#call of duty oc: cerberus

[the-whispers-of-death]

Thank you @yourluckyoswald for the tag!

This is How Your OC's Story Ends. We'll be doing this with Stone and The Lions.

Here is the link to the quiz.

Stone:

In a betrayal; you trusted, and now you must pay the price... your final word is a half-whispered question, "why?"

I mean I suppose that makes sense, considering this man thinks the only way he'll be buried is if he does in battle and he doesn't trust easily which means anyone can betray him because they took the time to fool him into trusting them.

Kali:

Contented; accomplished, you rest, knowing you have earned this long sleep.

Yeah, I can see Kali dying peacefully. If he has Stone at the end and has lived a long life, he definitely won't fight hard.

Sarabi:

In a betrayal; you trusted, and now you must pay the price... your final word is a half-whispered question, "why?"

This also makes sense because Sarabi has had countless of people turn on him and not do enough for him. He's tired and it's easy for him to make a mistake and trust the wrong person.

Simba:

Unfinished; cut down too soon, questions unanswered, desires unfulfilled... what a tragedy you are.

Simba has a lot to live for and a lot he wants to do. It's easy to see him having unfinished business because of everything he wants in life.

Nala:

Contented; accomplished, you rest, knowing you have earned this long sleep.

Nala's not one to have regrets and he doesn't fear death. He'd accept it and all he has gotten done in his life. Sure, his daughters are young, but he's "died" once and they knew he loved them wholeheartedly.

Cerberus:

Contented; accomplished, you rest, knowing you have earned this long sleep.

Cerberus doesn't care how he dies, as long he never broke and betrayed anyone. If he never betrays anyone, then he can die happily. It doesn't matter if he dies young, to him he will have lived long enough. And that's all that matters.

No Pressure Tags: @izak-gov , @asexualbuthorny , @marixxsrambles , @rusted-sun and anyone else who wants to.

[jellygay]

Hey, sorry to bother you, but I really like you CoD oc Cerberus and if it's ok I would like to ask if there's more to know about him?

Omg thanks anon I’m glad you like my tired boy! 😭

Friends and I deep dived hard and had the major brainworms and we came up with an entire taskforce for our CoD OCs! Taskforce Killswitch or TFKS.

We have a bunch of interactions and lore stuff for them but I don’t have Cerb’s organized yet so I can’t share it. I will def post it when I get around to working on his background more!

In fact all my CoD OCs have Toyhouse pages that you can check here: https://toyhou.se/Jellygay/characters/folder:3190061/tags:1/tagged:cod

[engineer-gunzelpunk]

Traintober 2024: The Arrival

Here is my second Traintober Day 1 story, featuring one of my Victorian Railways OCs that I have only introduced once, VR R-class Hudson R707 "City of Melbourne" AKA Cerberus. Other than Harry, the Rs are one of my favorite kinds of Oz locos, they just look so damn fine when they are running.

The first R-class arrives...

Off The Boat

10 May, 1951

Nelson Pier, Williamstown; Melbourne, Australia

The massive R-class locomotive lashed to the ship MV Rhexenor was placed as gently on the rails as they could. He was in some pain as his roller bearings had rusted up.

It had been a very long journey from Glasgow, from the Queens Park North British Locomotive works where he and 70 others had been built.

They had been told over there they would be the newest thing in this new land, and promises were given that they would be able to display their abilities.

His two brothers were in the process of being unlashed.

A sleepy old C-classer backed down on him, but paused as their crew dismounted to speak to the new loco.

“Welcome to Australia, boy! How was your trip?”

He blinked at these tiny humans around him.

“Pretty fookin’ awful, truth be telt. Mae bearings are rusted oot… the sea water got in..."

The driver sucked in his teeth.

“Aw shit yes, we can see that. We’ll have to get you to the Workshop quick smart.”

A little man with a clipboard furiously jotted down some notes and animatedly spoke to another man.

“We’ll take you there as soon as possible, boy. You’ll get fixed up and running in no time.

“Ye better! Ah haven’t had a run since leaving Polmadie…”

“You’ll be assigned a shed and then your new duties… Officially, you are known by your class number... but for the sake of ease of working and bonding with your new crew, you’ll be called by a chosen name…

“Ye sure? Ah dinnae think ye can pronounce mae name…”

“Try me…”

“Choin Dubh”

The driver scratched his head.

“Its a bit hard to understand…”

The big engine frowned slightly as if to say, "I told you so".

“Muckle Black Tyke”

“Excuse me…”

The locomotive sighed… these daft Aussies weren’t going to address him properly, so he reached for the closet thing they could possibly understand… and a little tug chugging by gave him the name..

“Cerberus”

“What?”

“Mah name is Cerberus, sir… Since ye dinnae understand ‘Muckle Black Tyke’, Ah give ye a name you can understand…”

“You are a cheeky one, aren’t you…’

'Also… thats a hellhound…”

“Aye?”

“You can’t have a diabolically named locomotive…”

“Wha' not?”

“Its just not the thing…”

“Well, its a thing noo…”, he sniffed petulantly.

“Listen… Cerberus.. lets just call you that privately for now… we’ll call you something else in front of the punters…"

The self christened Cerberus sighed. He was achy and sore and tired and talking to these idiot Aussie two legs was trying his patience.

“Ah right… the fearties dinnae like to be scared… but Ah breathe fire and smoke like yon Deevil…”

“But we don’t want to give those connotations!”, the daft wee man with the clipboard sputtered.

Cerberus just sneered.

“In public, in front of the punters, we will call you ‘Angel’, OK?”

