#War Woman

[kittymeowmrow]

“You have a lot to learn about men” “no interest” I KNOW WHAT YOU AARRREEEE

[flipjack]

Invincible Season 2 November 3!

There's a special episode Atom Eve origin story out now. Gillian Jacobs isn't in it, but Lauren Cohan and Tatiana Maslany are!

[mishibashimori]

Two Of Us || Cecil Stedman x Reader || Chapter 7

Synopsis: You are an alien who crash landed onto Earth. You have no name, and no more home to go back to. The Guardians of the Globe have rescued you and brought you to get intensive care under the great Cecil Stedman. In helping out your new home, Earth, will you develop a relationship with the coldest man you know?

General Info: AFAB Gender Neutral Reader, Cecil is Younger in the Beginning and it Will Lead to Current Events, Reader is a Bubbly Optimist, Reader Description is Intentionally Vague so You can Imagine the Alien Species They Are However You’d Like

TW: Verbal and Physical Past Abuse, Failed Pregnancy Mentions, Depression, Self Depreciation, Eventual Sexual Content

Specific Chapter TW: PTSD Panic Attack

———————————

The hospital wing of the GDA was alight with chatter. You had gotten the news only a few minutes ago that Alana had awoken, and you spent no time racing to her hospital room. Holly of course was also there, beaming with joy as she peppered her girlfriend’s face with kisses. Alana had been out of commission for a week due to her injuries. It was a lot better than the alternative, death, if you hadn't intervened and taken some of the damage onto yourself. Your wounds had healed just fine, almost as soon as the next day, and you would’ve done it a million times over to help her.

“We’re so happy to have you back,” Holly said to Alana, absolutely delighted, “we’ve missed you.”

“I’m happy to be back.” Alana gave her a kiss on the nose and turned to you. “I’ve been dying to see everyone again, literally. What did I miss?”

“Not too much, don’t worry.” You assured her. “But I bet you must be starving. Want me to grab you both something?”

“That would be great!” Alana exclaimed, sitting straight up in her bed. “The cafeteria has some bunny chow that’s to die for. It’s something my mom used to make all the time, and it sounds delicious right now.”

“I’ll take the same, thank you.” Holly smiled at you.

“On it!” You stood and headed out, happy to be doing something to help. Winding down the halls, you eventually came upon the cafeteria, ordered, and sat to wait.

It had been a few days since your last conversation with Cecil. You’d seen each other every now and then and said hello, but that was it. Despite your emotions you forced yourself to be patient on the matter. It couldn’t be easy for him to make this decision, and rushing him wouldn’t help matters either. So, you waited, distracting yourself with Earth television and puzzles; that really seemed to be all the entertainment they had available here. With Alana now awake though, you didn’t feel half as lonely anymore. Training with your friends, The Guardians of the Globe, helped too.

“You know that isn’t free, right?” You almost leaped out of your skin as Cecil’s voice sounded next to you.

“Sheesh! Do you ever make a noise?” You chided him lightly, a slight laugh to your voice. “And, wait, what do you mean?”

Cecil nodded towards the cafeteria. “Did you think the food was free here? It’s been going on my tab.” He smirked at you, the amusement in his eyes betraying his jokingly annoyed tone.

“No way,” you gawked at him, feeling stupid, “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t think too much about it.”

Cecil shrugged, taking a seat next to you. “It’s fine. Not like we’re paying you at the moment anyway.” There was a brief lapse in silence as you two sat together. It had been a while since you’d spoken at length.

You glanced at him. “I’ve been thinking about something.” He glanced back at you, quirking his eyebrow in question. “When I first got here, you said you didn’t know much about my planet, yet you knew the flower my people give to the sick.”

Cecil looked down at his lap, chuckling to himself. “After you arrived we sent some satellites to uh, ‘freshen up our knowledge’ on your species.” He scratched his chin. “I was curious as to how you knew English, yet you’d never been in contact with Earth. Didn’t know a species could have a part of their brain for translation.”

Your eyes widened in surprise. “You learned all that from some satellites?”

“Science is amazing.” He snorted, looking back up at you. “But we learned the last bit from your brain scans. The satellites just picked up random strings of information. We always knew of your planet, just… never had a reason to interact until now.”

“I see.” You responded simply, impressed yet slightly disturbed. “You humans are thorough.”

