#and i’m a hostage immediately turned to the hijacker’s side

[teecupangel]

I would also like to add to this in terms of their fighting style.

And, because I’m me, I’m focusing on Altaïr as our Levantine representative (mainly because the Animus cheats and most fighting style/form are redone for Crusaders, Saracens, and even the Masyaf guards if you want to fight them)

Anyway…

Comparison between blorbo and the dude that should get wrecked... a lot:

Altaïr fights by deliberately placing his bladed hand behind him in an almost slightly awkward hand gesture:

The hand gesture itself could mean that this certain angle gives the fastest way to unsheathe the hidden blade itself:

The fighting form itself could be a way to keep his enemies from focusing on his hidden blade, to give him a chance to surprise them when the opportunity presents itself.

On the other hand, Altaïr’s bladed hand is in front of his body when he uses a short blade. This could be because it makes it easier for Altaïr to use his left hand to strike with the hidden blade once he’s close enough. It’s less about surprise but more about being quick and striking as soon as the distance is closed.

And this is interesting because…

If we assume Basim’s fighting style to be what the Alamut Assassins are using, he uses a combination of what we've seen from Altaïr:

The reverse grip would be more similar to Altaïr’s reverse grip when holding a short blade (and they also have similar bent knees in comparison to the position of Altaïr’s knees when he’s holding a sword) BUT he keeps his bladed hand behind him which is more in line with how Altaïr positions his bladed hand when using a sword.

Although, it should be noted that Basim also changes stance during the boss fight. The arrogance in this pose and the entire boss fight makes it clear that Basim is 'losing' to the memories of Loki and his thirst for vengeance. This could mean that this is possibly Loki’s usual fighting stance and not part of the Alamut Assassins’ way of fighting and that's why it looks so out of place.

Sidebar:

I focused on AC1!Altaïr mainly because ACR!Altaïr seems to use AC2!Ezio's animation instead of having his own.

For example, on the left is ACR!Altaïr's normal sword stance during Al Mualim's damsel-in-distress moment (1189) and on the right is AC2!Ezio being a menace in Venice.

Curiously enough, ACR!Altaïr unarmed stance during Al Mualim's barbecue party (1191, just a few... hours? Days? after Al Mualim's death) seems to be an inverse of AC2!Ezio's unarmed stance)

AC1!Altaïr has a more close stance when he’s unarmed than both ACR!Altaïr and AC2!Ezio and this is even stranger because the main reason why they couldn't guard using their hidden blade is that it's quite fragile. It took Altaïr changing the hidden blade before they could start guarding using it so a form where Altaïr would have an easier time raising his left arm to protect his face is strange as he gives an opening to hitting his hidden blade in the process.

About Ezio's Levantine Brotherhood Mannerisms:

Of course, considering Ezio learned a lot of his Assassin skills from both his allies and the Codex, it’s not surprising that he has a few of Altaïr’s techniques as well. This could also be the reason why the Italian Brotherhood (and Ezio in general) have more Levantine Brotherhood gestures. At this point, Altaïr (and, by extension, the Levantine Brotherhood) is crowned as a legend so it wouldn’t be surprising if other Brotherhoods try to emulate him and his Brotherhood (for example: Aguilar’s Spanish Brotherhood still amputated their finger even though it’s no longer required).

And, it should be noted that Altaïr is the one that ordered the Brotherhood to build branches far beyond the reach of Levant and its neighboring countries/cities. This meant that the ones who built these branches (including the Italian Brotherhood which were the Polos) would have been trained or, at the very least, more heavily influenced by the Levantine Brotherhood.

To go with the glove kink ask... Imagine Desmond AND the team ending up in Altaїr's time. They do relatively well. But what gives them away at the end is Desmond winding down and defaulting to the general etiquette of someone who habitually wears a hidden blade. A peculiar hand movement there, a habitual gesture there... And neither Rebecca nor Shaun even realized that was a thing happening. Meanwhile Desmond: *is melting from joy of subconscious desire fulfilment*

The “Desmond has a glove kink” ask that influenced this.

And the one who noticed it is an old informant who works as a stall owner. Shaun loves the tea leaves he sells so Desmond gets to go and buy them regularly because Shaun and Rebecca are still trying to get a firm grasp on the languages during the 3rd Crusades (and there’s a lot) while Desmond is heavily relying on his Bleed of Altaïr.

And it’s because of this that the informant noticed his usual posture and a lot of his hand movements to specifically be of Levantine Brotherhood origin, down to the way he always liked to hide his left hand unless he was sure that no one would notice a missing ring finger (and the informant is always surprised to remember that he has all five of his fingers).

And that informant sends word to Masyaf because it’s too strange. A man with the mannerism of an Assassin but not an Assassin?

Something was off.

And who gets ordered to check this strange man?

Altaïr before that fateful year when he failed in saving Adha.

Altaïr before the attack on Masyaf where he singlehandedly saved Al Mualim.

Altaïr before he became a Master Assassin, just as curious but less arrogant than he would become years later.

Altaïr with a face that looked too much like Desmond's that it could not be counted as a coincidence.

[zafirosreverie]

Imagine reader is a spider person and is trying to fight Agatha but she is just shamelessly flirting with reader, because she think reader is cute when flustered.

Bonus if the local people ship them.

Here it is, dear! I loved writing it and I hope you like it

Slippery little spider (Agatha x Reader)

You groaned as you evaded another purple ball of magic. This battle had already gone on too long, you had been fighting for hours (or so it felt) and you hadn't even hurt the witch. Not a single scratch.

She on the other hand, had already taken your breath away. In more ways than one, actually.

She had made you run and swing all over town, dodging her attacks (although you didn't know if you could call them that, because they really did nothing more than give you a small shock that made you shiver, but nothing more), climbing buildings, swinging from roof to roof.

But that wasn't exactly the real reason your heart was racing. No, no. That was rather due to the witch's words. It would have been easier if she had been insulting you, if she had made threats, if she tried to make you feel bad or insecure. But she hadn't done any of that. On the contrary.

She had been flirting with you the entire fight.

"And god, she knows how to do it" you thought, distracting you for a second.

Enough to be caught by the purple strings of magic. Damn it. You shuddered when you heard the laugh of the woman behind you. Too close, in fact.

"My, my. Look what the wind brought me. A little spider" Agatha chuckled, turning you around to look at her "You're slippery love" she smiled "But I'm always in the mood to play catch"

"Let me go!" you grunted, praying your blush wasn't so noticeable. Hell, up close she was more beautiful

"Now, now. Are we impatient, hot stuff?" She laughed "I guess decent people release spiders in the front yard after catching them"

You gasped when her magic pulled you so that you were inches from her. Her eyes immediately caught you, you have never seen eyes so blue and so beautiful.

"But I'm not a decent person, am I, gorgeous?" She smiled and brought her face close to yours. Too close, too far. 

Perfect.

Agatha blinked as you scooted underneath her, swinging toward a building. She smirked while she watched you swing away. Yup, you were a slippery and cute little spider, and she couldn't wait for your next encounter.

 _______

“Harkness!” you roared, making the witch turn to you with a smirk.

“Oh, there you are, honey” she said “I was starting to think you weren’t coming”

“Let them go” you said, talking about the bus she was making float behind her 

“Make me” she smirked

You frowned and shot one of your webs at her, tying her arms to her sides. She just laughed and dropped the bus, making you gasp and run to catch it, but it wasn't necessary.

You blinked as the cloud of purple magic engulfed the bus and set it carefully on the ground. You didn't know what confused you the most, the fact that she prevented the deaths of the people that a second ago she was holding hostage, or that said people were smiling, without any trace of fear on their faces. Shouldn't the driver have stepped on the gas as soon as I was on the ground ?!

“What the-”

“Is that a new mask, love?” the witch asked, landing behind you, freeing herself from your webs “I like it”

“I-” What?! You did wear a new mask, but so far, no one on your team had noticed or said something about it (which hurted you to be honest, because you worked so hard on the design), and here she was, saying she liked it? This was confusing as fuck.

“I mean, i liked the other one too, but this one” she smiled, approaching you and caressing your cheek “This one shows a little more of your precious face, love” 

You blushed and cursed her on your mind. She shouldn’t be making you feel like this! She was evil! She was supposed to hate you, not flirt with you! 

“I- I have to go” you said, stepping back.

“Aren’t you going to arrest me?” she smirked, stopping you

“Are you going to stay in jail?” you crossed your arms, already knowing the answer “Besides..you didn’t hurt anyone, nor destroyed anything. I guess there’s no crime here” you said and frowned.

Actually, now that you think about it, that was strange. Why would she make an entire bus fly, just to land it carefully the moment you arrived? And no fallen buildings? No murders? Anything? What was the plan here?

“Are you free tomorrow, hon?” she asked suddenly, interrupting your thoughts

“What?” You blinked

“Well, i was thinking about hijacking that store over there and taking hostages tomorrow. But if you're busy, I can do it another day. I don't want someone else to be sent to deal with me” She admitted.

“I- What?!” you asked, more confused than ever “Why would you tell me this?”

“Isn’t it obvious dear?” she smirked 

“What?” you asked and frowned, she just laughed.

“You’re too cute, little spider” she said, kissing your cheek quickly “See you tomorrow, love” she said, flying away and leaving you with more questions than answers.

__________

You walked to the store and asked to talk with the owner. A woman smiled and approached you, asking what she could do for you.

“You need to leave” you said carefully, making her blink and smile

“Why would i do that, dear?” she asked

“Because there’s an evil witch who’s going to hijack your store” you tried to explain. 

The woman chuckled and shook her head, making you frown. What was so funny about this? Didn’t she understand that she was in danger?

“My darling, don’t worry about it” she assured you “We’ll be fine. She promised to not hurt anyone and we’re more than happy to help” 

“Wait, what?” you blinked “Ma’am, i think you don’t know what-”

“Oh i know, dear” she interrupted you “Everyone around here knows, don’t worry, you don’t have to act here” she said before she turned to another customer that was also smiling at you.

A young man approached you and took you by the arm, pulling you out of the place. You frowned but before you could ask anything, he spoke.

“Sorry, i just needed you to know this” he said quickly

“Know what?”

“The reason why everyone here helps Agatha” he said

“Help her? Is she controlling them?” you asked, already making plans to stop the witch

“No” he laughed “She’s not controlling anyone”

“What? Then why is no one afraid of her?” you asked

“Because she’s not hurting us. In fact, she asks us first before she does something” he assured you 

“What?” you whispered, then remember the people on the bus “Wait, they knew she was going to make them float?”

“It was their idea”

“WHAT?!”

“Listen, we don’t know what’s going on between you two, but everyone here wants to see you two together” he said

“WHAT?!”

“Shhh” he pressed a finger on your lips “You two fight like an old marriage, and we all ship you, to be honest. She was confused too, but she seems to like you and started asking for our help. Now we’re all in a contest to see where you two will share your first kiss. So do me a favor and kiss her tomorrow, because that’s my grandparents’ store and I want them to win” he said and smiled before walking away, leaving you alone and blushing.

She liked you. 

Agatha liked you.

AGATHA HARKNESS.

LIKED

YOU

You started to panic and quickly swung out of there, repeating that thought over and over again. She liked you. And you had a date with her tomorrow. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit-

[nonclassyparty]

less than zero (chapter 2 preview)

you can read the previous parts here!

the full chapter will be posted this Friday!

SUMMARY OF LESS THAN ZERO:

After being severely infatuated with the campus' playboy, to her absolute rage, Park Yeonsoo was left with her heart trampled and ran over. Two years and many tears shed later, she swore she was over him and intended to spend her last year in college drama and heartbreak free. The playboy himself, on the other hand, has very different plans. He's gonna try his very damn best to get the girl.

PREVIEW:

Messy, black hair that framed his face perfectly. Tan skin. Full lips, pretty nose and alluring eyes. He was tall and lean, clad in a pair of black slacks with a white shirt tucked in. Yeonsoo was positive that Professor Choi hijacked his TA from the runway and was holding him hostage because why otherwise would he be assisting this snooze-fest of a subject.

"The TA is hot." She whispered to Tzuyu who hummed in agreement, Yeonsoo could tell with a side-glance that her friend was smirking which caused an immediate smirk on Yeonsoo's face as well. Yeonsoo knew her friend was about to say something extremely inappropriate for an innocent class held by an almost 60 year old Professor who kept going on and on about beams surrounding the building they were currently in and she sucked in her lips.

"The only beam I want to discuss right now is the one inside that hunk's pants." Tzuyu muttered causing the freshman boy sitting in the row below them to choke on his water.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ." Yeonsoo muttered, lowering her head to not show the grin painted on her lips right now.

"You mentioned it first, I know you want to go for some after-hours beam discussion inside his office, as well Yeonie." Someone cleared their throat behind the two girls.

"I don't want to be discussing any beams with anyone. " Yeonsoo whispered in amusement, holding her laughter. "I'm just saying he's good looking."

"Mhm." Tzuyu was unhinged when it came to men. She was in an on and off relationship with a guy named Haein who was 5 years older than her. He loved Tzuyu and Tzuyu loved him but she loved pissing him off more because if it wasn't going Tzuyu's way then it's going no way. And when she wasn't being bratty with her boyfriend; Tzuyu was a good person, one of the most generous people you've had the pleasure of knowing but she also had absolutely no filter when dick was involved. "Maybe he'd let you off from doing the semestral project if you let him bend you over his office desk."

"Oh my God."

Yeonsoo decided to end the conversation there with pink cheeks before it escalated into something even filthier, having some shame and respect for the people occupying the seats around the two girls. If Yeonsoo had to listen to Tzuyu's dick talk because she was her friend and was used to it, doesn't mean she couldn't do the rest of the people around them a favor and spare them of this conversation.

Yeonsoo looked around the classroom again, noticing that there were a lot of freshmen in the seats below her, she didn't want to look back behind her in fear that the professor would catch her ogling around the auditorium instead of paying attention. It was a smaller class, she couldn't hide that easily.

With a sigh, she rested her cheek in the palm of her hand and continued to pretend to pay attention, her eyes often wandering over to the TA who was typing away on his laptop.

After half an hour of staring into nothing while the lecture went from one ear through the other, Tzuyu pushed the attendance list, that finally made it's way up to their rows, towards Yeonsoo. Quickly signing her name on the piece of paper, Yeonsoo gripped the paper and turned slightly around to pass it on, with a small smile.

"Here yo-" The whispered words got stuck in her throat a little and her lips dropped from the polite smile to a straight line at the sight of a familiar pair of eyes and the charming mole just under one of them. Jung Wooyoung stared back at her with an unfamiliar look in those eyes. Yeonsoo cleared her throat. "Here you go."

He took the paper from her, not breaking their eye contact and the girl felt that familiar tremor from her bandaged heart. She snapped out of it, quickly turning around to stare at the blackboard.

"Thanks." He whispered back and she felt the hairs on her neck stand.

Yeonsoo seemed cool and collected on the outside but on the inside her mind and heart felt like they were going 100 miles per hour. She clenched her fists, an odd sense of nostalgia hitting her. Actually, catapulting her to her freshman year when she first caught him staring at her during that damn art subject she got nothing useful out of.

[peanutpinet]

Nine Percent scenarios my brain thought of when I first saw their pics

ALRIGHT FIRST OF ALL!! SILVER KUNKUN!! I’M DEAD!! NEXT OF ALL, I HAVE 2 DIFFERENT OF SCENARIOS WHEN LOOKING AT THIS PIC, MKAY!

SCENARIO 1: Kun saw you attending an event that he was also attending (let’s say mafia/gang meeting, which you have no idea of) and he asked for one of the staffs to guide you to another place so he could meet you and ensures your safety

“Please ensure her to the other room, I’ll be there shortly”

SCENARIO 2: So, second scenario, I can imagine Kun seeing a guy eyeing you from afar (let’s say it’s still the same meeting he was attending) and other men were either trying to come up to you/flirt with you (which, Kun does not approve whatsoever) and he requested permission from the staff so he can go to your side.

“I want them, in a room. Alive.”

ALRIGHT BOI!! THIS SMILEY SUNSHINE JUST FLIPPED 180 AND BECAME LIKE A CEO (NAHHH, ALSO THIS IS SCENARIO DOESN’T REALLY HV YOU BUT IT INVOLVES YOU, JUST HEAR ME OUT!!)

So, I imagine that Nongnong and you were very close, working under the same company and all. Then, our precious nongnong (because of his hardwork and sunshine smile) was promoted into the CEO of the company and he appointed you to be his assistant. THEN!!! Y’all had to attend this meeting with a business partner which was fine and all until the freaking representative of the business (a guy) was eye-f*cking you, would even discuss the business more with you instead of Nong (because let’s be real here, who would’ve thought this soft boi is the CEO). Time skip to after the meeting, Nongnong requested to meet this representative, alone!! 

Then, Nong was like “How about we talk real business here. Like how you were eye-fucking (OMO CURSE NONG) my assistant-girlfriend”

ALRIGHT, “BEATEN UP” CHENG IS LIKE HAWT?! LIKE HOW?! ALSO, THIS SCENARIO MAY BE A QUICK ONE BUT LIKE, THIS IS WHAT MY BRAIN THOUGHT OF SO YEA...

