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xo-cuteplosion-xo · 3 years

Note

https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdYmoyAh/

This but you're PM!Dazai's therapist (of course he's not there for the therapy, he has other intentions) and when you're arrested for criminal association (he's not the only criminal you seek to help) he saves you.🙏

Mwah romance.

Ooooo, I sense some manipulative Dazai with this request. I haven’t written for a Port Mafia Dazai in a while, so this should be fun. (after editing this I realized how deciving the title is for this, but I am not changing it XD)

Enjoy dear reader.

~Therapeutic Love~

PM!Dazai x Reader

Words:2265

Possible trigger warnings:

Manipulation

Some mention of suicide (Dazai bringing it up)

Slight dehumanization (referred to as thing twice at the end).

Dim lights and tender music playing sweet melodies in the background consumed the cozy room. The walls surrounding the room sitting dusted with dulled versions of vibrant colors, and mats full of fluff and chairs softer than imaginable, create the perfect little setting. With bookcases placed along the walls, children's drawings hung where there would be nothing, even an occasional flowerpot among the windowless walls of the room spread some light into the atmosphere. Books from earlier sessions lay hanging open on the small side tables and the coffee table sitting expertly in the middle of the room.

With a smile over your lips, looking forward to the next patient you’d see in a few minutes you silently hummed to yourself: Making sure to tidy things up and change the music. You knew you should fear him, the man who always scheduled his appointments every Wednesday in that last open spot. Just after the fall of night, knowing his profession had been something easy to uncover. The way he carried his body and the dead glint in his eyes; so young but lifeless: led you to believe he was some part of the mafia. You saw many of their men, those who spoke of horrors, all of whom you helped. Your gift, the ability the world blessed you with, allows you to see the emotions hidden underneath, to manipulate and bring up the information you willed without the patient's knowledge. You had never met a challenge, but then there was him. This boy, about your age, who didn’t let you see the emotions. His ability, no longer human, as he called it, canceled out all other abilities. It made him blissfully fun to talk to. You couldn’t tell if he was lying, or what was going through his mind as he talked about recent suicide attempts. Though he was rather unprofessional with his flirtatious teasing, perhaps it could be called a diversion for him. He was a mystery, but you knew his reputation well.

While you looked forward to his visits, you were not an idiot to lower your guard. He could kill you and get away with it in moments. The demon protege of the Port Mafia, Dazai Osamu. Perhaps that added to the thrill of trying to help him.

The doors to the room cracked up as they did every day, though he was early. On-time was early for him, he had a habit of popping in late, normally by ten or twenty minutes. “Hello, go ahead and take a seat.” Your voice, humming with softness and deliberate care meant to soothe a patient into a trust wound around the room.

“Put your hands where we can see them.” Surprise wound itself around your expression, eyes flying wide and lips parting in a silent harsh intake of air. Has somebody leaked your information? On a technicality, you were a criminal. You associated with these misunderstood people in hopes to help them see the world wasn’t all evil. There were people, like yourself, who didn’t purposely try to take advantage of people. “If you cooperate, your sentence won’t be as harsh. That’s a promise.” Officers were truly cruel people. Many of them are corrupt and working solely for the pay, rather than working to benefit the common folk.

You lifted your hands manipulating your expression to a sorrowful one: Looking down and pushing your lips out in hopes to earn sympathy. “I have to promise patient confidentiality. Do you know how much trouble I'd be in if I told you the information? You don’t have a warrant to be here, do you?” The manipulation flew from your tongue, your ability slowly coming to activate. If you just brushed your hands over their skin, a feathery touch to manipulate them into sympathy, to leave you in peace and forget about trying to find what they needed.

“We do and know not to touch you. One of your patients leaked it.” Did they not understand what they said was too much? Were cops not supposed to keep that sensitive information to themselves? “In the eyes of the law, you're a criminal by association. Knowing the whereabouts of the wanted.” You turned your eyes from the floor to the cops. Your face falling into a blank appearance. Not all the evil in this world is tossed among the fires of hell. Some of them are saveable. You can save people… that was your job, your purpose for living. Nobody was made black in the heart without trauma or pain. Some may have stupidly simple reasons, others are born mentally different, but none are born without a chance at the light. Even people like Dazai could become somebody worth saving. You truly believed you could help these lost souls.

“I can’t go with you, I have to keep them safe. These are people who suffer like you and me. It's alright to let them see the light.” Your voice coated in honey as your foot moved to take a step. The back officer, leaning towards the door, the one who hadn’t spoken at all today, raised their gun. With the weapon pointed at you, you withdraw your movements. The officer who had been talking walked closer to you pulling out a taser. “Now that’s definitely excessive.”

“If you move, you’ll either be shot with the gun or taser to keep you from using that… curse.” a definite insult to what was most certainly a beautiful gift. The clambering of handcuffs easily jingled within the cop's hands. There was no way you would let them restrain and search your office with such easy compliance. They would see those notes over your dead body.

“I’m really sorry about this!” You smiled, hand swiping towards their face as you leaped forward.

The stinging sound of a gun firing twice alarmed you, eyes shooting shut only to reopen when pain didn’t push against your mind. “My my~ have you gotten yourself in a pinch belladonna?” The teasing voice sparked a flame within your chest, your heart skipping a beat.

“Dazai…” you exhaled a breath you didn’t realize you’d been holding in. As if the sight of the bleeding bodies didn’t bother the man, which they didn’t, he stepped over them towards you.

“Mmm? You’re shaking Y/n. I’ve never seen you frightened before!” Looking at your hands, you noticed the shaking, though his observation was wrong. This was excitement, adrenaline, perhaps a bit of admiration as well.

“I’m not afraid, I'm running on adrenaline… I was prepared to die over this. I hold a lot of sensitive information.” You watched his every move, cautious as you usually were. Unsure if his smile signaled he’d kill you, or a smile that hid pain.

“Ah really? Here I was hoping to save the damsel in distress.” His free hand, the one not holding his gun, moved over his forehead as he dramatized his “feelings''. Rolling your eyes, you looked at the bodies with staggered breath.

“Another day Dazai, another day. Few things can truly terrify me in this world. Death isn’t one of those.” The rough chuckle forced from his lips pained you. Knowing he was amused, but unable to express such a feeling. His hands circled your waist, pulling you close from behind. A smirk over his lips as he restrained you to him.

“And that will be your weakness belladonna~. What will you do now that you’ve been marked a criminal? Sadly with these two dead, it’ll be blamed on you, a true pity. We had so much fun while it lasted.” there it was a sudden chill. The feeling only he could inflict within you. You, who never felt terrified of others because you knew their inner emotions. You could manipulate and tear down walls with your ability. A person is a slave to their emotions after all, and when you have the power to manipulate them, you become the one in power. Dazai made you smaller, the lesser of the two immaculate forces. You did fear him, in a way that is. There was nobody in this world who didn’t fear him to a certain degree. Even if it were only in the back of their minds. The grip around your waist tightened with your silence. Did he want to hear you accept death? He was crooked, perhaps the only person in this world who would ever make you unsure about saving him. Could he be considered human?

“I suppose you’ll silence me on the mafia’s behalf before burning this humble home of mine?” It pained your heart to think of your work being destroyed with so many unheard stories and unhealed wounds. That was your fear, the truest fear, being unneeded, losing your purpose in life. If you could not help, then what were you to do? That’s who you were, wasn't it, just somebody to help people. The shivers that passed down your spine and the steady quickening of your pulse found new heights the longer you thought about all of this being for nothing. You gave up an honest career in this world, all so you could help those in the dark who needed it the most.

“So that’s what you fear the most? Losing everything you worked for? You fear losing a purpose in life." while his hands loosened their grip to spin you around, your eyes widened in shock. He truly did read a person like he read a book. “There is a way to… keep this going.”

Manipulative, cunning, cruel, and heartless. That’s just who the personification of darkness was. Dazai truly was the blackest mafioso. His heart clouded and unable to feel anything. “Tell me…” you looked up to meet his gaze, that single eye peering at you with the same look it always had. A mischievous cruel glimmer, playful but dangerous.

“Become the Mafia’s, become mine.” while one hand held you close to him, another reached up and grabbed your chin: delicate fingers harshly pressed against the skin, but careful not to snap your jaw.

“What?” You looked at him with wide eyes, you were good, everything you did was meant to help others. The mafia was not where you belonged.

“Hm? I didn’t stutter. I can shoot you here, which would be terribly disappointing. To have made no progress, to have been useless in the end would be pitiful. You can avoid that though, join the mafia, belong to me, and you’ll have a real meaning to somebody. Isn’t that better than having nothing in your life?” His words spilled like honey: but cut like knives. “You'd like that, wouldn’t you? To be by my side?” His silver tongue coated everything with enough tenderness to trap your mind. “Haven't you been thinking about me for so long? I never miss the glimmer nor the smile when I enter the room~” his face lowered close to yours before dipping to bury in the crook of your neck, his fingers releasing your chin. “Don’t prove to have been a waste of time.”

Air refused to properly flow within your lungs, your limbs slowly starting to fail you. Shouldn’t you be pushing this man away, the man who’d just killed two people who were only doing their job? Yet, no matter how you tried to push away thoughts of him, you found yourself falling into the pit. He was easily tugging you down to the darkness, pulling you from the tiny morsels of light you still stood on. This had been his work from day one, when you had shown no fear, had not a glimmer of judgment, had kept a straight expression, refused to play along to his flirtatious ways. When you got him to spill things even without your ability. This was your fault, getting the attention of a demon. “I’ll do it.” Your lips betrayed you, answering in a half-present tone. Your mind wandering away, defocussing, completely trapped within his words.

“Say it, say you’ll belong to me.” He talked without moving his face from the crook of your neck.

With your heart increasing and pounding in your ears, your lips parted again. “I’ll belong to you, Dazai.” You hadn’t meant to sound so weak or for your body to shake. Was this fear or were you excited? It was difficult to differentiate between the two.

“Louder, Y/n, say it like you’re proud to be mine.” He finally lifted his head to look at you. His eye reflecting an animalistic gleam, lips tugged into a knowing smirk, his hand moving to cup your chin again.

Inhaling as far as you could, you let out all your second thoughts, your worries, your complaints, and your morals go with the following exhale. “I’ll belong to you, Dazai!” This time you sounded louder, more confident. It seemed to satisfy him, his smirk tugging on his lips as he brought your lips to his.

“Good little thing.” It was both a degrade and a praise. The simple sentence created a rope of mixed feeling. His lips on yours created more inner confusion.

You were his now, he’d played his cards and spun your life around his fingers, forming webs and knots to permanently connect you to his grip until he chose to sever those bonds, something he’d never do. He’d worked so hard to plan everything until this point; to deceive you until you were trapped. He’d been worried for a moment that you would choose to go down with the information, but you came through for him like the perfect thing you were.

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operation-619 · 4 years

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What if the reader is an alien that has the same power as superman and stronger than Homelander? The reader works at the Vought and doesn't know the corruption in it until Butcher told the truth. Homelander acts soft on her when they see each other, and Homelander was still confused about his feelings and put his ego shit first. I kinda wanna see Homelander battling the reader when she was trying to protect Ryan and Butcher while Maeve hasn’t arrived yet. She will make him bleed.

Even the strongest man Bleeds.

Edited 17-01-21

Homelander x Alien! Reader

Warning: mentions of blood, language, mentions of death and murder. Violence read at your own risk.

Bold italics- inner dialogue, Bold- the past.

WC - 3.1k

Masterlist

“The compound V is what makes them, supes. It’s not real and the golden boy, your Homelander, is the most corrupt motherfucker I have ever met. We need your help (Y/N). Please?” his voice was hoarse, the stress in his words were leaking onto his face. She could see the worry on his face, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe the men in front of her.

“You’re lying to me. Billy Butcher, you have a lot of nerve coming here, you and your gang are mortal enemies to Homelander right now. It’s not safe.” The muscular black man scoffed at her statement and leaned back against the seat. He seemed relaxed but his eyes constantly sweeping the place told (Y/N) otherwise.

“I swear, come back with me and I will show you everything. Please?” his eyes crinkled at the sides as he pulled his face into what looked like a poor attempt at a pleading face. (Y/N)’s mouth was just forming the word ‘NO’ when the man called Mother’s Milk chuckled and leaned forward.

He whispered, “he doesn’t ever say please,” and stood up from the booth and walked out of the café. Her mind was racing, weighing the pros and cons of her current situation. She considered whether or not they were just baiting her into a trap, but she was confident that she could make her way out of it. But it isn’t everyday that two men come waltzing into her favourite café, sit themselves down like they own the place and cough up a semi-convincing story about the corruption at Vought.

“Fuck it,” she whispered under her breathe, “fine I’ll come, it’s good to go out your comfort zone once in a while.” The smile on her face made Billy look at her with confusion painted on his rugged features. She stood, and gestured Butcher to show her the way, “just so you know, I don’t believe you at all.”

(Y/N) replayed her past movement in her head carefully over and over again, and yet she still could not believe how naïve she truly was. But here she is sat in a car that smells like Old Spice, waiting for Frenchie to get the speakers ready. She threw her head back against the headrest and released a shaky breath; everything she believed and knew had been a lie to her. Including John. ‘Oh dear god John, what have you done?’ Her thoughts were getting too loud, they were screaming at her asking how she could’ve been so stupid to not know.

‘How could you not know?’

‘It was right in front of your face you idiot’

‘Your really are a cunt!’

(Y/N) squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her temples, the stress of all the sudden information was taking a toll on the woman. Whimpering under her breath, she opened the car door and inhaled the cold air. Closing the car door, she leaned against it and watched as the group of friends conversed amongst themselves. The plan was to set off the sonic device and John to go over and destroy the source, and when he does Billy and Becca will drive and get Ryan. She still didn’t know why she was needed, (Y/N) was still processing the information she was given 48 hours ago.

“Okay, 15 minutes and everything will be all set,” the French accent let her know who was talking, but she wasn’t paying that much attention when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck arise.

“Get in the cars!” she whispered harshly, her arms waving about ushering the people back into the cars. (Y/N)’s breath shallowed once everyone was in their respected cars, she creeped forward and looked upwards, watching as the uncovered Nazi zoomed by. She vividly remembered the moment she had met that woman. (Y/N) never trusted that woman, something about the way her heart leaped when an opportunity to hurt someone arose. (Y/N) also didn’t like the way John was towards her, all bark, and no bite- vulnerable.

(Y/N) had never seen John so vulnerable around anyone except her.

The metallic taste in the air is what told (Y/N) that Stormfront had just flown by, the hair on the back of her neck relaxed and so did her posture. Walking over to Butcher, she waited until he rolled down his window before she spoke; “She’s seen the leaked news, my guess is she is going back to Vaught to see what caused that, fiasco.” She heard another window come down, not doubt Frenchie and the others.

“Was she alone?” without turning around she nodded. (Y/N)’s tongue ran across the bottom of her teeth before she turned around and faced the two cars, the cars holding the people that brought the truth to her naïve and simplistic eyes. “What exactly am I doing here? Because, you have the weapons, metaphorical and physical to defeat them. So please, tell me why I am here?” her eye followed the movements of the human bodies getting out of the cars. She could see the look on Becca’s face, and she didn’t like it.

“We’re gonna use ya.” Her (E/C) eyes shot towards MM, he stood there tall and domineering, with his hands on his hips. “Starlight, or Annie told us how soft Homelander is on you. And if things go south, you are our pawn.” (Y/N)’s hearts faltered.

“You humans are so pathetic. I mean, I am old. Older than all of you put together, so I have seen shit that no one can imagine. But the one thing that never changes is the utter stupidity of you homo-sapiens, the selfishness and carnage that I have experienced puts my species to shame.” (Y/N) paced back and forth, her anger evident as black veins started to appear under her (E/C) eyes.

“(Y/N). Please, MM didn’t mean it like that,”

“I did. I did mean it exactly how I said it Becca,” (Y/N) stalked the movement of the vigilante group. Her hearing was being drowned by the loudness of her beating hearts. She watched as Becca stepped forwards and stopped right in front of her.

“My son, who was conceived in the most- my son is in there. I don’t know if you have had children before. But I am not going anywhere until I have my boy in my arms. So please, help me.” (Y/N) flinched when she felt warm hands placed onto her cold shoulders, echoes of her past resonating inside her head. She now understood the look on Becca’s face, the look of a mother- a childless mother that no longer understands their purpose in life. Because she was one.

“Okay, but I want this on my terms.”

The little boy was screaming when (Y/N) landed behind John, crying for his mommy to wake up. She looked around, seeing the two women laying lifeless. She was too late to save them. The metallic taste in the air was getting stronger the closer she walked towards the pandemonium. The woman that confided in her mere moments ago, now lay with blood flowing out the cut in her neck. She watched as Butcher tried to stop the bleeding his white hands now crimson. His whole body covered in blood, soaking him to his soul.

Turning her head, (Y/N) saw John knelt next to Stormfront or what is left of her. The burnt woman mumbling in what sounded like German. “Ryan- ‘her attention went from the barbequed supe to John, ‘did you do this?”

“He didn’t mean to John,” she watched his whole-body flinch at the sound of her voice, she was happy to see his face finally, to get some sort of justification. But the feeling that shot through her body was the complete opposite, the look in his eyes reminded her of herself, and she didn’t like it.

“What are you doing here, I thought you left?” he surged forward and cupped her face, (Y/N) placed her hand on his chest and the other on his hand. She closed her eyes and inhaled her John deeply. “(Y/N), you have no idea, I. I don’t understand.” The beating of his heart grounded her for a moment, everything around them disappeared for a moment as the two of them were caught in their own bubble. But (Y/N) knew the bubble had to be popped. And she had the sharpest needle to do it with.

“John, what happened on the plane.” She was met with silence, the hands gripped her face harder, but her eyes still remained closed. “You left them all to die, didn’t you?”

“I did not leave them to die, I tried to save them. You know this (Y/N), why are you asking me this.” His mouth was talking but his heart told her the truth. Releasing a soft sigh, (Y/N) stepped back from John and finally opened her eyes. The bubble burst when his blue eyes met pitch black, her pupils had flooded the white out leaving a demonic presence behind, the black veins appeared all over her body pulsing violently.

“I know everything John, you have been lying to me. I trusted you, and you know that.” He started to mutter words that didn’t make sense to her, his hands anchored in his hair. (Y/N) watched as the great Homelander fell apart right in front of her, Earths favourite and mightiest hero crumbled under the pressure of words.

“Now let them go John. Please?” when his blue eyes met hers, the look rivalled hell itself. His jaw twitched, tongue pocking out to lick his bottom lip. He never broke eye contact with her, his eyes tracked her like predator to prey. (Y/N) moved cautiously, never turning her back to John. Once she was stationed in front of Butcher and the kid, she placed her right arm out and behind her. (Y/N)’s ears were ringing, the power surging through her was immense and yet she felt weak. Weak, it wasn’t a word her species spoke, and she never heard of such a word until she came to earth. Vulnerable, weak, powerless, helpless, defenceless, and fragile; all these words are now part of her vocabulary, and she was feeling every single one of them as she looked at the man she had come to love.

(Y/N) had given him not just one but both of her hearts. He was the first person that offered her his hand when the rest of this new world beat her down with their harsh words, he taught her how the ways of her new life, he was her new life. (Y/N) may have been a celestial being, but she knew when something wasn’t right. At first, she thought John was just trapping her, the distance – although not physical – was fluctuating between then constantly; first John welcomed her with open arms, then he kept her at arms-length when they got too close and then the cycle repeated.

But through all the shit he had put her through, she was still there for him. until now.

“We are going to leave, and you will never trouble them again.” Her vision was sharp as she watched the wrecked man in front of her chose the option she hoped he wouldn’t.

“You know I can’t do that, he’s my son.” And with that he charged towards them, eyes red with hunger and rage. His path changed when he felt a fist connect with his cheek, sending him flying into a tree. His world spun, staggering up onto his feet he made eye contact with the shell of the woman he loves. Her black eyes reminded him of a starless night, an abyss that was forbidden to travel.

Something cold dripped onto his lip, and out of instinct his tongue licked it away, he thought nothing of it until the unfamiliar taste of blood slithered its way down his throat. His naked hand came up and delicately touched his nose, he hissed in pain when his calloused hand touch it, retracting his hand he look in bewilderment at the blood sat there taunting him on his hand.

“You broke my nose,” his voice was meagre but loud enough for her to hear the vulnerability in it.

She turned to Butcher and the child hurriedly telling them , “get away from here, quickly,” and before she could turn back around, she was pinned to the muddy floor. Her face caked in the mixture of blood and dirt; she could feel John’s breath on her neck. Without a second thought she flung her head back and used the distraction to spin around and wrap her hand around the heroes throat. (Y/N) paid no mind to the thoughts pounding in her head, she wasn’t about to let them stop her from – whatever she thought she was doing.

“(Y/N) … (Y/N). please.” the air around them froze, she wanted answers but standing here with her hand around the nations saviour’s throat was not the way she needed to get them. “You lied to me John, the one person who promised to never lie to me. You betrayed my trust.” She threw him to the ground.

“You had me working for monsters. They never helped people!” the wind started to pick up around them, her (Y/H/C) hair danced ferociously around her face, a face that was covered in black veins pulsating in rage. (Y/N)’s head snapped to the right when she heard a twig snap, her vision was met with Butcher and the kid watching her in astonishment and fear. The kid was hiding behind Butcher, just his head poking out watching (Y/N) beat up his father. And god did he look like John.

(Y/N)’s body moved before she could even realise what was happening, her left hand came up to stop the blow coming her way and then she knelt down, using John’s momentum against him, she throw him over her shoulder. But the outcome wasn’t in her favour as he managed to land on his feet. And then he was charging at her. Punches were thrown and bodied flung everywhere, (Y/N) couldn’t bring herself to kill John, but it felt good to hurt him.