“Just me.” He turned to look down the hallway that led to the hospital rooms. “I hear Alana’s awake, that’s good. The team’s not the same without her.” He turned back to you. “What do you think, by the way? About joining the Guardians. You’re keeping up well, and you definitely have the skills.”

Your cheeks burned at the sudden compliment. “Oh—uh, I like it.” Then you gave a slight tilt of your head, thinking harder. “But I don’t know. It’s terrifying to think about saving people. I’m happy to help, and I love the team but…” you trailed off, looking down.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, you still have time to make a decision. And I get it, believe me, it is a scary thing.” Cecil nudged your shoulder with his. “You’ll always have a home here, whatever you choose.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been so nice to me,” you blurted out. It had been on your mind since you arrived here, and while you didn’t mean to bring it up so abruptly, you couldn’t hold it in anymore. It puzzled you as to why this man- let alone this planet, would help you to this extent. To question it seemed to be looking a gift horse in the mouth, but the nagging in your brain burst through. “It scared me at first. I thought maybe it came with a price. It was hard for me to believe that people really- well, cared.”

“From what you’ve told me, I can understand why you’d think that. And I don’t want to lie to you, at first my intentions weren’t… something you might approve of.” Cecil leaned back in his chair. “Fix up an alien who might have useful abilities, and have them join the Guardians. Or just have you help on your own. I feel guilty about it now that I’ve gotten to know you, but my job, the world, came first. If I had an asset in my debt, it could mean saving lives.” He cast his eyes down guiltily, unable to look at you. “That’s why I didn’t want to get any closer to you, I felt horrible.”

You swallowed hard, anger flickering to life in your chest. His words were like a knife to the heart. “I was wrong about you.” You murmured in disbelief. “I’m so stupid.” Part of you knew it was ridiculous to have convinced yourself of anything else. Of course that was the goal. You were a stranger to this world, why else would they help you? This world had no obligation to you, and yet it hurt so bad when it was said aloud.

Cecil’s head snapped toward you, true panic etching his features. “I don’t— I don’t think that way anymore. I would never— I wouldn’t of forced you to-”

“How dare you!” You snarled, bolting up from your seat. Flashes of your past raced through your mind, an uncontrollable hurricane of hurt and trauma wiping away anything but fury. “I trusted you, and you wanted to use me?”

“No!” Cecil also stood, gently reaching his hand towards you. You shoved it away, tears starting to stream down your flushed face.

“You told me I’m not an object, you told me that!” Your voice was raising by the word, now a shout. An uncontrollable tremor shook through you. It felt awful to yell, and your mind was screaming for you to stop, but spite and a rising anxiety spurred you on.

“And I meant it, every word.” Cecil talked softly, but his voice trembled. “I wouldn’t dream of using any of that against you. That wasn't what I wanted to do, I swear. The more I learned about you, the more I couldn’t stop thinking about you. In-in a good way- ugh, this sounds terrible.” He rubbed his forehead, looking frustrated with himself. “If I’d known about your past from the start I wouldn’t have even thought that way. It was wrong, and I’m so sorry.” His distraught eyes searched yours. “I didn’t want to hurt you, I would never want to hurt you.”

Taking deep breaths, you tried to calm yourself. Your thoughts were still raging with painful memories, the hurt in your chest throbbing hotly, but you forced yourself to think straight. “You really mean that?”

“Of course.” He took a small step towards you. “Thinking about not having you in my life; it tore me up to no end. As hard as I’ve made it to believe, I just- I really like you.” He cringed to himself. “I’m horrible with words- I’m sorry, that sounded like a highschool confession. What I’m trying to say is: you make me feel normal, like a person with no responsibilities. When I’m with you it feels like—like all I have to do is just enjoy being alive.”

All you could do was stare in silence for a while. Conflicting feelings warred through you. This normally cold, steely man looked utterly heartbroken at the thought of hurting you. In the time you’d known Cecil, it wasn’t hard to figure out that the man had a guard. You had seen brief, genuine glimpses into him and relished every moment, but now was more than just a mere glimpse. His features were soft, his posture as harmless and open as he could manage. It was a first to see him this way, and it was because he was truly worried about you.