This pic, I imagine, something happened to you and Cheng was not going to let it slide that easily. After taking care of you and making sure you were safe and rested, he went out and hunted searched for the very people who hurted you. Not letting any of them to catch their breath, putting them down (not permanently, but feel free to imagine this), making sure they know who they were dealing with when they went out to hurt you, even if it means that he’s risking his own life.

“They should’ve gone for the head when they had the chance. Oh well, their loss. What’s done is done”

Alright, this may be slightly similar to Chengcheng’s scenario but not really. Let’s get to it!!

So, when I first saw this, I immediately thought of both you and Justin were held captive by another gang (9% is a gang of their own and Justin was just so happen to be with only you, not the others, and was busy protecting you, being outnumbered by a lot, hence why you both ended up being held captive). Both of you were in the same room and though it was just Justin getting beaten up for information at first (which he does not leak whatsoever), it wasn’t long before the gang decided to beat you up for information as well, or even to break Justin, making him leak something. INSTEAD!! What they got was a very pissed off Justin who eventually broke free (specifically, when his geges have arrived to save them and it distracted everyone).

Justin then had a one vs one fight with the one that beated you up and the building was starting to collapse. The opposite gang thought that maybe Justin was done for. BUT NOPE, CUE THE PICTURE!! HE SURVIVED

“I’m going to give you a light head-start. By the time I count to five, you better hope that you’ll be able to find an exit because, you’re nex7 (LMFAO CAN’T HELP IT)”

SOMEONE HELP!! I’M DED (AGAIN). QUICK TALK, THIS HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST PHOTO SHOOTS HE HAS DONE!! LIKE THE HAIRSTYLE, OUTFIT, ACCESSORIES (THAT STICK) IS JUST *CHEFS KISS*. ALRIGHT, ONTO THE SCENARIO BEFORE MY BRAIN FORGETS

So, I imagine that (again, 9% was a gang/mafia of their own, that is for a good cause!!) Yanjun was supposed to meet up with a “business partner” which he was not excited to begin with. But when he heard the news that you were hit on by the “business partner”, something in him was just burning up that he decided to invite them to his (more like 9%)’s bar and have a nice talk fight.

“I heard that you like playing with people’s feelings and emotions. Well, I like to play too. I like to play with pool, drinks, *shifts to dark gaze* the items in this bar that will soon fly around and not to mention blood”

Alright, first things first, let us ignore the yellow fluffy jacket he has and imagine he was wearing a suit XD But alright, just like Kun, I have 2 different scenarios for Mama Ting!!

Scenario 1: He was fighting with a bad guy/person that “accidentally” hurt you and the guy ended up being limp, trying to escape Zhengting. Buth oh ho no boi, you mess with the wrong person. Thanks to his long flexible legs, he managed to get through every obstacle and following the limp guy in the escape stairs.

“You should really save your energy to say your last words instead of escaping from me. Because, let’s be real, you can’t escape. I (actually the whole 9%) own this building”

Scenario 2 (a bit darker/yandere-ish): you had just found out that your boyfriend, Zhengting was basically “obsessed” with you. He doesn’t mind if you were with your friends that are girls. No, he’s actually happy that you have a good social life and maintain it. However, when it comes to guys, that was definitely not the case.

Sure, it seemed that he was the typical “jealous” boyfriend and he tried his best to not let it get the best of him. But when he found out that you and one of your best friends (that is a guy) went out together with your other friends and play an escape room together, to say Zhengting was jealous was an understatement. 

He felt slightly betrayed that you didn’t at least let him know that you were going to play an escape room with your friends and one of them just so happened to be your guy best friend. Ho-hoh, beware my friend because you were in for a treat.

What seemed to be a fake horror/thriller escape room quickly shifted to a real one the minute you and your friends heard screaming, realising that the scream came from your guys friend, all of you decided to run for your life. Shouting for help. When you saw Zhengting in the escape room, you were first relieved that your boyfriend came to save you. But when you found out he was the one that killed your guy best friend, you knew you had to escape. Unfortunately, escaping Zhengting after what you had done was nearly impossible.

“Sweetheart, where are you going? You know you can’t outrun me. I think it’s best for you to just give up. I wouldn’t want to harm you”

SORRY FOR THIS SUDDEN TURN OF EVENTS!!

First and foremost, can someone cast Ziyi (along with his bros) in like an action movie or something like dayum!!!

Alright, this is going to be a short and sweet one. You were basically held hostage and Ziyi finally came (with his bros, don’t worry) to save you. He looked at the situation and quickly diverse a plan so you wouldn’t get hurt anymore.

“Alright, Xiaogui, Cheng, create a diversion. Once they’re distracted, Jun, Justin, take them out but not kill them, we need information to what it is they want from (Y/N). Then I’ll try my best to release (Y/N). Afterwards, Nong and Zhangjing, quickly take her to safety”

Can I just say, dayum Xiaogui!! Boi skipped motorcycle, car, truck and straight for the plane (JK)

Alright, for Xiaogui’s scenario, I feel that him and the others managed to rescue you and some other hostages/victims from the enemy. However, the enemy manages to “escape”. Well, not really, since Xiaogui and Zhengting already devised a plan just in case if the enemy does manage to escape. Which is basically hijacking their system and transport. In this case, their plane 😎😎

“Hi, yes, captain Linkai a.k.a Xiaogui speaking. Do fasten your seatbelt as we prepare to head to prison shortly *cue him putting on those shades*” 

OMO!! YOU ZHANGJING IN A BAR?! LIKE!! GUYS!!! HE’S NOT JUST OUT FOR THE FOOD BUT THE DRINKS AS WELL!! OKAY OKAY, SCENARIO!!

The scenario I thought of when looking at this pic of Zhangjing is that he was spying on you and your friends (who were out partying) when the opposing enemy of 9% were at the same bar. At first, Zhangjing would be subtle with the situation. Not really showing himself and all. But when he saw you sitting at the bar and an enemy of the boys decided to hit on you (out of all the girls/guys in the bar), he just bluntly went behind the counter (because let’s be real, I’m sure the boys have enough money to buy a bar, LOL).

“Hi, welcome to our bar. How would you like your drink? Hot? Cold? Or punch? Like what I’m about to do to you if you do not get your hands off of her”

SORRY SORRY, I JUST HAD TO INSERT THIS GIF XD

[eretzyisrael]

What We Can Do About It

Last week I explained How They Did It, how the enemies of Israel – the Arabs, the Soviets, the international Left, and others – turned much of the West against us. What can we do about it?

I concentrated on the ‘softer’ aspects of cognitive warfare, such as the infiltration of higher education and international organizations like NGOs and UN agencies, corporations, the use of social media, the exploitation of minorities with grievances, and the support of public antisemites (e.g., Ilhan Omar). But we should keep in mind that more kinetic actions can also have primarily cognitive objectives. The PLO’s European terrorism during the 1970s paved the way for its conversion from a gang of despicable terrorists into a member of the UN, and for murderer and thief Yasser Arafat to become a “statesman.” The 9/11 attacks against the US changed the media portrayal of its Arab and Muslim citizens from “billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers” to hardworking citizens who are targets for islamophobic hatred (this is not the case with Jews, despite the fact that Jews are far more likely to be the victims of hate crimes today).

Terrorism works on various levels, but on the deepest, visceral one it creates paralyzing fear, which the mind – still subconsciously – tries to rationalize away by distancing itself from the victims and identifying with the terrorists. “Don’t kill me, I am on your side!” the terrorized mind shouts. “I’m one of the good ones!” (e.g, a “Jew for Palestine”).

The counterattack has to be planned, coordinated, and specifically targeted in all of the arenas, soft and hard, in which cognitive war is being waged against us. This is something the State of Israel has never come close to doing. Our efforts at public diplomacy have often been most charitably described as a bad joke, like the campaign to advertise Israel as a destination for gay tourism(“Come to Israel! We have nice beaches and we won’t hang you!”) At best we are reactive, responding to vicious accusations of war crimes, apartheid, and other depravities, usually long after the damage has been done. And we often ignore the cognitive implications of our actions, or the lack thereof.

It won’t be easy. Organized support for anti-Israel organizations (including those connected with terrorism) has been going on for decades, with millions of dollars annually flowing from sources like the George Soros organizationsand the European Union. Social media, especially, is constantly changing and new battlefields appear almost daily. Everywhere you look (e.g., Wikipedia) there is anti-Israel bias. And for every pro-Israel activist there are ten, or a hundred, attacking us.

An effective cognitive counterattack must have two parts: how we speak to the world, and – most important – how we act. Let me take the second part first.

There are basic human instincts that precede the ideas expressed in the UN charter by hundreds of thousands of years. Our actions must affect those instincts in a way that will cause others to respect us, and our enemies to fear us. I am not suggesting that we follow the example of the PLO and hijack planes in Europe, but our response to terrorism and threats from enemy countries (e.g., Iran) can be designed to have the appropriate effect. Humans are attracted to strength. They want to be on the side that’s stronger. They talk about the importance of moral and legal principles, but they bet on the winner. Our actions should radiate power and control, and even ruthlessness.

For example, no terrorist should survive his attack. Israeli security forces and the individuals involved have been sharply criticized, both by Israelis and others, for the “Bus 300 affair” in 1984, when two captured terrorists were executed in the field after interrogation. My contention is that this action sent exactly the right message, both to our enemies – “don’t try this or you will die” – and to the rest of the world – “Israel does not tolerate terrorism against her citizens.”

Our pusillanimous responses to Hamas, which has on numerous occasions killed Israelis and which today holds two Israeli citizens and the bodies of two soldiers hostage, is supposed to be justified for practical reasons, but is a total failure from the standpoint of cognitive warfare. When Israel bombs an unoccupied Hamas installation after arson balloons or even rockets from Gaza have burned crops or damaged buildings, the message that is sent is that we are too weak to protect ourselves. When our citizens are held captive while we supply electricity and water to the Gaza Strip, the message is that Hamas is in control, not Israel. I understand the limitations of our power, as viewed by the IDF, but I believe that they are not weighing the cognitive aspects of the question heavily enough.

Recently, the IDF demolished the home of a terrorist murderer, a citizen of the PA who was also an American citizen, despite a request from the US State Department to desist. This was the correct action from the cognitive point of view, sending the message that Israel is a sovereign state which controls Judea/Samaria, and which does not tolerate terrorism. On the other hand, the continued presence of the illegal Bedouin settlement of Khan al-Ahmar as a result of pressure from the EU and the UN tells the world that Israel does not control the land.

Our greatest enemy is Iran, whose regime has explicitly threatened to destroy us on numerous occasions and is developing nuclear weapons. There are obviously multiple considerations that play into choosing the best response, from a pre-emptive strike on her nuclear installations to a continuation of the campaign of sabotage that Israel has been waging for the last few years. Cognitively, the best approach is the one that publicly demonstrates that Israel has the power to destroy the installations, regardless of the distance or their fortification. This could be a massive aerial attack, or it could be covert action that is made public after the fact. The worst case is that we refrain from taking action because of pressure from the US.

In the soft realm, one priority is to put an end to Israel’s self-imposed cognitive failures. There is no reason that Israelis should be allowed to act as paid agents of the EU or the international Left, as is the case with B’Tselem and numerous other anti-state organizatons. There is a weakly enforced law that requires Israeli NGOs that receive half of their funding from foreign governments to report that, on penalty of a relatively small fine; and even that was opposed by the Left and the Arab parties in the Knesset. It is absurd that these groups should be allowed to operate in Israel. All foreign funding – private or governmental – for political NGOs should be forbidden, period. Representatives of foreign NGOs hostile to Israel should not be allowed into the country.

Speaking of Arab parties, there is a Basic Law that says that in order to run for election to the Knesset, a candidate or list must not “[negate] the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” This law is interpreted loosely by the Supreme Court, so that Arabs who do precisely that can sit in the Knesset. That must end.

Israel has military censorship, which sometimes makes us look foolish when foreign publications are revealing details that Israelis are not allowed to read or hear from their own media, but at the same time, the Ha’aretz newspaper is allowed to attack the state, day in and day out, often using material from the foreign-funded NGOs. Foreign propaganda outlets make good use of it, saying “even Israelis admit…” This is unacceptable; it borders on treason, and it must stop.

There is a place for traditional hasbara, explanation, or presentation of the news from the viewpoint of the state. I am not sure why everyone is entitled to an opinion and a platform from which to broadcast it, while the state is not. Why not a government TV/radio/Internet news outlet, staffed with professionals who could respond immediately and accurately to false accusations? Doing this properly, so that it would be both authoritative and not boring, would be expensive and require high quality personnel that would not be easy to find; but it is worth doing.

Much of what I have suggested will be criticized because “it violates human rights” or it is “antidemocratic,” or similar things. I don’t disagree. But the idea that Israel has to be a paragon of human rights and democracy is wrong. It is an expression of the antisemitic idea that Jews must always be held to the highest of standards – indeed, to a standard that is continually raised so as to always be out of reach. Israel is not a Platonic ideal state; it is not even the United States. It is a tiny nation with no strategic depth that is surrounded by enemies who themselves violate every standard of civilized behavior. National survival is more important than human rights – especially when those defining the concept of human rights are indifferent (or worse) to our survival.

Abu Yehuda

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Get to the Chopper!

AH!?

*As Chiaki pilots the helicopter, Kyoko clutches her turning stomach.

You know, flights are supposed to be a little smoother than this...

I’m doing the best that I can...!

*Chiaki pursues the helicopter that Aruma and Kego hijacked beforehand. The two hijackers immediately notice.

Kego! Nosedive!

I see ‘em!

*To the unfortunate circumstance of the hostages, their stomachs are turned over they start to scream as Kego immediately nose dives. He does so to attempt to get out of Chiaki’s sight, but unfortunately it doesn’t work as well as he’d hoped. He pulls hard on the joystick and tries to right the aircraft again.

Easy Chiaki.

I got it!

*Chiaki also flies down after him, but is more cautious. She’s able to catch up with the hijaked helicopter and flies alongside it. Kyoko grabs a radio and switches it on.

Aruma Todoroki and Kego Sakuma. One warning: land your vehicle and release your hostages!

Here’s a better idea! How about you go to hell!?

*Aruma grabs one of the machine guns that Ayumu provided for him and shoots at the Future Foundation helicopter through the chopper window.

AH!

*Mahiru and Kyoko duck to avoid being hit by the bullets.

It’s ok. It’s an armored chopper, so regular bullets won’t pierce the doors. 

Kego! Steer right!

Huh! But I’ll-

Just do it!

*Kego steers right, and the blades of their chopper make contact with the Foundation helicopter! The fast spinning blades create a huge dent in the side of the armored vehicle!

WAH!

Ok, well, THAT’S a little more concerning...

Ok...What now? Negotiations clearly don’t, and aren’t going to work.

...

*Mahiru looks over at the UUV members flying the plane. Aruma is still shooting at their copter, not so much to hurt them, but to slow them down.

She’s shooting through the door...which means that the door is probably falling off it’s hinges right now...

*Sure enough, upon closer inspection, the door’s locks are undone and are just barely hanging on.

If she keeps shooting us that door will fall off and then...

...!

Alright. I’ve got an idea.

Let’s hear it then.

Chiaki. You can scan people’s IP and personal information through their phones, correct?

That’s true, yeah.

I know you’re busy flying the helicopter, but can you do a scan of the hostages in that chopper?

Huh? Um...sure...

They’re coming back!

AH!

*Kego attempts once again to shred the helicopter apart with the blades of their chopper. This time he does even more damage and almost cuts up the entire side.

Not much more we can take until we’re shredded...!

Hurry up Chiaki!

I’m trying! Ngh, Hajime, for crying out loud, get a BETTER data plan!

Up!

Ah!

*Chiaki breaks concentration to avoid getting shredded by the blades again.

Ok, I got it! They moved in close enough to get some accurate results.

Who’s in there?

I count three important figures. The first is Xue Jie. He’s the ambassador of China. During the tragedy he initiated a plan called Operation: Qīnglǐ. It was a method he put in place to ensure better hygeine in the country and help decrease the amount of illness and death that the tragedy brought about.

Number 2 is Darlene Fraley. She’s an English Representative who is well known for aiding the rebuilding of education systems both inside and outside of her own country. She apparently helped fight for schools and other such establishments mid-tragedy.

The third and final one is Nicole Tillery. She’s from Germany and she specializes in healthcare divisions. She was apparently an emergency and rescue pilot prior to joining the political world.

Tillery was an emergency pilot!?

Bingo! That’s what I wanted to hear! If she’s an emergency pilot...!

She can fly a helicopter!

Chiaki. Do you think you can somehow jump into her phone and deliver a message to her without Todoroki and Sakuma noticing?

I can if we get close enough, but the problem is if I leave this phone, I won’t be able to pilot the helicopter anymore. You’ll have to keep it stable by hand.

We don’t need to chase them, all we need to do is make sure we keep it steady in the air above them.

...What are you planning Mahiru?

Just trust me. Chiaki, if you can get in there, tell her this...That on the count of 3, she’s going to have to jump in front and take control of the chopper before it crashes. You got that?

What?

Ok, I’ll give it a shot. On the count of three, both of you take the controls.

1...2...3!