“He’s my son (Y/N). He needs me!” his words were met with a foot to his chest.

“No one need you John, not after what you did,” her elbow jabbed into his stomach, causing his arms to release her waist, she looked at his body lying pathetically on the forest floor. Americas strongest man, the embodiment of patriotism and pride had fallen to his knees.

“(Y/N), you have and always will need me’, his blue eye sparkled with malicious intent, ‘no one wanted a freak roaming our home, but because I stood by your side, they welcomed you. But the moment I’m gone. You will be nothing. But a monster to the people you love so much.” Blood came flying out of his mouth as he spat his words at her. His armour had crumbled and all he had left was his words.

“Stop” the alien smiled at the hero on his knees, her eyes only moved off his body when she felt a presence next to her. John started to get up, but (Y/N) swiftly moved forward, wrapping her arm around his neck, and gripping his hair with her free hand. She forced him to stay down, on his knees.

Maeve came into sight, moving cautiously like she was afraid he would brake from his bond. She stopped when she was right in front of the disgraced hero.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” (Y/N) could feel John shaking in her grip. The two looked at each other in silence for a while, their eye contact unbreakable. (Y/N) spared a glance at Butcher, who was still stood in the same place.

“You’re going to let them go,” the man in question scoffed but immediately fell silent when (Y/N) tightened her grip on his hair. He cleared his throat, moving subtlety before answering the Queen.

“And if I don’t?” his ego spoke louder than the words coming out of his mouth, he was confident that everything was going his way. Both Maeve and (Y/N) knew that. But the moment Maeve held up the recording of the plane (Y/N) could physically feel The Homelander admitting defeat. The cries of the passengers echoed through her head, along with the bullshit lie the man in her arms fed her. ‘there was nothing we could do, the terrorist had too much control I tried to save them (Y/N). I tried.’

“You’re going to stop hunting Starlight, you’re going to leave me and Elena alone. Or I release this.” there was no room for argument, and he knew that. But he had to open his mouth. “If you do that, I’ll destroy everything and everyone.” (Y/N)’s grip tightened, she dragged his head backward and brought her lips to his bloody ear. Her voice was cold, no hint of vulnerability, no hint of emotion.

She could feel his bones quaking under her arm as she tightened her hold on the man she had come to love. The man that made everything feel less painful, the man that she called a true friend. But standing here in the middle of a forest with two dead women, a sobbing child and a emotionless man; she realised that what her people said about the human race was true. And John had proven that to her. It took everything in (Y/N) not to simply break his neck but she wanted him to hurt.

She wanted him to bleed.

So, she looked up at Maeve and signalled her to get the two boys out of here, she wanted to be alone with him. she willed herself to calm down, she knew she wasn’t in the right headframe to talk to John because if she did so now, his head would be lying two feet way from his body. So, she whispered to the man calmly, hearts no longer racing with hatred or fear. She let the venom in her voice speak for itself as she whispered to Homelander. But she let man she loved hear the pain in her voice, because the man she was holding was not her John, her John had died the moment Butcher and Mother’s Milk sat down across from her in the café. However, (Y/N) had comfort as she let the ten simple words leave her mouth, because she knows that no matter how much Compound V is pumping through his body. Even the Strongest man bleeds.

“If you do that Homelander, I will make you bleed.”

|=|=|

Hello beautiful people, I hope you enjoyed my little piece, feel free to leave comments about what you liked and didn’t like, I’m okay with a bit of constructive criticism I believe it will help me get better, and if you want anything else.

#homelander x reader #homelander #the boys #violence #angst #blood #queen maeve #alien reader #extraterestrial #the boys x reader

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nautiscarader · 3 years

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Ladynoir 8

(Ao3)

There was a time when Marinette would imagine situations like these only in her boldest, and deepest dreams. The cold air from the night was still present in the shadowy alcoves between the chimneys, slowly disappearing with the first rays of the morning sun.

She let out a breathless gasp, feeling the texture of bricks on her back, as her lover gently pressed her against it, making her feel ever so slightly conficlted about it.

- Chat... We can't-We're not-

At the same time, far away, a clock struck six times, and she saw a smirk on his face.

- Now we can. Work's over.

And with that, he placed a heated kiss on her exposed neck, feeling no resistance from her, especially when she let out a much louder moan. From now on, Paris belonged to Alya and... Zoe, it was Friday, yes.

Truth to be told, Marinette wanted this as well, as this night was most tiring. People might have thought being a superheroine was a noble job about fighting evil, but on nights like these, it mostly was comprised of stopping fights between drunkards, or random car accidents.

And in moments like these, Chat's lips and hands made her feel as if she defeated Hakwmoth ten times in a row...

His gentle, but steady moves made Marinette forget where they were and how exposed they could be in just a few moments, as the sun moved up on the sky. In just half an hour, her red outfit would be a beacon of light. It's a good thing that right now, Chat's black outfit covered her almost completely...

Marinette closed her arms behind his back, while his arms sneaked behind hers to secure her and give her a bit of comfort their position required. She wished they could do it in a bed of a hotel room (she always indited on paying for, while Chat unceremoniously claimed them as their own). But as his caresses deepened, she realised she doesn't need comforts, as long as she's got him...

His body jerked for the first time, and hers arched in response, trying to fit into each other. Ladybug's leg hooked around his, and her hand reached between them, closing around his bell.

Adrien purred in response to Ladybug;s impatience. For all the talk about their duites and responsibilities, only he knew what happens to her when she's needy...

He felt the slightly cold morning air on his chest, as Ladybug disrobed him, but her hand, sliding down gave him enough warm to forget about that at once. And though she didn't see where her hand was going, she knew the way by heart.

Ladybug coiled her fingers around his cock, making Adrien shudder. She opened her eyes, giving him sly, seductive look only he was privileged to see.

For a moment, she thought that she had an upper hand, but Marinette realised she was wrong when Chat's hands dug into her ass, lifting her into the air, as he effortlessly slid between her legs, pinning her to the wall.

Ladybug coiled her legs automatically behind his back, just like she dug her nails into his now-exposed back. A moment later, his hands were no longer supporting her, giving her a faint fluttering in her stomach as she felt almost weightless, held only by his strong body pinning her.

But soon something else will hold her in place...

With each kiss, her costume slowly dissolved, giving Chat permission to ravage her body. She'd normally make him kiss every dot of hers, but in these circumstances, she threw away all the pretences and revealed her naked body, though she made sure to uncover her crotch last.

And when the final part of her magical protection was gone, Adrien unceremoniously dropped her onto his cock, making sure his lips were on hers to contain her scream, which alone sent shivers through his body.

But those could not compare to the feeling of Ladybug's welcoming, wet warmth that surrounded him now. And as her legs and arms coiled desperately around him, he felt every beat of her heart, which only hastened with his thrusts.

Their kisses became quick and ravenous, as the two wanted to savour the last moments of the night that still covered them. He remembered the first time they made love in the open air; Ladybug made sure they were almost invisible. Now, after dozens of dates, she seemed to throw away some caution to the wind, which only made his love more passionate.

And as he buried himself deeper and deeper inside her, another thought of risk came across his mind, and though it was hazed with pleasure, he babbled his question between her soft moans.

- Lady-Ladybug are-are you- - Safe, kitty - she replied, sneaking a kiss. - You can give me all you've got...

Marinette spoke, one of her last coherent sentences, as she felt her climax burning in her loins, only exacerbated by the promise of his orgasm warming her up.

And when it hit her, Marinette made sure not to wake the entire quarter up. She bit her lips into his shoulder, just as he groaned into her neck, his wild groan awakening something equally primal in hers.

Her toes and fingers curled, together with her legs and arms, as she desperately tried bringing Chat, his cock, and his climax deeper inside her, despite that being impossible. Their joined bodies shook with each pulse of his seed shooting up her womb and her walls coating his cock with her liquid heat.

For a solid minute, the two heroes stayed in the same unnatural pose, muttering each other's names, until their peaks have passed.

Though his knees were weak more than after entire night of jumping, Adrien made sure to keep his position stead, and don't let the rough texture of bricks scar his lady's back, as she slid down, twitching, breathing heavily and leaking their mixed climaxes to the ground.

Their lips met again, just in time for edge of the shadow to reach Chat's boots, which prompted Ladybug to jump in place in shock, as she got suddenly overwhelmed with the familiar post-coital guilt.

Her costume appeared again, hiding the many, many signs of Chat's presence on and inside her, and she took a good look around them.

The many chimneys still hid their presence, but of course now, in the morning light, they were much, much easier to spot.

- Until next time, my lady? - Chat asked, bowing gently, seeing her slight impatience. - Yes. And thank you, Chat... I can't wait for our next... patrol.

She smiled and watched as her feline lover disappears into the shadows between the chimneys and walls, while she walked in the opposite direction.

Marinette has learned how to avoid watchful eyes, both natural and artificial, and only when she was sure she wasn't being spied on, she detransformed in a stairwell. She reached into her bag to give Tikki her cookie, as well as slightly reprimanding look from her Kwami for her little sexcapade while still in her costume. But Marinette knew she could only be so mad - after all, she got to be with Plagg...

She automatically reached for her phone, and saw one message from Alya.

She nearly missed a step when the photo loaded an she saw her naked body coiled around half-naked Chat, taken precisely in the moment of their shared peaks. The next photo showed Rena's and Vesperia's smug smiles.

Marinette smiled. "Good job, you caught two criminals guilty of public indecency...", she congratulated them.

#ladynoir #lemon #miraculust #mlnsfw #nautiscaraderfics #day 8 #smutember #smutember 2021 #smutember2021

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evanstanwrites · 4 years

Text

Hot dentist - Steve Rogers AU

Sum: What did I bring myself into? Flirting with my dentist, none the less hot dentist, and then let him drive me home? Wasn’t this doomed to fail?

pairing: Dentist Steve Rogers x reader

warnings: my bad writing xD, +18 only, SMUT, public sex, unprotected sex, sexual acts while driving

I was so nervous as I stood in front of the dentist’s office in my local hospital. Today was the day I’d get my wisdom tooth removed, I had been in so much pain that I couldn’t delay it any longer. A few weeks ago I had noticed that there was a piece that had broken off my tooth and it had been the cause of a lot of pain, seeing as the nerves in the tooth got uncovered. So I found the little bit of courage I had left and made an appointment with my local dentist, an old but friendly man who was only a few weeks from retirement.

He had taken one look at my broken tooth and knew that it wasn’t a job he could handle. It turned out to be a wisdom tooth that I didn’t even know I had. It was the surprise of my life and when he said that I had to go to the hospital’s dentist to have it removed under anesthesia I panicked completely. I was already scared shitless of a regular dentist and needles now they were gonna stick needles into my mouth? What more do you need to shit your pants out of fear. But I got my shit together because I didn’t want to live with this kind of pain forever so I made the appointment with doctor S.Rogers at my local hospital.

“Hey, I’m Y/n and I have an appointment with doctor Rogers,” I say once I got my shit together and got to the front desk of doctor Rogers’s office.

“Welcome, Y/n, please fill in this form while you wait. You can hand the filled in form to the doctor” The lady behind the desk says as she starts to hand me all different kinds of papers and documents.

“The waiting area for doctor Rogers is at the end of the hallway, you can take a seat there.” she smiles and points in the direction of the waiting area.

After a short thank you and a nervous smile I follow the given directions through the long hallway filled with other waiting patients at all different doctors’ offices but none of them are the one I need to be at. After what seems like a long walk I finally reach the waiting area I need to be at seeing a large nameplate on one of the doors stating the doctor’s name.

I take my place on one of the chairs and start to fill in the form I was given by the lady at the front desk. Just as I was done the door of the office opens and a tall blond model like man with one of the brightest smiles stands in the door opening.

God this man was drop dead gorgeous, who was he? Was he the nurse, Maybe doctors Rogers’s assistant, or what if this was doctor Rogers? Omg kill me now, I’m not going to survive this if that species of a man is gonna do the procedure.

What if I say something stupid during the anesthesia?

“Miss Y/l/n?”

God even the sound of his voice is to melt for. I quickly get a hold of myself and stand up.

“That’s me.” I smile at the man.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Doctor Rogers. please come in,” he says as he steps out of the way and signs for me to walk in first.

Oh god, he is the doctor, I’ll have to do my best to act normal. I think to myself as I walk into the office and sit on one of the chairs before handing over the filled in forms as he walks past me to his seat.

“So I got all the information from your dentist, seems like you need to have your wisdom tooth removed.” He explains as he sits down behind his desk, looks over the papers before smiling at me.

“I do see here that you requested the use of the anesthetic gas but I fear that it’s not possible today due to some technical problems.”

“Oh, so what’s going to happen then?” I ask suddenly not that concerned about the fact that I didn’t know how to act around a drop dead gorgeous doctor but more scared about the procedure itself.

“Well seeing as you’re the last patient of the day our only option for the procedure is a local anesthetic. But I promise you, you have nothing to worry about. I know it sounds more terrifying than it actually is. I promise you I won’t hurt you, it’ll be a bit uncomfortable but it won’t hurt.” he reassures me which to I can only nod shortly, still nervous.

“You’ll be alright, miss, you’re in good hands”

One of his warm hands covered mine that laid on top of the desk as he says it with a smile.

Wow, this man is really all smiles but knows how to put someone at ease. I think as I smile back at him.

“Okay, Thank you, doctor Rogers”

“You’re welcome and please call me Steve. What ya say we get started and get it over with?”

Steve’s not even finished speaking when he stands up from his chair and holds a hand out to help me to my feet and leads me to the room next to the office where the procedure would take place.

And before I know it I’m in the chair leaning back, watching Steve move around the room as he washes his hands before gloving up.

In the end, he was right, I barely felt it when he injected the local anesthetic into my gums. In comparison to any dentist I had ever met Steve was very soft in his handling and very talkative, it seems like he forgot that he was working in my mouth and that I couldn’t talk back. Which lead to a couple of funny moments but it did put my mind at ease, I wasn’t scared at all anymore and it started to feel more like Steve and I knew each other for a long time. He even flirted with me a few times, at least I think he did.

Every time he’d had to do something that would cause me even the slightest bit of discomfort he warned me and checked if all was alright after.

Overall the procedure only took around half an hour and soon enough Steve was putting his work in finishing with stitching up the wound.

“Here you go sweetheart, we’re all done,” he says leaning back on his chair before cleaning up the little worktable so I could sit up.

“You got someone to take you home? Because it’s not wise to drive while the anesthetic is still working,”

Shit, I didn’t think about that. He’s right I can’t drive like this.

“No, I don’t but I’ll call for a cab to drive me home,” I say which comes out a bit more like a mumble due to my still numb mouth as I stand up from the chair, ready to collect my stuff so I can leave even if I don’t really want to. I wanted to be in his presence for as long as I could, that was the kind of effect he had on me.

“No need to call a cab, I can drive you home seeing as I’m off in a few minutes.” he smiles as we walk back into his office “Only if you want that is?” he quickly adds.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose after all I’m just your patient,” I say a bit unsure, I want to say yes but was it wise to, it isn’t professional at least.

“Well as soon as we walk out of this office you’re not my patient anymore and we can do what we choose to do,” he chuckles as he sits back down behind his office ready to finish up his paperwork for the day.

“Okay, you can drive me home if you really want to,” I respond trying not to smile that big so I wouldn’t drool too much caused by the numb lips. Steve seemed to notice and chuckled a bit louder.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, the anesthetic will wear off. The numb feeling should be over in about half an hour,” he says before pointing at his computer.

“Give me 5 minutes and I’ll meet you downstairs in front of the main entrance. I quickly need to fill in this form and then chance and I’ll be down to pick you up.”

What did I bring myself into? Flirting with my dentist, none the less hot dentist, and then let him drive me home? Wasn’t this doomed to fail? But then again I was already in too deep to stop now, there was no option to go back now. There was no harm in having a bit of fun right? Who knows what I get out of it: a friend, a one night stand, or maybe a boyfriend? Who knows? Was this really so bad? No not at all, there was nothing wrong with this.

That’s how I found myself in the passenger seat of Steve’s car flirting with him, a lot. The atmosphere turned hot and sexual very quickly just as our conversation and it seemed like it affected both of us. Steve obviously had a ‘little not so little’ problem in his pants and he didn’t even try to hide it. Even his hand has found its place on top of my thigh, slowly rubbing small circles onto my warm skin making me squeeze my thighs together to get some relief. The smirk on his lips showed me that he knew that it affected me too, I bet he could almost smell how wet I was.

“Really I can’t say thank you enough for driving me home. I don’t know how I can ever repay you Steve,” I say with a small smile.

“I could think of something,” Steve smirked seductively

“Oh, what are you thinking about then?” I ask faking innocence, I had a good guess what it would be and I was totally down for it but I wanted to see how he would respond.

But Steve didn’t say anything, he just softly took my hand, gave it a soft reassuring squeeze and placed my hand on top of the bulge in his pants.

I sucked in a deep breath of surprise, he felt huge for what I could feel through his pants.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to sweetheart” he quickly says taking my action as a rejection.

“No, It’s okay, I want to. I just wasn’t prepared to feel,... you feel so big Steve” I giggle which makes him chuckle in response.

“Well that’s because I am big sweetheart” he winks just as I start to unzip and unbutton his pants.

“Can I?”

“Yes, go for it”

More he doesn’t has to say before I slip my hand through his now open pants and wrap my hand around his rock hard cock. His skin felt warm and soft in my hand, god he is really big.

I tried to feel as much as I could, discovering every inch, every vein, every unique part of his cock.

“you’re teasing sweetheart,” Steve says softly as he holds back a moan.

“But I like teasing,” I pout which makes him laugh

“You little minx,”

I finally decide to stop teasing and now wramp my hand firmly around his now leaking hard cock and slowly start stroking it.

“Yeah that’s it sweetheart, just like that” Steve moans as he tries his best to keep his focus on the road but that proved to be a hard task.

I loved the feeling of his cock in my hand and started to imagine how he would feel if it wasn’t my hand wrapped around his cock but my pussy. I bet it would feel great, hit all the right spots and make me fall over the edge quickly. Damn, I almost came just by thinking of it.

“Oooh fuck it” I hear Steve bread hard as he suddenly makes a sharp turn into what seemed an empty backroad surrounded by trees.

“Euh Steve, this isn’t the way to my place,” I say surprised as I pull my hand out of his pants and look around me. There was nobody or nothing but trees to be seen.

“I know but I can’t keep my focus on the road anymore, and I need a turn too sweetheart” he smirked as he parks his.

Before I even know it he gets out of the car, and I follow his lead, meeting him at the hood of his car. It doesn’t take long before he’s all over me, kissing me along the curve of my throat, his hands moving all over my body like he’s making a road map to some treasure.

“You’re driving me crazy sweetheart” he pants

“Maybe you should do something about it” I smirk as I hop onto the hood of his car

“I so want to kiss you right now but I fear that will have to wait. But can I fuck you instead?” he asks as he steps into the open space between my legs while his hands move up my legs.

“I thought you’d never ask,” I chuckle as I lift my skirt a bit as an invitation for him to slide his hands under, which he eagerly does and starts to rub over the soaked crotch of my panties making me move my hips up to his hand and moan at the touch. It really had been a long time since the last time someone even touched me down there, I felt like I was a virgin again.

“Please, Steve, just fuck me already” I moan

“Look who’s impatient now,” he says as he shoves his still unzipped pants a bit lower so he could free cock, giving it a few strokes before moving the crotch of my panties to the side and slowly rubs the tip of his cock between my folds coating himself in my fluids.

I don’t care that we’re in public, I don’t care that someone could hear or see us, in this moment there was only Steve and me and how good he made me feel. I was already flying high on pleasure and he wasn’t even inside me yet. So the moment he actually started to push his cock inside me I couldn’t stop myself and moaned loudly at the feeling, feeling every inch of him as he filled me.

“Fuck you’re so tight sweetheart” he moans, seemingly just as much lost in pleasure as I am.

Once he was fully inside of me he didn’t give me much time to adjust to his huge cock and just started to pull back out slowly and thrust back in with a hard and fast snap of his hips making me almost scream out in pleasure. I can only hold on for the ride he takes me on as he set a strong and fast pace. Proving my imagination from earlier in that to be true, his cock does hit all the right spots every time he slams back in.

One of his strong hands grips onto my hip keeping me in place while with the thumb of his other hand he rubs my clit edging me closer and closer to an orgasm.

“Steve,...., so close,..., please,” I didn’t even know what I was begging for but Steve seemed to understand as he started to speed up the movements of his thumb on my clit.

“It’s alright sweetheart, I got you. Cum for me, I’m right behind you.” he moans out of breath. It seems like that was all it took before he guided me over the edge and I came harder than I’ve ever done before with a loud scream. It didn’t take long before Steve followed me and spilled his seed deep inside me.

“I should have made that appointment much sooner with you doctor Steve.”

please remember to like, comment and reblog :-)

@feelmyroarrrr @rynabarnesrogers-reading @denisemarieangelina @patzammit @palaiasaurus64 @loricameback @lizette50 @jennmurawski13

#Steve Rogers #steve rogers fic #steve rogers au #steve rogers smut #steve rogers x y/n #steve rodgers x reader #steve rogers x you #dentist steve #doctor steve #Chris Evans #captain america #steve x you #steve x reader #steve x y/n

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wiypt-writes · 4 years

Text

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 18: Told You I’d Say Yes

Summary: Steve, Katie and Sam begin their search for Bucky and they uncover something that makes Steve start to question where their priorities as a team should lie. Decision made, the two of them head back to the Tower in New York to join up with the other adventures, and when Katie’s 30th birthday arrives, Steve asks a very differen question…

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language words, smut (NSFW), no under 18s. And a whole lotta teeth rotting fluff…

A/N: I think this is my favourite edit yet, @angrybirdcr

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 17

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Steve had no real leads and as such he, Katie and Sam spent weeks combing through the information that Natasha had provided, using JARVIS to translate the Russian which none of them spoke of course. It was hard work, stressful and gave them nothing of real use either, other than give them a bit more of an understanding of who the Winter Soldier was, so to speak, and then Sam had a brainwave. If Bucky was starting to get his memories back and pieced together that he had been working for Hydra under duress, he might go looking for answers, possibly even revenge.

