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ethompson928 · 6 years ago

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We are Bulletproof (BTS GANG AU) Part 6

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"You want me to what?" Ally asked from the chair she sat in after being summoned once again to Namjoon's office. The visits here were becoming to frequent for her liking. Ally felt uncomfortable under the hard gaze of the leader of Bangtan as he walked around his desk and perched himself on the front of it, folding his arms and crossing one leg over the other and setting his jaw.

"You heard me, I want you to prove that your good enough to help us further. That little drugs stint with Suga led to an undesirable outcome. I want to see that I made the right choice keeping you alive. Suga and Jungkook seem to think otherwise but I know it would be unwise to kill you off, despite what you seen or heard in recent days. Now as I was saying, tonight you're going to drive the van to the closest petrol station, fill it up and get us a fresh supply of water and a lighter. Simple. I want to see that we'll be able to trust you 100% before we start your 'official training' despite doubts in the back of my mind that you'll bail on us and tell the police everything that has happened to you so far. So let me give you a little incentive to come back. Firstly, we know who you are, it won't be hard for us to find you and bring you back dead or alive, second of all one of my boys will be tailing you to ensure you comply with instructions. This old phone, has enough money on it for one phone call to whoever is coming with you, you get into any trouble which I highly doubt, but you can never be too careful. I like to keep the boys safe."

After leaving the office without much resistance she shook her head in defeat, it was near impossible for her to escape if Namjoon was sending someone to keep an eye on her. Despite what Jin had told her prior, she felt like Namjoon was running a dictatorship among the boys, whatever he said goes and no one got a word in edgeways. The boys seemed close, like a family, but hey - the family that kills together, stays together. Ally knew that if she didn't start planning an escape soon she would be done for. Meaning that she would never leave, ever. That did shoot a small bit of fear into her already hammering heart. Pushing the thought of escape to the back of her mind Ally decided she had better get onto their good sides if she was going to have any chance of getting away unnoticed and not looking suspicious.

"Annyeong!" A voice quickly pulled her out of her thoughts. Glancing up she saw Taehyung standing before her, she smiled and muttered a hello.

He fell into step with her as she began walking down the hallway away from Namjoon's office.

"How are you doing?" He asked curiously looking over at her.

"I'm okay...how are you?" Ally asked back, she didn't really know where this was going or how she should reply.

"I'm great, glad to see you are doing a lot better since the other day. I was worried about you, ya know? So I really hope you like it here and I do want to apologise for drugging you. I hope we can friends..." he trailed off looking a bif unsure. He seemed like a child, his thoughts, actions and way of speaking was all very childlike. Yes he could probably do insane things and kidnap people in various ways that were unthinkable but behind the tough act when he was doing his job was a young innocent boy who was trying to survive in the world.

His big eyes were hopeful as he stared at Ally waiting for her response. Ally felt really bad for him and could see how genuine he was behind his eyes. "Yeah, I'd like that...I'm also sorry for...you know...shouting at you too."

If Taehyungs smile could get any bigger, his jaw would break open. Ally chuckled at how excited he got when she said they could be friends.

"Jjinja?? Wow."

The two fell into a somewhat comfortable silence as they slowly dandered down the hall. There was no tension or uneasiness from the two of them, Ally smiled to herself.

Taehyung had taken Ally down to one of the small sitting rooms that held a small tv and a few chairs, a small game console was also plugged into the television. Taehyung sat down and crossed his legs turning on the system before turning his head to glance at Ally who stood awkwardly behind him, not too sure what she should do.

"Sit down and play with me?" Taehyung asked, trying not to make it sound like a statement more but a question with good intentions. Ally lowered herself down beside him and watched him as he aggressively tapped the buttons, an intense glare at the screen as he manouvered the small onscreen character to fight the enemies and collect items of importance that were in the game.

After about 10 minutes of playing Taehyung passed the controller over to Ally. "I don't really know how to play..." she said looking from the controller to Taehyung and she let out a hopeless chuckle.

"Here let me help you...press this button to attack and use these four buttons here to move around, this one jumps and that's all there is too it". Taehyung explained slowly as he pointed at the colourful buttons on the controller in Ally's hand.

Playing the game Ally tried not to let her awfulness get in the way of her enjoying the game. Sure she was almost out of lives and Taehyung eagerly laughing in the background everytime she messed up, but a part of her was actually enjoying this mini bonding session they were having. Ally squealed with excitment as she killed several enemies and Taehyung shouted to keep going. Bur eventually the character on the screen died in a blaze of glory as various enemies decided to attack all at once not giving the poor girl a chance to defend herself.

"You're rubbish at this" Taehyung hollered doubling over with laughter as Ally scowled at the screen resting her elbow on her knee and her chin on her clenched fist.

She scowled and muttered a very unappropriate word under her breath which caused Taehyung to laugh louder and Ally almost had to hide the smile that was still growing on her face and making her cheeks light up.

"Ya! Aren't you supposed to be working?" A voice called from the door, Ally turned her head round at the same as Taehyung and Jimin was leaning against the doorframe of the room.

"Like you're doing any work either...Ally's playing with me today. Jealous?" Taehyung replied cheekily, lightly smirking.

Jimin laughed and his face set serious before he came into the room and not so subtly plonked himself onto the floor between Ally and Taehyung, he turned his head to Ally and gave her a quick smile before picking up the now discarded controller and restarting the game.

Ally found herself later on that day back her room staring at herself in the mirror. Her white jumper had now been replaced with a black zip up hoodie and the hood was placed over head and her hair now down hanging over her face. She had been advised to wear it like this so she wouldn't be noticed. Ally had nothing to be scared about she wasn't hiding from the police but doing this job made her feel nervous and her stomach was doing flips.

Meeting up with Namjoon by the front door Ally noticed another boy with him, he wore a mask over his face and he too was wearing all black.

"Alison, meet J-Hope...also known as Hoseok he's going to be with you tonight. He knows that if you're to screw up or try and get away he can do whatever means necessary to bring you back. Report back to me later on and tell me how it all goes and then we'll get you started into life at Bangtan. Good luck." Namjoon pressed the phone from earlier into her palm and walked away patting Hoseok on the shoulder and briefly muttered something in his ear as he walked past.

"You coming?" Hoseok asked as he opened the front door for her and followed her out. "Jump in." He referred to the black landrover sitting out front. Climbing in Ally tried to soften her alarming pulse as Hoseok started the engine, he pulled his mask down so that it sat on his chin. "So here it goes in case you forgot, you're gonna fill the car up, go inside, grab a few bottles of water, pay and leave. Simple as...and if you run or try to tell on us..." his hand left the steering wheel and flipped open the glove box at Ally's knee and revealed a shot gun. Most likely armed and ready to go with no shortage of ammunition. "Namjoon wants to trust you, and if he does then so do I...he thinks you'll benefit our team, not just be a pretty hostage. So don't let us down. Would be nice to have some fresh meat around and if Namjoon wants to believe you can join us then why the hell not?"

The drive to the garage wasn't a long one, it was coming up on 6pm, not long after rush hour and darkness had already fell. The lights from the garage light up like a beacon in the dark area that already had little to no lighting. As they pulled ip to the pump Ally could see a small fat man through the window at the till reading his magazine. Hoseol pulled up his mask once more and gave her a subtle nod. Looking from him back to the shop Ally took her bottom lip between her teeth and gave a small squeeze. Hoseok glanced at her expenctantly, waiting for her to make a move.

"Come on, what are we waiting for?"

Finally climbing out of the csr Ally opened the petrol cap and began to fill the car up. Once she filled the tank a few moments later she pulled her hood back up properly and entered the shop. Glancing round the around the shop the small shelves were packed with different kinds of food and tinned goods. Above the chilled drinks one of the lights was flickering on and off. There was almost a musty smell in the building. The room was small but seemed smaller due tovthe tightly packed shelves and various goods on offer to buy.

Making her way over the the fridges Ally grabbed a small basket by the door and began to get the 6 packs of water and plade them in the rusted basket with a stuff handle at her feet. There was a small noise that filled the shop and Ally registered it to be the news which was playing on a small tv behind the back of the man sitting at a till. It was loud enough for her to hear as she continued to put bottles into the basket.

"And in other news tonight: Police are still concerned over the whereabouts of missing teenager Alison Park, who was last seen out with her best friend Ayami Matsui in the late hours on Friday Night at local club: The Red Bullet owned by business man Mr Kim Seokjin. Mr Kim has been unavailable for an interview at this time. Reports Alison went missing were reported when she didn't return home or family could not reach her by phone..."

Ally dropped the bottle she was holding, looking over at the television behind the man at the till. He wasn't paying to attention to the screen, had he been looking and then looked at the young girl who had just entered his shop, he would see it was the same girl who went missing. Ally camly walked around behind a small stand of crisps and ducked down behind it. Cautiously pulling out the small phone from her back pocket she found Hoseoks number and put it to her head.

"What's wrong?" He answered quickly not needing to say hello.

"I...I...need to get out here!"

#bts #gang au #scenarios #mafia au #kim namjoon #kim seokjin #min yoongi #jung hoseok #park jimin #kim taehyung #jeon jungkook

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whirlybirbs · 7 years ago

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PREVIOUSLY ON #BITTERCOFFEE | THE MASTERLIST

summary: #bittercoffee. in which the reader is ghosted after the date with bucky and tony stark is to blame. but, an internship opportunity at the tower has her ready to bite back. rating: mild swearing and a brainiac reader. fight me. word count: 1.6k a/n: my bittercoffee!reader is about to fuck shit up. sorry for the lack of buck-o in this one. he’s coming up next part. enjoy!

Bucky doesn’t come in for coffee the next morning.

And when you text him, wondering sweetly if maybe he had “avenging to do”, your text is met with silence. Nothing. You don’t text him again until late that night when you’ve hiked back from the shop in the rain. You ride the subway in silence. You have your earbuds in. No music. Your body rocks with the train. Your fingers move quick across your phone screen.

I hope everything’s okay?

You make it to your apartment, sad and somber and angry. You’re soaked to the bone and weighed down. The growing anxiety that Bucky had decided you weren’t worth his time, or maybe he didn’t like you enough was eating away at you, and though it feels childish, you cry. It’s muffled into the sleeve of your NYU sweatshirt.

Marissa comes in, having heard the quieted sobs, and offers you some microwaved pizza. You decline, to sick on sadness to think about eating.

“Sometimes boys just don’t work out,” she said, “No matter how much we like them.”

You look like hell, and the next morning? Still nothing. No texts, no Bucky. The coffee shop is slow and empty thanks to the rain. You feel the same way. You try not to let Matt into the inner turmoil, but he knows something’s not right.

You push the feelings down and away and pretend you’re fine.

You do for the whole week.

And then you begin to think you’re never going to see Bucky Barnes again.

Until, one night, on your walk back from campus, you notice you’re being followed. It’s a taxi - or at least you’d thought - until it follows you to the subway stop and a man in a suit steps out. He’s bigger, no older than his mid-forties, looking less than pleased with the rain. He sits in the same subway cart as you, gets off at the same stop. He walks past your apartment, though, and from your dining room window you watch him climb into another car. A black Lincoln.

The license plate reads ‘HAPPY’.

The back window has a Stark Industries decal on it.

You begin to notice more of strange little things like this - the same man comes in and gets coffee one morning. You pretend you have no idea who he is, but your heart rate is pounding and you’re half-convinced he’s going to gun you down at register one.

He doesn't though. He sits, he watches, he sips his coffee. You think maybe this is some kind of intimidation play.

You stand your ground though; you even bus his table, smiling and asking him how his day is.

When he’s leaving, you snap a picture of him, pretending to snapchat, and you save it.

Sniped.

You reverse image search him when you get home that night and land a positive ID. You’re hunched over coffee and the notes surrounding your midterm thesis paper around integrated militarized biotech. The blue light of your laptop illuminates the room, and you cheer, mouth full of popcorn, when you nail his name down.

You think maybe Bucky would be proud of you. You’re a good sidekick. But, well, that ship has sailed. Your heart hurts a little bit thinking about him.

The guy from the shop is Harold Hogan. Personal bodyguard and trainer to the one and only Tony Stark.

You begin to note more Stark property along your walk to work. The building across from you has been bought out. Apparently some housing project Stark is working on. You learn to look at the license plates. The Avengers Tower decal for parking is minuscule but apparent if you know where to look. It includes security clearance.

You’re clearly being watched.

And then your wifi starts to act up, too. Through some more backwards engineering, you delve into the internal system codes of the apartment router and find that a external proxy has been set up. Your cookies, data, history and any and all saved files are being copied and routed to an apartment in Queens. You get the IP address. You track it to a May Parker.

No doubt a relation to Peter Parker.

No doubt you were being watched thanks to that Stark Internship.

You call Bucky that night, curse him out on his voicemail - it’s long winded and angry and maybe you had a little bit too much wine - and tell him to tell Stark to fuck off. You don’t hear anything back, but you’re sure someone got the message -- if anything, Stark probably tapped into your cell long ago.

Things are starting to stack up against Iron Man.

You’re starting to think maybe there’s a reason why you haven’t seen Bucky Barnes. That reason has got to be Tony Stark.

You’re not sure why, but you can’t let it go. You know deep down it’s because you like Bucky far too much for it to just slip your mind. You didn’t date often -- and Bucky was pretty. Handsome and funny and shy and… Sad. You find yourself worrying about him, wondering if he’s walking around Brooklyn late at night, trying to find himself. You hope he’s okay. You regret telling him he ‘fucking sucks’ on his voicemail the other night.