*Chiaki zips out of the phone, and Kyoko and Mahiru both grab the controls before the chopper can descend.

Nicole Tillery: Bitte Gott. Rette uns...

*Ping!*

Um...Hello?

Nicole Tillery: SCHEISSE-!

SHH!

*Chiaki holds up a hand to stop her screaming.

Don’t be alarmed! I’m here to help.

Nicole Tillery: Help? Us?

Yeah, but in order to do so, you need to listen to me.

You have flight training and qualifications, right? We’re gonna count down from three, and when we do, you’re gonna jump in front and take over the controls from the short guy, ok?

Listen, we have to time this, so make sure you’re focused.

Nicole Tillery: Konzentriert...Ok, I got it...

1...

2...!

Mahiru?

Ah! Crap! The door!

*Aruma continues shooting, and just as Mahiru planned, the door comes swinging off!

3!!!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

*To Kyoko’s shock and horror, Mahiru opens HER door too, and leaps out of it!

HYAAAAAAH!!!

*Like a professional acrobat, Mahiru grabs one of the copters legs and swings herself off of it, straight towards the other chopper!

WHAT THE FUC-!! GAAGH!

UUGH!

*Putting her whole weight into it, Mahiru drop kicks Aruma straight in the face, and she crashes into Kego too! All three of them go flying out of the other door, which bursts off it’s hinges!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!

AAAAAAAAAAHHAHA!

GAAAAAAGGH!

NOW NOW NOW!

*As soon as Kego is kicked off the controls, the helicopter spirals out of control, but within seconds, Tillery leaps to the front and resumes it’s righted position.

...!

PHEW!

*Kyoko breathes out a huge sigh.

*SPLASH!* *SPLASH* *SPLASH!*

GAGH!

*Aruma, seconds after splashing into the water below, resurfaces.

H-Huh!?

*When she looks around, she sees herself surrounded by blinding lights. And in front of those blinding lights are several armed Future Foundation Soldiers.

Soldier: Aruma Todoroki! You are under arrest!

...

Kego! KEGO!

*Aruma turns her back to the soldiers and keeps herself afloat as she desperately searches around for Kego!

Please! H-He can’t swim! Save him PLEASE!

*GASP!*

KEGO!

Phew!

*As Aruma panics, Kego suddenly resurfaces, with Mahiru holding very tightly onto him.

You...saved him?

Well, I’m not about to let you die...Who do you think I am?

K-Koizumi...Thank you...

*sigh*...You’re welcome I guess. You can repay me by coming quietly.

[365days365movies]

January 23, 2021: The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Car movie weekend continues!

So, Drive was definitely more of a straight-up action movie with driving scenes. I can assume that this movie’s the exact reverse, with more driving than other types of action. But, first...truth time. I’ve never seen this movie...but I have seen a Fast and Furious movie. To be specific...

Yeah, that’s the last one, The Fate of the Furious. See, my girlfriend is a HUGE fan of the franchise, so we saw that in theaters on a date. It should be noted, again, that this is the only film I’ve seen in the franchise. That is, of course, until today!

I actually enjoyed the last movie, so hopefully I’ll like the first. Ive also heard that the franchise has changed DRASTICALLY since the original movie. So, let’s get into it, and watch the birth of the Family, shall we? SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

A hijacking is taking place on the Los Angeles highway, as a delivery truck full of TVs and other technology is intercepted by an automobile gang using grappling hooks. Cool.

The next day, a guy in an electric green car (that I want, and would name Acid Storm) is doing a speed test in his car. This is Brian Spilner (Paul Walker), who goes to a place called Torretto’s for a sandwich. It’s namesake is Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) who waits in the back of the bar. His sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster) mans the bar, and is sought by Brian. 

This is to the chagrin of Vince (Matt Schulze), a potential rival for Mia’s affections. Along with Jesse (Chad Lindberg), Leon (Johnny Strong), and his girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), he’s a part of Dominic’s crew. Vince begins a fight with Brian over Mia, and Dominic intervenes, telling Brian not to come back to his place, threatening his job at one of his friend’s establishments.

That night, Brian goes to a local street race, which is run by Dominic. Brian enters the buy-in for the race by putting Acid Storm (Brian’s Car) up for collateral. Using complex nitrous oxide systems, or NOS, the racers begin.

Brian uses a liiiiiiiittle too much of the NOS, and while Acid Storm certainly goes faster, it completely craps out in the process, causing him to lose. As Dominic is chewing him out for his poor driving, and is about to take Acid Storm, the cops make their way to the illegal street race, causing everyone involved to scatter.

Dom’s nearly caught, but Brian picks him up, saving him in the process with some slick driving. In the process, it’s revealed that Brian spent two years in juvie, while Dom spent two years in Lompoc, a federal prison, and didn’t have a great time there. In the process of fleeing, they’re saved, then held hostage by Johnny Tran (Rick Yune), the leader of a Vietnamese gang, alongside his cousin Lance (Reggie Lee). They destroy Acid Storm in the process.

Dom returns to his place with Brian, where a party is taking place. He chews out the rest of the gang for leaving him behind, then leaves to go upstairs with Letty. As Vince is about to start a fight, Mia steps in, and offers to take Brian home.

The next day, however, he’s arrested by the cops, for seemingly no reason. And that leads to...a surprise! Brian’s an undercover cop, forking for the LAPD and the FBI! Surprise! His real name is Brian O’Conner, so I’ll stick with Brian. The mission is to discover who’s hijacking the trucks, and Toretto is the number one suspect.

Brian brings a new car to Toretto, a beaten up wreck with an excellent engine. Toretto brings Brian on officially as a part of his gang, which immediately puts off Vince. They fix up the car together, and Dom invites everybody over for dinner. This leads to Mia turning Vince down for Brian, which naturally pisses Vince off.

At Brian’s other OTHER job, at a local customization garage, where Hector (Noel Gugliemi), the organizer of the street races, asks him to give him three sets of parts for three identical cars. Whiiiiiiich sounds like the gangsters. And they aren’t part of Dominic’s crew or Johnny’s. I’m calling it now, it’s these guys.

Later that night, Brian breaks into a garage to investigate, but he’s caught by Vince and Dom. He makes an excuse that he’s trying to figure out what the competitors have for vehicles, while Vince insists that he’s a cop, but the Bluff check appears to work on Dom, who must have a lower Will than Vince.

The three end up breaking into Johnny’s place, where Brian sees the stolen TVs. They also notice that their cars have no engines in them. But as they’re investigating, Johnny and Lance show up with a hostage, an auto supplies fence who hasn’t brought their engines to them. They oilboard him (gross), and he gives up the location. Johnny sucks. And Dom’s group sees all of it.

The next day, Brian gives his information to his cop allies (Ted Levine and Thom Barry), who also accuse Brian of falling for Mia, which could cloud his judgment. While they want to move on Johnny and Dominic, he convinces them to wait a few days.

Dominic and Brian are working together, when Dominic espouses some of his past. His father was a stock car racer who died in a terrible accident, due to the interference of a rival driver. Having seen his father die, and blaming Linder, he beat Linder savagely, crippling him for life. It also prevented Dominic from racing professionally, and landed him in jail, bringing him into his current lifestyle.

Mia and Brian officially go on a date, and seem to hit it off. Mia seems to be a talented driver all on her own, but that’s not the focus of the night. The hijackers hit again, and Brian gets the call from the feds while in bed with Mia. Johnny and his gang are arrested, with Brian coming along.

Unfortunately, the DVD players were bought legally, leaving the feds with nothing, and Brian with 36 hours to solve the case. Toretto is now the biggest target, to Brian’s chagrin.

The next day, Brian plays hardball with Toretto, and manages to get his way into Race Wars, which seems to be an in for Dom’s other pursuits. Although, I still don’t think it’s him involved in the hijackings.

Race Wars! The amateur racing circuit begins, and everybody’s there, including Letty, who smokes a guy for $2000. Nice. Meanwhile, Jesse’s racing up against Johnny, despite Brian warning him not to. Jesse loses the car to him, and takes off after the race. Johnny confronts Toretto about that, and the FBI raid of his house. Dom’s not a big fan of that accusation.

That night, Dom and company take off, to Mia’s protest. And STUPIDLY, Brian tries to get the truth out of Mia by telling her that he’s a cop. That’s gonna go greeeeeeat. Mia’s understandably upset about this, but also realizes that Brian’s telling the truth, both about how he feels for her, and about the fact that her brother’s extremely likely to get arrested or hurt. She still isn’t happy about it, though.

We also cut to Dom and the gang, now short of Jesse. And yeah, it’s him. Not gonna lie, I really didn’t think it was Dom! Kinda sucks that it is, to be honest. They start the hijacking, but don’t account for something: the truck drivers are getting PISSED OFF. They mentioned earlier that some of these drivers are readying themselves for potential hijackings. And it looks like this is one of them.

This truck driver means business, and is now actively trying to kill Dom and his gang. He fires at the cars, while Vince clings to the side of the truck. He runs Letty off the road, and she’s not doing amazing. Vince gets shot, and Dominic’s car gets shot right in the engine.

Brian and Mia, meanwhile, catch up to them in the newly repaired car (which I’m calling Sunstorm), and rescues Vince, who also isn’t doing amazing. In the process, he reveals to Dom that he’s a cop. And Dom...is also not happy.

Vince is airlifted to a hospital, and Dom and Brian meet each other back in town. They confront each other, just as Jesse finally shows back up with the car that should be Johnny’s. Johnny agrees, as they engage in a drive-by shooting, killing Jesse in the process. Brian and Dom chase after them, Brian in Sunstorm, and Dom in his father’s old car.

What proceeds is a tense, gun-filled motorcycle and car chase. Johnny’s shot and killed by Brian. Dominic shows up, then speeds away, as Brian gives chase. They meet at a stop light, and agree to a street race toward a railroad crossing, complete with oncoming train. If Brian catches him, then he’ll go with him.

If.

...Yeah, that was cool. But unfortunately, it ends less than ideally for Dominic.

Brian helps Dom out of the wrecked car, as the police approach. He gives Dom Sunstorm, allowing him to flee the police. Dom’s free, and Brian stays behind to face the consequences. Not that we see those, as Dom drives into the sunset of Baja California, living life a quarter mile at a time.

And that’s The Fast and the Furious! It’s a ride...literally! The Epilogue’ll have more details. See you then!

[foolishlovebugbaby]

hostage

anon’s request: can you write something with hyunjin, based off the song hostage by billie eilish 👀

a/n: thanks for sending your request, anon! idk what plot you had in mind exactly, but when i heard hostage i immediately got this bonnie and clyde vibe typa thing, so that was the whole setting and idea for this. it’s really short dsgjhsfgkj but i hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Genre: ??? i literally don’t know; fwb!au

Warnings: no where near smut but like,,, suggestive, you know?; delinquent activity; swearing.

I don't know what to do To do with your kiss on my neck I don't know what feels true But this feels right so stay a sec

“You know, you take too long in there,” Hyunjin says, the end of a lollipop stick dangling between his lips. “One of these days you’re going to get caught.” He tries to look stern, but the excitement in his eyes gives him away.

“And what are you going to do about it? Drive away?” You retort, throwing your backpack filled with stolen goods from the convenience store into the backseat. He rolls his eyes at you.

“If the clerks catch you and call the cops, then absolutely.” He flashes a charming smile your way and you can’t help but scoff at him.

“Oh just shut up and drive, you asshat.” You buckled your seatbelt from the passenger’s side as you both sped off onto the highway in your hijacked car.

This was the dynamic you both had going on, and it’s safe to say it wouldn’t be changing anytime soon. You were his perp, and he was your getaway. It had been like that ever since you both ran away from the orphanage, never looking back at the life you left behind. Albeit a life of shoplifting and sleeping in questionable parking lots was far away from the grandeur of what you had wished your life would be, it was certainly better than being tied down in a place that could never be home. 

“You know i’d never ditch you,” He quips, glancing at you with a boyish smirk on his lips, the lollipop now long gone from between them. “You’re bonnie, and I’m you’re clyde, baby. You need me too much.” He grinned and you rolled your eyes at him in disbelief, punching his shoulder lightly. 

“Oh haha,” You sneered and turned to him. “You hate to admit it,” You leaned closer to his side, bringing your lips right next to his ear. “but you need me.” You whisper breathily and he immediately stiffens at the contact of your warm breath on his neck. You pull away smugly, your teeth clamped on your lips to hide your grin as he glares at the road in front of him, his cheeks flushed crimson. 

You liked seeing him squirm, and you liked being the one that got him so riled up. After all, you were usually the victim of his obnoxious teasing, so it was fun to get your revenge once in a while. Perhaps doing that while he was driving wasn’t the brightest of ideas, but that's besides the point.

You finally pulled into a parking lot that you’d have to call home tonight, smack-dab in the middle of nowhere. “You’ve got so much arrogance when you’re teasing me like that.” It was his turn to lean over and he placed his arm around your seat, a glint of desire sparking through his eyes as he stared you down. Amidst the absolute darkness that the night provided was your gentle features gleaming at him, illuminated only by the moonlight. He could spend an eternity running his eyes along the outlines of your face, but he’d never tell you that. He was never good with words.

But he could show you.

“You don’t look so smug now.” He licked his lips and brought a hand up to cup your cheek and you could swear you stopped breathing for a moment. After all the nights that he’d do this to you, you’d assume one would be used to it. But how could you when every night he would look as though he was a dream in the moonlight ready to sweep you off your feet all over again?

He smiled lightly and closed the gap between you two, his lips instantly meeting with the length of your neck. His lips ghosted from the base of your neck to right under your jaw, a trail of feather-light and wet kisses that made your heart beat erratically in your chest and made the hairs on your body stand in attention. He could almost hear your heart pound, and he smiled against your neck. God, he loved making you so damn weak in the knees.

You brought a hand up to the back of his head and ran your fingers through the tendrils of his soft hair. You knew he was teasing you, just to get you all hot and bothered. But you didn’t care, because you knew he felt just as electrified as you did. With your hand in his hair you tugged his face up to yours, wasting no time in connecting your lips together. 

The softness of his lips is something that surprised you every time.

He kissed you with so much fervor, so much passion that you questioned the veracity behind it. Perhaps it was all the adrenaline coursing through him, or maybe it was the familiarity of it all. You wanted answers, but his hands ran down your body so urgently that you decided to look for them another time. Labels and definitions for what you were to each other were luxuries that you could not afford- growing up in a world devoid of the concept of love taught you both that. 

So you pushed him back onto his seat and straddled his lap, not caring that the cramped space would take a toll on your back and kissed him. There was nothing and no one to stop you both, and you knew that very well. Maybe in the future things would be different, but for now it was just him, the moonlight and you. 

There were a lot of things you didn’t want to get used to; The stealing, the running, the feeling of abandonment. But this, this feeling of his lips on yours and his arms sheltering you from the realities you didn’t want to accept- this you could get used to. 

[lesbrarians]

Omg ALRIGHT SO @cheesehound​ wanted to hear my take on @outback-mistakehouse​’s post over here about Roadhog’s character and it turned into a goddamned ESSAY and I felt bad reblogging it with. This behemoth of a post skfkk I didn’t want to entirely hijack it.

SO HERE’S MY HOT (PERSONAL) TAKE:

I don’t think there’s three versions of Roadhog necessarily, but with the order of how Blizzard’s chosen to release all their content about Roadhog, I get how it feels that way. They didn’t do the best of jobs in that respect, but looking at everything as a package, I get the impression that there are two sides to his personalities, and yeah, they’re not mutually exclusive. And the third like, version, is part of his growth arc. 

In the base game interactions, he was occasionally hostile w Junkrat, telling him to shut up/I’m tired of hearing your voice. But I really do think that’s indicative of a Roadhog at the start of their relationship? When we saw him in Wasted Land, that’s who he was. He didn’t like Junkrat when he saved him. He said he was a liar and loud, and the world that he hates deserves someone as awful as that, just like it deserves someone as awful as the angry, bitter man he’s become.

But every piece of content since base game, they’ve only gotten closer, and it has resulted in Roadhog’s attitude towards him (and his loudness) softening, and you can see that with the change from “You hook em, I’ll cook em!” “Don’t you ever shut up?” to “I’ll hook em!” “And I’ll cook em!”

And I really didn’t take Roadhog’s lines in the new interactions as like… him not liking Junkrat?? Like, just based on Junkrat’s reactions. They’re teasing each other: “I never imagined you’d have such an ugly house.” “Wow okay then stay in your outside room, you little shit.” This is literally how I talk w my best friends. And Junkrat’s sarcastic, melodramatic response to Roadhog being like “get your stuff off the table” really like. Kind of paints a picture of his things being everywhere and Roadhog being like “can we please have some semblance of order” “first of all how dare you, I’m deeply offended, can you not see how respectful I’m being right now.”

Obviously, without visuals, that’s projecting a little, but it’s been pretty well established that Roadhog has a blunt, forceful way of talking, and everything he says sounds a little rude — but Junkrat’s responses give it a context that, to me anyway, give it a more friendly vibe. They’re comfortable with each other and messing around, because that’s what they do. Also, the third interaction — Roadhog laughing and going “You’re dreaming.” Such a marked difference from his silent initial “He lies to everyone, even himself” observation in Wasted Land. At the start of their relationship, that was his internal monologue. In present day, he can affectionately call Junkrat out on his deluded bullshit, when Junkrat convinces himself that the Queen fancies him.

