#by the time he was shooting down a giant space station with his father still on board

[razor0-0]

I love this so much you don't even know

inspired by the ‘your afternoon was already ruined’ post

Death Star Stormtroopers: “Freeze!”

Han: (panicking, trying to come up with a lie): Woah there don’t shoot, uh, you can’t shoot us because—because this guy is Darth Vader’s son! You don’t want to be responsible for shooting Darth Vader’s own flesh and bone do you?”

Luke: *glares incredulously*

Stormtroopers: “That is the dumbest thing—”

Leia: (done at this point, absolutely done with this rescue, better than Han at lying) “Exactly! Why would we tell you something so phenomenally insane if it weren’t true! Why do you think Darth Vader is so obsessed with finding Rebels, huh? Call him he’ll tell you!”

Luke: (also done, much better than Han at lying): “Or you could just shoot us; I’m sure my father, Darth Vader, inventor of the lightsaber, would be thrilled to meet the men who killed his son and his son’s friends.” *waves lightsaber arrogantly*

Stormtrooper 1: “Maybe we should call this in. I mean—he’s got a lightsaber, so that’s—that’s Vader stuff anyway.”

Stormtrooper 2: “are you kidding me right now?”

Leia: *shoots them while they’re distracted*

Han: “…We’re friends?”

//

Tarkin: “The rebels said what? You incompetent fool, how could you buy such an absurd stalling—”

Vader: “My…son…”

Tarkin:

Tarkin: Oh fuck THIS.

[derivativealigner]

Well I haven’t watched sp all the way through for about a decade now, so I thought it was time

Sometimes I wonder how accurate the fandom is when it comes to how we interpret the characters. Like, why is Stan a football star so often in fanfic and why’s Kyle always the smart one? So I thought I’d rewatch the show and make notes along the way to see where the source of all these interpretations is. I also wanted to see if I could get some fun info to analyze, but season 1 is pretty sparse in that regard so there’s not too much of that in this post, but I’ll make a post for all the other seasons too as I watch them

In summary, it’s established in season 1 already that Stan’s a star quarterback and an animal lover, Kyle’s an A+ student, and Kenny is poor and knows a lot about sex and doesn’t have many qualms about doing crazy shit. Cartman is a bit weird since he’s mostly just a naive brat in this season, but he and Kyle have a mildly antagonistic friendship already

I have all my notes under this cut. They include a bunch of small details and other observations. I also listed every Kenny death just because

Ike has freckles

Cartman says “Weak!” and “You guys” and “Seriously” a lot from the start, also “Kickass!” He doesn’t say weak or kickass much in the later seasons iirc

Stan says “Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here” three times in this season but they dropped that catchphrase pretty quickly

Bebe got named in episode 2

Stan’s been an animal lover since s01e03 Volcano since he won’t shoot a bunny or anything else. He does shoot Scuzzlebutt at the end though

Cartman’s a pathological liar but in a childish way

Randy got named in s01e03 Volcano (and it only got worse from there)

The mayor went to Princeton

South Park is next to Mt. Evanson

Kenny will literally drink gasoline

Stan’s a star quarterback in 3rd grade

Clyde’s voice is wrong as hell in S01E04 Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride and he has a dog, Rex

Garrison says Kyle is an A+ kid

Shelly seriously abuses Stan, punching him, throwing him, maiming him with a lawnmower

Cartman had a pot-bellied pig called Fluffy

Cartman’s mom smokes crack and has sex with strange men

Dr. Mephesto is probably a Buddhist since he says “Thank Buddha” instead of “Thank God”

Clyde’s voice gets kind of fixed in S01E06

A guy called Mr. McCormick is killed in a protest, launched and splattered against a network building. He doesn’t look like Kenny’s dad though

Zombie Clyde attacks Bebe, rude

Wendy gave her costume contest prize (2 tons of candy) to hungry children in Nairobi

Cartman’s mom is on the cover of Crack Whore magazine. “Back do’ ho… Five on one action!” is the headline

Cartman genuinely cries at Kenny’s grave after the whole zombie thing but gets over it because of candy

Stan knows his mom’s credit card number and has no problem using it to adopt an Ethiopian child (the boys wanted a watch that came with the adoption, they weren’t doing it to be nice)

Cartman calls Stan a vas deference, Stan doesn’t know what that is so Kenny says “Dude, it’s a pipe for your peepee” (according to a transcript). Kenny sure knows male anatomy

Kyle sniffs Kenny after Cartman asks why poor people smell like sour milk and Garrison says “idk eric they just do”

Cartman thinks poor people should die and decrease the surplus population

When the boys get Starvin’ Marvin delivered to them, Cartman says “Hey mom, we found an Ethiopian, can we keep him?” and his mom says “Sure, hun.” She rarely says no to Cartman

Kenny’s dad is an alcoholic who drinks scotch according to Cartman. I mean, Mr. McCormick is seen drinking in multiple episodes and has a hat that says SCOTCH so it’s probably true

Kenny’s family says grace

Craig’s first appearance is S01E09. Also, S01E09 is the first time Kenny doesn’t die (Coincidence? I THINK yeah but it’s still fun)

Clyde got named in S01E10

Clyde and Bebe both spit on Pip’s face, friendship goals <3

Cartman and Kyle have their first fight at Cartman’s birthday party because Kyle didn’t give the right gift. Cartman slaps his face and  screams “I hate you! I want you to die! Die!” while on top of Kyle who’s not really fighting back

Satan throws a fight with Jesus after everyone except Satan bet that Jesus would lose, which leads to Satan winning everyone’s money. Mr. Garrison says “What a mean thing to do!” and Jimbo says “He is a jerk!” and I thought it was quite a laugh so I wrote it down

In S01E11 Tom’s Rhinoplasty Bebe and Wendy are sitting in the swings together and generally appear together throughout the episode, then Bebe gives Wendy a makeover so they’re bffs obviously <3

Craig first appears in the classroom, though not sitting down, in S01E11

Wendy’s not happy about Ms. Ellen taking Stan away from her, she says “Don’t fuck with me! Stay away from my man, bitch, or I’ll whoop your sorry ho ass back to last year!”

Kenny gives Ms. Ellen a scrumptious looking sausage as a valentine’s gift and giggles deviously. Wendy’s gift to Ms. Ellen is a dead animal

Even Kenny doesn’t know what a lesbian is

Wendy’s grandma died in S01E11

Wendy gets Ms. Ellen killed by hiring the Iraqi government (?) to put her in a rocket and shoot it into the sun, then she and Bebe have a pool party (very cool, they wear sunglasses 😎) and watch the rocket hit the sun

Cartman and Pip play a game of kicking each other in the nuts until someone falls. Cartman calls it “Roshambo”

Kenny has a sack of marbles

The boys aren’t fans of Barbra Streisand, but Stan is a fan of the Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway (he’s not a quarterback anymore, he’s an American football executive and the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the NFL according to wikipedia.)

Officer Barbrady is a fan of Fiona Apple (who was 20 at the time and had only one album released called Tidal)

Ned knows how to pilot a helicopter

Kyle’s mom is a fan of Streisand unlike literally everyone else, she even gets an autograph from Mecha Streisand

The boys are fans of Robert Smith, the lead singer of The Cure. Stan says “Robert Smith is the greatest person that ever lived!” and Kyle says “Disintegration is the best album ever!” and Cartman says “Robert Smith kicks ass!” and Kenny’s dead so he doesn’t get to have an opinion

Cartman has tea parties with his toys: Polly Prissypants, Clyde frog, Peter Panda, and a dragon called Rumpertumskin

Kyle wants to make fun of Cartman for the tea party but Stan stops him because he’s concerned that Cartman needs help

Craig is in front of the school counselor’s office in S01E13

A young miss Cartman drinks like a motherfucker at the 12th annual drunken barn dance where Cartman was supposedly conceived

Stan lets Cartman borrow his bike like a good friend

Garrison wanted to have a threesome with Chef and Cartman’s mom. I don’t know why I’m making a note of this but uh… yeah.

Cartman’s mom has had sex with everyone at this bar that Garrison’s drinking at, including principle Victoria, the mayor, Father Maxi, and Jesus (and maybe Kenny’s dad since he’s at the bar but the camera doesn’t pan to him when Garrison says they’ve all slept with Liane). Later Gerald Broflovski is a possible father to Eric, so he fucked her too. Also Mr. Mephesto and his friend Kevin, that little guy, are candidates along with a lot of other people, including the 1989 Denver Broncos (and Mr. Tenorman is included in that later)

Cartman doesn’t make fun of Kyle for being Jewish much at all in this season even though the Christmas episode is all about Kyle not celebrating

Clyde and Token appear very early on and Clyde has always been in the classroom (along with Bebe, Red, Kevin Stoley, Wendy, and Pip and uhh DogPoo too I think). Craig appears later in the season and Tweek’s not in season 1 at all, so Craig’s gang isn’t really a thing yet

And here’s a list of the ways Kenny died in this season. He dies in every episode except episode 9, and he dies twice in episodes 2 and 3. Altogether he dies 14 times

S01E01 Killed after alien shoots him, cows stampede over him, then cop runs him over which finally actually kills him

S01E02 Killed in a play by a falling teepee, then a second time shot by Garrison which sends him in the air and he gets impaled on a flagpole on the way down

S01E03 Killed by a volcano rock that burns him then rolls on him but he’s alive again in the end but gets shot by Ned’s gun that he drops and it accidentally goes off

S01E04 Gets his arms and head torn off in an American football game

S01E05 Stan’s clone punches Kenny into a microwave where he gets cooked alive

S01E06 Death touches Kenny

S01E07 Kenny gets crushed by a Russian space station and turns into a zombie because he gets Worcestershire sauce in his veins, then Kyle chainsaws zombie Kenny in half, then zombie Kenny rises from his grave and is crushed by a statue and a plane

S01E08 Kenny is killed by a bunch of turkeys. His eye gets plucked out. It’s dark blue

S01E10 After Kenny gets turned into a duck-billed platypus, Jimbo and Ned shoot him

S01E11 Ms. Ellen throws a sword through Kenny’s face

S01E12 While Mecha Streisand and a giant robot Leonard Maltin fight, Kenny plays with a tetherball and gets the rope wrapped around his neck and it strangles him

S01E13 Kenny gets stuck on a go kart and it drags him around but stops and he’s still alive! Too bad the go kart stops on train tracks and a train runs him over. Stan’s grandpa sends a video of the event to America’s Stupidest Home Videos and wins $10,000

If you read all that, first of all hello. I’m not new to the fandom even though this is the first thing I’ve posted on this tumblr blog. I’ve been writing a fanfic called Caffetamine though so I’m not a complete non-entity. Anyway, I’ll watch season 2 soon and post my notes on that too probably.

[slut-kiss-g1rl]

geostorm <3

FADE IN:

INT. COURTROOM

GERARD BUTLER is at a COURT HEARING... in the FUTURE!

GERARD BUTLER

It is the future. Natural disasters have become alarmingly commonplace. Hurricanes, mudslides, floods, you name it. The level of destruction is catastrophic.

RICHARD SCHIFF

To be clear, this is the FUTURE you’re talking about?

GERARD BUTLER

The nations of the world have finally decided to take action. So, pooling our resources, we’ve invested heavily in environmental research and clean energy, and cracked down heavily on industrial emissions standards-

(laughs and laughs and laughs)

Just kidding! We’ve built a giant orbital platform that shoots the bad weather with space missiles and space lasers, of course.

RICHARD SCHIFF

So you’re the genius who built the space station. But instead of just making you the chief engineer, which would make sense, we made you director of the whole multi-national program, despite the fact that you have no administrative skills or political experience and mostly get what you want by yelling at people and punching them in the face?

GERARD BUTLER

That’s correct, you useless government fucks. You can all lick my sweaty gonads.

(moons everybody)

RICHARD SCHIFF

You’re fired and we’re giving your job to your little brother Jim Sturgess. At least he can do a passable American accent.

GERARD BUTLER

Och, ye dinnae hae ta be a deck abote et!

INT. SPACE STATION

Engineer RICHARD REGAN PAUL is aboard the WEATHER STATION when he notices that somebody has stuck a SMARTPHONE on an important CIRCUITBOARD.

RICHARD REGAN PAUL

Oh crap, somebody’s sabotaging this hundred-trillion-dollar space program using consumer electronics! I better draw everybody’s attention to this and alert my superiors!

(falls down and hits head very hard)

Duhhhh I mean I should hide this evidence and tell nobody yessss.

He stashes the EVIDENCE, but shortly afterwards the CORRIDOR he’s walking through is SEALED and all the WALL PANELS START BLASTING OFF!

RICHARD REGAN PAUL

What the fuck? Why would we design them to be able to do that? What possible situation could arise in a space station when we’d need to get rid of the WALLS in a hurry? This makes no-

(spaced)

The SPACE STATION then proceeds to turn a bunch of VILLAGERS in AFGHANISTAN into SNOWMEN.

INT. WHITE HOUSE

JIM STURGESS is having a meeting with the movie’s entire supply of Oscar-nominated actors.

JIM STURGESS

So yeah, we kind of murdered a bunch of innocent people with a giant ice ray like Mr. Freeze, oops. We need to send up an international team of brilliant engineers to the space station to investigate what went wrong, despite the fact that there’s already an international team of brilliant engineers ON the space station.

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE ANDY GARCIA

No way, Jim. As the president, I can’t have foreigners touch this station which has been funded and staffed predominately by foreigners! We’ll send up Americans.

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE ED HARRIS

ONE American. I mean if we’re going to half-ass this thing, let’s half-ass it, y’know?

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE MARE WINNINGHAM

I am also in this scene for some reason.

JIM STURGESS

Ugh fine, let’s send up Gerard. It’ll take some doing though, he and I haven’t really gotten along in the vague amount of time since you gave me his job. Seriously, the timeline is super nebulous, it could have been anything between a week and five years.

ED HARRIS

I have faith you can convince him, Jim. As your father figure and mentor, you know I support you in everything, and if you ever need somebody you can implicitly trust-

JIM STURGESS

We get it, you’re the villain, whoop-de-doo.

(leaves)

EXT. LOSER SHACK

JIM goes out to see GERARD, who is hanging with his DAUGHTER.

JIM STURGESS

Hey bro, the space laser’s been acting up. Think you could pop up to space real quick and fix it? Thanks.

GERARD’S DAUGHTER

Dad, no! You can’t go back to space! It’s too dangerous! Don’t abandon me like this!

GERARD BUTLER

OH GOD NOT THIS FUCKING TROPE. Yeah, parents should never do work that takes them away from their families for any amount of time or puts themselves at risk, no matter how important it is. I’m a shitty father because I’m agreeing to go save hundreds of millions of lives, possibly including yours. Shut the fuck up, you little turd.

GERARD immediately storms off and goes to SPACE.

EXT. HONG KONG

Suddenly the movie remembers the CHINESE BOX OFFICE and cuts to HONG KONG, where DANIEL WU is heading home with some SHOPPING.

DANIEL WU

(looks around)

Aw fuck. A famous capital city in a disaster movie? This isn’t gonna end well.

Sure enough he drops some EGGS on the ground and they immediately begin to FRY!

DANIEL WU

Holy shit the ground is apparently as hot as a stovetop! You’d think this is something the people in the street would have noticed, but uh, I guess all our shoes are made entirely of thermally nonconductive silica fibreglass?

(jumps in car, speeds off)

And our tires too, don’t forget our tires!

DANIEL drives through the streets as the pavement CRACKS and FIRE erupts out of the SUPERHEATED PAVEMENT!

DANIEL WU

Damn, the space station must have done that! Not that we ever explain how geothermal energy could possibly be controlled by space lasers!

INT. SPACE STATION

GERARD arrives aboard the SPACE STATION to meet the team of ENGINEERS.

ROBERT SHEEHAN

Welcome, Gerard! I am an asshole. A smug, unlikeable asshole. The exact kind of jerk you’d think would turn out to be the saboteur. Which is kind of awkward, because I DO turn out to be the saboteur.

AMR WAKED

It’s okay, I’ll cover for you by red herringing as hard as humanly possible in every scene I’m in.

(lurks sinisterly)

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

Meanwhile I’m the station’s commander. I exist to be your sort-of love interest with whom you never get beyond meaningful eye contact, and to make you seem hypercompetent by standing around uselessly while you do everything important.

GERARD BUTLER

Okay then, now that everybody’s in position let’s get this 2012-but-with-weather/Gravity-except-stupid-and-with-more-explosions hybrid on the road! Bring on the barrage of gratuitous global annihilation!

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

Actually there’s nowhere near as much of that kind of thing as the trailers promised. But if you like scenes where someone stares at tiny gobbledegook on a computer screen and explains what plot points it discloses, we’ve got a buttload of that!

GERARD BUTLER

(puppy dog eyes)

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

Oh fine, here’s one to tide you over.

EXT. TOKYO

Giant hail in Tokyo!

INT. SPACE STATION

GERARD BUTLER

Ta! Now let’s look at that satellite that fried Hong Kong.

ROBERT SHEEHAN

Uh, oops, unfortunately that malfunctioning satellite got smashed beyond usefulness because the hydraulic arm which was holding it malfunctioned!

GERARD BUTLER

Fine then, let’s look at the surveillance footage from when Richard Regan Paul got spaced.

ROBERT SHEEHAN

Um well we can’t see the footage of that wall malfunction because the footage has also malfunctioned.

GERARD BUTLER

Wait though, there’s still a useable recording in a leftover bit of wall that got stuck in a solar array panel! Let’s go for a spacewalk and get it.

ROBERT SHEEHAN

Sure thing WHUH OH while you’re trying to retrieve that malfunctioning bit of wall, your space suit has malfunctioned!

GERARD BUTLER

(bouncing off every part of the space station)

HEY YOU KNOW WHAT, I’M STARTING TO THINK THAT MAAAAYBE THERE’S JUST A SMIDGE OF SABOTAGE GOING ON.

ROBERT SHEEHAN

Damnit! Turns out that by the time you’re committing sabotage to cover up your sabotage to cover up your sabotage to cover up your sabotage, it starts to get kinda obvious what you’re doing.

(pause)

Nnnnnot that I have anything to do with that. Right, Amr?

AMR WAKED

(hovers creepily at the edge of frame)

ROBERT SHEEHAN

Exactly.

GERARD retrieves the DATA from the WALL FRAGMENT, but finds that he can’t ACCESS IT.

GERARD BUTLER

Oh crap, only a high-level government official could have restricted the data like this! That means that SOMEBODY extremely high-ranking is behind all this, but we don’t know who!

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

It’s Ed Harris. Everybody has figured this out already.

GERARD BUTLER

I have to tell Jim about this. But they might have bugged our comms, and my message may be intercepted by whoever the traitor is.

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

It is quite obviously Ed Harris.

GERARD BUTLER

I better use a code.

(calls Jim)

Hey there, Jim! Just thought I’d stop in the middle of this deadly crisis to randomly reminisce. SOMEtimes I think about that old WHITE porch we used to have at our HOUSE, where our pathetic inbred ASSHOLE of a father used to get FUCKED up on tequila and whale on US with a wrench. Glad that’s all OVER.

JIM STURGESS

A high-ranking government traitor? Why that could only be-

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

ED HARRIS, IT’S ED HARRIS YOU IDIOTS, THERE'S NO OTHER REASON FOR HIS CHARACTER TO EXIST

JIM STURGESS

-the president! America is soon scheduled to hand control of the space station over to an international committee. The president must be causing these disasters in order to retain control!

GERARD BUTLER

Right. Because after a fuckup of this magnitude, obviously the last thing people will want to do is remove the administrators responsible for killing everybody.

JIM STURGESS

And he’s not gonna stop with these penny-ante special effect showcases, either! He’s trying to chain a bunch of them together and bring on a geostorm!

GERARD BUTLER

You mean the tiny, ugly-ass sports compact from Isuzu?

JIM STURGESS

Not a Geo Storm, a GEOSTORM! A made-up, probably impossible meteorological phenomenon where it storms everywhere on the planet at once! According to our computers, this precise sequence of weather disasters - including the ones which the space station hasn’t caused yet - will lead to a geostorm in EXACTLY the nice, round timeframe of ninety minutes!!

GERARD BUTLER

Fuck! Fine then, let’s do an emergency shutdown of the station so it can’t frag the planet. This potentially apocalyptic orbital weapons platform DOES have an emergency off switch, right?

JIM STURGESS

Well, yes... but, ha ha, it turns out it can only be activated using the president’s biometrics. So if the most dangerous thing ever made malfunctions, it can only be stopped if you can get the president into the right specific room quickly enough.

(shrugs awkwardly)

Fortunately, I have been provided with a convenient secret service girlfriend who can grab the president for us!

ABBIE CORNISH

Okay then, I’ll-

JIM STURGESS

Plot devices don’t speak, honey.

ABBIE CORNISH

Then why does this movie have any dialogue at all?

INT. DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

JIM and ABBIE go to find PRESIDENT ANDY at the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION in ORLANDO. But first they run into ED HARRIS.

JIM STURGESS

Ed, thank god I ran into somebody I can trust! We need to grab the president so we can shut down this Bond villain-esque weather scheme.

ED HARRIS

Uh, okay. I have the president right here in this gun. Stand still so that I might fire him at you.

JIM STURGESS

Wha - YOU?! EVIL?!? DWAAAHHH?!?!?

ED HARRIS

Don’t patronize me. Anyway, part of my plan is to set off a giant lightning storm here and kill everybody in line of succession ahead of me, so I become president!

JIM STURGESS

Are you fucking kidding me? We’ve gone to the trouble of pointing out it’s an election year! Do you honestly expect an administration that ran an environmental program so badly that it KILLED THEM ALL to get reelected?

JIM and ABBIE grab ANDY and run for it! Then a fuckton of LIGHTNING starts DESTROYING THE DNC!

BYSTANDER

Man, those Russian hackers have really stepped up their game.

(incinerated)

ABBIE CORNISH

Quickly, we can get away using this SELF-DRIVING cab we just commandeered! Since I’m driving it there might seem to be no reason for us to point out that it’s a SELF-DRIVING cab, so I guess now the audience has already figured out we’re shortly going to be pulling some trick where it SELF-DRIVES. We’ll still act like we’re being clever, though.

ED HARRIS

Chase that cab, my suicidally dedicated minions! Meanwhile I will teleport to the road ahead of them, so I can set up a rocket launcher ambush! Nothing screams “accidental death” like getting blown up by a fucking rocket launcher. FIRE!

MINION

Uh, you sure you don’t want to wait until we can see who’s driving? Disregarding any possible self-driving tricks, cabs are pretty interchangeable and that could in fact be entirely the wrong car-

ED HARRIS

I SAID FIRE!

They BLOW UP THE CAB! But then ANDY appears and shoves a GUN in ED’S FACE.

ANDY GARCIA

That’s right, we sent the empty cab driving towards you at sixty miles an hour! And now here we are, having caught up to it on foot within the next twenty seconds. My legs are KILLING ME.

ED HARRIS

Come on Andy, you should still let the geostorm happen! My theory is that the massive catastrophe which is going to demolish the face of the planet will handily attack only our political enemies and we’ll be fine!

ANDY GARCIA

Goddamn, how is it that each new layer of your motivations is even dumber than the last?

EXT. EVERYWHERE

Meanwhile DIRECTOR DEAN DEVLIN looks under the COUCH and finally finds the movie’s MISSING DISASTER EFFECTS, and they all start happening at once! Ice storms in Rio! Fire storms in Moscow! Tsunamis in the desert!

GERARD BUTLER

Opposite weather, is it? In that case I’m guessing London is currently having a pleasant sunny day HEY-OOOHHH!

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

But we’re not doing so great here in space either. Somebody’s set off our self-destruct system, and the station’s gonna explode in [amount of time left in which the geostorm can still be averted + just enough time for a thrilling escape]!

GERARD BUTLER

Wait a minute, according some kind of plot mumbo jumbo, the only one who could have started the self-destruct protocol is... ROBERT! You little traitor, you’re working for Ed!

ROBERT SHEEHAN

Okay okay, you’ve got me, but SURPRISE I had a gun strapped to the underside of this desk and now you haven’t got me at all, HA!

GERARD BUTLER

What was your plan if I’d confronted you in literally any other room?

ROBERT SHEEHAN

Clearly I must have guns strapped underneath every surface in the entire space station.

(opens fire)

Aw yeah, no better strategy for staying alive than shooting bullets in a room which is separated from the vacuum of space by a single pane of-

ROBERT accidentally SPACES HIMSELF! The movie does not reveal whether, in his last moments of consciousness, RICHARD’S FROZEN, ORBITING CORPSE happens to collide FOOT-FIRST with ROBERT’S CROTCH, so one is forced to assume that it DOES.

INT. SPACE STATION STOPPING ROOM

Back on EARTH, ANDY arrives in the ROOM he has to be in so that he can turn off the SPACE STATION.

ANDY GARCIA

All right, we did it! I just used my biometrics to activate the thing, so now the world is saved! Right?

JIM STURGESS

Actually Gerard still has to get to another specific room on the station itself and press a big “YES” button for it to actually work.

ANDY GARCIA

OF COURSE. What was I thinking, we can’t let this emergency shutdown be activated merely by having the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED FUCKING STATES TURN IT ON WITH HIS OWN SPECIAL BODY SCAN. No, we need the extra, mega-secure step of having some engineer click “confirm”!

JIM STURGESS

Look, we wanted to do the president kidnapping scene but still give Gerard a big action climax, this was the only way.

In SPACE, GERARD and ALEXANDRA make it to the SPECIAL ROOM, shut down the SPACE STATION and SAVE THE WORLD!

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

Phew, and with one second left to go! That’s right, because we turned off the weather machine when we did all the bad weather instantly cleared up; but if it had gone on for even one more second it would have become a global superstorm which would have wiped out most of humanity. What a sensible premise!

GERARD BUTLER

Unfortunately while we were able to get everybody else off the station, there’s no time left for you and I to escape. But I knew this when I stayed behind. I may not have been a good father, but I hope my daughter can at least appreciate the sacrifice I made by dying in space in order to save-

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

Are you seriously copying Bruce Willis’s death from Armageddon?

GERARD BUTLER

Oh FUCK you’re right. Screw it, let’s just jump in a spare satellite and fly to safety then.

ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA

Hooray! I’m not even gonna ask why a weather satellite has room inside it for passengers!

They HOP ABOARD the SPACE EX MACHINA and fly away!

EXT. LOSER SHACK

Months later, GERARD, JIM and GERARD’S ANNOYING DAUGHTER are all hanging out and fishing.

GERARD BUTLER

Neat, our family’s come un-estranged! What a happy ending. Why if we keep the focus on stuff like this, and the fact that in Brazil the dog didn’t die, we can ignore the fact that millions of people just got horribly murdered!

JIM STURGESS

And the rebuilt space station is now in international hands as intended, and they’re gonna make sure none of this can ever-

GERARD BUTLER

Wait, what the fuck? They’re doing the space station again? After the last one turned out to be a city-destroying death ray which could be commandeered by a single nerd with a smartphone? That’s the least plausible ending this movie could have possibly had!

JIM STURGESS

Uh huh. Yeah, I’m sure in real life politicians the world over would instead start seriously committing themselves to environmental policy. Hmmm?

GERARD BUTLER

...Okay yeah this way’s more realistic.

---------------

>:(

[enettov]

LUKE SKYWALKER

Luke Skywalker was a Tatooine farmboy who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the greatest Jedi the galaxy has ever known. Along with his friends Princess Leia and Han Solo, Luke battled the evil Empire, discovered the truth of his parentage, and ended the tyranny of the Sith. A generation later, the location of the famed Jedi master was one of the galaxy’s greatest mysteries. Haunted by Ben Solo’s fall to evil and convinced the Jedi had to end, Luke sought exile on a distant world, ignoring the galaxy’s pleas for help. But his solitude would be interrupted – and Luke Skywalker had one final, momentous role to play in the struggle between good and evil.

APPEARANCES

Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian

AFFILIATIONS

Jedi Order, Rebel Alliance

LOCATIONS

Polis Massa, Lars Moisture Farm, Tatooine

GENDER

Male

DIMENSIONS

Height: 1.72m

SPECIES

Human

WEAPONS

Lightsaber, Blaster Pistol, Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber (Green Blade), Skywalker lightsaber

VEHICLES

X-34 Landspeeder, T-16 Skyhopper, X-wing Starfighter, Snowspeeder

TOOL

Bacta Tank, Moisture Vaporator

VIDEO

Bad Motivator

1:24

BAD MOTIVATOR

VIDEO

One in a Million Shot

0:49

ONE IN A MILLION SHOT

VIDEO

There is No Conflict

1:22

THERE IS NO CONFLICT

VIDEO

Luke's Surrender

1:02

LUKE'S SURRENDER

VIDEO

GALLERY

Luke Skywalker Biography Gallery

LUKE SKYWALKER BIOGRAPHY GALLERY

GALLERIES

QUOTES

"I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you."

