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roanofarcc · 1 year ago

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PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX → MISSION COMPROMISED

summary: steve harrington x oc

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 6k || masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

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Arriving at a clearing of the woods, Steve, Sunshine, and Dustin stood at the top of a hill that overlooked the old junkyard.

There were at least a dozen old cars scattered across the yard, one rusted bus, and heaping piles of miscellaneous crap people that tossed and long forgotten about. To most people, it was nothing but an abandoned scrap yard from the sixties and seventies, but to a middle schooler, it was the perfect place to trap a pet-turned-monster.

“Oh yeah,” Steve said with a nod. “This will do just fine.” He had to hand it to Dustin, it was pretty perfect.

They all descended the hill and headed toward the rusty bus in the middle of the yard, but they were stopped by the sound of another voice from somewhere across the yard.

“I said medium-well!” a familiar kid shouted, referencing the raw meat Steve and Dustin were still leaving a trail of on the ground.

Lucas Sinclair, the kid Dustin had been talking to back at Steve’s car before their trek. Steve did not know the girl that accompanied Lucas, though. A redhead walked beside him with her hands shoved in her sweatshirt pockets and gaze darting between Steve, Sunshine, and Dustin.

Confused, he nudged Dustin and asked, “Who’s that?”

Dustin did not give him a verbal answer, however. Instead, he stared at Lucas and the redhead with a small frown on his lips and a miserable glint in his eyes that Steve recognized all too well.

It was the girl Dustin had smuggled the baby monster for.

Steve heard Sunshine mutter something under her breath before she walked faster toward the two kids, giving him and Dustin no choice but to follow close behind.

“Max,” Sunshine breathed out, faking a smile. “What’re you doing here?”

She didn’t sound mad, but she sounded noticeably worried.

Lucas opened to mouth to speak, but Dustin pulled on his arm and drug him away before he could utter a word. They disappeared behind one of the old cars to talk. It caused Steve to roll his eyes at their middle school drama that intersected the real-life monster they were trying to lure and kill.

“Lucas said he had proof of this crazy story he told me,” Max explained, shrugging her shoulders casually. “I think he’s full of shit, but whatever this is, it beats being at home so…” she trailed off.

Something flashed across Sunshine’s face, a flicker of an expression even Steve couldn’t put his finger on.

“I think you should go home,” Sunshine said, saying her words carefully and with a certain softness that Steve only ever saw her speak to one of the middle school boys with.

Max crossed her arms over her chest and furrowed her brows. “What?”

“It’s not…uh, this place is…” Sunshine trailed off momentarily before blurting out, “Dangerous.”

“Dangerous? Really?”

“Yeah,” Steve jumped in, trying to clumsily follow Sunshine’s excuse that would hopefully prevent another pre-teen from having to face something straight out of all of their nightmares. “Dangerous. Not a place you wanna hang out because of the…you know, tetanus…”

The redhead blankly looked between the teens before an amused smirk crept onto her face. “I’ll try to avoid stepping on rusty nails.”

A forced chuckle sounded from Sunshine before she tugged on Steve’s arm and said to Max, “Just excuse us one second.”

Steve followed Sunshine far enough away so that Max couldn’t hear. “We need to do something.”

He thought for a moment. Sure, having another pre-teen help in their other-worldly hunt of a monster wasn’t the smartest or safest move, but there was a chance that their plan wouldn’t even work. And a part of Steve felt bad for Dustin. Shooing away the girl he liked away to hang out with his best friend didn’t sound like the best option either.

Maybe it was a little irresponsible, but Steve sort of knew how Dustin felt and he didn’t want the kid to sink any further into his bummed-out state. That, and while he didn’t know any of the four middle school boys well, he knew that if he was in their position, he’d spill all of his guts and government secrets to the first girl that looked in his direction. If Max was going to be hanging around them, they were going to tell her. At least with Steve and Sunshine there they would do some damage control.

“It’s gonna be fine, Sunshine,” Steve reassured her. They had a plan, and if they stuck to it everything would work out fine.

“People aren’t supposed to know any of this. It’s dangerous, especially for a kid. What if she gets hurt?”

Sometimes, when Sunshine spoke, Steve wondered if she knew she was technically still a kid too. They shouldn’t have to be responsible for a monster a roamed around their hometown; that was not their job, and yet there they were.

Steve still felt like a child sometimes; he had never felt less grown up ever since everything went down last year. The world was a lot more complicated than he once believed.

“I know,” he sighed. “But she’s already here and I have a feeling she’s not going to leave. Plus, we could use a couple of extra hands to help set a trap.”

Sunshine glanced back at the younger girl, who awkwardly rocked on her heels alone in the middle of the junkyard.

“I don’t know…” Sunshine shook her head.

“And let’s face it, if she’s friends with Henderson and Sinclair, she’s bound to get wrapped up in this sooner or later. At least as long as she’s here with us, we can keep an eye on her and make sure that nothing happens.”

After a moment of silence, Sunshine agreed. “Fine, but Dart is the second most important thing. The first is keeping those kids safe, okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” Steve agreed. Dustin’s pet wasn’t fully grown yet, according to Dustin, but he remembered the monster they faced last year, and it was no joke. As long as they sat the trap and kept the kids and themselves out of the way, they’d have no issue getting rid of it and ensuring Hawkins returned to its boring and blissful state.

That was something Steve never thought he’d want, a boring hometown. He used to wish that something happened there, anything to keep him entertained until graduation. But he had quickly changed his mind at the first sight of the unbelievable. He was okay with Hawkins remaining a quiet and dreadfully boring town if that meant he’d never have to face a faceless, bloodthirsty creature ever again. The mundane was okay if that meant the world wasn’t going to end.

“This will work,” he said, more so assuring himself that they were doing the right thing and had a solid plan. “I’ll grab the boys and you and her start coving the windows on the bus, okay?”

Sunshine nodded and they split off to grab the kids and start setting the second phase of their plan in motion.

→←

The group worked until the set started to lower over the junkyard. They managed to fortify the bus that would act as their home base. Sheets of metal were secured over the windows, aside from one that was covered with chicken wire so they could see out of it. A single trail of gasoline connected the grass in front of the bottom step of the bus to the trap that would, hopefully, hold the monster. The trap was surrounded by any extra raw meat left over to wet Dart’s appetite even more and lure it right where they needed it to step it off.

Before darkness completely engulfed the sky, they all climbed aboard the bus to wait.

Lucas was their lookout, safely positioned on the roof of the bus with his binoculars, and the rest of them waited for his word.

Max, who was still unsure of what they were doing but refused to leave - much to Sunshine’s dismay - sat in one of the few bus seats and fiddled with the zipper of her jacket. Dustin stared at the window across the bus aisle from Max, somewhere lost in his head.

On the ground sat Steve and Sunshine. Steve flicked his lighter on and blew it out over and over again, while Sunshine toyed with her necklace.

“So, you guys really fought one of these things before?” Max asked, looking between the two teens with her eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion. Both Sunshine and Steve nodded their heads in response before she continued, “And you’re totally sure it wasn’t a bear?”

What Lucas had told her, mentioning El but leaving out the fact that Sunshine also had what he called “superpowers,” was unbelievable even to a kid. It made sense that she didn’t believe him or any of them completely. What they went through last year, and what Sunshine and El had gone through most of their lives, weren’t fathomable things to people who didn’t witness it with their own eyes. It sounded like a story, a deeply frightening one.

Dustin scoffed at Max’s question. “Of course, it wasn’t a bear. Don’t be an idiot,” he said. “Why are you even here if don’t believe us? Just go home.”

“Geesh,” said Max, rolling her eye. “Someone’s cranky. Is it past your bedtime?” She pushed herself up from the seat and climbed the ladder in the middle of the bus that led to the roof, leaving the three of them.

Once she was out of sight, Sunshine shot the curly-haired kid a look. “What was that?”

Steve continued to play with his lighter as an almost impressed look crossed his face. “That was good,” he said, causing Sunshine to scoff in disbelief. “Show her you don’t care.”

“I don’t,” Dustin replied, bitterly. He looked away from the ladder and onto the teens on the floor. “Why are you winking, Steve?”

Done receiving relationship advice, Dustin began pacing the bus to distract himself, and Sunshine resumed her quiet thinking.

Her mind was swarmed with too many things, but thinking of the redhead that had joined their efforts to see if Lucas was telling the truth, Sunshine thought about how almost no one in Hawkins knew what had or was happening in their little town. They had no idea that she and El had roamed around Hawkins after a jailbreak from the Lab. They had no idea the Lab even existed; they only knew of a building in the middle of the woods and didn’t stop to ask questions about the true intentions of the place.

No one knew where Will Byers had actually gone the week he vanished or that another dimension full of monsters existed right beside them.

She supposed there were things people weren’t supposed to know, things that were better off being left a mystery, but Sunshine wondered how long secrets could be held from an entire town of people.

No one seemed to bat an eye at the odd occurrences, they only made-up rumors to pass the time. No one seemed to care beyond that, except for Calum and Tamera. Sunshine wondered what made them different.

“Hey, Steve?” Sunshine spoke quietly, turning her head to look at the boy beside her. He met her gaze, finally setting down the lighter. “Do you remember what I told you about Calum and Tamera? How they were looking into things that happened last year?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“When I mentioned to my parents that I was studying with Calum, my mom said something about how Calum thinks his dad is missing. He supposedly went missing during the same week Will and Barbara had.”

Steve furrowed his brows. “I heard that Calum’s dad just left his wife, not that he went missing.”

Something didn’t sit right with her about the whole thing, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what felt wrong.

“That’s what my dad said too. But it’s weird, right? It’s weird for him to decide to leave during that week out of all of them.”

“I guess.” Steve shrugged. “Do you think that’s why Calum was pushing so hard for you to tell him the truth? Maybe he thinks you and Will have some kind of connection or something to do with his dad leaving or going missing."

“We don’t, though,” Sunshine said. “As far as I know. But that is the only thing that makes sense. Why else would he be so interested in what happened? He had pages full of things that went down last year. From me to Will to Barb. I don’t even think I saw half of it.”

Hopper had gone on and on about how people like Murry Bauman wasted their lives looking into conspiracy theories that eventually drove them mad. But people like Murry and Calum weren’t pulling at dead ends, they were getting closer to the truth with each day that passed. The longer they looked into Hawkins, the more likely they were to uncover the many secrets the town held. It was dangerous, not only for Sunshine and everyone involved last year but for the people looking into it too. They were diving headfirst into the darkness. Eventually, they would collide with something they were not ready for.

“Or,” Steve began. “Maybe Calum just wants you and Will to have something to do with his dad. You know, like maybe he’s looking for stuff that’s not there because he doesn’t want to accept the fact that sometimes dads just suck.”

There was a bitterness in Steve’s voice, and he cast his gaze downward. Sunshine wanted to pry a little further, figure out just what he meant by that, but she didn’t get the chance because a low rumble sounded from outside and all of their attention was pulled toward the single window on the bus.

Heavy fog spread out across the yard, making it harder to spot the monster that growled lowly somewhere out there.

Sunshine, Steve, and Dustin all gathered at the window.

“Do you see him?” Dustin whispered, earning head shakes from both teens. He stepped back from the window and called up to where Lucas and Max were on the bus roof. “Lucas! What’s going on?”

“Hold on,” Lucas shouted back. After a tense moment of silence, he had found something. “I’ve got eyes on Dart. Ten O’clock!”

Following Lucas’s direction, Sunshine spotted a moving figure slowly emerging from the fog.