The previous years of being imprisoned were not easy to erase, to say the least. Your captor wouldn’t hit you per say, but directed his savagery to your brother. He knew you’d heal the poor young boy, so he maliciously manipulated you into transferring the wounds to yourself. It wasn’t something you wanted to talk about at length, at least not now. You’d told Cecil a little but the details seemed too hard to choke out. It seemed silly to think, as it was a horrendous thing for anyone to go through, but you didn’t know how much it had really, truly affected you until now. Sadness radiated through you; had you really become so broken? Had your captor stolen away your trust?

Cecil cast his gaze downward, breathing in deeply. “You have every right to hate me. I hate me too. It was out of line.” You stepped closer, hesitating for only a moment before slowly encircling your arms around him. His back stiffened at first, unsure of your touch, then he wrapped you up tightly. The anger in your body melted away.

“I believe you, and I forgive you.” You mumbled into his chest, relaxing against him. “I’m sorry. Just— so much of the pain in my past centers around being controlled and used. I’ve never come to terms with the trauma that was caused.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” He rubbed your head tenderly. Suddenly his eyes flicked past you, and his expression shifted. Confused, you followed his gaze and found a gaggle of cafeteria workers gaping at the two of you. Suddenly sheepish, you broke away from Cecil and shuffled towards the counter, grabbing the food and thanking them before slipping into a secluded part of the far hallway, out of sight.

Cecil joined you a second later. “Don’t worry about them. I’ll have a word.” He motioned for you to start walking, to which he joined next to you. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. I’ll make some time for us to talk properly, without anyone staring at us.”

“You’re busy, I understand.” You looked to the side, feeling a bit awkward. “I’m-I’m sorry for yelling, really. I should’ve handled that better.”

“You had an appropriate reaction to someone telling you ‘I was going to indebt you to me secretly’, I think.” Cecil responded, to which you have an uncomfortable chuckle. There was a silence for a moment before he continued. “I will do things to protect this planet that you might not like. I need you to know that. If we want to continue our relationship that’s… something that will need to be addressed.”

“We’ll talk about it.” You responded. “There are things I need you to know as well. And, um, do you offer therapy here, by chance?”

“Of course.” Cecil shoved his hands in his pockets. “If that’s something you’d like to start, we can make that happen. And don’t worry, our psychiatric medicine is some of the best, and trained to deal with more unnatural situations. They provide services to heros, after all.”

“Thank you.” You gave him a smile. “I think it would be great to get some of this off my chest. And learn how to handle it better.”

“I’ve had to do some in my time here, for sure.” Cecil gave you a sidelong glance. “It’s nothing to be ashamed about. I’m proud of you for taking that step. It’s a hard one.”

“Thank you, Cecil.” You both had come to Alana’s room.

Stopping outside the door, Cecil turned to you. “Here.” He placed a square device on the tray of food in your hands. “This is a phone, it’ll allow us to get in contact easier. It’s not the fanciest thing but it’ll do the trick.” He nodded towards the room containing Holly and Alana. “They can teach you to use it, it’s not too hard. I’ll be in touch, rookie.”

In a blazing flash of light Cecil vanished through his teleporter. At first it had startled you, but you’d gotten used to the bright assault to your eyes. You opened the door in front of you and stepped into the room, the smiling faces of Alana and Holly greeting you. “Hey!” You blurted out. “I’m going to therapy!”

——————

Author’s Note:

Hello everyone! I wanted to clarify that the reader of this story has a lot of emotional and mental stuff to heal, so the reader often thinks in a self depreciative way. Everyone deserves to love themselves and I do not want anyone to think that you deserve less or are “broken” because you are traumatized. I have PTSD myself, and I hope I wrote it in a way that can explain that it’s not always easy to think highly of yourself or express your emotions when you’ve been traumatized. I am indeed having the reader go into therapy to learn how to heal from these past traumas. Therapy is great and I really suggest everyone go into therapy, even if you’re not mentally ill. It’s a benefit to everyone!

Disclaimer:

I try to be as accurate as possible to the source material for this fan fiction, but at times I’ll get it wrong. The timelines for the Guardians of the Globe as well as Cecil are not as accurate as they should be but for the sake of wanting to have all the characters in here I fudged it. Just know that I understand not everything is accurate but let’s just try to have a good time regardless!

[superheroes-or-whatever]

War Woman in Invincible

[sithvampiremaster27]

March of the Other Guys II 07: War Woman

[mandareeboo]

So this has really been Nolan's main job during his vaca on Earth? Kick some asses, occasionally stop falling debris before it's too late, and just generally be background noise? He just kept himself lowkey until it was time to go ham?