"I'M LUKE SKYWALKER. I'M HERE TO RESCUE YOU."

A NEW HOPE

"You'll find I'm full of surprises."

"YOU'LL FIND I'M FULL OF SURPRISES."

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

"I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

"I AM A JEDI, LIKE MY FATHER BEFORE ME."

RETURN OF THE JEDI

"The Rebellion is reborn today, the war is just beginning, and I will not be the last Jedi."

"THE REBELLION IS REBORN TODAY, THE WAR IS JUST BEGINNING, AND I WILL NOT BE THE LAST JEDI."

THE LAST JEDI

HISTORY

GALACTIC CIVIL WAR

Luke Skywalker on Tatooine

Raised by his aunt and uncle on a Tatooine moisture farm, Luke Skywalker never knew his mother or father. He knew nothing of the Force or Jedi, but longed for a more exciting life. Soon he would have it. With his Uncle Owen’s purchase of new droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, a chain of events was put in place that would change Luke -- and the galaxy -- forever. Artoo, a plucky astromech droid, wandered off in his first night on the farm, telling C-3PO he had to deliver a message to someone named Obi-Wan Kenobi. When Luke went looking for the lost droid, he was attacked by Tusken Raiders and knocked unconscious. Before he could be taken captive, friendly hermit Ben Kenobi appeared and frightened off the Sand People. Ben revealed that he was indeed Obi-Wan Kenobi, and had something that belonged to Luke’s father: a lightsaber, the weapon of a Jedi. Obi-Wan said that he and Luke’s father were both Jedi Knights, strong with the Force, and good friends. Luke knew none of this, and asked how his father died. The old Jedi said that his former student, Darth Vader, turned to the dark side and killed him.

Obi-Wan and Luke soon discovered that Artoo was indeed carrying a message after all. It was a holorecording of Princess Leia, stating that she had hidden stolen plans for the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star, in the memory banks of Artoo; she asked that Kenobi deliver the plans to her father on Alderaan. Obi-Wan implored Luke to come with him, but the farmboy refused. However, he and Obi-Wan found that the Jawas who sold his uncle Artoo and Threepio had been slaughtered by stormtroopers -- and they may have traced them back home. Luke raced to the moisture farm, only to find the charred remains of his guardians. Stoic, he decided to leave Tatooine, vowing to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like his father.

Along with hired pilot Han Solo and his co-pilot and friend Chewbacca, Luke, Obi-Wan, and the droids headed for Alderaan aboard the Millennium Falcon. But when they arrived, the planet wasn’t there -- only rubble, as it had been destroyed by the Empire’s Death Star. The Falcon was soon caught in the tractor beam of the giant space station, but it proved fortuitous; Princess Leia was being held there. Luke and Han, in stormtrooper disguises, staged a rescue while Obi-Wan disengaged the tractor beam. The Jedi Master, however, encountered his old student, Darth Vader, and was killed in battle. Luke saw it happen shortly before escaping in the Falcon, and was deeply affected by the loss of his mentor.

The small band of heroes regrouped with the Rebel Alliance on Yavin 4. With the Death Star plans successfully delivered, Luke joined the mission to destroy the battle station, piloting an X-wing under the call sign Red Five. In the ensuing battle, the Rebels suffered heavy losses, and Darth Vader entered the fray in his TIE Advanced. One of the last remaining pilots, Luke flew through the Death Star trench at blinding speed with the goal of shooting a volley of proton torpedoes into a small exhaust port. Vader closed in, ready to destroy Luke's starship -- noting that “the Force is strong with this one” -- but a surprise blast from Han and the Millennium Falcon sent Vader's fighter tumbling into space, clearing Luke for the shot. Calling on the Force with guidance from Obi-Wan’s disembodied voice, the Jedi-to-be delivered a precise shot, and the Death Star was destroyed.

Luke Skywalker training with Yoda on Dagobah

Though the Rebel Alliance had struck a major blow against the Empire with the destruction of the Death Star, the war was far from over. The Alliance built a new secret base on the ice planet Hoth, with Luke now a commander. While out on patrol, Luke spotted what he thought was a meteor impact on the surface -- in reality, it was an Imperial probe droid. Before he could inspect it, however, Luke was viciously attacked by a towering wampa. Though Luke escaped the ice creature’s cave, severing the monster’s arm with his lightsaber, the young Jedi nearly died from the frigid surface temperatures. It was also at this time that he was visited by the spectre of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who instructed him to go to the Dagobah system. There, he would learn the ways of the Force from Yoda, a Jedi Master. Han eventually found Luke, keeping him warm inside a tauntaun’s belly until help could arrive. Luke recovered from his injuries and lead the Rebel defense against the Empire’s ground forces, including massive AT-AT walkers, giving the Alliance time to evacuate the planet.

Luke headed to Dagobah as instructed and found Yoda. He was not what Luke expected -- small, alien, and green, with a unique backwards way of speaking. Luke trained hard, failing often but learning much from his wise Master. During an exercise, the young Jedi saw a vision of his friends in pain; Luke cut his training short -- against Yoda's wishes -- to help them. He left for Cloud City where Darth Vader awaited, hoping to capture Luke and bring him to the Emperor. They dueled, but Luke was outmatched and overpowered. Luke was battered and bloodied in the fight, losing a hand, and the Sith Lord revealed a frightening truth: that he was in fact Luke’s father. Vader wanted his son to join him on the dark side, and together they could overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy. Luke was shattered and in disbelief. He refused to turn, managing to escape with his life.

Luke Skywalker as a Jedi Knight on Jabba's Sail Barge

With Han frozen in carbonite and held in Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine, Luke led a mission to rescue his old friend. Now a powerful Jedi Knight, Luke tried to bargain for Han’s life but the crime lord refused. Through a trap door, he dispatched the Jedi into an underground dungeon and unleashed his massive rancor creature. But to the shock of Jabba and his henchmen, Luke was able to destroy the beast. Incensed, the gangster sentenced Luke and his friends to die in the Sarlacc, but again, the Jedi was underestimated. Luke decimated Jabba’s men, and the group of heroes completed their rescue.

With Han safe, Luke returned to Dagobah to complete his training. Yoda, however, was dying. In his final moments, the old Master told Luke that he required no more lessons, but he had to confront Darth Vader -- who was his true father -- once more. Yoda also told him of another Skywalker, who Obi-Wan would confirm was Leia, his twin sister.

Meanwhile, the Empire was constructing a new Death Star -- with the Emperor personally overseeing its completion. Utilizing stolen schematics, the Rebel Alliance formulated a plan to destroy this new superweapon. Luke joined his friends for the mission on Endor, but departed when he sensed Vader’s presence. Luke believed there was still good in his father, that the Emperor had not driven it from him fully. He tried to convert Vader to the light side, but the Dark Lord claimed it was too late. Instead, he brought Luke before the Emperor on the Death Star. The evil Sith Master looked to turn Luke to the dark side, and goaded him into a duel with his father. When Vader suggested that Leia could be turned to evil, Luke embraced his rage and pummeled his father relentlessly -- giving the Emperor exactly what he wanted. But before he delivered the killing blow, Luke paused, remembering his teachings. Calming himself, Luke threw away his weapon. “I am a Jedi, like my father before me,” he said. The Emperor, confounded by Luke’s actions, unleashed Force lightning upon the young Jedi. Vader rose and threw the Emperor down a deep shaft, his true self reawakened by his son’s love. Luke had one final moment with his father, and escaped the space station before it was destroyed. The once reckless farmboy’s journey was complete: he was a mature Jedi, freedom was restored to the galaxy, and his compassion had saved his father.

THE NEW REPUBLIC

Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 after the destruction of his Jedi Academy

After the Battle of Endor, Luke traveled the galaxy with R2-D2, seeking long-forgotten Jedi lore as he pondered how to resurrect the Jedi order. But his efforts ended with one of his apprentices leaving his plans in ruin. After this tragedy Luke vanished, and no one knew where he had chosen to spend his self-imposed exile.

THE FIRST ORDER

Luke Skywalker training Rey in the ways of the Force on Ahch-To

The scavenger Rey tracked Luke down on Ahch-To, and pleaded with him to return and help the Resistance. Rey also needed his help to understand her burgeoning Force powers. Luke refused, telling her it was time for the Jedi to end. When Rey resisted refused to leave, Luke reluctantly agreed to teach her enough that she would understand why he had made his decision.

Luke Skywalker performing Force projection from Ahch-To to Crait

Rey insisted that the galaxy needed the legend of Luke Skywalker, a plea that seemed to fall on deaf ears. She left Ahch-To, but Luke had opened himself to the Force – and a last lesson from his old master, Yoda. Luke projected himself through the Force to confront Kylo Ren on Crait, giving the Resistance a chance to escape the First Order. He passed into the Force, but his legend would continue to inspire the galaxy.

Did you just send me the entire Luke skywalker page on Wikipedia

[acedesigns]

The Light [FF7: Vincent Valentine/Reader]

Word Count: 2049

--

Fighting real-life monsters? No big deal. Even the ghosts or the zombie-like ones were fine with you. But when it came to the cheesy haunted house? You were absolutely terrified.

“You do realize, for all intents and purposes, I am technically a zombie, right?” Vincent sighed from next to you. You were currently clinging onto him with your face buried into his arm.

“But you’re not scary,” you whimpered. Thunder reverberated throughout the haunted mansion. Your fingers clung onto the fabric of his shirt even tighter.

Vincent huffed. Most people would disagree and say he was terrifying. Just one look at his eyes sent others the other way. When he was pushed to his limit, he would transform into one of the many monsters inside of his body. He knows you’ve seen it happen, so why you were clinging onto him for dear life was beyond him.

The pair of you finally made it towards where the rest of the group was. Vincent glared at Yuffie who was outwardly cackling. The others at least had the decency to try and hide their amusement. Cloud turned away and approached the front desk to book a few rooms. Just as he was going to say something, there was a scream. You jolted as the hangman fell from the ceiling.

Vincent sighed and placed his free hand on top of your head. He was careful to not cut you with his gauntlet, which made him wonder why you were clinging onto him and not one of the others. Barret was a father and better suited for this. Cloud was the leader of the group. Tifa and Aerith were both kind and would definitely help you. Hell, even Cait Sith and Red XIII were at least soft. Though, he didn’t blame you for not clinging onto Yuffie. She’d probably only make things worse. All the others, sans Yuffie, would be better at comforting you than him. He was the worst monster in the haunted house.

“Here’s your room key,” Cloud stated, drifting Vincent from his thoughts. His mako filled eyes drifted down to your form. He glanced back at Vincent with a small smirk. “You two have fun.”

Vincent’s eye twitched as he took the key and slowly began to guide you towards the hotel room. Though his ears did not miss Aerith and Tifa giggling together, wondering if both of you were finally an item.

Vincent held in an internal scoff. He was keenly aware that you were attached to him like a duckling to its mother, but that was only because he was the closest one near you at the time. Someone like you would not go for someone like him.

Vincent unlocked the door to the hotel room. He cringed ever so slightly when he saw it was just as “spooky” as the rest of the hotel. Reluctantly, you let go and went to put away your things. Vincent watched as you tried desperately to ignore everything around you. He continued to gaze, knowing you most definitely wouldn’t like him like that.

For one thing, you were far too kind. No matter what was going on in your life, you were always stopping to help the people around you. When he first joined the party, you immediately caught on that he was struggling with something. You left and quickly came back with some flowers. There was a light blush on your face as you nervously gave them to him. You told him that you knew that it might not be in his taste, but that you wanted to welcome him to the party.

A creek on the floorboard, roused Vincent form his thoughts. You sat on the bed and pulled your knees up to your chest. Vincent felt a twinge in his chest as your trembling form. He glanced around the room for something that could distract you, but everything was the same horror. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to you until he was right in front of you. Sensing his presence, you looked up with some curiosity. The longer you looked at him, Vincent swore more of your fear disappeared.

A second thing, you were always positive. There was always a silver lining in something. Though, you knew when to keep your mouth shut, knowing that people didn’t always want to hear the positive side of something. You’d give it if asked, but gave people space to mourn over a situation. Vincent. Well, he was always the pessimist.

“Let’s go,” Vincent said. He held out his right hand for you to take.

“Go where?” you asked in a whisper.

Vincent glanced off to the side and hid his face further into his cloak. “There are other things to do here besides sit in this hotel. We can go play some games.”

“You want to play some games?” you asked, unsure.

“Or see a play or race.” Vincent felt himself growing more self-conscious by the second. He glanced back over to you to gauge your reaction. He felt his heart flutter as a grin spread on your face.

“I’d love to!” you exclaimed and jumped off the bed. Your feet caught on each other, causing you to stumble into him. Vincent held onto you tightly. Pushing back, you laughed nervously. “Sorry.” Though, in your nervousness, you glanced to the side and caught sight of a fake spider dangling in the corner. Closing your eyes, you retreated back into Vincent’s arms.

For a third thing, you had a strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. There were no games on toying with life just to see what would happen. He slowly came to realize that maybe She was not a good person. The more he was around you, the more he began to realize that. And the more he began to realize that, the easier it was to move beyond that chapter of his life.

By now, Vincent was guiding you out of the hotel and past the graveyard. In a matter of moments, you were back to the Golden Saucer’s station. He stood awkwardly with your arms still around him. He was at a loss for words. Each second that past by, he felt like he should say something, anything to fill up the silence. Fortunately for him, silence wasn’t too uncharacteristic.

“So what did you want to do?” you asked, finally pulling away from the brooding man.

Though, he instinctively wanted to lean towards your embrace. He stopped himself, but only just. His eyes trailed away from yours and towards the many signs illuminating the station. There was a time chart for the play.

“Want to go see if we can make the next performance?” he questioned.

“Sure!” you agreed with a grin and followed him towards the theater.

The two of you quickly took your seats. The lights faded soon after and the stage was lit. Vincent started to zone out until he felt you scoot closer to him. He stiffened but made no move to create any distance.

“Wait, is that Cloud and Barret?” he heard you whisper. But he couldn’t focus his attention on the stage, not with you sitting that close to him.

The next thing about you was that you had too brilliant of a mind. Strategy was your strong suit, especially when it came to defeating difficult foes. Your knowledge in materia, its best combinations, and battle tactics rivaled that of Yuffie’s. Then, you were also keenly aware of how to solve puzzles and how to navigate across different terrains. It made you a huge asset to Avalanche. It was also one of the only ways that Avalanche was able to find him in the first place. Without you, he’d still be in the basement, locked away.

“I can’t believe those two were actually in the play!” you burst out laughing. Vincent felt himself smiling behind his cloak at the sound of your laughter. “What did you think of it, Vincent?”

“Better than I expected,” he lied. He didn’t remember a single thing from the play. Though, your grin was worth the lie.

“Oh!” You jumped from your seat and turned to face him. He looked up at you with a quirked eyebrow. “Did you want to go on that shooting rollercoaster? I’m sure you’d be able to rack up a ton of points!”

Vincent blinked in surprise before he found himself nodding. Standing up, he followed you out of the theater and towards the boarding platform to the rollercoaster. Though, you paused and skipped over to the prizes.

“Oh my god,” you gasped. “That moogle is adorable!”

Vincent slowly approached you and looked at the giant stuffed moogle. He noticed it was also the prize worth the greatest amount of points. His hand brushed over his handgun before he turned and made a bee-line for the rollercoaster.

There was also the fact that you were adorable, much like the moogle. Perhaps more so. But you weren’t just adorable, you were breathtaking. Whenever you entered a room, it was as if everything else just faded away and it was just you. When you smiled, the world became infinitely brighter.

“Man, I suck at shooting a gun,” you chuckled lightly. “I can’t believe you hit every target!”

Vincent merely hummed and made his way towards the prize booth. He pointed at the moogle which the attendant took down and handed it towards the man. Turning back, Vincent held out the giant stuffed prize to you.

Your bottom lip trembled. Vincent tensed, wondering if he had done something wrong. Then, there was relief. You jumped onto the plush and held it close to you.

“That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me! I want to cry,” your voice was muffled as you loved on the stuffed animal. Looking back up at him, you gave him one of those heart-fluttering smiles. “Thank you, Vincent.”

“Don’t mention it.” He had to force himself to look away from you, or else he thought his heart would fail with how much it was fluttering. Taking a deep breath, his eyes landed on the gondolas seemingly floating by.

Your eyes trailed his. “Come on!”

Finally, you were the light. He was like a black hole that swallowed everything in its wake. Nothing could escape, not even light.

The two of you arrived at the gondolas. As one approached, you stepped in and placed your moogle down. Vincent took a seat while you were arranging it. It took up nearly the entire side of the gondola. He was starting to question where you were going to even sit. Then, you sat right next to him.

“Thank you for tonight, Vincent,” you murmured softly. “I really appreciate it. You’re so kind and thoughtful and brave and talented and…Sorry.”

Vincent looked down at you in shock. You were facing away from him, so he couldn’t see exactly what you were feeling. That didn’t stop the thundering of his heart at that moment. Then, there was a boom outside of the gondola. You jolted towards the window, allowing him to see a faint glow of a blush on your cheeks.

“Wow,” you whispered. Vincent managed to divert his attention from you towards the window. Fireworks were shimmering in the distance. Their colors dancing to brighten the night sky. The light interweaved itself with the darkness.

Vincent looked away from the light show and back towards you. Taking a deep breath, he grasped your hand. You jumped ever so slightly and looked up at him. Vincent was about to release your hand, thinking he went too far. But the squeeze from yours told him to hang on, if not for just a little bit longer.

“A-anyways,” you stammered. “Thank you for being there for me, Vincent. Even if it was silly, it means more to me than you would know.”

“Of course.” Vincent nodded. “I will…I will always be there for you.”

You smiled and rested your head on his shoulder. This time, Vincent didn’t tense up. He didn’t try to hide the smile that formed on his face. Instead, he held onto your hand a little tighter. He allowed himself to lean towards you. He forgot about some of his darkness and let himself bask in the light.

[kikiwhataboutthatbrendon]

Here’s my writing submissions for English, they’re worth a Bit of my grade.

·         Writing is hard but "hard" is rewarding

“I’m a writer.” He whispers to himself, as he dosn’t fucking write. He sighs then closes his laptop, plunging his room into complete darkness.

 A million unwritten scenes flash through his head, pleading to be brought to fruition. Giant monsters, gods of other worlds, hearts broken by friends, a world doomed by a singular action, and he can't find the words.

 The boy leans back in his chair then stares out of his window. He’s met with a dark sky, tree’s swaying gently in a midsummer's night breeze, faint stars burning above him. What a beautiful sight.

 He absentmindedly thumbs a black ring around his finger, a gift from a friend long ago, he talked to her just this morning. Thoughts of her, his best friend, flicker like flames across his mind, and he finds himself smiling.

 He remembers where they've been and where they still need to go, an incomplete list from their teen years. A cafe overseas she promised to take him to, a favorite place of hers when she lived in France. A haunted mansion in California they unanimously agreed to visit, due to both of them being obsessed with the paranormal. His real home as he puts it, a beach on the east coast looking across the Atlantic where wild horses roam free. 

 He laughs softly. His writing had stopped because he couldn't find inspiration, a reason to create a beautiful, broken world with people of gold who brought light to it. Then he realizes he's living in that world. He opens his laptop, filled with newfound determination.

 He writes with a smile, filling pages and pages with words that remind him of her. Her mind, her heart, her smile, her laugh, her name. Words that remind him of Sarah.

 Were You Ever Really There

 Conan watches, bored, as the newest asshole to request something unreasonable of him starts screaming about him daring to act like a tyrant when he denies his demand.

 The two guards stationed at the bottom of the steps leading to his throne look about ready to kick him to the next dimension over, which brings a smile to his face.

 The man stops yelling for a moment when he notices the smile on Conan’s face. “What is so funny, Fate?” He spits.

 Conan bristles as the lack of a title after his rude question. He sits up straight and gives him the truth. “I was thinking about how funny it would be to watch my guards kick your ass.”

 His guards tense, presumably trying to keep from laughing. He smirks at the rage burning in the man's eyes.

 “Oh, I’ll show you whose ass is gonna be kicked-” The man goes to run up the steps and promptly falls on his face from a well-placed foot from the guard on Conan’s left.

 The other guard snorts then covers her mouth, embarrassed.

 The man pushes himself to his knees, revealing a bloody nose from the steps sharp corners. Conan had done that one too many times when he was Mother’s champion. He hisses then gives Conan a pissed glare, had Conan not been immortal and a god, he surely would have been dead.

 He forces himself to his feet and points a bloodied finger at Conan. “You have no right to sit where Mother once did, acting as a tyrant in her place when she actually cared for her citizens.”

 The guards freeze when he finishes his sentence.

 Conan’s smile drops into a hard set line. His eyes change from their heterochromatic black and hazel to molten ruby. His horns creak and it appears as if ash starts to flake off of them.

 He stands, looking down at the now apprehensive man. Conan stares him down, forcing the man to keep his gaze. “Say that again.”

 His guards look between each other nervously, this might be the third time in five months they've seen this happen. The man stutters, unable to respond.

 Conan descends the steps, and his guards step to the side. Despite being several inches taller the man cowers away from him.

 Conan catches his shoulder before he can turn and run, then forces his palm to the man's forehead. He makes him live through his worst possible future in a matter of seconds, the life he took away from himself because he couldn't deal with the loss.

 When Conan takes his hands back the man collapses into a heap of tears, his wails ringing off the throne room walls. Conan scoffs as he picks himself off the floor and runs towards the door. He watches the man leave the throne room and sighs.

 His guards try to muffle their laughter as he slides onto the floor groaning, distracted from what just occurred for a moment. One of the two clears her throat, giggling softly. “My Lord, what will become of him?”

 He sighs then presses his palms to the floor, following his footsteps away from the castle. Conan looks into the most probable future, following the web of time until he has to weave the strands together. “He will regret what he said and rethink over his life thus far, he will realize everyone that he has hurt in his life due to his short temper...”

 He reaches farther into the future, straining to find his course of action. “He will make amends with his wife,” He says, “Then he will dedicate more time with his son and daughter and vow to be a better father, he follows through on his promise and dies a loved grandfather for his kindness and wisdom.” He opens his eyes with a slight headache, his eyes returning to normal.

 His guards look down at him, shocked. For the other two they died horrible deaths due to their own self destruction, this was a change of pace for them.

 One of the girls smiles, and she looks to her fellow guard. “That’s good, he changed, he’s better now.” The other smiles, recognizing that she's right.

 They look down at their derpy god and laugh. “May we go, Lord Fate?” 

 He looks up from the floor and nods. When they turn to leave he sits up with a start then shouts after them. “Can one of you get Consigne for me please?”

 The other guard shoots him a smile and nods. “Sure thing Lord Fate!”

 The door closes with a bang after they leave, and Conan begins to wait impatiently. He crosses his legs, avoiding snagging his cape. He tries his best to keep his thoughts away from the location he’s in, favoring thinking of his beloved and what they’re going to do for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

 Mabey a run in the woods? Consigne has voiced that they've been missing the feel of leaves underfoot and hidden stars overhead. A faint memory of him and Mother taking a night walk flashes through his head, and he feels a stab of pain through his chest. A visit to one of the pantheon? They've been meaning to visit the Misplaced and Defender, but they are a few days journey away. Another memory, from not long ago, the dinner party with everyone from the pantheon, when he got stuck in the ceiling, and Mother teased him about it for weeks. The stab turns into an ache, he looks to the center of the room and shudders at the scenes that cross his mind. A visit to the north side mabey?

 Before he can think through his last thought the doors to the room open and a large white muzzle pokes through the crack. The rest of Consigne’s towering form steps through, their white fur turned rainbow due to the stained glass in the room's walls. Their back barely brushes against the massive doors archway as they walk all the way inside.

 Conan smiles wide then jumps up and runs to them, burying his face in their fur once his hands have tangled themselves in the soft strands. He hears a soft laugh and looks up to a smiling face and dark skin, his hands tangled in the ends of their long hair.

 “Did you miss me or something?” They say with a chuckle.

 “Of course!” He exclaims.

 They put a hand to the side of his face. and he leaned into their touch, relishing the cold. They must have been outside. It was starting to turn to the winter months on the Isle of Shadows.

 “Are you alright Love?” Consigne asks softly. Conan opens his eyes, not realizing he had closed them.

 “Why wouldn't I be?” He asks, confused.

 They can tell something is off. The room feels different, there's more space, there's more than just their presences, something else is with them. Consigne looks around the throne room, searching for the thing that would show he wasn't okay.

 Their eyes fall on a crack in the floor at the center of the room. It wasn't just a crack in the stone brick, the crack reflected the universe, stars and suns, the infinite web of time.

 Conan follows their gaze and freezes at the crack in the floor. Violent images flash across his mind, memories from long ago that could have been just seconds away. Mother, Prophet, fighting and spilled blood… final words and one goodbye.

 Consigne turns his head away from the crack and sighs. They feel him shaking. They carefully push away a few strands of hair from his face, avoiding pricking their hand on his horns. “You have to fix that thread Conan…”

 He shakes his head, refusing to look at the place where Mother died. “Mother can do it, she did it before.” He takes a shuddering breath. “I’m not doing it.”

 Consigne’s chest tightens at his words. They know he’s not being stubborn, that he’s just in pain. They look around the room, noticing that it’s gotten darker, despite the clear days sky outside. Their gaze tears back to the crack, and they startle when they see a figure flicker into existence.

 Her form is faint, but she's there. Starlight drips off Mother’s opaque form, her beautiful dress fading into nothing but glitter and the webs of time. She gives Consigne a soft smile, then looks at her son.

 Conan still hasn't turned around, but he can feel her presence, he knows she’s there. He doesn't know what he’d do if he saw her smiling at him again. Half a century since her death. Five decades of telling himself that she’s not coming back. She won’t hold him close when he can't sleep, won't kiss his forehead and tell him it's okay when he has a hard time existing, won't tell him she loves him more than anything else in the world.

 Mother brought Consigne into the living world to be there for him and be his other half. Because fate and coincidence are nothing without the other.

 Mother shakes her head, the horns curled over her sparkling with the movement. She walks over to them, footsteps soundless, dress billowing behind her. Consigne carefully steps away from their creator, leaving Conan to wrap his arms around himself, still turned away from her. Her obsidian black eyes betray every little thing she wants to say. A thousand unsaid promises and wishes aching to be said, half a century to late. She starts to set her hand on his shoulder then hesitates.

 Why? Why extend her powers to the living world to see her son again? Why hesitate? She loves him too much to hurt him. She’s seen then through the void of darkness and webs of time to the smile of fate and laughter of coincidence.

 Would he be happy to never see her again? He could move on, live his eternal life without seeing her smile of pride, hear her joyous laugh, her sweet voice. Then again, he cried himself to sleep for a decade pleading to a dead goddess to come back, woken up from fitful nights of sleep screaming The Blind Prophets name, and left himself to rot in a castle, outside the closed throne room doors where his mother died.

 Mother sets her hand on his shoulder and turns him to face her. Tears spill down his face when he sees her beautiful eyes and smile.

 She laughs quietly and cups his face in her hands. He leans forward and presses his forehead against hers, careful to keep their horns from tangling, something he did many times.

 “My son.” She whispers, voice like honey and smoke.

 “Mom-” He chokes on his words, a thousand differient ways to say “I love you” caught in his throat, and he can't find the right one. She knows what he’s trying to say though, she always has, when he’s been at a loss for words she’s always known, somehow.

 Mother pulls away to properly look at him. She smiles softly at his mismatched eyes that she caused. “I love you, son, I always have, and I always will.”

 He starts to cry even harder then wraps his arms around her, she moves to do the same. “I love you Mom.” He manages between quick breaths.

 Her face twists, a mix of pain and regret. “I love you baby, I need you to wake up-” 

 He shoots up in bed, a cold sweat running down his neck. He rapidly looks around the room, panicking because he isn't living through the scene in his dream. Then he realizes.

 Conan looks to his right, and Consigne is fast asleep, curled around a pillow where he’s supposed to be. Tears start to well in his eyes. He brings his knees to his chest then hides his face, crying silent tears.

 Soon Consigne will wake and hold him close and sing him to sleep before he can start to scream. When he’s sound asleep in Consigne’s lap they’ll sigh and run a delicate hand over the piercings in his horns. Something will knock over Conan’s staff in the corner. They'll snap towards the noise and see a figure they swear had pitch eyes, towering horns, and an ink dress of silk. 

 She disappears before Consigne can be sure she was there.

 (This is a part of my friend/family storyline for a world they created, I added to a character of mine’s lore.)

 Lessons To Learn

 Oh, look at you Will, stood to the side

Too much of a man to swallow your pride

 -

General of L’manberg, lest you forget

Leave me to my work little junior cadet

 -

Sounds like you've got something to hide

Should I go tell them that you’ve lied?

 -

Oh Tommy, so quick to judge and yet

You're the one who’s getting so upset

 -

Maybe that's because my hands are tied

Dream could have a man on the inside

 -

[Will gets angy]

 -

If you really wanna know

Let’s go

Wanna bet?