So I guess what I’m getting at there is I think that what Blizzard is attempting to show, between the Wasteland comic and his initial in-game interactions, and the present day and his new interactions, is how their relationship has evolved from Roadhog being that bitter “I hate everyone including this idiot to “I hate everyone except for this idiot.” With how like patchily they’re portraying that, I think it’s not coming across great tho.

I definitely agree that there is a distinct difference between what we’ve seen of “I’m gonna hang out the back of Junkrat’s truck and blast music” and “silent and passive Roadhog who lets Junkrat get up to his antics and doesn’t react except to pull him out of the line of fire.” But I don’t think it’s that hard to reconcile these two personalities that Blizzard’s shown us.

We know that Roadhog likes to have fun. We’ve seen that in all his emotes, the headbanging and belly laugh and squeaky pachimari, and the “Moment of Crime” video with him robbing the ice cream truck and pachimari machine, and him and Junkrat and their getaway car at the amusement park in the Reflections comic. He’s totally happy to be all involved and gungho about the crimes that made the “Moment of Crime” video. The fun crimes. And the well planned ones like stealing the crown jewels and robbing El Dorado. “Pretty sure they're still mad about those jewels we stole. I miss that crown...” “Oooh, they stocked up again.” Those were successful and decently planned.

It’s just the poorly planned ones where he takes a backseat. “Going Legit” is where he just silently follows Junkrat and lets him do whatever he wants before saving his skin. And that’s because he knows it’s a bad plan. Right off the bat, trusting a suit is a bad idea, and Junkrat’s an idiot for falling for it. And when they had a mission objective, Junkrat immediately blows up a building and Roadhog just looks at him and it’s like “Oh, roight, hostages, why didn’t ya say so?” never minding the fact that someone else already told them that. But Junkrat was just like “roight, sure, whatever” and proceeded to make his own plan anyway. He doesn’t listen to anyone.

And in “The Plan,” we see how Junkrat needs to talk his ideas out and get Roadhog’s seal of approval. But Roadhog’s only criteria are “get rich and don’t get killed.” He doesn’t offer any verbal input here either, and I think that’s just because he knows to keep quiet when Junkrat’s having a fit of “genius inspiration” because it is like watching a train go off the rails: you can’t stop it. And you can’t look away. Junkrat will do whatever he deems best, but by silently staring at him or cutting off his fuse, Junkrat has to take a step back to reevaluate and think, actually think about what he’s doing and how he can fix it.

And even though he nods his approval at the end of the short, on the Junkertown map, if you play as Roadhog on escort, you can hear him go, “Aw, this is not a good idea.”

But he does it anyway because he will quietly follow Junkrat anywhere. He can cut loose and have fun when it’s time to have fun. But when his partner has a scheme like this, he knows there’s no sense talking him out of his exceptionally zany ideas, because to Junkrat, they make perfect sense. They’re foolproof, and who’s Roadhog to argue otherwise.

Junkrat’s an idiot, but he’s his idiot.

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 99 Poll Results

The chapter 98 poll closed with 1,751 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated.

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,722 Responses

On the “awful” to “awesome” scale of 1-5, nearly 70% of respondents rated “Guilty Shadow” with a “5″, making it the highest rated chapter since we started polling. Well done, Isayama!

On that day, Marley received a grim reminder... this chapter woke up the obsessed snk fan in me, finally JESUS CHRIST

SNK has always been a wild ride, but I don't believe I've ever been this excited and frustrated that I don't have the next chapter in my hands RIGHT NOW- if only to satisfy the itch of knowing which half-hidden face is who from Paradis. And also to figure out what they've done to Porco, Pieck and Zeke to neutralize them while Eren gives Reiner the most uncomfortable tableside chat.

My heart was pounding throughout the entire chapter. The last time that happened was chapter 84 and I gotta say, I finally feel like this whole Marley arc has been worth it. What an adrenaline rush it's become! Now that's now Attack On Titan is supposed to be. I can't wait to see everybody else again and proceed to reach the climax of the story.

The hype for SNK 100 is too real. Everything will explode

I need Ch100 right now immediately. Waiting another month is going to be torture. In the meantime I hope Porco and Pieck enjoy their time in the pit. If it turns out that Helos is Levi I will eat my own platform boots

It was amazing. Really great story.

I'm so glad this chapter is fake and SnK ended last month with everyone having a huge pizza party!

....is it December yet?

  DID THIS CHAPTER SHOOK YOU? 1,711 Responses

To not be excited by this chapter was simply not an option, but I’ll assume that those who voted “Yes”  are slightly more subdued than the majority of us who shouted “AW YISS”.

omfg hype for next chapter!!! How does Eren not have a leg, it really should've grown back, this doesn't make sense. Why is he even there, I feel like I missed something but it's probably just this manga's bizarre structuring. I've been selling my soul the past few months. There is nothing more to sell.

Kill me now The hype is REAL. I had a feeling issue #100 would be THE BANGER. This issue (#99) however set the stage for the next one. We have potentially Connie and Jean going undercover, we have Willy's solution that is just about to be revealed, the Asian woman's sudden leave, etc. I am really excited to see what will happen next month. Just need to add: seeing Eren's hand cut to threaten Reiner and Falco was such a power move, I had chills all over.

Boy howdy this was crazy I'll tell you what

Holy crap I love isayama. What a genius!

God help me I cannot wait another month

Endgame right here, brothers.

#shooketh

  WHAT SIDE CHARACTER MOMENT DID YOU MOST APPRECIATE? 1,720 Responses

The giant red chunk that wins this question  is the “All of the Above” option with 26.4% of the vote. “Every character with a partially hidden face” was second with 23.8%. There was plenty of excitement around Trapdoor-kun. He came in third with close to 20% of the vote.

I hope the SnK world has a heaven or some shit, because then Bertolt can maybe be finally happy together with his dad at least ;-;

ANNIE IS ALIVE AND FREE CHAPTER 100 HYYYYYYPE

I love moment with Trapdoor-kun/Connie (I hope it's him). He promised Reiner in Utgard Castle that he'll return the favor and I want to see their reunited. Maybe Connie will save Gabi and the other kids in this shitstorm. Please Isayama! Connie needs his personal moment!

  ON THE SCALE FROM “FLUFFY KITTEN” TO “ACTUAL PENNYWISE”, HOW CREEPY WAS EREN IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,727 Responses

Eren’s creep factor was strong! More than 70% of us picked a 4 or 5 on the “Actual Pennywise” scale.

Eren is 100% savage. Damn I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't like him. His meddling works so well with his bitter ass and his sense of entitlement over making all these fuckers taking his freedom away disappear and get their comeuppance (read: the whole world). Fucking human worms.

Eren using Falco as a hostage makes me cry

Eren gave me fucking chills of fear

I'm loving this Eren alignment shift. Lawful Good boy is changing and I am HERE for this.

Eren's "Same reason as you" and "I don't have a choice" are the single most savage moment in the series.

I don't like Eren at all... Poor Reiner

Eren is frickin INSANE

  ON THE SCALE FROM 1 - 420/69, HOW MUCH DID EREN ACTIVATE YOUR HARDENING ABILITIES IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,713 Responses

The creep factor and hobo hair didn’t hurt Eren’s attractiveness for the majority of the fandom since 36.1% would love to be locked in the basement with him right now. The second most popular choice was the extreme opposite. 22.2% selected “ewww no” on the question about Eren’s attractiveness.

why did y'all have to write "Lock me in your basement, Hobo Daddy!"

Protect Reiner Braun You've made me have sexual thoughts about long haired Eren, damn you pollster!!!!

Eren made both my jaw and panties fall straight to the floor. It's finally getting somewhere.

my mom called eren hobo daddy o__O"

Eren being so chilled out and yet so chilling at the same time...how does one being so cold make the room seem a lot hotter than it actually is?!

I want to officially shame Eren for telling Mikasa to cut her hair during training and now he could model for   L'Oréal (I love his hair but he is a hypocrite)

EREN FUCKING JAEGER. I want to say he's cool... but I feel so strangely conflicted. I'm turned on by his loony face but at the same time fucking terrified that it's all going to crumble. He'd grown so much. I can't believe the kid that we used to adore has turned into such a beast.

eren would be a 4/5 if he shaved his facial hair imo

  WHAT WAS EREN’S MOST CHILLING MOMENT? 1,717 Responses

Again with the “All of the above” as top pick. The most popular write in was “Reiner. Sit”. We clearly made a mistake when we forgot to include that.

Reiner. Sit.

His eyes all the time, they're like windows to hell

Everything! Eren was so chilling and bad this chapter, I love love loved it!

The fact that he's still missing a leg, it should've grown back, does he just keep cutting it off?

Messing with the head of an already mentally unstable Reiner

Eren did not come to play. Cutting his hand was a power move and then when he said "same as you." I can't wait to see him transform into a Titan. Reiner wasn't ready for this. He looks like he's gonna pass out.

I never thought i needed psycho!eren and badass!eren in my life. But then i read this chapter and HOOOOOOLY SHIT!

  WHICH OF REINER’S TORTURED FACES WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 1,707 Responses

I’m borrowing a quote from a friend who said, “Reiner had enough panels of his sanity crumbling like pie crust to fill a photo album”. We thought so too and had a hard time limiting ourselves to just these six. The look of horror on page 20 was Reiner’s expression as Eren told him, “I’m the same as you. I didn’t have any other choice.” It was the winner with 44.5% of the voice.

Note to Isayama: If you want to torture a character, hands on the face is the way to go (even when those hands are strangely tiny.)

Don't freak out, Reiner, your buddy Eren has come to save the world just like you've always wanted.

I wonder how bad  will Reiner's strabismus be when Eren ultimately touchs the Bertolt and Annie subject.

Someone please protect Reiner D: (and maybe give him a hug)

ISAYAMA STAHP TORTURING REIGNER!

#stopreinerabuse2017 >:) 

Reiner is the true victim here man

If Reiner didn't have a drinking problem before he sure has one now

I really don't like seeing Reiner looking so scared... It makes me feel so bad and helpless because I can't do anything. ;-;

I’m expecting Reiner to go full insane next chapter. Seriously, he can only be pushed so far!

I absolutely love Reiner's suffering faces :D I also loved how shocked Falco was. I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen, that why Eren told him to stay. He wants to save his life. I only wonder what will happen with the other kids.

reiner has baby hands

  CAN YOU PINPOINT THE EXACT MOMENT FALCO’S HEART SHATTERED? 1,700 Responses

This was not a fun chapter for our poor little bean. There was no shortage of moments with him looking on with wide-eyed horror as the situation was unfolding.  His expression on page 35 was the landslide winner. It’s the moment Falco realized Eren must’ve met Reiner during his time on Paradis.

My boy Falco doesn't deserve this.

DONT HURT BABBY FALCO 

Calm the f down Eren! You’re scaring Falco!

Falco is too precious for this messed up world

  WHAT IS RANDO MCSOLDIER WHISPERING TO MADS? 1,709 Responses

We have a poll meme now and don’t think I wont use it! Thank you to the 29.1% of you for playing along. We were a close second. Thank you also to everyone who took the question seriously. One respondent suggested they might be whispering about the fact that all the warriors were missing. I love that thought.

Yes. There's sour cream in Marley.

For the question of what Rambo McSoldier whispered, I'm actually kinda wondering if he's whispering about someone being missing from the crowd. (I.e, Reiner.)

how much farther is my sour cream joke going to go

I do NOT trust Eren one bit and we still do NOT know if there's sour cream. Crazy stuff man.

This wasn't an option for the question about what the soldier was whispering to Mads, but I thought it had to do with that panel where the guy on the rooftop said to "report it" no matter how small it is. The Marley soldier was relaying that report, whatever it is.

The lack of concern over the disappearance of all the Warriors from the audience is alarming...unless it's part of their plan, which removing the fighters from the crowd sounds like something inline with what Paradis would be attempting if they're about to hijack the play.

  CHARACTER ALLEGIANCES! WHICH SIDE DO YOU THINK EACH PERSON IS ULTIMATELY SUPPORTING?

So much uncertainty here! We are truly divided over Willy, Zeke and Kiyomi’s loyalties.

I do not think that Zeke would be on Paradis side, he had that chance and discarded it as an idiot.

The Warhammer Titan seems to know so very much about Paradis and the truth (and Eren's name) that I think it's no coincidence he looks like an adult long hair Armin.

Willy was such a sweet pie in this chapter. I wish he joined the Team Paradise.

Why did the Asian lady wish Willy good luck and then immediatly got away from the play as fast as she could? The plot thickens...

Everyone need to calm tf down and stop being huge mega douchebags on the whole warriors vs paradis sides of the fandom Ima lose my goddamn mind let yams tell the fucking story. This fandom is killing me far more effectively than yams ever could, crying Reiner or no!

The Asian lady and the rest of the Azumabito definitely know something, as they didn’t stay for Willy’s play, and she said that “she hoped he’d play his role ‘safely’”

What is Willy's game? With so many important people there, it is setup for a massacre. But, why tell the truth beforehand? There is a part of me thinking that it is all a setup to Willy simply saying we're all going back to Paradis.

  WHAT ALLIANCE DO YOU THINK IS MOST LIKELY? 1,697 Responses

EZ and REZ feelz so strong! A sizable percentage think Kiyomi is also a part of the alliance.

I love/hate how much Isayama plays with us (?).. this is the worst who is with  who and why and when and how is it its 99 chapters and i am stiff as confused as when i watched the first anime chapter in 2013...

Yeah, I still believe in Reiner + Zeke + Eren alliance. Grim Reminder won't happen and I will be a happy, happy fan." İt's amazing!

I think Willy is working with Armin, whereas, Eren is working with Zeke. Isayama did say they were going to split.

I think Zeke is helping Eren for the time being but I also think it is only a temporary alliance. He will double-cross Paradis like he did the Restorationists and Marley before the end, and he will be a sizable end-game threat to both Paradis and Marley.

"Lady" Kiyomi of the Azmabito family seemed like she was teasing Willy before his performance, since he was so nervous. But then, she said "you're very brave. And you know our family very well", she seemed like she was threatening Willy

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE CRAZY EREN. I think he's gonna offer an alliance with Reiner so they can both save the Eldians. I hope the SC will appear next chapter!

I'm willing to bet 'The Owl' Eren knew Willy and the Asian chick when he was still living.

  WHY WERE PORCO AND PEICK SEPARATED? 1,715 Responses

62% believe Porco and Pieck were captured to keep them from meddling. An even larger majority believe Zeke was in on it. Hmmmm....

about porco and pieck. I think they will be locked somewhere. But not to take their titan. Well, it's good opportunity to take their titan but... who wants do that anyway? Jean, connie? I think not.

PLEASE SAVE PIECK

"We done fucked up" -peick and porco

My favourite panel is Pieck looking at 'springer, not a shower' whilst falling into the sin bin. Wow, she's perfect.

Porko remains oblivious

  WAS ZEKE PART OF THE PLOT TO SEPARATE PORCO AND PEICK? 1,701 Responses

That would be a solid “yes”.

Zeke does seem to comply with too much questionable activity to not be working secretly with someone. He doesn't question being separated from Pieck and Porco, he's the only one not facing the guard that summons them, he let - encouraged- Reiner to go with Falco right as the ceremony started, and the baseball mitt Eren had likely had something to do with him. The Zekeret is still a wild card though so it makes all this hard to pinpoint.

  WHO IS THE SOLDIER THAT TOSSED PORCO AND PIECK INTO THE BALL PIT? 1,691 Responses

Nearly 80% of the fandom thinks Connie is  parading around Marley as a very tall Marleyan soldier. The write in responses on this were insane!

A pikupork shipper

Hajime Isayama

The Plothelping Titan

If Pieck knows him, the most probable option is Connie, buuuut... Is he even taller than Porco? He used to be really short, has he grown up?

When I first read the chapter and found similiarities between Connie and the trap-kun soldier I was like "what the fuck?!" And than I thought Connie being that soldier would be absolutely LIT.

I don't think any of the background characters are people we know. We saw how Isayama does that with Amputee-Kun, he appeared several chapters before the official reveal and there was no doubt once it was done. Trapdoor-kun, Helos Cosplayer, anyone else? Nope. as expected of pieck, she figured out the soldier was an impostor

Personally I really hate how people are making these predictions and analyzing details like chin shape in attempt to recognize him. We simply do not see enough of his face to tell who it is so it's pointless that people are arguing about it so vehemently. It could be Connie. I could be Levi. It most definitely isn't Armin. It could be a whole lot of people but right now at least half of the people will be wrong about it so arguing is going to get us nowhere. End of rant.

Zofia from the future, who traveled through paths

  DID PIECK PASS A MESSAGE TO THE SOLDIER SHE HUGGED? 1,717 Responses

Yes. As expected.    WHO IS THE HELOS COSPLAYER? 1,703 Responses

Jean trounced this poll question with 64.4% of the vote. “No one important” was second with 18.4%. 8% are hopeful it’s Levi.

A Majestic Stallion

A member of Paradis Team, but it is too early to say who

Jean dressed up as Levi aka the REAL Helos (Deja Vu).