So, you start to formulate a plan. You think about sauntering right into the Tower downtown, strolling up the reception and asking for Tony Stark -- but no doubt the man was busy, and there was no guarantee security wouldn’t drag you out kicking and screaming when they explained he wasn’t there and no, you couldn’t speak to him.

Email was a no-go. He’d probably just ignore it. Phone, too.

You could knock on Peter Parker’s door and interrogate the high schooler for information on why you’re being watched. But, you knew why you were being watched -- it was because you knew too much about Bucky Barnes.

Then, when you think you’re shit bum out of luck, an opportunity falls into your lap. Trips and lands. You catch it by the throat.

Your last class of this particular Thursday is a lab; normally running about four hours, it leaves you hungry and tired and wanting nothing more than to bolt home and kick start your homework. Though working on your actual conceptualized thesis is fun, time seems to drag on.

But, today, you were talking internships.

“You know,” your professor’s name is Sarah -- she insists you call her Sarah -- and she’s sweet. The class is dominated by men mostly, so she excitedly chatters with you when she can. You like it. Sarah leans against your lab bench after the small lecture. You’re soldering some wires together on the mechanisms functions panel, “I have a certain internship in mind for you.”

“Oh?” you say, a smile tugging at your face, “Please, enlighten me.”

Sarah laughs. “I got an email earlier this week… NYU typically isn’t one of the Universities gets these type of offers, but… Stark Industries is looking to hire.”

You feel the color drain from your face. “Stark Industries, huh?”

“They’re looking for medical students, actually,” she murmurs, “But, I want you to apply. You’re biomedical and you’re great, so if anything, they’ll be even more interested.”

“Have you… put my name down on anything yet?”

Please say no, please say no.

“No,” she says and you nearly cheer, “But, the interviews are next Monday -- are you interested? I can always email them back --”

“No!”

Sarah nearly jumps back.

“I mean -- yes, I’m interested,” you reassure her, gloved hand touching the sleeve of her lab coat, “I’m just thinking maybe don’t let them know who I am or my major or...? They might discriminate because of the medical thing…”

Totally not because of other reasons.

“Right!” Sarah hums, “You’re so right. And the best part? You’ll be surprising Tony Stark.”

You nearly laugh in her face. “Are you saying…”

“He’s doing the interviews -- some special involvement campaign, I guess. He wants to get to know our grads, get to know who he’s hiring. After the whole H.Y.D.R.A. infiltration thing, it makes sense. A lot of grads have turned it down, but I can dig up some recommendations for you. You can bring them with you --”

“Please do,” you grin, hands clasped in a tight ball, “You’re the best.”

Sarah grins, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she claps you on the shoulders. “I’m so excited!”

Me too, Sarah. Me too.

It’s 8:30 am, Monday morning.

Marissa is looking at you like you have three heads.

You’re tugging on your patent leather heels, sweeping your hair into a professional looking bun. The romper you have on is black with a dipping neckline -- your blazer is bright red. You feel like you could kill a man with a single look. It’s a confidence boost. You need all the help you’re going to get.

“So... you’re meeting with Tony Stark. For the internship.”

“Well,” you mumble, bobby pin between your teeth as you fix your bun, “Not really.”

Marissa blinks down at your resume. In fine print, along the top, under your name, it reads:

‘Please, ask me about my slideshow!’

“You… You have a slideshow.”

You swivel your laptop across the kitchen counter. The screen glows alive with the slideshow in question.

Marissa’s jaw drops. She reads from the title slide.

“Why I’d Like Tony Stark to Fuck Off?”

You shoot her an award winning smile, sweeping your resume and faux cover letter into a protective cover. It slips neatly into your handbag and you yank the memory drive from your laptop as well.

“Is this some activism stuff?” she mumbles, “Anti-Avengers propaganda?”

You pause.

“Sure.”

And with that, you’re out the door. Behind you, Marissa shouts.

“Let me know if I have to bail you out of jail!”

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#bittercoffee #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #winter solider x reeader #winter soldier imagine

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qqueenofhades · 7 years ago

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the tangled web of fate we weave: xiii

yes i finished it after getting Extremely Distracted last night, and tumblr even appears to have fixed its issues with wonky symbols in text posts. it’s a christmas miracle.

part xii/AO3.

Garcia Flynn has spent the last two years – well, he hasn’t had a single permanent address, a stopover longer than a few months, any phone that wasn’t a burner, a consistent identity or nationality, a less than fifty percent chance that someone will appear with a semi-automatic weapon to finish the job, or a fully legal exit from any of a dozen countries. So really, draw your own conclusions. On the run seems almost hilarious in its understatement; he vaguely recalls that the literary device is called litotes. Completely undersell something for sharper rhetorical effect, usually by presenting it as the negative or opposite of the truth, the kind of sassy and contrary thing that appeals to him. You call Chernobyl just a little industrial fire. Or Rittenhouse really not that bad. Or Garcia Flynn a sensible, well-adjusted man who has a full idea of what he’s doing and everything under control. There, you see? Irony.

Flynn has a full half-dozen fake identities under his belt by now, an assortment of dollars, loonies, euros, pounds, and pesos in reserve depending on where he’s going, and has lived in shitty hotel rooms for so long that he has forgotten there is any other kind of human domicile. It’s better not to ask how he’s getting the money. The NSA doesn’t exactly offer severance pay, and while he has a few accounts in Croatia, they are under his real name and if Rittenhouse knows the first damn thing about their business, they are just waiting for him to try to access them. They’re probably frozen anyway. And while Flynn is perfectly willing to mug someone in an alley if need be, this does not generate any substantial or sustainable income. So he owns one computer, firewalled and encrypted and IP-randomized up the wazoo, a computer that God Himself could not hack (Flynn has made sure of this by running monthly attempts on it himself). This computer is configured to access the Deep Web, otherwise known as the Dark Web, where at least seventy-five percent of the world’s high-level organized crime takes place, a murky cyber underworld and the lifeblood of the black market. Every few weeks, Flynn logs on, performs a few tasks for someone whose real name or employment he will never know, and one to three business days later (good to know that crime syndicates are reliable about their payroll processing) a large amount of money turns up in one of the corresponding fake identities’ offshore bank account. Never the same one twice in a row, or on too consistent a schedule. Flynn likes to think that he hasn’t taken jobs for anyone truly terrible, that it’s the usual petty exchange of knockoff prescription drugs, corporate sabotage, data ransomware, and insurance scams, but he doesn’t know for sure.

And yet. Morally questionable or not, black-hat hacking has enabled him to keep a roof (even a terrible motel one) over his head, eat regularly, change his identities as needed, and track Rittenhouse across multiple countries and continents, so he’s going to keep doing it. For obvious reasons, he cannot return to either Philadelphia or West Point. D.C., where there must be the highest concentration of them, is also out. He can’t go at them directly, so he has to come at them from angles and pincer movements, feints and probes, a subtle, surreptitious game. Try to pin down just how far their influence extends, and how deeply it’s entrenched. It would be impossible for an entire task force with all the money and time in the world. For one man, it’s beyond that. And yet. Garcia Flynn is doing it anyway.

His first port of call was Bavaria, in Germany, seeing if Rittenhouse shared any connections or resources with the Illuminati, founded in 1780 for similar aims but (supposedly) quickly repressed. If you ask your bog-standard conspiracy theorist, they’ll claim the Illuminati are still alive and kicking, and Flynn wanted to figure out if they just subsumed their operations into Rittenhouse. So Dr. Alexander Kovac went to some regional archives and libraries, looking for stuff on Adam Weishaupt and his disciples, any contacts they might have had with David Rittenhouse and his. He found a few things that seemed to suggest this was possible, but Germany has, for obvious reasons, cracked down hard on these kinds of groups post-WWII. It is no longer the ideal environment for Rittenhouse to flourish, even if they probably have a few tendrils planted near Angela Merkel and the EU. Europe might be the birthplace of this kind of thinking, but America has realized it to its fullest potential.

After that, Flynn went to the Caribbean, since he guessed that most of their money has to be moving through the same havens as his. The Caymans, he thinks. But he can’t get physically near it, if there was anything to get close to, without setting off alarm bells, and even his hacking attempts have to be careful. He did enjoy sleeping on the beach beneath the tropical stars, but the news that a hurricane was on the way, plus seeing the same man wander casually past him a few too many times, felt like his cue to leave. Where, he wasn’t quite sure. He wanted to go back to California, wanted like crazy, but he didn’t dare.

Thus, he went to Ottawa instead. It was an unpleasant shock to go from the sunny Caribbean to Canada in winter, but there are bigger problems at stake. Canada obviously has close ties to America, so Flynn could pick up on some things by inference, intercept bits of useful intelligence here and there, and it was close enough to the border that he could nip over a few times and prowl around upstate New York (very, very carefully). The black site in West Point still seems to be in operation, and Flynn made every possible effort to hear about it if Lucy ever returned there, if there is any whisper that Rittenhouse has gotten their hooks into her again. If he did hear anything – well, to hell with subterfuge or delicacy. He would in fact just crash in and pull her out, even if it meant blowing the whole operation, and he’s relieved for any number of reasons that he has not had to. It’s a good thing she did not come along. He could never have been this flexible and this relentless if he had to keep one eye on her and teach her how to live this way. This isn’t a job to learn on.

(A very good thing.)

(Very good.)

(Very.)

Ultimately, however, Flynn’s Canadian sojourn ended up concluding the same thing as Germany: that Canada was not the right place for Rittenhouse to think it worthwhile expanding their foothold. Too nice, probably, and they don’t have the same sense of American imperialism and exceptionalism, don’t fit into Rittenhouse’s patriotic-fascist grand design. So then it was the question of the time machine, which he has been putting off in the hope it was just some sort of trick (even if he has very good reason to know it’s not). Connor Mason has been generously bankrolled to build it, according to Emma, and while Flynn will kill the bitch if he ever sees her again, she’s not lying about that. How much more do they still need to get done to make it a viable operational threat? Where are they getting their engineers, their machinery, their tech? Is Mason himself in Rittenhouse? He has to be. No way they’d outsource that little job to just anyone. Does Mason owe his entire fortune, all his well-publicized accomplishments, to these people? How much else has he done for them?

Flynn still cannot return outright to the Bay Area without sending up too many smoke signals. He has to be strategic. Finally, he lucks into a tip that Connor Mason is taking his team to London for a week in February, bringing the whole circus. As London is obviously also where Emma said she wanted to go, where Rittenhouse was supposedly trying for a new foothold, the coincidence is perfect and self-explanatory. London calling? London calling.

Thus, Flynn picks up from where he has been living in a log cabin in Vermont for the last two months (it’s practically home, he feels an odd pang at leaving it), and takes a flight out of JFK on the Canadian passport that gives his name as Gabriel Ashe. It’s a Commonwealth country, he’ll get less scrutiny entering the UK that way, especially since the passport is only mostly legit. If he blows this, he could find himself out on his ass and in even more hot water, but his luck has held thus far. He has to trust that it will.

On the flight, Flynn supposes that he knows very well what sins he is being punished for by getting stuck in the middle seat, and thinks about Lorena Kovac. About seven months ago, on a lonely, late night, he gave into a moment of weakness and emailed her from his untrackable computer. He hasn’t really spoken to her in several years, and didn’t know what he was going to achieve by getting in touch again. He didn’t say anything about where he was or what he was doing, just that he hoped she was well. He knows it probably confused and hurt Lorena, since he gave her no explanation for dropping out of her life in the first place, and he’s sorry for it. But he wanted – he wanted something, he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know. Just to be sure he didn’t dream a real life, perhaps. The one where they met for coffee on sunny mornings in Dubrovnik, looked over the glittering Adriatic Sea, and did not talk about war.

Lorena’s reply, three days later, was polite and to the point. She also hoped that he was well. She was doing fine – better than fine,. She has recently had a baby girl, Iris. She and Iris’ father – a childhood friend of Flynn’s, an old schoolmate, Luka – are engaged, and they are very happy. A summer wedding is planned. She wishes Flynn the best in his life, and remains fond of him. She hopes he is at peace. She is.

Reading it felt, for Flynn, like being punched in the chest. Somehow it never occurred to him that Lorena would also move on with her life, that since her feelings for him never turned into the relationship she was hoping for, she would tidily shut the door and walk away. And Luka – he’s a doctor, he’s a great guy, he and Flynn have known each other forever, he and Lorena will have a wonderful life. A baby girl named Iris. The ghost of a smiling child floated into Flynn’s head and has never entirely left. It hurt in a way he can’t articulate. It still does. He loved Lorena, in some unformed, tentative, unrealized way, even if Lucy was already between them, somehow, from the start. He knows why Lorena has written the letter as she did, with the tone of wishing an old flame well, even if they were never officially together. She has made it clear that as far as she and her life are concerned, the wound is no longer open, the space has been filled. Perhaps this put them out of danger from Rittenhouse, but Flynn can’t risk writing back. Lorena will probably wonder why she even bothered, and go to her child and future husband, and live. He wants that, God, he wants that, he does. And yet.

That was the night he finally broke a little, under the strain, the effort, the loneliness. He feels corroded, rusted and deformed and darkened, and he was no saint to start with. He is fighting for something, not just against, but he’s not sure he can see it anymore. It was a strange and highly colored dream, and he’s losing the impossible kernel of faith, or fate, that has driven him thus far. It’s too much. It’s too much.

Someone found his hideout the next day, and Flynn killed him. It’s not clear whether he needed to. It was probably just a lost backpacker stumbling on a place that looked inhabited in the woods. Probably. But Flynn shot him anyway and buried him five miles away from the nearest cell phone signal. It’s not the first man he’s killed on this journey, and by far not the first he’s killed in his life. But it was the first one he killed while the man was defenseless, on his knees, and begging that he just wanted to see his mother again.