 My loyalty hasn’t been tried just yet

 -

[Silence from Tommy]

 -

Stay in your place Tommy

Try to change your mindset

To fear the person who’s actually a threat

 (Lyrics for a Minecraft SMP server that got lore on accident, I got inspired. There’s more where this came from, but this is what I wrote for the daybook.)

[valeriethepussycats]

I’m Only Human

Chapter 4

Pairing- Loki x Reader, Thor x Reader( Best friends)

Warning- cursing

Your thoughts in italics.

Loki heads into the Vault, sees the Casket of Ancient Winters sitting on its stand. He walks over to it slowly, reaches out to it, lifts it between his forearms off its pedestal. As he does, a blueness spreads from his arms, across his body.The latticework behind the Casket starts to separate, the Destroyer rousing. A fire starts to glow within its black metal armor, as it rattles to life, but Loki ignores it -- the blueness spreading further, consuming his whole body.

“Stop!” Odin shouted.

Loki turns, sees Odin hurrying into the room, the Destroyer goes motionless, the latticework rejoining before it. Odin eyes Loki with dismay.

“Am I cursed?” Loki questioned.

“No. Put the Casket down.” Odin replied.

Loki sets the Casket back upon its pedestal, his body quickly returning to its normal form and color. He stares at his father.

“What am I?” Loki asked in a curious tone.

“You're my son.” Odin Said Sincerely.

“What more than that?” Loki started. Odin doesn't answer. He looks suddenly weary, burdened. Loki sizes him up, realizes the truth.

“The Casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that day, was it?” Loki finished.

Odin looks him in the eye. He can deny it no longer. “No.” Odin answered. “In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the Temple, and I found a baby. Small for a giant's offspring -- abandoned, suffering, left to die. Laufey's son.”

Loki is sent reeling by the revelation.

“Laufey's son...” Loki trailed off as he desperately struggles to make sense of it all. “Why? You were knee-deep in Jotun blood. Why would you take me?”

“You were an innocent child.” Odin replied.

“No you took me for a purpose, what was it?”

Odin doesn't answer. “Tell me!” Loki shouted.

“I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day, bring about an alliance, bring about a permanent peace... through you. But those plans no longer matter.” Odin explained.

“So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have use of me.” Loki expressed.

“Why do you twist my words?” Odin Asked.

“You could have told me what I was from the beginning. Why didn't you?” Loki urged Odin for the truth.

“You are my son. My blood. I wanted only to protect you from the truth.” Odin stressed.

“Because I am the monster parents tell their children about at night?” Loki proclaimed loudly.

“Don't...” Odin trailed off.

“It all makes sense now. Why you favored Thor all these years.” Loki shouted.

“Listen...” Odin wheedled.

“Because no matter how much you claim to "love me,” you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the Throne of Asgard!” Loki yelled.

Odin's body begins to shake, he lifts his hand. It starts to move out of synch temporarily, leaving a trail, the effect of the Odinsleep approaching. Loki doesn't notice as Odin tries to fight it off.

“Listen to me!” Odin shouted. Loki strides away towards the exit. “Loki!” Odin starts towards him, when the enormous mental, emotional, and physical strain of recent events finally takes its toll. The effect of the Odinsleep consumes him. His entire body now moves out of sync with the rest of the world, leaving trails behind him as he staggers backwards. Odin falls back against a wall, his face contorting in a scream. He collapses to the stone floor. Loki, shocked, hurries to him. He takes Odin in his arms, calls out. “Guards!”

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Cars, pick-ups, and SUVs are parked around the crater, the sound of a boisterous party coming from within.  It looks like the whole town has turned out. Locals sit on  lounge chairs, drink beer from coolers, laugh and talk. They watch the center of the crater, where large men have formed a line to take a turn with the mysterious object. One of them struggles and fails to lift it. As he gives up, the next man steps up and takes his turn, straining from the effort. Other Townies snap pictures of the scene with their cell phones.

They hear an approaching rumble, then clear a path as a large pick up truck  backs its way down the crater's edge. An eager townie  hops out the passenger side and pulls a thick chain from the back of the truck. He fastens one end around the object, then securely affixes the chain to the bumper and the rear of the undercarriage.

“This'll do it.” He yells to the driver. “Okay, let 'er rip!”

The townsfolk watch as the pick-up's engine roars, then  strains, its wheels spinning futilely, until finally the rear of the truck, along with the back wheels and axles, break off and go flying.

People dive out of the way. The pick-up driver sticks his head out. He is STAN "THE MAN” LEE. He looks back, shocked. The townsfolk laugh, the party continuing. They don't notice as --on The Crater’s Edge above them An imposing Government vehiclepulls up to a stop. A Fed in a suit climbs out, peers down at the boisterous gathering Below, his eyes fixed on the object at the center of the crater. He is  is Shield agent Coulson. He stares down at the object which glows with an otherworldly blue energy -- Mjolnir. He pulls out a phone.

“Sir -- we've found it.” Coulson says into the phone.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

In a back room, Thor, now shirtless and wearing jeans, looks around for a t-shirt. Jane, Y/n, and Darcy, standing in the lab, can't help but notice his reflection in the mirror. Darcy eyes his powerful build,rippling biceps.

“You know, for a crazy homeless guy, he's pretty cut.” Darcy commented.

“He’s not a homeless guy well technically he is right now.” Y/n explained well at least try to.

Jane turns away. Thor emerges from the back room, holding a t-shirt.

“Hey, sorry I tased you!” Darcy you called out and Y/n laughs.

Thor heads over to Jane's work area, starts fiddling with the equipment there with interest. Jane hurries over to put a stop to it.

“Excuse me... excuse me!” Jane yelped as She leads him away from the work station. Thor holds up the t-shirt. On the front, it bear a sticker which reads- hello my name is Dr. Donald Blake. Thor looks at it, puzzled. Jane rips the sticker off.

“My ex.” Jane started. Thor stares at her a beat. “They're the only clothes I had that'll fit you. Sorry.”

“They will suffice.” Thor replied as  turns, his attention to the pictures of the Bifrost on  the wall.

“You're welcome. Now tell me...” Thor studies the frame-grabs with interest. Jane points to his form in the Bifrost photo. “What were you doing, in that?” Jane asked.

He glances at it, dismissive. “What does anyone do in the Bifrost?” Thor asked.

“Portal?” Y/n answered.

Everyone stares at Thor and Y/n. Erik seems to recognize the word. Jane opens her notebook, quickly writes the word down. Thor moves close to her, eyes the notations and drawings within the book, curious.

“The Bifrost...” Erik said in amused but also  skeptical way.

Jane starts to get uncomfortable with Thor standing so close to her, looking over her notations. She quickly closes the book.

“What exactly is the Bifrost?” Jane questioned.

“This mortal form has grown weak.” Thor announced.

“But--Somebody get the mortal a Pop-Tart.” Jane noted.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Frigga sits at her husband's bedside, holding his hand. Odin lies there -- looking pale and lifeless, his body and the space around it warped from the effect of the Odinsleep. The walls of the chamber have moved close around him, protecting him like a dark crypt, sealing off any daylight. Loki sits at Odin's side, across from Frigga. She speaks  softly to him. “I asked him to be honest with you from the beginning. There should be no secrets in a family.”

“So why did he lie?” Loki wondered.

“He kept the truth from you so that you would never feel different. You are in every way our son, Loki, and we your family. You must know that.” Frigga informed Loki. Loki takes this in, stares at Odin. “You can speak to him. He can see and hear us, even now.”

“How long will it last?” Loki asked

“I don't know. This time is different. We were unprepared.” Frigga answered.

“I never get used to seeing him like this. The most powerful being in the Nine Realms lying helpless until his body is restored.” Loki disclosed.

“But he's put it off for so long now, I fear...” Frigga trailed off. Loki takes her hand. She's grateful, wipes tears from her eyes. “You're a good son.”Loki sits there, uncertain how to react, uncertain how he really feels. “We mustn't lose hope that your father will return to us. And your brother.” Frigga told her son.

Loki looks to Frigga, concerned. “What hope is there for Thor?”

There's always a purpose to everything your father does. Thor may yet find a way home.” Frigga said without a shadow of doubt.

Loki looks troubled by the revelation. He rises, heads for the exit, when they hear the clatter of armored footsteps hurriedly approaching.

The Einherjar guard  enter the room, block his way out. Loki tenses, prepared for the worst, but the guards just stand before them. Loki is baffled.

“Thor is banished. The line of succession falls to you. Until he awakens, Asgard is yours.” Frigga remarked.

The Einherjar kneel before the shocked Loki. Another Einherjar enters, holding Gungnir before him. He kneels before Loki, offers the spear to him.

“Make your father proud.” Frigga proclaimed.

Loki reaches out tentatively, then takes it. He likes the feel of it in his hand.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Thor, Y/n ,Erik , Darcy, and Jane sit at a table in the local diner. Selvig and Darcy watch as Thor eats ravenously from a huge mound of steak and eggs. A couple other full plates --pancakes and biscuits and gravy -- are piled high before him.

Jane's eager, her notebook at the ready.

“Now tell us exactly what happened to you last night.” Jane voiced. Thor looks her in the eyes, staring, intrigued. Jane gets flustered, looks away. “Maybe start with how you got inside that cloud.”

“And how you could eat an entire box of Pop-Tarts and still be this hungry.” Darcy wondered.

“Big man bigger appetite.” Y/n Stated.

Jane shoots her a withering look. Thor downs a cup of coffee.

“This drink. I like it.” Thor announced.

“Yeah, it’s great, isn't it? Isabela makes the best coffee in town.” Darcy declare Thor.

Thor hurls the empty mug at the ground, shatteringit “Another!” Thor called out.

Isabela, the diner's proprietor, glares at Thor  from behind the counter.

“Sorry, Izzy. Little accident.” Jane told the older lady.

“Yo voy a pagar la taza.” Y/n told lzzy (I'm going to pay for the cup.)

Isabela turns to Y/n  and starts venting quickly in Spanish. “¿Viste eso? ¡La primera vez que trae a un hombre aquí, y él es un lunático!” (Did you see that? The first time she brings a man in here, and he's a lunatic!) Y/n is laughing her ass off.

“What was that?” Jane questioned in an irritated voice.

He doesn’t understand. The other patrons stare at him.

“It was delicious. I want another.” Thor answered.

“Then you should just say so!” Jane proclaimed.

“I just did.” Thor Replied.

“I mean ask for it. Nicely.” Jane corrected.

“I meant no disrespect.” Thor disclose.

“All right, then no more smashing, deal?” Jane told Thor.

“You have my word.” Thor promised.

“Good.” Jane noted.

A few townies, looking bedraggled, enter and take a seat at the counter. We recognize them from the crater. (Among them  is the Drunk Townie Jake, who is not presently drunk.)

“Morning, Pete. Jake.” Isabela greet the man.

“The usual, please, Izzy.” The man replied

Isabela pours them a couple cups of coffee.

“You missed all the excitement out at the crater.” The man told Isabela.

“What crater?” Isabell asked.

Y/n and Jane overhear this, exchange a look, turn to the Townies with interest.

“They're saying some kind of satellite crashed in the desert.” Pete Answered.

“We were having a good time with it till the Feds showed up, chased us out.” Jake explained.

Satellite I think that’s the Thor’s hammer.

“Excuse me, did you say there was a satellite crash?” Jane asked Townies.

“Yep. They said it was radioactive. And I had my hands all over it.” Jake confirmed. “I'm probably sterile now.”

Thor, unconcerned, prepares to dig into the giant pile of pancakes. Darcy is amazed by the sight.

“Oh my God, this is going on Facebook.” Darcy whips out her cellphone. “Smile!” Darcy tote Thor. Thor smiles  as she snaps a photo of him and his massive stack of food.

“What did the satellite look like?” Erik Chimed in.

“I don't know nothing about satellites. But it was heavy. Real heavy. Nobody could lift it.” Jack. Explained.

This gets Thor's attention.

Y/n projects one of her thoughts to Thor. It’s your hammer Thor.

Thor springs to his feet, heads over to Drunk Townie Jake, and pulls the Townie around to face him.

“Where?!” Thor demanded.

“About twelve miles east of here.” Jake answered nervously.

Thor grins, his spirits soaring, as he quickly strides out of the diner with Y/n hot on his trail.

“I wouldn't bother! Looked like the whole Army was coming in when we left!” Pete called out to Thor and Y/n.

Thor studies the position of the sun, gauging his bearings. Jane, Darcy, and Selvig catch up to him and Y/n.

“Where are you two going?” Jane question Thor and Y/n.

“Twelve miles east of here.” Thor Replied as he follows Y/n to her car. Jane walks with him.

“Why? And why are you going with him questioned Y/n.

“I’m going to helping him.” Y/n answered.

“To get what belongs to me.” Thor said without missing a beat.

“So now you own a satellite?��Jane questioned sarcastically.

“It's not what they say it is.” Thor replied.

“Whatever it is, the government seems to think it's theirs. You intend to just walk in there and take it?” Jane wondered.

“Yes.” Thor noted. “If you come with  me there now, I'll tell you everything you wish to know.”

“Everything?” Jane wondered.

“All the answers you seek will be yours, once I reclaim Mjolnir.” Thor told Jane

Darcy looks to the others."Myeu-muh?" What's "Myeu-muh?" Darcy said confuse.

Jane studies Thor.

He looks sincere. She's nearly swayed,when -“Jane. Y/n.” Erik called for Them.

Erik pulls Jane and Y/n aside. Thor can tell that Selvig doesn't much care for him. “Please don't do this.” Erik stressed to Jane and Y/n.

“I think we should here him out.” Y/n said giving a knowing smile at Thor.

“You know what we saw last night. This can't be a coincidence. I want to know what's in that crater.” Jane expressed.

“I'm not talking about the crater. I'm talking about him.”Erik corrected.

“He's promised us answers.” Jane replied.

“He's delusional! Listen to what he's saying! "Thor." "Bifrost." "Mjolnir." These are the stories I grew up with as a child!” Erik explained.

“What if he’s telling the truth what if he really is the God of Thunder.” Y/n said trying to reason with Erik.

“Really you actually believe him. He hit his head when Jane hit him he’s not the god of thunder!!” Erik voiced.

“We just can’t abound you hit him twice I won’t do that look i’m not leaving him he needs help and I’m going to help him. Y/n declared.

“I’d just be riding with him and Y/n out there, that's all.” Jane explained.

“It's dangerous. He's dangerous.” Erik replied.

“So Am I and you asked me to be here so what’s the difference between me and him?” Y/n asked.

After a moment, Jane nods at Erik. They head back over to Thor and Darcy.

“I'm sorry. I can't go with you and Y/n.” Jane told Thor.

“I understand. Then this is where we say goodbye.” Thor Accepted. He takes her hand and kisses it.

“That's... thank you.” Jane giggled.

Thor bows slightly to each of them.

“Jane Foster... Erik Selvig... Darcy. Farewell.” Thor replied. He and Y/n gets in her car heads off down the street.

“Early you said you know who I am.” Thor Announced.

“I do you are the god of thunder.” Y/n replied.

“How is it you believe me when the others didn’t?” Thor questioned.

“I can reads.” Y/n answered taking her eyes off the rode for a second. “That’s how I woke you up in the hospital before.”

“Really your truly a mind reader?” Thor Asked.

“I know what happened with the Frost Giants and how you got here you were banished by your father Odin.” Y/n answered

“Wow... this is amazing how long have you been able to do this?” Thor wondered.

“Ever since I was five I can also control the weather too.” Y/n Remarked.

“You can what..” Thor Stated as he looks around the car he sees it begins to snow.

“This is extraordinary.” Thor beamed.

“I’m glad someone thinks so.” Y/n said smiling. “But we’re not going far.

Erik looks worried and relieved.

“Now... let's get back to the lab We have work to do.” Erik told as him  and Darcy turn and start to go. Jane looks after the car as they drive away down the street.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Sif joins the Warriors Three as they hurry towards the Throne Room. Two Einherjar Guards enter, admitting Sif and the Warriors Three, who burst through the entrance, heads bowed.

“Allfather, we must speak with you.” Sif urged. But as they raise their heads, they stop short to see -- Loki Sitting sprawled upon his father's throne. He wears his horned ceremonial headdress and holds gungnir in his hand. Sif and the others look up, shocked at the sight before them.

“What is this?” Volstagg Questioned.

“My friends... you haven't heard? I am now Ruler of Asgard.” Loki informed them.

“Where is Odin?” Fandral Asked in a curious tone.

“Father's fallen into the Odinsleep. My mother fears he may never awaken again.” Loki answered.

“We would speak with her.” Sif replied.

Sif and the Warriors Three exchange a look. Loki notices.

“She has refused to leave my father's bedside. You can bring your "urgent" matter to me, your King.” Loki declared

Sif covers quickly. “We would ask you to end Thor's banishment.” Sif voiced.  

“My first command can not be to undo  the Allfather's last. We're on the brink of war with Jotunheim. Our people must have a sense of continuity in order to feel safe in these difficult times.” Loki remarked.  Sif and the Warriors Three trade looks, not liking any of this. “All of us must stand together, for the good of Asgard.”

“Of course.” Fandral replied

Sif and the Warriors Three bow their heads and exit. Loki stares after them.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Jane, Selvig, and Darcy head up the street. They're by Arturo's, when a pick-up Truck pulls up before them, stopped by traffic. In the back of the vehicle, Jane notices,partially covered by a tarp, the dark matter analysis machine from her lab.

“Hey! That's my stuff!” Jane called out.

Jane, Selvig, and Darcy reach the lab, where government vehicles are parked. Shield Agent haul equipment out of the lab and load it into waiting vans. Other Agents strip all the equipment from inside the Pinzgauer and cart it away. Still others emerge from her trailer, arms loaded with scientific instruments and documents.

“What the hell is going on here?!” Jane barked at the Agents but they  ignore her as Agent Coulson approaches.

“Ms. Foster, I'm Agent Coulson, with Shield.” Coulson informed them.

Erik, recognizing the name of the organization, grows wary.

“I don't care who you work for, you can't do this!” Jane voiced loudly.

“Jane. This is more serious than you realize. Let it go.” Erik Chimed in.

“Let it go?! This is my life!” Jane remarked  angrily.

“We're here investigating a security threat. We need to appropriate your equipment and all your atmospheric data.” Coulson disclosed.

“By "appropriate"  you mean "steal?" Jane corrected.

Instead of answering, Coulson gives her a check. “This should more than compensate you for your trouble.” Coulson replied.

She throws the check to the ground without looking at it. “I can't just pick up replacements  from RadioShack! I made most of that equipment myself!” Jane exclaimed.

“Then I'm sure you can do it again.” Coulson pointed out.

“And I'm sure I can sue you for violating my constitutional rights!” Jane told.

“We're the good guys, Ms. Foster.” Coulson reported.He tries to walk away, but Jane blocks his path. She is fully herself, fueled by outrage.

“So are we! We're on the verge of understanding something extraordinary.” Jane started. Jane holds up her notebook. “Everything I know about this phenomenon is in this lab and in this book, and no one has the right to take it from me.” Jane finished.

Coulson gestures to a nearby Agent, who promptly plucks the notebook out of Jane's hands and adds it to the pile he's carrying. Jane is stunned.

“Thank you for your cooperation.” Coulson announced.

He gets into a car. The cars and trucks pull away.

Jane,Erik, and Darcy enter, staring in shock at the now-empty space.

“Years of research, gone.” Jane cried out.

“They even took my iPod.” Darcy confessed.

“And your back-ups?” Erik questioned.

“Look around! They took our back-ups. They took the back-ups of our back-ups.” Jane explained.

“I just downloaded, like, thirty songs on there.” Darcy told.

“Will you please stop talking about your iPod?!” Jane barked at Darcy then she looks over to Erik.

“Who are these people?” Jane asked Erik.

“No one knows much about them. But I knew a scientist -- a pioneer in gamma radiation. Shield showed up, and he was never heard from again.” Erik answered.

“I'm not going to let them do this. I'm getting everything back.” Jane declared.

“Please, let me contact one of my colleagues. Dr. Pym or Dr. Munroe they had some dealings with these people. I'll e-mail them  and see if one of them can help.” Erik insisted.

“They took your laptop, too.” Darcy Chimed in.

Annoyed, Erik thinks.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Erik and Jane in the Pinzgauer drive up in front of then town's rinky-dink library. A sign in the window reads, "Free Internet.”

“I'll just be a minute.” Erik told Jane as He climbs out and heads inside. Jane looks down the street and sees something that intrigues her.

Thor and Y/n enters the store. Thor approaches a pet store clerk While Y/n looks at all the animals.

“I need a horse.” Thor announced.

“Thor they don’t sell Horse.” Y/n answered.

“Ya, we don't sell horses. Just dogs, cats, birds.” The clerk agreed with Y/n.

“We’re just here to kill time for Jane to find us.” Y/n told Thor as she starts to play with some bunnies.

“Right well Then give me one of those, large enough to ride around town for now.” Thor replied.

“You can’t ride any of them you would squish them with your weight.” Y/n disclosed.

The Pet Store Clerk looks confused. Just then, Thor and Y/n hears a car horn . They turn to the open door. Across the street, Jane calls out to them  from the Pinzgauer.

“You still have room for one more?” Jane wondered.

“Ya come on Thor.” Y/n replied.

Y/n and Thor walks out the pet store to the truck and Jane gets out the driver seat so Y/n can drive.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

It's story time in the library, as a LIBRARIAN reads a book --"THE SECRET HISTORY OF GIANTS"-- to a group of kids.

"And though they're large, giants can be quiet. You have to listen carefully for the sound of their

footsteps -- because they may be closer than you think." The librarian shared  with the Group of kids.

Nearby, Selvig sits at a computer terminal, finishing up his e-mail and his Text to Dr. Munroe. Beside him, a kid  flips through a book with interest. The Librarian stops mid-story and calls to the Kid pleasantly.

“Joshua, come sit down. It's story time.” The librarian voiced. The Kid closes his book and joins the others. Selvig looks over, notices the title of the book the Kid was reading --"MYTHS AND LEGENDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD."

He picks it up, flips through it, stops at the section on Scandinavian Mythology. It's a picture of a Rainbow bridge  coming down from Asgard to earth. Asgardians walk upon it, among them Odin, Loki’, and Thor, who wields Mjolnir. On the ground below them, a group of  vikings kneel reverently. He eyes the illustration, pondering.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Jane's Pinzgauer cuts off the road, heads over the rugged terrain. Storm clouds roll in over the desert sky. Y/n drives. Jane is pumped with adrenaline, nervous and excited, as Thor sits beside her, upbeat and eager for battle.

“I've never done anything like this before! Have you ever done anything like this before?” Jane asked in a curious way. Thor looks amused by her excitement.

“All time he’ll I think I’m doing it right now.” Y/n answered.

“Many times. You're brave to do it.” Thor replied.

“I all time. Hell  I think I’m doing it right now.” Y/n murmured.

Thor chuckles at Y/n. She is one funny mortal he thinks.

“They just stole my entire life's work. I really don't have anything left to lose.” Jane

“Who is they.” Y/n questioned in a serious tone.

“Erik said there Shield some law-enforcement organization they came and took everything.”

Y/n’s whole demeanor change. How the hell did they catch on so fast? How am I going to protect Thor if they find out what he is it’s over. The clouds outside turn a dark gray.

“But you're clever. Far more clever than anyone else in this Realm.” Thor said voice soft with affection

"This Realm?" Why do you talk like that?” Jane wondered.

“You think me strange?” Thor asked.

Jane laughs, catches herself. “Yeah. Just a little.”

“Good strange or bad strange?” Thor wondered.

“I'm not quite sure yet.” Jane answered as She looks at him, sees him staring at her. She's lost in his gaze. There so lost in each other that they don’t see the distress that Y/n in, being lost in her own thoughts of what’s going to happen. The pinzgauer lurches off the road. She quickly snaps out of her thoughts and regains control of the car.

“Sorry.” Y/n announced. Y/n glances at Thor through that review mirror and, he can see that something is troubling her but before he can ask her on the  matter Jane speaks.

“Who are you? Really?” Jane queried.

“You'll see soon enough.” Thor told Jane.

“You promised me answers.” Jane Remarked.

“What you seek -- it's a bridge.” Thor answered.

“A bridge? Like an Einstein-Rosen Bridge?” Jane guessed.

“More like a rainbow bridge.” Thor corrected.

“God, I hope you're not crazy.” Jane declared.

As the Pinzgauer heads away, we continue up a hillside, revealing a light illuminating the valley beyond. As we move closer, we see the glow comes from -- A Massive Shield Base Now set up around the crater -- vehicles, trailers, barricades. Armed Guards man a gate in the razor wire fence that runs fifty yards from the crater's edge, enclosing the complex. Clear, plastic access tubes with junction boxes lead to a translucent cube structure erected in the middle of the crater. Through the glass walls of the base's command trailer, we see Coulson directing technicians, busy at work. Within the cube structure itself, a team of Shield scientist work with high-tech machinery, analyzing the object at the center of it all -- Mjolnir.

Y/n, and Thor crawl to the edge of the ridge, look through binoculars, see the impressive shield base.

“Look I know how important this to you but We can go to Home Depot and get you a hammer.” Y/n insisted as she tries to pull Thor way from the edge. Thor doesn’t budge and looks at Y/n.

“Your worried about about me?” Thor wondered.

“Of course I’m worried you don’t know how these guys work if they catch you it’s over. There’s no way I’ll can help you get back home.” Y/n answered.

Thor puts a comforting hand on Y/n’s shoulder. “I will be fine I have been in worst situations before and I’m still here.” Thor explained.

“I that is real reassuring thank you.” Y/n replied Sarcastically.

Jane walks up to Thor and Y/n with a concern look. “Hat isn't a satellite crash. They would have hauled the wreckage  away, not built a city around it.” Jane disclosed.

Thor shrugs out of his jacket and hands it to her.

“You're going to need this.” Thor commented.

“Why?--“ Jane trailed off.

Thunder rumbles overhead. She stares at him intently and takes his jacket.

“Y/n are you doing this?” Jane questioned.

“No this isn’t but I think I know who is.” Y/n answered.

“Stay here. Once I have Mjolnir, I will return what they stole from you—Deal?” Thor Remarked.

He looks to Jane then Y/n, already knowing that Jane will take put but Y/n will disobey his request.

“No! Look what's down there! You can't just walk in, grab our stuff, and walk out!” Jane proclaimed.

“No.” Jane looks relieved. “I'm going to fly out.” Thor replied.

Before she can react, he starts heading towards the crater. The first drops of rain begin to patter into the dust.

“Wait...” Jane trailed off. But Thor is already headed towards the crater.

A  Needle spikes on a handheld sensor device. The technician holding it looks over at the hammer. Mjolnir begins to give off a subtle glow. A bolt of lightning cracks across the sky above.

A younger shield agent, a techie in a headset, monitors security. A junior, looks on, none-too-pleased.

“Feed from the keyhole. Can barely penetrate the cloud cover.” The Techie hikes a thumb at another monitor, squelching with static. It shows an SAR shot of the area, laid over a terrain map. “Tech's barely working as it is, with all the interference that thing's giving off.” He gestures towards the hammer. He checks a computer. “Hey, we've got a commercial aircraft coming in right over us, Southwest Airlines Flight 5434.” Techie disclosed.

“Reroute it, like all the others.” Sitwell ordered

“Right. Can I get the passengers some free drinks for the trouble?” Sitwell glares at him. “It'd be a nice gesture.” The Techie types into the computer, when he notices something on another screen, holds up a hand. “Hold a sec... we got something outside the fence, west side...”  Techie trailed off. Techie points at the screen. Through the haze, it shows a  thermal image huddled beside the fence.

“DeLancey, Jackson -- check it out.”  Sitwell said into the radio.

Back at the top of the Cliff Y/n is using her telepathy to track everyone in the facility. She picks up on the conversation Sitwell is having with one of the Techie. They found you Thor keep your guard up two coming your way. Y/n broadcasted her thought to Thor. Back down at the Base a pair of Shield Agents(DeLancey and Jackson) take off in a jeep to investigate. Sitwell looks out the window, something strange catching his attention. The window's reflection that a glow is coming from the hammer containment area.

The jeep pulls up as the Agents scan the fence with an flashlight, see nothing unusual.

“Looks like we're good here. Must have been another coyote.” Agent Jackson seven to the radio to Sitwell. Just then, the Agents notice a section of the fence has been bent up from the ground, leaving a gap. Before they can call it in, a massive crack of lightning illuminates the night sky -- revealing the silhouette of a large man standing outside the driver's (Jackson's) side of the jeep. DeLancey looks over, notices.

“Jackson?” DeLancey hesitated. The Agents reach for their weapons. Thor elbows the driver across the jaw, causing him to drop his weapon. Jackson slumps over the steering wheel, as DeLancey starts to raise a shotgun at Thor.