Kenny "The Ripper" Ackerman rides again!

I want the Helos cosplayer to be Hange, but if it's not, Armin would be interesting.

  WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPEFUL FOR IN CHAPTER 100? GO NUTS AND CHOOSE AS MANY AS YOU WANT. 1,718 Responses

1,161 (67.6%) Seeing the rest of the SC

1,134 (66%) Annie. Please. It’s been 84 years,

1,027 (59.8%) Information about character loyalties

1,013 (59%) Learning Willy’s “one solution”

875 (50.9%) The Warhammer Titan

788 (45.9%) Eren wreaking havoc

781 (45.5%) More Reiner suffering

747 (43.5%) RIP everyone sitting in the audience at the play

652 (38%) Grim Reminder

565 (32.9%) Action with the Asian Clan

534 (31.1%) Overwhelmed Falco turning into a falcon and flying away

Seeing the rest of the Survey Corps is our dearest wish, followed by a sighting of Annie. The most common write-in was simply “Levi”.

RIP Gabi and everyone else in the audience. But mostly Gabi.

I'm saying it now - there won't be another Grim Reminder. It would be the worst possible move to make. However, I can see some sort of staged assault happening.

What if chapter 100 is just an elaborate reenactment of the finale of shrek two where shrek and the gang ambush the castle with a collosal gingerbread man whilst fairy godmother sings. Honestly I would pay good money to see willy start singing 'i need a hero' with a choir behind him make it happen isayama I believe in you.

I am going to sell my soul for chapter 100

All the pieces are being set in place. It is about to begin. We don't know for sure what will happen but things are about to get wild. Prepare the feelingstrain cause we're all hopping aboard

  HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT TO RETURN TO THE ORIGINAL CAST ON PARADIS? 1,712 Responses

No matter how great a chapter is, we remain desperate for the original cast. Last month 34.5% select “5” on the poll. This month that number was up to 38.1%.

And gimme some of that paradis crew daddy yamyams ✊️💦✊️💦😩

I'm severely lacking in Ackervitaminz

I'm tired of Marley to be honest. I hope next chapter shakes me, because this chapter didn't at all.

i still wanna know what the little miserable gremlin man is doing and my badass child Hanji

I loved the Marley chapters, but GOD I NEED MY PARADIS CREW THE SNEAK PEAKS ARE KILLING ME

while I haven't really been in any rush to return to the main cast, I'll be really excited to learn that they've all infiltrated Marley in this way, and for some final smack down to begin soon.

It's just a setup chapter I just want my Mikasa fix.

GIVE ME MIKASA AND ARMIN  BACK. I MISSED MY BABIES. I WOULD SELL BOTH OF MY KIDNEYS TO SEE THEM WELL AND HAPPY AGAIN. JUST GIVE ME THAT WISH ON CHAPTER 100 ISAYAMA. AM I ASKING TOO MUCH?

  WHICH CHARACTERS DO YOU GENERALLY ENJOY THE MOST 1,717 Responses

Cries forever for my vets.

Nearly 100 chapters in and I feel like I'm losing my damn mind. Oof. Isayama...amazing. PS: I will continue to select 'The Vets' even long after The Vets are gone!!!

(fist bumps you, my friend!)

   WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES 1,695 Responses

Last month this question was 40% Tumblr and 48% Reddit. This month Reddit was most active on the poll with 56.8% of the responses. The other platforms remained consistent.

"Where do you primarily discuss the series" giving 4chan the silent treatment?  Although I guess what they do doesn't really count as discussing.

  ANY OTHER CHAPTER THOUGHTS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE? We had 360 write-in responses and some were essay sized in length! Thank you all for your enthusiasm! Here’s a portion of the comments.

  EXTRA DANCC

It's about to be lit fam

NERD-SQUAD TO THE RESCUE! Nothing but goosebumps for that entire chapter thankyou.

If Helos is actually a lie created by Marley and Tybur, then was the devil of all the earth a lie too? Or did it exist in reality? Will it return? And how the hell could Tybur know of Kenny and Uri sitting in front of that lake? Does he have some spies on Paradis? All this stuff is just becoming more and more fishy...

I want everyone to die.

Is it just me or did Reiner lose weight? Not aroused. Isayama sensei please try harder.

Pieck grabbing Zophia's shoulders. 100%. A+. As expected.

Okay, so, we've been speculating like mad on how Eren arrived in Marley. Reiner asked the same thing. And Isayama, through Eren's words, answered us: "is that really what you want to ask first?" LIKE DAMN, at this point I'm sure Isayama reads our blogs. At least he answered the "Why", kinda...

for god sake. reiner's suffering have to stop TTTTT-TTTTT

Bertl deserve this world.

Isayama has officially changed his icon to Reiner. Protagonist confirmed. It was Reiner's story all along. We were just along for the ride. The very traumatic ride.

I love the parallel between Reiner and that old man that hanged himself back in Paradis. I'm quite sure that Reiner, like the hanged-man, is looking for judgement. Cool to see how Bert nightmares played a big role in the end.

sc stans are insane I wonder how bad  will Reiner's strabismus be when Eren ultimately touchs the Bertolt and Annie subject.

needs more porco

Is Eren gonna sacrifice himself for the sake of saving the world as a scapegoat? Will his death be the only meaningful one in the whole series??

I hope to God Armin has a different haircut.

Learning that we're getting ova of Lost Girls and reading this chapter was the best way to start my week. I love you I wish Isayama hadn't made Reiner so hot. Too hard to focus on everything else going on =\

if reiner wants to get judged maybe he should look to judge judy for judgement, that'd be lit

I love my shifter kids, but they're fucked.

I don’t personally think there will be a Grim reminder 2.0, Paradis people, ie Armin, Hanji and all, usually don’t fight fire with more fire, they plan better shenanigans. Also, how they would be considered better than marleyans if they did the same stuff? They won’t play this low, they also know that Grim reminder™️ Is everything but effective.

Isayama why it's great that we have all those informative, descriptive chapters but something need to happen. I hope that next chapter will be full of action.

SHOW ME MIKASA AND LET HER AND EREN  BE MARRIED. And let annie be alive and well and dont make reiner any sadder. #chap100 No

Soldier, who are you? Willy, what are you really trying say? Eren, will you start causing some trouble? Levi, come out!" AAAAAAAAAAAaa!!!!

Pieck was actually exactly right! I always loved her design and oppressed but trying her best herb merchant aesthetic. So cool that she saved the lives of Reiner and Zeke, her influence on character relationships and the plot.

In RtS I wanted Reiner dead. Half to end his suffering, half to be vindicated for the things he'd done, but I guess it was Berty Beetle's turn.

I miss Levi so much, it's been such a long time since we've seen him and all I want is for him to keep his promise to Erwin and obliterate Zeke.  I can see him now, sitting with his arms crossed as Zeke enters the room.  "Been a while, you piece of shit.  Not so tough now when you're not ripping a bunch of people in half with rocks, eh?"  He cracks his knuckles.  "I will destroy you.  I will make it hurt.  Because you killed Erwin Smith and I promised him, I *promised him* that I would end this fight for him." Ahhhh please Isayama. <3

CHAOS FOR THE CHAOS GOD The slow build has been so worth it, we're all going to hell and I can't wait

Annie is alive. That shouldn't be a point of discussion anymore,

Please make my children happy, they suffered enough

I really think Jean is the Helos cosplayer because of face/mouth shape. That might be wishful thinking though :') Also DAMN EREN REALLY IS HOBO DADDY

ISAYAMA CAN YOU PLEASE DRAW BERTL FAMILY OR PHOTO OF HOOVER HOUSE OR WHAT SO I CAN REST IN PEACE I WANNA BERTL AGAIN I DONT CARE WITH OTHERS 

I just want to say that the chapter 99 pre release megathread on /r/ShingekiNoKyojin was one of the best things to ever happen, and i'm proud to be a part of it.

Now i just want to see jean What if we're all just too hopeful and in reality the helos cosplayer and trapdoor-kun are just normal people. If Annie isn’t coming back I’m rioting honestly. Also where TF is mikasa?!

I LOVE PIECK SO MUCH she is becoming one of my fave characters. Also hopefully nothing happens to cause Reiner’s mental state to become worse than it is right now. CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTER I think the Asian woman is Mikasa. My evidence to support this claim is that after she talked to Willy, she said ‘let’s go’ to her body guards. As if she knows what’s going on.

Seeing Pieck being smart and quick-witted made me like her even more. I'd be very sad if she ends up being killed or if Porco and her never truly meet the original main cast. Give us those warriors/soldiers interactions Isayama.

Annie...please...it has been too long now...

Regarding Eren he ackwonledged that Reiner and co. were just clueless kids trying to save the world when they destroyed the Wall. And he is stating that he as well has been forced in this role. I think he is trying to bring Reiner to his side as well as to remove a Warrior (and Falco) from the stage where things will soon go wild.

This shit was lit lit lit!!! I need war!

If the marley arc was a dubstep song, this chapter was the part where the song builds up in speed and frequency and ends right before it levels off and the beat subsequently drops. Ya feel? Warriors, come out to plaaaaay.

IMO PIECK IS ON EREN'S SIDE AND SHE ACTED IN FRONT OF PORCO

I want to know who works with who (especially ZEKE), how they arrived in Marley, I want the SC but also I really love the Warriors, asdfghjkl I really don't know what to expect but I love the way Isayama keeps us on this subtle line between ""OMG"" and ""WTF MAN"". I want some answers!  AND I DEFINITELY WANT ANNIE BACK

I hope Sasha is in Marley too. She needs pizza.

Too few panels of Marco's death. 😠

i miss zeke memes

PATHS

I love the art in the recent chapters. I will forgive slow pacing for good art.

Karina is a bitch

Isayama give Reiner a break or kill him already, end the suffering pls

And lastly, the Rick and Morty copypasta meme made it's way into our poll. I laughed!

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Attack on Titan. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Eren's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Attack on Titan truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Zeke's existential catchphrase "As expected of Pieck 👉😶👉," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Hajime Isayama's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Reiner and Historia tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

Thank you also to those left nice comments about the poll. We appreciate it!

[starcitizenprivateer]

One Good Deed: Part Two

Be sure to read part one of the story here .

Umar was quickly realizing just how difficult it was to focus on doing repairs when you have a gun aimed at your head. Of course, it should have been obvious from the start that being held hostage would be stressful, but it was one of those truths that doesn’t completely sink in until you experience it first hand. Sort of like how those ‘Slippery When Wet’ caution signs seemed redundant until you were skidding around in a rainstorm.

“Easy on the comms,” instructed Umar’s captor in a steady, even clip. “This is just a normal emergency repair, right?” The man might as well have been casually asking Umar to pass nuoc cham, for all the current situation seemed to be stressing him.

“Right.” Just your normal, everyday emergency repair where someone has hijacked your ship and is looming right behind your terminal in case they need to put a plasma bolt through your brain. Totally normal.

Umar took a deep breath and pushed all that aside. He needed to focus. His life wasn’t the only one hanging in the balance. With a practiced few presses on the console, Umar launched the repair drone Shake towards the source of the emergency beacon — a Terrapin, adrift and giving off a worryingly high IR signature.

With the drone en route, Umar hailed the Terrapin with his most professional, calming voice. “Dr. Hostan? This is Umar from In-A-Fix.”

The response came immediately. “Power plant’s experiencing a critical cascade and my coolers are about to give,” reported Dr. Hostan, breathing heavily. The temperature must have been unbearable inside the craft. Even wearing a protective suit and helmet, her hair was plastered with sweat to her head. “Geiger’s ticking fast and loud. I don’t think there’s much time.”

Umar appreciated the doc’s information efficiency. He didn’t blame people when they panicked in an emergency, but it sure did help when they kept their heads. It gave him an extra tool to work with rather than an extra problem to solve.

“Drone’s almost there. As soon as the full diagnostic scan is done, we’ll know what’s causing the cascade. In the meanwhile, I’m gonna have you do a full flush on your coolers. It won’t do much, but it’ll buy us some time.”

“Just tell me what to do.”

Umar began walking her through the process to circumvent the coolers’ safety protocols. The doc was an apt pupil and it wasn’t long before she had managed the tricky manual override. The maneuver was one that his boss, Jess, had taught him when he was first starting out. A fine example of the philosophy, “sometimes you got to break a ship even more if you want to fix it.” If they got the Terrapin up and running again, the coolers would have severely limited functionality compared to their normal operating parameters. But that was a problem for later. The first priority was not exploding.

“The temp’s dropping a bit,” said Dr. Hostan, clearly relieved. “You’re a miracle worker.”

“Naw, Doc. You did all the heavy lifting,” replied Umar. A pop-up on the terminal indicated a new data-packet had arrived. “Looks like the diag scan just came in, so I’m gonna have you drink a hydro-gel real quick while I go over the data. Don’t want you passing out on me.”

As Dr. Hostan turned to find a gel pack to feed into her suit, Umar silenced his audio and video while still listening in on the channel.

“That was a neat little trick,” said the shipjacker once the comm had been muted.

“Yeah,” said Umar, distracted as he pored over the report that Shake’s scanners had sent back.

“I mean you probably just saved her life and what? You’re getting your standard repair rate for this?”

“You mind not talking? I’m trying to figure out how —” Umar let the sentence hang there as he frantically cross-checked the numbers he had gotten from Shake.

“What is it?” Asked the shipjacker, leaning over the terminal to look.

“Grab that datapad,” said Umar, gesturing to where a clunky three-gen-old model was strapped to the wall. “Open up the DayBreak power plant manual. Should be right there in the folder.”

If Umar had been watching instead of directing Shake to do a deeper scan on the Terrapin’s axial power conduit, he would have seen the jacker hesitate. Using the datapad would mean having to holster his weapon. Keeping a wary eye on Umar to make sure this wasn’t a ploy, the man stowed his pistol and pulled the datapad free. After it booted, he found and opened the manual. “Okay, now what?”

“Here,” said Umar as he grabbed the pad. Scrolling, he found the section he was looking for and quickly read it. Then, cursing under his breath, he read it again.

“Enough,” said the jacker. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Umar tossed the datapad down onto the console. “You know anything about reactors?”

“Just enough not to touch one.”

“Then the short version is, thanks to the geniuses at Sakura Sun, the good doctor is pretty well and properly screwed. See …,” said Umar as he rotated the scans of the Terrapin displayed on the terminal. “The DayBreak was designed with these so-called performance improvements that will most likely make the power plant overload faster if I try to fix the problem. And not doing anything isn’t an option since the whole thing’s gonna blow in a few minutes anyway. So, yeah. Screwed.”

“Damn,” replied the jacker, leaning in to look closer. He pointed to the axial conduit. “And if you try to bypass it, these backups will just kick in.”

Umar raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised at his captor’s quick grasp of the issue. “Yeah, that’s right. Ninety-nine out of a hundred times the setup would be ideal, but damn if that one exception isn’t a doozy.”

The man straightened to his full height, resting a hand on his hip near the gun. “So, what are you going to do?”

“It’s what you’re gonna do,” said Umar, eyes flicking towards the jacker’s holster. “You’re the one threatening to shoot people.”

The response came with a heavy sigh, “You want to her to EVA over here before you start the repair.”

“It’s too dangerous to do it with her still on the ship, but with her onboard the Vulcan, we can pilot to the edge of the blast radius and still be able to control the drones. Maybe I can repair it in time. Maybe I won’t be fast enough and the thing will blow. But either way, the doc gets to live.”

“Fine. Do it.”

“You serious?” asked Umar, halfway through preparing the mental argument he thought he’d have to make.

“Yeah. Don’t know how much safer she’s going to be with me around, but it’s stupid to let her die now just ’cause I might get her killed later.” And leaving it at that, the jacker went to the pilot’s chair to bring the Vulcan’s hatch around so the doctor would have a straight-shot EVA.

Umar opened the comm. “Doc, you hear me?”

“Yes,” Dr. Hostan replied. “What did the scans say?”

“I’m gonna need you to EVA over to the Vulcan.”

“Am I losing the ship?”

“Can’t say for sure at this point, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Do I at least have enough time to pull my research drives?” asked the doctor. It was the most concerned Umar had seen her so far.

“Yeah, but fast, doc,” said Umar against his better judgement. “Take a minute to grab what you can, but you got to leave after that.”

Not even bothering to reply, the doctor rushed to grab the data she had gathered with the Terrapin’s sensors.

“Tell her to forget it,” said the jacker as he swung the Vulcan wildly away from the Terrapin.

Before Umar could ask what the hell was going on, the entire ship shook and the shields flared from a direct laser hit.

Umar frantically paged the doctor, “Plans changed, doc. Need you to stay put. We’ve got company.”

“How’d these bastards find me?” said the jacker as he evaded the next volley.

Umar checked the radar and saw there were two ships rapidly approaching their position. “Who are they?”

“A couple low-rent hitters.”

“And you thought you could lose them in my ship?”

“That was the plan.”

“Would have worked a lot better if you hadn’t left my drone behind.”

“You’re kidding me. The damn thing was tagged?”

“Six ways to Sunday … wait, where are you going?” demanded Umar when an out-of-range warning popped up for Shake.

“I’m getting us the hell out of here.” Another laser barrage just barely missed the prow of the Vulcan.