(It’s a good thing Lorena is with a man, not a monster.)

(A very good thing.)

(Very good.)

(Very.)

The flight finally lands in London, Flynn just makes it through customs with the bogus Gabriel Ashe passport (the customs officer is a little dubious, but the queue is very long and he smiles as unthreateningly as possible) and heads into the City. He has guessed the approximate location of the hotel that Mason Industries is staying at – it’ll be somewhere fancy – but he can’t be completely sure. There are a lot of upmarket hotels in London, after all, and he needs to be careful about which member of the squad he snipes off. He needs someone well-placed on the project, who can answer his questions, and someone who is conveniently clueless about the fact that Mason is in it deep with Rittenhouse, who is so blessedly fortunate as to never have heard the name “Rittenhouse” in their life. Flynn has a few ideas, but he is willing to be flexible. See what comes up, as it were.

The law is almost a ridiculous concept to Flynn now, has had no bearing on his actions whatsoever for months and months. And so he does not care that he has flagrantly illegal methods of tapping into the vast network of data, of closed-circuit television and cell phone signals and open wifi hotspots and all the other stuff that you can access with just a little effort. He narrows it down to Covent Garden, wanders around until he has visual. Yes, it’s him. One of Mason’s engineers. Due to Flynn’s extensive scrutiny of the employee lists, he can identify him as Rufus Carlin. He looks to be on a date. That’s unfortunate.

Flynn takes a better grip on his gun inside his jacket pocket, and strolls forward for a chat.

“I’m sorry?” Rufus repeats, when Mysterious European Gunman makes another brusque motion. Is he a Bond villain? Is this the start of a heist film where Rufus and Jiya race through London, Paris, Madrid, Budapest, and Rome, trying to stop him before he can launch a nuke from his secret Swiss Alps base? (Rufus should wonder what it says that he has this fantasy all ready to go, but better for all concerned that it remain a fantasy – he is not an action hero). “How do you know my name? What is – do you think you can just – ”

“Let’s just agree I know more than you do, Rufus.” A flash of a shark-like white smile, which (amazingly) does nothing to make him feel more confident. “Sorry to interrupt your date.”

“It’s – ” Rufus starts into his well-worn spiel that it’s not a date, until he realizes that a) they are getting sidetracked, and b) this is not Douche von Douchebag’s business anyway. “Well then? How about you not interrupt it? And just let me go? Look, I’ve got some money. Is this a robbery? You want that? You can have it, man. Seriously”

He makes a motion as if to go for his wallet, thinking that at least he wasn’t dumb enough to bring his passport out – as long as he doesn’t need to spend his time here tied up in the consulate getting a new one, Jerkface McGee here can have the rest. Cancel his credit cards and whatever else, it’s not worth his life. But the man shakes his head. “I don’t want your money. Let’s go somewhere we can talk.”

Rufus hesitates. The dude does have a gun and it’s clear just to look at him that he’s not afraid to use it, and who knows what he has in the other jacket pocket – a detonator for a bomb? Damn, and one of the things he was looking forward to on this trip was a lessened risk of being shot for walking down the street while black. “Can I just – can I just tell Jiya that – ”

“Sorry,” the man says pleasantly. “Can’t have her calling anyone. Come on.”

With that, he takes Rufus by the jacket sleeve and walks him briskly out, into the plaza and up toward Leicester Square. Rufus keeps twisting vainly over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of Jiya – great, there goes that entire successful day, she’s gonna think he ditched her on purpose like an asshole, or he’s just the world’s most inattentive doofus who couldn’t bother to wait for her before running back for a nap. Yes, he has more problems on his hands, but that one stings. “Hey,” he says. “Can I call you back? You know, meet for coffee tomorrow, if this is really what you – ”

“Do you think I’m an idiot, Rufus?”

“No… sir?”

“Good.” Sir Shithead keeps walking. Rufus wants to ask him to let go of his sleeve, but he has a feeling that wouldn’t go anywhere good. They make their way up into the maze of side streets and closes that branch off the major thoroughfares in London, toward a tea shop – wait, really, the guy is going to abduct him in broad daylight and then buy him an Earl Grey? Is this the most British kidnapping in existence? His accent isn’t British, though. Rufus is confused enough not to struggle (besides, he also can’t see that going anywhere good) as they reach the shop, Herr Horrible orders a small black coffee, and does not offer to get Rufus anything (he just had his latte, but still). Rufus asks for a Coke just as the man is about to pay, though, which means that he is obliged to buy it. As they sit down at a corner table barely large enough to fit him, the Red Baron raises an eyebrow. “Well?”

“Well what?” Rufus snaps. “Like I’m the one who needs to explain myself here?”

“I just want answers.” The man – Rufus is enjoying coming up with new disparaging nicknames for him, since it’s the only satisfaction he is getting out of this, but he would like an actual one – sounds impatient. “Do that, you can be back on your way in ten, fifteen minutes, tell the girl that you just got lost. You want to cooperate or not?”

Rufus holds out as long as he dares. Then he says, “How do you know my name?”

“You work for Mason Industries. Yes?”

Oh brother, Rufus thinks. Not another throw-his-weight-around military white boy coming to ask probing questions. This one is almost making him miss Wyatt. “Yeah, so?”

“Does Emma Whitmore still work there?”

“She transferred? About a year and a half ago? She still works there, yeah, but I think she took a job at one of the other offices. Here, maybe?”

“Where?” the man demands. “Where?”

Rufus stalls. It’s pretty clear from the look on the Teutonic Terror’s face that it’s bad news for Emma if he catches up to her. He and Emma have never been buddy-buddy, but they’ve worked together for a while, he’s done the calculations responsible for sending her through time, and he doesn’t want that on his head. He is relieved that it is the truth as he says, “I don’t know. We haven’t exactly been keeping up with Christmas cards.”

The man stares at him narrowly. “Do you know if she’s planning to rejoin the main office?”

“I don’t know,” Rufus repeats. “Maybe you should have kidnapped the HR manager.”

For half a moment, a sardonic but genuinely amused smile flickers across the hard lines of the other man’s face. Then it’s all back to business. “Fine,” he says. “How close is the time machine to being done?”

“I – ?” Rufus stares at him. “I – what are you talking about?”

“You’re a smart man, Rufus. Don’t act like an idiot.”

There is a silence long enough to turn very uncomfortable. They stare at each other over the rickety table. Rufus feels as if his odds of flipping it and launching the hot coffee into the man’s face are very slim, but he has to fight down an urge to do just that. Instead of answering, he says, “I’m guessing you and Wyatt Logan know each other?”

Something brief and inscrutable appears, then disappears, in the man’s guarded gaze. “We were acquainted in the past,” he says noncommittally. “Answer the question, please.”

“This is going to get me into trouble.”

“I honestly don’t care if it does or not.”

“Yeah, well. I do.”

“You’d care about something more if you knew why I was asking. And if you have to make me do it a third time – ”

“Jeez.” Rufus raises his hands. “Scorched-earth everything with you, isn’t it? Look. We’ve progressed to running more extensive tests, but it’s still very buggy. One of the lead engineers just got out of an eight-month coma. It’s not out of any sort of beta.”

“When do you think it will be?”

“What are you, some kind of corporate spy? Government whistleblower?” Mason has, for obvious reasons, wanted to keep this project strictly under wraps, and Rufus has definitely already breached several paragraphs of his organizational NDA by talking this much. “Shoot me if you want, but you’re not going to make me turn on – ”

That mirthless smile pays a visit to the corner of In Soviet Russia’s mouth. “I don’t have to shoot you,” he points out. “The girl you were with. I got a nice look at her face. From my examination of the employee directory, I think that is… Jiya, yes? Jiya Marri?”

That rocks Rufus onto his heels and all further smart remarks out of his mouth. “You son of a bitch,” he says, low and hard. “Stay away from her.”

“Do your part, Rufus, and neither of you ever have to see me again.” The man shrugs. “A little answer. Very easy.”

Rufus chews his tongue. Whatever he says, he has a feeling that it isn’t just an academic interest, that he could be directly responsible for setting off a barrel of nitroglycerin in the middle of Connor’s life – in everyone’s. Finally he says, “Again, like I said. It’s in beta. There is no expected timescale of completion when we’re talking about something this. The Mothership runs better, but we – ”

“The Mothership?” The man leans forward with an intent, wolfish expression. “What’s that?”

Shit. Rufus wants to bite his tongue off. He says reluctantly, “The main machine is called the Mothership. There’s a backup called the Lifeboat, but it’s designed just for short-term use, in the event of something going wrong with the Mothership’s crew and a rescue squad being sent to pull them out. That one’s really in beta.”

“Two time machines.” The man taps his fingers on the table, thinking hard. “And either of these, how do they run? Can you visit moments in your own lifetime?”

That is a weirdly specific question. Rufus almost wonders if he’s a crazy UFO fan, or something like that. Or maybe he’s clung onto a time machine as a solution for the big steaming heap of cow poop that his life appears to be – go back and change all your bad choices, that kind of thing. “No,” he says. “That’s not possible. You can’t travel on your own timeline. The ones that’ve tried, you – you don’t want to know what happened to them. The universe doesn’t like it, it’s not like Harry Potter with two versions of you running around.”

For some reason, that answer disturbs his interlocutor (yeah, he’s disturbed now, finally some equality). Rufus wants to demand how the hell he knows this, where he’s got his information and what he is planning to do. There is a final pause until the man makes up his mind. “Give me your access card to Mason Industries,” he says. “Your ID, your key card, whatever I need to get in. You can say you lost them.”

“I just happened to lose my ID?”

“Or I can rob you,” the man points out. “Yes, I think it might be better if we do that. I will take your money after all. London is an expensive city, why not?”

“I can’t let you into Mason Industries. I can’t – ”

“You’re here in London for the whole week. The entire team is. That is much neater, I don’t need to kill anyone to get in. You can tell Jiya that you were robbed, she will feel very sorry for you. A happy ending. You don’t report it to anyone and you don’t say anything about losing the card until you get back.”

“To what, a giant bomb crater where Mason Industries used to be?”

“Oh, no.” The man shakes his head. “I don’t want to destroy it. I just need information. Now. You give me your ID card, the cash in your wallet, and anything else a robber might take. I will let you keep your phone. Hurry up, Rufus. Jiya must be looking for you.”

Rufus has never wanted to kill anyone with a stare more than he has wanted to kill this idiot, but he can’t think what else to do. Slowly, he fumbles out his Mason Industries ID and key card on its lanyard, jerks the cash envelope out, and shoves it over the table. It’s not even his money, but still. He feels the betrayal on a soul-deep level, the one thing he hates most. What a way to repay Connor, after everything he has done for him. Rufus feels tainted and unhappy and used. “There,” he snaps. “Take it. Are we done?”

“You tell me.” The man shrugs, pocketing the card and cash. “Actually, I have changed my mind. A robber would take your phone. Give it to me, I will mail it back in a few weeks.”

“I – ” Rufus clutches his phone like his firstborn child. Like any proper millennial, he cannot function more than a few hours without it. “Like I’m going to believe that?”

“Phone. Now.”

Rufus grits his teeth, thinks that he can hopefully report it as stolen and freeze it before the bastard has time to mine all its data, and drops it into his hand. King Kraptacular, of course, makes sure to ask him for the passcode, makes Rufus do it to demonstrate that it is in fact the right one, and then finally stands up with a mocking grin. “It’s been good to do business with you,” he says, touching two fingers to his hat. “Enjoy your trip to London, Rufus.”

And with that, leaving Rufus sitting there completely gobsmacked, he goes.

Wyatt Logan has no idea how to find a man whose entire professional value lies in his ability to completely fucking disappear at will, but by God, that is not going to stop him trying.

He can’t exactly drive up to NSA headquarters and demand to consult their personnel files, especially for ex-personnel that, as far as Wyatt knows, still have a standing arrest warrant. He did try the old phone number for Flynn, but he was not surprised at all when the cool female robot voice told him that this number was not in service. He’s tried to think if anyone in the intelligence branch of things owes him a favor, or might feel bad for him because his wife is probably dead and would be willing to kick some rocks. The possibility of the quest has galvanized Wyatt like a direct intravenous hit of caffeine; he hasn’t slept more than three hours at one time since this started. It’s been four days, and he has barely focused on the fact that for all intents and purposes, the cops are looking for a body. That’s not it, that’s not what happened. Jess is alive somehow, somewhere. She’s alive.

In the course of this, Wyatt has also been managing to convince himself that Flynn is not as bad as he remembers. Sure, he was an abrasive jackass with zero interpersonal skills and an amazing ability to make everything ten times more difficult than it needs to be, but to be fair, when they actually met face-to-face, Flynn had just been shot twice and was freshly out of emergency surgery. That might put a damper on anyone’s sunny disposition, and Wyatt is painfully aware that his own behavior has been no basket of roses. Maybe it’s just because he’s so lonely, he’s so desperately lonely and so terrified that this in fact the one mistake he cannot take back or get around, but he’s already half-made Flynn into a friend in his head. Grumpy, but essentially good-hearted. Definitely willing to lend an old pal (even in a very loose sense of the word) a hand. It’ll work out. It has to.