Cerberus did not drop his sneer, “Yon Deevil was an angel once…”

“You’re a cheeky cunt, you know that?” said the driver.

“Better than being a right cunt…”, said Cerberus and he grinned.

The driver, fireman and the man with the clipboard just looked at eachother and collectively sighed.

“Uh, OK, lets just agree to disagree and for the sake of harmony of working, we’ll call you what you want in private…Cerberus…”

The big engine's tone shifted from defiant to afffable. He seemed satisfied.

“Thats perfectly equitable… where am Ah goin'?”

“North Melbourne Loco… but first you are going to Newport to get fixed…”

“Ach, thats just splendid that is…”, he said, his voice dripping with the slightest hint of sarcasm, which the driver took a little defensively.

“Newport Workshops has some great facilities… you’ll be fixed in no time…”

“Wha do Ah get tha feeling its going to be longer than no-time?”

[midnighmoonligh]

Master List

Last Updated; 6/30/2024

Total Works; 32

Requests; Open!

Call of Duty / CoD (most active)

141 Agere/Petere Headcanon's

141 Agere/Petere Animal Crossing Headcanon's

König + Horangi

Keegan + Reader

Alex + Reader

Horangi + König + Reader

Ghost + Soap + Roach + Reader

Ghost + Reader

Farah + Reader

Valeria + Reader

Valeria + Reader

König + Reader

John Price + Reader

Gaz + Reader

Ghost + Reader

Honaki Star Rail / HSR

Ghost + Reader

Bronya + Seele

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Mine/Bsf/s Oc's

Denki Kaminari + Kyoka Jiro

Alexandrite + Darian + Ares + Ivy

AJ + Hayden

Leo + Cerberus + Nathan

Requested Fanom's

Turning Red -> Mei + Ming + Jin

Lookism -> Jay Yeol + Reader

Lego Ninjago -> Kai + Zane

Lego Ninjago -> Lloyd + Master Wu

[scriberye]

hey there!

🍃 My name is Rye, and I'm a perpetually dehydrated houseplant. 30+. This tumblr is a secondary and cannot follow back. I created it for me to practice my writing using fanfiction, so I bounce from one interest to another when inspiration strikes. Is it okay to mass like/reblog? Absolutely! Go wild! Requests are closed. Ask box is open. ⚠️ I do not post anywhere except for tumblr and Ao3.

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You've come to terms with your lot in life, trapped and isolated in a loveless marriage for political gain. Until one faithful evening when you meet Rogal Dorn and a romance blooms that you must both keep secret.

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A collection of smutty fics centered around each Primarch and their lovers.

𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐑 ▬ General/No Pairing

A crackpost based on bad sex advice.

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United by death, your soul becomes entwined with Jason Voorhees, forging a bond that transcends life.

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You see a lot of interesting faces working at Palavas. Jarod's face is your favorite though.

last updated: july 20th

[witchinghouracademy]

🤥 🌌 🙉 FOR VERO AND MINAMI MAYBE…. 🥹

GIRLBOSS TIME but the type of boss girl u vent abt on twt

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?

Overall, no. Terrible at lying in the spot. Why would she want to be a good liar anyways? Why does she owe anyone the skill to lie instead of saying things as they are? No, someone of her station shouldn't lie, because it shows both cowardice and powerlessness.

... means she sucks at surprise parties tho.

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

WELL. obvs her inspiration is Cerberus. First thing was her sense of loyalty and duty, that of a guard with a task that takes all eternity to fulfill.

She was a sorta foil for Idia, specially with her starting at Ignihyde but holding traditional values. Pretty sure from the start I wanted to play around Vero being neither fully Cerberus (loyal dog with a lord) or Persephone (Idia's sweetheart bound by fate). I like them best as being connected by fate platonically tbh. Vero was someone who resented Idia being above her despite her being more capable, the injustice of fate being decided before they were born, and all her accomplishments being unable to surpass that. Now that she's in Ryxabyss her chapter is very much about her surpassing those limits, refusing to bow to not to Idia (who frankly never saw her below him anyways) but Olympus as a whole. Using chaos to establish a new rule.

🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worse thing your oc could hear from someone?

That anyone she cares about has died. She's been surrounded by death since she was born, and knows it'll happen one day, but any preparation pales to real life. After all, she does technically have the power to bring them back. She could. But she mustn't. It's a new layer of grief.

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?

Minami's a pretty good liar, in short bursts. As her social battery drains she becomes more likely to slip up or just doesn't care anymore. It's easy to tell when she's slipping, but do you wanna press it? She'll just tell you to go fuck yourself.

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

I wanted a pink dorm.

.... AHSADKJFDKJD FR I really wanted to use that shade of pink, so went looking for candidates. A friend is very into GF and I remembered GIFFany. Rewatching the episode I was like, trying to see things from her perspective, and ended feeling for her. Having a depressed man use your time and energy to feel better and then when he's recovered ignoring you is not that uncommon 💀

So first thing was that I REALLY didn't want to make her the topical yandere japanese highschool girl like. come on. 🙄 So I decided she's not yandere, she has justified yet excessive anger issues. Her "sweet facade" is just trying to pass as normal, so people don't gossip about her. Not "I want to kill you because I love you" but "I want to kill you because you don't even think I'm capable of love, of grief, of being hurt."

🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worse thing your oc could hear from someone?

A joke about her being unfeeling or stonefaced like a robot. It brings up trauma from being bullied as a child, so it gets you on her shit list immediately. Would push you in front of a bus on a bad day type of hate.