Dart looked much bigger than when she had seen it at the middle school. Instead of the little slung-like creature, Dart nearly resembled the monster she had faced at the Byers. It was hunched over on all fours, not towering over everything on two feet, but it still looked just as terrifying as she recalled.

They watched as Dart circled their trap but refused to set it off. The monster lowered its face to the raw meat, but it didn’t take the bait. Instead, Dart lifted his head and turned its attention onto the bus.

Despite the creature not having eyes, Sunshine swore it was looking right at them.

“What is he doing?” she asked with a small waiver in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Steve replied.

“He’s not taking the bait. Why isn’t he taking the bait?” Dustin asked.

None of them had an answer; it didn’t make any sense. Their plan had worked up to that point, they drew Dart to them. But the monster refused to take the last step that would finish it off, almost like it knew what their plan was.

“Maybe he’s sick of cow,” Steve mumbled, backing away from the window with a twinkle of something in his eyes. Sunshine turned to look at him, confused by what he was doing.

He grabbed his bat that he’d brought “just in case” and rested it on his shoulder.

“Steve?” Sunshine abandoned the window too.

Dustin did the same. “What are you doing?” he asked Steve.

The second Steve flickered his gaze to Sunshine, she knew exactly what he planned on doing, and she was not on board.

“Steve…”

He held up his lighter and looked at Dustin. “Be ready, all right?” he tossed it to the kid and headed right for the bus door before Sunshine stop him.

“No, no, no,” Sunshine muttered as her chest began to feel tight with dread. Running her hands down the length of her face, she paused to think for a moment.

Steve was going out there, alone, against an almost fully grown Demogorgon with nothing but a baseball bat and smug taunts on his lips, while the kids were all safely out of the monster’s reach on the bus.

There was not a chance that she was going to risk any of them getting hurt, but the only one directly in danger was Steve. So, Sunshine rolled up the sleeves of her jacket and started after Steve.

“Wait, Sunshine-” Dustin called out before she cut him off with a stern look.

“Do not leave this bus. And do not let them leave either, okay?”

Dustin hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something else, but instead, he nodded his head and moved out of her way.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end the second she stepped off the bus and into the dark sea of fog over the yard. Sunshine swallowed down the fear that tried to crawl up her throat and held her hands out in front of her, ready for a fight.

Carefully and as quietly as she could, she made her way halfway across the yard, a couple of hundred feet away from the monster, to where Steve was.

He jumped at her sudden appearance, taking his focus off the monster for just a moment. “Sunshine, what are you doing?”

“Helping,” she said, not daring to take her eyes off Dart.

“I’ve got this,” Steve insisted. “You can go back to the bus.”

“Nope. Not happening.”

Steve sighed but knew better than to waste their time arguing. She was too stubborn to listen.

He continued to taunt the creature as it started to circle the trap once more, poking around the meat but not eating it.

“Come on, buddy, dinner time.” While Steve tried to keep his voice level, Sunshine didn’t miss the way he waivered just slightly when the monster stopped stalking the trap and turned his head to look at them. “Humans taste better than cats, I promise.”

Sunshine’s heart raced and her fingers trembled in the cold air as Dart abandoned their trap and started to walk toward them. She waited to ignite her hands, afraid that the sudden spark of light may startle the monster and cause it to attack sooner rather than later.

Just because they were more prepared, Sunshine didn’t know if that meant they stood a better chance than last time. Sure, they knew what they were up against at that time, but Dart was a monster from another dimension, and they were just two teenagers with a little too much confidence in themselves.

“Guys!” Lucas’s shrill voice cut through the quiet air like a gunshot, startling Sunshine so bad she lost her focus and her heart nearly jumped right out of her chest. Steve lost his focus too and snapped his head toward the bus where the kid sat on the roof.

“Watch out! Three O’clock!” Lucas yelled.

Sunshine kept her eyes pointed forward because Dart continued to creep closer and closer to them.

While she stared down the eyeless monster, Steve followed Lucas’s instructions until he spotted whatever the kid was trying to warn them of.

Slowly, he reached out with his free hand and squeezed Sunshine’s arm tightly, drawing her attention off of Dart.

“I think we have a problem…” Steve whispered.

She looked to where he had his eyes glued.

Up on one of the old junk cars stood another monster, nearly identical to Dart. Hunched over on all fours, stalking the two teens from above like it was waiting for the right moment to pounce. But that wasn’t the only thing that caused Sunshine to freeze. That monster wasn’t the only one who joined Dart.

One after another, slightly smaller Demogorgons appeared from the fog; they had them surrounded. Cast in moonlight, the monsters all lowly growled as they advanced.

Sunshine and Steve stayed deadly still, both too scared to move and with no idea how exactly they were going to get the hell out of there. Their plan was completely tossed out the window.

They had no time to come up with another because Dart lunged forward, flashing its teeth. Off in the distance, Sunshine heard the screams from Dustin, Lucas, and Max who remained on the bus, but they were quickly drowned out by the monstrous roars all of the creatures let out at once, following Dart’s lead.

Steve began to swing his bat, knocking back Dart enough for him to start to run toward one of the unoccupied junk cars while Sunshine took on the couple of monsters that tried to sneak up on them.

All of her focus and energy went to her hands, illuminating them with little whisps of light that danced around her palm and between her fingers.

She threw her arms forward and with them, the wicked glow unleashed itself upon the monsters. They shrieked out in pain as their skin burned in the light, and they began to shrink back just slightly, as more began to attack.

Spinning around, in the hope of joining Steve behind the car that he used as a barrier between himself and the monster he was fighting, Sunshine was met with two more monsters that hurried toward her in an almost frantic gallop.

A startled yelp fell from her lips as she threw herself to the right, just barely missing the monsters. She dragged herself across the ground, staining the fabric of her jeans on the damp grass, as she took cover behind a pile of junk. Droplets of blood began to leak from her nose, and she wiped them away with the sleeve of her coat. A familiar, dull ache started in her temples.

It had been almost a full year since she used her abilities to a draining extent, so the pain was a little more disorienting than she was used to, but there was no time to pause for a break.

Across the yard, Sunshine watched as Steve struggled to take on two monsters at once, but before she could ready herself to run to his aid, one of the creatures she had previously burned jumped on top of the pile and junk she crouched behind and loomed over top of her.

She threw her arms forward again and encased it in a bright yet quick flash, only enough to knock it off of the junk and confuse it for a moment, giving her enough to start her sprint toward Steve.

The bat in his hand was knocked a couple of feet away and he tried to duck away, but the creature leaped in the air and almost came down on top of Steve before Sunshine flicked her wrist and sent a pointed ray of light at the monster, hitting it mid-jump and causing it to crash to the ground with a horrible howl.

Steve recovered, grabbing his bat and scrambling back to his feet just as yet another monster approached him with its face open and teeth on display.

Fatigue tugged on Sunshine, but she continued to run and unleash her light at the hoard of monsters. Killing them was going to take more energy than she had. If there had only been one, she wouldn’t have hesitated to pull all of her energy and kill Dart.

However, killing all of the monsters was very much out of Sunshine’s capabilities. So, she had to do the next best thing, hurt them enough to throw them off balance and hope for the best.

She reached Steve, and the two teens stood side by side, weapons drawn and ready.

From behind them, the kids all shouted frantically from the bus. “Abort! Abort! Abort!” They waved them over, but the path between Steve and Sunshine and the bus was not clear for them to run for it.

The sea of monsters seemed never-ending. They flood in from all sides, creping and crawling closer.

Not only were they outnumbered, but they were in the flood of creatures. Sunshine felt her heart in her throat as panic gripped each nerve in her body.

For a split second, she squeezed her eyes closed, and the face of Ivy flashed before her. Not the soft Ivy that read her stories or listened to her wishes, but the hard-set and determined Ivy that stood between Sunshine and the dangers of the Lab like it was her sole purpose in life. The Ivy who clenched her fists at her sides and refused to budge.

Ivy faced down monsters, just different ones from what Sunshine stood in front of at that moment. Ivy was long gone, and Sunshine felt that it was her turn to be the one to stand her ground.

Ignoring the pain that grew inside her skull, she planted her feet in the wet grass and raised her hands before relighting them. Into the sea of monsters, white-hot bursts of light exploded. At each monster that charged, Sunshine met them with raging rays that threw them off their course.

Pain split and fractured inside her head, blurring her vision and making it difficult to pull all of her focus onto the relentless monsters. Her fingers twitched and wanted to curl in toward her palm to cut off her abilities, but Sunshine kept pushing herself.

The shouts of the kids mix with the ringing in her ears, disorienting her even further.

The monsters were not going to stop, that much she was sure of. The closer they grew to them meant the closer they were to the bus. The last thing she planned on doing was allowing any one of them to get hurt by those creatures.

Sunshine glanced at Steve, who continued to swing his bat at the monsters who got just in range. The nails ripped through their slimy skin and caused them to bleed their black blood, but it still didn’t stop them completely or cause them to retreat.

“I can hold them off,” she said, tasting blood on her tongue that continued to stream down from her nose. “Get back to the bus!”

He stopped his swinging and stared at her with wide eyes. “What?” he breathed out. “Are you out of your mind?”

Another monster jumped at Sunshine, and she countered it with a blow of her own, sending it to the ground.

If her mind was a metal pole, her powers acted like lightning. When she used them, they struck with no mercy inside her head, causing pain to erupt in quick bursts. The more she used her abilities, the more violet those lightning strikes became and the weaker her abilities became.

Through gritted teeth, she tried again to get him to leave. “Steve, go!”

“Not a chance,” he said, moving closer to her side. Monsters circled them like vultures, though some of them were pretty injured from both Sunshine and Steve’s blows.

She didn't understand why he refused to go. Things were going south and fast. The safest place for him to be was on the bus. Sunshine could hold them off for a little longer, giving them enough time to come up with a way out. The last thing she was concerned about was herself.

"Steve, I'm serious-"

“On the count of three, we make a run for the bus, okay?” Steve said, ignoring her. There was just enough distance between them and the bus that wasn’t completely overrun with monsters. Steve seemed pretty confident that they could make it, together.

He outstretched one hand toward her and kept his bat raised in his other one. She hesitated for a moment before she took hold of it, lacing their fingers tightly so neither one of them would get left behind. She kept her other hand illuminated as he began to count.

“One, two…three!”

Together, they took off running toward the bus where the kids continued to call their names. Little spots danced across her vision, but she kept her focus on the opened bus door, pushing herself to close the distance between them and it.

For a moment, she thought their path would remain just clear, but that hope was squashed as another Demogorgon jumped in front of them.

It crouched down on its front legs, readying to launch itself to attack.

Sunshine took a step forward, angling herself in front of Steve, and used the last bit of energy she had on the creature.

White light encased the creature, spreading over its form for only a second, rendering its eyesight useless but not for long. The flash only lasted long enough for them to get a couple more steps in before the monster recovered, shaking its head and setting its focus back on the two teens. It was quick, but Steve was quicker.

He tugged on her hand in an attempt to pull her along, but Sunshine's vision was nearly blacked out and the whole world felt like it was spinning out of control. She stumbled over her feet as they neared the bus, trying not to pass out or fall over.

As the monster lunged forward, the teens made it to the door of the bus. Steve tossed his bat at Lucas, who caught it with ease and moved back away from the stairs. Grabbing a hold of Sunshine’s waist, Steve pushed her into the bus as gracefully as he could before he jumped onto the first step. He slammed the door shut just as the monster threw its body up against it, missing them by less than a second.

“Are they rabid or something?!” Max yelled as she and Dustin grabbed Sunshine by the arms and helped her up the stairs.

Despite the state she was in, Sunshine noticed the look of terror on all of the kids’ faces as they stared at the closed bus door that the monsters knocked up against.