[wonderbutch]

war woman would beat wonder woman because she gets to be in a canon on-page lesbian relationship

[lucaslightbulb]

i love that invincible is just full of knock offs

like knock off batman? darkwing.

knock off wonder woman? war woman.

knock off new york? chicago!

[becuzmdsaidineededpersonality]

Invincible #7

War Woman Sequence, Guardians of the Globe

31 December 2003

[bifairywife]

(ready to read at Ao3) of burnt candles and bruised hearts

Relationships: Mark Grayson & Debbie Grayson, Mark Grayson & Nolan Grayson, Mark Grayson & The Guardians of the Globe

Minor Mentions of: Amber, Eve, William, and my OC

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Summary:

The four birthdays Mark will always remember. And one he wishes he could forget.

Side note: If you hc that the prev gotg members were mark's aunts and uncles, do i have the fic for you ;3

Author’s highlight (author’s favorite part/ part they liked writing the most or found most entertaining):

Third to greet him was the War Woman. Now with her, Mark gawked in admiration. He only recognized her after she put her glasses on and it clicked in Mark who she was. So used to seeing her in business attire almost every time he interacted with her, it was a whole new light seeing the tall woman in armor. When Holly taught him how to braid hair and allowed him to practice on her, he had an eerie feeling that she reminded him of someone popular, and now, he understands why. A woman in a grey dress and black blazer next to Holly approached them. Holly introduced the woman to Mark as her wife, Connie. Connie teased Mark as she playfully pinched his cheek, “Welcome to the inner circle.”

Unable to wait any longer, before Holly could lend Mark her mace, Red Rush speeded to them. Mark can recognize his Uncle Josef’s voice anywhere. The birthday boy grinned at the speedster clad in crimson, pointing out that his red shades were cool. Josef laughed at his nephew’s sudden bashfulness now that he knew about his aunts and uncles’ hero identities.

[adidegmez]

invincible s1&2 spoilers

i'm starting to watch invincible for the first time and i wanted to write here.

i like the art style. and i thought episodes would be 20 minutes or something this is so much better.

s1 spoilers

s1 ep1(it's about time)

wow. ep was good i liked mark. but the end wow! i didnt see that coming. I saw Omni Man doing bad things before watching the series, but I didn't think it would happen this early. I liked the guardians. Why did he kill them?

s1 ep2(here goes nothing)

i like teen team. and eve. is omni-man lying? i think so. or did something else really happen? i think omni-man wants earth just for himself. and I didn't expect this much blood, at least not this early.

s1 ep3(who you calling ugly?)

guardians of the globe look a lot like the Justice League. mark would probably be better with eve. she'll understand him. but i like amber too. robot!? why?

s1 ep4(neil armstrong, eat your heart out)

yes, something is wrong with nolan. he is not truly a hero. If Superman or Spider-Man were in his place, they wouldn't be able to just stand by while the city is under attack. omni-man scares me. i dont know what comes next.

s1 ep5(that actually hurt)

omni-man let his son die. well, he is not dead but still he didnt save him. What was he thinking? i thought heroes were dead. im glad theyre still alive. and titan! He fooled invinvible.

s1 ep6(you look kinda dead)

its nice to see mark smile. i hope it can last, probably wont but still. whats robot doing? im glad william learned about invincible but amber should learn too. i really dont understand why omni-man killed the guardians. whats with the white house guy and his son we'll see i guess. eve is happy thats nice but mark… heroes cant have a normal relationship i guess.

s1 ep7(we need to talk)

I don't understand why omni-man killed the guardians. I can not understand. Why did he do it?

s1 ep8(where i really come from)

i thought Nolan was lying about his planet and its people. But judging by the name of this episode, Omni-Man may not be from Viltrum. we'll see. I liked that the logo became more bloody as the story progressed. Where is the invading alien? I think we will see it in season 2. this was so good. there are so much things to see in s2. i love mark. he changed his father and maybe in the future omni-man would help save the World because of his son. No one who knew Nolan believed he could do such a thing.

s2 spoilers

s2 ep1(a lesson for your next life)

This must be a different universe or another timeline or a dream. Mark doesn't do this. Someone must be controlling his mind. wasn't donald dead? it was a different dimension. and a villain is born. Mark already has a lot to take care of. now this!

