#anyways I played Mario while she screamed in agony

[ibetittering]

Have to admit to y'all I'm actually an iPad kid and I just switched to my phone for these so they should look better 😔

(Part 20)

[rhmg-au]

“’Ello- Oh-!”

As the cyborg stepped in, he was greeted by the worried stare of the doctor. He was mostly surprised to see the General being in the same room. He fully lets himself in and shuts the door.

“General sir!” Green gave a quick salute.

“Green.” Galeforce acknowledges. His voice was stern, but there was hints of concern. “Dr. V told me there was something wrong so I came here as fast as I could.”

“A-A-Ah-! I h-hope I wasn’t cutting off something i-important-!” Green apologized but then Dr. V intervened.

“Green, your stuttering is getting worse. Time is of essence. I will perform diagnostic on you so you go to other room, da?” She said, pointing at a door that leads to another part of the lab. “You wait there while I get ready, understood?”

“Y-Yes, doct-t-teerr-” Green walked off into the other room, occasionally shaking his head to brush off a jolt of pain. Once the door closed, his two “creators” were left alone.

“...Code Red Light, is it?”

Dr. V nodded and showed Galeforce the notes on her clipboard. “He’s responding negatively to certain phrases and sights, as I told before Green came in. What I worry most is the worst spike when he responded...or should I say, questioned the name....Right.”

The General clenched his fist, “He’s remembering.” He said coldly.

“That might be the case.” 

“I thought you said you’ve wiped off everything within his memories. There should be no way he could remember if done so.” Galeforce seemed mad at Dr. V, but she shrugged in response.

She adjusted her glasses before she continues, “It is true that I have wiped all memories, but with this incident, we gain insight of his deeper state of memory. Deeper than the surface memories, which was more or less completely wiped off.” She flipped her notes, revealing a diagram, looking like layers. “Green, despite passing prior tests, is still in constant development and in a sense, we’ve only scratched the surface. We are here and there are possibilities of deeper layers.”

Galeforce fiddled with his goatee while Dr. V explained the schemes, “Is it not possible to delete everything in one go? To the roots?”

Dr. V shook her head, “Breaching one’s memories isn’t easy sir. All we can do now is observe, test and react one step at a time. With the current issue, what we could do is block off specific things in his memory - like a blacklist in his database.” She flipped the notes back to first page. “Which include the memories of Reginald Copperbottom and reacting to Right.”

“Will this guarantee in fewer incidents like this?”

“It should be so.” She got some work gloves on. “After I rewire these blacklist commands, we still need to put him on another test to see if he complies to these commands. That should not be problem for you, da?”

The General pulled off a smirk as he pulled out a controller, “Not at all, doctor.”

“Well then.” The doctor grabbed her clipboard once again and walked to the door leading to the other room. “We must not waste any time. If he reverts we are done for.”

A quick nod and the two entered.

(TW for restraints, a distressed Green, mind control, memory wiping and hoo boy :])

Green whistled a little tune to keep him distracted from the constant buzzing in his cybernetics as he dangled his feet over the edge of the medical bed. He pondered on what Galeforce and Dr. V was discussing on the other side, hoping whatever his issue is isn’t too serious or anything. (Besides, he might miss game night with the gang!)

His little whistling was cut off when the two entered the room. He gave them a sincere smile as a welcome.

“Hello Green, sorry to keep you waiting, boy.” Galeforce tipped his hat in apology but Green shook his head.

“No worries sir! I didn’t wait for long anyways, so alls good!” Green said cheerfully, gaining a small chuckle from Galeforce. “So...m-my issue? Should I u-uh, lay down or something-?”

Dr. V shook her head and instead points to a chair. “I will run diagnostic on system first so you sit and I will link to computer.” Green gladly followed her instructions and insisted on connecting the cables and wires himself. He had went through many of these diagnostics he had the wires practically on memory. “Good, now stay still while I check.” She said as she sat by her computers and booting them all up.

Galeforce took a seat facing Green and again was greeted with his smile, “Green my boy, I heard you went on with the scheduled training without my permission, is that true?”

Green gawked and hung his head, “Th-That is t-t-t-true, General....Sorry, I probably wouldn’t end up l-like this if I didn’t....” 