“They can’t get it,” Lucas said. “They can’t!”

Soon, the entire bus shook as the monsters crashed and clawed at all sides.

The group inside took a moment to catch their breath before the kids fled to the back of the bus where all of their belongings were stashed.

Sunshine followed them halfway until her head spun too frantically and her legs gave out from under her. She landed on the floor with a thud and squeezed her eyes closed. All she wanted to do was come up with some kind of plan to get them all out of there and somewhere safe, but her thoughts were too scrambled, and it was impossible to focus on anything with the pain that beat against her skull.

“Is anyone there?” Dustin’s voice filled the bus, loud and shaking. Sunshine assumed he was calling for help, but no other voices sounded off through his walkie-talkie. “Mike? Will? God! Anyone?” The only response was the screeching monsters outside. “We’re at the old junkyard and we’re going to die!”

Forcing her eyes open, Sunshine sat up against the wall and took a couple of deep breaths.

They weren’t going to die; she was not going to let that happen.

She wiped her nose once more and shakily stood to her feet. As she did so, the click of claws sounded from above her head. In silent horror, the group all watched as the monster dented the roof with each step it took. They were surrounded by them.

It wasn’t until a blood-curdling scream erupted from Max did they snap into action.

The monster stuck its head in through opened hatch on the ceiling that Max stood directly under. The girl was frozen, staring up that the rows of teeth that were coming right for her.

Sunshine rushed toward Max and pulled her away from the hatch, holding onto her as the monster reached further inside.

It didn’t get far, though, because Steve stepped up to it with his bat.

“You want some?” he taunted. “Come get this!”

Max kept her arms wrapped around Sunshine and closed her eyes tightly while Dustin and Lucas stood right behind Sunshine, looking equally as terrified as the redhead.

Before it attacked and before Steve could land a blow, the monster stopped. It froze for a moment before it pulled its head out of the hatch and raised it toward the night sky.

With a howl, it and the other monsters just left. They all left, fleeing the scene like they were suddenly uninterested in the five kids gathered inside the bus.

The junkyard fell silent, free from monsters that could see or hear in the most bizarre ending to their bleak situation. It didn't make any sense, not to Sunshine at least. If something else caught their attention, it was nothing she could hear. The only noise came from all of their labored breaths.

Sunshine waited for them to return; she waited for the shoe to drop and for something even worse to happen, but it did not. Nothing happened.

Steve met Sunshine’s eyes and she gave a slight nod before they all started to move toward the front of the bus. The kids all trailed behind them, staying close to Sunshine as they peered out into the yard.

Once they were certain no monsters lingered behind and that the yard was free from anything out of the ordinary, they all stepped out outside.

“What just happened?” Max asked in almost a whisper.

“Steve and Sunshine scared ‘em off?” Dustin said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Lucas stayed quiet and scanned the yard with his binoculars.

“No way,” said Steve. “They’re going somewhere.”

A small groan sounded from Sunshine as she leaned her weight against the side of the bus and closed her eyes once more. The ringing in her ears had subsided but her head still spun. A familiar tenderness began to spread over the bridge of her nose as new bruises already started to form from the use of her abilities. But it was the fatigue that hit her the hardest. She felt it in her bone and throughout her entire body, unlike the pain that was contained inside her head.

Someone tugged on her sleeve, and she forced her eyes open despite her body’s protests.

Lucas looked up at her with furrowed brows. “Are you okay?”

“Never better,” she mumbled with a small smile in an attempt to ease the worry that laced all of their faces. They had bigger things to worry about than her.

He frowned before he reached inside his backpack, in search of something. Pulling out a spare bandana, he offered it to her. Sunshine took it with a grateful smile and wiped the blood from her nose and where it was dripping down her chin.

“That…I mean…wow…” Max breathed out shaking her head in disbelief. She looked at Sunshine with a somewhat dazed expression. “I thought Lucas was full of shit, but y-you. You just…I don’t even know what you did but it was awesome.”

“She has superpowers,” Dustin said like it was the most obvious thing.

“Like from a comic book.” Lucas and Dustin looked in awe at Max, and she rolled her eyes. “What? I read comic books, but only the good ones like Wonder Woman.” She paused, returning her attention to Sunshine. “Oh, my God, you’re like Wonder Woman!”

Sunshine tried to smile at her, but she was struggling to stand upright. One part of her wanted to accept the idea that some people saw her as something much greater than she saw herself, and the other part wanted to explain to Max that she was not a superhero. She didn’t know how exactly to put it into words, not ones that would make sense to middle schoolers full of imagination, but Sunshine knew she was not like Wonder Woman, not by a long shot.

She couldn’t do either one, not when her eyes kept threatening to close.

Steve took the lead and stirred the conversation away from Sunshine.

“We should get out of here in case they come back,” he said.

The kids all nodded and started toward the woods while Steve wordlessly looped one arm around Sunshine’s waist. She offered him a thankful smile, knowing that if she had to walk herself back through the woods, she’d end up face first in the dead leaves.

As they walked, they missed the sound of howls that erupted somewhere beyond the old train tracks they followed. The sound couldn't be heard by many, but by a group trapped inside a building that the monsters had infiltrated, the screeches were deafening. They were a death sentence, lurking through red emergency lights.

Tag List. @sattlersquarry @leptitlu @history-of-stories

#stranger things #stranger things fic #steve harrington x original character #steve harrington x oc #stranger things 2 #lumax #steve harrington #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #max mayfield #project sunshine

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idril-la-wiccan · 2 years ago

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Out of the Abyss - Act 1 Part 6 - Lost to the Black Hole

- “And here we are ! Otherworld !”

As soon as PLUTO landed, the young woman he was carrying jumped off of his shoulders.

- “Thank you very much, sir.” she told him, “And once again, I must apologise for how I mistreated you earlier.”

- “You are all forgiven, madame. Consider it all forgotten. I wish for you that this misunderstanding with the children will soon be resolved. GWA HA HA HA HA !!”

And with that, he took off, leaving ABBI also wishing for that… “issue” to be taken care of as fast as possible.

Leaving that thought alone for now, she looked around the Campsite. Everything seemed as peaceful as it always was. The abandoned cars, the electrical towers, the junk and of course the houses of the local residents. Everything was here. Unchanged.

On top of the hill the Campsite was settled on, was none-other than the house of the young leader of the Space Pirates : CAPTAIN SPACEBOY. This was ABBI’s current destination. Thankfully, he should be home and not some distant places aboard his spaceship.

… Speaking of space… she noticed an anomaly in the sky… Somewhere high above the hill, in stark contrast with the stars, was a strange, misshapen black form.

ABBI was taken aback, to say the least. How had she not noticed it before when CAT showed her an overview of Headspace ? Was this not there yet ? Or was it then in a blind spot ? Nevertheless, this shapeless mass, likely to be one of the many rifts into Black Space, should not be here.

ABBI quickly got down from the station and headed to the top of the Campsite. One of the locals, who was making a few clams at the recycling machine, gave her a wary look. She ignored it, already guessing the reason for such a glare.

Once at the doorstep of SPACEBOY’s home, she knocked. A peephole in the door opened, the eyes of who she could only assume was one of the Captain’s crew mates looking through it.

- “Hello.” she started, “I-”

An audible gasp got out of the space pirate’s beak before they closed the peephole.

- “Hey ! No, no, no ! Wait !”

She knocked again.

No further answer.

She sighed.

- “Alright… Judging by your reaction, I can only conclude that you have met… other shadows before, am I wrong ?”

Silence…

- “... Listen. I do not know what has transpired between you and those shadows, but you must know this : I am not like them. I have no malevolent intentions, and in fact, those weeping shadows consider me an enemy. So far, they have done nothing but impede me, so needless to say, I do not bear them in my hearts !...”

ABBI could faintly hear whispers on the other side of the door… The space pirates seemed divided on what to do. While she couldn’t get a word of what was said, one voice distinguished itself from the rest. She guessed it must belong to the Captain himself. Some of the other voices got a little more frantic as they seemed to argue with him. But in the end, he had the final word.

The door finally opened.

- “Ah, thank you. I thought you- WOAH !”

ABBI put her hands up, startled by the sight of CAPTAIN SPACEBOY pointing his laser gun at her. He spoke :

- “I’ll need more than just eloquence to be convinced you are trustworthy. But I must admit… you are not like the others… And I know exactly how to determine if you can be trusted or not… You may enter. But be careful not to step out of line… Understood ?”

- “Crystal clear, Captain.”

He let her in, still holding her at gunpoint. The door was closed behind them.

- “Go straight forward.” he commanded, “Up the stairs.”

- “May I know where exactly you are taking me ?”

- “The Junkyard. You’ll see why once there.”

Escorted by a few of his crew, they continued down the Solar System Room, then out near the Junkyard. The Mercury Retrograde had been purposefully stationed in front of the regular path leading here, so that no one could get to the Junkyard without going through the space pirate’s house. ABBI didn’t like this…

But once they were in the Junkyard, she understood. Two crew members were already here, guarding some sort of laser cage. Inside was a weeping shadow, all sharp and spiky, severe burn marks covering it as it had thrown itself several times at the laser walls of the cage in an attempt to escape. It was still frantically shaking, but seemed to have given up on getting out.

The young lady had let her arms fall at the sight.

- “You… managed to capture one of them ?... I must say, this is impressive.”

- “Is it really ?” the captain questioned.

- “From what I know, when confronted with those, people either cower in fear or actively chase them down. You are the first I have seen keeping one alive and trapped.”

Some of the pirates shivered at her words. SPACEBOY let out a sigh.

- “Run away or kill, huh ?... No. Not after what happened… We… We couldn’t do either to him.”

- “... “Him” ?”

ABBI turned to the leader of the pirates. SPACEBOY looked… SAD.

- “Yes… “Him”... This shadow right here… is… a member of my crew.”

This was one of the space pirates ?! No way… But then, if he transformed in such a way, that could only mean-

- “Miss,” the young captain continued, “I beg of you… You who seem surprisingly lucid as a shadow yourself… what do you know about this ailment ?”

- “ “Ailment” ? Wait, you think-”

She looked again at the imprisoned shadow.

- “... Now I get it… You think this is an illness. That’s why you… captured your former crew mate… You believe he can be cured… Is it ?”

All of the pirates looked at each other, their expressions varying from worry to despair. One of them spoke up, tears forming in their eyes.

- “Are you saying… that it’s too late ? He can’t… he can’t turn back to normal ?...”

- “... I’m sorry… Your friend is gone…”

The pirate fell to their knees, eyes staring blankly at the ground as the pools of tears became rivers running down their face. One of their colleagues tried to comfort them. CAPTAIN SPACEBOY was containing himself as well as he could, he still had questions to ask. But it still was clear to anyone that the news made him feel DEPRESSED.

- “What about someone who’s been partially transformed ?”

As he said this, he nudged another member of his crew. Said member approached her, removing bandages on one of their arms. It looked all black and icky, like some sort of goo. The octopus examined it.

- “... I knew that the transformation isn’t instantaneous, but this is the first time I actually see the progression stopped dead in its tracks… I think I can safely say it won’t get any worse. In fact…”

As she touched the tainted arm, she could feel the influence of Black Space on it. And it was getting weaker and weaker.

- “It will be slow, but your arm should go back to normal eventually.”

- “Some of my comrades got it worse than me, missy…” said the pirate, concerned, “What about them ?”

- “As long as their transformation wasn’t complete like for this one,” as she pointed at the cage, “they should recover too.”

Relief washed through the minds of the space pirates despite all the pain that they still felt deep down. As for ABBI, she looked up at the sky, staring at the ominous dark mass over their heads. This time, she had a question for the captain.