No one ever said that this was the most realistic appraisal of the situation, but at least it’s kept Wyatt from eating bark off trees, and after his feverish hours of work, he’s decided that the best angle he has into the whole thing is Mason Industries. However, that is going to piss off Rittenhouse something wild; the whole scene in the car was very clear at instructing him that he had better never come near that place again. If Wyatt is trying to be clandestine, this is not the way to do it. The only other person he can still contact (hopefully) is not guaranteed special access either, and it could once more put her in danger. But she’s also the only human being on the planet who might know where Flynn is, or at least want to see him again too. And really. Wyatt has nothing left to lose.

He takes out his phone, and dials.

It rings once, then twice, then again. Just as he thinks it’s not going to be answered, it is. “Hello?” She sounds confused and tenuous. “Is this – Wyatt?”

“Hi.” Wyatt blows out an unsteady breath. He was the one who told her to call him if she was ever scared, if she needed anything, and now here he is, practically ready to beg. “Lucy. I – I know it’s been a while since we talked. I’m sorry to just call you out of the blue.”

“No, of course,” Lucy says. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Are you okay?”

Wyatt was fondly supposing that he didn’t sound like that much of a wreck, but he appears to have been disabused of that along with everything else. “Actually,” he says, swallowing hard as his voice catches. “Actually. . . since you ask, I’m. . . I’ve been better. A lot better. I’m sorry again, I know this may not be something you want to talk about, but have you – have you seen Flynn recently? Garcia Flynn?” As if there can be another.

There’s a marked silence. Then Lucy says, “No. I haven’t seen him for almost two years.”

Wyatt can feel his fragile, giddy optimism heading for a crash as fast as it went up, but he still refuses to let this be the end of the road. “So you – you don’t know where he is these days, or what he’s doing, or – ?”

“No,” Lucy says. “I have no idea. Wyatt, what’s – what’s going on?”

Wyatt stares at the ceiling, trying to formulate the words. The idea of speaking it aloud is still unbearable, and it’s bad enough for Lucy that he called her like this, he doesn’t need to start unloading his flaming trainwreck of emotional baggage onto her. He tries to keep his voice as calm as it would be at a briefing for his superiors. Tells her, as succinctly as he can, what’s happened, and why he’s looking for Flynn.

Lucy makes shocked and sympathetic noises, which Wyatt appreciates, but he knows he still does not deserve her pity. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “Is there anything else I can do? Do you have – have family in town, or anything?”

“Family?” Wyatt laughs, bone-dry. “My family? Nah. Grandpa Sherwin died a few years ago. Jess’s family has – they’re in town, they’ve been with the cops. I get the feeling that they think I should be at the station more, that I wasn’t there for her when she was alive and now I’m not there for her when she’s – ”

He stops. He can’t bear the fact that he almost said it, that it seemed so terribly possible. It feels like there’s a boulder wedged in his throat, and he rubs his hand over his eyes, trying to collect himself. “Anyway,” he manages. “I told them that I was – that I was working on something, and – this is my fault, I know it is. But if it’s not just some local scumbag, if it’s more – if it’s them – ”

Lucy doesn’t answer immediately. He can hear what she must be thinking – that he’s got a lot of nerve strolling into her life again, dumping a sob story about his wife on her, and assuming she will return to something that must hurt her as well, that she will unearth what must be some not-very-well-buried bodies and contend once more with the ghosts. She would be justified in any or all of it, and he tries to steady himself for her telling him to take a hike. There might still be some other way to track down Flynn, though it gets much narrower and more impossible if so. But when there’s nothing else but this –

“Okay,” Lucy says, quiet and level and cool as stone. “What do you need?”

This is not the wisest idea Lucy has ever had, not by a long shot. She should be unnerved, perhaps (but again, that is the whole point) at how greatly not-wise it is. And yet. She’s not.

It feels like something has changed in her, turned as sharply as a key, and she’s not even sure what. Just in that moment of finally accepting that Flynn was gone (the way that Wyatt is desperate not to do with Jessica, but it is not for Lucy to decide that before its time) it was like she woke up, somehow. There was never any chance that she was going to sit around and languish on a couch and weep. She got right on with her life, professionally and personally, and she’s done fine with it. And yet, after her visit to her mother’s the other day, when she’s gotten even fewer answers than she has questions, when she realized that she’s lived like she’s sleepwalking, determined that things are normal, not to rock the boat, to make everyone else’s lives easier and safer, pushing herself further and further away –

She doesn’t know what, but she’s sick of it, she’s angry, she’s tired, and she’s not willing to do it anymore. So suddenly, when Wyatt Logan calls out of the clear blue sky, says his wife is missing, and hints that he thinks Rittenhouse has something to do with it, Lucy’s game.

She drives to her mom’s house when she knows that Carol will be out for a doctor’s appointment, goes upstairs, and gets the gun out of the box. Takes the ammunition as well, hurries down to her car feeling properly scandalous – she has never done something like this, it doesn’t even feel like her. She’s licensed the gun in the state of California, she’s allowed to carry it, but she still puts it in the glovebox and locks it. Her hands are shaking, but she clenches them, and they stop. Then she drives back to Stanford, finishes her day, and waits.

It’s around five o’clock when there’s a knock on her office door, and she stands up to open it. Has guessed who it is, but it’s still a small shock to see him in person. He doesn’t look that great, with a missing wife and a long drive under his belt, but he manages a wan smile and offers his hand. “Hey, Lucy.”

Lucy pauses, then reaches out and hugs him. She doesn’t know why, other than that he looks like he could use it, and Wyatt goes briefly stiff, then awkwardly hugs her back. They step apart after a moment, and he clears his throat. “I – so. . . how. . . how are you?”

“Fine.” The word almost lives on her lips these days. “It’s not going to cause you any problems with the cops or Jessica’s family if you came up here, is it?”

“Them?” Wyatt laughs bitterly. “They’ve never exactly been my biggest fans, and honestly, I’m not sure I blame them anymore. Her stepdad almost didn’t attend the wedding – he’s a son of a bitch anyway, but. . . yeah. I told them I was working on something to get her back, and that’s not a lie. Told them to call if the cops – ” He stops. “Well, if anything came up.”

Lucy supposes this is his business, and what they are proposing is going to take enough attention and concentration that they don’t need any more distractions. Wyatt waits as she finishes up a few things, turns off the lights, and grabs her purse. They have a few hours to kill, so they get a quick dinner and try to catch up. The conversation isn’t exactly bountiful, and it’s hard to be sure what the dynamic here should be. Old friends? Not exactly friends, but they did trust each other in a tight spot, and they’re not strangers. Heist partners preparing for the night’s action? Some of that is true, but still. Should she be comforting him, offering to talk him through his problems? She is not a trained psychiatrist, and she gets the sense that Wyatt’s problems are a lot more than she’s reasonably prepared to take any kind of crack at, but there’s also value to be had in just talking to someone who cares. She doesn’t get the feeling there’s a whole lot of that in his life, really. Especially not now.

In any case, it’s getting later, and it’s time to put their plan (such as it is) into action. There is a solid chance that this night ends with both of them arrested, but (who is she and what has she done with Lucy Preston) the idea almost exhilarates her. They drop off her car at home, and Wyatt glances at the house. “All that space just for you?”

“I – no. We – live together. My boy – boyfriend and I.” Lucy feels like a high schooler about to blush at saying the word, given how awkward it feels on her tongue. “Noah.”

“That was – ” Wyatt gives her a funny look. “Wait, was that the doctor at the hospital when Flynn was shot?”

“Yeah. We dated a couple years before that, and I… we got back together about a year ago.” Lucy goes around the side of Wyatt’s truck and climbs in, hoping that none of the neighbors are peering out their windows and will feel like telling Noah about it later. Suburbanites are in fact horrible gossips, apparently. But this way, they streamline their operations, Noah will hopefully just think she’s out for a walk or whatever when he gets home, and it’s just easier to do this in one car. “He works in Oakland now.”

Wyatt glances at her, but doesn’t say anything, as if well aware that he has no stones to throw at anyone else’s relationship choices. He starts the truck and they pull out, heading down the street and back toward the freeway. Here goes nothing.

They are, of course, not going to do this like total savages and/or jailbirds if at all avoidable, and pull into the Mason Industries parking lot when, as planned, it has almost cleared out for the day. There are in fact almost no cars there, which might either make things easier or much more complicated, and Wyatt considers it with a furrowed brow. “Technically, we’re still going to have to break in,” he says. “Let me take the lead, all right? I’ve got a lot less to lose if I’m popped for B&E, but I’m guessing Stanford would be less impressed.”

“I don’t care,” Lucy says, startling herself. She leans forward and checks that the zipped gun case is still in her purse; she took it out of the glovebox before leaving her car. “We’re going to save your wife, all right? We’re going to save your wife and I don’t care if we have to step on Rittenhouse’s toes to do it. I’m tired of waiting and worrying if they’re coming after me again one day. Maybe it’s time we found out.”

And with that, as Wyatt is still blinking, Lucy pushes open the truck door and steps down into the blurry blue evening. She unzips the case and checks that the gun is loaded, but that the safety is on and there’s no risk of it discharging automatically. Her hands are almost practiced at this, though she has obviously never been in a real situation of possibly having to use it and doesn’t know that she ever wants there to be a first. Obviously, they are not going to blaze in and hold a lab full of terrified scientists (or even the lab’s night crew) hostage, but Wyatt wants to talk to Connor Mason, and Lucy intends to see that he does. If that involves a little hardball, even though ‘hardball’ is far from a five-foot-five history professor’s skill set, fine.

They cross the parking lot and head for the visitor’s entrance, which is still open. They push the glass doors open and stroll down to the reception area, where the poor receptionist is just switching off her computer and preparing to go home. At the sight of them, she looks up with a start. “I’m sorry, we’re just about to – there aren’t any more appointments scheduled, I’m sorry, I was just about to lock the building, sir, ma’am, so – ”

“Hi,” Lucy says, smiling sweetly. “We’d like to talk to Connor Mason.”

The receptionist goggles at her. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, this is past business hours. Besides, Mr. Mason is out of the country until next week. Obviously, he’s a very important and busy man, you can’t just expect to walk in off the street and expect to see him – ”

“Fine.” Wyatt steps up next to Lucy. “Who else is here?”

The receptionist’s eyes whiz back and forth between them. She is obviously getting the sense that they are neither a pair of IT professionals late for an appointment, or a couple of starstruck fans wandering off the street and trying to cadge a meeting with their idol for a viral video. She makes a move as if to reach for a security button under the desk, but Wyatt says, “I wouldn’t, ma’am.”

The receptionist glances at Lucy, clearly hoping for some female solidarity here. Normally, that is 100% Lucy’s bag otherwise, but tonight, alas, principles have to be sacrificed in more ways than one. “Tammy,” she says, glancing at the ID badge around the receptionist’s neck. “How about we just borrow that for a few minutes? You sit here and we’ll be right back.”

“I’m going to call security,” Tammy the receptionist warns them. “You need to – ”

“I wouldn’t,” Wyatt repeats. “What you’re going to do is switch off the security cameras, or at least scramble them for a few minutes. We don’t want to hurt you, ma’am, we don’t want to hurt you at all. But we need some answers, and we won’t leave until we have them.”

“I told you. Mr. Mason isn’t here.” Tammy’s face is white. “I couldn’t bring you to talk to him even if I wanted to. I don’t know what you want. Please, I have two children, I – ”

“Calm down,” Lucy says gently. “We’re not here to hurt you, like he said. But even if Mason isn’t here, there has to be someone else we can speak with.”

“No, they’re – it’s a team trip, all the project leads and main engineers went to London, it’s only a few part-timers here, and they’re gone for the night. I don’t want to lose my job, I – ”

“Yeah?” Wyatt says roughly. “Well, I really didn’t want to lose my wife. So I guess it’s going to be hard knocks for everybody, isn’t it? How about his office? Can you take us to his office? Probably won’t be able to get into his computer, but there have to be some paper files. Your boss know anything about Rittenhouse? Probably does, doesn’t he? Since he’s in it?”

Tammy flinches as if she’s been slapped. “Sir – ” She looks appealingly back at Lucy. “Please, it’s – you don’t know, you – ”

“I think you should take us to Connor Mason’s office,” Lucy says, gently but relentlessly. “I really think you should.”

Tammy hesitates.

Lucy reaches into her purse, and draws out what’s in her hand just enough to be seen.

Tammy blanches, and Wyatt blinks again, as if he had no idea she was carrying until now and is impressed (and slightly turned on) despite himself. Lucy shakes her head minutely at him when he opens his mouth as if to ask, and they wait until Tammy, fingers trembling, takes her key card, swipes it, and enters a few things clearly intended to put a five-minute freeze on the relevant cameras. Then she clicks around the desk, beckons them with a very tight nod, and starts to walk, as Lucy realizes she can’t let her get too far ahead of them, and jogs to catch up. She takes firm hold of Tammy’s wrist, and the other woman jerks as if it’s a handcuff. Lucy has never had anyone look at her with that much fear and revulsion before, and she isn’t sure she likes it. And yet, there is an unmistakable frisson of power that is, in a sick way, kind of appealing. Oh God, she isn’t a psycho, is she? She’s not. She’s not.

They walk down a glass corridor that overlooks a vast, dim steel warehouse, banked with computers and consoles on every side. It looks kind of like NASA launch headquarters, an impression reinforced by the sight of the large white plasteel eyeball sitting on struts in the middle of the expanse. It’s banded with blue blinking lights, increasing its resemblance to a UFO even more, and Lucy suddenly thinks that she might know exactly what that is. There has, obviously, still been a kernel of doubt in her mind – Emma was convinced that Mason Industries was building a time machine and she was test-piloting it, yes, but Emma was crazy. This, though. It could somehow be a film prop that Mason Industries is building for some bizarre reason rather than a set dresser in Hollywood, but Lucy doesn’t think so.