Thor grabs the barrel, yanks it out of DeLancey's hands and thrusts the hilt back, smashing the Agent's jaw. Thor reaches into the jeep to grab a rain slicker.

Part 5

[inkribbon796]

Crackdown Ch. 2

Chapter 2: Little Wooden Soldiers

Summary: The heroes go to arrest three of Dark’s closest enforcers, and things seem to be going unusually smoothly.

A/N: Illinois, Bim, and Yan’s scenes are happening at the same time.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4

Twenty minutes before Dark’s standoff with the heroes, Eric and Illinois were running around what should have been an abandoned warehouse but was full of a local gang that was being mind controlled by some cursed cat totem, it was also summoning stone creatures that ranged from human-like to amorphous amalgamations of rocks.

They ran around the warehouse like maniacs, Eric screaming and exploding rock statues into dust and rubble, and Illinois was close by taking care of the actual humans.

With the totem contained and its former human puppets unconscious the two quickly made out and left, Illinois calling the cops so that the gang would be arrested. This made sure the neighborhood was safe from them and Dark had one less rival group to deal with. Eric quickly changed out of his costume so they could walk hand-and-hand to a diner they liked to go to.

“So it do-doesn’t summon cat-s?” Eric frowned as Illinois slid the totem into a little pocket Void space in his hat. They were crossing a park to save on time, only a couple people still in the park.

“Nah,” Illinois put his hat back on his head and took Eric’s hand again. “Be cool if it could, be funny to watch probably. I know Kay would like something like that.”

Eric giggled as they walked out onto the street, “Tonight’s been a lot of fun.”

“Always the plan, dulcito,” Illinois winked, clicking his tongue and tipping his hat.

“So wh-ere are we go-ing?” Eric asked, smiling.

“You know,” Illinois smiled widely at him, nudging him a little as they stopped just shy of the sidewalk. “We go to Shannon’s and then, I don’t know, it depends on if you’ve got patrol early tomorrow.”

Eric blushed, looking away shyly, smiling.

“Nah,” Marvin cut in, snapping his fingers and a large magic circle that took up almost half the park. He jumped down from a tree as both Eric and Illinois’s feet became magically locked in place.

“Yer grounded,” Marvin told Eric, pointing to him as Marvin summoned giant playing cards that were glowing in a way Illinois did not like. “An’ adventure boy here is goin’ ta jail where he belongs.

“D-on’t h-h-urt him,” Eric choked out, pulling his away from Illinois’s hand, his hands erupting into dozens of explosions on his fingers and palms.

Abe stepped over, he’d been hiding behind a tree and had a TASER in his hands, Jackie zipping in to stand next to him and Marvin. “Come on, kid, this guy’s one of Dark’s most loyal enforcers, he’s bad news.”

“I’m fu-cking tw-enty,” Eric was starting to get frustrated.

“Dulcito,” Illinois called out, and Eric looked back at him. “It’s okay, I won’t even stay the night.”

“They ca-can’t just ta-ke you,” Eric reminded, his voice choppy with agitation and frustration. “Wh-What-ever ha-ppened, you were with—”

Illinois leaned in and Eric met him with a kiss. “We’ll have to take a rain check on that dinner date, sweetheart, but I should be out in an hour or two, even if the Old Man does post bail.”

Eric was escorted away from Illinois, the young hero looking upset and betrayed at Jackie as Marvin disabled the circle and Abe immediately started reading Illinois his rights and cuffing him, but he made sure his wrists were in front of him where everyone could see them. “Illinois Jones, you are under arrest for conspiracy, murder, and theft.”

As Abe started reading his rights, Illinois looked over at Eric and tried to give him a reassuring smile. A car drove up and Illinois let himself be put in the back with Marvin who looked braced to summon up something to further restrain him.

As they drove away, Illinois noticed that Eric was safely away from you. Illinois glared at Marvin as the magician plucked his hat off his head. “If you destroy that it doesn’t get rid of the magic.”

“Yeh should have called Dark when yeh had the chance,” Marvin reminded, the mage knew there was a little bronze that summoned Dark to Illinois’s location but he couldn’t see it. “Why not?”

“Pardon me for being a good boyfriend and not wanting to get him hurt,” Illinois shot back.

“I think yer scared ‘a Dark,” Marvin accused, a smug smile on his face.

“Unlike almost everyone in this town, I’m not afraid of Dark, I’m just not interested in playing meet the parents yet. Unless someone can bring Derek back from the dead so I can properly acquaint him with the heel of my shoe.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Marvin dismissed in disbelief, the Irishman’s attention turning to his communicator. “Package secure, how’s everyone else?”

“Dorm 5 Killer under arrest,” Amy answered.

“We’ve got our end over here,” Bob answered.

“We’re done,” Bing spoke up, “heading back to the station now.”

“We’ve got Dark but who knows how long he’ll stay distracted,” Chase said over Marvin’s communicator.

~::~ ~::~ ~::~

Inside the infamous radio station that still ran Wilford’s program, despite all the stabbing and shooting he’d inflicted upon his various “guests”.

Bim was wrapping up shooting for his show and was excited to watch his dad work. The young show host had descended from the stage to find Wilford in a disagreement in the green room.

The argument was winding down by the time Bim walked in. But the event meant that Wil was already a little worked up and everyone already knew someone was going to wind up dead, and Bim was already starting to get the starting itches of a craving and if someone died, Bim might not need to hunt someone down. It wouldn’t even be the first time Bim had picked from one of his father’s mad kills, even if it took some of the fun out of the hunt.

“What happened?” Bim asked Wil, following him back towards the stage where they were setting up for Wilford’s show.

“They switched out one of my segments and only now just told me,” Wil grumbled angrily, his strides angry and purposeful. Then the madman saw the reason for his ire, a man who was in a tan trench coat with bandages over his eyes. He was talking with the show runner while he sat on set.

Wilford stomped over and Bim was braced for the gun to come out and blood to spatter the set, but as Wil started talking to the new interviewee Wilford seemed to be visibly calming down and eventually went to sit down.

Surprised and more than a bit disappointed, Bim threw up his arms and started back towards the green room. He’d wait for the gunshot there, Dark and the Producer were the only two who could stop his dad mid-murder.

So he waited and turned on the monitor to watch Wil as the show started. But as he watched his father open the show, he felt something like a heavy, invisible blanket fall over him and he was suddenly alone in the room with four heroes all in the room with him.

“Bim Trimmer,” UFO floated a bit off the ground, Amy’s hair tied back so it couldn’t be grabbed. “You’re under arrest for the murders and disappearances of ten people.”

As she began to read him his rights, Bim felt the room almost constrict around him. Robbie and Ethan were with Amy, Nate sitting in a chair by the door and the instant Ethan had pulled his aura dampening over Bim the singer began strumming slower music more befitting a lullaby. The result of Nate’s powers and Ethan’s dampening, unlike most other heroes, made Bim feel weird. The aura he’d inherited from Dark and Wilford fought being compressed into the ground, and for the first time in Bim’s life it could be visibly seen. It wasn’t the thrashing aura that Dark was infamous for, it clung to his body like a dark grey cloud that was tinged with purple.

“Get off!” Bim growled, his aura attacking Ethan’s like it was a virus, and Ethan reflexively pulled away.

Bim’s hand got halfway to the lapel of his suit coat and the bronze star hidden behind it that Dark had given him over fifteen years ago, scanning the room before his pride got the best of him, and he quickly pulled out his switchblade that Wil had etched with Bim’s name on the handle.

“You all have a death wish or something?” Bim demanded, his aura invisible again with Ethan’s aura dampening was off of him. “Do you even know where you are?”

“Wil’s not coming for you,” Nate reminded, still playing lullabies and classical pieces. “He gets tunnel vision on set, and nothing short of blowing the building will make him save you.”

“I can protect myself!” Bim spat. “I don’t need anyone to save me.”

Hidden by Ethan’s aura, Robbie appeared behind Bim and slammed his balled up fists into the back of Bim’s head and aided with some magical cuffs sewed into his sleeves the spell was strong enough to knock him out.

Bim dropped to the ground and slumped onto the ground. Everyone in the room froze, braced for Dark to show up but after a minute nothing happened.

“That was way too easy,” Ethan warned suspiciously as Robbie carefully picked him up.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Nate decided, subtly trying to hide how he was rubbing his arm. “Before Wil comes to his senses, or Dark finds out.”

Ethan extended his aura around them as they began to take Bim out of the station, Nate taking up the rear and Amy in the front. The whole group froze when a gunshot rang up, the death of the guest Wilford had second on his show.

But when Wilford settled back into his chair like a surly child, the heroes finished taking Bim outside to the same armored car they put Wil into whenever he was arrested. The car keeping his magic contained as he was driven to the police station, Bim starting to slowly come to as he was cuffed and Amy was contacting Chase and the others to let them know their part of the mission was a success.

~::~ ~::~ ~::~

Unlike the heroes had to do with Dark, Illinois, and Bim the third group didn’t have to worry about leading Yan into a trap. All it took was ambushing her in the street with one of Bob’s almost see through barriers.

Yan was slashing at Bob’s barrier with her katana, screaming in a mix of Japanese, English, and Korean.

“Look, we’re not going to hurt you,” Wade was trying to calm the angry, homicidal young woman from hurting anyone but at this point they might need to just stand here and wait for her to tire herself out. “We’re just taking you to jail with your brothers.”

“Fuck off!” Yan screamed at them.

“Here, let me try,” Patton smiled.

“Sure, knock yourself out,” Wade shrugged, stepping away. “Go nuts, pal.”

Patton moved in and placed his hands on the barrier, “Hey, you’re Yan right?”

She shouted something at him in Japanese that sounded as angry and insulting, as it was rude and loud.

“I’m Captain Morality, nice to meet you again,” Patton smiled, keeping his tone calm and even. “Look, we can’t let you out if you’re going to hurt people.”

“The only one I’ll hurt are you assholes,” Yan spat, but at least she wasn’t screaming which was a good sign. Patton was calming her down.

“So, we’re taking your brothers to the station and we want all of you in the same place,” Patton told her.

Yan was quiet for a bit as Patton kept trying to calm her down, with almost an unsure tone she asked, “Is Artie going to be there?”

Patton looked over at Bob and Wade who shrugged. So Patton leaned in, “Is that one of your brothers?”

“My biggest brother,” Yan smiled sadly. “He went off with my other brother and they never came back. The Old Man said he and my other brother work for the heroes now but I haven’t seen them in years.”

“Well,” Patton hummed, knowing the name Arthur wasn’t on the list but remembering what the Host had told him. “We’re trying to get all of you guys together to ask you a couple questions, so, yeah, he will be there.”

Yan chuckled a bit, “You won’t get Artie, he makes people disappear.”

“Well, we got some people that are hard to make disappear,” Patton promised.

Yan rolled her eyes and laughed at that, in a way reminded Patton strangely of both Dark and Wil, but that made sense to him because she had apparently lived with them for so long.

“So,” Patton smiled, “we’re going to bring you down to the station, and if you’re not going to help us we’re going to have to roll this thing all the way down there, and you might get motion sick.”

The young villain thought on that, clearly weighing her options. Wade and Bob held their breaths.

“Fine,” Yan grumbled, “but only because Artie might be there.”

After that Yan was more than a bit silent after that, just letting them arrest her and take her off in a car, Bob riding with them so he could make sure she didn’t escape and stayed in communicating with Chase and the other team leaders.

“You’ve got some freakishly creepy powers,” Wade told Patton.

“Oh, sorry,” Patton’s smile vanished.

“Nah, you’re not the only one like that, it’s just I rarely get to see it up close cause you live in the Gainesville area,” Wade apologized. “It’s just a good thing you’re one of the good guys.”

“Yeah,” Patton looked away nervously. “My powers are probably why the Host put me with you guys instead of UFO like Silver wanted. Think the others are doing okay?”

“Yeah,” Wade reassured. “I think they’re fine, they would have told us otherwise.”

Patton and Wade followed their group heading back to the police station.

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire.7.

The sky was a crisp and light blue that day. Children laughed and ran alongside the national mall, with their parents shortly behind them. The crowds were filled and packed along the streets, as the President was soon expected to come down to them in his motorcade. The city of Washington D.C. was as tranquil as it could possibly be.

“SHS Check in, perimeter callouts.” Stationed along the street and in their work uniforms were the 12 members of Laurens SHS. Dressed in simple three piece suits, all the members were hidden in plain sight. This was an important mission, the most important in their running as the Laurens SHS. Victor had gone to many meetings and contract bidding competitions to get this position, and if successful, the company and all involved would be set for life. “Eldritch, all clear.” Victor himself was not in the crowd, but with the President himself. The image of Helios was often enough to deter any wannabe villain or criminal. “Scythe, all clear.” “Huntsman and Meteor, clear.” The crowds were roaring as their President turned the corner and began the last stretch of his return home. Inside the car, no one was for certain what was being discussed. But no doubt it was about the “Quirk Ethics and Governance” conference he just came from, which Helios also attended. “Snowthrone, all clear.” “Breakerx2, all clear.” All was going smoothly. The Job was going off without a hitch. But a thought rested in the back of every member’s head. The crowd was cheering and throwing streamers. The President had been away for months from his own country, and had been championing the rights of those with quirks on the international stage. Those with quirks were still being classified as outlaws, so they were outside the protections of the government. The President helped fix that. “Inside team reports are all good. Missing two reports.”  Inside the car, Victor was dressed in his Hero uniform. A powerful white and gold color scheme ran up and down his button up jacket and pants, being capped off with brilliant red hair. He adjusted his reading glasses as he played with the President’s young daughter who was also in the car. “Mr.President, I do hope your stay with us was enjoyable.” The President looked over at Helios and chuckled. “The best I've had yet. I might even permanently hire you. Not a single thing has happened.” Helios gave a small laugh. He turned back to the President’s daughter. “I do hope you also liked hanging out with these heroes!” The little girl looked up at Helios and gave a toothy grin, with some teeth missing. “You guyses are so cool!!! I wanna be like you when I grow up!”  Helios grinned, but was stopped from continuing his conversation any further. A static buzz in his ear, followed up by dangerous words.

“Reverse, Tapout, problem.”

The sky of D.C. were bright and blue. The parking garage four miles away, however, was not.

Tapout flew forty feet into a concrete pillar, cracking it. Reverse was not too far in front of him. His hands were raised, and he had many cuts on his arms already. In front of him was a man dressed in a wife beater and welding goggles with a purple mohawk. “I’m tired of all this. You really think you could attack me? THE San Andreas?” He let out a maniacal laugh. Reverse straightened his back. He put his hand through his hair, and let out a small laugh.”oh please. Don’t think we were anything but more than you. We just had to report something in before we ripped you to shreds. You wanna take this one Tapout?” Reverse looked behind him and saw a hand raise from the pile of rubble where Tapout was. “You go on ahead, I'm a bit occupied.” Reverse turned back to San Andreas, and cracked his knuckles. After the last snap, he was already touching noses with him. San Andreas ducked his first punch, then punched the ground. Spikes shot up from the concrete and caught Reverse’s hand, cutting a gnarly gash into it. Reverse wind-stepped through the spikes, and threw a left hook. Even though San Andreas slid to the right, the force behind the punch broke the sound barrier. San Andreas weaved behind Reverse and dropped a huge block of stone from the ceiling onto Reverse. As the dust cleared, he saw that Reverse was not there. “I got you! You weakling I got you! Now nothing can stop us! The New World Order! The Nation of those with Quirks and nothing more!” Reverse came flying out of nowhere and delivered a double kick into San Andreas’s chest. He went flying out of the parking garage and into another building. The force of his impact left a huge crater, with a pair of arms and legs dangling out. “This is Reverse,” he said as he touched his ear, “The Villain we encountered was named San Andreas. He implied there might be more, be advised.”

Helios started to talk back, but Reverse was distracted. He heard clapping come from around the corner. Out from it came The Planeteer. “Planeteer? What are you doing here? You change your mind.” The Planeteer was dressed in a similar Three Piece suit , but different from the ones the Laurens SHS was wearing. His was green and grey all over, and he had a cane for some reason. “Reverse, you did it again. You stopped a villain from disrupting the peace. Bravo, really.” The Planeteer then raised his wrist to his face and spoke, “First step complete, initiating phase 2.” At the end of that, The Planeteer tapped his cane twice against the ground, and the sky turned orange. Instantly. “You two will be the first victims of my Vision.” And then suddenly the parking garage was gone, replaced with air as Tapout and Reverse were now free falling, the Planeteer gone.

Elsewhere, the city was on fire. “Huntsman and Meteor, fighting Guang He.” “Eldritch, fighting Warcross.” “Breaker here, helping evac alongside the inside team.” “Snowthrone, putting out fires. Scratch that, fighting Molten.” Helios watched silently as he saw Scythe get thrown onto the hood of the Presidential car, before dodign the punch of what looked like a huge werewolf. He calmly turned to the President and spoke, “Sir I think it is our best interest to leave.” Helios pointed to the roof and it disintegrated into the light. 

Reverse and Tapout were beginning to see what the city was turning into. Still miles above the ground, they saw the fires starting to rise from the buildings and chaos in the streets. Explosions were going off around the capitol building, and numerous figures in black suits ran out and suddenly disappeared. “TAPOUT,” Reverse yelled through the wind, “SOMETHING IS GOING ON HERE!” “NO SHIT IDIOT! HOW ARE WE GOING TO STOP FALLING?!” Reverse struggled against the wind and pulled his hand to his ear. “THIS IS REVERSE AND TAPOUT WE ARE ABOUT 1100 FEET ABOVE THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND WE NEED HELP!” At the end of that broadcast, a beam of gold shot up from the streets and grabbed them mid air, and brought them to the ground. The caster of said beam was Ribbon, another Laurens SHS hero. “Reverse, Tapout what's going on?!” “Planeteer betrayed us, this is all his doing.” “What?! How?!” “HOW INDEED.” A voice echoed from above.

Helios was sprinting in the streets, shooting beams of light from his arms. The President and his service were not too far behind, moving him out of the way when explosions and debris fall or go off near him. But they all stopped and looked up when they heard that voice. “No..” Helios uttered. The ground shook and a crack opened up, consuming most of the National Mall. The President and his Service were caught on a piece of falling rock, and were taken too quickly for Helios to act. In his hands, the President’s daughter screamed as her father fell into a molten lava mass pushing itself up from the tear. Helios scanned the horizon and saw Reverse, Tapout, and Ribbon pulling people from the rubble. He flew over there, dodging bolts of lightning firing from the newly appeared dark clouds in the sky.

“Reverse,’ Helios said as he landed down near him, ‘take this girl and run. Go now! NOW!” Helios yelled as he thrust the girl into Reverse’s arms. He nodded then sprinted off. Reverse left D.C. within minutes. “Tapout, I need you to - “ “HALT, VICTOR. YOUR HEROISM WILL NOT SAVE YOU TODAY!” The heroes turned to see a figure floating in the air, staying in one space as if standing on nothing. The Planeteer stood above the gaping maw of the tear, with molten lava pouring out. “TODAY I INACT MY REVENGE. YOU WILL PAY FOR NEVER LISTENING TO ME,MY IDEAS, MY VISION!” As he spoke, the lava began to rise, and started to swirl. Soon, a tornado of molten rock began to envelop the air around him. Helios took to the sky and began firing beams of pure light at him, disintegrating pockets here and there of rock,but they quickly filled again. The lava tornado began to move, tearing up the buildings of the Smithsonian. The winds began to pick up, and they were drawing everything around into it. People caught up in them flew into the burning inferno, along with piles of rubble. Helios flew around, trying to catch as many as he could while still shooting at the tornado. Tapout was catching them in midair and pulling others behind cover while Ribbon snatched those in danger’s way. “YOU WILL LOATHE THE DAY YOU DENIED ME!” The ground shook, and more and more lava came gushing out.

Helios stopped flying for a moment, to stare down the inferno. He put his arms up to the sky and beams of sunlight began to poke through the orange sky and dark clouds. They began collecting in his hands and then..

Bolts of sunlight ,akin to lightning, began striking the tornado, tearing chunks of it off. Faster than any attack ever seen before, and devastating. “Fool.” Helios did not notice in time, turning around only to see it. A wave of molten lava the size of a tsunami, overtook Helios in one giant swoop. When the wave lowered from the sky, Helios was no longer there. The cuts in the sky where he pulled sunlight from now closed. And not a sign he was there to begin with existed anymore.

“Finally. Finally! MY VISION WILL BE REALIZED! I WILL RULE WITH ALL-” “YOU BASTARD!” Tapout shouted from the ground, loud enough and with fury to break the enhanced thunderous voice of the Planeteer. Tapout began to sprint towards him, screaming. Tears were falling off his face and evaporating, the heat boiling. Planeteer pointed down at Tapout running at him, and two giant hands of rock flew from the ground and narrowly missed the hero. Planeteer raised his hand and the ground itself began to rise, creating boulders that Tapout hopped to and from. 

“YOU KILLED HIM!” Tapout threw a right punch, and around the Planeteer one thousand punches appeared. The Planeteer was expecting this though, and had formed a barrier of clear quartz around him. “You thought I'd be easy to kill? You always underestimated me.” He made a backhand motion and the wind itself slapped Tapout away. “Looking down on me.” Tapout, on the ground and bleeding, looked up with pure vitriol. “NOW IT'S MY TURN TO LOOK DOWN ON YOU!” Planeteer raised his hand and moved to slam it down. In the air, debris rose and started to melt, turning into molten lava. As he threw it down, Tapout came from the ground with the mightiest punch ever thrown in American History.

Tapout bounced from the ground with an uppercut, and put forward all energy he had left.

The debris in the air cooled and disintegrated, the clouds and sky were cleared. The fires were all put out. Any and all people who were not behind cover were blown away. And The Planeteer was seen flying away at 100 miles per hour. What happened is still discussed when the question of “can x hero beat y hero in a fight”. Tapout came from the ground, and delivered one million punches at once to the body of The Planeteer, with enough force to cause biblical events.

Tapout then looked up, spit on the ground, then passed out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That,” Reverse spoke with finality, “was what really happened in D.C.” He got up and stretched his back, and looked out the window. The sun had long set, and the city of Atlanta was no less busy. “Tapout delivered what is still called “the end all punch” and defeated the Planeteer. But not before he got to your father. After that, and numerous court visits, the Laurens SHS was dissolved and we all went our separate ways. Tapout said he was going to go out of his way to end all those who had a connection to Planeteer and his New World Order.” He turned around and looked Jade in the eyes.”I think the Planeteer is still out there. And he just killed Tapout. And he will likely come after you, the last connection to the man who was better than him.”

Jade sat in her desk shocked, and Reverse walked out the door, turning off the light.

“I’d get some rest for tomorrow. You know what you’re up against.”

But will I be ready?

[violetsmoak]

Pieces of April [3/?]

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21099044/chapters/50202530

Summary: On the anniversary of his death, Jason’s second life takes an abrupt new turn and he’s faced with a challenge that neither Batman nor the All-Caste prepared him for.

Rating: PG-13 (rating may change later)

Warning(s): Past Jason/Isabel, kidfic, minor canon character death (pretty sure you can guess who, not either of our boys!), I’ll add more warnings/tags as I think of them.

Canon-Compliance: Takes place in between the two RHATO series, so after Roy and Kori and before Artemis and Bizarro.

First Chapter

________________________________________________________________

A nurse leads them to an empty waiting room with chairs and a table, seemingly unfazed by the situation that has reduced Jason to as mindless as shell as he was before taking a dip in the Lazarus Pit.

“Normally we do visits with the mother and family in the hospital room, but in this case…” she trails off, sympathetic. “I’m very sorry.”

“Yeah,” Jason thinks he says, looking around the spartan décor.

“I’ll be back with your daughter,” she tells him, and leaves.

Jason opens his mouth to protest that word, but it dies on his lips. Somehow it seems dickish to proclaim it’s not his daughter. He’s not sure he could form the sentence right now, anyway. It means acknowledging the existence of a tiny human who may or may not be his—

“It’s transference.”

Jason blinks, looking over at Drake.

“The nurse,” the younger man says. “Calling the baby your daughter. She’s worried and hoping you’ll form an emotional attachment whether the child’s yours or not. You have no obligation to do that just now.”

Jason grits his teeth. “And you’re telling me this why?”

“Because I know what self-flagellation looks like. You can freak out, you know. I won’t tell anyone.”

“And you can be less of a weirdo! How the hell are you so…” Jason fumbles the word, and then furiously gestures up and down. “This.”

“It’s a tense situation and you’re panicked enough for the two of us.”

“I’m not panicked.”

“Jason, you’re completely tense right now, I can almost see how fast your pulse is going and you can barely think straight enough to give answers to simple questions,” Drake tells him. “Obviously you’re suffering from some sort of emotional shock.”

“Shock my ass,” Jason replies automatically. “I’ve been in literal warzones. I don’t do shock.”

“Have you ever learned you might possibly be a father in those warzones?” Jason’s stomach lurches at the word, blood draining from his face; Drake obviously sees it, because he nods as if satisfied. “There you go. Completely different situation. Look, just take a deep breath and—”

“I know how to calm down!” Jason growls. “Now stop managing me and—”

“Here we are!”

They both whirl around as the nurse from earlier reappears, this time wheeling a see-through plastic crib into the room. Inside is a vaguely wriggling lump in pink blankets and cap. There’s a label at the edge of the crib, with the words Baby Ardila neatly printed.

A rushing noise, starting like the hiss of static and turning into the dull road of a waterfall fills Jason’s head.

That’s a baby, right there. Possibly his baby. Isabel’s gone. Dead. Dead in childbirth. Which means if this is his kid, he’s responsible for Isabel’s death. And if that’s the case…what the hell is he supposed to do? He’s not supposed to have this—was never supposed to have anything like this—he’s going to ruin all of this, every second and minute he’s in this room around this kid, it’s like radiation, growing worse the longer exposed—

“Mr. Ardila?”

Jason blinks, looks up, notices the nurse is addressing him—has probably been doing so for a while, judging by the uncertainty in her eyes. She’s holding the baby, and he didn’t even notice her reach into the crib.

“He’s still processing,” Drake says, explaining and covering for him at the same time. Jason swallows, shaking off the lingering invasive thoughts. “She asked if you want to hold her.”

Not really.

He wonders if his thoughts show on his face, because the nurse hesitates, looking a bit uneasy about handing over the swaddled infant. Compared to the tiny bundle, Jason is a giant—over six feet, nothing but muscle and scars, clad in faded leather that may or may not have dried blood on it somewhere and no doubt smelling like a bar’s back alley.

His eyes shoot to Drake who, for the first time tonight—looks just as much at a loss as him. All confidence and strategizing is gone, and he’s looking at the pink-wrapped bundle with the same apprehension as a bomb.

He’s just as out of his element holding a baby as I am.

Maybe more so.

Jason at least has distant memories of doing so. As a kid in Crime Alley, neighbors were forced to rely on each other. If one of the women doing laundry or selling themselves on the corner told you to mind a baby, you minded the baby or you got a slap upside the head.

But that was a long, long time ago. Not as long as for Drake, who likely never had to do that, but long enough that Jason

“Maybe I shouldn’t...” he trails off. “Since she might not be…you know…”

“Yours?” the nurse says, and then turns red, as if she didn’t mean to say that. “It, uh…it wouldn’t hurt, you know. She…her mother didn’t get to hold her at all. So even if she’s not yours, you knew her mother. That’s still more of a connection than anyone else has to her.”

It sounds like spurious logic. Still—

“Okay,” he hears himself say, possibly damning himself with just the one word.

The nurse motions for him to take the chair beside the crib—it’s comically small beneath his frame and he expects the cheap plastic to give, but it never does. Instantly he wants to get back up—eyes flit to the door, the windows, ceiling panels, cataloging possible exits.

Then, the nurse settles the baby into his arms, gently coaching him how to hold her head properly and support the rest of her on his arms.

Jason swallows thickly, trying to become accustomed to the sensation of the slight weight—hell, he’s held guns that weighed more—and immediately has the irrational fear that he’s going to drop or break her.

The baby is red and wrinkled, and hardly even looks like a baby. He’s seen them that small before, sure—as Robin and as Red Hood, he’s been thrown into situations where he had to get pregnant civilians or young mothers to safety. Hell, he’s had to help pregnant women with an emergency delivery.

(Not sure which was more nerve-wracking, when he was a gawky teenaged boy that still fumbled shaving, or the heavy-handed vigilante more suited to holding an AK-47 in his hands than an infant body.)

She’s also very, very small.

“Are they supposed to be that small?” Drake asks, voicing Jason’s question as he peeks over his shoulder. His eyes are wide and a little awed, and Jason can’t recall ever seeing that particular expression on the kid’s face.

“Five pound, fourteen ounces—she’s just within the right weight percentile for her gestational age,” the nurse replies.

She says something else after that, but Jason mostly tunes her out. He probably couldn’t even process it even if he was firing on all cylinders.