It's also why only Jojo can call her "Ai". Because she knows Jojo isn't making an "artificial intelligence" jab at her and only, truly means it as a nickname for "Airi." And it still cost a whole ass argument to get that privilege lol

[shadrys]

“Only you know what it feels like to be me…”

-

Drew her again, there’s something about me loving her out of all my ocs… smh

-

Please do NOT steal or copy my post, thanks!

[lynelovespopculture]

CHARACTER INDEX (A WHO’S WHO FOR THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF ZELDA)

SO, AFTER 22 COMPLETED CHAPTERS (2 SEASONS, A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL A ND AN PART 4 REVAMP) IN THIS FANFIC, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN TO DO A ‘ROLL CALL’, A LIST OF ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THE STORY (THAT I CAN REMEMBER) SO FAR, AND THEIR ROLE IN THE PLOT.

JUST IN CASE YOU’RE NOT ALL CAUGHT UP, PLEASE CONSIDER THIS YOUR WARNING FOR SPOILERS!

LEGEND KEY: SHOW CHARATER=(SC) MY ORIGINAL CHARACTER=(OC) REAL-LIFE PERSON (RLP)

CHAPTERS 1-13=SEASON 1 CHAPTER 14= CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (STANDALONE) CHAPTER 15=MY TAKE ON PART 4 (STANDALONE) CHAPTERS 15-22= SEASON 2

THE SPELLMANS:

ZELDA (SC)-The high priestess of the Order of Hecate and the headmistress of the Academy of Unseen Arts; Older sister to Hilda and the deceased Edward; aunt to Sabrina and Ambrose; Sister-in-law to Dr. C and Diana; wife to Faustus; stepmother to Prudence; step (and later adopted) mother to LJ and Jake; birth mother of Cordelia

FAUSTUS (SC)-Former high priest of the church of night/Judas; former headmaster of the Academy of Unseen Arts; Son of Lord Liam and Lady Drusilla; Half brother to Brutus and all of Liam’s bastards; Husband of Zelda; Father of Prudence, LJ, Jake, and Cordelia; Brother-in-law to Hilda and Edward; best friend of Dr. C; Uncle to Ambrose, Sabrina, and Sara; Due to his abusive past and trauma due to the insanity curse, Faustus is often misunderstood. He feels so guilty about the past, he barely mingles with the coven; He worked first at Dr. C’s bookstore and currently teaches mortal children at Greendale Middle School.

HILDA (SC)-Sister to Zelda and Edward; Wife to Dr. C; Aunt to Sabrina, Ambrose, and Cordelia; a teacher at the academy;

DR. ROBERT CERBERUS AKA DR. C (SC)-Hilda’s husband; Brother-in-law of Zelda and Edward; Faustus’s best friend; owner of Dr. Cerberus’s Books and Spirits; could be considered an ‘honorable Spellman’;

AMBROSE (SC)-From a different branch of the Spellman family tree; Raised by his auntie Hilda; also nephew to Zelda; cousin to Sabrina and Cordelia; Prudence’s boyfriend; Shares the day-to-day duties of running the mortuary with Jake; sometimes serves as the academy’s librarian

PRUDENCE BLACKWOOD AKA PRUDENCE NIGHT (SC)-Another ‘honorable Spellman’; Faustus’s daughter with Madeline Wells; Siblings are LJ, Jake, and Cordelia; adores stepmother Zelda; informal leader of the Weird Sisters, ( a witchy trio consisting of her, Agatha, and Dorcas); Long-time girlfriend of Ambrose; teacher at the academy;

SABRINA (SC) –Daughter of Lucifer and Edward’s mortal wife, Diana; raised by her aunties Hilda and Zelda; Cousin to Ambrose and Cordelia; This former troublemaking teenage witch has grown up a lot and is now a therapist;

LJ (SC)-Born to Faustus and his 1st wife, Constance; Zelda knew Blackwood would be cruel to the girl so she whisked the baby away and named her Letitia, when Blackwood got her back, renamed her Judith; when she was reclaimed by the family, she decided to call herself LJ and after being adopted by stepmother Zelda, she took the surname Spellman; Older twin to Jake; half-sisters are Prudence and Cordelia; Now all grown up, LJ is a witch doctor who can also practice mortal medicine;

JAKE (SC)-Originally named Judas, Jake changed his name to forget about being raised by Blackwood; Younger twin of LJ; half-sisters are Prudence and Cordelia; Not as strong a warlock as Faustus or Ambrose, Jake is good-natured and easygoing; Runs the mortuary with Ambrose;

CORDELIA (OC)-The youngest member of the Spellman clan; Cousin to Ambrose, Sabrina, and Sara; Half-sister to Prudence, LJ, and Jake; is the only biological child of Faustus and Zelda therefore she had the blood of both Blackwoods and Spellmans; Her parents later learn are the 2 most ancient bloodlines of magic; meaning that they are all descendants of Hecate due to her grandchildren, the man who spells and the lady of the blacken woods; Because she has both bloodlines, Cordelia is the divine child who is fated to become the most powerful witch ever born; all the family knows about the prophecy-except for Cordelia herself;

OTHER MAINS:

LILITH (SC)-The 1st woman and the 1st witch; Started this story as Lucifer’s pregnant handmaiden, now is the queen of hell; looks exactly like mortal teacher Mary Wardwell; Wife of Adam, 3rd earl of Masters; Mother of Zander (Alexander; who she hopes to marry off to Cordelia 1 day) and newborn Nora;

LUCIFER (SC)-Heaven’s fallen angel; the dark lord; Father to Sabrina and Zander; Been in numerous flesh prisons, including Faustus; currently trapped in a witch council member in hell;