- “You all went through that rift that appeared in the sky, didn’t you ? How long were you in there ?”

- “I-... I’m… not sure… I’d say… less than ten minutes ?...”

- “I see… That is about how long it takes for anyone to transform when in the world beyond that rift… I want to say you were lucky only one of you fell to this curse, but-”

- “No…”

SPACEBOY’s voice sounded… harsh, all of a sudden. He was staring at the ground, making his expression unreadable. His fists were clenched so hard they were shaking.

He. Was. FURIOUS.

- “IT WASN’T ONLY ONE !!!”

He ran away from the Junkyard, tears of both rage and despair pouring down, almost blinding him. Although his emotions were the things blinding him the most in the moment.

- “Captain, wait !”

She was about to run after him when the pirate she examined held her back.

- “Careful, missy… Our Captain isn’t always himself when angered…”

That, she already knew. She simply nodded and thanked them.

When she got out of the Junkyard, she witnessed SPACEBOY already let his anger out on random trash laying around.

- “FUCKING SHIT !!!”

ZAP ! ZAP ! ZAP !

Cans, glass bottles, cardboards and really any useless garbage that happend to be on the ground ended up being exploded and charred.

- “Captain ?”

ZAP !

Without thinking, the leader of the pirates had shot ABBI. It was only when he saw her collapse on the ground that he realised what he had done. Shocked, his weapon slipped from his grasp.

He felt utterly MISERABLE.

- “N- no… I-... I didn’t want to-...”

He kneeled next to her.

- “Miss ? Miss, please answer ! Can you hear me ?”

ABBI let out a groan. She slowly raised a hand and put it on her forehead that was currently throbbing with pain.

- “That… is the worst migraine I’ve had in my life… But I’ll live… Don’t worry…”

SPACEBOY was a bit taken aback by this answer. Regardless, he was relieved she wasn’t severely wounded.

But emotionally, he was still a wreck…

Had it not been for this incident, he would have continued to take his anger on the rubbish.

But now ? Now he no longer had the strength to get angry… Now, there was only misery.

He was unable to keep his strong leader persona steady.

He started to sob.

- “... If… If you-... say so… Miss… I-... I am… so… so sorry… I’m-”

He looked away from her. Shifting his kneeling position to a sitting one, he bent his legs, bringing the knees up. His arms wrapped around these and he hid his face in the crook they formed. His sobbing was the quietest, but the pain that caused it was no less intense.

The way he sat reminded ABBI of a certain boy…

She lifted her upper body up, then dragged herself closer to the young man. With no hesitation, she wrapped an arm around him, gently rubbing his shoulder in a comforting way, effectively hugging him. It appeared to soothe him a bit.

- “There, there… It’s ok… Let it all out…”

His breath was short due to his sobs and occasionally gasped for air. Despite that, he tried speaking :

- “I-... Ah- I’m… I can’t- Hic-...”

- “Take your time…”

A few minutes passed. His breathing was steadier, his tears less abundant, and thoughts reorganised in a way that would be easier to express. He did not feel any less MISERABLE however. But this was understandable.

- “I…” he started slowly, “I only realize it now… Not once did I ever ask for your name… May I ?...”

- “Of course. My name is ABBI.”

- “ “ABBI” ?... That’s a pretty name.”

For the first time ever since they met, he had a smile. It was small, but it was a smile nonetheless. She smiled back.

- “Thank you. What about you ? Is… “SPACEBOY” still your name ?”

At that, he let out a little laugh. It had a hint of bitterness.

- "I won't be caught changing my name on a whim ever again..."

- “I see… My apologies if I brought up a sensitive topic…”

- “... It’s alright.”

A short silence… ABBI resumed the conversation :

- “So… Tell me. What happened in Black Space ?”

- “... “Black Space” ?... Ah. The dimension beyond that black hole ?... Well… The thing is…”

His voice was becoming shaky again as more tears rolled down his cheeks.

- “My father went in there… And… not just him… He had an entire crew with him… I-... And if what you said about this… “curse”... as you called it, is true… that it takes ten minutes or less for it to consume you… then as we speak… there must be… no survivors…”

He took a deep breath.

- “I remember arguing with him not to go explore that spatio-temporal hole that came out of nowhere ! That he was too old for risky adventures like this ! That’s why he retired in the first place ! But noooooooooooo, the great PINKBEARD simply had to go ! How was he supposed to show the ropes to his apprentice if he didn’t do things like in the good old days, huh ?... But now… him… and everyone else on his ship… reduced to shadows of their former selves…”

- “But… tell me. What led you and your crew to go ? I take it you only went after they did, correct ?”

- “Well… since I disagreed with him, he made a compromise with me. He decided that we would keep contact via radio for as long as they were in there. He even admitted this would probably make things safer… And at one point, we completely lost the signal. With no other options left, I decided we should follow suit into the black hole… And-”

He stopped in his narrative. Thinking back about how things went down made him realise something crucial.

- “And my crew immediately complained about… feeling… off… I remember dismissing it as… I don’t know, fear ? Because… I never felt anything strange when in that “Black Space”… Least of all, feeling anything strange within me. It really only was when my crew showed me the black spots appearing on them that I turned the ship around… Too bad I wasn’t fast enough to save them all…”

He looked at his hand. Eventually, he removed his glove and even rolled up his sleeve to make sure he really did not have any black spots himself.

- “How do you explain that I felt nothing ? That I seemingly did not suffer from that curse ? Am I… resistant to it ?”

- “Let me see…”

Unlike the pirate whose arm was all blackened, ABBI did not feel a single ounce of Black Space’s presence in CAPTAIN SPACEBOY. Not even a residue of any energy that could have already died out. Was this the reason him and the three other actors SAINT LILIUM had talked about could help her in her mission ? That they were impervious to the noxious effects Black Space had on denizens of Headspace ?

- “I can’t explain why… but you seem immune to Black Space’s curse.”

- “... Immune, you say…”

This. This made the gears in his mind go wild. All of the sudden, he exclaimed :

- “Miss ABBI ! If I am immune, then I must hold this immunity from somewhere, don’t I ?”

- “Well… Yes, this makes sense-”

- “What if I hold it from my father ? That would mean he could very well still be alive !”

- “Well- um… Perhaps ?”

- “I know I must sound insane, but if it is true… Well, if no one checks out and he is indeed alive, then the shadows themselves will be the end of him. I must go look for him ! At least to make absolutely sure of his whereabouts !”

- “... I suppose you are right, Captain.”

- “Great ! Now.”

He held her hands.

- “Will you please accompany me in my search ? I can’t risk the lives of my crew members and… you yourself are from that world, aren’t you ? You look like these shadows, but you are not like them at all. And your knowledge of that place would prove more than useful. If I go alone, I’ll just get lost, I need a guide ! Please !”

- “I’m… not really from Black Space, but I have no reason to refuse to help you. And despite everything, I do believe I know the place like the back of my hand. You can count on me, CAPTAIN SPACEBOY.

His face beamed with HAPPINESS.

- “I cannot thank you enough for this !”

*****

<< Previous Part || Next Part >>

Sorry for that unexpected hiatus, life got in the way lol.

Updates might be a little slow, but there shouldn't be any wait bigger than last time. Not until I finish Act 1, that is.

#omori #omori abbi #omori pluto #omori spaceboy #captain spaceboy #omori au #out of the abyss au #out of the abyss abbi #Act 1 #post omori route #post hikikomori route #omori spoilers #Spaceboy has a free swear pass from me. =)#Also I hope you like the art-style change.#If not don't worry it's only temporary #my art

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cunning-matriarch · 14 days ago

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WHAT DOES YOUR MUSE FEAR?

repost. do not reblog. italicize for ‘uncomfortable, but bearable if neccessary’ ; bold for ‘keep it away!’

OBJECTS & THINGS : ・needles・knives・sharp objects・bruises・blood・paddles/belts/objects used in beatings・germs・vomit/vomiting・holes (trypophobia)・alcohol・cigarettes・drugs/narcotics・pills・medicine・bikes・cars/buses/trains・boats・planes・bridges・elevators・stairs・roller coasters・fire・water・snow・rain・thunder/lightning・dolls/puppets・stuffed animals・balloons/popping balloons・bright lights・crowds・loud noises・animatronics・robots・technology・(other: )

PLACES: ・your home・your childhood home・the countryside・the city・closets・bathrooms・bars/nightclubs・doctor's offices・dentists/orthodontists・hospitals ・operating rooms・schools・jails/prisons・morgues・cemeteries・open spaces・cramped spaces・abandoned places・attics/crawlspaces・junkyards・churches/synagogues/mosques・religiously-significant places・haunted houses・back alleys・the outdoors・the mountains・the woods・the ocean・outer space・(other:)

EXPERIENCES & CONCEPTS : ・failing・heights・falling・jumping off a high place・climbing a high place・the dark・showing off a talent・the cold/being cold・heat/being hot・eye contact・accepting change・being challenged・getting lost・getting separated・getting arrested・being trapped・being stranded・being followed・getting surgery・getting tattoos/piercings・swimming・driving・riding a bike・riding in a car/bus/train・flying in a plane・boating/sailing・being on the open water ・getting photographed・religion・thunderstorms・blizzards・tsunamis・floods・tornados・hurricanes・earthquakes・mudslides・avalanches・poverty・hunger・public speaking・performing in public��talking on the phone・talking to strangers・humiliation・pain・illness・death・disassociating・danger・surgery・vehicular accidents・being burned・drowning・being choked・being starved・being poisoned ・suffocating・being stabbed・being shot・breaking a bone・being restrained・being laughed at ・being yelled at/demeaned・confrontation ・conflict・physical fights・verbal fights・war・commitment ・isolation・silence・responsibility・taking responsibility・introspection・apologizing・falling in love・emotional attachment・emotional intimacy・sexual intimacy・physical contact ・getting married・having a child・loveless relationships・unrequited love・falling out of love・divorce/separation・breaking up・pregnancy・being pregnant・ageing・losing your attractiveness・the unknown・the past・the future・mistakes・(other: )

CREATURES :・animals (general)・insects・spiders・creepy crawlies・snakes・scaly animals・frogs/toads・slimy animals・mice/rats・rodents・birds・dogs・cats・wolves/coyotes/wild dogs・lions/tigers/wild cats・bears・raccoons・possums・woodland animals・crocodiles/alligators・sharks・fish・aquatic animals・cryptids・aliens・sea monsters・vampires・werewolves・mummies・ghosts・monsters・angels・demons・zombies・God・the devil・(other: )

PEOPLE :・people (general)・ men・women・yourself・your mother・your father・your siblings・your family・family・parental figures・elderly・adults・teenagers・kids・babies・clowns・drunk people・doctors・dentists・teachers・pastors/clergymen/nuns・religious figures・bullies・criminals・killers・police・authority figures・introverts・extroverts・aggressive people・overbearing people・pushy people・manipulators・hyper-sexual people・anxious people・liars・cheaters・people stronger than you・people weaker than you・(other: )

INTERNAL & EXISTENTIAL : ・not knowing・trusting・forgiving・forgetting・being forgotten・being alone・being misunderstood・being used・being taken advantage of・being unloved・being hated・being abused・being lied to・being hurt・hurting others・being unpopular・being humiliated・being stood up・being ignored・being powerless・losing power・being abandoned・being betrayed・being replaced・being unwanted/unneeded・being excluded・being a failure・being untalented/boring/not special'・becoming poor・becoming ugly・losing control (of your situation)・losing control (of yourself)・lacking identity・lacking a purpose・letting people down・disappointing others・losing friends・losing family・watching loved ones suffer・watching loved ones die・getting sick ・getting hurt・dying・’existing’ but not living・(other: )

#bones and sinew;headcanons and references

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throatcoat · 4 months ago

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//somewhere in bodie, washington//

i am a ghost town if a ghost town were a human being. disconsolate, wanton, dissolute.

when i was a little girl, i would spend hours exploring the abandoned houses that lay torn apart, the walls crumbling, birds & bats nesting in the empty corners. mostly, i was looking for old photographs. family portraits, forgotten smiles, the candid shot that no one ever talks about but refuses to throw out. the clay pigeons lay in broken pieces at my feet, the dust covered my skin.

sometimes, the orchard would catch on fire & we would walk the mile behind the old mennonite village to watch it get put out.

walk 6 more miles & you might find something else.

there was a boy who lived there that had buck teeth like a rabbit & never wore any clothes. he swam in the creek & his eyes looked like the sky at night when the moon refuses to come out from behind the clouds.

raised by the junebugs & coyotes & bobcats. we shared a pear, the sticky juice dribbled down our chins & he waved goodbye as he disappeared into the tumbleweeds & junkyard cars.

i miss him.