Wyatt, who has no clue (probably for the best) that time travel enters into this anywhere, is totally befuddled, but Lucy once more shakes her head at him. They complete the traverse to the doors of important-looking offices – Connor Mason, Anthony Bruhl, a couple others – and Tammy swipes her key card to open Connor’s. One of them is going to have to watch her while the other ransacks for useful intel. Otherwise she will run away and raise the alarm, and then they’re definitely getting arrested. Or worse.

With Tammy still firmly in hand, Lucy ventures over the threshold. She has no idea how they’re supposed to shake down Mason’s office in five minutes or less for some convenient Rittenhouse papers that he might just happen to have in some carelessly unsecured file cabinet. Wyatt, however, clearly doesn’t care if they’re secured or not. He takes a small crowbar out of his jacket and advances in after the women, looking around as if to decide where he needs to start smashing. Lucy appears to be on Tammy-minding duty, but she hopes Wyatt doesn’t leave too much of a mess. There’s no guarantee how long the cameras stay off. Or did they actually even go off in the first place? Maybe they should have worn balaclavas like proper robbers. Wyatt’s right, Stanford will not be enthused, and –

Just then, all the remaining blinking lights in the room, and along the hall, go dark. Wyatt, who was about to start bashing the bejesus out of Connor Mason’s file cabinets, stops with a startled curse, and Lucy thinks that this must be it, Tammy tricked them and the emergency protocol is kicking in. But if so, you’d expect klaxons and flashing lights, not just silent darkness. What the hell? Power just shut down at eight o’clock every night? But from what little Lucy can make out of Tammy’s face in the red emergency backups that are just flickering on, she is as startled as they are. Wasn’t expecting that.

Lucy looks down into the launch area, which she can see from Mason’s magisterial God’s eye view of his kingdom, and her heart skips a beat. She can just see a dark figure wending through the shadows, making its way purposefully toward the time machine (as it has to be). There’s someone else here, someone else broke in, shut down the lights and surveillance with a lot more skill than their clumsy receptionist kidnapping, and is making for its – for his? – target like a homing pigeon. No way to tell if it’s bad news or worse.

“Wyatt?” Lucy hisses. “Wyatt!”

Wyatt, who has clearly been about to decide if he should just smash some shit anyway for the stress relief, looks over with a start and follows her pointing finger down to the interloper on the operations floor. He stashes the crowbar hastily back in his jacket and pulls out his gun instead, then strides out of the office and toward the metal stairs that open into the warehouse. Lucy hurries after him, Tammy bumping in her wake like a kite on the end of a string, then pushes her down to hide behind a computer bank, which the receptionist does only too gladly. If she can somehow call 911 from there, well, that’s another problem. Lucy wants to have her hands free in case Wyatt needs any help.

She reaches in, pulls out the gun, and switches the safety off. Can in fact feel the difference, the way it comes alive, and advances at Wyatt’s side in recon stance. They’re just on the other side of the time machine from the intruder, and Lucy and Wyatt flatten themselves stealthily against it, guns in hand. They exchange a look, trying to decide if they need to actually fire. Not in a warehouse full of priceless technology, not when they’ve already illegally entered, not when they don’t know who the other person or what they want, but –

They can hear footsteps. They need to make a decision.

They throw themselves out from behind the time machine and come around, raising their guns at the intruder, who – even faster than them – has already done the same. Lucy has an indistinct impression of unusual height, and a merciless stare in the low, hellish light, and then, all the blood draining out of her head, her heart, her world. It can’t be, it can’t, and yet. All along, there was really no one else it could be.

She can’t get enough air into her lungs, and isn’t sure she will again. Her strangled whisper sounds as loud as a shout.

“Flynn?”

#lucy x flynn #garcy #garcy ff #timeless ff #the tangled web of fate we weave

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gazzhowie · 4 years ago

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My Top 25 Movies of 2020.

It is indeed time… or at least, as is tradition, it is indeed now overdue for me to dust off the cobwebs from my Tumblr account and post my Top 25 movies of the year. This time for 2020. That funny old year, huh? Where - if some are to be stupidly believed - “no films got released because of the pandemic”.

I thought I was done with this after 12 years and concluding with my Top 25 of the decade effort and yet here I am. Back rather egotistically because 2 people told me how much they look forward to reading this. Go figure! Years 2008 through to present are available in the archive. Frequent visitors know that I’ll throw out a few special mentions to all the films that I wish I could’ve included but couldn’t make them fit yet believe they deserve a shout out regardless and then I get stuck in to what I think are the 25 best films of the year.

As always, films listed are based on their UK release date whether that’s in the cinema or on DVD, VOD etc. Anyway, without further ado, here’s the ‘also-rans’ and ‘near-misses’ separated per genre that very nearly made the final list:

Setting my stall out straight away, Steve McQueen’s Small Axe was very much TV to me and won’t get ranked within my film listing. I loved two of the efforts a great deal (Education and Mangrove), liked two but found them lacking (Red, White & Blue and Alex Wheatle) and did not get what everyone else seems to from the other (Lover’s Rock).

In terms of documentaries this year, I thought Frank Marshall did a fabulous job with The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart; a comprehensive study of the personal complexities and professional excellence of an incredibly underappreciated band. I found On The Record to be a difficult but inspiring watch and its background ‘politics’ exposed the hypocrisy of Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey in a manner we’re not talking loud enough about. Hitsville: The Making of Motown was an extensive, lovely historical tribute to an era and a style of music, full of great tunes and equally great talking head anecdotes. And finally Belushi managed to find fresh angles and previously untold stories about one of the most mythologised comedy stars of all time, simply by pulling the man to the forefront ahead of his talents.

For dramas, I enjoyed Trial of the Chicago 7 a great deal and am an absolute sucker for the work of Aaron Sorkin but bad casting (Eddie Redmayne) and stunt casting (Sacha Baron Cohen) hurt this film. I’m a sucker for a disaster movie and Pål Øie made an incredibly entertaining one with the Norwegian high-melodrama, The Tunnel. Edward Norton’s long-gestating Motherless Brooklyn was a solid, old-fashioned PI yarn with some great casting to back it up. It’s the most alive Bruce Willis has been in years and it served to remind you that Alec Baldwin can be quite the terrific actor when he’s not being an utter joke of a human. I liked The Vast of Night a great deal when in the throes of watching it but liked it less in the aftermath. Cut Throat City was the underrated dramatic gem of the year in a lot of ways and showed that RZA has a great deal of skill as a legit filmmaker, when not being caught up in the ‘gimmicks’. O.G finally landed here via Sky Atlantic of all places, rather than any sort of VOD release, and it was an enthralling drama that served to remind us all how brilliant Jeffrey Wright can be when not overacting to the point of cringe or being stuck with really terrible writing (hello, TV’s Westworld!).

With the blockbuster season at the cinema all but dead from the outset, the joys of the action genre were to be found in the little b-movies tucked away on streaming platforms and VOD. Quick notable exceptions were The Outpost which was a reminder that Rod Lurie can deliver a hell of an action sequence, blighted by truly awful film-damaging casting and Extraction which was a well-directed derivative piece of hokum. Donnie Yen delivered an earnest, entertaining end to one of the surprise action franchises of the last decade with IP Man 4 that not even Scott Adkins could fuck up. Hack director Deon Taylor accidentally delivered Black and Blue; a pretty good ode to the ‘man on the run’ non-stop action thrillers of the 80s and 90s – with Naomi Harris killing it in the lead role. Netflix tucked away two of the greatest b-movie actioners of 2020 with The Decline (a ‘Doomsday Preppers’ training camp goes horribly wrong) and Earth & Blood (a sawmill owner uses his place of work as a battleground to take on the cartel). And, finally, the Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee) Taken rip-off Unstoppable arrived to streaming and turned out to be vastly superior to all of the films it was a knock-off of.

It was a great year for horror, especially if you were open to the sort of scares you were after. Sea Fever didn’t stick the landing but delivered an ace sense of foreboding and tension building for the most part. Harpoon was a sneakily nasty, surprisingly engrossing, violent little film. VFW was a lot of fun but nowhere near as good as its concept and cast suggested it was going to be. It’s also been subsequently marred by the stories coming out of its production and the revelations about Fred Williamson. I thought Come To Daddy was an absolute gift of a horror comedy that kept swerving whenever you thought you had a handle on where it was going. And Elijah Wood continues to show himself to be an American national treasure. After Midnight was an intriguing relationship drama with a horror bent and You Should Have Left, the Stir of Echoes reunion we’ve all long sought, would work as an off-kilter double-bill with it. Kevin Bacon is brilliant in it. Vampires Vs The Bronx is a totally disposable but immensely fun ode to The Lost Boys and The Monster Squad that’ll serve you well on a lazy Saturday night. Black Water: Abyss was a really good little creature feature with a ridiculous ending that infuriates. And Train To Busan: Pennisular was a pretty shit Train to Busan sequel but an immensely entertaining post-apocalyptic zombie action movie.

Onwards is worth mentioning for the fun and moving animated ride it initially presents as but, like too much Pixar nowadays, it does not hold up to repeat viewing.

Comedy-wise, I thoroughly enjoyed Bill & Ted Face The Music but thought its gag-rate was far too hit and miss for it to take a place on the top spot. Buffaloed was a kind of “M’eh” blue-collar Wolf of Wall Street with yet another fantastic ‘How the fuck isn’t she a huge star already’ turn from Zoey Deutch. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made was a quirky out-of-leftfield oddity that me and my eldest son enjoyed a great deal. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga was not the travesty you would’ve thought it’d be, mainly because of Rachel McAdams, but if Will Ferrell had just leaned a little harder towards his more absurdist style of humour (the killer fairy shit for example?) this could have been so much more. Finally, the second Borat film had some utterly majestic moments of cringe-comedy that make it worthy of a mention but the mechanics of joke-execution and faked set-pieces were far more on show this time around.

And now, if you’re still hanging in there that is, here is my actual Top 25 films of 2020…

25. Skyfire

I don't know whether it's because I’ve been starved of my usual 'Summer Silly Season' this year but I absolutely fucking LOVED this. It's the stupidest, most ridiculous, relentlessly bonkers "Jurassic Park - but with volcanos" fare you could ask for. I have no idea what the fuck Jason Isaac is doing in this but I’m so glad he is because it just adds to the glorious WTF-ery of it all. It's 30 minutes of mechanical lay-up followed by 60 minutes of non-stop, audacious carnage. It's been a long time since me and my wife have had this much fun watching something.

24. Bad Education

Dropped exclusively to Sky Cinema here, this is a great little film that has a shocking true story at its centre. Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney are absolutely terrific. Both of them are the sort of talents who've been in bad movies but never ever given a bad performance regardless.

Here both Jackman and Janney are having a ball with the material and they elevate a very good film into something that demands to be seen.

23. Blood Quantum

This was definitely one of the first-class b-movie horrors of the year for me. It does wonders on screen with very little AND it gives a shot in the arm to the zombie subgenre. It leads you into thinking you're getting yet another zombie-breakout film before expertly wrongfooting you into growing into something else. It's a Native American NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD meets MAD MAX!

22. Bad Boys For Life

This was a first-rate blast, it really was. From the inexplicable reusing of the 'Simpson/Bruckheimer' production card to the reworking of Mark Mancina's original theme, it draws you straight back to that 1990s blockbuster vibe. It's not just very funny and stacked with some pretty decent action sequences but, rather bizarrely, it actually has something interesting to say about ageing and masculinity... because nowadays Joe Carnahan is killing it when it comes to introspective recalibrations on what it means to be a man. If you were to spoil this movie for someone and reveal what the "twist" is it would sound like the stupidest, hokiest shit ever. And yet inexplicably they make it work. And furthermore, Martin Lawrence goes from the tag-along in this franchise to the platinum level MVP here. The entire final third is held up higher by his insanely good line delivery ("Would you fuck a witch without a condom?") and it's most likely how he plays shit as to why that stupid, hokey plot twist works as well as it does.

Over the course of three separate decades each BAD BOYS entry has, in itself, served to be a somewhat accidentally perfect reflection of the very cinematic decade it landed in: The first is possibly one of the last to truly and wholeheartedly successfully land that perfect marriage between the 'MTV era' and the blockbusters; bringing about the boom of the "music video director as filmmaker" that the 1990s became well known for. The second was a pitch perfect reflection of the gratuitous, often empty-headed, completely excessive pop culture period we were birthing in the 2000s. And the third lands now, right in the very time period where masculinity is being put under a spotlight and men are being asked to be more self-reflective about themselves and their conduct.

With that said, the fourth will obviously therefore land sometime in 2029 and deal with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence wandering a pandemic-ravaged Miami wasteland.

21. Wolfwalkers

This is one of the most lovely, visually wondrous, sumptuous animated films you'll experience this year. Or in quite some time, actually. It’s not just a great adventure film but it’s also a really effective ‘message’ movie that manages to teach about tolerance and friendship along with the perils of fear-mongering, without ever being overly preachy.

20. An American Pickle

This was one of the surprises of the year for me; I THOUGHT I was getting a quirky Seth Rogen fish-out-of-water comedy and instead I got that... with a massive dollop of heart, humour and interesting things to say about legacy and 'cancel culture'. I liked it a lot. It's also further evidence of how intriguing a talent Seth Rogen is becoming; jumping between broad commercial fare and original off-kilter stuff like this, producing and developing fascinating projects for film and TV and working to pass the ladder back down to others too.