ZANDER(OC)-Son of Lilith and Lucifer; believes himself betrothed to Cordelia;

BLACKWOOD (OC)-Is not a person, just a curse; a spell; put on Faustus by Lucifer and Edward when Edward was seeking permission to marry Diana; curse started when Faustus and Zelda got married…or was it earlier?; It bears the mark of Cain which makes it immortal; currently buried alive in the Greendale woods;

HARVEY KINGLE (SC)-Sabrina’s mortal friend and 1stboyfriend; comes from a long line of witch hunters;

ROZ WALKER (SC)- Sabrina’s mortal friend; a seer;

THEO PUTMAN (SC)- Sabrina’s mortal friend; later to be the vice principal of Greendale Middle School;

ERIN, EMILY & ERICA WARNER (OC)-Mortal triplet sisters; all are Cordelia’s best friends; recently learned that the Spellmans are witches.

SARA REED AKA SARA NIGHT AKA SARA BLACKWOOD (OC )-Known for driving Cordelia crazy as she tries to steal her friends; turns out to be a bitter Blackwood cousin;

NINA ROBINSON (OC)-Greendale Middle School’s new 8thgrade teacher; in lust with Faustus; won’t leave him alone no matter how much he rebukes her;

EDWARD SPELLMAN (SC)-Brother to Zelda and Hilda; adopted father of Sabrina; once haunted Faustus as a ghost; Edward is known for 2 things, being a powerful warlock and keeping life-changing secrets from his family;

MINION (SC)-An ever-loyal servant of the throne of hell and whoever sits upon it;

MINOR CHARACTERS

MAMBO MARIE (SC)-Brief love interest of Zelda’s; lives in New Orleans with her new wife;

LORD LIAM BLACKWOOD (OC)-Faustus’s abusive father;

LADY DRUSILLA BLACKWOOD (OC)- Faustus’s abusive mother;

MADGA (OC)-Faustus’s beloved governess; the only person who truly loved him as a child; murdered by witch hunters;

JOAN (OC)-Faustus’s mind guide;

MADELINE WELLS ( OC)-Prudence’s mother; She and Faustus mutually agreed to a purely physical, emotionless affair (her heart belongs to her dead husband Barnabas, and his to Zelda; Yet at some point, Madeline fell for Faustus and got pregnant to trap him; Even after she gave birth, Faustus made it clear that he wouldn’t marry her so Madeline threw herself in a river; Prudence was only 1 day old;

CONSTANCE BLACKWOOD (SC)-Faustus’s 1st wife; biological mother of LJ and Jake; Edward forced the marriage with blackmail and lies; Haunted Faustus as a ghost but later apologized;

SHIRLEY JACKSON (SC)-Former teacher at the academy; Haunted Faustus as a ghost;

BROTHER LOVECRAFT (SC)-Briefly plotted with Blackwood to steal the coven from Zelda;

SAM (OC) & MIKE (OC)-Dr. C’s brothers

SARA (OC) & ROSE (OC)-Dr. C’s sisters-in-law

BRIAN (OC)-Dr. C’s cousin; a minister that, along with Zelda, married Hilda to Dr. C;

SABRINA MORNINGSTAR (SC)-Sabrina’s dark side; was briefly queen of hell;

ELIZABETH TUDOR (RLP/OC)-History’s Elizabeth I; half-breed; her mother was a witch and her mortal father was a king; Is immortal due to the mark of Cain given to her by Lucifer as a punishment; lives in a rip in time that allows her to protect and rule her people to this day; An ally to the Spellmans;

MAXINE AKA BROTHER MAX (OC)-A witch that used a glamor to make herself a warlock so she could serve on the witches council;

THE WITCHES’ COUNCIL (SC)-The final word on the government on witch law;

THE SISTERHOOD (OC)-A secret underground, council made up of women, Maxine is a go-between them and the witches’ council; They are the 1stto realize that Cordelia is the divine child;

BRUTUS (OC)-The new Lord Blackwood; Sara’s father; Half-brother to Faustus and all of Lord Liam’s other bastards;

MR. & MRS. WARNER (OC)-Parents of the triplets;

MR. HOPPER (OC)-Principal of Greendale Middle School

GUS (OC) -Owns an auto body shop somewhere between Greendale and Salem; helped Faustus when he blew a tire;

MRS. APPLEGATE (OC)-Another teacher at Greendale Middle School;

DRUSILLA & SHELLEY (OC)-2 witch/maids who work in Salem;

ADAM, 3RD EARL OF MASTERS (OC)-Originally from Elizabeth’s world; He left to marry Lilith; Father of newborn Nora;

PETER WATSON (OC)-Brief boyfriend of LJ’s;

NORA (OC)-Newborn daughter of Lilith and Adam;

FAMILIARS:

SALEM (SC)- Sabrina’s cat;

VINEGAR TOM AKA VINNE T(SC)-Zelda’s dog;

KING (OC)-Faustus’s panther; that was murdered right in front of him;

APOLLO (OC)-Jake’s greyhound;

OCTOBER (OC)- LJ’s dove;

SO, THE PROBLEM NOW IS I’M ON THE FENCE IF I SHOULD WRITE A SEASON 3 OR NOT. IF YOU THINK THAT I SHOULD, PLEASE WRITE ‘RENEW’ DOWN IN THE COMMENTS!!!

[lenavonschweetz]

Left Behind

James Vega x OC Female Shepard

Synopsis: Charlie Shepard has never had a hard time facing her morality before.  But then, she’d never been in love before.