He finds his eyes roving over the tiny face, trying to figure out if she looks like him or not. He wants to cite the fact he can’t recognize any of himself in her features as proof she can’t be his, but the fact is…she barely has any identifying features.

Nudging the tiny pink cap she’s wearing upward, he finds feathery strands of indistinct color—could be strawberry blond, like Isabel. Could be red, like his natural color when he isn’t dying it.

Fifty-fifty chance, really.

Her eyes are scrunched shut in sleep, tiny eyebrows—does she even have eyebrows? —drawn together and pink mouth puckered in a frown. Overall, she looks completely uncomfortable.

He waits to feel any kind of affection or connection to the infant, some sort of primal magnetism that he should feel if this is his kid, but there’s nothing.

Only the persistent instinct to make a run for it.

“I’ll give you some time,” she says with a small smile. “There may be a social worker by in the next hour or so. Since we won’t know anything until the tests come back, nothing will be decided tonight, but it wouldn’t hurt to familiarize yourself with whoever is handling the case, even if it is just for the short-term.”

“Thank you,” Drake says politely.

“And if you need anything, the call button to the nurse’s station is right there.”

And she departs.

Jason and Drake stare at each other without speaking for a while. The noise is broken only when the pink bundle in Jason’s arms begins to wriggle and his back goes rigid.

He looks back down at the tiny human in his hands and abruptly realizes he has never been more terrified in his life.

Even in that warehouse, being savagely beaten—he knew what was going to happen. Either he was going to be saved by Batman at the last minute, or he would die. Either way, the pain would end.

It occurs to him that the infant he’s holding has the potential to cause a whole other kind of pain.

“How do I put her down?” he asks through a dry mouth. “She didn’t…she didn’t show how to put her down—”

His hands feel too clumsy, his arms too big and—god, he could crush her.

“Why are you asking me?” Tim asks, an octave higher than normal.

“Because you—”

He cuts off since he has no idea how he was going to answer that.

“Okay,” Drake says after a deep breath. “Okay, let’s try…” And he approaches slowly, eyeing Jason like he’s approaching a wild dog. Jason normally wouldn’t blame him, considering their not-so-great past together, but at the moment, his replacement’s the only one in his corner.  

Somehow, thin but strong fingers slide between the space of leather jacket and blanket, maneuvering so that the baby’s head is supported, and between the two of them they get the infant back in the crib.

She only scrunches up her face and mewls in distaste.

Which is good.

Not crying is good.

He thinks.

Unless it’s a sign that something’s wrong.

Aren’t healthy babies supposed to cry? She doesn’t look like there’s anything wrong with her, but how would he know the difference?

I'm not qualified for this.

For a long time, he and Drake stand on either side of the crib, tense and neither really knowing how to break the oppressive silence. Staring down at the little pink creature like it might suddenly rear up and attack.

It would be funny if it all weren’t so terrifying.

Jason hasn’t smoked in almost five years, but just then all he wants it a cigarette. Or a pack.

More time must pass than he expected, because there’s a staccato beeping from Drake’s wrist, and they both look up. Jason watches the other man covertly pull up a holographic screen above his wrist, frowning at the numbers and data blinking at him.

His eyes widen. They’re very blue, Jason notices dimly, in the abstract and tired way you notice strange details in the moments before your life irrevocably changes.

When their gazes connect, Tim Drake’s face says it all.

Jason’s lungs constrict.

“Holy shit,” he croaks, because what the hell else is he going to say?

“Holy shit,” Drake echoes. “This is…not the result I was expecting.”

Jason barks out a bitter laugh and begins to pace, running his fingers through his hair. His throat feels like it’s closing over because up until that moment, he really didn’t think it was real.

Isabel dead, he could believe. Her leaving behind a baby, also believable.

But that the baby is his?

That Jason Todd—the clan fuck-up who never entertained the idea of ever being a father except for maybe a lifetime ago when he also dreamed impossible things like growing up to become Batman—has a kid?

“No!” he rasps, whirling around to face Drake. “No, this is not fair! I’m careful—I’ve always been careful! This is the sort of thing that happens to Bruce. Or maybe Dick, because who knows where he’s been—hell, even Alfred had a kid he didn’t know about.”

“This sort of thing happens more than you think,” Drake tries. “Statistically speaking—"

“It doesn’t happen to me!” Jason hisses back.

Especially since he’s always made it a point to only sleep with people he knew were species incompatible, didn’t have the body parts necessary to get pregnant or on birth control. The few times he’d been with Isabel, she’s even laughed at him because of how intent he was to stop and put on a condom.

“This is…” Jason begins, fighting down the mounting urge to throw up. “It’s too much, I need to—”

“Take a walk,” Drake tells him, a commanding note in his voice that is eerily reminiscent of Bruce. “An hour or two somewhere else to clear your head. Or longer, if you need to. I can keep an eye on things here—especially since she’s here for a few days anyway while we wait for the blood tests.”

The unnecessary blood tests, the ones that will tell them the same thing the Bat tech has already figured out.

“And arrangements will need to be made for Isabel,” he continues, then pauses. “If you want me to.”

Jason should say no.

He should tell Drake to back off, to let Jason figure this out the way he always figures things out—on his own. That he doesn’t trust him or anyone enough to deal with this situation properly.

But the lure of escape is too strong just then, and the hospital room feels like it’s closing in on him like a coffin.

He throws one last panicked look at the baby in the crib and then flees the maternity ward.

Jason is not entirely sure he’s going to come back.

________________________________________________________________

But we all know he's going to come back...

So, I'm really hoping I've portrayed Jason's reactions in a believable way. I just figure finding out he's had a kid would hit him a lot harder and he'd be way more surprised about it than Bruce was when he found out about Damian. I figure he would need time to process. And as for Tim, I always see him as the one who steps in and tries to fix everything even when it's beyond his wheelhouse. He's probably panicking as much as Jason right now...

Your feedback matters! I want to know what you think of my story, so feel free to leave kudos, a comment or as many of these emojis as you want and let me know how you feel!

❤️️ = I love this story! 😳 = this was hot! 💐 = thank you for sharing this 🍵 = tea spilled 🍬 = so sweet and fluffy! 🚔 = you’re under arrest! the writing’s too good! 😲 = I NEED THE NEXT CHAPTER 😢 = you got me right in the feels

Next Chapter

[naruwitch]

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 18: Collection and Extraction

Rai's fingers flew across the keyboard in a blur. His eyes were focused solely on the computer's screen. He barely even noticed that everyone else had crowded behind him to look as well. It had been three days (quintants according to the Alteans) since the massive fiasco with King Alfor's A.I. and Princess Allura had finally recovered from the Rejuvenation Ceremony on the Balmera. Now Rai was tapping into the memory data that they had managed to extract from Sendak before Lelouch had sent him off into space.

"Somewhere inside Sendak's memories, we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon," Allura said confidently.

"I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories," Coran said with a slight frown.

"Yeah, I hate to admit it," Suzaku added, "but I'm not super comfortable with this either."

"I understand," Allura said before standing up straighter, "but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon."

"Once we learn all his weaknesses, we can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe," Rivalz grinned, already daydreaming of the battle to come.

"Anything good yet, Rai?" Lelouch asked.

Rai only sighed in frustration, "We were only able to salvage bits and pieces."

"Okay, but we need something to work with," Shirley said, sharing similar feelings of frustration, "right now, we don't even have a decent map of the Empire."

"Do we even need a map?" Kallen asked with a frown, "After ten thousand years of conquering, I could probably fire Aka's laser at like any random point in space and hit a Galra ship somewhere."

"Well, if we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one," Milly suggested.

"Hey Lelouch," Rivalz said, looking at the Black Paladin, "you have experience kicking Britannia's butt as Zero. Why can't you just do the exact same thing here? Just 'Zero up' and challenge Zarkon to a fight."

"It's not that simple, Rivalz," Lelouch said with a frown, folding his arms. "The only reason I've had so much success on Earth is because I already know the enemy so well. Most of my opponents are my own half-siblings, people I've grown up with and know on a personal level. Because of that, it's much easier to predict their movements and actions. On the other hand, we, including me, know little to nothing about Zarkon. He's been building this universal-sized empire for ten thousand years. That's longer than humanity has even been alive. We're not going to tear it down overnight with seven inexperienced-" Kallen cleared her throat loudly, and Suzaku crossed his arms with a slight frown as well, "-mostly inexperienced pilots and one support ship. The last thing we want to do right now is hit him where he lives, it'd be a huge mistake."

"Why not use your Geass on him and force him to stop?" Shirley suggested.

"I could try that," Lelouch agreed, "but there are some problems there too. I need to make direct eye-contact for Geass to have any effect, so doing that alone will be difficult enough. Also, there are too many unknowns about this situation. When I tried to use it on Sendak, he was able to counter it. Not to mention that something he said worries me."

"And that would be…?" Suzaku asked.

"When Kallen and I confronted Sendak, and I attempted Geass on him. After he countered it, he mentioned people called the Druids, saying I 'paid a visit' to them."

"Hey, now that I think about it," Rai said, turning his head back to them, "he said the same thing to me when I fought him."

"Do you know anything about this, C.C.?" Lelouch looked up at the green-haired woman.

Surprisingly, she shook her head, "This is the first time I've heard of them as well."

"So instead of getting answers, all we have are more questions," Rivalz sighed. This was starting to get frustrating for all of them.

"Okay, anyway, I've cross-referenced Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus," Rai announced, turning back to the screen, Altean and Galran symbols started to appear in front of him, "Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a 'Universal Station.'"

"Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?" Shirley asked, leaning over.

"Well, we are translating it from Galra, so it could also be 'Galactic Hub,'" Rai countered.

"Or 'Space Base,'" Suzaku suggested. Everyone turned to look at him questioningly, "What?" he asked, looking confused.

"I'm pulling up the location of your Universal Hub Station Base on our screens now," Coran said as he walked over towards the primary monitor. As he pulled up the coordinates, two giant planets and a small moon appeared on the screen, but as far as they could tell, there was no sign of a Galra base anywhere.

"So... where is it?" Rivalz asked, looking confused.

"I don't know," Coran said, looking bemused. He rechecked the screens in case he put the wrong coordinates. They were correct, though. "Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates."

"Maybe he remembered it wrong?" Kallen suggested.

"Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories," Rai said as he clasped his hands together seriously.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," C.C. said.

"I agree, let's go take a look," Allura said with a determined frown.

o~o

They decided not to wormhole to the coordinates as the team had no real idea of what would be waiting for them on the other side. If they were lucky, there would be no enemy ships ready to shoot them down upon exiting a wormhole. But, they learned early on that the team was rarely that lucky, so they choose to manually fly there instead. It took several hours for the Castle to finally get within range of the coordinates that they picked up from Sendak's memories. Rivalz, Milly, and Shirley had ended up falling asleep halfway through.

"We should be close enough to get a good scan," Allura announced, shaking the trio from their slumber, "but far enough away to avoid being noticed."

The Castleship slowly crept around the first planet that oddly looked like a smaller version of their Solar System's Jupiter. As they did so, their target slowly came into focus. Located in the middle of the two planets and the moon, was a small base that seemed to be carved out of a meteorite. A couple of Galra cruisers were already lodging there, and another was slowly coming into port.

"There it is," Rai said gravely. It was a lot smaller than they thought it would be. However, considering how hard it was to locate, they couldn't dismiss the station due to size alone. There had to be something the Galra wanted to hide to have so much security around it.

"It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners," Coran explained as wave patterns and other information appeared on the screen before them.

"So you can only see it if you really know where to look," C.C. observed. She chuckled slightly, "Clever."

"Huh, it's almost like a space version of the Bermuda Triangle," Kallen compared.

"From the looks of it, this place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire," Suzaku added.

"Wait, I'm confused," Shirley said, "if this place is basically just a glorified airport, why did they need to hide it?"

"There's probably more to this than what we're seeing," Milly offered.

"I agree," Lelouch nodded, "there's no reason that the Galra would go through all the trouble to hide this place if it was simply another outpost or port. Something else is happening here."

"Then, we'd better go down to take a look," Allura said as she tapped on the hologram screen. She pulled up the base closer to her. A small area around the middle of the base lit up and expanded, "We'll need to enter here: the central control building."

Suzaku blinked, before looking at Allura incredulously, "I'm sorry, Princess, did you say 'we'?"

"I'm going with you," Allura said with a determined frown, "I've traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Suzaku asked nervously.

"I agree with Number Two, Princess, I'd rather you stay here," Coran said.

"I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that?" Allura glanced around as if daring one of them to protest. Most of the Paladins looked away, not wanting to catch Allura's eye.

"I'm going as well," C.C. said, "both Lelouch and Shirley are contracted with me, and I'd rather be there to make sure they survive than watch them die."

Shirley turned a small tinge of green. Despite it being quite generous of C.C. to accompany them, she still wasn't used to some of her antics, most of which were quite morbid.

"...Fine. Suit Up," Lelouch relented with a sigh.

"What?! Lelouch, you can't be serious!" Suzaku exclaimed as everyone else in the looked up at the Black Paladin in shock.

"I understand the concern Suzaku," Lelouch said calmly, "but the Princess brings up a good point. With her experience at these ports, we can find what we're looking for faster. Besides, she's not going to be alone, we'll all be there as well."

Suzaku still looked uncomfortable, and Coran looked downright horrified, but the plan was in place. And now it was time to implement it.

o~o

"We'll go in low, fast, and hopefully undetected. Coming around the dark side of the nearest planet should keep them from getting a visual on us. Thanks to Rai's modifications to Zerith, we'll have thirty seconds of cloaking," Lelouch had explained before they departed.

Zerith zoomed around the side of the planet, cloaking activating like a blanket being thrown over her. In a wide arc, she carefully landed near the rocky top of the base.

"I can flood their short-range sensors with a radiation burst," Coran offered. "That should buy you a minute or so, while they assume it's cosmic interference. But, after that, it's up to you to be out of sight."

Looking down from the rocky outcropping, the base looked much bigger up close. Their destination, the central control building, as Allura called it, was right in the middle of it.

o~o

"Interference clear in three, two, one," an automated male voice ran through the control center. A single Galra soldier stood guard on top of the central platform, and down below were two sentries handling the other controls.

The Galra was bored. Nothing exciting ever happened at this base. Why was he the one stuck here handling cargo deliveries? He yawned as if to prove his point.

He then heard the entrance behind him open. He blinked and looked back, only to find that there was no one there.

"Huh?" was the only thing that came out of his mouth before something suddenly hit him in an uppercut. He went flying backward over the railing and landed unconscious down below. The two sentries immediately raised their guns, only to look around in confusion to find no assailants. They never got the chance to sound the alarm either as two blaster flashes later, they were lying crumpled on the floor as well.

Shirley sighed in slight exhaustion as her Geass turned off. Before the group had entered the control station, Shirley had used her Geass to make them all invisible, at least to the enemy's eyes. It was the most amount of people she'd had to use it on so far, and she didn't expect it to be so draining.

"Great job, Shirley!" Rai praised with a smile, "Just sit and rest for now, okay?"

Shirley smiled gratefully at the Green Paladin before doing just that, practically falling on the bottom step of the stairs and leaned against the wall.

"It seems your limit of how many you can turn invisible is higher than nine so far," C.C. observed, as that was the number of people there, including Shirley herself. "You could easily smuggle an entire strike team into any situation without detection."

"And it's a skill we will likely be using in the future," Lelouch finished, giving Shirley a nod and a smile. The Orange Paladin blushed at Lelouch's praise. It felt good to be noticed by her crush.

The group wasted no time tying the Galran up and hiding him in the upper corner, as well as move the two sentries out of the way. Rai was in the process of connecting his laptop to Rover, who was in the process of scanning the Galran station's network. Kallen and Suzaku glanced out the large windows to the center to make sure that no one spotted or noticed the assault.

"How's it look out there?" Lelouch asked.

"All clear. For now anyway," Suzaku confirmed as Kallen nodded.

"This shouldn't take too long," Rivalz said, as he helped connect the last wire to the little drone.

Rai's computer blinked to life as he started to type furiously on it, "We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes." In front of him, the screen beeped as numerous algorithms and data began swarming onto the screen. Despite the chaos, though, Rai's face didn't change. He seemed to know what he was looking for as a pixelated face of himself appeared on the screen and seemed to start laughing as data was transferred. "I made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info. We should get a nice, clean translation immediately. Milly actually gave me the idea on how to do it."

"Well actually, it was more or less Nina's idea," the Yellow Paladin confessed, "but do you guys remember when we studied algorithms back at Ashford? And then Nina told us that joke about the ghost learning symbolic logic and innumerably infinite sets or something like that?"

"Your point?" Kallen asked before Milly could get too carried away.

"Yeah, right, anyway, she said-"

"Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt," Suzaku said before Milly could finish, "but I think we got company." A giant shadow of another Galra ship passed overhead, likely here for a delivery or pickup. It slowly lowered itself until it landed in the middle of the port.

"We should get out of here!" Kallen exclaimed as she and the other Paladins, plus Allura, Rover, and C.C. crowded around Rai and his laptop.

"Just need a few more seconds," Rai said, his typing seeming to speed up.

"Stay low. We need this intel," Lelouch ordered quietly.

The control board in front of them suddenly blinked to life as the group gasped.

"Get down!" Suzaku hissed as everyone scrambled out of the way as a screen appeared before them. Another Galra, likely the commander of that ship, was staring back through the screen. He grunted in surprise and confusion when no sentries or fellow Galra greeted him.

"What do we do?" Shirley whispered urgently. The Galra hadn't turned the transmission off. If he got too suspicious that something had happened, he could sound an alarm, and that was the last thing they needed right now.

"I think he's waiting for a signal or something," Rivalz guessed.

"Leave it to me," C.C. hissed as she stealthy dragged herself and one of the downed sentries towards the control panel. With barely a grunt, she hefted the robot to its feet and moved its elbow around as if it were pressing buttons. Due to how close the sentry was to the screen, the commander didn't see C.C.'s hand controlling it. She then somehow got to not only wave at the Galra, but also give a thumbs up. How she did that they had no idea. The Galra on the other end still looked a little confused but waved back slightly in acknowledgment before closing the transmission. The immortal sighed in relief that that had worked. She'd had to do a lot of unorthodox things on this adventure so far. Well, unorthodox, even for her anyway.

"Thanks, C.C.," Lelouch said graciously.

"Don't mention it," she shrugged. So long as everyone was still alive, she didn't really care what happened. Though, not getting captured would be a bonus as well.

"Okay, download complete," Rai announced as Rover disconnected from the control board, having gotten what they needed.

"Okay, what's it say?" Kallen asked a little impatiently.

"Nothing!" Rai exclaimed in frustration and continued to type. "This place doesn't have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out."

"So we basically just wasted our time," Kallen deduced with a scowl, voicing everyone's current thoughts.

"Welp, can't win them all," Milly said, "a few busts were bound to happen."

"Let's return to the Castle before we're spotted," Lelouch decided as they all got up to leave. Rivalz helped Shirley to her feet as she still was recovering from her Geass usage.

To their surprise, though, Allura spoke up, saying something for the first time since they had gotten in, "Hold on. Rai, do you know where that ship is headed?" the Princess gestured the one that literally just docked.

Though confused by the sudden request, the Green Paladin answered, "Um, it's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command."

Allura stood up straight, "That's where they have the information we need, and I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us."

"What?!" Suzaku gasped as he and the others stood up, "No, absolutely not!"

"How are you even going to get in?" Shirley asked curiously.

"I'm going to walk right through the front," Allura smiled confidently as she takes off her helmet.

Then right before their eyes, the Princess started to change. Her dark skin became a purple color, and she grew in height by about another foot or so. Everyone stared, mouths open at what just happened.

"H-how did you do that?!" Shirley gasped, voicing everyone's question.

"The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations," Allura explained with a proud smile. "It's the ability that's made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history."

"So, can you turn into, like, a balloon?" Milly asked, leaning in closer.

"How many different colors can you be at once?" Rai asked next, turning his attention away from his laptop for a moment.

"Aren't you afraid you'll rip your pants?" Rivalz asked, all three leaning in, waiting for their answers.

Allura blinked a couple of times, not expecting such questions, but fortunately had answers for all of them, addressing one by one. "No, just one at a time, and I will need a change of costume. I can use his uniform as a disguise." Allura said, turning to the still unconscious Galra officer.

"You're not going in there alone," Lelouch said authoritatively.

"Excuse me? I do not need your permission," Allura fired back.

"It's too dangerous. I'm going in with you," the Black Paladin decided.

"You will stick out like a Choferiak's nose," Allura countered.

"You're going to need that nose, Princess," Rai interrupted before they could argue further. "We're still not sure how, but somehow Lelouch's Geass can interact with Galra tech," Rai then reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a flash drive. "He can interface with their systems and use this drive to gather intel. I can monitor the download remotely from here."

"If Lelouch is going, then so am I," C.C. said and continued before Allura could protest. "Lelouch is one of my contractors and will be in a dangerous situation. At least Shirley will be safe here with the others."

"...Fine, you can come," Allura finally relented.

"Uh, you guys better hurry up if you want to get on and off before the ship leaves for Zarkon central," Shirley said, looking out the command center's window.

"Hold on!" Suzaku exclaimed, "How exactly are you going to get Lelouch and C.C. aboard?"

Allura, C.C., and Lelouch looked at each. That may be a problem. They needed to come up with something fast.

o~o

Lelouch honestly felt somewhat ridiculous and also embarrassed. Mainly because of how close C.C.'s… assets were to his face. A little too close for comfort. He had a feeling C.C. wasn't too happy about this arrangement either, but this was the most comfortable way that they could fit into the small cart that Allura, now disguised in the Galra's uniform, was currently carting towards the ship. Despite this, though, it seemed this plan was working as the only stop they made was, Lelouch assumed as he couldn't look up, in front of the ship.

"Move along," the muffled voice of a sentry gave before they started moving again.

Allura blew out a breath of relief as she and her cargo walked right past the guards and into the ship. The hard part (they hoped) was done.

o~o

"They're in," Suzaku announced, breathing out in relief himself as he Kallen, Milly, Rivalz, and Shirley watched the disguised trio enter. Despite that success, though, Suzaku couldn't let go of the tingling feeling on the back of his neck that this was still going to go horribly wrong.

"Hey," Kallen said, catching everyone's attention, "what do you think is in those giant containers?"

Before Allura was allowed to enter the ship, two sentries came marching down the ramp, carrying two large capsules. They couldn't tell what they were from their position, but they looked yellow and were glowing.

"Maybe… Fuel?" Shirley guessed. It seemed like the most logical answer.

"Makes sense," Milly agreed, "A base like this likely has tons of spare fuel and supplies when ships need to make an emergency landing of some sort."

"Maybe this guy will tell us," Rai said as he and Rover sat, or hovered in front of one of the sentries they disarmed and knocked out earlier, "What is coming in and out of this station?"

The sentry's front light suddenly started flashing yellow, like a warning light. "Interrogation detected. Initiating lockdown," the automated voice announced as the robot then slumped forward.

Rover bleeped, sounding like he was both frustrated but also slightly mocking his fellow robot.

"I couldn't agree more Rover," Rai smirked before turning his attention back to the sentry, and typing on his computer again. "So you're not talking, huh? We'll see about that."

"Whoa, check out that guy!" Kallen suddenly said as the others, except Rai, looked back out the window. In front of both of the canisters now was a creepy-looking robed figure.

Rivalz blinked before a thoughtful frown crossed his face, "Hey, uh, this is going to sound pretty random, but… what exactly is a druid?"

"Well, if you're looking for the Earth definition, they're supposed to be priests, magicians, or even soothsayers in some ancient religions. I don't think we really use that term on Earth anymore, though," Suzaku said.

"Wait… so the Galra have a religion?" Rivalz asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Technically, any cultural way of thinking could be considered part of a religion," Milly pointed out.

"Does conquering the entire universe count?" Kallen asked sarcastically. That quickly shut that conversation right up.

Curious about the person they were making a fuss over, Rai briefly glanced out the window. When he saw the figure, he gasped. Soft yet malicious laughter rang in his ears, and several figures, all with white bird-like masks, were leaning over him. He was strapped to a table and couldn't move-

"Rai! Rai, snap out of it!" a voice brought him back to reality. He blinked as Milly's concerned blue eyes swirled into view.

"Are you okay, dude?" Rivalz asked, hovering behind the class president.

"Yeah… that guy down there, he's definitely familiar," Rai confirmed shakily.

"So… this guy is a druid then?" Shirley asked, looking out the window again.

"I don't know, but whatever's happening here that requires the base to be kept a secret must have something to do with him," Kallen said, "I'm going to go check it out."

"I'm coming with you," Suzaku said, walking up behind her as she turned to leave.

The Red Paladin looked back with a scowl, "Suzaku, I'm not the sickly, frail girl you know from school. I can handle myself."

"I don't doubt that," Suzaku said, but continued on, "but if this is one of those druid people, we don't know what he's capable of. It's best to have a back-up just in case."

Kallen continued to scowl before finally letting out a forceful sigh, "Fine. Just don't get in my way."

As the two walked out of the door, Shirley looked nervously at the remaining Paladins, "They can handle themselves, right?"

"They'll be fine, don't worry," Milly said with a reassuring grin.

o~o

Meanwhile, onboard the Galra cruiser, Lelouch, C.C., and Allura glanced out from one of the hallways just as a pair of sentries walked past. From where they were, they could see the corridors crawling with robots. It was going to be challenging to get past them all.

As another sentry walked past, Allura then heard a tapping sound. Looking to the source, she saw that Lelouch's hand was pressed up against one of the walls, and his finger was tapping in a slow rhythm.

"What are you doing, Lelouch?" Allura whispered.

"I'm timing the sentries," Lelouch answered back in a low voice.

"So, you noticed as well?" C.C. asked with a small grin.

"Noticed what?" Allura asked, not quite following.

"The way the sentries walk," Lelouch explained. "Every time we've been on a Galra ship or base, I noticed that the sentries walk in a distinct pattern. Since then, I've been timing them. We should be able to sneak past them easily if it works."

"Will it?" Allura asked.

"Well, one way to find out," C.C. said as the trio turned around and scrambled down the hall just as another patrol came around the corner. They hid behind one of the outcroppings until they passed. Lelouch then led them around another corner, right before another patrol from the other side came up. The plan seemed to work as each time they heard a sentry patrol, Lelouch tapped the rhythm of their walk. Once they were gone, they would dash around another corner. No one, Galra or sentry, saw them.

o~o

Kallen's eyes narrowed as she watched the druid person lead the two sentries with the capsules down a small metal chasm. It looked like they were heading deeper inside the base. Now that Kallen got a better look at it from her and Suzaku's perch, it looked similar to a warehouse.

It didn't take long for the warehouse doors to open, and the Druid lead the sentries inside with their cargo.

As Kallen and Suzaku sprinted to keep up with them, the Purple Paladin was still shocked at how well Kallen matched his speed.

As the doors began to close, the duo leaped down after them with their jetpacks, making it in just as the doors closed behind them.

o~o

Rivalz had taken two of the wires that Rai had attached to the sentry's head and began pushing the two open ends together. This resulted in the sentry's arm wobbly being raised up and landing clumsily on its head.

He laughed as he continued to press the wires together, "Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!"

"Stop torturing it, Rivalz," Rai scolded, but he couldn't help but chuckle along with Shirley.

"I'm sorry. I just…" Rivalz said before putting the wires down, "I've had a lot on my mind lately. Like, I guess I still haven't gotten over the fact that not only is Lelouch a member of the Royal Family, but he's Zero too? I mean, who would've guessed that, right?"

"He's a valiant superhero sporting, not one, but two secret identities!" Milly dramatically proclaimed. This caused everyone to laugh again.

"Okay, I think I can teach this hunk of junk to help us," Rai said as he looked up at the robot, "Would you like to help us, Mr. Robot?"

The sentry's head mechanically swiveled in Rai's direction before it started rapidly shaking its head, making a rattling sound.

"Whoops…" he muttered, turning back to the laptop. Rover let out a few beeps, sounding like laughter.

Despite the silliness happening around her, Shirley suddenly frowned sadly.

"You okay, Shirley?" Milly asked.

"Yeah, I just… I keep thinking about what Lelouch told us. About what happened to his mom and Nunnally. And their dad just threw them away like they were trash! What kind of a father does that to his own kids, Emperor or not?!"

"Yeah. I regret to admit this, but up until Lelouch told us about what he's really like, I actually kind of admired the Emperor," Rivalz admitted with a disgusted frown.

"If I ever see that son-of-a-bitch face to face, the first thing he'll get from me is a slice to the neck," Rai growled.

No one protested the action, all of them thinking about similar things. To believe that the most powerful man in their nation was capable of such cruelty towards his own family!

Speaking of family... "...You know, we've been away from Earth for a while now," Milly said. "Has anyone been keeping track of how long we've been gone?" Everyone shook their heads, they hadn't. Milly sighed, "Fair enough. I'm guessing it's at least been long enough for people to notice that we're missing. I wouldn't be surprised if our school pictures are all over the news."