“No no, what is happening is not your fault. Your systems are fairly new so there should be glitches that we missed. But not to worry, Dr. V here will fix you as good as new, okay?” A sweet reassuring smile. Galeforce then turns towards Dr. V, “Are the diagnostics up?” His hands gave out a particular signal, which the doctor nodded to.

“The primary system diagnostics are completed and there doesn’t seem to be anything out of the regular. I suggest we try a full database scanning in case problem resides there and run several tests.” Her fingers swiftly typed in commands after commands before eventually doing the database scan. A bright red was reflected from her glasses as she curled up a small smile, “There we go.”

Green tilted his head slightly before noticing the red reflection, “Oh no! Is it b-b-bad, doctor?”

“We found the culprit. Seems to be several files within you mem-...mm..optics files.” She corrected herself before any slip ups. “You said you seeing things and glitching, yes? Well, seems like there are some bad file readings in your optical codes and what nots.” Lie. Lie it off. “I can try to fix it, but I will need to run a few....gimmicks testing to make sure. Are you okay with that, Green?”

“Sure! Just like usual!”

“Good. Now....” She began typing again. She started with a good memory file to be played on Green’s visions. A memory of Charles. “Green, I want you to tell me what you see or think right now.”

Green blinked before focusing on the vision being played out, “Oh! It’s Charlie!! Yeah, this is when I beat him and the Twins in Mario Kart! Haha! Love that defeated look of his!” He blinked and the vision stopped, “Aw.”

Dr. V continues to play out several memory files to bait him, before signaling Galeforce to step in. The General nods and scoots his seat closer to Green.

“Everything good?”

“Yes sir~!” Green chirped as a memory of him cradling one of the soldier’s pet cat was being played out. “Funny fuzzy friend is on my visions now!”

And comes the trick question.

“That’s good. Anyways, I have a question for you, Right Hand Man.”

“Yes?”

Silence.

“Odd. I didn’t call your name, Green. You responded to the name Right.”

That’s when Green’s cybernetic eye starts to glitch once more....followed by a sudden distressed look on his human eye. “I-- W-Wait-- But I---” The stutters and glitches came back.

Galeforce’s assuring aura drops into a cold stare at the sight of the cyborg glitching. “Have you forgotten your own name...that you’re responding to another? The one we once told was wrong?”

“N-No sss-sir I-- That n-name sound-- ffff-amiliar-- I-”

There it is.

“Dr. V. Get to it. And while you’re at it, get rid of Copperbottom’s files as well.” Galeforce stood up from his seat and ordered.

“Wh--at-?”

“Yes sir.” She quickly entered termination codes and sent them to the two problematic memory files. The first to go was the name file as the progress window popped up. The termination was slow....and painful on Green’s behalf.

Green held his head and whimpered as the file was slowly deleted. Luckily, he did not struggle too much and before he knows it, the file was deleted off his database. 

But that was not the last. 

Once FILE:RIGHT.mem was deleted....it was FILE:RC.mem on the progress window. Reginald’s files.

That struck an immediate hard blow onto Green’s cybernetics as he screamed in agony, as if refusing for the files to be deleted. He struggled and tries to stand up before Galeforce grabs him and shoves him back to the seat and restraints locking him in place. The progress was painfully slow as the system seemed to be resisting the termination commands. Like a war playing out within Green’s mind. Tears flowed freely through his cheek with the overwhelming pain in his head.

“WHAT’S...W-W-W-WHAT”S HHHHAPPENINGGGGG--?!?!?” He tried to focus on Galeforce, who stood coldly in front of him. “GGGENERAL-- WH-WHAT’S HAPPENING T-TO ME--?! I-IT-- M-MY HEAD--!!” 

“There is nothing to fear, Green. Relax. We are merely fixing you.”

“B-BUT--! YOU---” His cybernetic eye flashed the dreadful red for a split second, but that was enough to make Galeforce put on his death glare. “YOU CAN’T DDDDDDDDDELETE---!!!”

“He is remembering. The system is trying to fight back the commands. The deleting progress is stuck on 34%.” Dr. V reported, trying to retain her calm demeanor despite Green now showing signs of reverting to Right. “What do we do now, General?”

“What else?” He looked at the doctor dead in the eye. “Add more commands. It’s about time we rewire him into the perfect weapon.”

On command, more aggressive codes were inputted and soon the progress bar increases - much to Green’s inconvenience. His struggles became more frantic with every percentage of deletion. But as the progress bar nears completion, he weakens in his struggles.