Warnings: angst, language (both in English and Spanish), mention of death, canon-typical violence, grief, and references to Paragon Lost

A/N: This takes place in Act 1 of Mass Effect 3 - post bomb mission, pre Genophage cure.  Inspired by this conversation between James and Shepard.  There’s a reference to James’ backstory (as seen in Paragon Lost) but if you don’t want to watch the whole hour & a half anime, just watch this.

James Vega knew who his hero was.

Knew Shepard was more than the Cerberus puppet The Council was making her out to be.  He would be lying if he said he wasn’t thrilled when they gave him the assignment to watch over Commander Shepard after she had been ‘relieved of duty’.  And she didn’t mind one bit either.  He was an attractive man, after all.

Then the Reapers hit Earth and turned their world upside down.

All things considered, they hadn’t really been fighting together all that long.

He saluted her when he shouldn’t have, called her Commander even though the title had been stripped from her.  He knew who she was and that she would never work with Cerberus if it weren’t for all the right reasons.  He never lost respect for her, even when others did.  Never questioned her like Ashley had.  When Anderson impromptu reinstated her, he vowed to go where she went. After a mild temper tantrum at leaving Earth, that is.  Hell, if it wasn’t for him Cerberus would’ve gotten away with the Prothean data back on Mars.  It was reckless, sure, and Shepard tore him a new one for it after making sure Ashley was in one piece but she owed him.  They all did.

But still, he hadn’t been part of her crew for long.  Not like Garrus - who had been to literal hell and back with her, or Liara who took a chance on saving Shepard by giving her body to Cerberus after the collectors had blown her to bits.  Even Wrex, though he was unable to fight in her squad at the moment due to too many political responsibilities, was at her side once more.  No, they hadn’t been through nearly as much together.  Lieutenant James Vega had just happened to be in the right or wrong place at the right or wrong time to end up on the Normandy.  

Depends on which of them you asked.

But despite his initial reluctance to leave Earth, James has proven himself to be a valuable asset to the team, and honestly?  Shepard couldn’t see this fight without him aboard.

He’s become a permanent fixture in her squad - always the first to volunteer when she heads down to the shuttle bay armory to suit up.  Eager and willing as ever, with a smile so boyish it makes her heart flutter and she can’t help but wonder what would she do without him?

She’s seen too many good people die in this war to think about that, though.  So she buries the thought of losing another good man - a friend - and buries it deep.  That is until she’s forced to face her own mortality once again.

A bomb on Tuchanka, placed as insurance should the Krogan decide to rise up again.  A strategic move that Shepard doesn’t agree with, but understands none the less.  The mission is tough, Cerberus throwing everything they’ve got at her squad to keep them from disarming the bomb.

She grits her teeth at the first sight of yellow and white armor.  Those bastards just couldn’t leave well enough alone.  The Illusive Man just had to stick his grimy little nose in everyone else’s business.

James is the one to calm her down, large hand clamping down on her shoulder and shaking her gently.  Big, brown eyes bat her way and she forgets she’s on a battlefield.

“C’ mon, Lola.  Let’s give these bastards hell.”

And that's exactly what they do.  Explosions rock the battlefield as she, Vega, and Garrus bob and weave behind cover, taking out Cerberus’s shields and snipers like the practiced unit they are.  Cerberus blood paints Tuchanka’s soil and Shepard knows Wrex would be proud.  She makes a mental note to tell him once they are back on board the Normandy.

After the smoke clears, Tarquin Victus’s voice crackles to life in their coms amidst static and error messages.

'TSS-C-Cerberus hacked-tsss-trigger-tsss-set to detonate!'

“Disarm it!”  She screams into her earpiece, gunning down another Centurion with a well-timed headshot.  Somewhere on the field, Garrus calls out a ‘good shot!’ while picking off a few more foot soldiers with his Widow.

'No time!  Have to separate-tsss-trigger-tss-'

“Victus, no!”  Her throat constricts, whether from nerves at watching the Turian climb a-top the massive fucking bomb or from Tuchanka’s less than friendly environment, she isn’t sure.  Still, she covers him with biotic blasts and bullets alike until the teeth-gritting sound of metal screeching against metal fills the air.  She looks up just in time to see the trigger arms falling away from the bomb - with Victus dangling alongside them.  “Lieutenant!”

'Victory.'  He huffs and Shepard watches helplessly, feet hammering against the ground - lungs burning with a scream - as she sprints as fast as she can. As if it will do any good.  The click of the bomb arm freeing up - damn it, she's still too far!  But then somewhere, someone calls out her name and she realizes that all she can do is watch as the turian plummets to his death below.  'At any cost.'

The ground shakes at the impact - turian, and machinery alike falling into the planet’s core but leaving the bomb intact above it.  

She breathes a sigh of relief - or surrender- and nurses her side.  Inhaling hurts and it's most likely a bruised rib from when her shields fell.  That Nemesis had timed her shot perfectly - even knocked Shepard on her ass.  Thank god the bitch hadn’t been using shredder ammo or she would be more than just bruised.  Of course, her squad was on retaliation in a second - Garrus returning the nemesis’s favor by blowing her head clean off while James had rushed over to apply medi-gel to Shepard’s side.  It had taken the sting away for a bit, the feeling of James’ large hand splayed on her flank only adding to the heat.

But now it was wearing off and Shepard needed to get to Chawkwas soon.

James’ face had been the same then as it is now - looking like he wanted to murder someone as he helped a hobbling Shepard to the shuttle as krogan reinforcements show up to secure the area.  They weren’t happy about the bomb and if any of the turians had survived, Shepard was sure another fight would’ve broken out right in front of her.