They decided to start in the nearest Hydra base they knew about from the leaks on the internet, and as such they were now ransacking an old abandoned bank in the financial district in the middle of the night.

What they found wasn’t great- a dozen bodies of dead Hydra agents. Most looked as if they had had their throats crushed apart from one who was sat in a chair, a bullet between his eyes. From the look, and smell, they’d been there a while.

“That’s an execution.” Sam muttered, nodding at the man who had been shot and Katie looked at him as Steve simply turned and walked from the smaller room, back into the larger corridor. He made his way down, pulling open a thick door into the main vault and stopped dead as he saw some form of chair in the middle, surrounded by restraints and a device that looked like some kind of macabre halo. Steve felt his mouth go dry as he looked at it. I was some perverted form of the chamber he’d been in when they’d administered the serum…

“Looks like they were deleting data when they were interrupted…” Sam bent over to get a closer look at the computer to the side. Katie passed him the device she had brought and he plugged it in and started the data mining. As Steve made his way towards the two of them, Sam frowned and clicked on something that caught his attention and immediately the sounds of tortured screams filled the room. Katie jolted slightly as Sam took a step back, the three of them glancing at the screen which was sat on the desk. And all 3 wished they hadn’t. As there, on the screen Bucky was strapped down the halo-like contraption lowered onto his head.

“Turn it off!” Katie instructed to Sam, who moved to cut the footage immediately but Steve grabbed his arm.

“No…” he said firmly, his eyes fixated on the grim footage in front of him, his chest heaving with anger.

Finally the screams stopped and someone was saying words as they were in Russian but when they finished Bucky slumped down in the chair staring blankly ahead, as he spoke a single sentence, his face and voice completely void of expression and emotion.

There was a moment of silence when Steve suddenly snapped grabbing the edge of the table and flipping it over with a loud crash, all of the equipment and computers meeting a rather abrupt end along with it. He felt sick, upset, angry…and he couldn’t help but feel this was his fault for leaving his friend behind.

“Steve?” Katie asked anxiously, whilst she watched his shoulders heave with anger.

“Let’s go.” He instructed sternly, already making his way to the exit.

“Steve?” She called again.

“Now.” He bit back.

Steve didn’t speak a word whilst they drove home. Once they were in the apartment he stormed straight through the hall and up the stairs to the bed room. Katie turned to Sam who was hovering in the hall.

“That went well.” he quipped.

Katie sighed, walking into the kitchen and handed Sam a water which he thankfully took, draining it in one go.

“The thing is, Sam…” she ran a hand over her face “It’s gonna get worse, the more we dig, the more we’re going to find.”

“Yeah well, on that note I’m going to go back to the bank, do a bit more digging of my own tonight.” Sam sighed “See if I can find something that would give us an indication as to when exactly Bucky hit the base, might help us piece together a timeline of sorts.”

“Alright, but be careful, yeah?”

“I’m always careful, sugar!” Sam grinned, and Katie rolled her eyes. “Listen, you gonna be ok?”

“Yeah, I’ll give him some time. He’ll come round, he’s just…” she paused searching for the right word before she concluded “sad.”

Sam nodded “Call you tomorrow then, I’m at the VA in the morning but my afternoon is free”

“Will do…oh, and Sam?”

He turned around and Katie threw him the keys to the Q5 as he still hadn’t replaced his car. “Take this, but bring it back in once piece.”

“Cheers dude!” He beamed, catching the keys expertly before he headed out of the door.

Once he was gone, Katie walked over to the sofa and dropped down onto it, pulling out her phone. She knew it was late, but Tony answered straight away.

“Did it work?” She asked instantly.

“Did it work…” Tony snorted “I made the damned device, of course it did. JARVIS took everything off their system…he’s already sifting through and cross referencing… any mention of Barnes in any form he’ll find it.”

“Thanks Tony.”

“There is something he has found thought, that’s kinda interesting, but also very worrying.”

“What?”

“He found an encoded list of locations, locations for HYDRA bases across the globe. Curiosity got the better of me, and I ran a couple of cross checks on the bases that were already captured or infiltrated, and it matches 80%…”

“Yeah, there’s bases out there that didn’t fall… that’s what Fury’s doing, you know this.”

“Well here’s the thing…” Tony sighed “That 80% rallies to around 10 bases. One-Eye-Willy knew about 6, which he is currently working on with SHIELD or whatever they’re called now. The other 4 were unknown, until now.”

“Shit.” Katie sighed. If they had gone unknown, unchallenged, then it was possible that more of Hydra remained than they thought.

“Pretty much what Fury said when I called him.” Tony replied “Anyway, I think it’s time we put the band back together Kiddo…”

She groaned. “Steve already turned Fury down to find Bucky first.”

“Well, for once I’m inclined to agree with the Goth Pirate.” Tony continued “I think rounding the last of these bastards up is slightly more pressing than Spangles chasing his old school buddy.”

“Don’t call him that…” She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face.

“Fury says he’ll make contact with Natasha and Clint, no idea how to reach Point Break though. I called his girlfriend, or paramour, whatever, who said he was off chasing something, no idea what, but when he comes back she’s gonna tell him we’re looking for him.”

“I’ll talk to Steve…but I can’t promise anything.”

“If anyone can talk him round it’s you.” He said, his voice adopting a more sympathetic tone “You know, there’s no reason why we can’t look for Barnes along the way. I mean it’s all Hydra, right?”

“Yeah, good point. Let me talk to him. I’ll call you tomorrow, or later today, whatever.”

“No sweat, take care. Love you kiddo.”

“You too Tones”

Katie dropped her phone onto the couch and sighed. Time to tackle Steve. She unzipped her combat boots, shucked them off and headed up the stairs. She gently opened the bedroom door and saw Steve, hair damp from the shower, led on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

“Hey.” She crawled onto the bed next to him and propped herself up on her elbows so she could look at him.

“Hi.” He rolled his head to accept the kiss she offered as she reached a hand up to twine in the hair at the top of his head. “I’m sorry.” He leaned into her hand like a dog seeking attention. Katie opened her arms to let Steve snuggle into them, like a child, as she rolled onto her back, his head laying on her chest as her hand continued to tangle in his hair.

“Do you think we’re wasting our time? Looking for him?” Steve asked after a moment.

Katie hesitated, choosing her words carefully. “Bucky has been brainwashed and tortured by HYDRA for longer than I’ve been alive. It’s going to take more than saving you from the river to bring back the man you knew” she took a deep breath “I think we’re going to struggle chasing someone as resourceful as he is when he doesn’t want to be found. And we may have another problem…”

“Like what?” He asked, frowning at her.

“I just spoke to Tony. J has been going through the info that we pulled from the servers. Apparently there’s a list of 4 secret Hydra bases that no one knew about, not even Fury, that didn’t go down when we took out SHIELD.”

Steve let out a groan “So now I have to choose, between Bucky and taking down what remains of Hydra…”

Katie kissed his head sympathetically as the turmoil raged within his brain. They couldn’t let Hydra get a foothold again. But he didn’t want to let Bucky down either.

“You know, going after Hydra might help.” Katie spoke softly “I mean, we have nothing other than vague ideas and supposition about where Bucky is or what he has planned next. We might find something along the way. In the meantime, Sam can keep working our current angle and line of thought.”

“You’re right.” he said after a pause “I’ve tried twice to bring these bastards down. I can’t let them slip through my fingers a third time.”

*****

“Gotta say Cap, you’re looking better than last time I saw you.” Tony grnned as they entered the lab in the tower.

“I feel it!” Steve smiled, shaking Tony’s hand.

“What you looking at?” Katie asked, nodding to the screen, taking in the map.

“Got JARVIS running a bit of an analysis on the bases we found out about. Terrain surrounding them, best places to land the jet, potential areas of weakness that kinda thing.” He said, “Could take a while but, best to be prepared with some form of plan I suppose.”

Katie turned to Steve, grinning, about to launch into a rendition of “Star Spangled Man with a Plan” but Steve gave her a filthy look, knowing full well what was going through her mind. She grinned at him innocently and he turned his attention back to Tony.

“Any news on the others?”

“Banner is due back at some point tomorrow. He’s at some kind of Scientist band camp…” Tony waved his hand. “Barton is on his way, but you already know that. As for Nat…well she said she’ll be here when she can…which just leaves Point Break to show, whenever he’s back from riding the rainbow road that is.”

“He’ll turn up.” Katie shrugged “If all else fails I’ll do what he told me to when we needed him.”

“Which was what?” Steve asked, looking at Katie, frowning. As if she knew how to contact him and hadn’t said anything…

“Stand on top of a tall building a shout.” she said, grinning. Steve gave a roll of his eyes as Tony snorted. “Although I think he may have been joking.”

“Maybe we should get him some kind of Bat Signal” Tony mused “but with a hammer instead of a bat.”

“No.” Katie shook her head and Tony pouted at her.

“Why do you always piss on my parade?”

“Because your parade is usually dumb. Look we’re gonna go upstairs and unpack a few things.”

“Sure.” Tony nodded. “Oh, happy said he’ll get your apartment in DC cleared over the next week, and I thought we could go for something to eat tonight. Do the whole…” he waved his hand in a circle motion as he looked back at the screen, “fmily thing.

“Sounds great.” Katie smiled, looking at Steve who nodded, thankful of something ‘normal’ to look forward to, and the pair of them made to leave.

“By the way, I renovated the living floors so your Penthouse has had a bit of a facelift.” Tony said. Katie stopped and turned to face him.

“What do you mean facelift?” She frowned “I liked my floor…”

“Yeah but when I did the rooms for everyone else they got new furniture so I ordered you some too. If you don’t like it you can change it, no big deal. I didn’t change the décor to much…I know how much of a princess you are about people touching your stuff”

“Princess here technically owns forty percent of this tower so…” She flicked him the finger and he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah…there’s a spare suite for you anyway Spangles opposite Thor’s, you know, just in case you get pissed off with her. No one would blame you if you did…”

“You’re a dick.” She rolled her eyes at her brother and turned back towards the elevator.

In all fairness Katie did actually quite like the changes Tony had made. Her penthouse spanned the entire floor below Tony’s whilst everyone else shared a floor a couple of levels down with another Avenger. Perks of ownership, after all. There was a new coffee and cream coloured L shaped sofa in the room, a walnut coffee table replaced the glass one that had been there, and a brand new HD OLED TV adorned the wall opposite, along with a media system. A state of the art sound system was installed and the kitchen was completely new and had been knocked through to the dining area giving them a huge open plan space similar to the layout of the apartment in DC. There was frankly the biggest bed Steve had ever seen in the bedroom and the furniture was sleek, with a slightly smaller TV adorning the wall opposite the bed. The en-suite now sported his and hers sinks along with a double shower, a corner spa tub and there was a smaller bathroom just off the hallway along with another bedroom, a study and a balcony spanned the entire length of the floor, which was accessible from the main bedroom and the kitchen-diner. It overlooked the New York skyline and contained a small patio area and a hot-tub along with some outside furniture. But true to his word, Tony had kept the colour scheme. Different shades of blue throughout the bedroom, steel grey in the kitchen and warm coffee and walnut colours in the lounge.

Steve loved it.

As promised, late that evening, the two of them accompanied Pepper and Tony out for dinner. They had gone to Anatolia’s, an Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Brooklyn much to Steve’s delight. It had been a really nice evening, the 4 drinking and eating far too much but as Tony had pointed out, things were about to get a little bit crazy so who knew when the next time they would get chance to relax and socialise was.

“Other than your 30th that is.” he said, looking at Katie over his wine.

“So there is something planned…” she grinned.

“Maybe.” Steve shrugged. Oh, he had something planned alright. He’d spoken to Tony about it a week or so ago, the Inventor gleefully agreeing with his idea.

“Man, my little sis is turning 30 in 3 weeks…I feel so old.” Tony continued to grumble.

“You are!” she teased.

“Yeah but not as old as your boyfriend…”

“Well done, you almost went a full evening without mentioning it.” Steve dead panned, folding his arms.

“You know he’s technically younger than me, Tones.” Katie said “

“What?” Steve looked at her, “How do you work that out.”

“You were born in July 1918 right, went into the ice in, what, March 1945?”

“Yeah…”

“Woke up in May 2012. So when you count how many years you spent actually awake and living, and not taking a cold nap, you’re really only 29 this time round.”

“So Captain America is your toy-boy?” Pepper giggled. Katie shrugged and took a sip of her wine as Tony and Steve looked at one another, both of them wearing expressions of bewilderment.

“Wait, does this mean we can throw a Happy 97 minus 67 party for Spangles next year?” Tony grinned and Steve let out a groan.

“See what you’ve done?” he looked at Katie with exasperation, and she just shrugged.

The night ended with a few drinks in a bar before a car picked them up and the couples both bid each other goodnight before going their separate ways

“That was proper pizza.” Steve said as they walked out of the elevator into their living area, the panel sliding in place leaving the door hidden.

Katie laughed as JARVIS gently flipped on the ambient lighting. “Well you certainly enjoyed it…getting through 2”

“Yeah, think the last 3 slices were a mistake” he mumbled as she headed into the kitchen. “They’re sitting in me like a brick.”

“Awwww poor baby!” she mocked thickly. “Getting so old you can’t even have a few slices without indigestion.”

“Hey, I’m younger than you, remember?” He laughed as Katie pulled 2 beers out of the fridge handing him one as she glided past him to flop onto the couch.

“I’m gonna regret pointing that out, aint i?” She laughed as Steve nodded.

*****

Katie had a meeting with her Editors and New Business department the next morning and Steve had a job of his own, a different mission that he was fucking nervous as hell about. He asked JARVIS where Tony was, who located him in the large, open plan main common room area of the tower, the one Loki and the Hulk had decimated 2 years previously.

“Tony you got a minute?”

“S'up Cap?”

Steve took a deep breath “I err…” his palms suddenly felt sweaty. “You know I love Katie and…" He cleared his throat before he looked Tony square in the eye, surprised to find the man watching him, warmth across his features. “She’s the most important thing in my life, and I…well, I wanted to ask for your permission, to ask her to marry me.”

“My permission?” Tony quipped.

“Well I’d normally ask her dad but…”

Tony smiled and glanced down at hands before he looked back at the blonde haired man stood besides him. “You gonna do better than a ‘we can get married if you want’ outside your apartment door?”

Steve let out a sigh and shook his head “she told you about that?”

“In the hospital” Tony smiled.

“Not my finest moment” Steve rubbed at his temple.

“Oh I dunno.” Tony said pushing off the front of the Bar area where he had been leaning. “Given the fact you were inches from death she was pretty upset at the fact she told you to come back with a Tiffany special…”

Steve smiled.

“You got one yet?” Tony asked. “A ring I mean.”

“No.” Steve shook his head.

“Well it just so happens I know one of the consultants at Tiffany.” Tony smiled, and Steve looked at him, his face creeping into a smile as he knew that this was Tony’s confirmation he was giving him his blessing. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll make a call.“

The two men looked at one another, sharing a silent moment of respect before Tony reached out with his hand and Steve shook it, a shit-eating-grin spreading across his handsome features.

“Oh fuck this, come on Spangles, bring it in. I’m secure enough in my sexuality to hug another man.” Tony sniffed, and Steve stood up off the bar stool with a chuckle, the men exchanging a quick embrace, punctuated by a lot of back slapping.

“For what it’s worth…” Tony smiled as he stepped back, his eyes shining with emotion. “You make her happy, you treat her right, you put her first and I’ve never seen anyone metaphorically slap her back into place as well as you do….sorry, lot of dust in here…” he wiped at his suddenly watering eyes, water that may or may not have been tears before he took a breath and looked at Steve again “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather grant permission to.”

Steve smiled, his own eyes shining with emotion.

“And I’m pretty sure you’d have gotten it off dad too.” Tony nodded at him and Steve looked at the floor for a second before he glanced back up at him, taking a deep breath.

“Thank you Tony.”

*****

“What is this?” Thor’s voice was loud. “I can’t see them…”

“No you turn it…hang on” The 4 Avengers in the lab looked at one another, Tony grinning from ear to ear as Jane was trying to explain how to use the video call facility on her phone.

“He’s worse than you!” He grinned up at Steve who merely rolled his eyes as Bruce stifled a grin.

Eventually Thor’s face, or rather his left nostril filled their screen and all of them urged him to move the phone away. Finally he did so, and his handsome face beamed down at us all.

“Greetings!” he smiled “It is good to see you all again, Little Stark you look as radiant as ever.” “Thanks Thor!” Katie laughed as besides her Steve bristled a little bit.

“Jane says you need my help.”

“Yeah, we got a job Point Break.” Tony said.

“Is this to do with SHIELD and Hydra?” the God’s deep voice rumbled.

“You know about that?” Katie asked.

“Of course, it was all over the news. I watch that now, with Jane” he said, a glint in his eyes, “But that reminds me, I have a bone to pick with both you and the Captain…”

Steve frowned and looked at Katie, the pair of them sharing a glance before they looked back at the screen.

“I saw you both on the television fighting SHIELD alongside the Birdman…” Thor continued, ignoring Katie and Steve’s laughter as they both thought of Sam’s face if he could hear that nickname, “Why didn’t you call me? You know how much I love fighting.”

“They didn’t send for me either…” Tony said, putting his hand up.

“Call you, do you have a cell phone?” Katie looked at Thor.

“No, what for?”

She didn’t reply, instead she looked away trying not to laugh at the perplexed look on the God’s face

“We have a lot of loose ends to tie up.” Steve spoke, steering the conversation back to the purpose in hand. “Not all of Hydra went down when we took SHIELD out.”

Thor’s face split into a grin. “More fighting?”

“More fighting.” Tony said, as Banner let out a small sigh.

“Why is there always fighting?”

They explained the basics of what was going on to Thor, before he promised to join them as soon as he could and then Banner headed off to shower and to unpack following his trip.

“I’m going to head to the office for a few hours.” Katie said. Steve nodded.

“Tony and I have stuff to do.” he said simply, but met her gaze with a passive one of his own as she glanced at him, arching her eyebrow.

“Ohh…I get it…” she grinned, “You’re sorting my birthday surprise. Cute.” As she turned to go she walked straight into the desk behind her, jabbing the corner harshly into her thigh.

“You alright?” Steve asked, trying but failing to hide the chuckle in his voice at her clumsiness.

“Thanks for your genuine concern.” She grumbled, instantly rubbing where the sharp corner had dug into her. “Shit, that hurt…Jesus fucking Christ…”

"Ooooh, hey. You kiss Spangles with that mouth?” Tony raised an eyebrow at her

“Yes, Tony, I kiss him all over with that mouth.” She glared at him as she rubbed her thigh. “Every inch of –”

Tony clapped his hands over his ears. “Lalalalalalalalala! I can’t hear you!”

Once Katie was out of earshot, Tony turned to Steve “You get it?”

He nodded, holding up his mother’s ring that he had managed to slip of when Katie was sleeping.

“Alright, let’s go.”

They drove the short distance into Manhatten, and Tony parked his car up in a private space behind the department store they were visiting. Steve followed him into the store where they were greeted by a small, grey haired mousy looking man dressed in an immaculate 3 piece suit.

“Mr Stark, Captain Rogers.”

“Hi Robert.” Tony smiled at him, clapping Steve on the shoulder “Take good care of him, he’s shitting himself.”

Steve sighed and shook his head but the inventor had already wandered off to the other side of the store, examining something in one of the glass cases.

“It’s perfectly understandable to be nervous, it’s a big thing.” Robert smiled, gesturing for Steve to follow him. He did, as they walked across the store to a small room at the back. Steve walked in and dropped into a seat. “So, do you have anything specific in mind?”

Steve took a deep breath, “Something elegant, but flashy enough to be special, I’ve no idea really, other than she prefers white gold to yellow.”

Robert smiled at him, “White gold or platinum. Ok. Any idea on the cut of diamond?”

“Princess.” Steve said, smiling. That he did know, from way before they were even dating.

“Oh my god!” Katie said, looking at the gossip magazine Natasha was reading, as Steve peered up at them from the seat behind his desk. “That’s fucking hideous.”

Natasha snorted “20 carat apparently.”

“Who the fuck needs a 20 carat ring?” Katie shook her head.

“I dunno, not something Tony would buy for Pepper?”

“Nah he isn’t that tacky.” she shook her head “And I’d kick his ass, it’s so…garish.”

“I don’t think the cut helps” Nat said, holding the magazine up “It’s a Brilliant, so looks a bit..”

“Shit?” Katie offered and the girls laughed “Seriously, if I ever have a man who’s ready to propose you better tell him it’s Princess or bust…”

He and Robert chatted for a few moments, Steve assuring him that the budget was healthy, whilst the man headed off into the store and came back with a few options set on a blue velvet tray of sorts. Steve’s eyes were instantly drawn to one in the middle. It was held a large diamond and was set into an elaborate clasp which melted into the band which was studded with smaller diamonds.

“Ahh yes.” Robert smiled as Steve picked it up “That’s one of my favourites. It’s a Tiffany Novo…”

“Sorry, did you say Nova?” Steve’s head jerked up, a smile on his face.

“Novo, Captain.”

Close enough Steve thought as he grinned.

“Princess cut with a Pave set Diamond band in platinum. That one’s a 2.05 carat, but we can do it smaller.”

“No, this one is perfect.” Steve smiled, looking at him.

“Well, that was easy…” Robert quipped and Steve nodded, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah…” he let out a chortle of a laugh, “you had me at Novo.”