s2 ep2(in about six hours i lose my virginity to a fish)

I hope mark and amber can make it work. The logo is starting to return to its old self. Does this indicate that things will get better? But this can't be, there are so many things, I don't know how it will turn into good?

s2 ep3(this missive, this machination!)

why? Why do they give up what they love for other people? I don't understand. In the TV series or movies I watch, most of the time, nerds compromise on the things they love to be normal. But I love them the way they are and I think they need to find nerds like themselves and live without compromising what they love. i dont know i just feel bad for the collection😅. who tells the story? i like allen. How is he still alive? I knew something was wrong with Thaedus. is allen dead now? seeing debbie, listening her stories makes me sad. nolan was a good dad and a good husband. and now he is gone. amber understands mark this is good. William helps mark. mark has amber eve William and debbie has no one. omni-man! i didnt think he would be back this early.

s2 ep4(it's been a while)

Nolan confuses me. I think he really liked Debbie and Mark. imo he is confused too. Debbie changed him. Maybe it would have been different if he wasn't a Viltrumite. He saved the aliens. He was doing heroism for his duty on Earth, but he didn't have to save those aliens, but he saved them anyways.

s2 ep5(this must come as a shock)

are dupli-kate and shrinking rae really dead? Why didn't Cecil send more heroes? Maybe then they could win. Allen is alive. Thaedus is a viltrumite?!

s2 ep6(it's not that simple)

what! rex died?! why? i thought someone would come and save him. Will the sequids return? They controlled Rudy's mind so I can't be sure. im glad debbie is raising the kid. dubli-kate is really dead.i liked her i liked them all. im glad rae and rex is alive(barely). amber and mark… they love each other. theyre good for each other but it wont work. i wish it could work. I think Rick will fight Invincible. he is a good guy if he was really him he wouldn't fight but he changed so I don't know what he'll do. sequids are back.

s2 ep7(i'm not going anywhere)

there ia 13th doctor cosplayer. i liked it. we saw her 3 times, i think it was the same woman. Am I paying too much attention or will something happen? first time okay second time was okay too but the 3rd time mark and amber was walkinkg and i saw her twice. It was very funny and cool that they animated every example Filip gave while he was talking. spider-man's hand gesture. I love the references. I wish they had erased Rick's memory too. It would be better. i liked april. I hope she doesn't do anything bad. amber and mark they always understood each other until the end. they still do. i wish things could be different but they cant be together. yes, allen is strong. but anissa was right they could save so many people. but what's bad is their attitude. If they had been a little more compassionate or kind, things could have been different. So many people would not have resisted and many worlds could have been saved with less loss.

s2 ep8(i thought you were stronger)

Talking dinosaurs? so many universe. mark is bad. The multiverse is confusing me. How can he be bad in so many universes and be good in this one? but im glad he is good in this one. is that batman? he really killed angstrom. i hope he can put this behind him. kate is alive! I hope mark and eve can be together. allen and nolan. Nolan is a nice guy I wish he wasn't a viltrumite. He was just raised wrong and if he had been raised by good people like Martha and Jonathan Kent he could have become like Superman. I think we can already see that he cares he cares about others genuinely. and thats because debbie and mark really changed him and i hope we can see that more in season 3.

I started the series by seeing a speech by Debbie. I wanted to watch it before, but his speech was really beautiful and tragic. and I immediately started watching the series yesterday. Before i started, I thought it was Nolan who broke his arm and that made everything worse, but at least Nolan is not that person anymore (He never hurt Debbie physically, but he did hurt some people, including her son). I thought Nolan was such a bad guy. he grew up in viltrum but the world changed, him debbie changed him. He loved Debbie, he loved Mark and Oliver. And I hope Nolan can do better things in the future.

this story was amazing. and animation is the perfect way to tell it. i really cant wait for season 3.

this story was tragic. i cried a lot. this Show might be my favorite superhero Project. i love marvel and dc. i saw a lot of superhero shows and movies but this was incredible. i dont know what to say but im glad i watced this Show. im glad i knew mark. and debbie. and nolan. they are amazing. i hope they'll get a happy ending.

i hope season 3 will come soon.