It’s quiet aboard the Kodiak, only the hum of the engines and Steve's absent-minded humming break the silence.  Garrus is tucked into a corner as he thinks over what his people had done all those centuries ago, and though Shepard can't interpret all of his subharmonics she's known him long enough to know the sniper is pissed.  Joker radios in for a status update, to make sure everyone was ok, but that was several minutes ago.  Several tense minutes that gave Charlie Shepard ample opportunity to replay the death of the Primarch’s son over and over again.  She mashes her fingers deep into her temples, hoping that if she pushes hard enough it will chase away the memory.

It does not.

Shepard wasn’t looking forward to that conversation with Victus.

James watches her, the low light in the shuttle rippling over her as the krogan forces' speed past them.  Before, he would've been relieved to see them.  Now, all he can think of is how they'd made a difficult trade-off and Shepard was baring all of the responsibility.  His usually optimistic commander is silent, her exhausted frame hunched.  Her shoulder blades are pulled so taut it looks painful, and she rubs at her head with such ferocity that he's sure she's going to bruise.  It takes everything in him not to walk up and lace his fingers with her own.  Instead, he decides maybe words could help. 

“You can spend your whole life making up for your mistakes...”  James’ voice interrupts her treacherous thoughts and his handsome, battle marked face appears before her.  He’s kneeling, hands on either side of her legs as those big brown eyes stare into her own.  The depths swim with the same fear and uncertainty as her own.  They had been close from the get-go - his 'there's always a bright side' attitude never failing to bring a smile to her face.  They sparred together, they ate together, and the fought together.  But in all of that time, he had never been this close to her and she's suddenly finding it very hard to breathe.  Her eyes widen - big and glassy and so reminiscent of the ocean back home and he suddenly realizes he needs to put some space between them before he does something he regrets.  So he sighs, rocking back until he’s no longer caging her to the seats.  A sliver of red tinges his cheeks and he clears his throat. “At least the guy went down in a blaze of glory.”

She remembers the way she'd wanted to rip his fucking head off after the stunt he pulled on Mars.  How flippantly he’d compared his life to the grand scheme of things.  It reminded her of herself - how she was willing to do whatever it took to end the Reapers once and for all.  It set her fucking teeth on edge and she’d lashed out, cutting him off mid-sentence to send him sprawling on his back successfully ending their sparring.  She yelled - no, borderline roared - at him that they needed him alive.

The sight of him staring up at her, prone and shocked, brought her right back to reality and she balked, blush evident as she helped him up and tried not to bring attention to the fact that the thought of losing him angered her so much.  He’d turned to her after that, all malice drained away and replaced with a knowing smile.  She worried momentarily that he would throw this new-found knowledge in her face.  She'd never had the best luck with men, especially fellow soldiers, and with a settling breath, she braced herself for impact.

Only...it never came.

He simply thanked her for the pep talk, clapped her on the soldier, and gave her a nickname.  An innocent gesture, really.  One that she could've just taken at face value.  Instead, though, she pushed. 

'So I'm a Lola, huh?' 

'Yeah, my best friend's older sister growing up was Lola."  He'd said with a smile, eyes flitting upward as he reminisced momentarily.  Then he'd looked back to her, and his smile changed - his voice dripping into gravel to match.  "Older sister.  Hot.  Tough."

He was a shameless flirt after that.

She didn’t mind.

“We still talking about the Primarch’s son?”  He smiles at her again, that smile that makes his eyes crinkle, scar against his cheek winking away. The same smile that makes her heart shutter in her chest.

“Don’t worry, Lola.  I’m not going anywhere.”

She wants to beckon him closer.  To wrap her arms around him until she believes those words.  Instead, she smirks and shakes her head.

“You better not, Vega.”  She knocks his shoulder with her own as she makes her way over to Cortez.  “Who would flirt with me if not you?”