19. Get Duked

I say this with only a modicum of bias as I know someone who worked a little bit on this film but this was genuinely brilliant - the absolute laugh-out-loud delight we all need right now. At the time I watched this I don’t think I’d smiled in nearly a fortnight but this broke through with me. Its wrap-up is a little too silly for its own good but that aside, this thing is absolutely stuffed with some TRULY great gags! This is one of the best comedies of the year for me.

18. Host

I had been giving this the big ol' swerve because it sounded like unoriginal, overhyped pish frankly and... fuck it, if that hype isn't absolutely deserved: It's a lean, effective, scary incredibly enjoyable ride. Made all the more fascinating by the fact it was made remotely on a shoestring with the director apparently never being in the same room as his cast at any one time due to Covid restrictions.

NB: I could not find a GIF to represent Rob Savage’s Host sufficiently so here’s Jack Black doing a backyard pandemic dance instead...

17. Sweetheart

What a crackin, lean, little horror thriller it is. It gets straight underway from its fade-up and never overcooks itself or leans hard on lazy exposition, silly character actions or bad deus ex machinas. Remember when Jonathan Mostow made BREAKDOWN and it felt like such a shot in the arm for the man-against-the-odds/standard thriller? This is like that - but for survival dramas and creature features! It commits fully to its high concept, helped along by a truly excellent performance by Kiersey Clemons and some really well-delivered set-pieces (that first flare scene is very well done!). If you watched Tom Hanks in CASTAWAY and thought to yourself "This film is great but what it really needs is a monster!" then this is definitely the film for you. And if you believe the rumours, it’s allegedly a sneaky Creature From The Black Lagoon redo for Blumhouse’s expanding ‘Monster Universe’ too.

16. Soul

I really connected with this. I like Inside Out a great deal but I’ve never understood why it's spoken of as a flawless masterpiece when it's overlong, tonally all over the place and has clunky as fuck casting. In the same breath, I don't understand why the reviews for this are so disparate. I thought it was a wonderful way to spend 100+ minutes. It was visually inventive, funny and inspiring. It doesn't quite seed its VERY deep otherworld-building foundations and Graham Norton doesn't really work in his role but overall I thought it was a delight. And, unlike Onwards, it really does lend itself to repeat visits.

15. Tenet

I had real trepidation about seeing this what with the reviews being all over the place but... well... Is it complete, barely comprehensible bunkum of the highest order? Yes. Could the film have benefited from Nolan letting his brother Jonathan have a pass at the script? Hell yes! Is it most definitely not the majestic masterpiece of masterpieces it thinks it is? Yup. Yet in spite of ALL that I had an absolute blast with it, I really did. If you give it a seconds thought it crumbles completely as the utter egotistical piffle it really is. But where it excels is in looking so gorgeous, being so kinetic and massive with its action and casting with actors who sell the shit out of a hokey script that you're so consumed with the spectacle you don't smell the bullshit until its over. Washington Jr has come out of nowhere these last few years to make me a big fan of his work - and Robert Pattinson has went from being an actor I couldn't fucking abide to being someone I now really rate and who I came away from watching this thinking "Yeah, that's your goddamn perfect James Bond right there!"

14. Da 5 Bloods

It works infinitely better as a 'men on a mission' action adventure shot through the off-kilter lens of a Spike Lee "joint" then it does as a searing commentary about race, war, etc. And that's probably why Spike's choice to include real war atrocity photos and documentary footage alongside the narrative doesn't land as successfully as he probably intended it to. But as an overall film, it's a genuinely great watch. Delroy Lindo has always been one of the greatest working actor. Here he perhaps delivers his ultimate masterclass. Regardless of whether awards season moves online or not, you cannot have any SERIOUS dialogue during it that doesn't have his performance heading the conversation. Ignore the dickheads online putting this in the same bubble as TROPIC THUNDER or DIE HARD (??). This is a wink and a nod to TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE and APOCALYPSE NOW, through and through. It's big, bombastic, broad and unafraid to swing out in every direction. It's not flawless but that doesn't mean it's not fuckin ~great~!

13. His House

This very much stands as both one of the most impressive debuts and modern horror movies I’ve seen in quite some time. It's an effective, lean, interesting film that buries under your skin and takes up residency there. Go into it knowing as little as you possibly can and then let it scare the shit out of you and, in its reveals, kick the shit back into you.

12. Tread

I really, REALLY liked this. It's my favourite documentary film of this year - made by that fella who did the bonkers-bad killer dog in the warehouse movie with Adrian Brody, no less! It's an absolutely fascinating true story I knew nothing about, brilliantly intermingling talking heads, archival news footage, dramatic reconstruction and audio recordings. It'll really drop your jaw - it's most definitely one of those 'needs to be seen to be believed' type deals because if you described this to someone as having happened they'd never believe you!

11. Bacarau

No plot description really does this film justice and the less you know going in the better an experience you’ll have. It’s an odd, deeply violent, unsettling, darkly funny, bizarro confection of The Most Dangerous Game meets Assault on Precinct 13 and… well… even that doesn’t really do the film any justice whatsoever. It’s a critique of dire political circumstance mixed with political satire mixed with the tropes of the Western, the siege movie and both horror and comedy. It’s very much its own thing. And that’s what makes it so wonderous.

... and it’s sort of both wondrous AND weird that when searching for Bacarau related GIFs, this was the Brazilian offering I was given! I apologise.

10. Alone

I found this came out of nowhere to be one of my favourite films of the year; a crazily efficient, brutal B-movie without an inch of fat on it that works its propulsive and well-structured screenplay hard to make you feel like you're seeing a new variant on the "stalked woman in peril" film. John Hyams - son of Peter and the man who reconfigured the UNIVERSAL SOLDIER franchise to superb effect - has made one hell of an effective movie that beautifully captures the vastness of the Pacific Northwest: this is one part DUEL, one part FIRST BLOOD, all parts odes to everything from THE GREY, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and the last third of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. It's very easy to make films like this. But it's clearly hard to make them as great as Hyams has done here, otherwise everyone would be doing it. Maybe coz what those films don't have is lead performances as strong and brilliant as Jules Willcox and Marc Menchaca give here.

9. American Murder: The Family Next Door

This is an incredibly powerful true crime documentary on a horrific tragedy, in which Jenny Popplewell tightly and clinically weaves through police interviews, news coverage and Shanann Watts' phone, laptop and social media to weave a moving and ultimately devastating portrait of her and her children's death at the hands of one of the worst forms of evil I’ve ever been exposed to. This still haunts me to this day.

8. Greyhound

I was really impressed with this. A crisp, lean, tension-drenched watch with yet another rock solid Tom Hanks performance centring it. It strips back all the tropes of these war pictures - the character backstories about post-war hopes and dreams, the cutaways to the families back home, the subplots involving the villains - and keeps a propulsive commitment to just this situation, this boat and the people on it; who only talk to one another about the job they're doing. As a result, it's completely involving and committed with action set-pieces that are clean, tense and entertaining as hell. Genuinely had a great time watching this and highly recommend it.

7. #Alive

Whilst the TRAIN TO BUSAN sequel earned rightfully shakey reviews, think of this as an unofficial prequel / 'side-sequel'. It is a tight, disciplined thrill-ride that throws up some interesting spins on old zombie set-pieces (climbing zombie vs. toy drone, for example). It may well deflate as it heads to its denouement but all before it was strong and entertaining enough for it to stand as one of his favourite horrors from this year.

6. The Invisible Man

This started good... then got very good... then got quite frankly flat-out tremendous and then entered a final third flipping anyone the 'bird' who thought that the trailers gave too much away. There is some truly tremendous, inventive and not at all 'cheap' jump scares. In fact, the whole second act is nothing else BUT terrifically effective scare after scare. All bolstered by a REALLY committed lead performance by Elizabeth Moss. Between this and UPGRADE, Leigh Whannell has not only become seriously one to watch but he's possibly just outed himself as John Carpenter's one-true heir.

5. Lynn + Lucy

I was left completely broken by this - what a truly fantastic piece of British cinema; a dark, uncompromising morality play for the modern age with a truly jaw-dropping performance by Nicola Burley. And, Jesus Christ, what an unbelievable find Roxanne Scrimshaw is?? THIS is her acting debut? Holy SHITBALLS! It's harrowing stuff that'll really make you think.

4. Parasite

This really is absolutely ~everything~ people are claiming it to be and more too! It's an exquisite piece of work, in love with the art of spinning out a story, narrative layers, sociological parables and effortlessly terrific direction. It builds and builds in an utterly enthralling manner and then... the pressure valve pops, taking you down a whole other audacious avenue that'll have you giggling at the insanity but still completely hooked.

3. Uncut Gems

It’s alright been memed and GIF’d to death but that doesn’t change the fact that it really is an astounding film - it's completely exhausting and quite honestly one of the most anxiety-inducing films I’ve seen in a long, long time. Even on multiple go-arounds, I found myself screaming at the screen, begging Adam Sandler's character to just fucking STOP for five seconds and... and... it's inescapable as to the direction down in which it heads but it goes there at such a propulsive rate, it is actually scary. An absolutely astounding film - it's like a John Cassavetes film shot with the adrenaline drawn from a Michael Bay action movie... and believe every bit of the buzz: Adam Sandler is jaw-droppingly fucking excellent in this!

2. Wolf of Snow Hollow

I thought this was a complete delight. Once again Jim Cummings has taken a film 'type' you THINK you know and infused it with his own very specific sense of humour to give us something that's very much delightfully off-kilter. What's more, as a sophomore directing effort, Cummings deserves all the plaudits for the massive advancement: There's action scenes and scary set-pieces that are really first rate and are way more accomplished than what you'd expect from someone only on their second movie and have never worked in the horror genre before. Cummings is REALLY funny in the lead role too but it's Robert Forster's final performance that'll break your heart. He was a hard miss anyway but this very much drives home what a great guy we've lost.

1. The Way Back

Gavin O'Connor has hit the trifecta with this, Miracle and Warrior on making a masterful sports drama and using it as a platform to 'say something' and draw a career best from a talented but under-appreciated actor (first Kurt Russell, then Nick Nolte and now Ben Affleck).

Affleck is astounding here. Fallible, real and pained. He's truly brilliant. There’s a realism to every movement he makes and every breath he exhales that only someone who has struggled with addiction will recognise. And around him is a deconstruction of the sporting underdog movie as we know it - it's only by the end that we truly realise that this has always been about the connections made through the game rather than the game itself.

Like with Warrior, you can go back and watch this umpteen times and find different strokes in the human and unspoken moments. If ever there was a secretly feel-good film for 2020 it is this – the movie that tells us that it doesn’t matter how hard or how far we fall, we are defined only by the moments in which we rise again.

And that’s that. See you all next year. Maybe ;)

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spiralatlas · 7 years ago

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GCAP 2017 Day 2

Consisting of:

More Wheelchair Hell

student games

Tony Albrecht from RIOT games

Jennifer Schuerle: Why ladders are awesome: A game design lesson in spatial design

Kate Edwards: Striking the hammer: the advocate’s journey

So the day started with me banging my newly hired mobility scooter INTO THE WALL of our apartment building and leaving a HUGE HOLE. Which was not great. But the security guard was nice about it after we showed ourselves happy to leave our details, and organised an easier way in and out via the garage. I spent the rest of the day VERY AWARE of this thing's massive turning circle. My husband Cam was an absolute life-saver, cheering me up and getting me stuff.

Also I managed to GET A SMOOTHIE IN THE END. I noodled south to the South Mebourne Markets, a hub of fancy food places which are only open a few days a week, and had a very nice if expensive vegan salted caramel smoothie and also a nice apple and raspberry sorbet from Fritz Gelato.

Anyway, on to the actual conference :)

The student games:

Unbond: a cute platform puzzler I actually managed to enjoy??

Harvest Hands a 3D farming sim, like Stardew Valley in the style of Slime Rancher.

Just Bearly an interesting series of metaphorical vignettes about awkwardness and anxiety.

Carta A very clever puzzle platformer where you rearrange the platforms, won the Student Showcase award.

Lacuna A point and click murder mystery using time travel and a really interesting connect the clues mechanic.

Komorebi (I couldn't find a link): a cute turn-based rpg using cards.

Misc Convention Stuff: I didn't mention this before but they had gender neutral toilets! I felt too self conscious to use the 'men's but it was nice to have the option. Also the volunteers were super concerned and helpful when my wheelchair broke. They didn't end up being able to fix it but tried really hard.

One of the speakers actually remembered non binary people exist one time when talking about gender bias in the industry!

I didn't go to the awards ceremony because it was at night and also I find awards super boring but seeing everyone talk about it on social media later it sounds like it would have been cool to go.

Opening Keynote: Tony Albrecht from RIOT games

He showed the path his career has taken, and where he and his early colleagues have ended up, updating a world map labeled with a network of connections.

He started out in Adelaide in 1999, he realised he was utterly miserable at his (mining?) job and wanted to get into games. His friends and family thought this was a terrible idea.

He went to AGDC and met other people like himself, forming Ratbag games in Adelaide.

Then they got bought out by a huge company and put in charge of a huge IP, based on a movie, with lots of potential... and the project and his company got scrapped.

And then he joined anew little company and exactly the same thing happened again. And then again.

During one of these shakeups he managed to jump sideways to the US branch of the company via some guys he met at a party.