[nando161mando]

This couldn't have happened to more deserving people

[teekl-darling]

This deserves to be a meme I think

Guarding the Globe Vol. 1 #4

[mishibashimori]

Two Of Us || Cecil Stedman x Reader || Chapter 5

Synopsis: You are an alien who crash landed onto Earth. You have no name, and no more home to go back to. The Guardians of the Globe have rescued you and brought you to get intensive care under the great Cecil Stedman. In helping out your new home, Earth, will you develop a relationship with the coldest man you know?

General Info: AFAB Gender Neutral Reader, Cecil is Younger in the Beginning and it Will Lead to Current Events, Reader is a Bubbly Optimist, Reader Description is Intentionally Vague so You can Imagine the Alien Species They Are However You’d Like

TW: Verbal and Physical Past Abuse, Failed Pregnancy Mentions, Depression, Self Depreciation, Eventual Sexual Content.

—————————

It had been a few days since you and Cecil had your drunken night. It wasn’t intentional that you hadn’t spoken since then, at least not on your end, but it grew worrisome in your mind. You learned Cecil wasn’t the most fluent in conveying— well, anything he was thinking, in the six months you’ve known him. Whether he did it on purpose or not you really hadn’t figured out yet. But that night was the most genuine you’d ever seen him. You’d be lying if you said it hadn’t been on your mind, and that it definitely did not give you a giddy feeling. Yet it seemed that something changed that night as well, and not for the better. Regardless, you decided to settle your troublesome torrent of thoughts this morning.

After walking around for a bit longer than you’d like to admit, you finally found the cafeteria in this maze of a place and grabbed a dozen donuts. You weren’t entirely sure what flavor he liked- they all seemed so good- so you just got as much as you could. On your wander you had even stopped by to check on Alana. She was still unconscious but doing much better after your help. Holly had been there, too. After giving her your regards, you set off again.

Finally, you spotted Cecil. It had taken a few questions to lingering agents in the halls about his whereabouts, but you found him. He was standing in the middle of a room full of people on computers, his hands in his pockets and his posture tall, commanding. His back was turned to you as he busily gave orders, so you decided to hang back and wait. Taking a seat, you set the box of donuts on the table in front of you and turned to an agent busily typing away.

“Hello.” You greeted, giving a smile.

The agent, a young man of maybe nineteen, gave a startled noise and turned to you for a brief moment. “Oh, hello. Um, did you need something?”

“Not particularly,” you cocked your head, “just wanted to say hello.”

The man gave you an inquisitive look behind his sunglasses but responded politely. “Oh, well, my name is Donald. Nice to meet you.”

Before you could respond, you sensed a presence walking up to your other side. Turning, you were met with the steely blue eyes of Cecil. Your happy expression immediately faltered at the look on his face.

“Can I talk to you in private?” He asked lowly, throwing a warning glance at Donald. Immediately taking the hint, Donald spun back around and busied himself once more.

“Of course.” You grabbed the box of donuts and followed Cecil out of the room. An uncomfortable squirm in your stomach grew as he took you a good few feet away from the door and turned to face you.

“I can’t be irresponsible anymore,” he started, emotion void in his voice. “From now on, you and I will remain professional. We aren't friends, and we don’t have a relationship other than being colleagues.” The expression on your face must’ve been absolutely miserable, because Cecil’s own face shifted quickly to something painful for a brief moment before he steeled himself again.

“Why?” You asked, your voice wavering a bit.

Cecil took a deep breath before responding. “This job is dangerous, and time consuming. I can’t let emotions cloud my judgment on anything. I got too involved with you.” There was a long silence that followed his words as you took them in. Cecil drew himself up, seemingly steadfast in his belief as he squared his shoulders. You bowed your head.

“I see.” Without further prompting, you gently set the box of donuts into his hands and gave a small nod. Grief grew like gnarled vines in your chest, making your throat tight. It took everything in you to choke out words. “Thank you for all you’ve done. I’ll leave you be.”

Cecil looked almost shocked, as if he didn’t expect you to react so amiably, though he recovered quickly. “I hope you understand that this is for the best.” He said softly. His tone and face were as cold and emotionless as ever, almost how it was when you had first met him. You just simply walked away, numbly gazing at the floor. Something in you was screaming to look back, but you fought it. Cecil had been transparent and firm on his word, there was no reason to challenge him.