#coat the throat

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cashforcars-junkcar · 4 months ago

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From Clunker to Cash: Odyssey of Junk Cars in Lawrence

In Lawrence, the journey of a junk car from driveway eyesore to cash in hand is an adventure filled with twists, turns, and surprising discoveries. Let's embark on a journey through the odyssey of junk cars in Lawrence, exploring the process of turning a clunker into cash and the fascinating stories behind these forgotten vehicles.

The Lawrence Junk Car Scene

Lawrence is home to a diverse array of vehicles, from shiny new cars to old, forgotten clunkers. While many vehicles serve their owners faithfully for years, others reach the end of their lifespan and become nothing more than stationary relics. However, these discarded cars are not without value. In Lawrence, a thriving industry exists around buying, salvaging, and recycling junk cars, offering owners a convenient way to clear space and earn cash.

The Clunker Chronicles: A Journey Begins

Discovery of the Clunker

The journey typically begins with the discovery of a neglected vehicle. Whether parked in a driveway, in a garage, or abandoned on a street corner, the clunker catches someone's attention—a reminder of its former glory and potential for a new life.

Assessment and Evaluation

Once discovered, the clunker undergoes assessment and evaluation. Experts examine the vehicle's condition, assessing its mechanical integrity, salvageable parts, and overall value. This evaluation determines the amount of cash the owner can expect to receive for their junk car.

The Transformation: From Clunker to Cash

Negotiation and Agreement

With the assessment complete, negotiations begin between the owner and the junk car buyer. Both parties work to reach an agreement on the sale price, taking into account factors such as the vehicle's age, condition, and market demand.

Removal and Transportation

Once a deal is struck, the next step is removal and transportation. Junk car buyers typically offer free towing services, ensuring a hassle-free experience for the owner. The clunker is towed away from its resting place, beginning its journey to a new destination.

Salvage and Recycling

Upon arrival at the junkyard or recycling facility, the clunker undergoes further examination. Salvageable parts are carefully removed and cataloged for resale, while the remaining vehicle is prepared for recycling. Every part, from the engine to the body panels, is carefully dismantled and repurposed, minimizing waste and maximizing value.

From its humble beginnings as a forgotten clunker to its transformation into cash and recycled materials, the journey of a junk car in Lawrence is a testament to the resilience of these vehicles and the ingenuity of those who salvage them. In Lawrence, the junk car Odyssey having help from Cash for Cars is not just a transaction—it's a story of renewal, resourcefulness, and the endless cycle of creation and destruction in the automotive world. Call them at 785 260 6400 to sell your junk car and earn cash.

#Junk Cars Lawrence

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steveskafte · 6 months ago

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ROAD AT THE HEART The final stage in the lifespan of an abandoned vehicle is when it reaches a heap of almost unidentifiable rust. What was it all, who knows? Like a pile of bones on the forest floor, too few constituent parts left over to be certain. It's sometimes tough to imagine it all going someplace, rolling down the road at the heart of a life long gone. If existence is really made up of nothing but stories – and I sure enough believe that – then a disembodied door is little different than any other human remains. These tiny junkyards, collected one or two forgotten family cars, sometimes seem as holy as any burial ground. They're where we left out past, and accepted that some part of it would never have a future. It's the ultimate turnover of is becoming was. May 27, 2024 Harbourville, Nova Scotia Year 17, Day 6042 of my daily journal.

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saturniiinae · 7 months ago

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//somewhere in bodie, washington//

i am a ghost town if a ghost town were a human being. disconsolate, wanton, dissolute.

sometimes, the orchard would catch on fire & we would walk the mile behind the old mennonite village to watch it get put out.

walk 6 more miles & you might find something else.

raised by the junebugs & coyotes & bobcats. we shared a pear, the sticky juice dribbled down our chins & he waved goodbye as he disappeared into the tumbleweeds & junkyard cars.

i miss him.

#dreamjournal.txt

0 notes

yulia-juniper · 11 months ago

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I would of had a blast as a little kid if I was him I would try to fix all the cars fsss lmaooo

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the-firebird69 · 1 year ago

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Can GrowJack Make this Ranchero Run Part 10

So he knows it's me and I'm trying to get this thing going and it works I'm fixing it as a bear is old and rusted but still works and these things are like tanks and I said I know it kind of job you could do at the circus it says he wants to do it and then Arnold has been talking about it a little so I asked him he said no right now I said what about a comedy act. He said he has some jokes you have to hand them back to him and say their hours if you can't use them it's a good idea so they start we started talking about it and he said later it gets big and since I didn't know it I was a baby giant I guess I was saying it and they all laugh it's a great job at the circus it's to be the strong man and you walk around and people look at you in there and they have to do stuff and pose with them and lift things a lot of women like being lifted up and a lot of men get mad it's a good job and he has to make money he's saying to me is at some point of being so big he can lift up cars and bring them to people when they buy them it's a way to sell cars so I thought of this idea he can be a server and serve people cars for people to drive away with but at a rental place and I can rent all sorts of different cars and call it jalopy rentals and he says it's a great idea because we can't get new cars these days and you could rent to buy or rent for a certain period of time or rent to own and that's great it's like Lee Stone anything and it's true too he's a great ideas because people need transportation and they can test drive the car for a day and see if it works boy great ideas both of us together it's terrific he says that's awesome I've never heard of anything so smart coming out of any of you people except for BG so I say this we may have heard it from you before yeah.

Brad

You might do the idea without the strong man that's a good idea

Olympus

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nancys4gf · 2 years ago

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second chances | steve harrington

summary: you were the original babysitter when steve joins the gang, and it doesn't make you very happy.

pairing: steve harrington x reader (non gender specific)

warnings: none

note: hii i hope you enjoy this imagine set on s2!! i love steve's development and his dynamic with the kids so i wanted to write a character who learns to appreciate him. kinda enemies to lovers??? but it's not exactly enemies, reader just doesn't like him much lol. also, requests are open!

̟ ̇.˚︵‿୨♡୧‿︵˚.✩

“i’m not around for a day and you replace me with steve harrington?”

“you weren’t here, so.” dustin retorted, and you glared at him.

“i’m sorry, i was too busy trying to find that ugly lizard of yours.”

dustin gasped. “keep dart’s name out of your mouth.”

“no one’s replacing anyone,” mike rolled his eyes. “let’s just, work together as a team, okay?”

you stared at steve, who stood uncomfortably beside dustin. you didn’t bother hiding how unconvinced and discontent you were with the situation. as soon as steve caught your gaze, he straightened up and gave you a hesitant smile. you narrowed your eyes at him, before sighing and jiggling your car keys.

“alright, where to?”

— ❀ —

“i don’t understand why you hate me so much.”

you were walking ahead, the kids following behind as you threw pieces of raw meat on the train tracks in order to catch dart’s attention.

“i don’t hate you,” you said, throwing a piece of meat so violently that steve doubted the sincerity behind your words.

“alright, then, why do you not want me here?” he tried again.

“you’re steve harrington.” you stated obviously.

“have been for a while, yeah.”

“i don’t like you,” you looked at him, noticing the way his eyebrows furrowed, his mouth drawn in a tight line. “i haven’t forgotten the way you treated jonathan, and nancy. how you talked about will going missing. they’re my friends, you know. just because you know the truth now doesn’t make it right.”

steve stayed quiet after that. you glanced at him a couple of times, but he wasn’t looking at you. he kept his gaze fixed on the ground, his movements automatic as he continued laying out the pieces of meat. you didn’t speak again either.

— ❀ —

it was silent and dark in the back of the abandoned bus. you could only hear max’s uneven breathing next to you, while she gripped your hand with so much force that would surely leave your skin red afterwards.

you guys were currently hiding in the junkyard, dart’s chitters and growls piercing through the silence as you waited for something to happen. for anything to happen.

“he's not taking the bait. why is he not taking the bait?” steve whispered.

“maybe he’s not hungry?”

“maybe he’s sick of cow.”

“stay here.” you said finally, not being able to stay still and do nothing.

“where are you going?” max asked exasperatedly, tightening the grip on your hand.

“to distract him.”

“are you insane?” dustin chimed in.

“be quiet,” you said, looking each of the kids dead in the eye with what they called your ‘very serious and scary face’. “and get ready.”

“i’m coming with you.” steve stepped in, already holding his bat.

“no, you’re watching over the kids. i don’t need help.”

“no offense, but i think you do.” dustin said, staring out of the window.

pushing past steve, you looked out and watched as dart was joined by other two demo-dogs.

“can’t we just stay here?” max pleaded, her hand now interlocked with lucas’.

“they’ll come here,” steve reasoned. “we’ll keep them away, won’t we?” he looked at you, waiting for an answer.

you took a glance towards the yard again, before letting out a defeated sigh and nodding your head.

— ❀ —

“you should be less stubborn.” steve said, running a finger along the cut on your forehead, wiping the blood that was trailing down your face. result of you falling on your face in the middle of the woods.

“we’re lucky nothing happened.” was all you said in response, his lingering touch on your skin stinging.

the kids were walking a couple of steps ahead of you as you wandered the woods. max and lucas’ were still holding hands, talking enthusiastically about what they had seen and what they’d do now. dustin was quieter, occasionally glancing at his friends’ interlocked hands.

“he totally has a crush on max.” steve whispered to you, and you looked at him in surprise.

“yeah?”

“oh, yeah. he came to me for advice.”

“uf,” you exhaled. “mistake number one.”

steve rolled his eyes.

“you know, max is almost as stubborn as you,” he observed. “but at least lucas managed to soften her up.”

“what are you saying? that you want to soften me up?” you asked playfully, and steve shook his head, a teasing smile growing on his face.

“i wouldn’t dare.”

“so, if you don’t mind me asking,” you said, dodging a branch under your feet. “what are you doing here?”

he shrugged. “dustin said he needed help with this… demo-dog, and well, when i had to fight one of those things, it was pretty scary, to be honest. i couldn’t let him deal with that on his own, i guess.”

you stared at him as he talked, noticing the sweat gathering on his forehead, the way his hair was barely disarranged, except for a few strands that had fallen out of his otherwise impeccable mop of hair. he watched where he was going, but he never took his eyes off the kids for longer than a second, attentive to their every move, occasionally calling out to them not to go too far.

“you know,” it was only when he talked again that you realized you hadn’t said anything in response. “what you said earlier, i get it, i really do. i was an asshole.”

“a massive one.” you retorted, eager to exploit the once in a lifetime opportunity of getting steve to admit he was wrong.