“No. We’re staying and fixing that ship.”

“I’m not dying for her.”

“Neither am I, so be sure to keep the ships off her and away from us.”

After a letting fly a string of curses, the jacker pulled the stick back and steered once again towards the Terrapin. “You’re damn lucky I’m a fantastic pilot.”

Umar keyed the comms. “Doc, since EVAing isn’t really an option any more, I’m starting the emergency repairs.”

The doctor took the news in stride. “Good luck.”

“Same to you, doc. If you got any messages to pass along, feel free to send them over.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you.” And with that, Dr. Hostan ended the comm.

Quickly, he opened the bay so that he could launch his last drone, Spear. It wasn’t really set up for this kind of delicate work, but Umar could use all the extra hands he could get. “Drone’s heading out. Can you give it cover?”

“On it,” replied the jacker, rolling the ship hard to one side. He positioned the Vulcan between the two attackers and the doctor. Switching his controls over, the jacker used the remote turrets to lay down a wide field of suppressive fire, forcing the ships to alter course. One of the would-be assassins saw this as an opportunity and attempted to sweep up on the underside, but the jacker was ready for them and let loose with the main guns, clipping the attacker’s port wing. The damage wasn’t enough to take them out of the fight, but it’d give the pilot something to think about.

Meanwhile, Umar had managed to cut open the access panel in the Terrapin’s thick armor and reach the inner workings. Controlling both drones in conjunction, he began the tricky process of halting the cascade and siphoning off the excess energy. Right on cue, the axial conduit kicked in, and as predicted, the power plant responded by increasing its load production. Now it was his turn to cuss up a storm.

Focusing his energy on the injured ship, the jacker switched to the offensive. This would have worked well if the two pilots had been a team, since harassing one would hopefully cause the other to react, but no such luck. The more distant attacker completely ignored the plight of the other and took advantage of the Vulcan’s push, scoring a direct hit. Smoke began to fill the ship’s main chamber. Fantastic pilot or not, the numbers were against them. “How’s it looking back there?”

“Almost done, one way or another.” Umar had about half as much time as he needed before the whole thing was going to blow, taking the Terrapin and the doc with it. What he needed was a way to quickly disrupt the power output all together, without triggering the explosion itself. He ran through the few options he had remaining, dismissing them as fast as he thought of them. Maybe if he had a full complement of drones he could have done something, but with Liam back with the jacker’s Reliant and his own stubbornness to blame for holding off on replacing Wil after the accident — his mind suddenly flashed on something. Wil.

A few years back, the drone had been lost along with a crew of four when what should have been a simple repair had gone catastrophically wrong. While patching the piping to one of the maneuvering thrusters, an unexpected static discharge had caused a feedback surge along the plasma conduits. In that case the surge had been deadly, but with the doc’s power plant already suffering a critical failure, there was a small chance that if he could trigger it and use one of his drones to act as an auxiliary breaker, he could interrupt the cascade before it went critical. Well, Spear, let’s see just how lucky you are.

The jacker had just launched the last of the Vulcan’s chaff, narrowly diverting a missile that detonated nearby. An inadvertent grin spread across his face. After the life he had led, it was a little hard to believe there was a good chance he was going to die doing something this stupidly heroic. Suddenly, there was a second explosion nearby. Something had blown on the hull of the Terrapin. He squinted his eyes in preparation for the blinding light that would follow the whole ship going boom, but nothing else happened.

“It worked! I can’t believe it worked!” Umar had lost his drone, but had saved the ship.

“Not to cut your celebration short, but I really could use a hand right about now.”

Umar’s attention was drawn back to the ongoing dogfight. When did the ship fill with so much smoke? “Pass the turrets to me.”

“You any good?” asked the jacker.

“Line me up a shot and find out.”

With a dedicated gun operator, the true combat capabilities of the Vulcan emerged. The jacker would chase a ship with the main guns getting them into position for Umar to let loose with cannons mounted on the remote turret. Working together, they manage to remove the wing on the ship that had been crippled earlier. Down a weapon, and barely able to maneuver, the ship fled. The remaining assassin, its advantage lost, made the sensible choice and followed.

Umar placed two cans of flavored sparkling water on the table. It had taken about an hour more of work before the doctor’s ship was ready to fly again and the effort had left him parched.

The jacker, sitting on the far side, cracked his open and drank deeply. When he finally came up for air, he smiled. “Guess I do like etrog flavor.”

“All right, spill it. Why do you got a price on your head?”

The smile left the jacker’s face. “Might be better if you don’t know.”

“Yeah, well, it seems a little late for that.”

The two sat in silence for a bit as Umar patiently drank his water.

Toying with the tab on the can, the jacker finally began, “I was working for the Dranton Family, smuggling off of Carteyna, when I got tagged by the Cano authorities. Wasn’t going to get out clean, so I dumped the cargo and ran. Turned out there was enough evidence in there to get most of the Drantons locked up for good. Guess that didn’t sit well because Luke Dranton put the hit out on me himself. Spent almost every last credit to his name making sure I get dead. That was about a month ago, been running ever since.”

“So, we should be expecting more company?”

“Greedy bastards will probably keep the news to themselves till they can come after us again, but yeah, they’ll be back.”

“Right.” Umar tilted back and finished the last of his drink. “We better get going then.”

“Thanks. If you drop me off at Pox, I can make my way from there.”

“I was actually thinking we could make a stop first. See, I came across a recent wreck a little bit before I grabbed you. Told Jess about it, but since In-A-Fix runs salvage there’s a good chance no one knows it’s there except me and her. We get there in time, should be able to make it so the registry shows you sadly passed away in a tragic accident.”

“Seriously? You’d do that for me?”

Umar shrugged, “What can I say, I like fixing stuff.”

THE END.

[green-eyeddragonfanfiction]

Impossible: Part 2

Summary: Prompt: ‘I’m a superhero and you’re my arch nemesis but we don’t know each other’s identities and we’re actually best friends’ You’re best friends with Bucky, although you know him as James Ranier. He’s your best friend, too, but he has no idea you’re actually Shade, a woman who plagues the reformed Winter Soldier’s life as his arch nemesis. Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Mutant!Reader Warnings: Violence, Swearing (always) Word Count: ~1,649 A/N: Here’s part two, lovelies. This Chapter has been inspired by Sabotage by The Beastie Boys

Masterlist // Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Bucky’s POV

“It’s Shade. She and her goons have been spotted in the city. How fast can you be ready?” Steve asked, his usual friendly tone replaced by his no-nonsense Captain America persona.

“I’ll be at the compound in ten,” Bucky said. The taxi driver glanced at him, incredulous, and raised his eyebrows. Bucky motioned at the the road with his head, holding up two crisp hundred dollar bills. The driver nodded eagerly, stepping down hard on the gas petal.

“Make it five,” Steve said, ending the call abruptly. Bucky glared at the screen.

“Hell, Shade. What are you up to this time?” he murmured, sitting back as the taxi roared down the highway.

Your POV

“How the hell did they find us so quickly?” you hissed, maneuvering through the city’s streets with surprising ease. It was dark by now, the city a little less busy, but you still had to keep a laser focus on the road. “You-” you barked, glaring at the agent in your passenger seat, “-cover fire, now,” you said, rolling down the window. He immediately leaned awkwardly out of the mustang’s window and took careful aim at your pursuers.

The Winter Soldier and Captain America had already taken out two of the SUVs that had made up your armed escort. By the looks of it they were taking out the last one. You glared at the SUV behind you as it swerved dangerously then miraculously steadied itself, gaining quickly. You could just barely make out the red, white, and blue man himself in the driver’s seat.

You glanced over your shoulder at the man you’d kidnapped not ten minutes ago. One of Shadow’s agents had a gun to the man’s side, his face impassive as events unfolded around him. The hostage, however, looked like he was going to piss himself at any second.

“Alright everyone, if we stay calm we’ll get out of this alive. Probably,” you said, false bravado tricking yourself into feeling more confident than you should have.

“They’re gaining,” shouted the agent with his torso out the window. He yelled in pain a moment later, quickly retreating back inside of the car. He’d been shot in the arm, but managed to hold onto his gun.

“Pathetic,” you murmured, pulling a pistol out of your thigh holster. You rolled down your window and took a sharp turn, giving yourself the angle you needed to get a clear shot at the SUV that the Soldier and Captain had hijacked from your men. It felt like you were moving in slow motion as you took aim at their tires and shot out the front two with two well-aimed bullets.

The mustang disappeared around the turn and you drove a few more blocks before you pulled into a parking garage.

“You. Drive. I’ll hold them off. Get the payload out of here,” you barked, the orders slightly muffled by your mask. You hopped out of the sleek mustang, pausing to grab more weapons from the trunk.

“This wasn’t part of the plan,” said the stone-faced agent through the window.

“Yeah, well, the plan went to shit. You don’t have a chance of escaping unless I can hold them off,” you said, slamming the trunk. “Unless you want to fail your mission?” you asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “If the Avengers don’t kill you, Shadow will,” you seethed.

If you failed, they’d kill Gabe. You couldn’t allow that.

“Understood. Don’t fail, Shade,” the agent said as you hopped into the passenger seat. You grunted your dismissal of his comment. Of course you wouldn’t fail.

“Back out to the street. They’ll be looking for the car,” you said as the wounded agent kicked the mustang back on and sped out of the parking garage. “Have to get their attention or they’ll just tail you,” you said as the cement walls of the parking garage gave way to the city streets.

It only took you a second to spot them. “There. Go the other way, as far from them as you can get,” you said, then stepped gracefully out of the car and slammed the door behind you. It sped off not a moment later, tires screeching in the night.

They jogged your direction. Even at this distance you could see two sets of bright blue eyes trained on you with a laser focus.

“Fuck, this is going to hurt,” you grimaced as you pulled your guns from your holsters. Twin pistols. If you were lucky you’d get a shot or two on them before they got close. It would slow them down, make it a little easier to fight them in close range. You hoped the SUV crash had done some damage, too.

They spotted the guns before you’d even raised them. They ducked behind parked cars, but you wouldn’t wait until they got to you. You ran onto the sidewalk, surprising the Captain with a few ace shots. Only his enhanced reflexes and shield kept him from becoming patriotic emmental cheese. You felt his presence rather than saw him, swiveling just in time to dodge a punch. His metal fist flew through the space your head had just been. You danced away as they advanced. You emptied the cartridges in your pistols, only getting a graze on the Captain’s arm.

It wasn’t long before they forced a close-up fight. You pulled out your knives, the metal glinting a sinister green, purple, and blue in the dim city lights.

“Let’s dance, boys,” you said, praying to whatever god who would listen that you’d come out of this fight alive.

It wasn’t long until you were disarmed, your knives clattering to the ground in the darkness. That left you with only your fists.

They never saw you coming.

You trained for hundreds of years, mastering every martial art you could find.

The Captain and the Soldier were exceptional fighters. They hit harder, were well-trained, and worked together flawlessly.

You made them look like novices. You knew this wouldn’t work again. They’d be ready for you next time, but you used every advantage you could get. You knew they were tired. From fighting all your men, from the crash, from the cuts and bullet grazes. All of it had weakened them. You hit them where they were weakest, wore them down until, at last, they both dropped. You nearly dropped with them, body weak from exhaustion. You just didn’t have the enhanced stamina they did. You honed it after years of training, but you simply couldn’t match them. If they’d been at their best you definitely would have lost.

“Till next time, boys,” you whispered as you limped numbly away from them. You succeeded. The Shadow agents got away. Gabe was safe.

“Yeah, James. I’m fine. My dad’s fine, too. I’ll be back in a few days,” you said, grateful he couldn’t see how fondly you were smiling at his fussing.

“Are you sure? You don’t need anything?” he asked, voice laced with obvious worry.

“I don’t need anything. I’m sure. Dad’ll get out tomorrow and I’m just staying until I know they’ll be okay without me. I’ll be back in town soon, I promise,” you said, smiling broadly.

“Alright, Doll. We’ll see that movie when you get back, yeah?” he asked. You could hear the hopeful smile in his voice.

“Yeah, James. It’s a date,” you said, balking a half second later at your choice of words. He was silent on the other end of the line and you sputtered, fumbling for an excuse. Coming up with none, you did the only thing you could think of. “Uh, I’lltalktoyoulaterbyeJames,” you said in a rush, pressing the end call button before he could respond. Your chest was heaving, adrenaline from your panic coursing through your veins.

You could take on Captain America and the Winter Soldier, but your best friend who, if you were being honest with yourself, you had a crush on? Nope. Not happening. Give you Cap and the Soldier any day; they were much easier to deal with. Emotions? Not so much.

You sighed as you looked around the nearly empty apartment. Your “parents.” Yeah, chalk that up to another lie you had to tell James. They’d died so long ago you barely remembered the date or what they’d looked like. You were hiding from the Avengers in a Shadow safe house. You’d stay long enough to recover from your fight and heal the worst of the bruises and cuts so that people wouldn’t be suspicious.

Your phone buzzed, likely messages from James, but you ignored it, and flopped down on the bed in an unsightly heap. You’d showered since your mission but you were sore as hell, body completely spent from your fight. You barely had the energy to feed yourself. The next few days were gonna suck.

Bucky’s POV

He stared at the laptop screen in front of him as he set his phone down, your voice still ringing in his ear.

When he first met you he’d done a background check. Rather, FRIDAY had. You were squeaky clean and he’d trusted the intel, becoming fast friends with you. He’d been relieved when you’d come up clean. He’d clicked with you instantly. There was something in your eyes that he didn’t see in anyone but himself and Steve. A timeless sort of knowledge behind them... or maybe another time-lost soul?

He’d told you a fake name and you’d bought it. James Ranier and (Y/N) (Y/L/N) became fast friends, surprising Steve and the rest of the team. Bucky had trouble talking to most people but that was never the case with you. When he was around you he almost felt like his old self.

Which is why, when he searched more deeply into your background and found nothing he was distraught. He found nothing. Literally. You didn’t exist, according to his research. At least, not under that name. He ran facial recognition and that came up with nothing. You were a ghost.

He stared at the phone in his hand, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Who are you?” he whispered, glaring at the report on the screen.

Part 3

This series is finished, but if you want to be tagged in my other fics, check out  this post! Sorry, but responses to this post asking to be tagged will be ignored, so send me an ask or like one of the taglist posts!

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[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Session 13

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 12]

Last time on No Driver’s License: Ibara witched out, and so did Yukari. This would ordinarily be really bad, but thankfully the remainder of the team didn’t have to face this alone- the cannibal trio was present, and they were considerably more dangerous than the actual witches. The intact party sort of indirectly teamed up with their witched teammates to take on Kimiko, Emiko, and Yoshe; last we left off, things weren’t going super duper great.

So, let’s go check in on our intrepid witches as they take on what was supposed to be the campaign’s final boss! Here’s some mood music:

Time to see how this particular shitshow resolves!

First off, while reeling from Kimiko’s all-out assault last round, Tarantella and Oriori manage to launch a seriously effective counterattack. Zero and Farn planned it out in advance, taking advantage of Kimiko/Honoka’s unique powerset.

See, how Honoka worked was that she killed magical girls and took their weapons, and with them their signature abilities. She multi-wields a ton of weapons at once, in order to gain the effects of their buffs- as well as acquire Overcharge. She has a secondary ability that transforms her Overcharge meter to act as a shield, allowing her to use Overcharge as health. This synergized with her weapon stockpile, which generates Overcharge like crazy just by being active. The end result is a passively regenerating shield that can absorb almost any reasonable attack.

Tarantella, though, has an area-of-effect sandstorm attack that was designed to wear away, erode, and destroy- and Oriori’s support abilities enabled her to cast a massive barrage one after another. Kimiko/Honoka could use her shield to protect her weapons, but she took damage to it separately for each weapon caught in the AoE, which burned through it and managed to destroy two of them- Michiyo’s Absolute Ultimate Love Annihilation Beam, and Inabashiro’s Dream Fork. This not only deprived her of her extreme death blast, but also reduced her Overcharge/turn shield regen, leaving her a lot more vulnerable.

But- uh oh! There’s more power rangers, now!

The blue, black, and white rangers enter from the south. Which magical girls are those? Tarantella doesn’t know, but you, dear reader, can know that they’re Seina, Sakura, and Makoto, respectively. The Nakatsu Hero Club and the other two cannibals haven’t caught up yet.

From the players’ perspective... well, they haven’t seen the witches yet. Tarantella is there, kind of hard to miss- but what they’re not expecting is the second witch.

Sakura thinks she’s figured out what’s going on- she assumes that the Oriori witch was brought along with the cannibals as backup, somehow, and starts giving her a severe tongue-lashing. 

Sakura switches her target to Kimiko as soon as she figures out what’s really up with Oriori- but Kimiko has a plan for being targeted by Sakura. She snaps her fingers and summons Kazuya’s magic cage.

That’s not the only thing Kimiko summons, though- she uses the Power of Friendship, one of her abilities, to summon friends! Specifically, she teleports Yoshe to the scene of the fight.