Robert frowned, but didn’t ask for an explanation. “That one there is Sixty-Six thou…”

“Holy shit.” Steve exclaimed, before hastily apologising for his outburst. He knew he had said he had a decent budget but…

“However, Captain, seeing as it’s you, I can shave twenty percent off that, leave my commission.” he man smiled as Steve began to protest “And offer you a further ten percent for Tony being a regular customer.”

“I couldn’t…”

“You guys saved my daughter’s life in New York.” Robert looked at him, smiling softly “She was in the bank.”

Steve took a deep breath and shrugged, a faint flush on his cheeks. “Just doing my job.”

“So am I. So we’ll call it forty, and I’ll throw in an extra eighteen months care package. So she can bring it in to be cleaned, repaired should anything happen to it over the next three years.”

Steve hesitated, it was a lot of money. He knew he had enough, more than enough. His wages from SHIELD had been generous, plus his Army back pay that Katie and Fury had secured for him had been piling up and earning interest, but he still wasn’t used to being able to just flash it around. Plus now he wasn’t technically earning either…but the more he looked at it, the more he just knew it was right.

And she was worth far more to him than anything money could buy.

“I’ll take it.” He nodded, decision made.

He handed Robert his Ma’s ring, which Katie had had resized to fit properly and Robert nodded, smiling as he slid it onto a measuring cone.

“You’re in luck Captain. We have one that size in stock so you can take it away today. Whilst we’re here, would you like me to give this one a polish?”

“Oh, err, yeah, great.”

He shook hands with the man and headed back into the store where Tony was now leaning over a cabinet, talking to a blonde haired assistant. He pointed at a necklace with an obscene price tag, and she nodded, picking it up and turning around.

“Something for Pep.” he said, gesturing to the gift as he nodded at Steve. “You know, just because.” he frowned “That was fast.”

“Found the perfect one.” Steve smiled “It’s called a Novo”

“Nova?” Tony looked at him, eyebrow raising as he smirked.

“No, Novo…although that’s what I heard too at first.” Steve laughed.

“Huh.” Tony said, as Robert approached them. He opened the box he was holding and reached in for the ring, setting it down on a velvet tray again to show to the men. It was even brighter in the store lights than in the room. Steve heard Tony whistle at the side of him.

“That’s a rock and a half Cap.”

“She’s worth it.” he shrugged, simply. “I just hope she likes it.”

“If she doesn’t we can exchange.” Robert said, as he finished his inspection and after making himself happy the ring was perfect he boxed it up and handed it to Steve in a Tiffany bag.

“Cap, you could propose with a ring pull and she’d say it was perfect.” Tony smiled.

“Now you tell me.” Steve said, handing over his credit card.

*******

“Shit, shit, shit…” Katie was panicking. Her ring was gone. Steve’s Ma’s ring. The one he had given to her at Christmas. The only real thing he had of his mom left. She’d ransacked the bedroom, living room, her office. “No,no…”

She made her way back into the kitchen, looking everywhere, before she headed into the bathroom. Nothing. She collapsed onto the closed toilet seat, her head in her hands as she began to cry when she heard the elevator door open.

Steve stopped as he walked into the living room, frowning at the utter chaos that greeted him. Cushions were all over the place, drawers in the large unit were flung open. Immediately he went on the defensive, knowing it was ridiculous as there was no way anyone could have gotten in here, but still…

“Katie?” he called. Katie’s head jerked up and she wiped her eyes

“Bathroom.” she said back, and he could tell from her tone something was wrong.

“Doll, what’s going on?” He strode into the bedroom and then stepped into the large en-suite. She’d been crying. “Baby?” he crouched in front of her.

“I…I’m so sorry…” Her voice cracked. “But your mom’s ring… I can’t…”

Steve felt a sudden pang of guilt, she was distraught, thinking she had lost it. He hadn’t thought of that.

“No, sweetheart, it’s ok, I’ve got it.”

“You do?” she frowned.

“Yeah.” he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled it out. “I was looking at it when you were asleep last night and thought it could do with a bit of a clean-up so I took it off and Tony took me to a place Pepper takes hers…”

Katie looked at the ring, before she felt her anger simmer over.

“You complete ass Steven Grant Rogers!” she yelled, hitting him in the chest “I’ve spent the last 3 hours out of my mind with worry…”

“I know, I should have told you but I wanted it to be a surprise.” Steve lied, hoping to god for once she wouldn’t see through it “I’m so sorry!”

She snatched it off him, returning it to its home and she glared at him, before looking down at it.

“Well, it does look nice and shiny” she said, admiring it and Steve let out a sigh of relief “Don’t touch my stuff.”

“Your stuff?” he looked at her as she wiped at her face.

“Yes, my stuff.” she repeated petulantly. “You gave it to me, remember. It’s mine.”

He was about to laugh and call her a brat, when there was a loud clap of thunder and a flashing of bright white light, punctuated by various rainbow colours, outside the bedroom window and they both turned their heads to look at it.

“Thor!” Katie said, jumping up and beaming.

“Am I forgiven?” Steve asked, rising to his feet. She turned and looked at him, rolling her eyes at the injured puppy dog eyes he was giving her.

“Pull another stunt like that again and I’m imposing a sex ban for a week.”

“Yes Ma’am.” he grinned, giving her a peck on the lips.

****

Thor’s arrival spurred the Avengers into getting down to some real planning, and when Clint arrived that day too, bringing with him the news that Natasha would be with them by the middle of June- she was on some kind of trip with Fury-those of them present began to take all the information they had, planning their first raid on one of the uncovered Hydra bases, this one being on the outskirts of Seattle.

“Your call Cap.” Tony looked at Steve, his jaw was twitching as he turned over the pros and cons of hitting the base whilst they were still one down on the team. Eventually he made his decision and looked around the team.

Suit up…” he said, straightening up “Wheels up in 20”

Behind him Banner groaned.

He needn’t have worried though, there was no need for a code green. In fact, it was a bit of a damp squib. There were minimum guards to take out and all in all it was relatively easy. There were also no computers, just a truck load of paper files which they meticulously boxed up and loaded onto the jet.

Over the next two weeks they hit the remaining unknown basis that they had discovered, and every one of them was the same. They were clearly never used as main strongholds, more like storage facilities if anything. Steve was frustrated, Katie knew that. But as she and Tony pointed out to him, they had a hell of a lot of information to comb through. They liaised with Fury, who had nothing new to add, other than that he would be in touch if his team needed help about the remaining bases in Europe.

As such they spent most of their time filtering through the information they had gotten from the bases, along with the boxes of files that Fury and Hill had pulled from SHIELD. Banner and Katie (when she wasn’t working) set up a simple filing system as they went along, cataloguing each bit of paper information so they knew where to find it in future, and could add to it as they went along.

There wasn’t much to go on, they didn’t find any new information, and nothing on Bucky, but there was one name that continued to crop up time and time again.

“Baron Von Strucker…” Katie said to the team which was congregated in the lab. “I’ve gone through the information available, including what was dumped on the internet when we released all the files…it isn’t pretty reading.”

Clint lounged with his feet up on the desk munching some popcorn. He offered it round and Tony took a hand full.

“Not likely to be where Hydra is involved.” he said, leaning against a desk, chucking the popcorn in his mouth.

Steve who had been flicking through a file clucked slightly with his tongue and shook his head “Says here he trained with Jasper Sitwell at the Preparatory Academy.”

Tony began choking and at first Katie thought it was reaction to the fact that Hydra had an academy but she soon realised, as he was pointing at Clint with a disgusted expression on his face that it was the popcorn. She grinned- Clint like his popcorn laced with cayenne pepper.

“What is wrong with butter and salt?” Tony gasped as Clint explained what was on the corn through his laughter. Thor reached over curiously and took a handful before declaring, much to Clint’s annoyance, that he enjoyed the spicy snack.

“He had his fingers in a lot of SHIELD pies” Katie continued “He was running the SHIELD STATION, which is the Scientific Training and Tactical Intelligence Operative Network, an R&D facility which was established to conduct investigations on the material retrieved from the ground during the battle of New York, you know, the shit Fury said he had destroyed?”

“Alright.” Steve nodded “Dig up what you can on it and then we’ll go from there. From the sounds of it he seems like the one we should be focussing on.”

Katie nodded.

“But not tonight.” Tony said, looking at Steve “I think we deserve a break, especially seeing as it’s someone’s 30th tomorrow.”

The room cheered and Katie rolled her eyes “Yeah yeah…don’t remind me.”

*****

Katie woke the next morning to soft kisses peppering the side of her neck and a deep burn growing at her centre as she was slowly pulled to consciousness. She let out a low moan and felt the lips at her throat spread into a sly smile

“You dreaming about me?” her Soldier whispered.

She bit her lip, arching her back and leaned into him as his hand splayed on her stomach, pulling her closer before she felt his fingers sliding down gently to the space between her legs. She didn’t say a word, she couldn’t. It was all she could do to simply groan as he gently pushed two fingers inside her, before he moved to massaging her spot. She pulled her legs together suddenly, thighs tightening as the muscles in her core clenched.

“You want more?” he asked, voice slow and deep.

She nodded eagerly, moving so that she was lay on her back and finally opened her eyes.

Steve gently moved, so his knee was positioned between her legs, sliding his T-shirt over her head before one hands moved up her body, tracing her ribs before he started to caress her breast, the other fingers continued to stroke inside, making her groan more and more. He placed a soft kiss on her jawline and smiled at her.

“Happy birthday, Gorgeous.”

His words undid her, and she let out a sound that was halfway between a gasp and a squeal, feeling for him under the sheets “Steve…” Every inch of her was on fire and he wanted him. “Please…” she begged, her voice catching as he moved over on top of her fully, shoving his boxers down and she let out a long shaky moan as he entered her.

“Good?” he asked, his breath a whisper and she nodded eagerly as he began to move. His thrusts were slow but deep and powerful, every roll of his hips sent his pelvis rocking up against her spot.

It didn’t take long at all, she was so close already and Steve watched her face, not wanting to miss the moment.

“Fuck…” Her head completely dropped backwards as her core spasmed again and then she came, hard, her orgasm rolling over her in such a way it had her clinging to Steve, crying out a strangled cry as he too reached his peak, her name tumbling from his lips.

The minutes passed as they lay curled in silence, completely blissed out and relaxed, hearing only each other’s gradually steadying breaths.

Steve’s hand gently stroked the arm that was draped over his abdomen before he gently moved her to one side, sitting up. He had things to do.

“Hey…” she began to protest before he smiled.

“I’m going to make you breakfast”

“You are?”

“Of course, it’s your birthday” He chuckled, from the edge of the bed where he was pulling on a pair of sweats.

"Pancakes,” she muttered hopefully.

He laughed. “Yup,” he said before lowering his lips onto hers. They shared a long, deep kiss that left them grinning like idiots as he pulled away, hopping off the bed and pulling on a t-shirt before leaving the room.

Katie stretched out and glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. It was half 9. A perfectly reasonable time to wake up on her birthday. And the best bit was, she had an entire day of being a spoilt birthday brat ahead of her! Steve was taking her to Coney Island in the afternoon, he had been dying to take her back to Brooklyn for ages and they’d picked today to go after the team had decided to take a break from the non-stop research and missions. Then later in the evening there was some form of meal booked, although where she had absolutely no idea. She’d been trying to catch everyone out about it for weeks but failed, miserably.

She was just about to get out of bed and into the shower when she heard her phone vibrating on the nightstand beside her bed. She reached over for it, and rolled her eyes. It was Tony.

“Happy birthday kiddo! How does it feel to be officially old?”

“You still got fourteen years on me, you dick!” she said, grinning before she yawned slightly “Why are you ringing me when you’re, what? A floor away?”

“Wasn’t sure if you’d be up or not.”

“Well there’s no worries on that account as for my birthday Steve got me a new alarm clock.”

“An alarm clock?” Tony said, his tone flat

“Yeah.” she said, biting her lip as she fought to keep myself from laughing “His penis.”

There was a pause “That’s gross.” Tony groaned and Katie laughed as he continued to complain “I mean it’s bad enough knowing that you two…you know, without being given some form of mental image like that…”

“Oh quit your whining!” she grinned “When you bringing me my present?”

“Ah well, you’ll have to come get it, it’s a bit big.”

“Big?” I said “It’s not a 16 foot teddy bear is it?”

It was his turn to laugh “No, although, speaking of big, stuffed animals, what did Cap actually get you?”

“You’re hilarious, and I’ve no idea. He’s making me breakfast at the moment.”

“More sausage?” he said sardonically.

“Pancakes, actually” she replied “Which is why I need to go and have a shower before he eats them all himself…”

“Alright, come up when you’re ready…” he said. “Not going anywhere…”

By the time she made her way into the large open plan living area, Steve had already completed 2 stacks of pancakes (his miles bigger than hers), a plate of bacon and was just setting 2 glasses of orange juice down on the breakfast bar in front of the 2 plates. He looked up and smiled, she was dressed casually for a day at the fair, tight jeans, boots and long white top, over which she wore an open beige half-sleeved cardigan, and her hair was pulled up into a high, messy pony tail. She looked beautiful as ever.

“You look lovely.” He said, pressing a kiss to the side of her head as she sat down. “So, how does it feel to be old?” He could barely get the words out without laughing, and she simply shook her head at his poor attempt at a joke

“You’re such a jerk!” She rolled her eyes, as he grinned.

They ate breakfast, and then like the big child she was she demanded to know where her presents were so Steve took her hand and led her into the living room where they were laid out on the coffee table.

She opened her gifts one by one, a few items of clothing, a pair of earrings, a new set of wireless earphones that she had mused over buying and then decided not to, a gorgeous white and rose gold diamond bracelet and a leather bound edition of the Wizard of Oz book to replace the one she had lost in Malibu.

“I saw that and couldn’t resist.” He grinned, as she grinned back “oh and here…”

This was the big one. He held out the envelope and Katie looked at him, gently taking it before she slid a finger under the top to rip it open. Steve watched as she pulled out the piece of paper and for the second time that morning her mouth dropped open in surprise. It was a print out of an itinerary leaving the 30th November and returning on the 14th December, with the locations being cities in Europe- Munich, Paris, Venice, Bruges, Dublin and London.

“2 nights in each…3 in London” Steve said as she glanced up at him, unable to speak “I didn’t know what else to do and I know you’ve wanted to go back to Europe for ages, and how much you love Christmas and the markets and stuff…”

“Oh my god, Steve… ” She glanced down at the paper, finally finding her voice. “This is amazing! I don’t know what to say.” Steve felt the familiar pink tinge growing around his cheeks before she threw her arms around him, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

He smiled and then kissed her head before he pulled away. “Shall we go and see what outrageously flashy present Tony has for you?”

“Do you know what is is?” she asked.

“I might do…” he smiled as she stood up. There was no might about it. He knew what it was. And he knew she was going to lose her shit about it.

The two of them made their way up to Tony’s main living floor, her hand in his.

“You now I’m excited to finally take you to Coney Island.” He smiled as the door to the elevator shut.

“Excited?”

"Yeah, it’s just I watched Bucky take so many dates around there and I spent most of my time wondering when I was gonna’ get to take my own gal.” He admitted, bashfully.

"God, you’re adorable,” she smiled at him as the doors opened.

“Happy birthday!” Both Tony and Pepper chimed and she grinned, stepping out and into Pepper’s arms before Tony swept her into a hug.

“Well I don’t see any huge stuffed toys so…” she looked around and Pepper snorted.

“I talked him out of it.”

Tony handed her a small box and Katie looked at him.

“This isn’t big.”

“Brat.” Tony rolled his eyes and she smirked. She pulled the ribbon of the box, took the lid off and stared at the content inside. And as it dawned on her what it was she looked up at him, then to Steve, who was watching her, an amused expression on her face, then back at the box her eyes wide.

“You didn’t?” she looked up at her brother, her mouth dropping open.

Tony shrugged “Well you buried your Range Rover and gave away the Audi so…”

She looked at him for a split second before she squealed, threw herself at her brother and then turned on her heels, running.

Steve and Tony both watched her go before they turned to one another and followed her.

“You ready?” Tony asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” Steve nodded.

“Huh.” Tony nodded.

“Ready for what?” Pepper asked.

“Oh, they’re going to Coney Island.” Tony said as they headed down in the elevator, waving away her question.

Way ahead of them Katie burst into the parking lot and skidded to a halt. There, in all its glory was her own brand new Chevrolet Camero Exorcist, the car she had dreamed of since she was a teenager. It was gorgeous. Deep blue with cream leather interior. She unlocked it and sat in the driver’s seat, taking in the smell. The head rests were stitched with the Stark Industries logo and the dash was awash with every single button and function you could imagine.

“Fire it up.” a voice said, and Tony looked at her through the open driver’s side door. She did as she was told and grinned at the beautiful growling noise it made and squealed, feeling the leather of the steering wheel.

She turned to Steve who was stood leaning slightly on the door watching her.

“Hop in soldier!” she grinned, and he smirked, walking to the passenger side.

“Have fun…” Tony said, before he turned to Steve and looked at him, giving him a significant nod and a clap on the shoulder. Steve smiled back and then sank into the leather seat. He had to admit the car was nice. Katie pulled out of the space and gave a groan that was far too arousing than it should have been.

“Oh my god…” she murmured, as she pulled onto the street. The car purred and handled like a dream. As she put her foot down it sped forward, throwing them both back in the seat.

“Easy baby!” Steve chuckled as she laughed, speeding over Brooklyn Bridge. “You’re gonna get a ticket…”

She shrugged, not actually caring at that point.

*****

Steve wound up, pitching the ball which sliced through the bottles on the stall diagonally, knocking them completely off their pedestal and sending the ball through the back of the canvas booth as it ripped a hole clean through it. Steve bit his lip, not realising how hard he had thrown it and turned to look at Katie. She was doubled over, laughing at the look on his face, and then laughed even harder at the expression on the attendants face as he glanced from Steve to the bottles on the floor, to the hole in the canvas and back again.

“Which one do you want?” Steve asked, placing his arm around her as the attendant indicated for her to pick a toy.

“I think I’ll have that one…” she said, pointing to a brown bear that was dressed in a Captain America outfit, complete with helmet and shield.

Steve shot her a look and she held out her hands, protesting her innocence. “What?”

“Good choice ma’am” the attendant said, handing over the bear “He’s an all American hero is our Captain.”

“That he is.” She grinned “He’s incredibly handsome too I believe.”

Steve cut her off as he thanked the man before steering her away as he checked his watch. They had about an hour before they needed to get back.

“Come on, let’s take a walk.”

He led them both down to the sea front, pausing to get a hot dog each, and they walked, eating in comfortable silence. The sun was still warm in the sky, the sea was by their side and Katie was lost in her own little world until she realised Steve wasn’t besides her. She turned to look for him, wondering where he was and then spotted him a few yards behind her, crouched on one knee on the well-worn wooden slats of the boardwalk.

“I told you I was gonna ask you properly one day.” He cleared his throat, looking up at her with those blue eyes she loved so much as he held out his hand, opening the small box that was inside. The sun bounced off the surface of the ring and she couldn’t see it fully but she clamped her hands over her mouth. “I know we were a little too late to be each other’s firsts, well in some ways anyway…” he said, and Katie let out a choked giggle. “But I want all my lasts to be with you. Will you marry me, sweetheart?”

“And I told you I’d say yes one day!” She said, her voice cracking with emotion as she removed her hands shakily from her mouth and nodded. “Yes. Yes of course I’ll marry you.”

A few of the by-standers who had been watching started cheering as Steve jumped up, everything around him bar his girl faded to nothing as she threw herself into his arms. He picked her up, laughing like an idiot, his strong arms round her as he twirled her round, the pair of them sharing fast, rapid dizzying pecks on the lips as he held her off the floor. Eventually he set her on her feet, an utterly stupid grin plastered on his face as he looked at her, a grin that wasn’t going to fade any time soon.

“Do I errr have to put it on myself?” She spluttered a laugh, raising an eyebrow.

“What, oh, yeah, right…” he said, stepping back and removing the ring from its home, fumbling slightly before he managed to get it out, holding it in his right hand, but before he could do anything else she grabbed his left hand which contained the box before he could slip it back into his pocket.

“You bought me a Tiffany?” She almost shrieked as she looked at the distinctive blue-green box in her hand.

“Yeah, and if you give me a second you can see it.” Steve chuckled at her. Biting her lip she held out her left hand and he slid the ring onto her finger and she let out a loud gasp.

“Stevie, it’s beautiful.” She whispered, looking at it before she took his face in both her hands. “I love it.”

“I love you.” he murmured into their kiss. He grinned and dropped and arm round her shoulder as they made their way back down the boardwalk, back to the car, Katie’s eyes almost permanently transfixed on her ring.

“You definitely like it?” Steve asked, suddenly feeling nervous as he nodded to her hand

“It’s perfect, but how did you know?” she looked up at him as they reached the other side of the road

“Do the words, ‘big, fuck off Tiffany diamond’ ring any bells?” he looked at her, referencing their conversation outside his flat a few months ago.

“Not about the tiffany.” she shook her head “But the cut. It’s a princess one, the one I’ve always wanted.

“I have a good memory” he smiled, “And I picked that particular one because its a design called a Novo. I thought he said Nova at first.”

Katie laughed as she snaked her arms round his neck. “For the record, this was much a much better proposal than we can get married if you want….”

“Are you ever gonna let me forget that?” he sighed as he leaned down.

“I think you’ve redeemed yourself…” she said as her lips met his.

****

“Tony suggested we have a drink before we meet everyone.” Steve stepped into the elevator and Katie looked at him before she smoothed down her white dress.

“So where are we meeting everyone?”

“It’s a surprise, stop being so impatient.”

“Errr. You can’t tell me off, it’s my birthday.”