“P-Please--!”

78%

“I d-don’t-”

85%

“N-No--”

98% 

“I-” Green’s vision starts to blur out, as he could only make out the faint looks of The General and Dr. V standing in front of him. 

“Hush now Green.”

98%

“This is for your and our own good.”

98%

“N...” His visions starts to glitch out.

99%

“Sweet dreams, Green.”

100%

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> FILE:RIGHT.mem successfully deleted.

> FILE:RC.mem successfully deleted.

> COMMAND:Recalibrate Memory File Order

> COMMAND:Update System Commands

> COMMAND:Update Firewall

> COMMAND:Run System Diagnostic

> COMMAND:Run Full System Scan

> COMMAND:Reboot PRJ_GREEN.exe

> COMMAND:Update PROJECT GREEN Database

[ PROJECT GREEN DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED ]

[ Green is unavailable for asks until further notice ]

[ SIGNOUT:GALEFORCE ]

[ SIGNOUT:VINSCHPINSILSTIEN ]

[queercapwriting]

Lena’s First Game Night

Lena Luthor does not shy away from challenges.

She’s tackled hostile business men -- perhaps not literally (that’s her new girlfriend’s job), but effectively -- and she’s survived her mother (enough said).

But this? This overly-casual invite from Kara?

“You don’t have to, you know, I know how busy you are, but if you wanted to, I’d love you to get to know everyone, but you know, you don’t have to -- “

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kara, of course I’d love to spend more time with your friends.”

This sends her into a spiral that has her digging into her purse for her anti-anxiety medication, because she wasn’t lying when she told Kara that she was her only friend in National City.

But she was exaggerating slightly; because Kara was her only friend... anywhere.

So this idea? This idea of taking off her CEO blazer and fuck-me pumps to sit on a throw blanket with Kara and her sister and her sister’s girlfriend and their best friends -- their family -- and play board games and Mario Kart like she’s not horrific? Like she’s not vile?

Like she’s not a Luthor?

This idea is at once the nicest, kindest, sweetest thing anyone has ever proposed to her; and also the most terrifying.

Maggie knows, and Maggie talks her way past Jess: it’s not that hard, she just mentions Pam from HR and their outing the other night when Jess had that late meeting, and when it becomes clear that Maggie had no love for arresting Lena earlier; when it becomes clear that she’s concerned about her girlfriend’s kid sister’s girlfriend (”queer girl geography, right?” she jokes), Jess lets her through.

“Here to escort me out of my own building in handcuffs again, Detective Sawyer?” Lena glances up, holding in the amount hostility she’d normally show for Kara’s sake.

“Here to escort you to your girlfriend’s place for game night, actually.” Lena looks up from her paperwork with a slightly furrowed brow, and Maggie puts left hand under her lip briefly.

“Look, I... I didn’t have much by way of family. Before National City. Before Alex. And now... it’s scary. It’s scary, having people who just... accept you without an agenda, and want you to come eat potstickers and play crappy 90s board games in your socks on their living room floor, especially when they’re all already...”

“Family,” Lena supplies, skepticism still in her voice but shocked warmth growing in her eyes.

“Yeah. But Kara... Kara’s wild about you, Lena, and I... Here’s the thing. I understand what it’s like to feel like you don’t deserve a Danvers girl. But instead of beating myself up about it, I just try to earn it -- earn her, earn Alex -- every day. And I know you do the same for Kara. And she wants you there tonight, Lena. No one’s going to test you, no one’s going to ask you to prove yourself.”

Lena tries to swallow the tears stinging her eyes -- she’s deeply unfamiliar with this feeling -- and she bites her bottom lip slightly, at a loss for words.

“Unless you try to verse Winn in Mario Kart. He will try to crush you.”

Lena laughs, softly but irrepressibly, and Maggie grins. “Yes, he would be competitive about that sort of thing, wouldn’t he?”

Maggie nods and shoves her hands deep in her pockets. “I know Kara was gonna pick you up to take you over to her place, but I just... I don’t know. I could have used a pep talk from someone that wasn’t my girlfriend before my first game night with the squad, so... consider yourself pep talked.”