“yeah, a massive one, anyways—”

“a really, really exceptional asshole.”

“okay! yes, i was the world’s biggest asshole. what i’m trying to say,” he glared at you impatiently, urging you to stay quiet. “i don’t know how to say this without sounding like a douchebag in a bad teenage movie, but i’ve changed. i know now that i shouldn’t have acted like that. isn’t that good? that i understand i was wrong and that i’m trying to make it right?”

he stared at you. “isn’t that enough for a second chance?”

“i don’t think i’ve ever given you a chance at all, in the first place.”

he groaned loudly as he stared at the sky, and you thought that maybe you had finally exhausted him, and he would finally give up this pursuit to gain your approval.

“just… give me a chance? please?”

the steve harrington you claimed to hate so much wouldn’t care whether someone liked him or not, let alone actively do things to compensate for the way he acted in the past.

“well, you’re here now, aren’t you?”

when he looked at you, you were smiling at him. it wasn’t a snarky or mocking smile. it was the type of smile he saw you giving your friends, a genuine, kind one. he couldn’t help giving you a big grin in return, nodding his head proudly.

when he looked ahead again, he saw dustin giving lucas a piggy ride, and rolled his eyes as he scolded,

“dude! get down!”

steve walked up to the kids, softly hitting dustin in the head and telling him to be careful: they could fall, they could get hurt. you laughed, watching the scene unfolding in front of you.

maybe steve harrington wasn’t so bad after all.

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington fluff #stranger things imagines #stranger things au #stranger things 2 #joe keery #stranger things one shot #stranger things fluff #steve harrington imagines #steve harrington au

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thebonggirll · 3 years ago

Text

chapter eleven

< previous: chapter ten

Y/N got down from the vehicle and stood a little far away, away from Ares to be precise. She was still thinking about Percy's words. She wanted to believe in whatever he was saying but she couldn't hope for something more when in fact it was only one-sided all along. If anything, she wanted to avoid saying something that would give away the fact that she still has a crush on him.

Still. Expectations.

Harris made her blush and heart beat faster but there was something about Percy. She didn't know what it was, maybe the fact that whatever they went through, he never abandoned anyone. She spent more time with him than Harris. Sure, she felt something for him but...the real question was...if given a choice, would she pick Harris?

After a while, Ares opened the car door and grabbed Percy's shoulder, pulling him out of the car and back into the desert night.

The audience with the goddess of love was over.

"You're lucky, punk." Ares pushed him away from the limo. "Be grateful."

"For what?"

"That we're being so nice. If it was up to me—"

"So why haven't you killed me?" Percy shot back. It was a stupid thing to say to the god of war, but being around him always made him feel angry and reckless.

Y/N sighed and walked towards him, holding his arm, "The others are waiting. We should leave."

Ares nodded like she'd finally said something intelligent.

"I'd love to kill you, seriously," he said turning to Percy, "But see, I got a situation. Word on Olympus is that you might start the biggest war in history. I can't risk messing that up. Besides, Aphrodite thinks you're some kinda soap-opera star or something. I kill you, that makes me look bad with her. But don't worry. I haven't forgotten my promise. Some day soon, kid—real soon— you're going to raise your sword to fight, and you're going to remember the wrath of Ares."

Percy balled his fists. "Why wait? I beat you once. How's that ankle healing up?"

Uh oh. There it was. Exactly what she feared. She didn't want him to bring it up. But thankfully, Ares didn't show much anger.

Instead, he grinned crookedly. "Not bad, punk. But you got nothing on the master of taunts. I'll start the fight when I'm good and ready. Until then... Get lost."

He snapped his fingers and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a cloud of red dust. They fell to the ground.

Percy stood up as he helped Y/N get up, holding her hand, and realized that the limousine was gone. The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila Claw was gone. All of them who were out on the quest were now standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction.

Maybe it was the fact that it was just the two of them away from their friends, but they were still holding hands. Or maybe it was the small conversation they had with Aphrodite.

"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked once they'd told them about Aphrodite. Needless to say, omitting all the parts involving their own feelings and...love life.

"Oh, uh, not sure," he lied. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."

Although Y/N stayed quiet, her curiosity wasn't leaving anytime soon. She wanted to know about the conversation that took place after she left the car.

She wanted to know if she was in any part of it.

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful, Percy. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."

"For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."

Grover was looking at both of them funny. Being empathic and all, he could usually read my emotions, and maybe he knew exactly what Aphrodite had talked to them about.

"Well, I for one know what went down in that car," Thalia chuckled looking at their hands. Y/N blushed and snatched her arm away quickly.

Percy seemed to understand the context but, strangely...he didn't mind holding her hand for once.

"So," he said, "how do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoe said. "That is west."

"How can you tell?"

"Ursa Major is in the north," she said, "which means that must be west."

She pointed west, then at the northern constellation, which was hard to make out because there were so many other stars.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "The bear thing."

Zoe looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."

"You act like it was real."

"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

They'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff... some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Percy said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!"

"Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!"

It seemed to catch Y/N's attention too. And she wondered when exactly her special bow and arrow would start to act special. So far it had been nothing but ordinary. Although she didn't want to admit it, it was becoming hard to trust its "specialty" knowing after so many dangerous fights, it didn't work once.

Bianca yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!"

Zoe's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca."

"But—"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed."

Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down.

"I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear. This made Y/N realize the pull in her stomach. Some kind of fear. Something felt wrong.

Something was about to go extremely wrong.

"You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" Percy asked.

She gave him a hard look. "Zoe is right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard."

"That's the second time you've agreed with Zoe," he muttered, but Thalia ignored him.

"No," she tugged his sleeves and said, "they're right." Percy noticed how her demeanor visibly became cautious. He wouldn't believe anyone in this case, but if it is Y/N, he knew how her words of caution that often they disregarded back in the earlier missions, were all right. It wasn't something that they should've ignored. It would be careless of them if they didn't look out for trouble.

They started picking their way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, they would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

Finally, they saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. But between them and the road...

"What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead of them was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

Bianca frowned. "They look like—"

"Toes," Grover said.

Y/N's heartbeat fastened. This wasn't a good sign. Her feeling of something 'troubling' was gradually becoming stronger.

Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes."

Zoe and Thalia exchanged nervous looks.

"Let's go around," Thalia said. "Far around."

"But the road is right over there," he protested. "Quicker to climb over."

"Just listen to her Percy," Y/N sighed in annoyance. He was making it harder. She couldn't understand why he still continued to be stubborn in every step when all of them were not feeling good about the whole situation. At the very least, he should trust her. Right?

After several minutes of walking, they finally stepped onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch of black asphalt.

"We made it out," Zoe said. "Thank the gods."

But apparently, the gods didn't want to be thanked. At that moment, they heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal.

Behind, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and they realized why they looked like toes. They were toes.

"Talos!" Zoe gasped.

"Who—who's Talos?" Percy stuttered.

"One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia said. "But that can't be the original. It's too small. A prototype, maybe. A defective model."

The metal giant didn't like the word defective. He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship.

"Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?"

She stared accusingly at Percy.

He shook his head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief."

"Honestly, we are in a life-threatening situation, just drop it!" Y/N said, "Greed is a part of being human. It's natural, no one cares. We would care though if it ends up being the cause of someone's death!"

The giant defective Talos took one step toward them, closing half the distance and making the ground shake.

"Run!" Grover yelped.

The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed. When they reached the wreckage we searched frantically, yelling Bianca's name. They crawled around in the vast hollow pieces and the legs and the head, searched until the sun started to rise, but no luck.

Zoe sat down and wept.

"I should've...should've seen this coming," Y/N's eyes started glistening, "I shouldn't have said those things. What..what did I do."

Bianca took a figurine from the junkyard and later went inside the machine in an attempt to put an end to the fight. In the end, blue flickers of electricity shot up his body due to the power lines. It was hopeless to find her. She stood in her place and knelt down. "This is what I meant," she said, "I felt something was about to go wrong."

Thalia yelled in rage taking her sword and pointing it at her neck. "Why didn't you tell us!"

"I couldn't! I didn't know for sure!" Y/N shouted, "You think I kept away the information on purpose?"

"Well, I don't know! How would I know if Percy doesn't believe in your warning either?!" Thalia withdrew her sword and walked towards the giant's body again.

It hurt.

She knew Percy for quite some time now. Y/N knew he didn't trust her words or take them seriously. He never did. She couldn't understand how after spending all this time, this was still a problem between them. What was it about her so untrustworthy? Why?

Why?

The question bothered her for as long as she remembered. The only people who were supposed to understand and trust her didn't care about her. It felt awful. She only came to the quest for Annabeth. Just for her.

But who really knows.

Did Annabeth even expect her to be there? Would it disappoint her to see her with Percy knowing how she feels about him?

No one took her words of warning seriously. And now it was her fault that Bianca was gone?

"We can keep searching," Percy said, "It's light now. We'll find her."

"No we won't," Grover said miserably. "It happened just as it was supposed to."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

He looked up at him with big watery eyes, "The prophecy. One shall be lost in the land without rain."

The group stood, trying to wrap the situation around their heads. The silence would've been deafening if it wasn't for Y/N.

The only thing keeping them from breaking down completely was the sound of Y/N's voice as she tried her best to sing a hymn in a shaky voice. A beautiful hymn for healing their bruised bodies.

She can't heal their minds, but the least she can do is heal their body. Percy slowly put his hand on her shoulder as an assurance. For support.

Support? Now?

Y/N shook his hand off her shoulder and started singing properly, trying her best to block him out. He never stood in her support whenever anyone spoke ill of her. She knew it was selfish of her to even think about herself when someone is dead. But she couldn't help it. He surely knew how much it hurt her every time. But he always stayed out of it whenever such quarrels took place.

She didn't need him. They were originally just someone belonging to the same camp of half-bloods.

And that's how she's going to treat him from now on.

next: chapter twelve >

book three: the titan’s curse

percy jackson x reader series

MASTERLIST

Tags: @the-natureofme @sly-prince @kookiedesi @instabull @jumpingtrainsandflyingskies @idk-bye-no @your-typical-giggle @fjschl @imuziawi @iamparou @marshmallow12435

#percy jackson #percy jackson and the titans curse #percy x annabeth #percy x reader #percabeth #percy and annabeth #annabeth chase #annabeth PJO #PJO #PJOverse #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson x you

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thesquidkid · 3 years ago

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Lately I've been feeling so alone

Based of this post by @milady-bugg, thank you for letting me use it as inspiration for a fic 😁

This is sadder than intended, and full of Michael Guerin feels, hope you'll enjoy! This is also quite long (5.4k lmao), so you can read it on AO3 if you prefer.

Michael had isolated himself in his bunker, not letting anyone - even Sanders - in. At first, there were a few knocks, the door opening a few times and each time, Michael would slam it shut with his powers. He needed to process. It was one thing, to know that you were the son of a monster, another to face the man as he gave his own son a heart attack. Father of the year, right here!

So Michael had isolated himself between 4 walls, literally underground, where he could let all his anger free without hurting anyone. But the others couldn’t really understand that, and he couldn’t blame them. So everyone went on to live their lives, do what they were good at.

Isobel and Rosa were looking for Max, searching every cave, every abandoned house, turning every stone, using Rosa’s new found ability. Liz was making sure Maria stayed stable and healthy, her state hadn’t really decreased, but it hadn’t improved either. Whatever was going on, she seemed to continue the fight. Because Maria DeLuca was her own saviour, every damn time.

Michael didn’t have any news of Alex, just that he had found Kyle and that he was safe. He had hesitated calling Alex a few times, to compare notes on shitty father, but that wouldn’t have been fair to Alex, the person who tried every damn day to distance himself from his father, to fix what he broke, to be a better man.

