end of April 2023.

Most doctors in the US do not let patients order abortion pills before they’re pregnant. “It’s definitely something that’s never been standard practice here,” says Abigail Aiken, the principal investigator of the Self-Managed Abortion Needs Project (Project SANA) at the University of Texas at Austin, who led the study. In recent years, though, interest in “advance provision” has been on the rise, with a limited number of telehealth services giving patients the option to prepare in case abortion access is curtailed in their area.

Aiken’s study shows that demand for abortion pills made by women who weren’t yet pregnant spiked during events when reproductive health care access appeared under threat. This matters, because in 2024, the US will face its next big test for reproductive freedoms, when the US Supreme Court hears a case challenging access to mifepristone, one of the two drugs typically used in a medication abortion. If the court sides with the anti-abortion activists who brought the case against the US Food and Drug Administration, medication abortion access may be in jeopardy nationwide. With this potentially hazardous change on the horizon, it’s likely that even more people will start stocking up.

According to Aiken’s findings, requests were at their highest immediately following the Dobbs decision leak in May 2022, which signaled that Roe v. Wade would be overturned. From a baseline of around 24.8 requests a day, Aid Access saw an influx of 247.3 requests per day following the Dobbs leak. After this rush, requests jumped again after the Dobbs decision was finalized, averaging 89.1 per day. Most recently, requests rose once again, following conflicting court decisions in April 2023 regarding access to mifepristone, one of the two drugs commonly offered in the abortion pill protocol. Aid Access received an average of 172.1 per day.

“This is a way of taking back some control,” Aiken says. “Of being in control of your own reproductive destiny.”

One striking finding from this new research breaks down the type of people who are able to take advantage of advance provision. Compared with patients who request abortion pills for immediate use, patients who purchase abortion pills in case they become pregnant in the future tend to be significantly older, to live in low-poverty regions, and to not have any other children. They also tend, overwhelmingly, to be Caucasian. White women make up 70 percent of Aid Access' advance provision requests, compared to 39 percent of requests for abortion pills for immediate use.

This access gap demonstrates that there’s a need for more outreach, to ensure everyone who might need this medication can get ahold of it. “The potential of advance provision is amazing,” says Dana Northcraft, the founding director of the Reproductive Health Initiative for Telehealth Equity and Solutions. But she sees it as a limited tool right now. “It’s not going to be a panacea. I don’t think it will reach those who most need care, especially people of color and people struggling to make ends meet.”

“We can’t say for sure what these demographic differences are telling us, but one possibility is that there are barriers to advance provision for certain groups, including financial barriers,” Aiken says. One issue that will need to be addressed is cost. While services like Aid Access offer sliding scale options for people who are financially struggling, paying for medication that isn’t an immediate necessity can be harder to justify for people with limited resources. “If it’s between getting pills and paying rent—which we know it is for a lot of people—you might say yes if you need the pills right away, but it’s a different calculus for advance provision.”

These findings suggest that people who might greatly benefit from access to advance provision aren’t able to access the services, but this does not mean they don’t want the services. “We find that the people most interested and supportive of advance provision of medication abortion are those who face barriers accessing reproductive health care,” says Antonia Biggs, a social psychologist at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), a research program based at the University of California, San Francisco. “Thus, as barriers to care increase, as they are in the current policy context, we anticipate demand for advance provision to grow.”

[leighsartworks216]

We’ll Be Okay

Phoenix Wright (disbarred) x gn!reader (can possibly be read as platonic)

I wrote this out on my phone really quickly with like no proofreading or editing. I don’t think it’s great, but I like the idea I was trying to get across

Also this may not align with the timeline or actual canon events of the games. Spoilers for AA4

Warnings: living paycheck to paycheck, depression, references to alcoholism, hurt/comfort, fluff, light angst

Word Count: 950

Masterlist

AO3

Ever since you were little, you and Phoenix were thick as thieves. You joined his little friend group, earning a limited-edition green Signal Samurai for yourself in the process. And even though you all got older, drifted apart, and built lives for yourselves, the bond you shared never really died out.