“Well stop asking so many questions and just enjoy your night!”

She didn’t get chance to reply as then the elevator doors opened onto the main party floor and there was a loud eruption of noise, making Katie jump.

“SURPRISE!”

Her mouth dropped open as she looked around the room. It was decorated in banners, balloons, and now paper streamers from the party poppers that had just been exploded by their friends. Clint, Thor, Bruce, Rhodey, Sam, Maria Hill, Tony, Pepper, Lawson, Evans, a whole host of people that worked in the offices and a familiar copper haired assassin stepped forward to greet her.

“Miss me?” Nat quipped.

“I can’t…” Katie began to speak, as she hugged her friend back “Oh my God…”

“JARVIS can you record this?” she heard Tony speak. “For this is a monumental occasion. She’s actually speechless…”

Katie turned to look at Steve who had been watching her reaction with a smile on his face. He loved seeing her happy, and he was pretty sure he’d managed to achieve that several times over during the day.

“Did you organise this?” she asked

“Why do you sound so surprised?” he chuckled, stepping forward to kiss her cheek “I had a little help but yeah, it was my idea. Happy Birthday baby.”

Before she could reply Natasha suddenly spoke very loudly.

“What is that?”

“What?” Katie asked, although she knew full well what Natasha was talking about.

“Errrr that?” She grabbed at Katie’s left hand.

The room fell silent.

“What does it look like?” Katie grinned at her

“Holy fucking shit.” Steve heard Clint chuckle as he slid his arm round his fiancées waist and the two of them exchanged a smile.

“We’re getting married” Steve grinned, finally tearing his eyes from Katie to look round the room. There was a pause and he locked eyes with Tony who winked at him before there was a flurry of noise and activity as everyone surged forward to congratulate them.

Tony reached them first and the two men shared a manly hug, which included lots of back slapping before he dropped a kiss to his sister’s cheek as Katie felt a hand grab hers. Natasha scrutinised her newest piece of jewellery before she looked up at Steve.

“You picked that all by yourself?” she looked up at Steve.

“I’m not completely useless” he rolled his eyes.

“I’m impressed Rogers,”

Sam clapped Steve on his back and as the two men began to banter, Tony pulled his sister into his side.

“Congratulations Kiddo.” He said, looking down at her hand “Looks even better on.”

“You’ve seen it?” She frowned.

“I may or may not have taken him to Tiffany’s…” Tony shrugged. “But I promise he picked it all by himself”

“So you knew he was gonna ask me?”

“He asked my permission.” Tony sniffed. “Well I might not be Dad but…”

Katie noticed his eyes were shining and she smiled at him as he continued.

“I want you to know,” Tony’s voice cracked slightly “I couldn’t be prouder of you, or love you more if you were my own.”

“Stop it, you’re making me cry!” Katie exclaimed, the tears in her own eyes gently spilling out as he pulled her into huge hug and she pressed her face into his chest. Eventually she stepped back, the pair of them wiping their eyes and Tony took the opportunity of a distraction, turning to a waiter.

Steve, who had been watching the two siblings saw the emotional exchanged and he stepped forward, as Tony was yelling about champagne for a toast.

“You alright?” Steve asked, gently wiping a tear off her cheek before he slipped his arms around her waist.

“Never been happier.” she beamed, honestly, her hands winding round his neck “ I know I said last year was the best birthday ever but this has smacked it straight out of the park.”

“Glad to hear it.” he smiled, leaning down to kiss her “I love you.”

“God job, seeing as I’m gonna be your wife.” she teased, her hand tangling in the back of his hair.

“Yeah…” he said, the shit eating grin spreading across his face again as he contemplated the words. His wife. “Yeah, you are”

Chapter 19

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fic #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #mcu #mcu fanfic #captain america #chris evans #chris evans characters

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theres-no-protocol-for-this · 4 years

Text

Necessary Repairs

Part III. I don’t even know if you have to read any of the other parts. SecUnit should probably have slept through most of its own healing, but that’s not this machine’s luck.

Part I | Part II

At some indeterminate point later, I woke up.

I was receiving minimal sensory data, and none of it was sight-related. A diagnostic subroutine spun up and casually began sending me bursts of error messages I couldn't even begin to translate.

Oh, and the world was pitch black.

It took me more than five seconds to determine that the darkness was self-inflicted and open my eyes. Longer still for the random noise to resolve into sounds I could understand -- the hum of an air circulation system, at least two distinct voices, and an automated warning system. My connection to the feed stabilized, but the walls that normally guarded my mind against its onslaught were conspicuously absent.

Something else was shielding me, something big and surprisingly gentle.

Friend?

I could feel cold metal under my back and head, probably the medical suite platform. My internal temperature refused to rise, so I was shivering and couldn't stop. It felt like I was still leaking, and the pain ebbed and flowed with each passing moment.

“Would you like me to turn up the heat?” Transport asked.

Yes. Where the hell am I?

I felt a mild shock as the governor kicked in. It hadn't liked my tone, apparently, or the phrasing of my answer, and wasn't shy about letting me know. The standard code read, "you're outside of protocol and need to adjust your attitude."

Silently, I cursed the damn thing. I was getting used to life without it.

A moment later, Transport answered, "SecUnit, you're still in medical, and your performance rating, while stable, remains abysmally low."

The ship paused and sent me a couple of data packets that succinctly described all the things still wrong -- which was most of them. I should've probably remained in stasis, but the medical unit was calibrated for humans. So, it hadn't given me nearly enough sedative to knock out the organic parts of a construct for any appreciable amount of time.

I was awake, kind of.

"I'm waiting for your vital signs to improve," Transport added. "Until then, would you like to watch an episode of that one show you liked?"

Yes, please.

The ship's calm tone reassured me, even though everything else looked like shit. My diagnostics were coming back with nonsense, still. The governor couldn't find a SecSystem to connect with. The Traveler didn't have or need one of those; it had a skeleton HubSystem instead managed security, life support, and logistics. My inflexible governor couldn't figure out how to interface with it.

Surprise, surprise...

It fell back on some preprogrammed garbage, complete with a minimal set of actions and responses. "Yes, please" and "No, thank you" was probably the best I could manage at the moment without incurring its wrath. I'd try poking at it later when my performance no longer looked quite so dramatically sad.

Captain Owens pulled up a chair and sat down where she could see me. Transport shared the view from one of its cameras, so now I could see her, too. It also queued up an episode of a long-running serial and waited for the captain before it started playing. I wanted to ask about the hostiles but couldn't -- thanks governor -- and Transport didn't seem inclined to enlighten me.

I suppose it was only fair; it was doing its best to keep me calm.

MedSystem sorted out the sleeping issue in the meantime and had injected more sedatives into my resupply channel, so sleep was happening shortly, whether I liked it or not. I could practically feel my diagnostics slowing down to a crawl since they relied on data from my organic parts, which were affected by the drugs.

"Good afternoon, SecUnit. I'm glad to see you're awake." The captain nodded in my direction and then turned toward someone I couldn't see. "As I mentioned, thanks to SecUnit, we came out of the boarding attempt in one piece. I'm sorry to hear your ship wasn't as lucky."

A stranger in formal wear came into camera view as he approached Owens. I figured he was the owner of that second voice I hadn't been able to identify earlier. The logo on his tunic looked familiar, but I couldn't place it. Parts of my memory felt like tangled network cables.

"Indeed, but this is still better than nothing. I don't suppose you've already contacted your bonding company?"

The captain's face scrunched up in confusion. "We're insured outside of the Corporation Rim," she explained. "I've sent a message, but I'm here pretty much on my own."

Outside of the Rim, everything appeared to work in ways that were incompatible with corporation control. A lot of the propaganda around freehold planets implied they were a complete shitshow. Except, clearly, the Traveler was doing just fine.

I had a sudden burst of "bad feeling" in my organic neural tissue. Something about the newcomer didn't sit right with me. I thought it might be unwise for the captain to tell him anything about herself or her ship.

"No, thank you." It sounded like my voice, but I didn't remember speaking. Hi buffer, I thought I'd never see you again.

The newcomer gave me a puzzled glance. "So, where'd you get your unit then?"

Owens shrugged and schooled her expression. I'd seen that face before when she'd spoken to her daughter before our first jump. "I rented it from a friend, as a security consultant. It's doing a great job."

I was?

I mean, the human was alive, and the Traveler had an intact hull, so I guess things weren't terrible. I could practically hear the Transport laughing on a private channel. If I could roll my eyes, I probably would have, but the governor frowned on that sort of thing, and my eyes had closed minutes ago.

"I see. Well, if you wouldn't mind giving us a hand with repairs, we can both be on our way." The man watched the captain like a hawk. "I would also recommend getting your unit checked out at a licensed repair station when you get a chance. With this level of damage, there's no telling what other problems are hiding under the surface."

As far as statements go, it was polite enough, but I didn't like it. It sounded to me like a threat.

Performance rating dropping. Initiating emergency shutdown.

I really would prefer you didn't.

***

Memory fragment:

The mining installation doesn't inspire confidence. There are eight of us and two combat models. Ten security units should be enough to keep a workforce of 153 miners and a dozen more supervisors in line. Everything looks worn and rundown, including the humans.

Protocol dictates that we take shifts. A human has created a schedule to which we adhere. The two combat units are mixed in with the rest of us.

It's my patrol shift. I walk through one of the mining shafts and stop at the far end. I can hear a supervisor arguing with two of her employees—something about the rocks they've uncovered. I turn around, ready to head back to the primary installation, when one of the combat units walks up to the three humans.

It has been summoned by the supervisor.

The supervisor tells it to fire on the workers. It does, without question. Bodies crumple to the floor. Then, the supervisor notices me.

***

Transport popped into my feed. "Wake up, SecUnit. How're you feeling?"

"Like I got shot."

The words were out before I could consider the consequences, and I braced for an electric shock -- or worse. Nothing happened. Performance reliability was at 87% and rising steadily. My diagnostics routines had run several times, and the results looked promising. I was also no longer leaking, and most of my organic parts had grown back.

I had two arms again. That was nice.

Transport shared a smiling sigil. Reason unknown. "You did get shot, silly. MedSystem patched you up pretty well. If you're up to it, my captain and I could use your help." It paused and added, "Captain suggested that you might want payment in exchange for services rendered. That's how it works in CR, right?"

I had my doubts about anything actually working in the Corporation Rim. Still, arguing with a clearly sentient ship about theoretical economics didn't sound appealing. I'd rather get shocked again.

"OK," I said aloud and sat up. "Priority question: who was here earlier?"

"Dr. Alexander Soren is the current captain of an ArialHydra exploration vessel. They are stranded in this sector after a pirate attack. Captain Owens speculates that it may be the same group of pirates. We were lucky to have you on board."

Lucky. Right.

I shoved off the platform and crumpled to the floor in a pile of arms and legs. Hi there, limbs. A few minutes later, I managed to get up and stumble around under my own power. I admit to sitting on the floor and trying out my new arm. It didn't have a cannon -- MedSystem didn't have the required parts -- but it was fully functional, otherwise.

"I've seen Dr. Soren before." I couldn't remember where. That bothered me.

"Perhaps you were deployed on one of his survey missions?"

"I don't know."

One of the ship's drones floated into the room, carrying spare clothing, which it dropped directly on my head. I grabbed at the falling fabric and started getting dressed. It was the Traveler's standard-issue uniform, beige and blue and generally not hideous. I missed the protective qualities of armor, but it would've been weird to wander through the ship's pristine, carpeted halls with it on.

Captain Owens walked into the medical room and waved at me and the drone. "I see you're both here and scheming."

"We're not scheming, and technically, I'm everywhere," Transport informed us.

"I don't think you should trust Dr. Soren," I blurted out.

Owens narrowed her eyes. "Do you know anything you'd care to share?"

I shook my head. Constructs don't get gut feelings -- we don't even have a gut to have them with -- and my memories of any encounters with the doctor had been removed. Memory wipes aren't typical, but occasionally, a bonding company or a manufacturer/repair company decides they're necessary. I've had at least one that I know about. I also had no idea how to explain that my organic neurons probably remembered things the rest of me didn't.

"Well, in that case, has Trav told you what we need?" At my puzzled expression, the captain said, "We gave the other ship supplies, and they're almost ready to depart. And they're making a fuss about..." She sighed. "Something. I really don't care. They'll be coming back aboard in a few hours to discuss whatever it is. And I would feel much better if you were there. Just in case. And only if you're feeling up to it."

Protecting humans was literally the only thing I liked about my job. "OK."

"Great. Do you want a weapon?"

"Depends on how threatening you want me to look." Any weapon I wielded would be for show unless the human was in danger. And if she was, I had a miniature cannon hidden inside an arm.

The captain pondered this for a moment. Her face went through a range of expressions that Transport interpreted for me as "Captain Owens thinks the other ship's posturing is stupid and would like to be on her way, but it would be impolite to leave, so here we are." I agreed with the captain's assessment.

Finally, she said, "Let's try without any extra threats and see what happens. The quicker we get this over with, the better."

Transport suggested we spend the time between now and the upcoming meeting watching more of its favorite shows. I agreed.

#the murderbot diaries #SecUnit #let me sleep #into the unknown #fanfiction

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katherinemallory · 4 years

Text

#6 A sign from the stars

You can find the previous chapters here: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5

In the last few days it seemed I hardly recognized myself. One Friday I stayed at the MI6 Headquarters much longer than usual, because I needed to finish all the work before the weekend. I wanted to prevent anyone from bothering me on one of my free days, so I did everything I could to make sure I didn't forget about anything. It was getting dark outside the windows, as 8 P.M. got closer, so I drew the curtains before I sat in my armchair.

I was trying to relax and regain the energy. I've just finished preparing some of the documents I had to deliver directly to M, but didn’t intend to go there just yet. I needed a short break. I waited there for 15 minutes, doing absolutely nothing, apart from listening to the cars that were passing by the MI6 Headquarters outside the window. Then I locked my office and went to the last floor.

I was wondering whether Eve would still be working that late in the evening. My assumption was that she would stay in the building as long as Mallory was there. But with Mallory... you could never know for sure. No one was fully aware of his schedule... perhaps for safety reasons.

The corridors on the last floor were empty and it felt like the whole building has been abandoned. You could hear quiet phone conversations from behind the doors, but that late in the evening it felt a bit as if the ghosts had invaded the place.

I knocked on Eve’s door twice, but didn't hear that welcoming voice in response. I was extremely tired, barely could see anything with my eyes, and I wanted to go home so badly, that I ignored the basic savoir-vivre rules and went inside even though I had not been invited.

There was no one sitting behind Eve's desk. The lights were off, and with all the important stuff left on the desk I felt like a burglar.

Great, I thought. There is no one around to assist me. I can't leave these documents here, not making sure they would go directly to Mallory... but I can't step into his office either if he's not here!

To me it seemed like he wasn't there. The omnipresent silence suggested that the office was empty, but I didn’t have much choice. Damn it, I'm going to check if the door is open...

I placed my hand on the doorknob and pushed the famous maroon door. To my surprise, the door has opened, but no one greeted me, which meant I've just broken into M's office.

The interior looked quite mysterious. Just as in the previous room, the lights were off, but the office wasn't covered in total darkness, as someone didn't draw the curtains next to the M's desk. The city lanterns’ light was trying to reach the book shelves behind the desk. For a moment I wondered what kind of books does my supervisor enjoy the most.

I went straight to his desk, my moves being extremely clumsy. The only thing I had in my mind was to do it as quickly as possible and leave.

When I stopped in front of the desk and placed the documents on it, I felt my heart *racing* in my chest. I tried to remain calm. Calm down, Kath. You *had* to deliver this directly to Mallory... and you just did it. Calm down. There's nothing wrong with you being alone in your supervisor's office. I had trouble with convincing myself of that. That is probably why I didn't hear someone coming inside.

I didn't hear the footsteps. I realized that someone has joined me only seconds before being hugged from behind. I felt the warmth of a man’s body.

"Someone has broken into her supervisor's office?" whispered a pair of lips that gently kissed me on the neck, refusing to wait for my response.

A familiar voice had come from the lips that kissed me. I knew exactly who that man was.

"I came to bring you... the documents... you had asked for... earlier today... sir," I said, staying still: having M's desk in front of me, and unable to see the face of the man who was still holding me in his arms.

"Thank you, Katherine," he replied, while he moved his hands to my waist. "But it would be a waste of time... to come here only to bring me documents."

He kissed my neck once again, this time more predatory, and turned me around.

At first, I only saw his silhouette in the office's darkness, but soon recognized Mallory's face thanks to the dim light coming from outside the window. I was both astonished and thrilled, and, as a result, unable to move. He held me tight in his arms, looking deeply into my eyes.

"I *couldn't* wait any longer," confessed Mallory and smelled my hair. "Since your first day in the section I've been thinking about you..." he made a pause and hungrily glanced at my lips. “So I stepped in when I saw you here. I just hope..." he whispered, "... I just hope you're okay with that."

I couldn't believe my own ears, but I knew exactly *what* I wanted to do and *how much* I wanted to do it. I seductively bit my lower lip and then slowly raised my right hand and caressed his cheek, admiring his face for a brief moment.

"The feeling's mutual, sir," I said breathlessly and kissed him.

My hands laid on his chest, impatiently exploring his body in the dark. He continued to kiss me passionately as he lifted me onto his desk, while I started to unbutton his shirt. We got lost in the moment completely: he, caressing my hair and my back, and me, sitting on his desk, with my hands taking off Mallory's braces...

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

I opened my eyes, as the alarm clock rang. I looked around, expecting Mallory to be lying in my bed next to me, but I was the only person in the room. So, that was only a dream... such a shame, I thought, as I touched my neck as if I were a man who intended to kiss me.

I wasn't in the good mood. Who would like to come back to reality after such a night? But I got out of bed to turn the clock off and to check my phone. Still no response from 007... You have really screwed this up, Kath.

I wasn't sure how many days or weeks have passed since my failed mission and the infamous conversation I had with Bond. I stopped to count them.

The life in the double-0 section has slowed down, but there was one thing to look forward to. All of us had to attend a one-on-one meeting with M who has been trying to figure out if there's a leak in the section.

I looked at my wall calendar only to discover that today was the day of mine "interrogation" with Mallory. Maybe that's why I had such a spicy dream tonight... cause my heart gets crazy before our every meeting... And let’s be honest Kath, your subconscious wants him *really* badly.

The truth was that I missed Mallory dearly, as I haven't ran into him in the recent days. It was an uncomfortable feeling - to miss someone you don’t know much about, but at the same time be aware of the fact that this *someone* makes you unable to sleep at night. I found myself regularly thinking about his mysterious green eyes and dark brown hair. I *loved* looking at him when he was giving orders to other double-0s, talking to Eve, or even just wandering around the corridors. The way he moved like seemed fairly attractive to me... Was I being ridiculous? Was I really in love with him? I wasn’t sure, but I was *craving* for my next meeting with Mallory.

I was nearly ready, drinking my everyday cup of Earl Grey and eating breakfast, when my phone rang unexpectedly. I had to stand up to pick it up.

It was Eve. Did the hour of my "interrogation" change?

"Hello, Eve, what's up?"

She sounded a bit strange, as if she was afraid to tell me why she has called me.

"Hi, Kath," she said in a faint voice. "Have you... left your apartment already?"

"No," I replied. "But I will do it in 15 minutes time."

"Well... in that case... don't leave your place then."

The way Eve said the last few words made me feel really worried.

"Why so? Eve, what is going on??" I said nervously, but determined to uncover the truth. "You sound differently than usual... did something happen??"

"Y-y-yes," faltered Eve. "Do you remember our last conversation about M when you said..."

"Yes, I remember," I interrupted her. "Though I’m not sure what that has to do with this..."

"Well Kath... I'm really sorry to tell you this, but... 003 who had his meeting before you... he tried to assassinate M."

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed and fell on the couch. I began to tremble. "He tried to do WHAT...? Is M alright???"

"He was taken to the hospital a while ago," responded Eve. "A stab wound to the left arm. 003 attacked M with a letter opener from his own desk..." she made a pause and then sighed. "It was really awful, Kath. I was behind the door and could do absolutely nothing! I didn't even know something was going on there! M must have pressed this button under his desk to signalize emergency... the guards came into the office very quickly and took 003 to the isolation room but... M's arm has been already covered in blood. When I saw him I nearly fainted... and then I thought of you... since you feel something for him..."

"How serious is his injury?" I asked immediately, being surprised by my ability to remain rational.

"I have no idea, Kath. But I'll keep you posted."

"Thank you so much Eve... I really appreciate that you've called me..."

I suddenly realized that something was not right. Again, I was surprised by the fact I was able to think straight in such an emotional situation.

"... but Eve, why you've told me to stay home? I can come to work and continue with the documents..."

"No, Kath, I'm sorry, but you can't," she said. "003's last mission was set in that area in Australia where Abbruscato wanted to buy mines... and since you and Amanda were both so close to him... you're first ones on the list of suspects. I'm sorry, but..."

She didn't have to explain this to me. This is how the world of espionage looks like.

"... but we're under arrest," I said calmly as I opened the curtains, and looked through the window to see the street. "The guards are coming right now, aren't they?"

"Yes, they left a while ago. They will stay at your door until the investigation's over."

I became quiet.

"Katherine, are you still there?"

"Yeah...” I answered, staring at the street and tucking the hair behind my left ear. “Thank you, Eve. Thank you so much," I said briefly and I hanged up.

After a while, I was sitting on my couch, looking on my cup of cold Earl Grey.

I didn't want to talk anymore. To anyone.

Just as in my dream, I couldn’t move. It seemed like I lost the ability to feel anything because of the unexpectedness of the news. If someone came to me and wanted to hurt me in any way, I wouldn’t care at all. I just wanted to know how’s Mallory.