So Michael was alone, in his bunker, with Sanders coming in every once in a while to complain that Michael wasn’t working, but both knew it was just an excuse to check up on him, make sure he was doing fine.

And really, he was. After the initial shock of finding out that his father was a copy of his brother (really, all those times Max had played his father, it was just in his DNA), where he completely and utterly lost it, he was now in a much calmer headspace. He had repositioned all the furniture that had been thrown against the walls, had done some extensive cleaning and given back a few tools and random parts he found to Sanders.

Although, he was still feeling empty. Had emptied his entire body, crying, shouting, wanting to break stuff with his powers, but knowing that if he did he would have to replace it somehow. And he was still broke. So he had to figure out another way of letting his emotions free, that didn’t involve breaking the little stuff he owned, and regretting it.

Instead, he focused on what he was good at. Had put all of the alien tech he had on the main workspace, fiddling with it at first, letting his hand move freely on it, feeling the way the tech reacted to him. From then, he realised that he still didn’t completely know what the tech could do, had assumed it was only part of the ship, but the recent events, with Kyle’s radio and Jones’ sword, he was getting curious as to what he could do, with his imagination and mechanical skills.

This is where it all started, with the alien glass and his tools, letting his hands move as they desired, his mind still busy thinking about - well, everything that happened in the last few days, from Jones being his father, to Max maybe still nearly dying, to Maria being in a coma, and to Alex being God knows where doing God knows what.

As he thought about his friends, his family, his people, his fingers were doing something similar. This is how he found himself, after three days in the bunker, barely sleeping, not at all in contact with the outside world - only going out to take a shower, get some food, and use the toilet in the airstream - with a bunch of glass objects, clearly designed for his friends, and not knowing what to do with all of it. Well, he knew, but that meant going out and seeing them, their faces, probably full of pity, no one knowing how to address the elephant in the room - Jones.

He was building up the courage to get out and gift his creations as peace offering, or whatever they wanted them to be, when he was disturbed by a knock on the latch, then it opened, followed by a very familiar voice that he didn’t expect to hear any time soon.

“Look, Guerin, I get that you want to be alone right now, and uh, yeah -” Alex Manes said, passing a hand across the face, fighting the want to jump down that ladder, understanding more than anyone what being the son of a monster felt like, and even then, neither of their experiences were comparable. “I’m just here to tell you that, ah, Maria woke up, and uh, she’ll be staying in the hospital for a little longer, so uh, yeah that’s what I came here to say.” he finished, and stood up from where he was crouching above the opened latch, looking down in the bunker but not seeing more than the ladder and light. He could also slightly distinguish Michael’s shadow, glowing under all the lights he guessed were alien.

Michael thought Alex had left, and nearly closed the latch using his powers, when he heard the last few words, barely a whisper, but clear as day to him. And he knew that Alex knew that he heard them. “I’m here. If you ever want to talk, or whatever. I’m here for you, Michael.” And with that, Alex left, understanding the peace of being alone with your thoughts, and knowing that Michael would come out whenever he was ready to.

And he was ready to come out. Soon after he heard Alex’s car leave the junkyard, he rushed to his airstream to take a shower and change clothes, taking with him the glass object he had made for Maria. When Sanders saw him leave the airstream, showered, dressed in clothes that hadn’t been worn the past three days, smiling, he couldn’t stop the teasing comment, “If I knew getting your boy here would get you out, I’d have done it long ago.” Despite the comment, he was glad that Michael was feeling better, and even more glad to hear the “Not my boy. Maria’s awake,” that came from Michael as he drove away, leaving Sanders in the junkyard, a smile on his face. The kid was starting to realise that family wasn’t the blood coursing through your veins, but the people you choose to surround yourself with. He hoped Ms. Nora would be proud of her boy, wherever she was.

Michael drove to the hospital at a respectable speed, not wanting to get arrested the day Maria woke up - she would never stop making fun of him about it. He nearly ran towards her room, stopping only at the open door, taking in the people in the room. Liz was at the foot of Maria’s bed, holding a board with papers clipped to it - most likely Maria’s health results - talking with her hands, a large smile on her face. Rosa was sitting on the bed, next to Liz, exchanging side smiles with Maria, her entire body more relaxed than she had been since Maria’s coma. Isobel was standing to the side of the room, leaning against the wall, facing the door. She was the first to see Michael, making him smile back, and promising her to talk and hang out, by their psychic bond. Finally, he turned his eyes to the head of Maria’s bed, where the two Manes men who had gone against their father were sitting, Greg leaning against the back of the chair, a hand holding Maria’s and the other going up and down on her arm in a reassuring sign, Alex on the other side sitting with his elbows on his knees, chin resting on one hand, apparently the only one truly listening to what Liz had to say.

He cleared his throat, not knowing how else to announce his presence. “Mikey!” came the synchronised shout from the Orthecho sisters, “what took you so long, dude? We texted you ages ago!” Rosa teasingly asked, Michael not bothering with an answer and simply sticking his tongue out to her, earning him a roll of the eyes from Liz and Isobel, a full on laugh from Rosa and a slight chuckle from Alex.

“How you feeling, DeLuca?” he started to ask, his voice clear with worry, but remembering many of their conversations, he continued with something he knew she would prefer to him worrying too much, “I might check out some other bar if you stay out of the game for too long.”

And he seemed to have been right, as Maria giggled and stood up straighter, “Oh I’m not too worried you’ll be right back at the Pony in no time Guerin,” she said smiling at him, which Michael copied. “And,” she added, pointing her finger in his direction, “you still owe me 15,09 bucks, don’t think I’ve forgotten.”

Michael shook his head, of course she wouldn’t forget the drinks he had during the last year that he hasn’t yet repaid in services. Since it was the pandemic, they both didn’t have much money so they agreed that whatever drinks he ordered would be paid back in free car or bar maintenance, and vice versa. As if they weren’t already cutting deals for each other.

Feeling all eyes on him, especially since he had gone AWOL for the last three days, Michael cleared his throat once more and took a few hesitant steps towards Maria, ignoring everyone in the room but her. “I, uh, made you something?” he said, cursing himself mentally for making it sound like a question, “here,” he put his hand in his jacket pocket and took out four little alien glass hairpins, ‘it’s alien glass, I thought you might like them.”

He looked at her to see some tears in her eyes as she took the hairpins and observed them in her hands. “They’re, Michael, those are amazing ,” she said with so much sincerity that Michael was taken aback by it, “Thank you.” she added with a smile.

In the end Michael sat on the floor against the wall, listening closely to Maria talking about what had happened with Jones. He felt at ease, surrounded by his friends, still feeling the weight of Kyle and Max missing, but everyone enjoying this small light in what had felt like a week of pure darkness.

Being with Maria, giving them his creation, had given him the courage to talk to the others, and hand them their gifts. He went to see Liz, one day, as she was still in Kyle’s office, observing scans of Maria’s brain. He pointedly ignored those pictures, deciding that he wasn’t going to think of what his father could have done to Maria and her brain, knowing the guilt he would feel if he did. Instead he stood in front of Liz and handed her two teardrop earrings made out of alien glass.

She stopped in the middle of her sentence, and stared up at Michael who smiled awkwardly, her mouth agape as she took in the beauty of the jewelry. “Mikey, wow, I - I don’t know what to say.” she said, looking back and forth between the earrings and Michael.

“It’s nothing, Ortecho, really, I had glass laying around and -” he started to say but was interrupted by Liz. “Thank you.” she nearly shouted, standing up and bending him in a tight embrace, which he returned gladly. He then held up Liz’s phone as a mirror as she put them on and admired herself, making both of them laugh, before reality caught up, and they both needed to focus on Max, Kyle, and Maria. Liz kept the earrings the entire day, and wears them on any occasion she can, the alien colorful glass going with a multitude of clothing combinaisons.

The next person Michael gave a present to was Rosa. She was at the junkyard to train her powers when he surprised her with alien windchimes. He quickly used his powers to hang them up while she had her eyes closed and let the wind do the rest of the work. She opened her eyes in admiration of whatever sound she had heard and turned towards the source of it. “Woa,” she said under her breath as she walked slowly towards them, until finally touching them with her hands, letting the windchimes sing under her fingers, the alien glass slightly reacting.

“You made those?” she asked, turning around to Michael. He nodded, smiling, feeling quite proud of his work. “The sound they make,” continued Rosa, turning once again to look at the windchimes, Michael walking closer to her, “it’s - I don’t think I can compare it to anything.” He nodded once more, encouraging Rosa to continue, “It’s like a melody. I can hear the wind, but it’s different, it’s beautiful.”

She leaned against Michael who was now standing slightly behind her, Michael instinctively putting her arm around her shoulders, the two of them standing in the middle of the junkyard, admiring the alien glass windchimes Michael had made for Rosa. She would come buy the junkyard many times, listening at the way the wind circled through the windchimes, admiring their beauty.

After that it all happened really quickly; Rosa and Isobel found Max, Michael and Liz had been called to the rescue (Jones had apparently regained his body and vanished), followed by Kyle waking up, Greg and Maria rushing to some ranch in the middle of nowhere to get Kyle and Alex. Eventually, all this craziness died down for a bit, Max was hiding in Alex’s cabin in the woods, since Jones had used his body to commit crimes, he couldn’t really go grocery shopping without getting arrested, and Kyle had regained his job at the hospital. Michael seriously wondered how he hadn’t been fired yet, but he wasn’t complaining, at least someone in their group seemed to know what he was doing with his life.

He made his way back to the hospital, except this time to see the one person he swore he would never visit as a kid. A doctor. But not just any doctor, a doctor who was quickly becoming a good friend of his, which he obviously wasn’t going to admit. He walked in the corridors, knowing the place quite well by now, and knocked on Kyle’s office door. A tired “Come in” answered and he opened the door.

As soon as Kyle saw who was on the other side of the door, he groaned and nearly snapped, thinking that maybe now would be the time to get a new group of friends that didn’t have alien emergencies every four hours. Michael must’ve sensed what Kyle was about to say (something along the lines “I don’t care that the world is burning because of some alien invasion, I need sleep! And no, a coma doesn’t count.”) because he raised his hands in surrender, a smug smile on his face.

“Relax, no alien life or death situations, or at least not that I know of.” This had the expected effect, Kyle relaxed in his chair, crossed his arms on his chest and raised an eyebrow at Michael, silently asking him why he was here then. Michael closed the door behind him and sat opposite Kyle, on one of the patients chairs. Still smiling, he took out of his pocket two glass paperweights that he delicately put on the desk for Kyle to grab, just as delicately.

Kyle was silent as he turned the paperweights between his hands, admiring all the different angles, reflecting his desk light on the walls and papers he had on his desk. While Kyle was busy, Michael slowly put his hand in his other jacket pocket and took out a glass snow globe with a little cardboard UFO, two little plastic aliens, and pink fake snow. He put it on the desk and waited for Kyle to notice, after having put the paper weights on top of two small piles he had.

When he saw the snow globe, his face lit up with astonishment, and he looked up to Micheal, once again speechless. “I know what it’s like to see a doctor as a kid and being scared,” Michael said, not looking at Kyle but at the little snowball, “and I know it’s not the same, but uh-”

“I’m sure the kids will love it, Michael.” Kyle said, honestly. He took the globe and shook it, chuckling at the way the UFO dangled, the way the little Aliens wiggled and the way the pink snow fell on everything. “Thank you.”

Michael shrugged, “Consider it payback,” he said, with a sincere smile this time, “for all the times you saved our asses.” And with that, he stood up, waved awkwardly at Kyle (who waved back just as awkwardly) and left.