Is this kind of thing nepotism? Photo of Donald Trump and family. No, because it's not just about who you know and trust, it's also about competence. And when you meet someone in person it makes it easier to judge cultural fit. (He did not talk about how this kind of "cultural fit" tends to benefit white dudes such as himself. Also, I’ll pedantically point out it it would be 'cronyism' since it's not about family. Anyway, he’s right that for good or ill this is how things work)

The GFC caused a lot of people to lose their jobs, which was a horrible experience, but also brought down the dinosaurs of the industry, leaving space for the little mammal indies to feast on the dinosaur's bones.

In his final diagram, 22 people (I didn't follow who. People from Ratbag?) ended up covering 57 studios. All of those studios are now in a position to judge if he is any good, both competent and good to work with.

You can't just be good, you have to be known to be good, and good to work with. Market yourself.

Be both humble and ambitious.

Go to parties and meet people, but don't get so drunk you make an asshole of yourself.

Speak at conferences. He showed a photo of GDC and one of a games conference in Tehran, I found it interesting that the latter had way more people who I read as women (and of course was less universally white)

Surround yourself with people you want to be like, and be like the people you want to surround yourself with.

He's now at RIOT, a huge American company, and there are four people from Ratbag there.

Why ladders are Awesome: A game design lesson in spatial design Jennifer Schuerle Opaque Space @Gaohmee Training Astronauts with VR.

Visual stimuli guidance, tell players what to do and where to go. Lights: Points of interest. Colour theory. Positive vs negative feelings, mood. Logical pathways. Repetitive visuals guide players towards a goal.

Firewatch given as an example as being good at guiding the player (which shows that this stuff can be subjective because I got lost so much I had to give up haha) Uncharted, too.

More than just "good architecture". Oni used real architects as level designers and it was bad. The layout was boring and samey.

UX behavioural science.

Player expectations: a rusted barrel with a “flammable” symbol on it is read as "Shoot me and I will explode", which would weird people out in a pacifist game.

Health pack: Illegal to use a red cross against a white background for health. Instead people use a red H, blue cross etc.

Lock down parameters. How long should it take? Mission metrics. Visual themes. What need is this space supposed to fulfill?

Context: what does the player already know? eg in LA Noire you learn early that golden handles means an openable door.

Pacing: tension and mood is created by going from a confined space to large space, from dark to light. Make the player look away before a jump scare.

Explicit: Instructions telling the player exactly what to do. Implicit: in the environment Emergent: What the player makes up in conjunction with what is given by the game.

Some bad corridors:

Minecraft portal: doesn't look like it leads anywhere, looks like a dead end.

Portal corridor has extrusions in the wall hiding an upcoming intersection.

A good corridor: light highlights door, small flight of stairs hints to progression, hint of a curving corridor beyond the door, shows edge of the next room. Raised viewpoint makes it easier to see.

Ladders, interactive objects: must be clearly designed, grab attention, can lead to a surprise because you know where the player is facing and have a reason for things to change.

Buttons control exactly where the player is facing. It controls expectation.

Super Mario is a masterclass of level design. Include objects which illustrate the rules of the world.

Cognitive priming: Foreshadowing. If you show them before they have to do it they will do better.

(Alice?) shows you what you're going to do next with flythroughs, view from a hill etc. Gets players to follow the intended path.

Gone Home is one of the most important walking sims. You explore the world and character.

Players more on board if invested. Give them time to connect to characters and environments.

Give time, show they can trust your design.

Earthlight Arcade: 15 minute virtual space walk on the outside of international space station.

New technology means new challenges, for both devs and players.

Collaboration with NASA requires a commitment to a certain level of realism.

Astronaut suits are fucking annoying. Obstructs view, takes up lots of space.

Airlock: people have expectations that don't match actual airlocks. No up! Corridors tend to be round. Exit is on the side of the airlock, how do you point people towards it?

Cannot move without applying force, pulling on handlebars etc. People lean and it doesn't work. Can rotate in any direction when holding handlebars. (I asked if people get motion sickness and she said no, because they are in control, even if things work in unexpected ways)

The goal is to get the player to: learn how to move. Find the airlock hatch. Climb out feet first.

First attempt: "Ladder" of handlebars leading to airlock. Logos with text on to suggest an up. Didn't work.

Second Attempt: Narrow airlock so you have nowhere else to go but the door out. GIANT EXIT SIGN. Worked, but for the wrong reasons: players didn't notice the sign, there was just nowhere else to go.

People. Never. Read. People. Never. Listen.

Whenever people are overwhelmed, new information is hard to retain. It doesn't matter how clear your solution seems to be if the player doesn't get it. It's your responsibility to make it work.

Earthlight Arcade is at PAX in the freeplay area!

Summary: Make mechanics come first, use spatial design as a support tool.

Design for the human perception. How do humans navigate environments?

Believable carefully crafted environments mean people will follow your lead.

[email protected]

Question: How do you keep track of the player's centre of gravity? You can't with the current model. Don't model below the stomach.

Question: How did NASA feel about this highly innaccurate airlock? There are multiple builds. An easier and less precise one for the public, a more exact one for NASA they add their own models. They have to worry about tethers etc.

Closing Keynote: Striking the hammer: the Advocate’s journey Kate Edwards CEO & Principal Consultant, Geogrify Director of Outreach & Board Member, Take This Former Executive Director, IGDA [email protected] Twitter: @geogrify

Scholarship to GDC.

Pushed against various things (crunch, sexism etc) During Gamergate was a primary target, as was the organisation. Once you have 100 arrows in your back you don't feel any more.

Now works with Take This which focuses on mental health.

Her influences: Watched the moon landing. Tolkein's map helped her on path to becoming a cartographer. Star Wars. Pong.

Writer (wanted to be astronaut, star wars conceptual artist) -> cartographer -> VR researcher -> Geopolitical Strategist at MSFT -> Cultural consultant on games -> IGDA Executive Director -> Raging Advocate

Who am I? Created a unique Geopolitical career at Microsoft and Google. Worked on every Microsoft game 1994-2005 Worked on [redacted] for [redacted] Magazine columnist (other stuff I missed)

But then she was overwhelmed with self doubt and imposter syndrome. Watching the Matrix: "Don't think you are, know you are", she burst into tears.

She realised: Disbelief in your own skills doesn't make them disappear, or be invisible to those around you.

Know the reality of what others perceive in you, even if you struggle to think you have skills or not.

Imposter syndrome: What I know is a tiny subset of what everyone else knows. Reality: they are two overlapping sets of about the same size. The associated image

Comparison is the death of joy- Mark Twain.

Embrace your adversity. Treat it as your crucible, your forge. The Supreme Ordeal of the Heroes Journey.

Embrace your superpowers.

Even if it's self delusion it works. A bruise is a lesson and every lesson makes us better.

Be like Wonder Woman, stepping up out of the trench to stand up and do what's necessary. Only by emerging through the crucible can you do it.

Who am I? Someone who decided to give a shit. Evil triumphs when good people do nothing.

Cultural Change Catalyst

Change culture within: Games: Helped people stop making games that would be problematic in other cultures. Companies The Games Industry

Why do I care? Love. Respect. Admiration. Passion.

Humans have told narratives since the dawn of time and we in the games industry are changing how that works in new ways.

It's not about rage.

It's about righteous rage: A reactive emotion of anger in response to mistreatment, insult ...injustice.

Injustice: Crunch. Lack of diversity. Screwing over indie devs is wrong.

Inaction. Complacency.

righteous rage=advocacy

She became fierce.

Does a lot of cosplay, daughter is a costume designer. Wear it for a day first. First day she wore the Thor costume she felt kickass. I'm not pretending to be Thor I am Thor. An external representation of how she feels about herself.

The fierce formula (drawn for Inktober) authenticity/adversity, maintain conviction over rejection, willpower + (Fear times zero).

"Industry" thought of as a machine where people are cogs. The "industry" is us. If you don't like it, change it.

Video games seen as a waste, causes violence, played by children and boys, cause obesity, motivated by money. Who controls this narrative? Noone in particular. But we need to work together to try to fix it.

Perceptions of sexism going up, concern about diversity also up.

Most people think crunch unnecessary. Read Crunch hurts on takethis.org about the mental health effects.

People say can't change can't happen quickly. Photo of Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, Google manifesto dude. People say it takes time, but what it takes is willpower and people banding together. Change is punctuated.

FX network CEO decided to fix things. 2014 12% directors women or POC. 2016 51% directors women or POC.

Why can't games CEOs take a stand against crunch?

Focus on The Cause over the fear.

She would speak up against Gamergate again, despite knowing how she would be harassed later.

If everyone felt this way there'd be a wall of resistance, not just ripples but a tsunami.

Be willing to be relentless. Fervently support each other. Mentor each other. Reach out to people who need help. Act with common will.

Common question: will there be a union? Interest continuously increases. She was vague about whether she thought it was a good idea.

There were suggestions to join with hollywood unions but game creators would never be respected by them.

Everyone in history who made a change was "just one person". If you can't feed a hundred people just feed one.

She isn't trying to change the world, just her corner, that's the part she has chosen.

gameadvocacy.org (not up yet) Reporting on specific issues whistleblowing public collective action on specific targets

Wonder woman from comics: when asked how strong she was, she said "I don't know. It's difficult to find an upper limit against which to test myself"

fiat justitia ruat caelum: Let justice be done though the heavens fall

She's turning 53, doesn't want to have to wait decades for games to be accepted as a medium.

She got a standing ovation.

Closing speech: Reminder that there is a strict code of conduct. If you see something and feel comfortable standing up we will be your shields. If you are not comfortable enough come and find the team.

Lots of thank yous. LOTS.

#gcap 2017 #gcap #migw 2017 #conventions #conferences #game dev

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buddaheadcannonsonice · 8 years ago

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Rika’s back and MC gets left P. 3

Rika is back and MC gets sick at the same time she feels abandoned. Part 1 (x) | Part 2 (x) | Part 3 (x) | Part 4 (x) | Part 5 (x)

Initially you don’t trust Unknown he did lure you to an apartment that put you in harms way

But because of Unknown you met some of the best people before they felt like you werent good enough for them

At first you didn't think his idea would work

But the first “trial” made you feel like dying would not only be heaven, it would feel like you were on cloud 9 even if you ended up in hell

Plus, Unknown really took to Paco and both got along

After a few visits turned into a few weeks, you no longer had hope that you would ever attend another rfa event with everyone

You didn't pay attention to how close you were to tasting the last lingering lifeline you had

All you cared about was that Paco was taken good care of

And that you were not feeling anything anymore

Whatever Unknown has been giving you, you wanted more...

-- Jumin --

Jumin was not stupid

Emotions were all that clouded what was happening

He knew that everyone tended to be more sentimental than rational and that he may be seen as heartless and cold

But he was not stupid

At first Jumin didn't find it off that Rika wasn't the slightest concerned with MC bc maybe they have been talking in private

But after Jahee brought it up to him that she was concerned, he had to verify

He checked on the CCTV that showed MC’S apartment hallway when he showed her the building he didn't tell her it was owned by him and that's why it was cheaper for her and convenient for him to look after her which he hasn't since Rika came back

He didn't notice anything odd

It just looked like MC was a creature of habit; every day taking her dog out walking early and in the afternoon, leaving daily for work, and most of all

MC looked healthy

But something didn't feel right

Jumin has entered the chatroom. Jumin: MC When you see this, please call me. Rika has entered the chatroom. Rika: Is something the matter? Jumin: No, I just needed to ask MC for her opinion on something. Rika: Well, since I now handle emails and the party, why don't you ask me? ^^ Jumin: It's for something else, I'm sorry Rika. Rika: Oh. I see. Well, hopefully MC logs in soon! I haven't heard from them in a while. Jumin: I thought you said you talked to her recently when Assistant Kang interrupted us during lunch? Rika: Oh yes! I did, I forgot. Sorry~!;; Jumin: I see. I must go now. Enjoy the rest of your day Rika. Rika: Thank you, you too! ^^ Jumin has left the chatroom.

Jumin wasn't convinced anymore

He would have to ask Seven to look into this when he came back from wherever he went

For now he'd have to do this alone

Jumin left the office, telling Assistant Kang to reschedule the days meetings for another day

He had Driver Kim take him to the apartment building MC was living in

He walked past the bellhop boy and made his way to MC’s door: 606

He knocked repeatedly with no response

Was she at work? No, too early… Did she take that animal for a walk?

He got tired of waiting and went to see the building manager and requested for the room access code to 606

But sir; no one lives there anymore. I thought you knew? -What do you mean no one lives there? Where is MC? Please, calm down sir. We only did what was said -What was said? By whom? By you. You were the one who requested that it be vacated as soon as possible. The previous owner left about a month ago...

Had it really been that long since MC last spoke to any of us? Why didn't I notice?

Jumin panicked; if MC wasnt there, where was she?

-- Unknown --

Unknown was only doing what he was told to do

He didn't harbor any resentment towards MC, well not anymore

Maybe it was watching someone so sick slowly deteriorate that Unknown became more sympathetic towards her

Or maybe it was the dog

His Savior told him that by getting rid of MC, everything else would fall into place

Since he was sure the Savior would let MC go to Paradise first, he didn't feel all too guilty

So of course, Unknown did it all for Paradise

-- 707 --

707 has entered the chatroom. Rika: Hello Seven, how was your trip? ^^ 707: I didn't even get to go and play in the ocean. Vanderwood had me on a tight leash ;; Rika: At least she's looking out for you! You should really listen to her~ 707: ...but I wanted to swim until I couldn't! There's no water in space. Well, not a lot like the ocean. Ah, Vanderwood caught me slacking off. Rika: Focus on your work Seven, but also relax every once in awhile ^^ 707: 707 will take your words into consideration.. MAYBE I SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER VACATION LOLOL! byyyyeee 707 has left the chatroom.