"Wait, if that happens-" Rivalz started before Milly interrupted.

"Yeah, even with the little my grandpa can do to stop it, Lelouch and Nunnally's cover has probably been blown sky-high by now," Milly admitted. "Once someone from the Royal Family sees Lelouch's photo, I doubt it'll take long for them to connect the dots. Both Britannians and Japanese."

"Would the Japanese recognize Lelouch and Nunna?" Shirley asked.

"I'd be surprised if they didn't," Milly continued. "Their 'deaths' are the whole reason that Britannia suppresses Japan so severely, they think the people there killed two members of the Royal Family. If a Japanese faction got a hold of Nunnally, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to use her as a bargaining chip. Heck, Britannia itself could do it too, just like they did the first time."

There was a heavy silence for about five seconds as they all absorbed this information. Shirley, with clenched fists and a determined look on her face, then stood up. "Well then, once we're done here, I say the first thing we do is swing back to Earth and get Nunnally ourselves, quiznack to the Galra tracking us! She doesn't deserve to live a life like that! She deserves to be with Lelouch, and no one else!"

A chorus of agreement echoed Shirley's statement. Rai then thought of something else, "Hey, speaking of deserves better, we may be able to do more than just reunite them! The cryo-pods! Maybe they can heal her blindness and legs! Lelouch said her blindness was from trauma, so that means her vision should still be fixable since there's no physical damage. And if those don't work, I'm sure there's some alien species out there that have the ability or technology to help!"

"It would be wonderful for Nunnally to walk again. For her to have a normal life! Then Lelouch won't have to worry about her twenty-four-seven!" Shirley nodded immediately after.

"Haha! I'm sure he'd worry about her regardless. Still, either way, I'm sticking by Lelouch," Rivalz declared, "even if it means standing against Britannia."

Milly then pulled out her Bayard, it flashing into its kusarigama form, "For Lelouch and Nunnally!" she exclaimed, holding her weapon in front of her.

The other three quickly caught on to what she was doing and stood up with their own Bayards activated. The weapons joined Milly's as the wielder's held them up in the center of their circle.

"For Lelouch and Nunnally!"

o~o

The remains of sentries filled the hallway as the two Paladins stalked cautiously into this next room. They crouched down low to prevent the druid person from noticing them. In the room up ahead, the walls were stacked with layers of more canisters, all filled with the same liquid, yellow substance.

"What the heck?" Kallen whispered, "How many of these things do they need?"

Suzaku frowned. Something about this room sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't tell what was going on, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Then one of the capsules was brought towards the center of the room, where several outcroppings met in the middle. At the center was a giant ball of energy, trapped within a glass ball. The capsule slid into place over the top of the ball, and the yellow substance slowly started leaking out the bottom and hitting the ball. But unlike spreading out like water normally would do, it was more like one of those penny donation boxes, as the substance started swirling around and around inside of the glass. Once it hit the bottom of the orb, it began to build up, slowly filling it.

Then the Druid, standing on one of the platforms, started to move. He lifted his dark grey hands up in front of him, and then in the blink of an eye, volts of violet energy shot out from his palms and hit the orb, causing the liquid inside to turn a bright purple. The pair watched it get absorbed into the energy ball in the center of the glass as the lightning ringed about it. Finally, slowly from the bottom of the orb, heavy-looking purple liquid dripped from what almost looked like a claw. It emptied into a much smaller container waiting at the bottom and started filling up slowly.

Both Suzaku and Kallen could only watch wide-eyed at what they just witnessed.

o~o

Allura, C.C., and Lelouch finally managed to evade the sentries long enough to find what they believed to be a control panel. The only person there was a single flesh and blood Galra. And he wasn't wearing a helmet either, as it was placed to the side of him.

Lelouch smirked and just walked right in, removing his own helmet. This was too perfect! When he was right behind the Galra, he cleared his throat.

The Galra promptly turned around to see Lelouch. Before he could shout for help though, Lelouch's Geass flared to life.

"Stand guard outside this room and don't let anyone in until we're finished here," he ordered as the Geass flew into the Galra's eyes.

As the telltale red ring encircled them, the Galra relaxed and saluted to Lelouch. "Vrepit sa, sir," he replied before replacing his helmet, picking up his gun, and moving to the room entrance to stand guard, just as Lelouch ordered.

Allura watched slightly uncomfortable as the Galra seemed to mindlessly do as Lelouch commanded. She understood that was how Lelouch's power worked, but to see it in action was still unsettling.

"That should delay any more patrols that come by," C.C. said, "but we should still hurry."

"Right," Lelouch nodded as he approached the main control panel. He quickly inserted the flash drive the Rai had given him into the board, then he activated his Geass once more, but this time for a different purpose. The familiar flicker of electricity traveled down the Black Paladin's hand and into his fingers as the control panel flashed to life.

"Rai, I'm in," he said through his helmet, "start the download."

"Generating access code," Rai confirmed from back at the central command deck. His familiar pixelated face appeared on the scene in blue, and soon, several bars appeared before Lelouch. "We're in."

Before Rai could get too far into the download, though, a Galra insignia appeared on the scene and started buzzing.

"Rai, there's a problem!" Lelouch warned, a small bead of sweat trickling down his face.

o~o

"Sit tight. I'm trying to work around this," the Green Paladin reassured as he typed madly on his computer, Galra text spiraling through it.

"Rai!" Lelouch urged impatiently.

"I'm on it! I'm on it!" he replied back desperately, biting his lip in the process.

o~o

"What's going on here?" another Galra asked, walking up to the Geassed Galra. He tried to step inside, but the guard blocked him.

"No one is to enter this room until the business inside is resolved," he said monotonously.

"What? What's going on in there?" the soldier asked.

"I'm under orders not to let anyone in until the business inside is done," he repeated in the same tone. He then pointed his gun at the Galra. "If you continue to persist, I will be forced to take extreme action."

The Galra backed off, looking somewhat alarmed before he finally relented, "Fine!" he then stalked off.

Allura out a breath of relief when the soldier left. She was worried that she may have had to step in for a moment. However, it seemed Lelouch's plan was working, for now.

"Rai, hurry up," Lelouch hissed, "we nearly had our cover blown!"

"Almost done," Rai answered through gritted teeth.

o~o

Kallen's visor morphed into a built-in video camera as she began to look around the room, or facility would be a better term for it.

"Coran, you need to see this."

o~o

Kallen's video feed connected to the main bridge of the Castle. Coran gasped.

"I've never seen anything like it," he breathed.

o~o

"What is that?" Milly asked as the video was also shown to the other four Paladins still in the command center.

Suddenly, from behind the quartet, the Galra sentry finally blinked to life and answered them.

"The material is quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe."

"Hey, what do you know, he does work for us," Rivalz grinned at Rai. Though the Green Paladin wasn't listening to his comrade. Quintessence? Why did that sound familiar?

"What?" Coran asked from the Castle, "Impossible!"

"Raw quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy and refined into standardized Galra fuel requirements." the sentry continued.

o~o

"Hey, did you all catch that?" Shirley asked through the commlink.

"I can't believe it! They've found a new way to acquire quintessence!" Coran exclaimed.

o~o

"Okay, guys, we're going to steal some of this quint-whatever," Kallen said.

"What? We are?" Suzaku asked, looking at Kallen like she was nuts.

"We need to know more about this stuff," Kallen replied back with a hiss, "and what better way than to get it right from the source?"

Suzaku looked like he wanted to protest. This was way too risky, they could get caught! But, seeing that Kallen also did have a point, he relented.

o~o

"Hey, look," the same Galra from earlier approached the Geassed Galra again, "I really need to get in there. Can you just step aside?"

"I'm under orders not to-"

"I get that you have orders, this will only take a tick!"

Before the Galra could shove through, the Geassed one, pointed his gun at the officer and fired.

The Galra froze in shock before his hand instinctively reached for his belt, his finger pressing down on the button just as before he collapsed.

Alarms started blaring from all over the ship. The button the Galran had pressed had set them all off!

"Security alert! Security alert!" an automated female voice rang through the halls.

Lelouch ripped his hand away from the control panel and tore the flash drive from the port. He turned, and with a small pistol, he had brought with him, shot the Geassed Galra in the skull. He collapsed to the ground in a heap by his comrade. Allura ran up and pressed the door lock as they heard multiple footsteps heading their way.

"I think we're in trouble," C.C. said surprisingly calmly.

"You think?!" Allura demanded as the door started to develop dents from the multiple assailants on the other side.

Another Galra officer that heard the gunshots was attempting to break in. Before he could fire his gun again, Allura burst through the door, slamming the officer against the other wall. She then swiped the Galra's weapon away from him, arming herself with it.

Lelouch and even C.C. froze in the doorway for a moment, looking at Allura in shock. They had no idea she was really that strong!

"What?" Allura asked, confused by their faces.

They didn't have time to ask more questions, though, as a horde of sentries started shooting at them from the other end of the hall.

"This way!" C.C. shouted, dragging the Princess and Paladin down the hall.

o~o

The quintessence had just finished filling into the small container. The platform it was on slowly started moving in Kallen and Suzaku's direction. It was the perfect opportunity to take it.

Kallen leaped from her side of the wall and snatched the container off the rack, barely making a sound. Suzaku caught her before he body could slam against the wall.

"Okay, we got it, let's get out of here," he muttered.

Kallen nodded in agreement, though she did take a moment to examine the canister more closely. She had a suspicion that this stuff wasn't just used for fuel. Why else would it have to be so well hidden? There had to be another purpose behind this stuff.

"Come on-" Suzaku halted his words when he looked back into the room. The druid was gone, "Uh oh!"

"What?" Kallen asked. She got her answer as the druid appeared right behind the pair and zapped them straight across the room, Kallen lost her grip on the canister in the process. The druid promptly transported over to it and picked up the quintessence carefully as if it were a precious artifact.

"Okay! Plan B!" she exclaimed, pulling out her cestus and charging at the druid. Suzaku wasn't too far behind her with his katana at the ready.

The druid calmly set the quintessence down on another platform before vanishing into the air again when Kallen swiped at him, only to appear a couple feet away. This time Suzaku attempted to strike at it, katana swiping the air as the druid vanished again, this time behind Kallen, who tried to swipe at him back, only for him to disappear. Again.

"Quick running and fight, you coward!" She screamed as she looked around.

"Kallen, above you!" Suzaku shouted as he spotted the druid on the platform again.

The Red Paladin just barely managed to spot the druid before has was forced to dodge out of the way as a purple bolt of lightning hit where she had been just a moment ago.

Suzaku's brain momentarily screeched to a halt when he saw that. "That's just like… Lelouch!" he whispered before he was forced to dodge the lightning attack as well. Other than the coloring, the attack seemed almost identical to the attacks that Lelouch used thanks to his Geass.

The two Paladins dodged around the lightning before the two bolts collided, causing an explosion. As the smoke cleared, the Druid paused, wondering if he had disposed of them.

He got his answer as Suzaku suddenly leaped up in his jet pack from behind and attempted to kick the druid as he spun rapidly. The druid once again vanished to another platform, but Kallen had been waiting for him. With a battle cry, she swung her Bayard on what she thought was the druid's arm, only for him to block it with a flash of purple energy that seemed to grind against Kallen's weapon.

The Red Paladin gasped as the energy became too strong, and she was shot backward with a scream, agony racing up her right arm. She hit a canister of yellow quintessence hard when she landed.

"Kallen!" Suzaku shouted in alarm as Kallen curled in around her injury. She looked down at her hand, blistering and charred from the attack. A trip to the cryopod was definitely in store for her after this.

Suzaku leaped backward himself as the druid tried to fire at him again. Fresh adrenaline running through his veins as his jetpack activated and propelled him to Kallen's location.

"Rai! We need an extraction now! Hurry!" he shouted into the comm as he landed on the shelf close to Kallen.

o~o

"Rai, fire up, Zerith! We're coming in hot!" Lelouch ordered as he, Allura, and C.C. continued to run down the hall. Lelouch was quite shocked that he was keeping up with the two women, but assumed his fight-or-flight instincts had kicked in and were helping him out with that, so he didn't question it too much.

The group then screeched to a halt as two more sentries appeared in front of them, guns raised.

Allura, the only one suitably armed, lifted the gun to try and fire… only for the shot to blast in the entirely opposite direction. The blast hit one of the sentries that were pursuing them from behind.

"Wha-" Allura asked as they turned to look. Lelouch growled and turned his Geass on once more, having tossed C.C. his pistol, and zapped one of the sentries while C.C. shot the other one. After they collapsed, Allura took the fallen sentry by C.C. and flung it at the incoming robots. It collided with them, causing them to fall, but that wouldn't stop them forever.

"I thought you said you'd traveled around the galaxy. I mean, you fly a spaceship. How could you possibly not know how to hold this correctly?" Lelouch demanded as he swiped the rifle from Allura's hands and turned it around and handed it back to the Princess.

Hearing more steps behind, Allura yanked the two of them down the hall, holding the rifle right this time.

"I'm tense. This is a tense situation!" Allura explained, but before Allura could say anything else, the intercom came to life once again.

"Secure hatches. All personnel take positions for departure."

"Not good," C.C. said as they picked up the pace further.

o~o

From inside the command deck, Rai promptly unplugged the wires. He scooped up his laptop, leading the other four Paladins back towards Zerith.

o~o

Kallen and Suzaku were jumping and leaping from wall to platform as they barely dodged attack after attack from the Druid behind them. Strangely, the druid didn't seem too concerned with the fact that while he was trying to shoot the Paladins, he was partially destroying some of the quintessence that was being stored on the base also.

Suzaku, at one point, managed to leap in front of Kallen, with his shield up, to take one of the blasts. The shield absorbed the attack, but the force of it sent him flying backward and hitting Kallen. Fortunately, they managed to land on one of the shelves of quintessence. They then slid down a conveyor belt that was transporting another quintessence canister towards the center of the room.

Believing they could possibly use it as a partial shield, Suzaku stood up in front of Kallen to protect her, as he was currently the uninjured one. The druid soon appeared above them on the conveyor belt as well, hands shimmering with purple sparks of electricity.

As the canister stopped at the center of the room and the druid approached ever closer, Suzaku readied himself for what would probably be his final stand.

That turned out not to be the day he died though, as the building suddenly shook violently, causing the druid to lose balance and his attack fire just above Kallen and Suzaku's heads. It cracked open the canister instead and spilling the thick yellow quintessence all over them. However, Kallen got the brunt of it being closer to it.

From above, the ceiling exploded, forcing the druid to vanish in a retreat. Zerith's lithe form then landed right in the center of the facility, and she opened her mouth to let the two Paladins in.

"Get in!" Rai shouted from inside, "We've got to get Lelouch, C.C., and Allura!"

The two didn't hesitate as they sprinted into the mouth. As Suzaku made it in, Kallen took a moment to look back at where the druid had been standing. She growled in fury when she saw that he was gone. She finally stepped inside, and as Zerith's mouth closed, Kallen felt a tingling in her right hand, the one that had been badly burned earlier. She looked down at it, only to gasp in shock, as the yellow quintessence seemed to close in on the injury, and fresh new skin grew in its place.

"Quintessence… what the heck is this stuff?"

o~o

"This way!" C.C. shouted as they made a sharp turn down another hall dodging laser blasts from behind still.

"Formulating navigation. All crew, assume secure hyper-speed positions."

"Hurry! We can't leave once the ship goes into hyper-speed!" Allura shouted as they felt the ship vibrate as it began to lift off the ground. She had also ripped off the Galra helmet she had been wearing.

From outside, Zerith leaped onto the top of the central command tower, and the six Paladins inside watched in horror as the ship prepared to jump.

As alarms continued to blare, the trio raced into the room, C.C. slamming her hand on the door panel before sprinting to a pod. Sentries continued to fire at them as the door closed. Before they could get one of the escape pods to work, the sentries started jamming themselves into the door, trying to force their way in.

Allura rushed forward and attempted to force the doors closed, but even her strength wasn't enough for the outpouring of robots trying to bust in. C.C. and Lelouch attempted to help her as much as they could, pushing against the door with her.

Behind them though, a pod was preparing for launch, once it did, and no one was in, they'd be trapped for good and heading straight for Zarkon!

"It's taking off! Get in the pod!" Allura ordered the two humans trying to help her.

"No! We're not leaving you behind!" Lelouch shouted in protest.

The Black Paladin then yelped as he felt hands grab him by the collar of his uniform and fling him backward. He landed hard inside the pod, to see C.C. relaxing from throwing him.

"Lelouch, you can't die here!" she shouted, "Not before you prevail! Over the past and over the outcome of your own actions!"

Lelouch could only watch in horror as the pod doors closed, and the entry doors were wrenched open, and sentries swarmed to two women on the other side. Allura sighed in relief as C.C. sent Lelouch a reassuring smile before the pod took off away from the ship, its single passenger trapped inside.

Just as Lelouch's pod exited the battlecruiser, it jumped into hyperspace, taking Allura and C.C. with it.

"No… NO!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the floor of the pod as it glided smoothly towards Zerith, who floated close by, waiting to retrieve him.

After Zerith collected the pod and Lelouch exited it, he solemnly walked up to the cockpit, the other six Paladins waiting patiently for him. Upon seeing that Lelouch is the only one to enter, though, they immediately can tell something is wrong.

"Lelouch, where's Allura?" Suzaku asked, ice flowing through his veins.

"And C.C.?" Shirley added.

Lelouch had yet to raise his head as the others crowded around him in concern.

"Lelouch?" Rivalz asked anxiously. He had never seen Lelouch look so… shattered.

"They sacrificed themselves to save me," he finally whispered, barely holding back tears.

"Wait-So, they're still on that ship?!" Rai exclaimed in alarm, similar expressions on the others' faces too.

"The ship that's headed to Zarkon's Central Command?" Milly asked.

"The place you specifically said is way too dangerous for us to attack?" Suzaku asked, feeling like an ice cube had just been dropped down his back.

"It doesn't matter how dangerous it is. We can't let Zarkon get Allura," Lelouch said, a determined and angered frown on his face, "Or C.C. for that matter."

"But, Lelouch, you said going there would be a huge mistake. You said for us to attack that place head-on would be the dumbest possible thing we could ever do!" Kallen reminded him, eyes wide.

"I know what I said. But now we don't have a choice," Lelouch glared back through the window into the abyss the ship disappeared into. They were correct, this would likely be the most stupid move they could ever make. But if Zarkon got Allura and C.C., it was over.

And no matter what, that could not happen.

[weerd1]

Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1908.06: Missions Reviewed, “Indiscretion,” “Rejoined,” “Starship Down,” and “Little Green Men.”

“Indiscretion” gives us Maj. Kira hearing from a skeezy old contact that a missing Cardassian prisoner transport that disappeared may have been found, and she immediately plans to investigate. However, in the interest of furthering Bajoran and Cardassian relations, the new Cardassian government insists on sending a representative: Gul Dukat. 

Meanwhile, Kassidy Yates is talking about moving permanently onto DS9, which catches Sisko a little off guard. His reaction puts her off, and he has to figure out how to make this right, and if indeed this is the next step he wants to take. Kira and Dukat track the ship, and Kira realizes Dukat has a personal interest: his Bajoran mistress was on board with a daughter…his daughter. Kira is at first sympathetic but realizes he intends to kill the girl in order to preserve his status on Cardassia. She needs him though as the survivors are being used as slave labor by the Breen, and Kira can’t rescue them alone. When they have Tora Ziyal safe, Kira is prepared to shoot Dukat to save the girl, but he relents, promising to take her back to Cardassia and face the consequences.  

Written during the “We’re going to make you like Dukat” era of DS9, the writers effectively tease us with the fact he is still insufferable but slowly coming around.  Some comic relief even shows up as Kira removes a splinter from his posterior. 

Introducing the character of Ziyal does put Dukat on an interesting arc…though redemption won’t be the destination.  The Sisko/Yates scenes are amusing as well and bode well for those two characters continued development.  The Breen are introduced, and to me they always seemed to have some tie to Boushh, Leia’s disguise in “Return of the Jedi.” They will of course come into play when the Dominion War takes off, but will remain mysterious.

In “Rejoined,” a Trill science team comes to the station with the plan of creating an artificial wormhole.  The lead scientist has a symbiont who in a previous host was married to one of Dax’s previous hosts. 

 “Reassociation” is a severe taboo in Trill society, and could result in being banished from the homeworld, which would mean the symbiont could not be passed on to another host, effectively ending its life. Jadzia and Lenara are initially awkward together, but work together easily, and the attraction between them begins to grow.  Eventually, when there is an accident in the experiment, Dax realizes she never wants to lose Lenara again, and asks her to stay on DS9, accept the exile, and rekindle their love. 

 Lenara considers, but cannot bring herself to give her work and life up, and leaves when the experiments are over, leaving a broken hearted Dax in her wake.

For an episode from the mid 1990s, this is a remarkable way of dealing with homosexuality.  What’s truly brilliant is the way the story makes the Taboo the Trill reassociation, NOT the gender of the hosts, so NO ONE in the episode questions the two of them being married because they are women.  Kira even gives an impassioned speech about choice and love, and at no point is gender mentioned.  Very ahead of its time, and very heartbreaking when it doesn’t work out. Susanna Thompson who plays Lenara will of course go on to play the Borg Queen in a few episodes of Voyager, and Moira Queen on “Arrow.”  Sci Fi Royalty all around!

The Defiant becomes a “Starship Down” in the Gamma Quadrant! While negotiating with a partner there the Defiant is attacked by two Jem’Hadar fighters. 

 The trade ship and the Defiant descend into the atmosphere of a gas giant to evade their attackers. Blinded in the atmosphere the cat and mouse continues after Sisko is hurt with Worf taking over the combat. He pushes too hard, and O’Brien gives him advice on how to better work with the other officers. Kira meanwhile is trying to keep Sisko alive while dealing with the fact that he is The Emissary.  She admits her discomfort and wonders if they have not bonded more because of the unspoken issues that he is kind of her Messiah. Worf manages to defeat the Dominion Forces, and back on DS9, Sisko invites Kira to a holosuite baseball game.

Something seems off on this episode.  I applaud the adaptation of the old submarine warfare tropes, though I don’t think they do it as well as “Balance of Terror” did on the Original Series. It’s weird seeing Worf have  to practice how to deal with human officers; it’s not like he’s fresh, he’s been working with humans on the Enterprise for years. The Kira/Sisko stuff is kind of interesting, and I am always a sucker for dealing with the Bajoran religion and its ramificaitons.  Fun to see James Cromwell (Zephram Cochrane in “First Contact”) here as well as the alien negotiator. Otherwise, everyone else just seems…off.

“Little Green Men” Lightens the mood however. With Nog preparing to head off to Starfleet Academy, Quark offers to take him on the new ship he just inherited from the often mentioned cousin Gayla. On the way there though, Rom realizes Quark is actually smuggling some contraband, and that Gayla has sabotaged the shuttle.  Using the elicit merch to counter the sabotage, they are thrown back in time to 1947, where they have crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. 

 In the custody of the US Army, they have to reactivate their universal translators to even talk to the primitive Hew-Mons, who do things like light tobacco and fire and breathe it, and irradiate their own planet with nuclear fission.  Quark begins to scheme to ‘bargain’ the whole planet under his control, but the Army starts playing hardball.

  Luckily, knowing he was smuggling, it turns out Odo was stowed away and knows where they can find their ship.  As luck would have it there’s about to be another nuclear test, and they can use that explosion to make another temporal distortion…if there’s enough of the contraband “kemosite” on board. Luckily there is, and they return to the right year and get Nog safely to Starfleet. Meanwhile Quark has to scrap the ship to get money for passage home. Odo wants to arrest him, but he points out there is no proof: all the kemosite was used in the time warp!

Definitely a fun ep but one that the expanded universe of the novels used to great effect talking about the Ferengi tech studies from Area 51 being used to design the Botany Bay that Khan would later leave Earth in during the Eugenics Wars. Also neat to see Charles Napier guest star here, since he was a space hippy in the TOS episode “The Way to Eden;” now he is a Herbert as the Army General in charge. The best part of the whole episode though is Nog studying an Earth history program and asking his father if he thinks some guy named Gabriel Bell from the 2020s looks just like Captain Sisko.

NEXT VOYAGE: It’s Klingonpalooza on DS9 as Kor joins Worf and Jadzia as they search for the legendary “Sword of Kahless”!  tlhIngan maH! taHjaj!

[yoshimickster]

RETURN OF THE RWBY MICKSTERECAPS-(Rwby Volume 6x01 “Argus Limited” spoilers)

HEY EVERYBLOODY-sorry I’m a day late, went to a punk show and got home around 2 AM-EITHER WEITHER-let’s get to the show!

WE START OUT WITH-

A niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice and snowy landscape, *SIGH* so peaceful-BUT SUDDENLY-

0:28 First rule of Rwby, any scene that starts with a train is gon’ have SHIT GOIN’ DOWN YO!

0:32 See that? Giant fluffy Manticore Grimm-BUT THAT FUCKER GETS SLASHED-

0:38 I love the smell of Grimm dust *SNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFF* smells like victory-BUT THEN-

0:45 A WILD WEISS APPEARS-all smilin’ and KICKIN’ ASS!

0:57 AND FINALLY-

BUMBLEBEE-fighting together with absolutely no awkward tension between the two of them at a-PFFT-HAHAHAHAHA-oh I couldn’t say that with a straight face, but seriously they’re in a better place than last season. ALSO-

1:05  TEAM JNR-fashionably late as always, the sassy bitches.

Nora: WHY IS IT ALWAYS SOMETHING?!

Jaune: BECAUSE WE TRAVEL WITH MILO MURPHY’S ALCOHOLIC COUSIN!

And everybody just starst BLASTING THE SHIT OUT OF GRIMM-Ren sniping with knife guns, Jaune blocking with his shield, and Nora just doing her thing-ALSO-

1:17 FIRST RENORA MOMENT OF THE SEASON-at least ONE section of the shippers will be sated...although I DO find it weird how the two haven’t kissed on screen  yet, I mean like why not? They are UNDOUBTEDLY a couple now, what they tryna hide? Its kinda like how in a lot of Shonen manga when NO official couple kisses on screen, just odd to me.

Everything’s going fine...well fine for battle standards-UNTIL-

1:24 Jaune: TUNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!

Damn Miles has some pipes.

Everybah starts RUNNIN’ to the tunnel-BUT-

1:29

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWeiss gets suckerblasted by one of the manticore Grimm-IS THIS HER END?! 

NOPE-almost girlfriend to the rescue! AND THEN-

1:33 WHITEROSE COMBO MOVE-awesome.

WOO-that was one god damn minute and a half, like seriously! After that triumphant scene I’m sure we won’t transition to something absolutely horrifyi-

2:23 Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus Adam, you do NOT take getting dumped lightly do you? Ah well, at least he has that expensive chai-

2:32 *SLASH*

DAMMIT ADAM-what’d that chair ever do to you? Could’ve at least sold it at a Pawn shop, got a couple hundred Lien I’m betting, absolutely wasteful, SHAME Adam-SHAME! 

ATHENCUTTO-

2:44 THE TRAIN STATION FROM AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER-but in the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuture! Nah it ain’t, but it TOTALLY looks like that right?

Qrow than gives a shameless recap-I MEAN-reads his own letter that he’s sending to General Ironwood(he probably wrote it drunk so I’m betting he was checking for spalling erors...don’t you JODGE me) which he ends with-

3:43 “See you soon, bro”.

‘Daaaaaaaaw!

BUT THEN-a wild Ruby appears, utterly excited that her train’s coming up so she could get out of that god damned train station! I understand her antsyness, the wait can be a NIGHTMARE!

3:50

Well that hall way has enough space, I’m sure Ruby can just saunter on over to the gift shop-

...or use her semblance and dash on over there like a crazy person. One of these days your gonna HIT someone young lady-GAH!

Team...RWBY...OJNR...Ruby O’Junior, yeah let’s go with that, then has a short moment of shooting the shit.

Heh, look at these two, fussing over gifts-PROTECT THESE SWEET BABY CHILDREN AT ALL COSTS! 

ALSO-a random Nora Beach fantasy!

...that apparently leaked its way into reality. Oscar H. Pines, Nora is so thirsty to see Ren in a swimsuit she alters time and SPACE!

BUT-just when you thought everybody is completely happy about this-

4:31 WEISS-casually reminds everyone how hard it was for her to escape her abusive father, and how this is hard for her-CONTINUITY!

After Ruby than gives the obligatory pep-talk-WE ARE INTRODUCED TO-

-Dee and Dudley, two corrupt pro-huntsman who try to shake down Ruby O’Junior, one of whom is JUST 2 weeks from retirement.

They also condescendingly tell them they’ll give them extra protection if they pay them...did...did these idiots NOT watch the news?! THEY’RE PRACTICALLY A SUPERHERO TEAM!