It wasn’t clear where you were planning to go, so you just resided yourself to wander once more around the halls of the GDA. Eventually your feet led you to the hospital wing of the building. Mustering up what little optimism was left in you today, you made your way to Alana’s room. Upon entering you found Holly sat beside your friend, gently stroking her forehead. “Hey Holly.”

Holly jerked her head up, obviously startled by your sudden presence. “Oh, it’s just you.” She sounded relieved. “Hello.” She gestured to a chair on the opposite side of Alana’s hospital bed where you took a seat. “How’re you this morning? Your body feeling better?”

“My body?” You echoed, momentarily confused. Realization slowly crept back to you. How could you have forgotten the accident that landed you here in the first place? Your mind was really roaming away from you. “Oh, yes. It’s doing much better. I feel a lot stronger.”

Holly gazed at you for a while in silence. “How’s your mind? You seem out of it.”

“I’m okay.” You responded almost immediately. The events were still pretty fresh in your mind, having happened only a short time ago. Your brain was still reeling from the emotions you felt. It would be hard to put them into words.

“You can talk to me, if you’d want to.” Holly prompted gently.

Your eyes lingered on Alana, still unconscious in her hospital bed. “You have more than enough to deal with at the moment. I’ll be okay.” There was another long lapse into silence as you both sat. The beeping and whir of medical machines was the only noise, and you slowly relaxed into your chair at the rhythmic sound. Letting your mind wander, your gaze traveled around the room in an almost dazed state until it somehow landed on your wrist. The teleportation device was still strapped onto it. “Hey Holly, how long have you known Cecil?”

“Ah,” she gave a slight chuckle, “so that’s what’s wrong.”

A flush of embarrassment hit your cheeks, “what does that mean?” The words came out a little louder than you meant them to.

“We could all see you two getting close. He seems to care for you a great deal. And you always had that love-struck puppy look in your eyes.” She gazed down at Alana fondly, as if remembering something. “I look at Alana the same way.” Then she turned to you, a bit more of a somber expression on her face. “But he’s a closed off man. You have to be, if you do what he does. I can only guess he’s made that apparent to you.”

“He has.” You said meekly. “I respect his decision, however much I’d like it to be different.”

“Cecil has a lot of responsibility. He protects a great many people. To be that much of an omniscient force, you can’t let your judgment get clouded.” As Holly spoke, you bowed your head. You knew what she was saying was true, but it didn’t make it hurt less. “But,” she began again, “when you care for someone, it doesn’t just go away. He may not have a choice whether to let you go or not.”

You looked at her, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Holly sat up straight, her eyes clear and intense. Her words were passionate as she spoke. “The Guardians of the Globe have a similar responsibility in protecting the city. We are in constant danger.” She gave a sad glance towards Alana. “When I fell in love with Alana, I tried my best to ignore it. Situations like this are unpredictable. Any one of us could die any day.” She looked back to you, now holding your gaze steadily. “But I realized that I was going to love her either way. If we were together, or if we decided to distance ourselves, it didn’t matter. I would rather fight alongside her knowing that we shared memories and love, than to have her die and not of shared anything.”

“That’s beautiful.” You responded, smiling softly.

Holly wiped a stray tear from her eye before continuing, “I know it might be a little too early for love between you and Cecil. But if you want your relationship to grow, and he does as well, there’s nothing that should stop you.” She reached her hand towards you, and you grasped it gently. “Give him time. He’s a stuffy government agent with a lot on his mind. Let him come to terms with whatever he may be feeling. Your emotions should be taken into account too. I know it’s hard but, well, you didn’t exactly choose the easiest man to fall for.”

You gave a laugh at that, and Holly smiled at you. “Thank you. I’ll think on it.” You rose to your feet. “Will you be alright here on your own? I could grab you something to eat if you’d like.”

“I’ll be alright.” Holly responded, giving your hand a squeeze before letting go. “Go get your mind off of things.”

With a goodbye you headed off, your optimism reignited. Perhaps it wasn’t all too bad. You didn’t plan on stomping on Cecil’s wishes, but you wanted to give one last chance to rekindle your relationship. Feeling invigorated, you decided to stop by the Guardian’s training grounds.

Rounding up on the entrance, you sprinted through, feeling your muscles work wonderfully under your skin. After being confined in the hospital for so long, it felt good to stretch your endurance. You hadn’t had the chance to in a while. The training grounds opened into a wide, long space of pure white. A few pieces of exercise equipment were lined up neatly against the walls, but for the most part it was an empty room with an opportunity to test your abilities.