So this was the real meaning of my dream... It was a warning. A prediction. A telepathic sign from Mallory? A sign from the stars telling me something terrible has happened to the man I love?

Wait, did I just think that? Did I just call Mallory the man I *love*?

***

To be continued.

#james bond #bond james bond #007 #fanfiction #james bond fanfiction #gareth mallory #m #katherine mallory #002 #eve moneypenny

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chief-of-restless-hearts · 4 years

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Chapter 5: Trial

. . .

It was all wrong.

Dick’s mannerisms were off, twitchy and uncertain and completely foreign to his usual bearing--even under stress. And...his face. Unobscured by the grainy video quality, it seemed drawn...even gaunt.

Batman replayed the street cam footage, and watched as the boy, still wearing that dark mirror of Deathstroke’s costume, ran out from alongside the abandoned car lot and halted abruptly at the edge of the road. He threw his gaze back and forth down the empty street, as though looking for something. As though he had been chasing something.

Dick loitered agitatedly for a few moments longer and then turned and vanished out of the camera's view.

But there had been something about his expression...

Batman replayed the clip on his portable computer again. Heavy rain whipped at his cape and cowl, running in frigid rivers down his shoulders, but he remained utterly fixated. Crouched atop the building that Dick had emerged from in the recording, he had finished examining the roped off crime scene below, the details of it rotating through his mind as he studied the only true evidence that Dick had ever been there--aside from the bloodied shuriken which he had personally ensured would not be entered into police records.

None of the suspects, either captured or deceased, had sustained injuries compatible with what the shuriken must have inflicted. Which meant he had another suspect to hunt and interrogate. One more easily accessible than the survivors who had already been incarcerated.

Batman would need to move carefully to avoid justifying any rumored link between Robin and the boy captured on the tape. The sudden return of the Robin emblem alone was more than incriminating enough, and that made the motivation behind it all too clear. Deathstroke intended to isolate Robin from his allies, to destroy his reputation and relationships beyond repair and entrap him completely.

Batman would see him disappointed. His hatred for the assassin grew more intense with every hour, every day that passed.

Five days. Five days Dick had been missing, with Deathstroke, and now he looked like this.

Bruce lightly traced the image with his finger.

What did he do to you, Dick?

. . .

The lone survivor on the lower floor had clearly and gruesomely been singled out for the sake of interrogation or vendetta, and between emergency surgeries and the time necessary for recovery, the suspect was slated to remain unconscious and sedated for at least the next day.

Batman glared down at the haggard-looking man in the hospital bed, lingering in spite of this. It was maddening, knowing that testimony that could incriminate Deathstroke and exonerate his boy accomplice of bloodshed was just out of reach.

He was wasting time.

While the looped cameras would be automatically restored to their normal state once he was clear of the building, a nurse could stop by at any moment. He turned to leave.

No sooner did he face the window than he saw the familiar brightly costumed figure hovering just outside it.

He gritted his teeth and slipped outside. He ignored Superman’s attempts to meet his gaze as he closed and locked the window behind him and he grappled up to the roof, and then he turned to face the man with a scowl.

“So the video has leaked already,” he said flatly, without any question attached to it.

“I’m afraid so,” Superman confirmed, his expression pensive as his feet settled gently on the roof. “It was leaked to the Planet a few minutes ago. I’m not sure how many other papers and stations received it, but I’m not too optimistic.” He hesitated. “I came as soon as I heard. I’ve already done a quick scan of this part of the city, that’s how I found you, but...is there any other way I could help?”

Batman squeezed his eyes shut and resisted the temptation to reject the offer completely. He couldn’t afford to. Not this time. Especially not after...the other time he had tried to save one of his charges alone.

“I already know what you want to do,” he said at last, with effort. “Do it. Call the League.”

Superman was silent, but Batman didn’t turn to look at him.

This wasn’t Clark’s fault, of course it wasn’t. But it was his, and how could he look Clark in the eye when he knew that with so much certainty?

“Bruce...can you tell me that he’s alright?”

“No, I can’t,” he snapped. “Deathstroke has had Robin for nearly a week. I have every reason to believe that he is not alright.”

Superman’s brow creased with confusion. “Deathstroke...?” he started, but then he shook his head. “Bruce, I...I know this can’t be easy for you--”

“This isn’t about me,” he bit out.

Superman’s expression was pinched with open empathy, the same expression he’d had after he heard that...that Jason...

Batman was tempted to slap it off his face.

“I know,” Superman assured him. “I’ll summon as many League members as I can, but before I do, I wanted to make sure that--” He broke off, and his expression said the words left unspoken. “I wanted to see you.”

Batman closed his eyes again, and sighed. “I was about to call you,” he admitted, reluctantly. “Thank you. For coming.” He knew without looking that a small smile had entered the alien’s face.

“Nothing to thank me for,” Superman said easily. “This is for Dick. I mean, aren’t I the kid’s honorary uncle or something?”

Batman rolled his eyes, but the reminder was another little stab in his chest. “He was ten, Clark.”

Clark’s smile widened, and the weight in Bruce’s chest might have eased, if only slightly.

. . .

He reached the Hall of Justice inexcusably late and intensely furious with himself.

He had contacted the Titans again for aid in pinpointing the exact location where they had separated from Robin in the tunnels, as well as where they had found a bomb instead of Sarah Simm. His search of both areas had uncovered nothing, absolutely nothing, and had told him only that Deathstroke must have returned to the scene of the crime to cover his tracks.

And then he had woken suddenly in the water speeder, surrounded by frigid dampness and pitch black walls. The sewers had blocked any outside contact from Alfred or the League that could have roused him, he had still uncovered nothing that could help Dick, and after less than twenty-four hours of searching already his body had failed him.

As he exited the jet and made his way into the League building he found Wally West and Donna Troy sitting together in the lobby, both in costume. They started with surprise as he passed.

“Hey, Batman!” Wally called, but Batman’s brisk pace didn’t falter. Wally sliced across his path with lightning speed and tried to catch his eye. “Wait a sec, we just want to know--”

Bruce fixed the boy with such a glare that his eyes widened in alarm and within an instant he had retreated back to Donna’s side.

“Is Dick okay?” Donna called after him. Her voice was high with alarm. “...Batman?”

Their mentors must have seen fit to exclude them from the meeting. They certainly had the ability to do so, as the young people had yet to be granted access to the Watchtower satellite. Dick had been the only Titan to be given a code.

Without further acknowledgement of either teen he approached the zeta tube and stepped through the transporter.

When at last he swept into the Watchtower conference room with unprecedented tardiness and a fresh bout of transporter-due nausea, not only was the League seated but the new Teen Titans team as well. Wonder Woman was standing beside them, indicating that she had been speaking to them before his interruption.

In the sudden quiet all eyes turned to him, but he met only Wonder Woman’s gaze as he stalked toward the head of the table. In passing the others he counted, with a sting of resentment, that only five League members were present: Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern. A smaller turnout at such short notice was to be expected, of course, but there were a few missing faces that he had expected to see.

He ignored Clark’s less than subtle attempts to catch his eye. Wonder Woman, understanding Batman’s intention, nodded but said nothing as he firmly set his palm-sized portable projector on the table.

“Of the twelve suspects found at the location of the sighting,” he began as several photographs from the police archives lit up the wall behind him, “these four HIVE members were found on the upper level, and on the lower level there were found three more in addition to five men who have been identified as members of the local mob.” he switched to a new set of images, these far more gruesome than the first, “Of those found on the lower level only one, a HIVE member, was found alive. The survivor had clearly been tortured.”

Not only for the sake of the young people at the far end of the table, who already looked nauseous, but out of the bare minimum of respect due to the victim he declined to share those final images with the table.

“All injuries on the lower floor, lethal or otherwise, were inflicted by a long blade,” he continued. “In marked contrast the four HIVE members on the upper floor sustained no injuries more serious than severe bruising. The zip-tie restraints confirm that only these attacks could be credited to Robin, and that Deathstroke was responsible for the lower level killings.

“The surviving suspects have so far refused to respond to police interrogation, and the most gravely injured suspect remains unfit for questioning. Which leaves the video footage of Robin as the only publicly accessible evidence as to the crime’s motivation or perpetrator. Because of this the authorities have not tied Deathstroke to the crime, nor do they have any reason to.”

The video flickered onto the wall and began to play as he spoke.

“The footage that captured Robin on the scene leaves no question that he has been mistreated.”

The blurry image of Dick on the screen staggered to a halt at the edge of the street, and Batman paused the video. He zoomed in on the boy’s face, and found that he needed to swallow before speaking again.

“Robin has lost weight, his movement is stiff, almost clumsy, and if he were thinking clearly he would never have unwittingly placed himself within sight of a street camera. This footage was taken five days after the last footage we have of him, from the day he disappeared, and...”

He broke off as something like a fist closed around his throat. He cleared it with some difficulty.

“...and we cannot afford to leave him in Deathstroke’s hands any longer than we already have.”

For the first time he looked across the table. The video must have been played prior his arrival to give any who hadn’t seen it an understanding of the crisis, and while the Titans were gazing at the projection with evident grief, the League members at the other end of the table seemed...uncomfortable. Only Clark and Diana returned his gaze, while Barry looked distant, Ollie toyed with the straps on his suit, and Hal’s gaze was firmly averted. The Lantern’s leg was bouncing idly.

“And we will not,” Wonder Woman said firmly but gently. “We must hope that Robin’s friends can help us further understand the circumstances.”

Batman could only nod and seat himself.

Wonder Woman turned again to Cyborg beside her at the end of the table. “If you would continue for us, Victor?”

Cyborg’s gaze lingered uneasily on Batman before he spoke up. “The whole ‘Red X’ thing was just Robin’s way of getting to that assassin.” He shrugged. “Maybe it would’ve worked out better if he had trusted us with the truth, and maybe it wouldn’t have...but he was only thinking of us--how to best protect the team.”

Wonder Woman nodded. "Of course," she said kindly. “Thank you, Victor. Now, Garfield,” she said, trying to catch Beast Boy's eye, “could you add to Victor's perspective of that night?”

Beast Boy’s chin didn’t move from where it rested on his arms crossed over the table. “Red X knocked me in front of a train while we were fighting,” the boy said frankly, but as League members exchanged glances he rolled his eyes and finished. “And then he pulled me out of the way. That didn’t make much sense ‘til we found out he was Robin.”

The questions continued, alternating between Titans as they covered events that had already been recounted to him. Still, Batman kept his eyes fixed on the Titans at the other end of the table, pointedly ignoring Clark, who was seated a few chairs to his left and still trying to catch his eye.

At last the tale reached the fateful night that Robin had resurfaced in Deathstroke’s colors.

“It doesn’t feel right, but Raven says that he wasn’t brainwashed,” Beast Boy mumbled, half into his arms. “and that’s kind of her thing, so she probably knows what she’s talking about. But...after Red X, that would make it twice this month that he’s kicked me around without that excuse.”

Wonder Woman’s lips pressed together tightly, and she paused before thanking the boy and turning to Raven. “Raven, can you confirm with absolute certainty that Robin’s mind was not interfered with in any way when you last saw him?”

Only the shift in Raven’s eyes indicated that the cloaked girl had heard her. With rigid posture, she sat with her hands folded in her lap and her hood drawn over her head.

“I wouldn’t say that it had not been interfered with in any way,” she said slowly, “but not in the way that you’re asking. I could feel his...frustration, as he fought us, but if he hadn’t been in control of his body his emotions would have been clouded.”

“Thank you, Raven. Now, Koriand’r?” The Tamaranean girl’s head of thick, knee-length curls turned sharply at her name. “Could you tell us what happened that night?”

For an instant the girl’s eyes grew round, almost alarmed, before her gaze returned to her lap. After a moment she began describing Robin’s erratic behaviour that morning--all due to his anger at Deathstroke--and how he had vanished during the subsequent search for Sarah Simm. By the time she reached the fight on the roof, her words came more slowly, reluctantly. At last, her words trailed to a stop.

Wonder Woman leaned closer, trying to meet her eyes. “The footage we have of the incident shows that both you and Robin disappeared from view for a short period of time. Could you tell us what happened?”

Batman noticed when Green Lantern looked significantly at Green Arrow, who was frowning.

Batman suddenly shared far more of the girl’s trepidation than he cared to.

So slowly and painfully that he could visualize her fists clenched at her sides, Starfire began to recall the incident that she had already told him.

“I...I had pursued Robin to the top of the sign, and then we--”

Raven suddenly gripped her shoulder. Starfire halted mid-sentence to look over her shoulder in surprise. What Batman could see of Raven’s face under her cowl was tight and wary, fixed on the other end of the table.

“Koriand’r,” she said in a low voice, dark and cold as a winter night. “They’ve already decided on his guilt. They aren’t thinking of how to help Robin, they’re thinking of how to stop him.”

Batman followed Raven’s gaze to the league members to his left, most of whom seemed taken aback. He studied their faces with a barely concealed scowl. Robin had always thought highly of Raven’s competence as an empath, as well as of her friendship, but in this circumstance Batman sincerely hoped that she was mistaken.

Green Arrow leaned forward and jabbed a finger in her direction. “Look kiddo, if you’re so good at reading minds, why don’t you tell us what was going on in Robin’s head? That’s all we want to know.”

Clark shot Green Arrow a stern look from across the table that was enough to make the man press his lips together and lean back in his chair.

Starfire rose above the table with clenched fists and fire in her emerald eyes. “You deceived us!” she snarled. “We came here only because we knew that Robin trusts you!”

“You said it,” Beast Boy muttered, narrowing his eyes at the League.

Cyborg gestured toward Batman with a scowl. “At least we expected better from Batman, here. You’re his father or somethin’, aren’t you?”

Batman scrutinized the unusual tension darkening Lantern’s features, Arrow’s irritated grimace, and the way Flash was awkwardly rubbing his jaw. Clark was the only one to return his gaze, but that pinched expression of concern only served to aggravate him.

Batman recalled seeing Donna and Wally waiting restlessly back in the hall of justice, and began to wonder exactly why they had been excluded.

Wonder Woman withdrew her own disapproving look at Green Arrow to face the Titans. “Children, I assure you that we ask these questions with the purest of intentions toward Robin and his safety. Koriand’r, dear...what happened next on the rooftop? If we are to help Robin, we must know.”

Starfire descended until her feet again touched the ground in a defiant stance, but she did not sit.

“He escaped us,” she answered shortly, leveling a scathing look on Diana.

Wonder Woman spread her hands entreatingly, meeting the girl’s openly defiant gaze. “Your records state that that night you were the only member of your team to sustain injury. We must know what happened.”

Starfire blinked in surprise, Cyborg’s jaw dropped, and all four Titans turned to Batman with betrayed expressions. At the moment, for different but similar reasons, Batman felt the same.

“I supplied them only with the relevant documents,” he said through gritted teeth, his granite-hard gaze fixed on Wonder Woman, who returned it with a pinched brow. “Or those that I perceived to be relevant at the time. You’re taking a while to get to the point, Wonder Woman.”

Wonder Woman gave him an earnest look that pleaded to be understood before turning back to the Titans. “I assure you, all of you, that this is necessary.”

Cyborg scowled deeply and crossed his arms over his chest. “You aren’t gettin’ anything out of us until you explain why it’s necessary. Robin may be our leader, but he’s also our friend, and we have a right to know what’s going on here.”

Diana closed her eyes for a long moment. “I...believe the League should review a few things before we continue this discussion. We will contact you when we're ready to resume.” Reaching down to her waist, she raised the lasso of truth in her hand. “I swear to you that we shall do everything in our power to help Robin. And children, though we may have led you to think otherwise, please believe me when I say that we do all share in your sorrow.”

They hesitated for a few moments, but the young people rose from their seats to follow Diana’s guiding arm toward the hall.

Green Arrow leaned toward Green Lantern, and the sensitive audio enhancers in Batman’s cowl picked up the words spoken under his breath.

“Diana did pretty well, considering,” he said wryly. “I’m sure glad I didn’t get saddled with that job. Never been much good with kids.”

Green Lantern was staring down at the table as though he hadn’t heard him, and Clark was wearily rubbing his face with his hands.

“But your ward is a teenager,” Flash protested in an equally subdued tone, sounding confused.

“Exactly,” Green Arrow sighed.

The other vigilante’s all too familiar facetious tone snapped the last fragile tendril of patience Batman had managed to retain.

“Every last one of the Titans’ questions and concerns were valid,” he snapped, “especially considering how this team appears to be blatantly disregarding the amount of time that has already been wasted. Or has the purpose behind this gathering been forgotten already?”

His voice carried, and the young heroes paused on their way to the door. Green Arrow’s gaze snapped irritably toward his for a split instant before a flicker of remorse replaced the irritation. He dropped his gaze.

“We haven’t forgotten anything,” he muttered.

“Sorry about that, Batman,” Flash said ruefully, as though he had been included in the accusation. “And...I want to say how sorry I am for what happened. I mean, if it had been Wally...”

Flash’s tone, rather than his words, grated strangely in his ears. “Sorry for what?” he demanded.

Flash seemed taken aback. “Well, you know...” he faltered. “I can’t even begin to imagine how hard this must be for you after...”

Flash faltered again, possibly because of the overly sharp question, and also possibly, Batman considered as he picked up on sharp motion out of the corner of his eye, because Clark was staring at him, slashing his hand urgently across his throat.

“--After what happened to the other one,” another voice finished, so dry and uncharacteristically cold for Green Lantern as to be rendered nearly unrecognizable. “After that, someone should have known better than to leave a kid loose on the streets.”

“Lantern!” Wonder Woman barked, but she went unheeded. Green Lantern glowered at Batman over crossed arms.

Batman’s fingers tightened around his arm rests, but his face was an impassive mask, the muscles of it frozen of their own volition.

Seated to the Lantern’s right, Green Arrow’s gaze flickered between them. He shifted in his seat uneasily. “C’mon, Hal...” he muttered, “we don’t need to...”

“I’m sorry for lumping you in like this, Ollie, but even with Roy the situation was different. Star City is not and never will be what Gotham is. Batman chose to raise two kids on that twisted city’s streets, and nothing comes out of Gotham uncontaminated.” He turned a significant look on Batman. “Not even the good guys.”

Batman rose slowly, stiffly. “What are you implying?”

Green Lantern rose in turn, leaning over the table toward him. “I’m implying that Robin was in the perfect position for an opportunistic creep like Deathstroke to get into his head--thanks to you.”

Wonder Woman’s fist slammed down on the table with a roar. “Lantern, that is ENOUGH!”

The entire table surface shuddered, a hair of pressure away from snapping in two.

“Bruce.” He heard Clark’s whisper from just beside him. There was warning in it. Clark didn’t trust him not to start something.

And he shouldn’t.

Neither he nor Lantern made any move to sit.

Flash turned his head suddenly, and zipped to the other side of the room to quietly send off the Titans, who had been standing forgotten in the doorway with stunned expressions on each of their faces. Solemn silence filled the moments until the children were gone, and then Wonder Woman spoke again, this time with quiet anger in her voice.

“Any discussion of guilt or innocence can wait until we have found Robin. As Batman has already established, we are losing valuable time.”

“Yes, we are,” Lantern agreed sourly, dropping back into his seat. “The press will be all over this. It’s exactly what our critics have been waiting for--evidence that we’re just as dangerous and unpredictable as the criminals we take down. And the more convinced the public becomes that Robin’s turned coat, the more difficult it will be to salvage their trust in us.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about that just yet,” Clark interjected calmly, “but if it comes to that, I can help us prepare a press statement.”

“The truth should be more than enough to satisfy the public,” Batman said flatly. All faces turned to him, their expressions difficult to read. He ignored them. “The video evidence removes any question from the situation. Tell them that we are dealing with a hostage situation--that henceforth Robin’s every action should be presumed to be done under some form of coercion, and that all possible effort must be made to track Deathstroke down and recover Robin uninjured.”

There was a moment of silence.

“We can’t prove those assumptions, Batman,” Flash said quietly.

We can’t lie to them, Batman heard, though it remained unspoken.

Clark raised his hand before he could snap out a retort. “Wait Barry, the video may not be the tangible proof we need, but I know Robin pretty well, and his body language in that video was definitely concerning.”

Green Arrow interjected again. “C’mon, Supes, you’ve got to admit that won’t convince anyone. If Robin was ever in a hostage situation wouldn’t he have made some attempt to leave us a message? That’s basic training, right? And that videotape doesn’t count. Even Bats admits that Robin didn’t realize he was being filmed.”

“And that isn’t all that we need to discuss, either,” interjected Green Lantern. “We can’t forget that Robin knew all of our identities and had a very high level of clearance in the Watchtower. So long as Robin is with Deathstroke our most carefully guarded secrets are at risk.”

“Gentlemen,” Wonder Woman said sternly. “Until the facts lead us to certain knowledge, please keep your theories to yourselves.”

“But we do know something for certain,” Batman snapped. “We know Robin. Every single one of you has known him for years. And you know what he is and is not capable of.”

“Uh, Bats...” Flash began hesitantly, and Batman wheeled a stony glare at him. “I can’t stand behind everything Hal is saying, but...if we’re wondering why Robin would do something like this, I mean, you do realize what this looks like.”

“What does it look like?”

Flash visibly balked at the acid in his tone, and shrugged miserably. “C’mon, man...don't make me say it...”

“Say what?” Batman growled.

Flash swallowed, shrugged again, and started fiddling with one of his gloves. “It’s just that...I mean, we were all kind of under the impression that, uh...you and Robin didn’t part on the best of terms?”

Ice, hard and painfully sharp, formed in the center of his chest. Cutting into his lungs until all he could take in and release were barely controlled hisses of breath.

He stood, slowly, using the utmost of his self control to contain the rage when his hands were nearly shaking with it. “I am...truly disappointed to discover that this team is willing to use an innocent boy as a buffer between the world and its reputation.”