And then, she uses the second part of the Power of Friendship ability- much like Yoshe can use the abilities of any witch whose barrier she’s inside, Kimiko can use the abilities of any teammate in the same zone. She burns one of her powers for health with a Mobius Double Reacharound, leeching off Yoshe’s access to Tarantella’s Wyvern Formula. Oh, and then she stabs Oriori with Koken’s Divine Reach (a spear with crazy range) and uses her Money Money Money Money Money Motherfuckers power to fill the zone with coins.

But the villain turn still isn’t done, because Yoshe’s here- and she has some things to do. Firstly, using Megalodonna to attack both Tarantella and Ayusa, doing significant damage and reducing Oriori’s recreation of Ayusa- their only counter to Kimiko’s Honoka powers- to a pile of cogs.

This finally clues the party in to what’s been going on with the Nakatsu Hero Club and Yukari’s death.

(^pictured: extremely satisfying)

(oh, did i mention? zero’s user role has been “Witch”, granting him access to the witch channel, this entire time- so if anyone had gone and peeked at the user roles, they’d have seen the twist hiding in plain sight.)

Yoshe fires off a few attacks, roughing up Makoto and Sakura a bit. Oriori doesn’t help matters, taunting the party about their failures and so on.

(Which she has to actually roll to do, to avoid Trauma, but she passes the roll)

Also... Kimiko hasn’t bothered to try and break out of the Sweet’s Customer spell Tarantella cast on her. She’s been dancing this entire time, and the dance finally gets so frantic that she literally catches on fire, fulfilling the Buffy reference.

Back to the witches- Tarantella fires off more sandstorms, with less success than before. Oriori tries using her Midnight Crew thing to try and force Kimiko/Honoka to do her bidding, with... not much success. But in trying...

Go ahead and overanalyze that exchange! I’m laying groundwork for something fun.

After that, the party moves- trying to get in range to hit Kimiko, who apparently has more on her mind than following through on her threat against Kazuya. Seina heals the party a bit, and they get in position. 

Kimiko summons Emiko to the fight (sans mech, whoops) and retreats a bit, to get into a better position after being deprived of her (take you out with a) long-ranged beam. Yoshe retaliates some, dropping some attacks on Tarantella and forcing Makoto to dance by hijacking Sweet’s Customer. Makoto turns invisible, after that, presumably because she’s embarrassed by the dancing and not because of strategic considerations.

She starts trying to exert her influence to make the party fight Honoka- which is kind of already what they were doing, so that’s just +1 to their rolls. Creepy but convenient! Tarantella, meanwhile, keeps up the sandstorm.

Fun side effect of this, though! Kazuya’s cage is in range of the sandblast, this time! And it breaks open on being hit, releasing him!

Kazuya kind of freaks, but ultimately trusts Sakura and doesn’t move. He does, though, try and ask the nearest magical girl what’s going on- and the nearest magical girl happens to be Yoshe. Sakura immediately tells him to stay away from her, and he complies. She sends Maurice Mousse, her magical pet, to go carry a healing candy over to him, in case he’s hurt. She also tries to ensnare Kimiko in taffy, and Seina follows up on that with a ranged attack for negligible damage. Makoto, invisible, closes in on Kimiko from behind.

But, uh, remember all those Nakatsu girls? They’re back, with Orino in tow. Ruka charges in after Honoka, and Chinami jumps the gun and attacks Tarantella before Oriori commands her to focus on Honoka. Nozomi, though... she has a skill called Panacea, which lets her sacrifice all her health to revive and full-heal a target. Which she does, on Ayusa. Ayusa re-forms from cogs, and Nozomi explodes- although the Hero Club seems to act like she was just de-magical-girled, like how the real Nozomi’s ability worked. Ayusa immediately teleports to Kimiko and attacks.

After all this... Kimiko’s finally had enough. This fight is not going how it should. They’re severely outnumbered, and are at way too many unfair disadvantages.

This leaves the players and witches one more turn to try and do something about the remaining two cannibals- Yoshe and Emiko. Next time Kimiko can move, she’ll be using the Power of Friendship to recall them to safety!

Long story short: they manage it. Yoshe’s still on the ropes from their previous encounter, and they manage to knock her out of magical girl form, and then- using Sakura’s Sorcery- block her teleportation. Emiko gets pulled out safely- she hadn’t really been hit much- but Yoshe? They’ve captured her.

There’s some debate about whether to kill her on the spot, as they cancel the teleport magic.

Sakura begins, uh, beating the shit out of Yoshe. First she tries an axe- but Kazuya jumps in the way to save Yoshe, to her shock and horror.

This isn’t enough, though- she shoves him aside, feeds him healing candy, and then continues going to town on Yoshe with her bare fists. Crack. Crack. Crack. It’s... pretty fucking brutal. Such that I have to take one of the deus ex machinas I had prepared to bail out the players in order to stop her from snuffing Yoshe right there, and give the rest of the party some input. Fumi-chan appears and starts blocking Sakura’s attacks- which, predictably, only enrages her further. She starts getting more furious, and I won’t reproduce the sort of, uh, heated language used against Fumi-chan here.

Seina tries to interpose, deciding to protect Yoshe- and their conflict is complicated by Makoto, who approaches Yoshe.

...before this can be resolved, though... well. Getting rid of Kimiko and Emiko, and defeating Yoshe... leaves the witches without any, uh, targets. Besides the party. Whoops.

So, the players roll for a skirmish! The witches, weakened as they are... don’t put up too much of a fight- especially because, um. Oriori tries to flee.

The players get in their own licks as the witches- deprived of their common enemy- continue their infighting.

Kazuya, Yoshe, and Fumi-chan mainly try to stay out of the way as Makoto and Sakura vent their fury on the witches. They’re... really starting to hurt. I turned over most of this fight to the players, after managing the rolls for the Skirmish that established their inevitable victory.

I’m just gonna... keep pasting bits from this, because god damn, it gets good.

The party is victorious, and the witches undergo their death throes:

They collect their Soul Seeds, and... well. They hand one over to Fumi-chan, who tries to disappear with it, for unknown purposes. Sakura thinks quick and holds Yoshe hostage, which leads Fumi-chan to give up on whatever her plan was, and try to play it off as a joke. 

Yukari and Ibara are revived- apparently without memories of their time as witches. (It’ll be fun when they find out the specifics.) They confiscate Yoshe’s soul gem, taking her prisoner- and also search her for any more of those pills she used to recover from being knocked out the first time they beat her.

 They find her remaining pills- alongside what Sakura recognizes as hormone pills- old ones, the sort she knows they stopped making a few months ago. The obvious implication is that Yoshe is trans, and used her wish to transition- which Sakura is less than happy about. She flees in a panic, and is saved from witching by the application of a Grief Seed- one of the two that were dropped by the oldtype witches Emiko was fighting before this whole thing happened.

And... next time, we’re going to see how the players deal with this “keeping a prisoner” situation! See you then!

[dontshootmespence]

Left Unsaid

A/N: An anon request for a Spencer x Reader where she takes a bullet for him. Spencer is broken because he’s afraid he won’t be able to tell her how he’s always felt about her. @coveofmemories

                                                              ----

She looked on as the unsub held the gun to Spencer’s head. There had to be a way to get Spencer away from him. “Take me,” she said without thinking. “Take me instead.” She would paint herself as a weak woman. Given the unsub’s misogynistic and narcissistic nature, he’d likely take her instead. He’d inherently believe that Spencer had more strength than she did, although the opposite was true.

When she repeated herself, a look of abject terror washed across Spencer’s face. “What are you doing?” he mouthed. 

But she paid him no mind. Her only thought was about getting him to let go of Spencer. “Take me,” she repeated.

“Why would I do that?” The unsub pointed his gun toward her, but he seemed intrigued by the possibility of a female hostage, so she took the opportunity. 

As Y/N told the unsub that a female hostage was inherently more valuable to him, that she’d be easier to control and easier to move around than a man, all Spencer could think of was that if something happened to either of them, he’d never get the change to tell her how he felt. For years, he’d harbored feelings for her, but had always been too afraid to confess; if he made it out of this, he would. No more holding back. “I would be easier for you to handle than him...take me.”

“Walk toward me,” he said, and she did, allowing him to reach for her belt and throw her gun to the ground. A wash of relief and a subsequent wave of terror cascaded over her when he pushed Spencer to the side and grabbed her around the neck by his arm. “You’re with me now,” he said into her neck, his heated breath sending shivers down her spine. As he spoke, she could see that he was making eye contact with Spencer, trying to get under his skin, and she knew it was working. 

He backed away with her; Y/N could tell that the team was running through every possibility they had. Could they take a shot and hit him? But what if they hit her? She knew they wouldn’t take the shot - it was too risky and they cared too much. They’d rely on her ability to get herself away from him and follow behind as best they could. “Get in the car,” the man growled. “And stay down low.”

The screech of car tires rattled through her ears as he drove off, leaving the rest of her team behind. “Hotch!” Spencer panicked. “What do we do? We have to get her back.” In this moment, anyone could tell what he felt for Y/N - if they didn’t already know before. “He didn’t take her cellphone, can we track it?”

“Garcia,” Hotch said. “Track Y/N’s cellphone. She was taken by the unsub.”

“Oh my god,” she cried, her fingers hitting the keyboard at light speed. “Pinging her location now. And sending it to you. Go get her.” Anytime one of her babies was in trouble, Garcia immediately started to panic. “Bring her back.”

                                                             ----

“I need out of here,” the man said, searching the streets for a way out. She could suggest a road to take. But even if she told him the truth, he undoubtedly wouldn’t take her word for it. 

“You’re not going to get away with this,” she said softly, clenching onto the arm rest of the man’s hijacked car. “My team is going to find you.” His mouth dropped open and another shock rolled through her. It looked as though the lightbulb had just done off in his head. Like he knew exactly what he needed to do to make it out of this mess.

He jerked the wheel to the left and went down a particular straight she knew would lead them toward a local precinct. “You know where you’re going?” she asked. 

“I know exactly where I’m going,” he said coolly. 

The beads of sweat began to fall down the length of her spine as they got closer and closer to the police station. Should she just bail out and roll out on the side of the road? It might be her only way out of this. But as soon as she made the decision to open the car door, he pulled up to the police station, ripped out his gun and shot her in the stomach, pushing her out of the car and onto the ground as he sped away.

                                                            ----

Spencer, JJ and Emily had been sent in one direction, while Rossi, Hotch and Derek went in another. Nearly every member of the nearby precinct was sent off in other directions to track this man down, but no one was having any luck. That was until JJ saw someone lying in the middle of the road. “That’s her!” she screamed, pulling to the side and running out of the car. 

His breath was knocked out of his lungs as he saw a small pool of blood forming under Y/N’s body. “Oh my god,” he said, turning her over and putting pressure on the wound.”What happened?”

“He drove off,” she sputtered, her vision going in and out as she tried to speak. But as he’d sped away, she took note of where he was going and what his license plate was. “He went left.” She grimaced, looking down at her wound with tears in her eyes. Her stomach was on fire. “License plate was Charlie, Bravo, 4, 2, 7 , 8...I’m sorry.”

Spencer swallowed hard and pushed down on her stomach just as the ambulance showed up. “I’m coming with you,” he called to the EMTs. “Why are you sorry?”

“I couldn’t stop him,” she whispered. She was starting to get cold. “Spence, I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” he said as the tears streamed from his normally shining eyes. 

She knew him. She knew him inside and out, and there was no way he wouldn’t blame himself for whatever happened next. As the heat slowly left her body, she  sensed that she was about to die; she wasn’t scared for herself, but she was for him. “Don’t blame yourself,” she said. In the distance, she could hear him saying no, to not let go, but her body wasn’t cooperating no matter how hard she tried. “This wasn’t your fault...It was my choice...even now...I’d do it again. I love you, Spence.”

“Y/N don’t go,” he sobbed, his voice cracking as he grabbed tighter onto her hand. “Don’t go. I have so much I need to say. Please, don’t leave me.” 

Was it raining outside? She felt a drop of water on her face and didn’t know where it was coming from. 

Then another. 

And another. 

It was him. 

She wanted to tell him to say what he needed to say now, because she wasn’t going to make it much longer, but she couldn’t make the words go from her brain to her mouth. As she drifted off into the cold abyss, she saw a faint light in front of her. Maybe there was something else out there. 

“Y/N,” he wept. “Please hang on. We’re so close.” When he looked down, he saw her squeeze his hand gently, her touch barely perceptible if he hadn’t been looking. 

And then there was nothing. 

“No!” he screamed. “Y/N! Stay with me! Stay with me!” The flatline sound wasn’t real. This couldn’t be happening. There was too much left unsaid. The words spilled out of him. He cried how much he loved her, how much he’d always loved her, how he never wanted for her to give his life for his. He would’ve died for her a thousand times over. But there was no response. She was gone - his words had been said, but were left unheard.

[one-of-us-blog]

The Hungry Earth (Doctor Who S05E08)

Today Jon is forced to watch and recap “The Hungry Earth”, the eighth episode of Doctor Who’s fifth series. There are rumblings beneath the Earth, and people are getting kidnapped. Can the Doctor figure out what’s going on in time to save the humans?

Keep reading to find out…

Eli, I was so pleasantly surprised that you like My Brother, My Father and Me so much! I don’t dislike the episode by any stretch, but it’s always been a bit forgettable to me. Also, I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never really grown to like the actor playing Angelo… If I had to choose between Angelo or Angela, Angela would win every time (did you pick up on that convenient naming scheme, by the way?). I’m really glad that you found so much to like about this one, and I hope that continues! Your next episode is a clip show, which I know aren’t your favorite, but after that are a few really good ones I think you’ll enjoy.

For now, though, buttocks tight!

Episode directed by Ashley Way and written by Chris Chibnall

We start out in the utterly unpronounceable Cwmtaff, South Wales, in the Year of Our Lord 2020. A man named Mo is trying to teach his son to read, but the boy doesn’t see the point since he can just listen to books whenever he wants. The man bikes off to his job, where people are drilling for something. If “The Impossible Planet” taught us anything, it’s that drilling is always a good idea. The drill has just gone deeper into the Earth than any before it, and everyone’s pretty happy about it. Mo arrives to take over as night watchman, and after everyone leaves the drill begins to shimmy and shake. Mo’s security cameras all fail and he goes off to investigate. He soon comes across a big hole in the ground and, naturally, begins to stick his hands into it, but as he gets close the hole seems to get close. He won’t be denied, though. And digs his hand into the Earth. We see it emerge into a hollow space below, and then Mo is sucked inside by some unseen force.

Onto the opening credits.

The Doctor is showing Amy and Rory Rio, only he’s not because it’s Cwmtaff. The Doctor notices that the ground feels funny, and there are patches of blue grass in a nearby graveyard. Amy notices some randos nearby waving at them, and the Doc says it’s actually 2020-era Amy and Rory. Amy’s surprised the two of them are still together, but the Doc doesn’t let them go over and say hi. The Doc notices a big mining thing and goes to investigate. Rory wants to know how the Doc’s supposed to get them home when he can’t even take them to Rio for a visit, but Amy says the presence of their future selves nearby proves that everything works out fine. Amy’s apparently forgotten that the past can be rewritten, but okay. Amy’s also wearing her engagement ring, which Rory doesn’t like because she could lose it and it cost… an amount of money. She gives it to him for safekeeping and he takes it to the TARDIS as Amy catches up with the Doc.

Inside the mining facility, Dr. Nasreen Chaudhry and Tony Mack, Mo’s father-in-law, are puzzling over Mo’s disappearance and the big hole that’s popped up out of nowhere. Rory deposits the ring in the TARDIS and then emerges to see Ambrose, Mo’s wife, and Elliot, Mo’s son, waiting for him. They think Rory is a plainclothes policeman and that he’s here to investigate a vandalized grave. Amy and the Doc break into the mining facility without waiting for Rory. Ambrose explains to Rory that the body of a relative and her coffin has vanished, despite the soil on top of it being undisturbed. Rory’s out of his depth, but the Doc’s still convinced the Earth feels funny. He and Amy come across Dr. Chaudhry, who’s not thrilled to see them. Tony arrives, and the Doc tells them they need to leave. He says the ground in the hole is shifting and moving around, but he can’t figure out why. Two more holes open up and the Doc says something knows they’re there and is attacking them. They run for it, but a hole opens under Tony and he’s stuck. Amy moves to help and a hole opens up beneath her, as well. Dr. Chaudhry gets Tony free and the Doc tells them to shut down the drill while he holds onto Amy. Amy’s understandably panicked, and the Doctor isn’t able to keep her from being submerged.

Dr. Chaudhry and Tony get back from shutting down the drill, but it’s too late. Nearby, Rory is still poking around the graveyard. Elliot is sure that the grave ate the body, and shows off some Sherlockian-style deductive reasoning. Tony wants to know if what happened to Amy is what happened to Mo and if they’re dead. The Doctor thinks the ground is reacting to the drilling, but Dr. Chaudhry thinks that’s silly. He doesn’t think it’s silly, but he doesn’t think it’s right. He pokes around a bit and realizes the ground has been bioprogrammed to keep them from drilling. They need to figure out what bioprogrammed the dirt and they’ll be able to stop them and get Amy and Mo back. He’s interrupted by the sound of drilling, which is weird because the facility only has the one drill and it’s not going at the moment. Dr. Chaudhry reveals that they started drilling here because of the minerals in the blue grass, but the Doctor says the grass was a warning because while the humans have been drilling down something else has been drilling up.