His chuckle is rich and contagious and sets her cheeks aflame.  Thankfully, Steve doesn’t mention that last bit.

~~~~~

Charlie Shepard would always do the right thing, even if that thing would leave a gaping hole in her chest.  It was what had earned her the Star of Terra back on Elysium, what had talked down Saren on the Citadel and what had made her such an optimal leader for The Illusive Man's suicide mission. This mission was no different.  In fact, it was more important since the alliance between turians and krogan hung in the balance.

But some sacrifices...hurt more than others.

And this one cut deeper than she anticipated.

She’d lost Mordin.

Just...watched him go, unable to do anything to stop him.  Her well-wishes falling on deaf ears as his smiling face disappeared behind the elevator doors.  It wasn't like she could stop him, stubborn damn Salarian.  He never listened on a good day, and this...this was not a good day.  'Had to be me', his last words haunt her nightmares, 'someone else might’ve gotten it wrong.'  Because of him, the Krogans had hope again.  Wrex and his people had a future.  And Shepard had her army.  But, she was also down a friend.

The pale blue liquor in her glass stares back at her now and she does the best to ignore the way the room spins.  Maybe it’s the core drive?  Maybe it’s just her.  She’s hesitant to confirm which - knows it’ll be the later.  Decides she's never really liked this room, even when Kasumi would spend hours in here telling Charlie stories of her favorite heists.  How the thief ever found comfort in such a flashy, bright room was beyond the Commander.

And that fucking mirror.  Who's bright idea was it to put a mirror in a bar.

'Might run tests on seashells'.  Mordin whispers when she thinks she's finally had enough to mute his ghost, his incessant humming buzzing in her brain.  His big, black eyes stare into her very soul and Shepard pours herself another shot.  Behind him, her mother smiles, her father close to his wife's side - as always.  Just more phantoms to remind her how she'd always been too late.  How anyone who got too close always...  Mordin smiles and with a few bleary blinks, his face has morphed into that of the Primarch, and his words echo in her head.  'My son died with the respect of his men.'  Would she be able to say the same at the end of this war?

Another shot burns down her throat, cerulean fire chasing their faces in the mirror away.  The whispers remain, however.  She turns away from the reflection before any more ghosts can show up to torment her.  Suddenly too still for her own comfort, she's on her feet. The hull of the ship creaks, her stumbling steps seeking purchase despite Joker’s smooth flying.  She opens her mouth to chastise him but instead has to grip the back of the couch with all her might just to stay upright.

The door whooshes open then, a familiar face stepping inside and Charlie smiles.  She isn’t sure whether he’s real or he’s another figment of her imagination but she really doesn’t care at this point.  She just wants to be held.

“Vega.”  She says, hands reaching out for him.  He’s shocked but catches her none the less, the full force of her weight sliding against his broad chest.  He’s not used to his commanding officer being this touchy...or inebriated.  

“Hey, Lola.  What’re you doing in...”  His eyes flick over her shoulders, spying the empty bottle beside the shot glass.  Realization dawns on his handsome face, and he looks to her again.  “Hey,”  His voice is softer now, she notes with a sleepy grin.  She always loved the sound of his voice.  Her Vega.  “You ok?”

She doesn’t quite know the answer to that particular question.  Doesn’t know if she wants to know, but she nods in spite of it all.

“Fine.”  She sniffs, pushing against the planes of his chest and righting herself as if everything was normal.  Blurry eyes adjusting in the light, she casts them down to her fingers against the white of his shirt.  Hmm, the alcohol sings in her head, strooong.  A few flexes against the muscles there, her tongue poking out of her lips just slightly, and she decides they would make the perfect pillows.  James clears his throat and she has to wonder if she said that last bit aloud.  She yanks her hands away.  “Why wouldn’t I be, LT?”  She flinches, the rank dredging Kaidan’s face to the forefront of her mind.  She shakes her head - perhaps too violently - as if she can physically shake his memory away, then lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.  With a tight nod, and heels clicked tight together, she bids her fellow soldier adieu.  “James.”

“Hey,” calloused fingers envelop her own, squeezing down enough to halt her retreat.  Beyond her, the crew deck buzzes with life, the door sliding shut after their few moments of stillness and suddenly it's quiet again.  He’s gentle as he tugs her closer again, hands enveloping her shoulders.  She hadn't realized how much taller he was than her until this moment, her neck craning to look to his face.  “You know you can talk to me, right?  I...I know what it’s like to lose someone.”  Yes, she does know this.  Knows that Vega, much like herself, harbors a guilt that has been eating away at him.  His chocolate eyes bore into hers, his tormented gaze echoing her own inner torture and something inside of her breaks.

Commander Charlie Shepard is tough.  She has been to hell and back, and she sent the devil screaming.  She does not cry.  She does not think of the ‘what-if’s’, or what-might've-beens.  She remembers the lost, remembers their sacrifices, and looks to the tomorrow that those sacrifices have insured will come.  So then why is she burying her face into her lieutenant's chest, eyelashes desperately batting against the impending dampness?

“Uh, Lola?”  James asks, arms cast wide - afraid that if he touches her this fantasy will end she’ll hand him his ass on a platter.  If she was sober, she may have laughed at his sudden timidness in the face of all his previous flirtations.  But, of course, she isn't sober.

“Shut up.”  She says, voice muffled by the muscles she’s currently nuzzling against.  Her fingers dig into his flanks, noting how his breath hitches - ticklish?  He smells like the shuttle bay - grease with a hint of ash from a used heat sink, all capped off by a slight twinge of sweat.  She gasps wetly, turning her face so that her cheek brushes his chest.  He inhales sharply - his shirt too thin for this to be appropriate - and desperately searches for anything else to focus on other than Shepard's strong frame curling into his own.  “Just-”  Her smaller hands wrap around his wrists then, hauling his thick arms around her until he’s loosely hugging his smaller Commander.

¡¿Pero qué coño?!

The hum of the drive core is all that can be heard in the small cabin for a moment, then the brush of cloth as she presses ever tighter to Vega’s form.  He tenses.  Oh, Dios, think of Tio Emilio, or Abuela, or of fixing Shepard's guns.  Do not think about how she feels in your arms!  “Shepard...”  He tries, hands hovering away for a moment before she tugs them to her once more, harder this time.  Got it, not going anywhere.