It felt strange and lonely without MC

Seven didn't know if he should consult V and Rika with what Jumin told him

He should though because V was supposed to be the one person he could count on

But when Jumin asked for no one to know about this, not even V or Rika, he became concerned

What if MC really is in danger? But Rika said she was fine… unless she lied…

Seven got the videos from the apartment building and found that the videos had been tampered

He went back to when the tampering began taking him back to 2 months ago

Had I been gone that long trying to get into Russia?

The last two videos that didn't look tampered with happened to be the video of MC going for a run

After that all later videos were edited

Looking at the time stamp Seven tried to find the GPS history of her phone

But she left it in the apartment

Seven looked through the GPS history and only one time did something not follow her normal schedule

She went to the hospital a day after the video of MC going for a run

Did she get hurt?

Seven tried to see if there was any way to see where MC was

But she was gone.

her phone was gone, the GPS wasn't there; MC was no longer in the technological world where Seven could find her

Dammit!

Seven looked at the robot cat he worked on for MC

“Master doesn't seem happy meow~ why aren't you happy? Master is scared~”

-- Unknown --

It was almost too easy for MC to disappear

The doctor she saw was a member of Mystic Eye

on orders by the Savior, he gave his files and anything with MC to Unknown who would be sure to destroy all traces of her

Unknown cleared his computer files that belonged to MC and all records of her visiting this hospital

Unknown cleared all videos of the doctor going into stores to buy things for MC and Paco

But looking at how MC still smiled at Unknown despite his intentions, his heart swelled

Don't look at me like that!

“Is something the matter Unknown?”

No; he couldn't get mad at her

towards the RFA he could

They were to blame for her getting so sick

they left her alone, tossing her to the side as if she were a used toy that everyone got bored of

they didnt even seem to care that she had been missing for over a month now

they dont deserve her

they never did

Call me Saeran, we should be on first name bases now

“If you say so Saeran” MC smiled, then coughed, leaning over the side of the bed to dry heave into the bucket Saeran left for her

Paco whimpered, expressing what Saeran felt

-- 707 --

When he looked into the computer files of the hospital MC was at, he didn't find anything

He even looked for people that would fit MC’S description and still, nada

Seven second guessed himself, maybe MC didn't go to the hospital but probably took someone?

He almost gave up until he found a backdoor that had one message:

She's terminally ill. You all should have looked after her better. -Unknown

-- Jumin --

Jumin felt guilty, shame, and resentment

Guilty that they pushed MC away when she probably needed them the most

Shame that he promised he'd look after her breaking the promise when Rika came back

Resentment that MC didn't try harder to get help

Jumin knew he had to tell the other RFA members

But because how much it revolves around Rika's return, he didn't want her to feel at fault …

Maybe she had something to do with this? Don't be impossible, it's Rika were talking about She did fake her death though and had us mourning It was all for RFA’s safety! From what?

Jumin needed wine no something stronger than wine

He was doing what he hated and that was letting his feelings cloud his judgment

-- 707 --

Seven knew

He knew MC was still alive with Unknown, he didn't however know was that she was seriously sick like almost seconds away from forever ceasing to exist

Not until he traced the IP address from that message

He hacked into the security cameras in the building where MC was and his heart broke

There

lying in a bed with a dog, was a thin and sick MC

her face hollow and her body weak and feeble

But she still smiled

She was petting her dog and smiling towards the person who had their back to the camera

If that's Unknown, why is she smiling at him?

Oh no

Seven looked in horror as MC doubled over, coughing what looked like blood into a bucket while Unknown rubbed her back as if he was supporting her

What did we do to you MC? What did I do to you?

Seven closed his eyes, conjuring the last time he spoke with MC and hearing her smile through the phone as they talked about the moon and space

What did we do to you?

#mc mystic messenger #mystic messenger #mystic messenger angst #rfa angst #rfa headcannons #jumin han #707 #saeran choi #saeyoung choi #jahee kang #rika #v #kim yoonsung #zen #hyun ryu #im trash #sorry

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drink-n-watch · 6 years ago

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BoogiePop’s messy release schedule was driving me just a little nuts so I did the most reasonable thing possible and drove Shania a little nuts too. The results! We are almost caught up! Here’s everything that happened before this Friday! There Shall Be Spoilers!

go us! we wrote posts! YAY!

Boogiepop at Dawn – Episodes 12 & 13

The BoogiePop at Dawn 4 episode arc has been quite the rollercoaster. It started with what I believe is the best episode of the season then plunged right into the worst only to settle somewhere in the middle for these last two.

I definitely agree with you there Irina. But on the flipside, we finally get what I’ve been hoping we would get for a long time. More info on Nagi! Starting with her illusive father no less.

First we get a flashback episode to Nagi’s past and we finally get to meet her mysterious father. I gotta say, I was sort of disappointed with how ordinary he is. BoogiePop (the series not the phantom) has made a habit of creating these weird, disjointed, drastically underdeveloped characters and Mr. Kirima just didn’t stand out in any way. The only notable thing about him is that evolved humans liked his books. In principal, that notion is actually very cool, but it came off rather dull in presentation.

He was a bit dull, but I did like how much his books were basically the driving force for most of the situations in this series. Especially since they are referenced to so much.

we just thought he was a little boring…there’s no need to take it this far! huh soilers

Was the little girl in the park a little BoogiePop?

Wait…there was a little girl in the park that looked like a little Boogiepop? How in the world did I miss that…

There was some throwbacks to earlier episodes, we got the sentence sometimes it snows in April again, proving that this wasn’t some odd mantra of the Imaginators. By the way, t is currently mid March and there’s a good 6 inches of snow on the ground right now. It was snowing quite generously all weekend as well. I really wouldn’t be surprised if this weather held up for another two weeks. I don’t get this expression at all. Is it suppose to mean something rather common but not guaranteed. Like sometimes it rains on a Tuesday?

I think what they are trying to get at is more psychological and metaphorical. Like sometimes unique experiences can happen whether we plan for them or not. It just matters how we deal with them when they come.

But it’s not unique at all. That’s my point.

this little girl…. not the same body but the same entity?

Besides the book thing, we found out the Nagi’s dad is divorced and that’s actually it. Next thing we know he gets murdered by synthetic megane same as scarecrow and his daughter takes it rather well, all things considered.

I think she just has a rather large capability to internalize things but I could be wrong.

The narrative has gone back to the nonlinear format which I liked. The sudden jump forward brought us back to a little after Scarecrow’s death which is still a flashback when compared to other episodes.

Synthetic megane teams up we now esper Nagi to hunt down whoever’s been murdering left and right. Let’s keep in mind that this particular synthetic already killed Nag’s dad when she was little, and her friend Scarecrow just recently. There’s a little sleuthing, nothing too impressive. They talk to one girl and Nai magically figures everything out so they go confront shrink lady who’s name I still don’t know. (Synthetic megane is called Sasaki, and hilariously Mo Murder!).

well um, I guess that’s an important distinction?

At this point we see an unrecognizable Pigeon bait and distract Sasaki so that he can get promptly murdered by psycho shrink while he simultaneously killed Pigeon. It took my awhile to figure out what was going on but apparently Pigeon was sacrificing herself to avenge Scarecrow nd n her last moments BoogiePop came to her in a scene paralleling her friend’s death. It would have been touching if I knew the first thing about Pigeon. I honestly thought that she had ordered Scarecrow’s death in the first place. Anywho, she dead now.

In a way it was rather poetic though. Especially with Pidgeon’s last line after Boogiepop told her instead of Heaven shes go to hell: “Heh, you’re right. Just like you.”

I did love Pidgeon aesthetic though. She might be a cool cosplay in the future.

I like her better with her blonde and pink hair. It helps sets her apart I find

see, it’s cool

Then Nagi and Shrinki face off in a swamp, after Nagi’s done all the work, BoogiePop appears and finishes her.

Again, this could have been exciting or at least cathartic if this shrink wasn’t the worst villain so far. Just plain uninteresting even when considered a madman evil with no viable motive. She didn’t even hurt anyone we care about so it’s not like we felt any sense of justice or retribution here.

It’s unfortunate that Nagi went from being a bedridden sick girl straight into being a superhero without BoogiePop bothering to show us that evolution. A training montage, an indication that she suddenly wants to solve crimes because of her father’s murder all batman style…something would have been nice. Nope, just jumpcut and apparently we’re a firewitch now.

True. A little explanation would have been nice.

don’t make that face

Nagi makes it back to have Sasaki die in her arms. Two synthetic humans have now sacrificed themselves for her, for no real reason. I assume that just like her dad attracted espers, she’s catnip to synthetics.

This would have been such a sad scene if Sasaki had any sort of personality or developpement other that “follow the plot”, well you get the idea.

At this point there’s a conversation between Nagi and BoogiePop. It’s one of those cryptic small talks at an inappropriate time, what with all the murdered bodies all around. We didn’t get any information or anything. What I got from it mostly is that at this point and time, Nagi and BoogiePop are on rather friendly terms. BoogiePop is impressed and interested by Nagi and has helped her out in a difficult situation. From what I can tell the feeling is mutual. So something must have happened to make their future encounters so frosty. Knowing this show, there’s almost no chance they’ll tell us what that was.

Which is a shame. Its really good for character development. Then again, that’s exactly what Boogiepop lacks.

And this is when I realized that I had forgotten that the entire arc was a story being told by BoogiePop to Echoes. We still don’t know where that weird red place is or why Echoes is alive but you know, I’m just going to let that one go.

oh yeah….you guys….

The King of Distortion – Episodes 14 & 15

The King of Distortion open with a familiar face. We catch up with Takeda some time after the Maticora arc and he’s reading an architecture magazine. I grew up around architects, several members of my family were architects including my mom who use to say that every time there was an architect in a work of fiction they were evil. It was a weird sort of mini persecution complex. I don’t think she was right at all but it always stuck with me. So yeah, I’m saying akeda is evil now!

There’s this new swoopy monument building and it’s the place to be apparently. It’s one of those decorative buildings that cost a fortune in taxes to upkeep but the government hopes it will encourage tourism so they brand it as a national treasure and source of pride. It looked pretty cool.

I like it….cause I don’t have to pay for it

So a crowd of people are there for the opening inclusion an assortment of Shinyo Academy students. We learn that the man whose building it is (I’m assuming the man who designed it) was some type of multi talented super genius who just recently passed away. It wasn’t specified by I’m going to assume it was under odd or mysterious circumstances. And yet, ironically he’s seen talking to little boy at the beginning of the episode. And leaves him with the ominous phrase of saying he was just reborn.

Takeda is also meeting Miyashita there for date s we’re setting up all our big players. However, when she gets there Boogiepop takes over and she ips away into the crowd. We’re quickly introduced to this arc’s baddie, The King of Distortion.

We are told that this entity wants to turn the world to gold. I should be annoyed by the cryptic nonsense of it all but I actually like that motivation. I dunno. It’s completely ridiculous yet so concrete that for some reason, it speaks to me.

oh…I was just talking to a supernatural entity that wants to turn the world to gold. Tuesdays! Am I right?

The King of Distortion seems to be able to trap people within their own minds and make them confront unresolved issues in their past. I’m not entirely sure why yet but as clichéd as it is, it’ also a mechanic I generally enjoy.

True. It is a quite overused trope, but I think the King of Distortion could actually be a decent villain this time. I hope.

Between the shrink lady last arc and this trauma facing/closure seeking character, I’m starting to think that the main thesis of BoogiePop is that psychiatry is evil!

Or straight up freaking confusing heh.

BoogiePop and I are freaked out by mannequins

Not that we have much of a moral judgement on the King of Distortion yet. So far they haven’t hurt anyone in any way. If anything they do really seem to be helping people. But BoogiePop considers them an enemy of the world so you know how that goes…

After a brief setup, both episodes mostly consisted of set pieces where the Kin of Distortion has conversations with various characters and makes them confront traumatic past experiences by taking the appearance of people from their past. These dreamscapes are very abstract and at times the narrative felt more than non-linear but downright non-sequitur.

This is a level of weirdness I like. It’s not pretending that everything is supposed to make sense. There is a surreal element. Heck the second episode turns into a kaiju movie at some point. But you can still follow along easily.

Heh, so true but I gotta admit it was a bit entertaining to see it go that way.

entertaining is a good thing!

We catch up again with Kentarou which we had seen briefly in the past. At this point, I’m starting to blur the manga and anime together so I’m not sure how much we’re supposed to know about the character but I always liked him. I’m happy to see him again.

I do remember that manticore killed his girlfriend, so there’s that.

I’m not sure he had a girlfriend?

Conversations with dead people is my favourite Buffy episode. Now I’m not trying to imply that BoogiePop comes anywhere close to it but there is something comparable in the mood and pacing of his arc. A bittersweet melancholy. Rather than having people turn into monster or cause their own doom through fear or greed, The King of Distortion is creating a hollow longing and cold guilt and offering up salvation. There something particularly disturbing about that.

I don’t want to call it a strong start or the most promising arc yet. I do that everytime and every time I get stung. BoogiePop knows how to start stories, it’s everything else that falls apart. But it’s a really strong star and seems very promising….

I’m scared to get my hopes up…

Since we didn’t write much today, cough, here’s a bunch of pics to tell the story instead. This is 4 episodes worth!

BoogiePop and Others Ep. 12-15 with Shania BoogiePop's messy release schedule was driving me just a little nuts so I did the most reasonable thing possible and drove Shania a little nuts too.

#anime #Boogiepop #Collab #drama #episodic #huh #supernatural

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