If Lena is expecting Maggie to ask anything in return -- to hold anything over her for her kindness -- she’s mistaken, because by the time she and Kara slip into an already full apartment about an hour later, Maggie greets her warmly from the floor, from Alex’s arms, but doesn’t give any indication that they’d just talked. Doesn’t give any indication that she’d just reached out to try to be Lena’s... friend.

“James Olsen,” James shakes her hand near the door with a small smile, and Lena gulps almost imperceptibly.

“A Pulitzer Prize winner, I daresay I know who you are, Mr. Olsen.” Also Kara’s ex. The pit in her stomach grows wider, but James smiles broadly.

“It’s just James,” he assures her, and pulls Kara into a hug.

“I’m happy for you,” he whispers, and she kisses his cheek while still holding Lena’s hand. Or, more accurately, while Lena keeps her hand in a vice-like grip.

She’s already met Alex, Winn, and Maggie, so none of them bother getting up, all engrossed in some sort of card game that has Winn screaming something about cheating and index fingers and unfairness in between waving enthusiastically at Lena.

She perches on the couch in front of them all as Kara sinks back in the pillows.

“It’s okay, Lena, you can relax. I promise,” she whispers, and Lena melts and leans back into her.

Alex glances up and grins.

“I hope your thumbs are ready for war,” she says, and Lena blanches slightly. Maggie leans her head back into Alex’s shoulder so she can meet Lena’s eyes.

“She means Mario Kart.”

“Winn takes it very seriously.”

“Hey, so does Kara, it’s not just me!”

“Oh please, Schott, you almost gave Maggie a bloody nose with your flailing last week!”

“The key word is almost, Danvers!”

“Yeah Alex, no need to take out my tech man with some index finger trick just because your girl’s face got in the way of his maneuvering -- sorry Maggie -- “

“Not at all, Olsen, I’ll just make sure to toss some turtle shells at you -- “

“You wouldn’t -- “

“Try me!”

Kara laughs along with the banter, and Lena just tries to follow it all. Kara watches her carefully, a soft smile on her face. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she kisses her cheek, and James smiles affectionately and nudges Winn.

“We’re outnumbered, man.”

Winn laughs happily and tosses aside his cards -- he would never admit it to Alex, but he was losing anyway -- to set up Mario Kart as Alex takes the opportunity of Kara’ diverted attention to kiss Maggie senseless.

Between Winn’s excited yelling and wild gesturing, James’s cheering a squinting, focused Kara on, and Maggie’s cheering a pursed-lips, focused Alex on, none of them notice immediately.

None of them notice immediately that Lena is silent but Lena is determined. That Lena’s expression is set, is fire, is blazing with the shock of being surrounded by people who love having her there, who toss their arms around her to grab more popcorn easily, who make sure she’s getting enough to eat, to drink.

Who only ignore her when they’re focusing on driving their Mario Kart characters forward.

Who notice her -- who care -- at every moment except exactly when she wants to be stealthy. When she wants to sneak up behind all of them, perfectly calculated to pull ahead with a burst of speed just on the last lap, with a brilliantly timed maneuver that puts her strategically-chosen Toad kart ahead of everyone else’s for a first-place win.

Kara beams and bounces on her seat and squeals because if she can’t win, then her girlfriend definitely should; Alex tosses down her controller and exchanges a slack-jawed expression of begrudging admiration with Winn; and James and Maggie try their very hardest not to giggle, not to tease Kara, Alex, and Winn over the ultimate Mario Kart upset.

Lena smiles nervously into the silence and shrugs. “It’s all about strategy, isn’t it?”

She gulps and she fights down panic and she fights down agony because maybe she shouldn’t have won. Maybe they accepted her only before she stole their spotlight, their rush.

But then Alex is leaning in and Alex is grinning and Alex is more than the hardcore, take-no-prisoners agent that unflinchingly and single-handedly blew up Lena’s mother’s most updated facility, because Alex is congratulating her and Alex is, “Okay, you’re definitely coming to this every week. Anyone who can make Winn lose like that? Definitely a keeper.”

She squeezes her sister’s knee and Kara beams and practically tackles Alex with a hug and Maggie nudges Lena softly while James and Winn egg on the tickle fight that ensues.

“Our Danvers girls, huh?”

Lena fights down tears again, worn out Play Station controller still in her hands. But this time, the tears aren’t anxiety or disbelief or distrust.

This time, the tears are just happy.

“Our Danvers girls, indeed.”