AND NOW-the greatest Rwby Reaction pose of ALL time-

5:05

THIS right here, THIS is art.

Qrow than shows up and GIVES THEM THE BUSINESS! No-one tries to shake down HIS kids! 

5:17

Look at Dee’s dumbfounded ass face after talking back, this is Qrow fucking BRANWEN mother fucker! Now go lock that gate that Adam sneaked into!

5:48 Oscar: I’m sure glad its our job saving the world and not theirs.

Jaune: Yeah, now if ONLY one of us didn’t hide a billion secrets from all of us because reasons.

Ozpin: Okay let me at him.

Oscar: YOU SIT IN YOUR SHAME OLD MAN!

After that, everyone in Team Ruby O’Hara is READY to go, except for Blake which Weiss points out...in the best way possible-

5:55 Weiss: Just waiting for Blake, as usual.

HAHA-she abandoned her team for months on end.

A THEN CUT TO-

6:02 Blake saying good-bye to her almost-ex-girlfriend Ilia, and its just SWEET.

6:24 WHOA-that’s a little forward Ili-

6:25 Ooooooooooh that was DIRTY Rooster Teeth, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! DAH-but its still a cute good bye-ALSO-

6:55 BEST BOY SUN WUKONG-here to say good bye as well!

OH-and Neptune’s here too. Hi Neptune, still living under that idiotic lady killer facade?

Neptune: OH...I didn’t know Ilia was gonna be here.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyup.

7:22 Blake: Wrong tree.

Sun: Yeah teaching him gaydar is one of many many MANY reasons I gotta rejoin my team.

The two than have a nice heart to heart about where they’re going in life, Sun needs to go back to Vacuo to be with his team he LITERALLY abandoned, Blake needs to save the world from a Maleficent cosplayer, they’re just passing ships in the night and it comes to a head...when Sun says this-

7:55 Sun:I GO WHERE I’M NEEDED...and...you don’t need me anymore!

Blake:...well when you say it like that it sound sad.

Aw man, sad Blake ears.

Sun(paraphrased): Despite everything I had a lot of fun but-

-you’re with who you’re supposed to be with now.

Bumblebee shippers will interpret THAT how they want to and I. Do. Not. Blame. THEM!

Sun and Blake than finish off their good bye saying they’ll probably see it again(and by probably we know definitely because COME ON Michael Jones is one of the heavy hitters in Rooster Teeth). The good bye then ends-

-with a cute Blacksun peck on the cheek. Feel conflicted about which ship for Blake is better yet? If not, you haven’t been watching this show so...what the hell are you reading this blog for? SHORT CUT TO-

8:49 

Neptune: I dunno man, it feels like your just letting her go.

Says the guy who can’t stick to one crush for more than five seconds. Notice how he didn’t say hi to Weiss? Because she’s logically MAD you blue haired Lothario!

AFTER THAT-there’s THIS little scene:

Sun: Now that your leader’s back and hardened from battle, I’ve gotta focus all of my time on getting you boys ready for the wastelands.

9:01

Neptune: *SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH*.

Anyone else think Neptune’s sigh might mean something more than just annoyance? I know Sun said his team was okay with the small hiatus, but what if they weren’t? Also maybe he was insulted by Sun implying that his team was just standing around without him, that while Sun was going on his adventure time standed still with them. Sun’s a good kid, and was mature enough to let Blake go once she got her real team back, but even to his own admittance he’s not the best leader. Just saying, food for thought.

A THEN CUT TO-

9:05 A nice snowy train where nothing bad is gonna happen. And INSIDE THE TRAIN-

-a totally not-suspicious looking Maz Napata from Star Wars meets old lady Katara from Legend of Korra who will TOTALLY not interact with the main cast...totally. BUT-enough about that-BEHOLD-

9:22 ALL of team Rwby sleeping in a bunkbed room like the good old days-HUZZAH! But all is not well AS THERE IS ALSO-

SUPER AWKWARD TENSION BETWEEN YANG AND BLAKE! But nah, Yang tells Blake that while things are weird and it’ll take a while before things get back to normal, she glad she and her posse are back together which PROMPTS-

THIS cuteness, which Whiterose shippers will interpret how they will.

Either way its TIME TO PLAY VIDEO GAM-

*CRASH*

10:31

DAMN that was a tough crash, it made Qrow lose his usually iron grip on booze! A THEN CUT TO-

...the...beginning of the episode...yeah I don’t know why they wrote the story like this either, I guess to start the season with a bang in showing how team RWBY is back in sync but I dunno.

But hey don’t worry, DEE AND DUDLEY are on the case, and I’m sure it TOTALLY doesn’t matter that Dee is two weeks from retirement!

*GASP* I am truly shocked. You shall always be remembered Dee, as a creepy weirdo who tried shake down a bunch of highschoolers for money.

THEN fighting fighting fighting, AND THEN-Dundey remembers he’s a security officer in charge of a high tech train!

12:06

I show four pictures here to point out that that WHOLE sequence took less than a MINUTE! Its like WE GET IT Rooster Teeth, you have an animation budget now! 

It also activated the turrets which take out ALL four of these Grimm, which I’m SURE the boss Grimm won’t notic-

12:46 Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhit it  noticed. It tells the lesser Grimm to attack the turrets and...oh god I found this by accident but it must be shared-

It landed-ASS FIRST! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

And as to be expected knocking out the turrets didn’t JUST take out their defenses-

But ALSO-put the passengers in danger. Its like, use the turrets some Grimm die but they’ll attack the train more, DON’T use the turrets and they’ll attack anyway with less dead grimm, its a total catch 22!

Obviously bad-ass Qrow Branwen realizes and gets his TOP GUY TO STOP DUNDY-

...Oscar...desperate times I suppose.

Dundey like an idiot DOESN’T listen to the logical decision to turn off the glowing red fuck me spots for the Grimm to hit, and even MORE idiotically-

*CRACK* NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

...decides to hang from the SIDE of a train going into a tunnel....instead of finding a way to duck...how many good Huntsmen/Huntresses did Salem’s unnamed faction kill, because I can’t help thinking he and his late partner were scraped from the bottom of the barrel.

BACK in the train, everyone’s as completely calm as they possibly could be.

14:19 Qrow: I SAID, turn those damn things OFF! *SLAM*

Seriously, in this situation Qrow is SUPER calm, I’d wanna kick his ass too.

Ruby then ACTUALLY calmly asks the guy to turn off the turrets(she’s got resolve of STEEL that one) AND THEY COME UP WITH A PLAN-to use a combo of Jaune’s Aura-booster powers and Ren’s emotion mask powers to mask the train. A plan that I’m sure will go off without ONE hit-

15:32 Oscar: I’m afraid there’s one complication.

Son of a god damned bitch Oz, I SWEAR TO GOD!

“The Grimm are also attracted...to this.”

Logically team Rugby O’Shaunnesy is as pissed at Oz as the fans for putting everyone in danger without telling them because he’s a mysterious wizard.

BUT-they gotta stay on task and kick Oscar in the nuts later, THEY MUST SAVE THE PYORPLES!

Sadly, they realize that they have to seperate the car with the passengers masked by Ren and Jaune, from the one with Team RWBY Qrow and a dumb old man in a child’s body. The two teams have to say good bye.

Jaune: Only if you’ll promise you’ll meet us there.

Ruby: Promise.

Weiss: Just know it’ll probably take a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time for us to get there.

Qrow: I estimate about 12 to 14 epis-I MEAN days.

Team Bad-name-pun then SPRINGS INTO ACTION-getting all the passengers in the front car-

16:29

-including this one bespectacled passenger who will in no way affect the plot in any way no and forever QUIT ASKING ABOUT IT!

Blake then cuts the cable cars-BUT SEES-

GAH-stalker much? I can’t believe Adam followed them-OR DID HE-

Is it actually Adam, or PTSD induced hallucination, FIND OUT NEXT EPISODE!

And what’s cool about the next sequence is that it needed NO explanation, you get it obviously from what you see.

Rubes gets JUST enough of a signal from Nora-

-so the MOMENT the Grimm land-

17:02

“NOW!”

-they start the maneuver.

No real comment on here other than how I LOVE how the black and white color palette over-takes the colored train car.

And then BACK TO FIGHTING!

And dear GOD there are so many great Grimm-kills here, so many I’d be here ALL day cutting and pasting every single one so I’ll just put the boss take down-STEP ONE-

Yang slides herself to the back-

-Blake THROWS it to Yang-

-AND YANG JUST PUNCHES THAT SHIT BACK-

-tying that greasy Grimm in PLACE-WHICH WEISS CONTINUES-

-with a classic “Freeze that fucker’s wings off attack”(with assistance from Ruby and Qrow of course for shattering said wings)-and then Uncle and Niece-

-get they scythes in gear-

-AND THEY SLASH THAT BITCH IN TWO! AND.THIS.IS.JUST.THE.FIRST.EPISODE!

BUT-the beast lets out ONE last fireball knocking them off track and....EVERYONE IS OKAY-incluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuding-

-THIS LADY-whose name I’ve read is Maria Callavera! Turns out she WASN’T just a random side character, I couldn’t tell with how HEAVILY lampshaded it was!

AND THAT’S VOLUME 6 EP 1-a fantastic start to the season with AMAZING action and animation, and great story-progression. Minor criticism, I still feel they didn’t need to do a “Something hours earlier” thing with the train battle, they could’ve easily done the story in sequential order and it would have worked just as well if not better. BUT-I still loved it and I hope you did to. If you liked what you read, consider donating to my Paypal on my blog page, I’d appreciate it. SEE YA NEXT WEEK ON MICKSTERECAPS!

[sailor-cresselia]

Zi-O 37: Gotta go fast!

I’m gonna sprinkle in some chat segments from the live watch that @miyukomatsuda and I did of the episode as it aired, but this is mostly my watch of the RiderTime sub.

(I’m also hoping to do a watch of some of the recent episodes again, but with the O-T subs, so that I can get a more… well phrased translation.)

As always, spoilers for Zi-O episode 37 below the cut.

~~~~~

So, a giant meteorite just hit. It doesn’t have a Rider inside this time, though! No, it has Worms! Shapeshifters! Who are basically the Zygons!

(I don’t go to Doctor Who anymore, but that’s what I’ve been told, and the impression I got from Marcosatsu’s History of Kabuto vid.)

Team 9-to-5 are watching a news broadcast at breakfast about the meteorite – aaaand nope, newscaster’s a Worm, much to the poor cameraman’s surprise.

Cressy: Woz: Welp! Found out who we’ve got this week!

Miyuko: “My turn to do things.”

Miyuko: “Also, we dealt with the gas leak.”

Miyuko: “We should all be sane again.”

(The idiot ball was in full force during the Kiva Arc. We will never let it rest.)

~~~~~

Sougo, Tsukuyomi, and Geiz are headed off to see where that second meteorite hit, the one with the worms on it, when a third one shoots down, in the other direction. So, off they go, splitting the party. Again.

Poor Geiz, he’s with Woz again. Who, by the way, is nowhere to be seen, having ditched the team to go do his recap.

At… the Hachiko statue.

Huh.

And the key player for this fortnight’s worth of episodes… Kamen Rider Gatack – Arata Kagami.

Who is clearly in a state of “Not this again...” as another meteorite streaks by. Or it could be that one that split the party, it’s a little hard to say.

~~~~~

They used part of the Kabuto opening – with the beetle wings – to cut into the OP this time! Nice touch!

I was host for the stream Miyuko and I did when we watched the Raw, and I BLINKED AND MISSED THE FORM RUN THROUGH that time! And here I pride myself on noticing differences in the OPs!

But Kamen Rider Woz’s base form has been replaced by his Ginga form, with the ‘base’ version, Ginga Finaly shown in full, and the Planet and Sun forms shown in bust form.

~~~~~

And FINALLY, they notice that the Another Rider’s aren’t erasing the previous Riders from history anymore! They haven’t been doing that for a while, guys. I mean, if they were still doing it, you wouldn’t have been able to have all of your senpai help you out in the movie last December… you know, shortly before you moved into having Future Riders for a while, and then back into the older Legend Riders.

You might write it off as ‘odd’, or ‘paradoxes have messed with space-time nearly beyond repair’, but I still say that time travel doesn’t work like you think it does.

I will hold my ‘they have been faking it’ theory until absolutely proven otherwise, folks.

…and I’m still going to be using it in ReUnited, anyway. ~Fanfiction land says I can do what I want.~

Besides, Sougo’s having fun! He’s getting to meet all of these Kamen Riders, after all!

…Sougo, kitty, I’m pretty sure you still don’t quite get how serious some of this is, but you get a solid B for effort.

~~~~~

Cressy: THEY FINALLY REALIZE THAT THEY AREN’T ERASING PEOPLE ANYMORE

Miyuko: YOU DUMBASSES

Miyuko: Mouri: DAMNIT SHIMOMIYA STOP MAKING ME HANDLE LORE

~~~~~

At the third landing site…

Woz. Woz you are so unbelievably petty. “I will be giving the orders around here, let’s go.” For crying out loud, Woz, just work as a team with Geiz, please.

So, off they go, into battle against a swarm of Worms using Faiz and Kikai!

~~~~~

Miyuko: if sougo goes to space i’m gonna yell that I called it

~~~~~

SOUGO IS SO DUMB.

SOUGO. You already knew that they could copy people. You SAW one do it on tv. So why would you assume that the people working at the crash site, where that broadcast came from, were normal humans?

Sougo, PLEASE.

Also, it looks like the Worms agree with me: right before they drop their disquises, they’re giving him this look like “Wow, this kid is dumb.”

And before Sougo bothers to transform, shots fly from off screen~!

Hey there, Gatack! Nice to see you’re doing okay!

~~~~~

Meanwhile, over with Woz and Geiz, we’ve got them landing finishers on a pair of Worms… but there’s still more of them. And, as Woz finally bothers to mention…

Worms can go faster than you can see when they get stronger.

(I agree with Geiz’s frustration at not having been told this sooner! WOZ!!)

Good thing they’ve got Revive Typhoon and Shinobi~~!

~~~~~

Back with Sougo and Kagami… They finish off a mass of Worms, but something red knocks them down.

Something – sorry, someone – that Kagami calls ‘Kageyama’.

Enter PunchHopper.

And with his entrance, Kagami goes into Gatack’s cast off Rider form – and right into Clock Up.

~~~~~

Cressy: “Hey, new kid, how fast can you go?”

Cressy: Actually, super speed is a problem for Sougo!

Miyuko: Sougo: UHHHHHHH

Miyuko: He has to hide

Cressy: Because he couldn’t keep up with Revive so

~~~~~

The battle starts to deal some collateral damage to the infrastructure, leading to rubble starting to fall towards a mother and child.

Tsukuyomi says no.

A stopwatch ticks.

The rubble freezes in midair, letting the civilians escape.

Tsukuyomi sees something.

Herself, younger, and three people facing away from the cameras viewpoint. At least one is an adult – presumably male, in an outfit that looks an awful lot like the one Swartz wore in 2009. The other two… I think the one to the left of the screen is a young girl, with pigtails. The one on the right looks to be an adult male… and it’s very grainy, but that style of dress looks like a black and white version of what Sougo’s uncle wears.

Of course, she only focuses in on young her and almost-definitely-Swartz.

Please, Toei, Shimomiya, I am begging you, do not let anyone be related. We’ve got both time travel and amnesia going on in here already, we do not want you to go that route!

~~~~~

Swartz sees this from a nearby roof, and notes that her powers are getting stronger, and soon they’ll completely awaken.

Someone asks what will happen when they do.

~~~~~

Miyuko: **YELLS**

Miyuko: TSUKASA

Cressy: Tsukasa: Sup.

Miyuko: WERE YOU OFF GETTING LAID TSUKASA

Cressy: Look at that posture

Cressy: Daiki showed up.

Cressy: he def was.

~~~~~

Tsukasa: “So… you’re connected to that girl somehow. I’ve been doing some investigating…”

Swartz: “Oh, yeah, sure. Do what you want… If you can.” (he says in an ominous tone, ominously.)

Tsukasa: “Thanks. I’ll do just that.”

~~~~~

Back on the ground, Sougo… is getting his ass handed to him. But! He does have the realization that the speed PunchHopper and Gatack are moving at is similar to Geiz Revive Typhoon… and he’s figured out a way to counter that.

It used to be that he was only looking one move ahead when he used Zi-O II’s precog abilities.

He’s looking ahead three here.

Sougo knows he won’t be able to react in time for the first two strikes, but the third…

On the third he can time a strike of his own.

And he knocks PunchHopper down.

Gatack tries to finish him off – but a red blur takes the hit.

Another Kabuto has made his appearance, and it looks like he’s Sou Yaguruma, former alias KickHopper. He grabs PunchHopper, and nyooms right on out of there.

~~~~~

Miyuko: OH FUCK IT’S ONE FO THE HOPPER BROS

Cressy: OH MY GOD ANOTHER KABUTO IS ONE OF THE HOPPER BROS

Miyuko: KAGAMIII

Cressy: OR A WORM OF ONE OF THEM

Miyuko: IS IT TIME FOR HIM TO SUFFER (We saw one was a worm

Miyuko: (shame we uh

Miyuko: (remember the rider sona

~~~~~

(Miyuko’s at least watched some Kabuto, but not very far. I, on the other hand, have seen exactly none, and would have no idea which one we saw in the cold open.)

~~~~~

Now then, we jump to Kagami explaining the situation to Woz and Sougo at the shop, giving them a basic run down of who the Hell Brothers are, along with showing them pictures. Pictures of the terribly dated late ‘00’s Hot Topic discount bin wardrobes that those two wore.

Kagami: So, the PunchHopper is definitely a Worm mimicking the original.

Woz: How can you know?

~~~~~

Miyuko: Woz intensifies

Miyuko: “Pretty sure he’s dead.”

Cressy: “So, yeah, he’s dead, but. uh. Apparently not anymore.”

Miyuko: “Fuck if I know, guys.”

Miyuko: Shibuya!

Miyuko: FLASHBACK TO KABUTO

Cressy: “Also, it’s really weird that Shibuya exists again.”

Miyuko: “Wait what”

Miyuko: Sougo: :)

Miyuko: Woz: “THE FUCK?!”

~~~~~

So, yeah, the timelines are a mess here. In 1999, in Kabuto, Shibuya was destroyed by a meteorite – one carrying the Worms. It’s … incredibly intact here.

OH. DUUUHHHH. That’s why Woz was at the Hachiko Statue!

It’s at Shibuya station.

WOW, I feel dumb. I remembered who Hachiko was, but didn’t catch the link as to why Woz would be there until just now.

Also, Sougo, I get that you were born in 2000, but. Like. That was only one year later. I thought your only decent subject was history! If this happened in the current timeline, you ought to know about it!

~~~~~

At an overlook, Geiz finds Tsukuyomi, having been told about her using her time powers again, and she tells him that she remembered something. Her mother and father, and ‘another man’.

… wait SHIT I said that the seated man’s outfit looked a lot like Junichiro’s, didn’t I? ABORT MISSION! NO, NO, NO! CALL IT OFF! STOP THE RIDE, I WANNA GET OFF!

Tsukasa appears on the scene. “Hey, so. Do you want to take a look and see what was going on back there? I’m trying to find the source of why the fabric of space and time is getting holes poked in it, so if you want to come along…”

… Okay, so he says ‘distorted,’ according to the RT subs, but it amounts to the same thing.

Geiz thinks this is a terrible idea, but Tsukuyomi wants to know who she is. So she goes with him.

Er, Tsuka- Tsukasa? I think you are a poster child for ‘sometimes you are better off not knowing who you used to be’, just as much as you are for ‘don’t lean too hard into the world-destruction prophecies.’ You may want to rethink your stance on this.

Mind you, you’re also a shining example of ‘there’s no escaping destiny’ and ‘you can’t thwart stage one’, so I guess that ship has already sailed.

~~~~~

Miyuko: TSUKASA’S UP TO THINGS

Cressy: Tsukasa: “GUYS, QUIT FUCKING WITH THE TIMELINE. YOU’RE MAKING MY JOB AND THE DENLINER CREW’S JOBS THAT MUCH HARDER”

~~~~~

So, a quick call between Geiz and Sougo, and we switch back to the Sougo and Woz team. (Man, we’re really getting the groups together this week, aren’t we?)

They’re confronted by Kageyama – who, yes, is a Worm. And he admits it. But he still has the original Kageyama’s memories as a human, and he wants them to help his brother. Worm or human, he can’t stand to see Yaguruma as an Another Rider – as a monster. They’ve seen too much hell for him to want any more.

Woz: My lord, this is clearly a trap.

Sougo: You need to start trusting people, Woz. Besides, we want to help save Yaguruma, too, don’t we? :)

Except that that is not his usual ‘This is going fine!’ smile. That is a smile of ‘he knows what’s going on.’

… You know, So Okuno’s really grown into his role, here. I think he’ll be able to do pretty well once he graduates from Sougo.

(He’s grown into his role, if not his clothing. Seriously, wardrobe department, could you let him wear clothes that fit properly? Why was this whole ‘everything is minimum a size and a half too big’ thing a decision?)

ANYWAY. THIS is a good scene for the instrumental of Toki no Ouja.

Also, you can hear the belts and chains Kageyama’s wearing well before you see them.

~~~~~

A quick interlude to Junichiro, back at the shop, having just fixed a radio. He goes to make sure it’s actually fixed, and turns it to the news.

There’s a large meteor headed for the center of Tokyo. And it’s much larger than the previous ones that have hit.

…

WAIT WHAT

(cue shot of said meteor in space)

~~~~~

Miyuko: OH MY GOD THEY ARE GOING TO SPACE

~~~~~

And now, to a totally-not-suspicious definitely-not-a-trap perfectly-harmless warehouse.

Sougo: So, Yaguruma’s supposed to be in here, right? (proceeds to walk in, with his back towards the guy who literally calls himself one of the Hell Brothers, like an idiot)

KAGEYAMA GOES TO STRANGLE HIM FROM BEHIND. BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES.

But he doesn’t get to – because Kagami bodychecks him away.

Kagami: “Kid, NO! You’re too naive! Walking into a trap like this!”

Kageyama: “Ahahaha… I mean, yeah, it’s a trap, but it’s not for the brat.”

Another Kabuto SLAMS into Kagami.

Kageyama: “We’re after you.”

Kagami and Kageyama both transform.

~~~~~

Cressy: THANK YOU KAGAMI

Miyuko: Aw yiss

Miyuko: Shoutout to Mouri USING THE RETURNING LADS

Cressy: STRAIGHT INTO CAST OFF

Cressy: UNLIKE INOUE

~~~~~

PunchHopper LUNGES at Sougo, who is just standing there – there’s a clicking sound – and a massive surge of gravity slams PunchHopper to the ground. (cue Miyuko and I basically just shouting WHAT into the chat)

Oh my god. Turns out Woz’s attack is even more ridiculous than I’d thought. He’s allegedly channeling the gravity of 10,000 black holes, because that’s totally a thing that’s possible. … Meh, he’s got reinforcements from the armor, he’ll be fine.

Woz: Ah, yes, as expected of my overlord. Taking advantage of the enemies trap-

Sougo: Er, actually, I just wanted him to take me to Yaguruma. Now we just have to defeat the two of them. (goes to transform)

Everything starts to shake.

Oh, there’s that giant meteor!

Rider Time!

Zi-O! Fourze!

3! 2! 1! Fourze!

~~~~~

Miyuko: HE’S GOING TO

Miyuko: OH MY GOOOOD

Cressy: UCHUUU KITAAAAAAAAA

Miyuko: UCHUU IKUUUUU

Miyuko: Sougo pls

Cressy: FINE I’LL TAKE THE MESS UP

~~~~~

I mean, if it stops a GIANT METEOR FROM HITTING TOKYO? I don’t CARE if he gets the catchphrase wrong!

And it’s pretty close, anyway. Way better than his attempts at Ex-Aid’s and especially Build’s catchphrases.

~~~~~

Back to Gatack versus the Hell Brothers, who are soon joined by Woz.

Turns out, Yaguruma doesn’t care that Kageyama’s a Worm, since he’s the only one willing to be his partner.

After being tremendously outsped, and taking a few good blows, Woz unleashes an incredibly over-the-top finisher in the form of his Planetary Explosion. Yes, I know that’s not the actual name, but my computer’s autocorrect is a pain, and I’m not going to try typing out any of the forms that attacks real name can take. I don’t want to teach my computer that.

And there’s a huge explosion of flame, flames spreading across the floor… Woz gives a grandiose pair of quotes in a very Tendou style, down to the pointing. But a sound comes from ground zero of the attack.

A green suit drags itself into a standing position.

KickHopper: I don’t believe in the power of the universe… I only believe in the power of hell…

He lands a Rider Kick that Woz just manages to get a guard up in time to block. When Woz can look up… nobody’s there.

Geiz comes in… but none of the three returning characters are around anymore.

There is, however, a ‘message’. Someone’s left a package of instant bowl ramen, and a note, with one word.

“Hell.”

SO THAT’S NOT OMINOUS AS FUCK AT ALL.

~~~~~

Miyuko: “Wait, I’ve had this form one ep why am I being worfed”

Cressy: WELCOME TO BAD TIMES

Cressy: ON BOTH ENDS OF THE TIMELINE

~~~~~

A portal appears in the air, in 2058. Tsukuyomi and Tsukasa step out, to when she would have been 8 years old, into a ruined city.

With an incredibly ominous looking cloud front and thunderstorm off in the distance.

~~~~~

Back to 2019… Geiz… is in no position to do anything but leave the whole meteor thing to Sougo. A man in black, with copious chains, drags himself through the river below. “Did… someone laugh at me?”

Yaguruma, what are you doing there?

~~~~~

IT’S SPACE TIME!

Sougo’s ready! He can do this! He -

Did not realize how big that was actually going to be!

But he drills through the meteor with a Limit Time Break, shattering it… and also releasing a bunch of Worms that were in there into the vacuum of space.

Oh well.

Except that one wasn’t the real problem.

No, the real problem is that the grey meteor?

Is a pebble in comparison to the giant red one behind it.

Everything is very red in 2068.

~~~~~

Miyuko: THISISFINE

Miyuko: oh shit

Miyuko: IS THIS WHY THE EARTH IS FUCKED UP

Miyuko: SPAAACE

Miyuko: oh boy SOUGO PLS

Cressy: SOUGO BABBY

Miyuko: GEN WOULD BE SO PROUD

Cressy: DID YOU NOT REALIZE FROM HOW BIG IT SEEMED

Cressy: OBJECTS IN MIRROR-

Miyuko: HOLY SHIT

Miyuko: POSE

(He was pretty close, with the pose! It’s… probably easier in 0G, given Gens whole thing.)

Cressy: OH MY GOD HE DRILLED THROUGH A METEOR

Miyuko: OH NOOOOOOOO FUCK

Cressy: OH MY GOD THAT WAS A PEBBLE

Miyuko: OH NO OH NO OH NOOOOOOO

Miyuko: THIS IS WHY THE EARTH IS FUCKED IN 2068 ISN’T IT

Cressy: OH MY GOD THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO FUCK UP THE PLANET

Cressy: IT’S REMNANTS ALL OVER AGAIN. I AM HAVING K.A. APPLEGATE FLASHBACKS HERE

Miyuko: WELL BOY FUCKING HOWDY WHAT A ZI O. -oh god PLEASE LET THE KABUTO WATCH GO TO KAGAMI. PLEASE

Miyuko: But Damn that was toei making it up to us from last week huh

Cressy: OH YES

Miyuko: GOOD USE OF RETURNING ACTORS.

DRAMA

STAKES

SOUGO DRILLING A METEOR.

TSUKASA CAME BACK.

Cressy: Tsukasa: “It’s not technically spoilers if it’s your own past, right? Right. I could have used this sort of heads up.”

~~~~~

So! Yeah! We were! Basically just completely screaming after that!

This is a much better episode than the last two. Thank you, Mouri-san! THANK YOU!

[goldstonegolem64]

Book1 Hope returns Chapter 23 Info grab By goldstonegolem64

New altea. two years after the defeat of hagger. allura and Coran we talking in a hospital room

“ So Coran what did I miss this past two years  ?”

“Well beside Matt and Eve’s wedding. The paladin, Prince lotor, his generals, the blade and the coalition have finally brought peace to the know universe. there are this still some pockets of the old empire and some Altean piloted robeats that are still loyal to Hagger are still running around. But they haven't been causing that much trouble as of late . Do to Matt,Jay, beau And Shiro working day and night to find and root them out before they could hurt anyone. an since Planet Daibazaal” was restored Lotor ,the generals , Krolia and Kolivan are trying to help the Galra to be better as a races  with some mixed success here and there do to some Generals still being stuck in the old way but there they are trying. Hunk and shay Now are the owner of the most famous restaurant as well as being engaged. Keith is now the leader of the blade and turn it in to a humanitarian group, Pidge,lance and adam  are training  the new generation of legendry defenders But when there not doing those thing they all have been trying to get you back. Also Honerva is also back “ Coran said 

“Wait honerva How is she back ?” She asked confused

“when you came back she was holding onto you and anytime we  tried to pull you away from her she would make a shield around the both of you and started yelling about Eyes that were always watching .” Coran said 

Allura had a few memories of being in the astral plane  but they all were just of her floating in the astral plane or when she would get a rare visit from her parents and the older paladin or she got the even rarer glimpse of the others live their lives. But there were no Eyes just ” Coran”

“Yes princess”  Coran said 

“Do the other Know I'm awake ?” Allura asked 

“ We do now Allura .” Lance said while he was standing in the door way smiling  

Allura turned her head and saw them all standing there. Her heart soared when she saw them.