The Doc realizes the sound he heard wasn’t drilling, it was transportation. Something is heading for the surface and they’ll be here in a few minutes. Outside, we learn that a big energy dome has gone up around the facility. Rory, Ambrose and Elliot arrive and Rory lays into the Doc for not keeping Amy safe. The Doc promises to get her back, while we see her unconscious underground and being looked over by someone or something. Ambrose and Elliot still don’t know about Mo, so Tony’s got some ‘splaining to do. The Doc has them gather all the phones, cameras and sensors they can get their hands on. Elliot’s put in charge of mapping out the cameras and we learn that the reason he has so much trouble reading is because he’s dyslexic. He can still draw the map, though, and he goes to work. Spoiler alert, I had trouble finding anything that stood out enough to me to put in the “that ain’t so bad” slot, so I’ll go ahead and use that card here. Elliot being told he’s still capable of great things in spite of his learning disability? That Ain’t So Bad! Ambrose gathers up weapons to defend herself and her son, but the Doc, in quite possibly the creepiest moment of the entire show to date, tells her she’s better than defending her family and to put the weapons away. The dome overhead begins to block out light to isolate the people inside. Dr. Chaudhry and Tony share a kiss as the things underground get close. Rory, Ambrose and the Doc join them while the monitoring equipment shorts out. The adults realize that Elliot isn’t with them and Ambrose lays into the Doc for letting Elliot run around on his own with everything that’s going on. Outside, Elliot is chased through the graveyard by something. He reaches the door, but it’s stuck and he’s snatched before the adults can get the door open. Ambrose runs out into the graveyard and find his headphones just as she’s tackled by the same creature that snatches Elliot. Tony arrives in time to save his daughter, but the thing lashes out with its tongue and jabs Tony in the neck.

All the humans regroup in the church while the Doc uses some magical sunglasses to track the creature, learning on the way that it’s coldblooded. That’s enough to tell him what they are, so he grabs a fire extinguisher and blasts it with cold while Rory helps trap it in Ambrose’s van. The dome overheard vanishes, and the Doctor thinks it’s because both sides now have hostages. Amy wakes up in some sort of glass container and begins raising a ruckus, only to have something on the outside shush her and fill the container with knock out gas. The Doc says he’s met creatures similar to these before, and goes down to its improvised cell in a cellar to talk to it. He takes of its mask, revealing a reptilian humanoid. It’s actually a she, and she’s Alaya, a member of an offshoot species of the Silurians. She and her kin have been hibernating for three hundred million years, but they were woken up by the drilling. The Silurians were the original inhabitants of Earth, and now feel the time’s come to take the planet back from the apes. Alaya refuses to give Amy or any of the other hostages back, but the Doc says he’s not going to let her class of warriors start a war.

The Doc tells the humans he’s going to go down into Silurian territory. He tells the humans they’re in charge of making a good impression on Alaya. They have to convince her humanity’s pretty okay, despite Tony wanting to dissect Alaya for intel. Dr. Chaudhry wants to join the Doc as he goes down into the Earth and he relents. The TARDIS is immediately hijacked by something, getting pulled down into the Earth. Rory, Ambrose and Tony go down to meet Alaya, who tells them one of them is going to kill her and this will ignite a war that will result in the Silurians getting control of the planet again. She tells them she knows apes better than they know themselves, and that she even knows which of them will kill her. Tony, meanwhile, is not doing well after getting pricked by a Silurian tongue earlier. Dr. Chaudhry and the Doc arrive in Silurian territory. Amy wake up again, this time strapped to some sort of table. Mo is there, and he tells her not to struggle. Turns out the Silurians vivisected him while he was conscious and then sewed him back up, and they’re about to do the same to Amy. Dr. Chaudhry stumbles upon the Silurian settlement, but it doesn’t contain the dozen or so warriors the Doctor was expecting. There’s an entire civilization under the Earth, and they’re all awake.

The End

~~~~~

For me this one unfortunately continued the tradition of a lot of set up in part one and a lot of delivery in part two, so I don’t have a lot of thoughts, here. Dr. Chaudhry was the only character that really stuck in my memory, and I don’t really like how little Amy got to do other than get captured. The make up on Alaya was nice, and I’ll be interested to see what she gets up to next time.

I give “The Hungry Earth” QQQ on the Five Q Scale.

Be sure to check back on Friday when Eli will take a look at days gone by in the next episode(s) of The Golden Girls, “Golden Moments, Parts I & II”, and then on Saturday chaboi will be back to wrap up this story in the next episode of Doctor Who, “Cold Blood”.

Until then, thanks for reading, thanks for digging and thanks for being One of Us!

[creativeashproductions]

Innocent [5]

Summary: Blake Ainsley’s always had a rule that she wouldn’t getting into a relationship with someone outside of SHIELD, the problem came in the form of a tall brunette hunter trying to be normal. Blake and Sam believe each other to be too innocent for the world they both know, one that involved chaos, death, blood and pain. Will they ever know about each others ‘real life’?    

Characters: Blake Ainsley/OC x Sam Winchester, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff

Words: 2664

Warnings: Swearing, blood, a little fluff, and a little angst.

Part One  Part Two Part Three Part Four

Masterlist

Prompt List

Blake arrived at the hospital and walked into the room where Nat and Steve were waiting for news. She came holding coffees for everyone to keep themselves busy. She quickly squeezed Steve’s shoulder in support before swiftly hugging Nat before she could react.

“Is he going to make it?” Nat questioned emotionally.

“He’s Fury. Of course he’ll make it.” Blake weakly smiled at her friend.

“I don’t know.” Steve mumbled. “Tell me about the shooter.” Blake demanded before Nat could open her mouth, “Has to be highly trained to cause Fury this.”

“He’s fast and strong. He had a metal arm.” Steve replied just as Agent Hill walked in.

“Ballistics?” Nat asked.

“Three slugs. No rifling and completely untraceable.” Hill said without looking away from the operation room. Seeing Fury laying there tore at her heart.

“Soviet made?” Blake questioned wanting answers in order to kill the kick son of a bitch. “ Yeah.” Hill says just as Fury begins to worsen right in front of their eyes. Blake moved her head to her mouth in shock of seeing such a strong man begin to die right there. She lets a sob out when one of the doctors announces his stats dropping.

“Crash cart coming in.” A nurse says as the machine comes closer to Fury.

“Nurse, help me with the gauzes, please. BP is dropping. Defibrillator!” A second doctor yells as Blake and the others watch in horror as their boss flatlines.

“Come on Fury.” Blake whispered tearfully.

“Don’t do this to me, Nick.” Nat muttered lowly feeling the pain of the situation sink in.

“Stand back!” A doctor called out, “Three, two, one. Clear!”

Fury’s body arches in to the air receiving a shock. The long beep singing throughout the two rooms.

“Pulse?” He questions the other doctor. His co-worker places his fingers to Fury’s neck.

“No pulse.”

“Okay. Charge to two hundred please. Stand back! Three, two, one.” The doctor calls out and again Fury’s body arches into the air, “Give me epinephrine. Pulse?”

“Negative.”

“Don’t do this to me Nick. Don’t do this to me!” Nat calls out.

Blake’s knees begin to collapse until Steve catches in time, they hold each other in support as the continuity of reviving Fury goes on. Feeling the tormented eyes for the four people waiting on the other side of the window. The doctor glances over to Blake before turning back.

“What’s the time?”

“1:03, Doctor.” A nurse says placing her hands together. If they had revived him he would causes a great piece on their resumes.

“Time of death, 1:03 AM.” It’s official. Fury is dead and Blake wants revenge.

She watches as Steve glances down to the flash drive in his hand from Fury with direct orders. Blake knew that Steve would go into further detail on the secret meeting he had in his apartment. They had to be careful with Nat in the room though, even in a state of grief she would know something was up. They were led into a room where Fury’s body was laying as if he was only taking a nap.

“We need to take him.” Maria says as Natasha lets the tears rush down her cheeks.

“Natasha.” Blake softly asked wanting to comfort the woman. Instead Nat ignores her as she places a head on the father figure she had respected and loved since she met him. Within seconds she was out the door.

“Natasha!” Steve bits out following both females out of the room. The woman in question swings around getting in his face.

“Why was Fury in your apartment?” Natasha savagely asks.

“I don’t know.”

“I bet you she knows.” Nat spits out motioning towards Blake  trying to pry Nat a safe distance away. Just before Blake or Steve could reply they were interrupted again.

“Captain, they want you back at SHIELD.” Rumlow interrupts, “They want Viper too.”

It was rare she was called her code name since she left the organization responsible for the way she was raised. Instead she was called Agent or just her last name. It was off when Rumlow stated her code name but she shrugged it off.

“Yeah, give us a minute.” Steve replied glances over at the other man.

“They want you now.” Rumlow replies.

“Okay.” Blake mutters not bothering to look over at him. He would take her by force if he had too. They both knew it.

“You’re both terrible liars.” Nat tells them, “I’m surprised Sam hasn’t found out about your life yet.”

With that Natasha walks off from the two people she worked with most other than Clint. Both Blake and Steve watched the Assassin walk over in concern, yet they both knew she could handle herself even in this state.

“STRIKE team escort Captain Rogers and Agent Ainsley back to SHIELD immediately.” Another Agent stated.

“I told them.” Rumlow grumbles not liking being ordered by woman.

“Blake get them into conversation, I’ll be one minute tops. I have to hid this.” Steve whispered without moving his lips much. He needed to hide that from the observant Rumlow. Blake walked over to the older man slightly swaying her hips.

“Brock do you know what the matter is? I wasn’t supposed to be called in today.”

“You’re being called in since you’re in the area and not at your personal quarters.” Brock replied to her. Right at the end Steve joined them.

“Let’s go.” Steve says. Subtly Blake notices the flash drive hidden behind the gum in the vending machine. IT was incredibly smart on the Cap but she wondered exactly how he managed to do it without anyone noticing.

“Yeah.” Rumlow nodded, “STRIKE move it out.”

➰

Back at SHIELD Steve and Blake are delivered to Alexander Pierce as he and Agent 13, otherwise known as Steve’s neighbour Kate, walk out ending their conversation. Agent Carter meets the cold eyes of her fellow agents before turning back to Pierce.

“For what it’s worth, you did your best.” Pierce kindly told the blond woman.

“Thank you, Sir.” Agent Carter replied as she turned to leave, “Captain Rogers, Viper.”

“Neighbour.” Steve coldly replies with Blake’s cold glare making Carter uncomfortable. She was sure that the two were dating now.

“Ah, my best Agents. I’m Alexander Pierce but I’m sure Agent Ainsley has told you much good things about me.”

“Sir, it’s a honour to talk to you again.” Blake tells the much older man. Steve gives a similar reply.

“The honour is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in.” Pierce motions the two into his office. He knew they were hiding something about Fury from him and he needed to know.

In the room it’s professional looking just as Blake remembered it but the new thing she saw was the picture frame Pierce picked up. It was an old photo of himself and Fury. She was surprised Pierce didn’t notice the suspicion that Blake has. Something was up if he had brought pictures frames into the room.

“The photo was taken five years after Nick and I met. When I was at State Department in Bogota. ELN rebels took the embassy. and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages.” Pierce said looking down at the photo with something akin to sadness, “Nick was deputy chief for the SHIELD station there. And he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said that we’ll negotiate. Turned out the ELN didn’t negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what did they find?”

Blake shrugged in response as Steve awaited the news.

“They find it empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter.” Pierce finished.

“So you gave him a promotion.” Blake and Steve said together.

“I’ve never had any cause to regret it. Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night? Why didn’t you tell anyone other than her.”

“I don’t know.” Steve says looking him in the eyes.

“You know it was bugged?”

“I did, because Nick told me.” Steve crossed his arms.

“For a guy that said you didn’t ever have a reason to regret it, you sure do seem to be putting blind faith against your deceased friend.” Blake muttered causing the older man to glare at her.

“Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?” Pierce not getting an answer continues, “I want you to see something.” On the screen beings an interview with Batroc. It was the usual questioning but obviously it was live.

“Is this live?” Steve questions not taking his eyes off the screen.

“Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not so safe house in Algiers.”

“Are you saying he’s a suspect?” Blake asked. “Assassination isn’t in Batroc’s line.”

“No it’s more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star and he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer. And then the money was run through seventeen fictions accounts, the one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech.”

“Are we supposed to know who that is?” Steve questions as file is placed in his hands causing Blake to shift closer.

“Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 14-35 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick. HIs mother lived at 14-37.”

“Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?” Steve questioned getting angry.

“Well the prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquistion and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick’s death.” Pierce replied putting his hands together.

Blake was getting uncomfortable with what Pierce was saying because Nick Fury would never do something like that. He worked for the benefit of the world and for personal gain. Not only that but the lack of emotion that Pierce had was concerning given that a close friend of his was no murdered.

“If you really knew Nick Fury you know that’s not true.”

“Why do you think we’re talking? See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stuck your hands in the mud and try ti build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today, makes me really, really angry.”

“Uh huh.” Blake mutters noticing the hesitation now before Pierce continues on.

“Captain, you were the last one to see Nick alive. Viper would know from you Cap. I don’t think that was an accident, and I don’t think you do either. So I’m going to ask again. Why was he there?”

“He told me not to trust anyone” Steve finally gives up a little. “He’s right though.” Blake puts in.

“I wonder if that included himself.” Pierce casually said watching the discomfort grow on their faces.

“I’m sorry. Those were his last words. Excuse me.” Steve says picking up his discarded shield and places it back on his back. Blake and him starting leaving the room.

“Captain. Somebody murdered my friend and I’m going to find out why. Anyone that gets in my way, they’re going to regret it. Anyone.” Pierce firmly tells them.

“Understood.” Blake and Steve once again say together. Both of them are silent in the elevator.

“Operations control.” Blake informs the elevator computer.

“Confirmed.” The closing door reopen as Rumlow and two of his men join the congested room.

“All STRIKE personnel on site.” Rumlow tells his men.

“Understood.” One agents say. Blake slightly hears it but she’s glancing at Rumlow in the elevator with his back turned. He never turns his back in a conversation with her.

“Yes, Sir.” The other agent says.

“Forensics.” Rumlow informs the computer.

“Confirmed.” is the reply he gets.

“Cap. Ainsley.”

“Rumlow.” Both of them reply as the elevator doors close and they start moving down.

“Evidence response found some fibres on the rook they want us to see. You two want me to get the tac team ready?” Rumlow asks.

“No let’s wait and see what it is first.” Steve replies carefully following Blake’s eyes around the elevator. The atmosphere is off and something definitely is wrong.

“Right.” Rumlow says keeping himself guarded.

The elevator once again stops letting even more members of Rumlow’s team on along with SHIELD members. Blake ignores the conversation going around as she keeps her moving around everyone. One man is sweating and even with this many people it wasn’t right.

“What’s the status so far?” One agent says

“Administration level.” The other one replies. “Confirmed.” The computer says.

“Excuse me.” The other agent says to both Blake and Cap.

“Um…I’m really sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up what happened to him.” Rumlow says. The problem was he didn’t seem to really care. At that moment Blake knew that something was really wrong now.

“Thank you.” Steve says feeling the same as Blake. More agents are entering the already full elevator.

“Records.” A STRIKE member says.

“Confirmed.”

It’s at this point with the doors shutting that Steve realizes that he and his friends are now completely surrounded by agents with no escape. Sharing a glance with Blake he returns to looking ahead. “Before we get started-“ Steve begins.

“Does anyone want to get out?” One pause happens before all hell breaks loose. Separately Agents pull out stun rods and shove them in both Viper and Captain. Letting a grunt out, Blake retaliated kicking him in the stomach with enough force to take out another agent as well. A clunk happens as Steve’s wrist is pinned to the metal door with a highly magnetic cuff. Blake shoved into the wall with a gun pointed against the back of her head.

Dropping to the ground she turns sending him the ground with a loud grunt. Crashing her elbow into another agents nose she feels rather than hears the crunch and the once moan of pain, without time to move she feels the stun rod shove into her side sending her to the floor as she hears Rumlow and Steve fighting but she can’t get away from the stun around.

“Whoa big guy. I just want you to know, Cap…THIS AINT PERSONAL” Rumlow growls as he again attacks with the stun rod. Within another minute Blake has turned the rod on the man and he’s passed out from the pain of it and the foot she had shoved into his nuts.

“It kind of feels personal. Blake are you okay?” Steve questions as he picks up his shield and opens the elevator doors. They’re faced with an armed group of STRIKE agents.

“Drop the shield! Put your hands up in the air.” The Agent in the front announces.

“No can do!” Blake calls out as she feels the elevator drops with the help of the shield cutting wires.

Steve is grunting while opening the doors to see even more agents coming towards the.

“Give it up! Get that door open. You have nowhere to go!” Another Agent calls out on this floor. Steve swiftly throws his shield breaking the glass as Blake drops the floor to avoid being hit. She doesn’t get up before Steve has yanked her into his arms and they’ll thrown themselves out the building with the shield under them. She feels her ribs bruise already as she gains speed with Steve. Looks like she wasn’t going home anytime soon and Sam wouldn’t let this one go.

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