Kyle took care of the paperweights, who in reality weren’t so heavy, but never broke as they fell. All the kids that came by his office would stare at the little snow globe, admiring it, feeling calmer and safer during their appointment.

Isobel called Michael over the next day. She said she wanted to go shopping for Max, since he was stuck away and was getting bored (how he had already read all the books Alex gave him, was a mystery to Michael, but he supposed when there really wasn’t anything else to do…)

Michael ran on her doorbell and let himself in, using his powers to unlock the door. He made his way to the living room and sat on the couch, looking at the decorations of Isobel’s walls. This house felt more homey than the one she had shared with Noah, there were paintings on the walls he knew Rosa had made, a few old and useless metallic pieces he had turned into sculptures and decorations laying around in various places. But what was really different was the huge bookshelf, books varying from science fiction (for Michael), to inspiring novels (for Isobel) to fantasy and romantic (for Max), indicating that this wasn’t just her home for her, but that her brothers were welcomed here too.

Michael put on the table the necklace he had made, the pendant made out of alien glass and the chain from some silver he had laying around the junkyard, and waited for Isobel to come out. When she did, she smiled at Michael and sat next on his left, facing him. “Okay, so I’ve been thinking, and our brother isn’t really the best cook so -”, she started to say, but cut herself as she saw what was on the table.

She grabbed the necklace between her fingers, and looked to Michael, who was leaning against the couch, an arm slung over it, a bright smile on his face. He winked at her, when he saw that Isobel was looking at him, and she leaned against him, her heard on his shoulder, Michael folding his arm around her.

“It’s beautiful, Michael,” Isobel said, emotions strong in her voice, “thank you.” Mihael rubbed his hand on her shoulder, not really knowing what to say, but wanting her to know that he would always be there.

Isobel wiggled the necklace in front of his face, Michael taking it with a chuckle as he attached it around her neck. The two of them stayed like that, leaning their heads against each other, in silence, in peace. Eventually, Isobel stood up, hurrying Michael out the door and into his truck to go shopping for Michael. And if they were a bit later than what they had told Max, arriving with humid eyes, no one made a comment about it, Max glad to have some company and more books to read.

Michael went back to see Max at least once a day, staying for a few hours or a couple of minutes, always checking in. The two had a lot to talk about, especially the elephant in the room - Max being a clone of Michael’s father.

Michael found himself enjoying those little brotherly moments, and more so the one after they had done the whole Jones subject. Michael would make a few comments about Liz staying in Roswell, to which Max would respond with questions about Alex.

“You know,” said Max on the third day Michael came when they were sitting around a fire pit, enjoying a few beers, after Michael had strongly avoided any topic about Alex, while also admitting to having some feelings (which Max knew of already, subtility wasn’t Michael’s - and Alex’s - strong suit), “this is the first time you and I have talked about dumb highschool crushed together.”

Michael chuckled at that, a hint of sadness that Max quickly brushed, “Hey no, the past is the past man, I’m just saying that I’m glad we’re finally talking, you know? Feels like we’re finally not hiding stuff.” And Michael raised his beer bottle at that. It was indeed the first time that they were both completely open, no more secret. They both were at fault on that, but as Max had said, the past was the past, no point reminiscing, when you could focus on making the future better.

With those thoughts in mind, he took out of his pocket an alien glass bolo tie with little turquoise end caps on the ties, and handed it to Max, who took it. They were both hypnotised by the way the flames reflected on the glass, the way the colors seemed to dance in the night.

Max didn’t say anything, didn’t have too. He put his beer on the floor next to him, stood up and motioned to Michael to do the same. Once they were both standing, facing each other, they hugged deeply, strongly. In the end, all the other bolo ties Max owned got mostly replaced by this one, being worn at every occasion he could, always with his brother in mind.

Michael had two more presents to offer, and was sitting in his bunker, not knowing how to approach either of the people they were made for. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to figure one out, as the person in question opened the latch and climbed down the stairs with a grunt. “Kid,” came Sander’s voice as soon as his feet reached the ground, “think you can use that brain of yours to build a lift here? Getting too old for this.”

“Well no one is forcing you to come, old man,” Michael replied, although there was no true bite to it. In fact, he quite enjoyed the old man’s occasional visits, even if all he did was complain. Michael turned around to face him, “Everything all good up there?” he asked, wondering why Sanders had come down. Sanders just nodded at him and took the last steps for him to arrive at Michael’s level, leaning his hands on the workspace. “What you working on, kid?”

“Uhm, actually -” started Michael, now that Sanders was here, might as well give him the present, right? “I got something for you.”

Using his powers, he approached a little metallic sunflower he had made from scrap pieces found here and there in the junkyard, and had made the center out of alien glass. The whole thing was attached to a chain to be held up against the door to Sanders house.

Sanders grabbed the sunflower and looked at it intensely with his good eye, remembering the colors Ms Nora’s creations were, seeing them once again on that little sunflower. Neither said anything, nor made a step forward to hug, neither being used to physical comfort, but they both knew how much that gesture meant.

To Michael, it meant acceptance, family, a sunflower for all the sunflowers they grew at the junkyard over the pandemic. To Sanders, it meant pride, it meant having kept his promise to Ms Nora to take care of his son, it meant family.

The sunflower was attached by Sanders' door, the alien glass glowing under the desert sun, always turning to face it, like all the many sunflowers they had in their field.

Which led Michael to one last gift. And if he was being honest with himself, the one he dreaded the most. Also the one that took him the most time and the most research. A gift for Alex. Taking his courage in both hands, he sent a quick text to Alex before he could have any chance to doubt himself. Free right now? I think I might take you up on your offer.

He didn’t have long to wait, as his phone buzzed almost immediately, On my way. Be there in 30 . He rushed back to his airstream, ignoring once more Sanders’ comment about getting ready for his boy , to get changed and put beers in the fridge. He opened the door of the airstream just as he heard Alex’s car arrive, and sat on one of the chairs, two bears in hand, while he made his way over. Alex sat on a chair next to him, accepting the beer, in silence.

“I heard you were busy while in your underground lair, judging by the gifts I’ve been seeing pop up.” Alex said with a smile, taking a sip of his beer, turning his head to look at Michael.

Michael frowned his eyebrows, “I thought you were busy out of town?” he asked, barely stopping the bite from escaping his lips. Alex looked sheepishly away from Michael at that, “I’ve been trying to not distance myself too much,” she shrugged, his tone lowering, until being a simple whisper at the end, “to not drive myself crazy.” He shivered at whatever thought was going through his mind, then straightened his body and looked up to Michael, “Anyway, you said you’d take me up on my offer, I’m assuming you want to talk?” he asked, forcing a smile that Michael didn’t buy.

“The hell is going on with you, Alex?” Michael asked, with a bit too much force that he immediately took back at Alex’s defeated look, “First you tell me you’d burn down the world for me, then that you don’t want me anywhere you or whatever, and then you end up finding Kyle in some creepy farm, which might I add is the exact same farm you got stabbed in .” He took a breath, and continued, “So yeah, Alex, I want to talk, I want you to tell me what’s going on with you.” He stopped at looked at Alex, who didn’t really seem like he wanted to say anything, so he lowered his voice, taking back all the bite and anger he could, channeling how much he cared and worried about Alex, “You said you were there for me, it’s a two way street you know. I’m here for you too.”

That seemed to do the trick, as Alex’s teary eyes met Michael’s, who wanted nothing more that to wipe his thumb across his cheeks, to take away the fear and the pain he could see in those eyes. But he didn’t, they weren't there yet.

Alex took a deep, shaky breath and told Michael everything, from quitting the Air Force (getting a discharge with full honors, Michael could tell the pride in his voice as the last ten years of Alex’s hadn’t been totally useless), to joining Deep Sky, to the Lockhart machine, to his boss not being who he said he was, to discovering that the Lockhart machine had driven people crazy, to the reason he had been recruited by deep sky. After his explanations, he fell quiet, looking at Michael, not truly knowing what to expect.

What he didn’t expect however, was for Michael to get up hastily, move the airstream and rush to his lair, leaving Alex sitting on his chair, a half empty bottle of beer in one hand, tears in his eyes. But Michael came back, just as fast as he had left, holding some piece of alien tech mixed with metal in his hands. It took a moment for Alex to register what that object was, and once he did, he widened his already teary eyes in surprise, his mouth was slightly agape, his eyebrows were frowned, as he searched for the words to express his confusion, not wanting to get his hopes high. On the other hand, there wasn’t a multitude of people Michael could’ve made an alien prosthetic leg for.

Michael approached slowly with the leg in his hands, handing it to Alex once he was close enough. “I uh- I made you this.” he said, clearing his throat, while Alex was examining the leg, “It’ uh, lighter than the one you have now, but it’s also more resistant and, well, you could really bludgeon someone with it, if uh - if you wanted to.”

Alex kept looking at the leg, not saying anything, which Michael interpreted as him not being interested. “You don’t have to take it, if you don’t like it. I also made you this,” he rushed out, taking a braided leather cuff with a piece of alien glass as a stamp and handing it sheepishly to Alex, who was looking at him, with the same teary look he had for the past few minutes. Michael took a deep breath and sat back down, “Look,” he breathed out, “what I’m trying to say, Alex, is I’ve got your back, okay? I’ll build you whatever you need, I’ll go wherever you want me to, I’ll - I care about you.”

As Alex opened his mouth to say something, Michael raised his hand to interrupt, and continued, “And I’m the son of a literal dictator whose powers I’ve inherited. I can defend myself. And I know that you wanna protect me - I do too - but maybe we could, I don’t know, protect each other by being there?”

Alex, whose tears were now running free on his face, bent down to take his right shoe off, under Michael’s curious gaze, who could also feel tears running down his cheeks. Alex raised his trousers and took off his prosthetic, before grabbing the alien one and putting it on. He knew the size would fit, knew that Michael had worked hard on it, had probably had the idea of making him a new leg from the moment they met again, in front of that same airstream, under completely different circumstances.

They had gone a long way from that day, and they still had some more to do, but Michael was right. Maybe this time, they could be there, together, to take that new road, to protect and take care of each other, together. Before standing up, Alex attached the bracelet Michael had made around his left wrist, admiring the colors of the alien glass under the desert sun.

Alex stayed at the junkyard for some more time, until his alarm rang, informing him that he should head back to the Lockhart machine. Taking a deep breath, he turned to Michael, asking him if he wanted to come with, and together they drove to the farm, down a road they had both taken together once, but this time Alex wasn’t bleeding out.

After that day, Alex still went to the VA in Albuquerque for meds prescriptions and physical therapy once in a while, but all the repairs that needed to be done for his prosthetic, all the improvements, were done by Michael, in his lair, under Alex’s curious gaze, who wanted to know everything about Michael’s ideas.

After all his gifts, Michael found that he still had some alien glass laying around in his bunker. So he decided to turn it all into little rings, wanting to distinguish as much as he could from the weaponizing of the alien glass, like Jones had. Eventually, all of little friend group, all of his people, owned a ring.

And when the day came, when the fight with Jones reached its last stretch, Michael was ready. He didn’t have an alien sword like Jones had, but he had something much more. A group of people, by his side, all sharing his strength through the little alien gifts. His people, his family.

Lately I've been feeling so alone Can someone give the antidote to me so I can Finally understand where I belong

#i am soft for michael guerin #he has people 🥺#michael guerin #alex manes #maria deluca #liz ortecho #max evans #isobel evans #rosa ortecho #walt sanders #rnm fic #roswell new mexico #rnm #lyrics from Head Up by the score #thesquidkid writes

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