For a moment, before he turned away, he almost thought that he saw him, perched on the table in front of him with his long, gangly legs swinging over the edge, a familiar image from all those years that Bruce had relented to let him sit in while a league meeting droned on.

The image faded.

He turned away, but paused to wheel a piercing glare at his seated teammates. “When you speak to the presses I suggest that you try to explain how it is possible that a fifteen year old boy has more integrity in him than does this entire facade of a Justice League.”

+ - + - + - +

Bruce swept out of the conference room without another word or glance.

The entire room was dumbstruck, and it took a few moments for Clark to gather himself enough to go after him.

Within an instant he had breezed into the hall, and he caught up to Bruce a few steps past the door. Bruce’s expressionless white lenses looked right through him, and then Bruce stepped around him as though he were an inanimate object obstructing his path.

Clark wished that hadn’t hurt.

He moved just quickly enough to keep up with Bruce’s long, snapping pace. “Bruce,” he began, trying not to sound desperate, “please, you can’t just walk out now. I know this went badly, and I’m sorry, but you can’t--”

“You were very quiet tonight,” Bruce interrupted icily.

Clark stared for a moment, guilt holding his tongue. “Diana was...”

“You knew him better than all the others put together,” Bruce cut in again, and only then did he look Clark in the eyes. Clark felt himself wilt a little under the accusation in them. “Don’t tell me that you’ve lost faith in him too.”

“No, Bruce, I would never--I do believe in him, Bruce. He’s an amazing kid, I’d give anything for him and you know that. I’m just trying to tell you that we need to communicate. All of us. That’s what a team does. I know they handled it badly and jumped to conclusions, but you can’t just give up on them like this. This is your team and--”

“No, Clark, it’s your team.” That retort almost came out in a rasp, and Bruce had already looked away again. “Call me once they come to their senses and decide to stop scapegoating the victim of this situation.”

“That isn’t--Bruce--”

Bruce vanished into the teleporter without a backward glance.

Clark closed his eyes, counted slowly to ten and then back down to zero, and then released his breath as slowly and calmly as he could.

He turned on his heel and stalked back to the conference room at a human speed to allow himself to work off the edge of his temper.

But he could hear his teammates’ chattering as clearly as if he were in the room with him, and the subject set his teeth on edge.

“But then...why wasn’t Robin in Gotham?” Barry asked helplessly.

“Barry, please...” Diana sounded exhausted.

Hal’s voice broke in, and as Clark approached the sliding doors, he again began counting to ten. “We can’t just drop these questions, Diana. In that video Robin was even wearing that ‘R’ of his. If that doesn’t tell us something I don’t know what would. And as for Robin’s health...I mean, it’s not that I think Deathstroke’s a fun guy to live with, but what reason do we have to believe that Robin wasn’t there voluntarily?”

“Maybe you don’t need a reason,” Clark said, stalking through the conference room doors. “Maybe all you need is a little faith in a longtime friend, and just the barest smidge of respect for a man grieving the loss of his only surviving son.”

Hal turned to look at him, openmouthed, but Clark’s gaze shifted from him to each of the other leaguers in turn.

Ollie shook his head with a quiet sigh. “I’m glad Roy wasn’t here to see this,” he muttered, a little bitterly. “He’s been worried sick.”

“Wally, too,” Barry added miserably.

Diana stood still and somber, absorbed in her own thoughts, and the silence stretched on as they all did the same.

Barry broke it. “Hal, I can’t believe you threw Robin’s death in his face like that. He wasn’t just any sidekick, he was...was that one adopted? I...don’t think I ever asked.”

“All the more reason for him to know better.”

“This is beyond being wrong or right, Lantern,” Diana said sternly. “You prioritized your feelings over team unity.”

“Alright, alright,” Hal sighed, “I get it. I came on too strong, like always, right? But it’s not like I blame the kid--if I’d been in his shoes I’d probably have lost it years ago. And besides, Bats had it coming.”

Clark approached the table only to grip the back of his chair almost tightly enough to break it. “Well I hope getting that off your chest was worth it,” he said fiercely, “because we just lost the one League member who had a decent chance of finding Robin if he doesn’t want to be found. And we were gathered here to help his son.”

“Yes we were,” said Diana, her eyes still weary, but her hands planted squarely on the table. “And we still are. But I must agree with one of the points that Lantern presented. In time we will need to address the public’s suspicions.”

Clark closed his eyes, his heart sinking, because he knew exactly what Diana was about to say. Worse, he wasn’t sure he could contradict it.

“If we deny the increasingly obvious truth that Deathstroke’s young accomplice is Robin, we lose their trust. If we admit to his identity but do not pursue him as we would a criminal our impartiality will be called into question. We can afford to delay this, but not inevitably.” She let out a long, carefully controlled breath. “We have only one choice, and Hera help me, I wish there was another way.”

+ - + - + - +

He emerged from the teleport back into the Hall of Justice, and this time saw Donna and Wally with the Titans gathered around them in a conference of their own. The group had already turned to watch him, and six pairs of eyes fixed on him as he redirected his steps to approach them.

If the League couldn’t comprehend the inherent absurdity of the suspicion that Dick--that Robin would ever willingly join an assassin, then he was left no choice but to seek out allies who could.

Both the former and present members of the Titans readily and eagerly agreed to help. The small entourage made its way through the sewers toward the former location of the bomb as well as the point of Robin’s departure, and under his direction they set about combing the tunnels inch by inch.

The search, though now performed with the very best of Cyborg’s tech as well as his own, uncovered nothing. Searching the tunnels from the point of Robin’s departure proved even less fruitful, even with Beast Boy’s attempts at catching his scent that proved useless among the pungent sewage and Raven’s futile attempts to feel Robin's presence.

To bypass the sewer water issue Batman had earlier asked Wonder Girl to call Aqualad to help their search. The girl had winced, probably at the prospect of assigning her friend such an unpleasant task, but she readily agreed.

Along with Aqualad, Roy Harper--Speedy--arrived some hours into the search, stared up at Batman in his red and yellow archer’s costume and demanded, rather than offered, to help with the investigation.

Batman shot a frustrated look at Wonder Girl, who was clearly biting back a grin. She raised her hands defensively. “I promise I didn’t call him!”

“Yeah, about that,” Speedy cut in. “How come I had to hear about this get-together from Wally, huh? Since when did I become the team member to get snubbed for invitations?”

Batman bit back a sigh. “Green Arrow--”

“Hey, Ollie doesn’t get a say in Titans business, okay? He--hey, Wonderdoll wait up!” He broke off running after Wonder Girl down the tunnel.

The dark tunnels devoured precious hours, again cutting him off from outside communication, but there was still so much ground to cover. He had been all too happy to evade any attempted contact from the League, but guilt over leaving Alfred completely in the dark about his activities since leaving the cave that morning finally drove him to return briefly to the surface.

He crawled out of the manhole and slipped into a nearby alley before activating his comm. “Alfred. I--”

“Oh, thank God, Sir. I have been trying to contact you for the past hour, and--your witnesses from the HIVE...they’ve been murdered.”

. . .

The five kills had been executed swiftly. Neatly. But despite what the circumstances could have led him to believe, poison had never been part of Deathstroke’s repertoire.

The last surviving witness, the torture victim, had evidently been saved for last. He was still breathing when Batman again broke into his hospital room with disconcerting ease despite the increased security. The man was still unconscious, but twitching slightly, with thick, beading sweat dripping from his forehead into his hair.

Batman pressed a gloved hand over the man’s mouth. He jerked awake. Two wide, bloodshot eyes locked on him and the man writhed and fought uselessly to scream through the hand.

“Less than two hours ago your allies were assassinated by the HIVE,” Batman said, his voice low, but too guttural to be a whisper. The man’s pathetic struggles only worsened. “Answer a few questions and I will ensure that you don’t--”

The man’s eyes rolled back in his head. The writhing evolved into convulsions, and Batman became suddenly aware that the man’s skin under his gloves was unnaturally hot. Suddenly that made horrifying sense.

He whipped out a batarang and sliced through the catheter connecting the bag of fluids to the man’s arm. How long had it been feeding the poison into his system? The machine beside the bed was already beeping an automatic alarm.

Help would come too late.

“Did you see Robin?” he demanded, releasing the man to moan freely. “The boy with Deathstroke!”

The man’s rolling eyes briefly flickered over his, confused and probably delirious. “...R...Renegade?” he gasped.

. . .

Until the cave analysis of the poison sample was complete, all he had was a suspicion. One that he could confirm through another, more readily available means.

He hacked into hospital security footage to search through the hours prior to his own entrance, and there at last he found the assassin: a dark haired nurse, glancing both ways as she entered the room.

She pulled a long syringe out of her pocket, and as she injected it into the bag of fluids, Batman could just make out her nails--long, sharp, and painted green. With the job finished so easily, she turned to leave the room. The lower half of her face was covered by a hospital mask, but her cat-like eyes flickered up toward the camera, and he recognized the assassin's distinctive matching emerald: Cheshire.

Batman had vanished by the time the medics poured into the room, but carefully out of sight, he had watched.

The man had died within minutes.

And still, Batman had a new, wrong name that chanted through his mind until it lost meaning in the din.

#it's been a long month but #new chapter!#teen titans #the apprentice #bruce wayne #dick grayson #slade wilson #clark kent #batman #batfam #too many characters to tag #diana prince #koriand'r #victor stone #raven #gar logan #my writing #bad company #bad company ch 5

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wickednerdery · 4 years

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Title: Hoarfrost Hel: Abated Author: @wickednerdery Fandom: Marvel Pairing/character: Jotun!OC, Mer!OC, Elf!OCs Rating: Explicit Summary: “Take me to him.” Notes: This is the second part of what’s shaping up to be a legit trilogy (the first is FrostBitten) - the master list is here. The story on whole is gonna be very dark, this piece - which occurs a few days after the last Ulfr one - has significant graphic violence and so much angst. For consistency and length, it gets a “Read More”.

The pain is numbing, slips Grim in and out of consciousness, as Lady Carfindel’s men carry him off. It’s no matter, there’s no option to scream, to fight, and, as blood leaks from around tattered gills, the option of survival drains from him too. He can only cringe when dropped like a sack for the men to open the large vat of salt. While traditionally meant to cure meat and fish, whatever the kitchens might need, this one’s been marked for other uses long ago. The out and inside clawed from attempts at escape, the bottom blackened with blood, from past guests.

“It reeks!” Tir complains as they dig enough to make room for the slave.

Beria chuckles. “Yeah, well, some of them die and, if forgotten long enough...” He shrugs before joining the other to lift and toss Grim in.

The salt fires up his wounds, grates scaled flesh, as it goes red-to-black with his blood. If Grim could roar in the pain of it, he would, yet his throat is all but gone. Gills work to close, mouth gapes open in desperation, but he chokes either way. Flakes pull moisture from within, turning him all the more into the sea creature he is at his core. Tears flow, get sucked up, as the two men work to coat him and place the cover back on. Grim watches as the light leaves, the hope fades, and the darkness comes.

Once tasked with finding the Oarnér slave, Grim, by the princess, Maethril makes it her priority. Not because she finds it especially important, but because she herself suspects the slave has information vital to the crown. Close to the man who claims to be Prince Draugluin, now hidden away by Lady Carfindel, he surely knows something. Finding him may lead her to uncovering many secrets.

It takes her moons to discover his location, but when she does she rushes to inform the princess and gather reinforcements. While certainly capable of getting a slave out of the salt bath, she does not trust the Red Lady not to have it guarded. Even bewitched.

“Your Highness! Princess Rainaiel!” Maethril calls out as she rushes towards the caves the young woman finds solace in. “Your Highness!”

“Yes?” Ulfr turns from the overlook, assuming the call is for him.

The royal guard stops short in his sight; her heart begins to race all the more as his gaze goes from curious to understanding.

“You found Grim.” Time slows, his heart holding with his breath. “Where? Where is he?”

She looks down. For the first time since her early days of battle she’s speechless, indecisive, too wary to make a move. Any move.

Ulfr’s breath returns in a shudder, his heart rushing ahead with his mind. “Where?!” Water fills his eyes, he shakes without control as rage and terror build in equal measure.

“In a salt bath past the kitchens, by the storage house.”

A place Ulfr passed many times looking for Grim; the knowledge makes his stomach churn with acid. “Take me to him.”

“Your Highness -”

“NOW!!”

Fingers fuse first, the webbing of his kind returning, then his toes. His feet...ankles...legs....the longer he stays, the more he dries out, the more fish-like he becomes. Normally, this is not painful, it is something he can do at will, but this is not normal. This is torture. A slow drying out that cracks skin, shrivels scales. Fangs long ago unused grow out as gums recede and lips puff and curl. Skin and scales split and bleed into salt that dries him out all the more. A vicious cycle that slowly drains his life and will to have it...

The vat is not guarded, but both can see its enchantment. Sealed in blue-green light Maethril halts in place, in recognition, as she extends arm to stop the prince. Her attempt goes unnoticed as Ulfr rushes past her. He knows the magic, knows he can handle it...knows it wouldn’t matter if he couldn’t. Grim’s in there.

“Your highness, no, it is freezing!” So cold it will surely burn any elf hand that dare touch it. He ignores, grabs and tosses the lid. She gasps as his hands turn azure, white-lined, before his illusion slips back into place. He is not the prince, he’s not even Ljósálfar! Yet the urge to put this mysterious, deceptive, beast down, the one she’s had since first suspecting him, only dampens...

The light burns Grim’s eyes even through lids, he shudders. His voice is gone, breathing barely there. What little water left in him leaks from the corners of his eyes as he’s lifted from crimson flakes.

Ulfr lowers with care, wincing on his lover’s behalf as the ground proves unforgiving, uncomforting. “Gr-Grim?” He looks down at the being that bears so little resemblance to the man he knows, loves. As badly as he wants to touch, to reassure, he doesn’t dare for fear of hurting.

As Maethril watches she’s at a loss for words. She’s seen death, seen cruelty, but this is something new. New and terrifying. The slave is not simply undone, he’s changed in a way that reminds her of the blackest magics. She knows why the urge to take the imposter down isn’t coming - whoever, whatever, he is, he loves just as any of them. He is in pain, he is scared, and he is in love...more than the prince ever was.

Even the drip of Ulfr’s tears on his flesh causes such pains that Grim’s breath stops. “We...We need to get him out of here.” Ulfr wipes his face quickly, both to prevent tears from falling as to hide them. He can be seen to care, perhaps, but not too much. Not in front of the guard already so suspicious of him. “Get him...help.”

“H-How? ...Where?”

“Do not ask me, just help me!!” The Jotun roars at the she-elf before taking a deep breath in. His jaw flickers in tension, the tears coming once again. “Please...” His voice softens to a plea. “Help.”

Maethril opens mouth, but has no answer. No solution. If they move the Oarnér they may kill him, but they surely cannot leave the man here either. She raises a hand in hopes of staving off more orders while she thinks. The black burns of the slave’s throat, the creature he’s become, it’s like black magic... “I...I may know someone who can, but...”

Stomach tightens in fear. “But?”

“She’s deep in the woods. I’ll have to find her, convince her.”

“Order her, tell her I order her.”

“She’s not one of your people, our people.”

“Tell her she may have whatever she wishes, if she heals him.”

“Your Highness, that is-” Not a risk to take with one such as this witch.

“GO!!” He doesn’t care, whatever warning she has for him doesn’t matter right now. The only thing that does is Grim. That Grim is alive, that he can be healed. The woman bows, heads off, and Ulfr moves to lay on the ground beside the other. He lets his façade fade, goes Jotun and freezes the ground beneath them...Grim always says too cold is better than too hot and, as the ice melts, it turns to the water that’s he so desperately needs.

Rassëiel smells the she-elf the moment she steps beyond the boundaries of the kingdom and into her woods. “You are not welcome here, Ljósálfar.”

“I come with a message from...” Who? An icy imposter? “Prince Draugluin.”

“My answer will be your death.” The dragon-witch is not blood-thirsty, but protective. Her freedom, her land, her happiness was hard-fought and she’s no intention of going back - the best way to assure that is to deal with all elf trespassers brutally. Still, she is curious, so waits...

“He requests, begs, your help, my lady.”

“With what?” She spits back, knowing the type of help requested by the last like him.

“His love.”

The woman laughs. “I’ve no interest in helping the Red Lady, she’s worse than he.”

“No, not her. A fossegrim slave.” Maethril takes another step, hands up to show she’s no wish to battle. “You gained your freedom, would you deny another dark creature his?”

“You are not allowed to die, do you understand me?” Ulfr mutters, freezing and refreezing the ground as the Alfheim sun continues to melt it as quickly. “If you die, I’ll kill myself.” After all, what was a fugitive Frost Giant to do when, again, the one good thing in his life leaves.

Grim hears, but cannot respond save to keep breathing what little breath he can find the strength to take.

Not gonna lie, writing this was a wild ride from beginning to end for me, haha! Now I’m hoping that that’s a good thing and translated into a great (and wild!) piece for you guys as well. There’s still more to come - not in the least because we’ve got a new player on the board, haha! - but I’ve a pretty good idea of what. Also, no, Ulfr doesn’t realize he’s given himself away to Maethril. AND the concept of a dragon lady actually came from a character @chibiyanai thought of first and I hope she doesn’t get cross at me for using the genius idea, lol!

Gifs found on Google, combined by me

Word Glossary (in order of usage):

Carfindel - Red-Haired (Sindarin) Oarnér - Oar - Child of the Sea (Qenya); nér - Male (Qenya) Draugluin - Blue (Were)wolf (Sindarin) Beria - To protect (Sindarin), used as name here Tir - Guard (Sindarin), used as name here Ljósálfar - Norse Light Elves Rainaiel - Sweet-faced princess (Sindarin) Maethril - [Female] Warrior (Sindarin) Alfheim - Home of the Norse Light Elves Rassëiel - [Female] Horn (Quenya

Tagged: @chibiyanai @lady-crowned-with-stars @moonfaery @annievvv7 @ladyfluff @holykryptonitekitten @lokilvrr @janebrownnie @lokis-little-kitten @alexakeyloveloki @theangelsfightwithdevils @the-blue-tiefling @lokis-lady-death @dangertoozmanykids101 @prometheasmother @vethrvolnir @wintertink @amethyst-dreams-and-candy-canes @drakonwild @starscreamloki @judas-nipples @hiddles-rose @the-lady-witchitery @galaxies-inside-my-head @jackheart180 @lukeevansandjdmobession @endlessstairway @lanabanana-86 @tom-fucking-hiddleston-1981 @lovekrystina @madoka73 @lokikingofasgardslover713 @partiallyinthecloset @ultrarebelheart @gravitational-anomaly @manip-loki @sweetfictionalworld @lowcarbgem @tarithenurse @boredbrooder @beccaliciooouuusss @michellearel1

If you want on or off, or your screenname’s change from what’s listed, just lemme know! (Strike-throughs are those Tumblr refuses to tag properly)

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thedevourers · 5 years

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THE DEVOURERS - a reader’s choice web novel

The Devourers is a web novel led by you, the readers. Every Thursday I will post a chapter and at the end I’ll give you a choice. The choice with the highest votes wins, and dictates how the story moves forward. What kind of story is it? It has a little bit of eldritch horror meets dark academia meets magic school with a bit of tragic romance thrown in for flavor.

VOTE HERE OR ON PATREON (you get an extra vote if you vote both places!) but PLEASE VOTE. It only works if people vote! Voting closes on SUNDAY AT MIDNIGHT.

FROM DARKNESS WE RISE.

For nearly one thousand years the Commonwealth has stood as a bastion of light in the midst of great darkness. Beyond the edges of the map lie tempestuous seas boiling with unimaginable horrors, vast reaches of ash-covered lands lost to wars whose ghosts still linger in the shadows, forests so twisted with dark magic that none dare approach for fear of going mad. Within its borders, however, those who call the Commonwealth home do so with pride, for they are the last of this broken world to stand defiant, to weather the chaos and destruction which has long since wiped out all other civilizations.

Led by a council of powerful mages known as Brightspires, the Commonwealth upholds justice and civility and derives its success from the values it was founded upon; Enlightenment, Civility, Truth, Equality, and Beauty. These virtues are exemplified in the capital city of Aurilaco, a crowning achievement of architecture and arcana, a city of marvels and delights, of knowledge and history, of democratic values and the opportunity for a better life. Even those who live on the edges of the Commonwealth know its promise—Des Tenretuic Ne Vonsdi. From Darkness We Rise.

All who live within the capital know of the mages’ might, those higher beings whose minds shape reality and protect those who look up toward the floating tower of Cheredeme. The Cincelion Council rules with a gentle hand, and it is they who lead the armies at the edge of the world, they who craft benevolent laws so that all citizens of the Commonwealth live in peace. Some believe them to be gods while others simply thank them for their apparent goodwill and generosity. No one would dare question them, not in public, at least, for rumors that some have the ability to read minds have made all thought of defiance obsolete. They are eternal and detached, unreachable and perfect, like the floating Spire atop the clouds they live in.

They have not always been so, however. The Commonwealth was founded by five mages, but over the years others have been chosen to rise from the masses, to ascend to the heavens and take their place amongst the Brightspires. No one knows how and why these few individuals were uplifted, but the idea that anyone might one day become a Brightspire and serve under the council is a tempting dream. But the Spire has not been opened to anyone for nearly three hundred years. Whispers fly that something is wrong, that Brightspires have been seen more often of late, traveling the Commonwealth and mingling amongst the people. A sight which would have once been nearly unthinkable, extraordinary for its rarity, is now a cause for worry. Because stories enter the capital every day from the edges of the world—stories of monsters boiling up from the southern seas and hordes of undead massing at the northern warfront, of hysteria and madness in the fledgling provinces beneath the vast forest to the west. Of nightmares made flesh seeping out into the very center of the Commonwealth itself.