Like a firecracker you whistled through the perimeter of the room, occasionally taking bounds and leaps for fun. Your heart was pumping, the adrenaline of joy spurring you on. It wasn’t until you saw Josef and Immortal standing at the entrance that you screeched to a halt. The pair exchanged looks with each other along with money.

“What’s that about?” You panted, gesturing towards the twenty dollar bill in Josef’s hand.

“We made a bet that your species would get ‘zoomies’ when you were happy.” Immortal replied, an amused expression on his face.

“It’s more common than you think. Even I get them.” Josef added, shoving the money in his pocket.

“You’re the Red Rush, you always have them.” Immortal jeered, playfully jabbing Josef with his elbow. He turned his attention back to you. “So, what’s got you so excited?”

“Did Cecil finally confess his feelings for you, zabavnaya veshch’?” Josef waggled his eyebrows at you. You gave him a sour expression, and he immediately reeled back. “What, really? Was only a joke.”

“No, not exactly,” you responded, still out of breath, “it’s complicated.”

Immortal leaned back, a thoughtful look on his face. “We knew you two were getting close but— Cecil? Really? That man has feelings?” He gave a hearty laugh. “It’s not that we think you’re hard to like but Cecil is- well, Cecil. We only joked about romance between you two. Didn’t think it was actually real.”

“Well I don’t know, like I said, it's complicated.” You gave him an exasperated sigh.

“What are you guys, high schoolers?” A new voice piped up behind the pair of superheros. You lean up on your tiptoes, peering over their heads to see Darkwing strolling up. “Gossiping about crushes.”

“You’re just mad because you can’t get a boyfriend.” Josef chided him as he walked by. “Adults are allowed to indulge in romance gossip every now and then. Not everyone has to brood.” The only response he got from Darkwing was an annoyed snort.

Laughter broke out down the hall as a few more of the Guardians walked up. Samson was at the head of it. “Never argue with Josef, Darkwing, you know that.” As the rest of the Guardians behind him dispersed into the room, he rounded up to your side with an excited look. “Are we gossiping?”

You laughed and nudged him playfully before looking around, confused. “What are you all doing here?”

“It’s training day.” Immortal put in, breaking away from your group and starting to stretch. “Wanna join?”

“Yeah, we can show you some cool moves from the big leagues.” Samson struck a few comically manly poses, which earned a chuckle from you.

“That sounds—“ you began to say, before you were cut off.

“No.” You turned to meet Cecil’s steely face. His long, blond hair was tussled, and you hadn’t noticed it this morning but he looked a mess. Purple bags clung under his eyes, and his tie was loose and wrinkled.

You gave a confused look. “Why not?”

“These are professionally trained superheroes under my jurisdiction. You could get seriously hurt.”

“Well,” you start, crossing your arms and holding yourself up straight, “I have to make a decision, right? Of what I want to do on Earth, by the end of the year.”

Cecil’s eyes narrowed. “…yes.”

“And one of those decisions was joining the Guardians of the Globe.” You continued. “Let me see if I can keep up. I don’t think I’m as fragile as you think.”

He regarded you with a look of absolute annoyance, but what you said was true. With obvious reluctance he gave you a nod. “Fine. Just be careful.”

Josef gave a snarky chuckle, “big bad Cecil taken down by the rookie.”

Cecil threw him a smoldering glare. Josef using the nickname he gave you really seemed to strike a cord with him. “Remember who gives you your paycheck.” With that he turned and walked down the hall, later reappearing in a room overlooking the training grounds through a glass window. His voice crackled back to life over an intercom. “Alright, let’s get started.”

—————

Disclaimer:

I try to be as accurate as possible to the source material for this fan fiction, but at times I’ll get it wrong. The timelines for the Guardians of the Globe as well as Cecil are not as accurate as they should be but for the sake of wanting to have all the characters in here I fudged it. Just know that I understand not everything is accurate but let’s just try to have a good time regardless!

[sersi]

The Costumes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Agatha Harkness (2021 - 2024)

Featuring costume design by Mayes C. Rubeo (WandaVision) and Daniel Selon (Agatha All Along).

[graye]

Rumors say this is what tipped Anakin to the Dark side.