“ Hey princess how are you doing “ Keith said 

“ It’s good to see you again princess” Adam said

“ Hi boss long time no see” Jay said

“ Hi princess  “ Hunk said

“ It’ s good to have you back princess” Shiro said

Pidge slammed into Allura Crying “ It’s good to have you back Allura we’ve missed you ”

“ It’s nice to see you again old friend “ Beau said 

Allura was so happy She was back with her family again. this was the perfect end to her adventure and she couldn't’ wait to spend the rest of her life in peace But that happiness was short lived As her alarm went off  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecdYeRJYdzE

Queen Allura awoke back in her room on the Cronos. The same dream a different night but never the less it hurts her to think about her past. So She just laid on her bed just listing to the alarm .but it didn’t stop the pain. So first time in years she cried For the loss of her Family.She didn’t know how long she was crying for or what time it was. But she didn't care it felt good to let it all out after so many years of holding it all in. Then her door opened to reveal her son  

“ Mother are you alright?” the young prince asked worried about his mother

.” I’m fine Alfor” She said wiping away the tears

“ Alright I just came by to tell you breakfast is ready” Alfor said

“ I will be there soon just give my a moment” Allura said giver herself a moment to regain her composure  

“ ok” alfor replied leaving the room 

Allura sat up right in her bed thinking about the mission how she had to change the past to save the future or save this worlds future? She didn’t quite understand the whole multiply verse theory. She would have to ask Leon and Adin later about this seeing as they were the one to figure it out their mothers blue print for the Cronos but that would have to wait. She had breakfast and her kids wait for her  

In the bridge of the castles of lions. with Princess allura and  the paladins gather and watched pidge search through Sendak’ s memoirs 

“I don’t think your father would approve of you looking through your enemy memories” Coran said

“ Why not. We can learn something from these and once we learn all of zarkon weaknesses. we can go to Zarkon’s  front door and challenge him win get the universe “ Lance said smirking.

“ it’s not that easy lance we need to find it first “ Shiro said 

“ How hard can that be after ten thousand years of conquering I could fire my Bayard in a random point in space an hit a galra ship” Lance said

“ Yes but we need to start  small by free each planet one by one. Because attack Zarkon at his home base with six inexperience pilot  an a support ship  it would not end well for us if we attacked him head on” Shiro said

“Ok I see you point But one Fuck you i’m a great pilot , Two the castle of lions is not just a support ship. three freeing ever planet will take us ten thousand years.four your right if we take the fight to zarkon’s front door with what we have now we are doomed to fail” Jay said frowning 

“ Hey Pidge did you find anything yet?” Keith ask

“ Yes I have it’s a transport hub but It could be a galactic Hud” pidge said

“or a Space Base “ lance said  smiling  

“ Ha I get it “ jay said 

“ I don’t know which one it’s Because I’m translating from galra to atlea then to English so something could be loss in translation. But I did find it’s location” She continued 

“ Alright let’s get going then” Shiro said

An Hour later the castle arrived to the locations of the transport hub which was in-between two planets. the hub itself was build in to an asteroid with a war ship docked. 

“ It looks like the station is using the planets gravitational field to hide from Deep space  scanners” Coran said 

“but if it’s just a giant airport  why are they hiding it?” pidge asked

“ it’s a transport hub for foul or supplies .  hiding it from their enemy makes scents . “ Jay replied  

“To bad we now where it is.” lance said looking a 3d layout of the station’ s outer layer trying to find away in side with shiro

“ How do we get in ?” Keith asked 

“ the control tower  has an airlock near it and If we get in there we could have pidge hack into the system and find out  what this place is for” Lance said 

“that is a great plan Lance. Alright paladins let’s suit up “ Shiro said 

“I'm coming with you” Allura said

“ princess I would rather have you stay here” Coran said

“ Coran I’m a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. So I'm going dose anyone have a problem with that?” She asked Everyone just stood there a Not saying a word “Alright then Everyone suit up She said

Back on the Prometheus

Jay was in his room. Getting his armor on only stopping when he heard a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” He asked

“ it’s Fitz can I come in?” the boy asked

“Yes” He replied

The door opened and the balmeran boy walked in still wear his old tatter clothes

“  We really need to get you new clothes dude . So what can I do for you to day bud” Jay asked while putting on his boosts

“  Your going on a mission right?” Fitz asked

“yes Why do you ask” Jay raised his eye brow 

“ Is it dangerous”  Fitz asked with worry in his voice 

“ Yes But all missions I go on are dangerous. But  I have Shiro and the other watching my back. So you don’t have to worry about me” He replied.

“ I know but I already lost one person I care about and I don’ t want to lost another. Fitz said rubbing his arm

“Fitz I'm going to be fine I got Shiro and the other watching my back. So you don’t have to worry. 

“ Alright but can you at lets try to stay safe out there please” Fitz said has he hugged jay 

“I will try but no promises little buddy” Jay hugging Fitz back” now I have to go meet up with the others alright”

“Ok” Fitz replied 

 Moments later Jay had made his way to the green lion’s where Allura and the others are waiting 

“what took you so long man ?” Hunk asked

“ I was showing Fitz somethings  “ Jay replied 

“Ok now that everyone’s here. lets get on the green lion“ Shiro said

“Wait where everyone else”? Jay asked

“they will be training today.now get in the lion please”  Allura said

Moments later in the control tower the only Galra guard stood watch over the two sentries that were doing the last bit of the docking sequins for the ship.  “ Hey” a voice whisper behind him so he turn to see a group of color full people standing in front of him. Before he could raise his weapon. the man in black armor punched him in the face sending him flying and knocking him out. Has the body hit the floor the two sentries turned to see the paladins all standing there .the sentries raised there blaster only to be shoot down by the blue, silver and yellow paladins. Moments later a Galra appeared on a screen.

“ is everything alright in there we saw flashing lights what's going on”  the galra soldier asked.

Hunk picked up one of the sentry's and gave a thumb up. Soldier on the screen starred at the offline sentry. Everyone held their breath hoping the soldier fell for hunks ruse. the soldier starred a little longer Before shrgging his shoulder and ended the message.

“ nice job dude” Lance said as he went for a high five 

“Thanks man” Hunk said giving lance a high five with the sentry’s hand

a few minutes later pidge had set up her computer and hacked into the system

“So have you found anything pidge?” Allura asked

“No it’s all just the schedule of ships coming in and out”  pidge said

“do you know where that ship is going then ?” allura asked

“ it will be here for about half hour then it’s going to central commanded”  pidge said

“alright I'm going in” Allura said

“  How are you going to do that?” Lance asked

“ like this” Allura said as she take out her helmet. Then she started to grow taller and her skin turn purple

“  How the heck did you do?” Hunk said

“ The altean are a chameleon like people who can blend in with the local populations it’s ability that made us great explores and diplomats and i’m going to need a change of costume. Luckily he’s the right size” Allura said looking at the knock out galra

“alright you should take Shiro or jay do to their arms being made out of galra tech “ pidge said while shaking shiro’s arm around 

“ Sorry I’m still repair my galra tech arm So I'm stuck watch you guys” jay said waving his normal prostatic arm.

“ alright Jay keep this four out of trouble  us up dated” Shiro said

“ Yes sir” jay gave a two finger salute to shiro”

 Shiro and allura left the room. leaving the five paladins to just wait for their leader to return and to mess with the sentry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8buJ2-oD02E music playing in jay’s  

 Jay  watched the loading dock. nothing was happening then. it was boring so he started to listen to music on his helmet . as he watched he noticed two massive tanks full of yellow liquid ? energy?” 

”Hey guys come see this”  Jay said waving to the others 

Lance ,hunk and Keith made their way to him the all looked over to where jay was looking and so the same thing

“  what are those thing full of?��� lance asked

“I think it’s sporks”  hunk said

Everyone turned to look at him

“what their clearly an advanced race and saw that have both spoon and forks is foolish  when one tool can do the job”  Hunk said

“ As a member of an advanced race we see spocks as useless.” Jay said

“ Maybe this guy will tell us. what is coming in and out of this station ?” pidge ask the sentry she had plugged her laptop into

“integration detected Activating lock down” the sentry said

Keith and jay had made there way down to get a better view of the loading bay and saw a purpled rode figured appeared. he watched has the rode figured moved toward a door way” I'm going to follow him” Keith said to jay. as he jumped for the  closing door. 

“ No Keith don’t. “ Jay said as Keith jumped. Jay knew that Keith would do something stupid if no one watched him. So he followed Keith narrowly missing the closing door.

After Keith and Jay left lance and pidge tried talking about what happened during the Ai insulted. While hunk was messing with the sentry by making it hit itself

“So are we ever going to talk about what happened ?”  pidge asked 

“Yes we are but not here “ lance said

“ then where and when. It’s been a week” Pidge said  

“I don’t know . look one minute I'm about to die by flying into a imploding star next you and Keith confessed to me, So now I'm just trying to figure out what to do next,” lance said as he watched the loading dock making sure no one was going to entered the room Jay and Keith when into 

Pidge sighed and walked back  to her computer

“ Hey you going to be alright pidge?” Hunk asked 

“ Yeah I just need to give him sometime to make up his mind” she replied while she set up a connection to the castle of lions so coran could see what they saw  

in the galra ship Allura was standing guard has Shiro was using his arm to get the location of the command center and to gather any info about what the transport hub had. Allura watched both ends of the hallway and saw a galra soldier walking toward her 

“What are you doing here “the soldier asked

I’m just standing Guard ” Allura replied 

The soldier looked at her and saw a light on in the room. “Who is in there?” The soldier asked

“ my commanding officer say hello plyrocks” Allura said nervously

“It’s plytoxs” Shiro replied in a deeper commanding  voice 

“ oh Sorry sir” Allura said

the soldier stiffened and saluted  “ Vrepit sa sir “ then the soldier left 

“That was a close one” Shiro whispered

In the room Keith and Jay were making their way through a dark hallway. into a dimly light multi leveled room full of those yellow.

“So what's your plan Keith?” Jay asked

“ to do this” Keith said as he activated his wrist camera and pointed it toward the room ”  you guys see this”  he asked 

on the other end Pidge lance and hunk saw the room

“ What is that?” pidge asked

“ the material is Quintessence. the subtends that this the life blood of the universe. Raw quintessence is brought here to be refined into standard galra fuel.” the sentry said 

“ did you get all that coran?” Lance asked

“yes I did. But it doesn't make scents get that much raw quintessence is impossible”  Coran said 

“well it’s possible now,” lance said 

 “So what do we do now Keith?” Jay asked

“ were going to take one of those tanks. so we can study it” Keith said 

“that is a bad plan. but I have no place to speak do to all my bad plans”  Jay said

Back in the room with Shiro and Allura. Shiro was searching through the data base until an alarm was set off

“fugitive  prisoner 117- 9675 detected please stay where you are”  the computers said

“ looks like the jig is up” Shiro said

 The soldier look at the door and raised his blaster. only to be meet by the door being slammed into him  by Allura. Allura pulled the blaster from the knocked out  soldier. Shiro looked at her surprised by her sudden burst of strength.

“what?” she said

As the two stood there a horde of sentries ran towards them from one end of the hall way and two appeared and the other end. But they were quickly cut down by shiro

“We need to go now” 

Keith and Jay were just about to steal a tank just as the alarm when off. the robed  figured appeared and saw them.

“looks like the jig is up” jay said

the robed figured fired a arc of lighting toward the two paladins. So the two paladins dodged the bolt that hit the tank causing a massive explosions erupted where they once stood . the two jumped around the room. dodging arc after arc Jay pulled out his Bayard and fire at the robed figure trying to distracted the robed figure as Keith tried to charge the figure with his blade .But the figure dodged ever shot by teleporting way only to appeared in front of Keith and fired a bolt straight into him. luckily Keith blocked the bolt with his Bayard but the blast sent him flying in to a tank on the second level.

Jay stood and watch in horror as his friend was blasted into a tank of the yellow fluid and collapsed  “Keith!!!” he yelled. then he realized he had stood out in open and saw the robed figured fire a arc toward him (HA Ha I'm in danger) he thought to himself as arc of electricity slammed into him sending him fly back into the wall. the red hew appeared when he got to his feet 

Keith felt pain shooting up his back and his right hand. So he look at his hand and saw a burn. Keith got to his feet using the tank to hold himself up, he felt something wet ran over his hand and the pain went away. Keith turned to see the tank he had slammed into was leaking. the he hear a popping sound from behind him. he didn’t need to turn around to know what was behind. so he slashed the tank in front him causing the tank to burst letting all the fluid spurt out . He side step so not to be swept away by Quintessence. sadly the robed figured was him by the full force sending them falling into the ground knocking him out. Keith used his thruster pack to jumped to the floor just to make sure the figure won’t be a problem anymore. then he looked for jay.

“Jay are you alive?’ Keith asked worried

 “Yes” Jay said in a deeper voice then usual has he walked out for behind a tank half transformed 

“Are you alright” Keith asked

“Yeah just let me calm down “ Jay said has started to turned back to normal

“We need to get back to the others” Keith said 

Jay used his thruster pack to come down from the shelf he was on”yeah we should”

Lance,hunk and pidge were still hiding in the tower as the alarms went off

“We need to go now “ lance said 

“But what about the others?” Hunk asked worried 

“ They can handle themselves. now lets get to the green lion before we get caught” lance said as both Keith and jay climbed into the room from the window 

“ Thanks for the vote of confiding But I think we need to leave now “Keith said

Back on the galra ship. Shiro and Allura were running to an escape pod  at the end of the hall as the horde of sentries following close behind them. The two made they way into the shuttle bay. then Shiro hit a button to close the door.

“Allura hold the door I'm going welled the door shut” Shiro said as he active his arm

She followed his orders but then she saw the door was closing.” it’s taking off get in the pod” She yelled

“No I'm not leaving without you” Shiro said still trying to welled the door shut

“You have too” Allura grabbed Shiro by the back of the collar and through him  into the pod”

Shiro got back on his feet an ran to the closed door and tried to open it. then he saw Allura standing there  with a sad smile on her face and heard her say “keep them safe Shiro. Keep our family Safe Shiro “

Shiro slammed his fists into the door over and over yelling at her as the pod launched he watched as Allura started to shrink as he got further way and further away. 

in the green lion everyone looked for Shiro and Allura

“Look an escape pod” hunk said

moments later Shiro walked in to the cockpit alone

“Where's Allura?’ Pidge asked 

“she sacrificed herself to save me”  Shiro said

“So She still on that Ship” lance said

“The ship that going to Zarkon’s central command” hunk said

“ the one place that is protected by a huge fleet of warships” Lance said 

“the one place in the universe that has enough fire power to wipe out a solar system “ Jay said scared 

“The most dangerous place that were not supposed to go” Keith said

“yes to all of those thing but we have go there to save her Shiro said  

[precurelegends]

Galaxy Rise Pretty Cure: Beginnings

If Hana had gotten any sleep at all, it was a miracle. She had been counting down the days until the trip to the Link Cube. And now, for the first time in her life, she’d get a chance to visit the world on the other side. A planet where apes had evolved into the dominant species. It was going to be so much fun.

As she stood in line with her fellow Zyuman students, the teacher, a Shark Zyuman told them to buddy up. “Make sure to stay with your buddy at all times, and return to the Link Cube before sunset.”

Hana had paired up with Macchu, a llama Zyuman and he was already planning their first stop, based on his own trip to Earth. “We’ve got to go get curry at this place called Snack Safari before they run out. Then we’re going to head down past JAXA...”

“Wait, what’s JAXA?” Hana asked as their double file line made its way to the Cube.

“The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. They’ve got some amazing technology there. You have to see it for yourself, Hana. They don’t teach us these things in Zyuland.” Macchu smiled a big dopey grin.

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” They were still six rows of students away from the Link Cube, so Hana put her paws together in prayer. “Father, wherever you are, please watch over me and Macchu.” She had lost her father a few years before. He had gone to Earth and never returned. But maybe he was still there.

Macchu, seeing his buddy in prayer, joined her. “Yeah, Mister Ookami. If you’re there, give Hana a sign so she’ll smile. She does have a pretty smile, after all.”

“Macchu!” Hana blushed and her buddy grinned.

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth. People would be blind if they didn’t see that.”

“Macchu, are you flirting with me? Because, you know...”

“I know, Hana. You’re not into boys.” The llama shakes his head. “But you and I have been friends for seven years now. I like to think you’re one of my best friends. And best friends can pay each other compliments without it being romantic, right?”

“Yeah. So let’s see what’s on the other side of the Cube.” Hana smiled. “Besides, you’re always going to be in spitting distance of me, right?”

“Hey, that was one time!” Macchu gave his best friend a little shove as they approached the Link Cube and Hana smiled in response. At least she’d have some fun adventures with him by her side.

--

Sleep did not come easily to Perelta Malin. By the time the sounds from the spaceport had died down, it was just after midnight, and Perelta had been keeping track of the different engine sounds. She knew full well what the engines of SPD ships sounded like, and thankfully, that sound had not crossed her ears all night. And yet, as she came down from the loft, she has a sensation of uneasiness. Her parents had been gone for the better part of two days. Their little “expeditions” always put Perelta on edge. So she sinks into her own blankets, praying to the god of journeys that she’d at least get some good dreams.

Some prayers are answered immediately, but the desires answer is not always the one that is given. A mere hour passes before the doors slam open. Perelta falls from her bed, knowing what that sounds means. Yet another uprooting.

“Get up, take only what you can carry and get ready to go.” Her mother says from the doorframe.

“No.” She’s been steeling her nerves for this moment for a long time. But it’s finally time to put her foot down. “I am not involved in yours and father’s crimes. I’m not a thief, I’m not wanted by SPD. I am my own woman and I will not be relocated because you two took a job too far. Not now, not ever again.”

Her outburst catches her father’s attention and he enters Perelta’s room, fire in his eyes. “What did you say, young lady?”

“You heard me. I have no need to repeat myself. You two can run, you two can go to another safehouse. I am not part of that life, and unlike you, I have nothing to hide.” Her adrenaline is rushing. She quickly grabs up her favorite clothes, some towels and body washes and throws them all into a travel bag.

“I am leaving. I would say ‘farewell’ but I never want to see you two again.”

Perelta pushes her way past her parents, aiming for the front door.

“Young lady, if you go through that door, you’re in for a world of pain.” Her father calls to her back

Perelta has her hand on the console to open the door. She gives her parents one last look before waving her hand to open the door. “I will take my chances.”

If she had learned anything from them, it was how to shake a tail. Her size makes it possible to blend in with the back alleys of the spaceport. Finally, she found her way to the refueling station. Choosing the ship that looked like it was outfitted for long distance travel, she slips past the guards and hides herself in the cargo compartment. There, she finally has some time to catch up on her sleep.

---

“Wake up, little bird.” The voice of her mother came from the PA system.

As Kilena’s eyes fluttered open, she waved her hand over the panel by her bedside, letting the light flow through conduits around the room. Bright enough to see by, but not so bright to blind her after her long slumber. A quick run through the sonic shower and a few more minutes to preen her feathers, and Kilena was ready to head for the cockpit of the ship.

“Good morning, Starlotta.” Kilena smiled at her bodyguard waiting outside her door.

“Good morning, Kilena. Your parents are waiting for you up ahead. Is it true they never told you what planet they’re going to be serving on?” Starlotta falls into step beside her charge, and Kilena giggles, a laugh that sounds more a songbird twittering.

“Nope. I’ve known that we’d be going across the Milky Way, but they wanted me to be surprised. I guess we’re about to find out.” Kilena runs her fingers over the nestmate necklace and enters the cockpit.

“Kilena, are you ready to see your new home?” Her mother, a beautiful corvid with bright blue feathers asks as she takes her daughter’s wing in her own.

“Of course, Mother. I can’t wait.” She walks with her mother until they reach the center of the bridge, and she stands next to her father, his midnight black feathers displaying his pride in his family and their future.

“Turn on the viewing screen.” Ambassador Mitres Akralis orders his men, and soon the external cameras show off an obscure body in the SK system.

Kilena puts a free hand to her mouth in surprise. “Earth? Your new posting is Earth?” She looks between her parents with a combination of joy and amazement. “I’ve heard so much about Earth from my penpal at SPD. It’s full of natural wonders, strange creatures and giant robots! This is the best posting ever!”

“That’s why we requested it.” Her father puts a hand on her shoulder. We’re going to be touching down at the SPD spaceport soon to get our paperwork finalized. Get in the chair over there and get ready for landing.”

As the energy barrier around the planet falls, Kilena gets into position, bracing for the landing. The inertial dampeners on the ship make such an action just a formality, but she still does it.

---

When the ship lands at SPD, the space police run a scan of the ship to make sure it’s decontaminated and free of any kind of contraband. To their surprise, and the suprise of the Raloi ambassadors, they find a stowaway. A green-haired staggers from the hold, her hands above her head. “Please, don’t shoot. I surrender.”

“We have no intention of shooting you.” An SPD officer in green steps forward. “Put your thumb on this scanner, please.” Perelta complies, and the identification software brings back a match.

“Perelta Malin, daughter of Corus Malin and Mori Malin. You have no criminal record of your own, thankfully.”

“And I would like to keep it that way. I am willing to give information regarding my parents, whether or not doing so would afford me police protection.” She says, running a hand through her hair.

“Hold off on any confessions until you’ve had a chance to meet our child legal advocate.” The officer waves down an alien woman in a black pant suit. “Mrs Shinsei, this young lady would like to offer evidence against wanted criminals.”

“Thank you, Officer Enari. I will take her to get cleaned up and fed, with your leave.” The advocate nods, offering her hand to Peralta. “It will be my pleasure to represent you, Perelta.”

“If it pleases you, I would prefer a new name for the legal records..”

As this conversation is happening, Ambassador Akralis calls over Officer Enari. “Sorry to distract you, Officer, but I have an important question.”

“We have a security detail preparing the route your vehicles can take to the embassy.” The SPD officer says quickly.

“That’s good, but it’s not the question I was going to ask.” He points to Kilena, who is currently watching the conversation between the green-haired stowaway and the advocate. “My daughter has recently entered her adolescent years, and as such, we will need to send her for the best education she can obtain. Do you have any recommendations for schools that would be friendly to extraterrestrials?”

Officer Enari strokes his chin. “My suggestion would be Amanogawa High School. Make sure to request Kisaragi Gentaro as her teacher. There isn’t a human teacher alive who cares for their students like he does.”

---

Several hours later, after Perelta has finished her testimony, she emerges from the SPD headquarters to see Kilena waiting there for her.

“May I help you?” She looks over to the humanoid bird girl with curiosity.

“Actually, I wanted to help you. You came a long way to get away from a terrible family life, and since you were on my ship, I figured I’d offer you something you probably need. A friend.” With Starlotta looking on, Kilena approaches, her hand extended to the other. “I’m Kilena Akralis. What name should I call you?”

The runaway looks to her own legal advocate with a soft smile. “You can call me Michiko. Michiko Shinsei.”

“That’s a pretty name. So, Michiko, if it’s all right, how about we go take a tour of Earth?” The bodyguard and legal advocate talk for a moment and agree that it would be a good thing for both of their charges.

As they travel down the street, they come to the front of JAXA where Hana and Macchu are checking out the rockets out front.

“This vehicle is rather antiquated.” Michiko says to Kilena. She wasn’t expecting the wolf girl to hear her.

“Maybe to you, but where I come from, they don’t even have these.” Hana answers.

“Where do you come from that they don’t have a space program?” Kilena asks. 

“It’s a dimensionally shifted version of Earth called Zyuland.” Hana points to Kilena’s feathers. “You’d fit in just fine there.”

“Really? What’s your world like?” Kilena is now curious, though judging by the wolf and llama before her... “Humanoid animals, right?”

“That’s right!” As Hana smiles at the other two girls, the lights go out. Not just the lights in the aerospace building, but the sunlight itself seems to fade away.

Hana feels Macchu’s hand in her own and it’s shaking, with good reason. Then in a moment, that hand is ripped away. A sudden gravitational pull drags Macchu away.

A similar fate falls upon Mrs. Shinsei and Starlotta. As they try to get their girls, they’re pulled away.

“And now, let’s let this experiment begin!” A voice carries over the area, as if over a loudspeaker. Hana, Michiko and Kilena turn to see a tall man in a bedraggled lab coat, holding up a strange disc, which he throws at the rocket.

The rocket reshapes itself into a giant humanoid shape, howling at the three girls. In the center of the rocket monster are what appears to be the bodies of Macchu, Mrs Shinsei and Starlotta.

Hana narrows her eyes and with her Zyuman speed, she dashes over to the mad scientist and rakes her claws across his face. “HOW DARE YOU? How dare you hurt them? What gives you the right?” As she says that last word, she claws him down the other side of the face, giving him two sets of matching scars.

“It’s all in the name of science, little girl!” The mad scientist is suddenly driven back by another impact to the side of his face. He looks over to see Michiko holding up a chunk of concrete that had broken from the mooring when the monster was made. It matches the one on the ground by his feet.

“I do not care for your motivations. You took the first person that had ever shown me kindness and turned her into a monster.” Michiko hurls the second rock, and the mad scientist catches it. But this leaves him open to an attack on the right side from Kilena. She takes off the glove covering her own talons and slashes at the madman’s left arm.

“You clearly have no interest in scientific progress. Very well. I will take my leave. Alypse! Destroy them!”

“Alypse!” The monster roars again as the madman leaves.

The three girls gather with Hana and Kilena standing in front of Michiko. “Any ideas, girls?” Hana asks.

“We fight!” Michiko answers. “Even if we’re not strong enough to beat that thing, we have to fight! For my new mother!”

“For my bodyguard!” Kilena answers, her feathers bristling.

“For my best friend!” Hana answers and she lets out a loud howl that causes the Alypse to pause for a moment. And in that pause, the darkness is broken up by a shining star.

“Your wish has been heard.” A melodious voice speaks to the girls. “Reach out the heavens and call upon the stars.”

With no other options, the girls raise their hands, shouting in unison “Come to me, power of the stars!”

A shooting star blazes across the sky, and the stars hear their cry. The shooting star flies across their hands, dropping two items into their palms. The first item is a cellphone like device with a rocket charm on the front. The second item each of them receives is a living creature, seemingly combining rabbits and technology.

“Introductions later. You three have to transform.” The apparent leader of these creatures says to Michiko. “Take the rocket charm and slide it up the outside of the phone! Then say “Pretty Cure! Blast Off!”

Not really knowing why, but knowing that they have to step into action, the girls follow the orders of the strange creatures. As soon as they say the transformation phrase, the cellphone devices sprout fins like rockets and fly around their bodies, covering them in stardust.

Soon their outfits have formed around them, leading into their first rollcall.

“The Shimmering Northern Lights, Cure Aurora!”

“The Sparkling Cosmic Cloud, Cure Nebula!”

“The Shining Starburst, Cure Nova!”

“As long as light shines in the heavens, evil shall not go unpunished. Galaxy Rise Pretty Cure!”

Though the new heroines had never done anything like this before, their companions named Mir, Hayabusa and Hubble, guided them through the fight. And just like that, a new team is born.

Once they are sure that their loved ones ae safe, they head back home for something they all needed. Sleep.

--

As Kilena and Starlotta returns to the Embassy, the bodyguard shakes her head. “After all that, am I really needed? You can clearly handle yourself.”

“Of course. You’re not just my bodyguard. You’re my friend.” Kilena answers before sliding into bed with her favorite stuffed animal in one hand, and Hayabusa in the other.

--

Michiko stands outside the door of Mrs Shinsei’s home, not certain if she really belongs. But that doubt is quickly cast aside as Mrs Shinsei opens the door. “I’ve got a room set up for you, Michiko. Tomorrow, we can go shopping to decorate it.”

With a tear in her eye, Michiko doffs her shoes and crosses the threshold. “I’m home!”

“Welcome Home, Michiko.” Mrs Shinsei is all too happy to have a daughter, even an adopted one.

--

Hana looks over at her mother, and the shrine dedicated to her father. “Mom, you know how it’s getting time for me to choose a high school? I want to study on Earth.”

Her mother smiles. “We’ll talk about it in the morning, my cub. Now, get some sleep.”

“Good night, mom.” And then quietly, she says “Good night Michiko, Good night, Kilena. I’ll see you soon.”