Annihilation blows through the winds that come down from the Spire of Cheredeme, winds of change and circumstance. Something lurks beneath the streets of Aurilaco, the Jewel of the Commonwealth--creeps into the dreams of those sleepers who stray too far from the lights of their protectors, awakens old enemies and unravels old secrets which were never meant to be shared.

A new generation of mages is set to rise from the growing chaos.

Five unremarkable people from across the realm. Five destinies intertwined and bound together. Five young souls who will decide once and for all if the Commonwealth lives on in light, or is devoured by darkness.

Who you are, how you rule--is your choice.

CHOOSE YOUR PAST.

Are you a criminal, born on the streets of the capital with dirty hands and a dirtier mouth, the best thief in the whole bloody Commonwealth, hungry to make something of yourself and ready to cut down anyone who gets in your way?

Are you a loyal soldier of the Commonwealth’s army, fighting on the front lines of a war that grows more twisted every day, fighting for the good of every citizen who lives far from the horrors you face?

Are you a sailor of the southern ice flows, a wanderer working whaling boats and ice miners at the edge of the world with nothing but the clothes on your back and the drive to find somewhere you belong, even with one eye always on the horizon?

Are you a conman, a charlatan, a rogue and a rake with a honeyed tongue and a smile that could melt even the coldest heart, a careful ruse you’ve built for yourself after years of loss and heartbreak, that lovely exterior nothing more than a pretty mask?

Are you a member of that highest class of citizen, a noble with a long line of ancestors that stretches back to the earliest days of the Commonwealth, determined to ensure the family legacy will continue long after you’ve made your mark on the world?

CHOOSE WHAT HAUNTS YOU.

When you were a child you had a nightmare which plagues you to this day.

The deep. You are fighting against dark waters, heavy clothes dragging you under the waves again and again with only a glimpse of the sky above you—yellow clouds churning with wind. Far off in the distance you think you see a house standing on a tall cliff of white stone, where someone watches as you drown.

The other. You are held tight in the arms of someone you love. It begins as a warm embrace until it slowly grows choking, an arm around your shoulders and your waist, another crushing you to their chest, and you realize that something else holds you. A voice in your ear sounds like the dying of souls, and you go mad with it.

The endless. You find a box in a darkened room. Light shines through the groove in the wood and you approach, heart pounding. Inside you hear every secret hope you whispered to the night when you thought no one was listening. The latch flicks open. The room is swarmed with winged terrors who want nothing more than to feast on your dreams.

The futility. You wait at the edge of a vast field of swaying purple grass. From utter silence a massive shape rises before you. It is a woman, taller than mountains, fiercer than a tempest. Tears roll down your face as she looks down at you, indifference in her gaze. You are nothing. You are small. And you will be consumed by the end of eternity just like everyone else.

The violence. You stand in a quiet forest. The trees sway around you, whispering a language you no longer remember. At your feet lies a child. At first, you think they are sleeping, but then you feel the warm steel in your hand, see the black ichor leaking from their eyes. They are dead and you hold the dagger. The whispers name you murderer.

CHOOSE WHAT DRIVES YOU.

Freedom. You want to live on your own terms, to forge your own path, to cut ties and fly as far and as fast as you can.

Power. You want to shape the world, to choose where the threads of history intertwine and weave it for yourself.

Adoration. You want love and devotion, to walk into a room knowing all eyes follow you, to be the light others turn themselves toward.

Knowledge. You want nothing less than to uncover the secrets of the world, to delve deep into the annals of time and consume all you can.

Vengeance. You want blood, you crave it, the reminder of loss a knife in your heart that you feel every time you draw breath.

So for this first post as we’re still figuring out logistics, I’d like people to vote by replying with the bolded word for each of your choices (total of 3). Voting will end on Sunday at midnight.

You can vote by replying to this post and going to my Patreon (if you do both you get two votes ooooo) so go nuts <3

#I have no idea how to tag this #web novel #choose your own story #authors on tumblr #writers on tumblr #dark fantasy #cosmic horror #romance

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spookyrobbins · 4 years

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what have we done (can i be undone?)

pairing: bellatrix x hermione

description:

in the midst of the hogwarts repairs, hermione granger comes across the absolute last person she expected to see.

bellatrix black wakes up to hogwarts in ruin and the year is certainly not 1968.

chapter six.

plenty more tears in the sea

links: ao3 || ffn

“Why do you think she keeps passing out?” Hermione asked as Hagrid laid the prone body of Bellatrix Black down in the hospital wing. “I mean, this is the second time.”

“Gentle, Hagrid,” scolded McGonagall when Hagrid almost knocked Bellatrix’s head into the bed frame. Hagrid grunted in response. “I’m afraid Miss Black’s condition is beyond my magical expertise. I have called in Poppy. I doubt Poppy would recognize Bellatrix in her current state and even so,” she cleared her throat, “I trust that Poppy would keep this to herself.” She fixed Hagrid with an even state. “The pandemonium that would ensue if her existence got out would be beyond anything we could contain.”

Hagrid swallowed audibly and nodded. “Er, I best be gettin’ back to the forest. Lots to do.” Hagrid ran a hand through his beard, glancing between Hermione and the professor nervously. “I’ll be seein’ ya around.” He nodded again before making his way out of the hospital wing.

“When will Madame Pompfrey be arriving?” Hermione brushed her fingertips over Bellatrix’s wrist, marveling at how delicate and breakable she seemed, like a porcelain doll.

McGonagall pursed her lips. “Hopefully before the Minister arrives.”

Hermione’s mouth fell open. “You called the Minister? What are you planning on telling him?”

“I don’t know, Miss Granger,” sighed McGonagall, pinching at the bridge of her nose. “But the longer we wait, the worse it may be for Miss Black.” Hermione’s response was stalled by the flurried arrival of Poppy Pomfrey, fresh off a shift at St. Mungo’s.

“Minerva, what is so urgent?” She stopped in front of Bellatrix. “Who is this? A student?”

“Of sorts, it’s very complicated and I would be happy to appraise you of the situation after you have uncovered what is wrong.”

Pomfrey furrowed her brow, but aquiested, turning back to Bellatrix.

Hermione watched with fascination as the medi-witch performed a series of diagnostic tests over Bellatrix. Most of the time, Herrmione was on the receiving end of such tests and as such, had no opportunity to study the techniques.

Pomfrey, after some long minutes of testing, looked up and motioned for Hermione. “Miss Granger, I need to examine the patient’s ribcage and chest.” Hermione gingerly lifted the patterned sweater she had lent Bellatrix, far too amused by the other witch’s moaning about wearing ugly muggle clothes. A gasp fell involuntarily from her mouth.

The black bruise that Hermione had attempted to treat the previous day had spread even further up towards her chest. The magic radiating off of Bellatrix was so dark it made Hermione’s skin crawl.

“Sweet mother of Morgana. It is as I suspected. Dark magic, very dark magic indeed has taken ahold of this girl.”

“What can be done, Poppy?”

Pomfrey shook her head, looking up to McGongall. “I can make her comfortable for now, but it will come down to her own strength. Both physically and that of her magical core. This is dark magic unlike any I’ve ever seen. It feels ancient, untouchable. I have a colleague at St. Mungo’s who specialises in the effect of dark curses, I think I will consult with her. For now, I can make the girl comfortable until she wakes, which may be any moment or may not be for a while. I’m sorry, there is little I can do.” Pomfrey looked down sadly at Bellatrix. “What is her name?”

“Bella,” said Hermione quickly, briefly squeezing Bellatrix’s fingers.

“I’ll be back shortly. I’m going to send a message to my colleague.”

Hermione found herself fully engrossed by the young woman asleep before her. Her dark lashes brushed against pale cheeks with a faint smattering of freckles. Hermione wanted to reach out and touch and feel how soft Bellatrix’s skin would be.

“Minerva, Miss Granger, is everything alright…?” Kingsley’s appearance thankfully broke Hermione out of her creepy trance as she snapped her attention to the new Minister of Magic. The man’s gaze fixed on Bellatrix in the bed. “Who is this?” In a few short steps, Kingsley covered the length of the hospital wing. He stared at Bellatrix for a few long moments, trying to place her. “Minerva?”

“That is Bellatrix Black.”

“Black? Not Lestrange?”

“Miss Black appeared not two days ago, plucked out of 1968. She has no memory of her life after the 9th of May, 1968, which was the last month of her final year at Hogwarts. She has no memory of marrying Rodolphus Lestrange, or becoming a Death Eater, or Azkaban,” McGonagall explained in a cool tone.

Hermione braced herself for the inevitable explosion that would come upon the revelation of their hiding of one of the most dangerous witches in Britain.

But it never came.

“Time turner accident then?”

“No,” Minerva explained the circumstances of Bellatrix’s arrival, of her reincarnation.

Kingsley sank down onto one of the nearby beds, his head falling into his hands. “Minerva, Merlin, what do you expect me to do? It’s not as if she was insignificant between 1968 and 1998. I would say after Voldemort, her death would be the one most would celebrate. What do you expect me to do about this?”

“That is why I have asked you to come.”

Kingsley swept a hand towards Bellatrix. “Did you stupefy her or something? Why is she asleep?”

“She’s been having fainting spells. According to Poppy, it is the result of ancient magic.” Hermione quirked an eyebrow at McGonagall’s omission of Pomfrey’s assessment of dark magic. If even the faintest hint of dark magic was sensed around Bellatrix, the Ministry would happily obliterate her.

Neither of the adults in the room spoke for a long while until Kingsley said, “You’ve put me in a terrible position, Minerva.”

“I understand, Kingsley,” began McGonagall, her steady voice betrayed by the way her eyes darted towards Bellatrix’s prone figure. “Perhaps for now, it would be for the best if Miss Black remained here in secret. A leak to the public would only cause panic.”

“A panic is the last thing we need at the moment.” Kingsley removed his glasses, revealing dark circles. “Do you know what kind of ‘ancient magic’ has afflicted her? Have you spoken with Albus?”

McGonagall shook her head. “I have consulted with Albus, which is how we determined that this was Miss Black. It’s still unclear exactly how she ended up here. Poppy is reaching out to a colleague of hers who specializes in dark and ancient magic at St. Mungo’s. Hopefully we will know more with their help.”

The small part of Hermione’s mind that was solely focused on academic work couldn’t help but be thrilled by the potential of meeting an advanced healer. It was an area of research that Hermione had been intimately concerned with practically from the moment she met Harry Potter, but resources on the subject were few and far between. To have the opportunity to not only meet, but also observe a treatment would be amazing.

The rest of her was highly concerned with the impending trouble of what Kingsley might do upon Bellatrix’s waking.

(And she was certainly not thinking about the fact that she was still holding Bellatrix’s hand.)

For what felt like the millionth time in the past few days, Bella was woken by the sensation of not being able to breathe. She clawed at her throat, her eyes still heavy from the darkness.

The entirety of the time she was in darkness, it was as if she was falling. There were flashes. Flashes of faces that she didn’t recognize. Screams that felt as if they might tear at her skin. So much of it she didn’t recognize, except for one thing. Except for the crackling red light that had filled her nightmares longer than anything else. But it wasn’t the usual voice casting the curse. It almost sounded as if were her voice.

“Bellatrix, you have to stop. You’re hurting yourself!” Someone finally managed to tear her hands away from her throat, half their body covering hers. “Bella!”

Bella’s eyes flew open.

Barely a wands-breadth away from her face was a pair of warm brown eyes, wide and terrified and again, so familiar.

“Granger?” The other girl shifted slightly away from her, her fingers still tight around Bella’s wrist. “Granger,” she sighed with relief as she focused on the weight over her, letting it ground her. “Why’re you always staring at me?”

Granger rolled off of Bella, dropping her wrists as if Bella’s skin burned her. “You were trying to claw your own skin off.” Wordlessly, she summoned a mirror from the other side of the ward.

Bella almost wished that this was the worst she had ever looked, bright red scars crisscrossing over her neck, but tragically, like most things in her life, it wasn’t. “Oh….” She traced a finger gingerly over the deepest mark where a thin bloody line had emerged. “What happened?”

“You passed out again. Did you, you know, see anything maybe? The nurse thinks your fainting spells are linked to the black mark on your side.” Granger gestured to Bella’s damaged ribs.

Bella blinked slowly, the edges of her vision still foggy. “I, hm, maybe. I’m not sure. Have you ever gone in a Pensieve?” Granger shook her head. “It was almost like that, but as if you were falling through it, rather than actually viewing a memory.”

“What did you see?”

Bella scrubbed a hand over her face roughly. “I-I-I don’t quite know. It was only flashes of things. Like faces I don’t recognize, but they seem familiar. And so, so much screaming.” Bella shuddered violently as a wave of cold crashed through her. To her surprise, Granger gingerly rubbed her arm as if to comfort her. “It was terrifying.”

“I’m sure, Le-Bellatrix. I can’t imagine it. How horrifying everything…” But Granger caught herself before she said anything further on the screams. Bella was so sick of the secrets, but Granger spoke before she could press the issue, “So you saw faces and heard screams? Could you make out any words?” Bella turned away from Granger, one word, in particular, echoing in her mind. “Bella, please.” The soft sound of her name, spoken in such gentle, caring way, caused her to turn back to Granger. “What did you hear? Anything could help you at this point.”

“Not this word.”

“Just tell me. It can’t be that bad.”

Bella let out a high pitched laugh, her voice cracking on it. She purposefully chose to ignore the flinch that crossed Granger’s face. “Crucio.” At this, Granger all but lept away from her. Her skin went an ashy shade as her eyes widened in what Bella knew must be fear.

Almost imperceptively, if not for the deathly silence of the hospital wing, Granger’s breath picked up. “Th-th-the Cruciatus curse?”

“Yes,” Bella said shortly. “Only, it, it was the wrong voice.”

“The wrong voice?”

Bella nodded. “It was my voice. Or I think it was. And there was so much light.”

Even more blood drained from Granger’s face as the girl moved towards the door, her hands trembling slightly. “I-I need to go speak to Professor McGonagall. There’s a healer coming from St. Mungo’s to check you and they’ll be coming through the Floo in her office so I’m sure we’ll be back soon. There’s, uh, feel free to read my book. I think you’d enjoy it.” Without another glance towards Bella, Granger took off like a fox fleeing a hound.

Bella ignored the foreign ache in her ribcage as she pulled up the borrowed sweater to examine the bruise. A small gasp escaped her lips. It no longer looked like a bad Quidditch hit. No, now it stretched across her torso, as if reaching towards her heart.

“What the actual Hades…?”

Shaking her head a bit, she figured there was no point messing with it while she waited for the healer.

“Gone With the Wind, oh great, I’m sure this will be the pinnacle of Muggle brilliance,” she scoffed, but opened the first page anyway.

Hermione all but burst into the Headmistress’s office, her heart still pounding in her chest like a rabbit’s.

“Hermione, is everything alright?” McGonagall was at her feet in an instant, moving quickly past Kingsley to catch Hermione’s arm before she stumbled over the stones.

Hermione sucked in sharply. “I’m sorry, sorry for intruding like this, Professor, Minister.”

Kingsley waved her apology away. “There is no need for such formality, Hermione.”

Hermione nodded sharply, slightly shifting her weight away from McGonagall. “Uh, she’s awake.”

“Thank you for telling us so promptly, but you could’ve sent a Patronus or an elf.” McGonagall was still appraising her carefully as if searching for some hidden wound. “Are you sure you’re quite alright?”

Hermione’s hands twisted into the sleeves of her sweater, tugging at any loose string she could find. “I asked her if she could recall anything. She said there were faces she didn’t recognize and screaming. Lots of screaming.”

“Azkaban,” declared Kingsley, his voice low and solemn. “Within weeks, all the inmates can think to do is scream. It is truly a breeding ground for madness.”

Hermione’s expression pinched and a brief tangent on prison reform floated to the forefront of her mind, but she pushed on. “She also said she could hear one word through all the screaming. Crucio. But, but she said that it was the ‘wrong voice’, that it was her voice. Do you think she could be remembering her life?”

McGonagall shoved a bit of chocolate into Hermione’s hand. Where she got it from, Hermione had no clue, but nibbled at it nonetheless.

“From what Minerva has told me, the Bellatrix who is currently in the hospital wing exists slightly outside of our reality as she is physically and mentally Bellatrix Black, but she exists after Bellatrix Lestrange’s death. Have you heard of the Muggle theory of past life regression or remembrance?”

Hermione scoffed, “The sort of thing you’d see on late-night telly?”

Kingsley chuckled, “Precisely. Perhaps Miss Black is experiencing only brief moments or images from her later life rather than remembering its entirety.”

“I suppose that’s possible. But it doesn’t explain why she keeps fainting.” Hermione conceded after finishing off her bit of chocolate. “The fainting and the flashes seem to be directly linked to the magic on her body.”

“And her emotions, but I suppose Miss Black has always had a close relationship between her emotions and her magic,” McGonagall inserted, an almost wistful look on her lined face.

“Is that,” Hermione began, but paused until McGonagall motioned for her to continue, “Is that why she went so mad and her magic became so corrupted?”

“Perhaps. As Kingsley said, Azkaban breeds madness and Bellatrix, with her family history, would be at special risk for madness. The emotional connection with her magic would only worsen it. It is part of what makes her such a dangerous dueller, that she taps into instinct and emotion, rather than intellect as she fights. Rather like Mr. Potter, I’d say.”

Kingsley hummed in acknowledgment, his gaze lingering on Snape’s portrait, which was conspicuously empty. “We still have the issue of what to do with her. Obviously we can’t reveal her to the public, but sooner or later people will recognize her.”

“She does have a rather recognizable face,” Hermione said as images of bright eyes and wild hair flashed before her.

“And most of the wizarding population has become intimately acquainted with it,” Kingsley continued, “Even if she is thirty some years younger and without the impact of Azkaban, I think many would make the connection.”

“For now, I suggest she remains at Hogwarts. There will be few visitors at the castle for nearly four months, giving us further time to come up with a plan. Perhaps, if you would be amenable to it, Minister, you could send an Unspeakable to run further tests on Miss Black. If there’s a chance she can be returned to her time, I think that would be in everyone’s best interest.”

As the two adults discussed the logistics of an Unspeakable at Hogwarts, Hermione couldn’t help the strange twinge in her chest at the idea of Bellatrix leaving. On the one hand, she was terrifying and her potential for violence and terror cast fear into Hermione’s heart. But on the other, all Hermione could see was a brilliant girl who had her potential snuffed out at seventeen.

Even as she ruminated on Bellatrix’s potential innocence as she was now, that prickle of fear when Bellatrix had said Crucio reappeared. There was no denying the deep wounds Lestrange had imprinted upon Hermione both physically and mentally and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be free of them. Everyone carrying scars from the war, but few were as emotionally taxing as the one carved into Hermione’s arm.

To put it frankly, Hermione wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to separate the bright-eyed Bella from the manic Bellatrix.

Bella was curled up on one of the beds in the hospital wing, waiting for the medi-witch to arrive.

The magic along her torso felt like it was slowly eating away at her, corrupting her.

Whoever this witch was, she hoped they could at least tell her what was happening.

She had just been introduced to Rhett Butler and found him to be a rather infuriating character when the fireplace in front of her bloomed green flames.

A witch emerged, shaking soot from her hair.

The witch’s face was so familiar, just older than when Bella had last seen her.

“Andy?” Bella’s voice cracked on her sister’s name. Everything in this time was so strange and unfamiliar to her: the broken castle, Headmistress McGonagall, screeching elves, the lot of it. So to see her most beloved sister’s face was a balm unlike any other. “Andy, it’s really you!”

She launched at Andromeda, her book long forgotten. She wrapped her arms around her sister’s neck, burying her face there. Andromeda still wore the same perfume, even after all these years. It was as close to the smell of home as Bella ever would get. The soft notes of gardenia never ceased to settle Bella from even her most dangerous states.

But it was gone too soon as Andromeda pushed her away, her eyes wide and wild.

“Bellatrix!” Andromeda had never said her name with so much, with so much hatred. “Get away from me, you, you monster!”

“Andy?” Bella’s lip trembled as she stared at her sister. “Andy, please…”

“Stay back.”

But Bella had never been very good at listening to directions and took a step towards her sister. “Andy, it’s me, it’s Bella.” Bella stumbled back as Andromeda punched her, her wedding ring slicing across Bella’s left cheek.

“Oh god,” Andromeda gasped, taking a step towards Bella, but Bella stumbled back, trying to fight the fog threatening to overtake her mind.

Bella didn’t linger to hear what Andromeda had to say. She just took off running. She wasn’t even aware of where her feet took her until she collapsed at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Her chest ached painfully as if her heart was trying to escape her ribcage.

Something dropped onto her hand, shocking her slightly. She glanced down to find a dark droplet of blood on her pale skin. The moonlight made it almost luminescent. She brushed her fingers along her cheek as blood spilled from the cut along her cheek.

It was too much. Too much. That Andy, her Andy would raise a hand to her.

After everything Bella went through to protect her.

Of course, Bella would do anything to protect both her sisters. But what she was doing and had done to save Andy.

Did this mean she failed?

It must be. She must have failed to protect her.

The voices of two little girls came softly to Bella as she curled into a corner of the Astronomy Tower.

“Andy, can you hold Cissy for a while? You havta keep her sleeping.”

“Of course, Bella. Cissy loves me holding her.”

“You hold Cissy and stay quiet while I go down stairs and talk to Father.”

“Where’s Mother?”

“In the bottle, I’m sure. Don’t you worry, little bird, I’ll always keep you safe.”

“I’ll always keep you safe. I’ll always keep you safe.” Bella kept repeating the words over and over to herself, rocking slightly as the cool night air cut through her sweater. “I’ll always keep you safe.”

#bellamione #bellatrix x hermione #hp fanfic #lmk if you want the rest of the chapter on here #cause i can post them #otherwise on the obvs links #**

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