In the end, Larry was the only one who didn't get a job in law (not that he could carry a job for longer than a week). Miles drifted apart the most and earned the title of Demon Prosecutor, with nasty rumors to follow. Phoenix was determined to close that distance, and became an attorney, willing to face Miles in court, no matter what. And you found yourself stuck in the middle, working as a detective for Criminal Affairs.

Things came back together, after so long. Phoenix saved Miles, Miles learned how to stop pushing everyone away, Larry, well, was still Larry. The Signal Samurai were reunited!

But it was short lived. Everything, all the hard work put in, came crashing down. Phoenix lost his badge. He lost his hope. He lost everything.

He pushed you all away. Even Larry couldn't get near enough.

You could still vividly remember one day, shortly after it happened, when you stopped by Miles' office to drop off information about a case. It was silent. You just looked at each other, forlorn. It felt like there was nothing you could do.

That same day, you refused to give up.

At first, all you did was drop by and slip an envelope of cash through the mail slot. You didn't know if he ever used it, but he had no income, no way of supporting himself. It felt like the best thing to do at the time.

Then, through some less-than-legal means, you got into his apartment. He was laying on his bed, surrounded by too-many bottles of grape juice, and basting in his own stench. He was too tired to yell, or cuss you out. He was basically a rag doll in your arms as you forced him into a bath and washed all his sheets.

He cried when he came out of the bathroom. You held him. Nothing was said. A week later, you moved in.

After that, for the past seven years, you worked alongside Trucy to keep Phoenix and his daughter afloat. Your paycheck went toward rent, mostly, while Trucy's went toward food. It wasn't glamorous. There were days you would wake up next to Phoenix, and the world felt so heavy. The sheets suffocated you, the sun burned you, and all you could do was drown under the weight of life.

On those days, Phoenix refused to give up on you. He forced you into a bath, made sure you ate something, drank something with some water content that wasn't alcohol, sat by you and provided a shoulder to lean on. If you still hadn't given up on him after seven long years of turmoil, he wouldn't abandon you either.

Once Apollo joined the "Wright Anything Agency", things felt easier. Maybe nothing changed. Maybe you were all still living paycheck to paycheck. But it felt better, somehow. It felt like things were beginning to actually be okay again.

Apollo and Trucy were out, investigating a crime scene and interviewing witnesses. You should have been out there, too, helping Ema catalog evidence or being pelted with Snackoos. But when you woke up that morning, and the world felt too heavy to bear, Phoenix called you in sick and stayed with you.

Admittedly, you felt guilty. You knew he was working on something big (he wouldn't tell you what), but whenever you told him he could leave and get back to his "secret mission", he just smirked in that all-knowing way.

"I'm not allowed to take a day off with my partner?" he asked. It had a subtle lilt to it that gave away that he was teasing.

You were laying along the couch, head in his lap, with some sort of Steel Samurai spinoff episode playing on the tv, buried under all of Trucy's magic items. Light from the window lit up the room, casting beams of warmth along his stubbly chin. You reached up and playfully pushed his head away. He chuckled.

"No," you retorted, "you're not. Not when we live like we do."

Grey eyes settled back on you, filled with affection and mirth. He didn't say anything for a minute. Even so, you could tell he was studying you, trying to decide what he should say.

One of his arms that had been resting along the back of the couch fell in favor of running a hand through your hair. His fingers scratched lightly at your scalp, massaging at the base of your neck. You couldn't help it; you melted into his touch immediately. Your eyes fell closed, breaths evening out, anxieties melting away with each second.

"We'll be okay," he finally said, voice quiet, like it was a secret only you could know about. Warm air brushed across your cheeks and rough, picked-at lips pressed against your forehead. The sun's rays were blocked momentarily. “We’ll be okay.”

You turned, pressing your face into his stomach. The teeth of the zipper were cold against your nose, providing no softness, but you ignored it. Laying like this was too comfortable, and comforting. He tugged a blanket off the back of the couch and draped it haphazardly over your body, tucking it in around your shoulders before returning to petting your hair.

"I know." Your shoulders relaxed with the admission, as if saying it out loud had lifted some of the burden. "I know we will be."