“Just shut up and hold me, Vega.”  There’s a slur to her speech, and Vega is 90% sure she’s drooling on him.  Wait...Charlie Shepard...is drooling.  A low rumble starts in his chest, the beginnings of laughter, no matter how he tries to fight it.  She looks to him, ready to chastise with her brows pulled tight over bleary eyes.  But his smile is too much, too blinding to stay mad.  He drops his forehead to her own, his minty breath mixing with her own liquor stained breath.

“That all you after, Lola?”  He questions, tone teasing and smirk familiar. Normalcy.  She needs normalcy.  She snorts, pulling back in his arms just enough to grant him her own signature smirk and a cocked brow and he notes how beautiful at ease she is when she smiles.  His heart patters in his chest. Stop that.

She pats his pec once, twice, thought pulling her brows tight but before he can say anything, she pulls away completely. Pulls away before her hand can reach out and trace the shape of his crooked nose like she so desperately wanted to.  To trace the shape of his lips, and the dip in them that the scar leaves.  What would he taste like, she wonders?

“You see straight through me, Vega."  She quips booping his nose before she can stop herself.  To his credit, he only looks mildly surprised.  "Now,”  There’s several sharp 'pops' as Shepard cranes her head from side to side, tension melting out of her form before she’s jamming a thumb over to the poker table in the corner.  “You down for a game?”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”  And it takes everything in him not to tug her back for another embrace.  An embrace much less chaste than the last...

The interface flickers to life as they each take a seat, opposite each other.  Blue light illuminating sharp cheekbones and scars as the computer deals them each a hand, stacks of credits to their sides.  James cracks a joke about Shepard gambling in her current condition.  She dismisses it with a single middle finger.  Several minutes and several credits later, he regrets his teasing.

“So,”  Shepard breaks the silence as they flick through the available games - of which, there were few.  Need to get Traynor to requisition more.  “You never told me.  What was her name?”  James flinches, questions written all over his face.  Ok, so she might not have been a smooth in her conversational detour as she would've liked. “The one who broke your heart.”

“You’ve got it all wrong, Commander.”  He sighs, shoulders sagging with a weight he’d learned to carry oh so well.  Shepard sobers a little then, recognizing a grief she'd come to know so well.  She powers the interface down, leaving them with no barriers as he digs up the past.  It isn't something that's easy to talk about, and she's about to tell him to forget it when he murmurs.  “It wasn’t just her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Fel Prime.”  He supplies, exhaustion evident in his shoulders.  “It was all of them.  A whole colony I had sworn to protect.  And hell, half my damn crew!  Dead.  Because of a decision I made...and April.”  James’ voice fails him for a moment, lids blinking back tears that he refuses to let fall.  He would not cry in front of his Commander.  His hero.  “I promised her I would protect them."  A bitter, humorless laugh breaks through the lump in his throat.  "She died crying ‘where’s James?’  And her mom had to lie.  ‘He’ll be here...he’ll be here.'  Because I made a promise.  Well, guess what, Commander?  I. wasn’t. there”

Silence settles over the observation cabin once more, this silence far more choking than the last.  She'd seen him upset before.  Seen him clear a battlefield, take bullet after bullet and keep fighting.  Hell, she'd seen him take down a fucking Brute all by himself, for god's sake.  But she'd never seen James upset like this.  Across from her own turmoil, her ever-smiling Lieutenant was on the verge of tears.

“She meant a lot to you.”  Shepard reasons, heart beating in her throat.  “I’m sorry.”

“No one should die like that.  Especially not a kid.”

Oh, her heart hammers.  That’s not what I was expecting.  Judging by the way Vega chuckles, shaking his head, he knows exactly where her mind had gone.

“She wasn’t mine.”  He clarifies, large hands dragging over his face.  “Just a kid on that colony I was tellin’ you about.  The one I couldn’t save.”  He flicks his omni-tool open, a picture of a gapped tooth blonde child beaming to life.  Her smile is wide, blue eyes the same as she holds an Alliance patch in her hands.  She's precious and instantly Shepard is reminded of the child she herself was unable to save back on Earth.  “She wanted to be part of the Alliance so badly.”  His smile turns sour, the picture fading away.  “My little lookout.”

“You must miss her.”  She whispers, not entirely sure what to say.  She'd never been good at the whole...feelings thing.  But she would try, for James.

“She never should’ve been a part of this.  Damn collectors had no business dragging her or her colony into this stupid war.”  Ah.  Now that.  That rage.  That she understood.

“They had no business dragging any of us into this war.”  She muses and decides it's time to stop groveling in her own shit.  Her hand drapes over his across the table, pulling his eyes to his CO.  She’s beautiful, he notices - not that he hasn’t before, of course, but at this moment it hits him harder than before.  Shepard isn’t like a lot of women in The Alliance.  She’s short but makes up for her height with strength and a temper unrivaled by even Wrex himself.  Rippling muscle and soft curves built into one tiny body.  A tattoo or two under her hoodie that he so desperately wishes to see more of.  Her usual braid has fallen loose from her inebriated, tugging fingers - black whisps falling into her face and tickling full lashes that frame stormy blue eyes.  Thick, beckoning lips forming words he realizes he isn't listening to, and thank god he tunes in just in time to hear “She would be proud of you.”  He smiles at that, clearing his throat before awkwardly pulling his hand away.

“Yeah?  I bet her and Mordin are looking down at both of our sorry drunk asses, sayin’ ‘that idiot’s mine’.”  Her laughter isn't what he'd been hoping for then.  It's genuine, sure, but there's a sorrow that keeps the sound from blossoming into the unbridled joy he's so used to hearing at his quips.  That laughter fills the whole shuttle bay.  This one...well, this one barely reaches her eyes.

“I’ve got too many people ‘lookin’ down on me’, Lieutenant.”  Absentmindedly, her fingers wind in the braid that’s barely hanging on as it is.  So much tension in one, tiny woman and, Dios, he so desperately wants to hold her again.  But that would be breaking regulations.  So he stays put, squeezing her hand that's draped over his own, and lamely offers up a platitude of ‘they’re in a better place now’.  He’s thankfully she only snorts, tugging her hair the rest of the way from her braid before she stands and offers him a hand.

At that moment he realizes he's never seen her hair free before and has to check himself before he sweeps his fingers through it.  She stretches, hand resting on her jutted hip when she turns to him again.

“Yeah, well, as long as I don’t have to worry about you running off to join them any time soon?”  It’s phrased as a question, but he can see straight past her bluff.  Straight into the very fear she’s trying to hide so deep in those endless, blue eyes.  She’s afraid to lose him, afraid that he’ll be gone - just another senseless casualty of war - before she can really tell him how she feels.

“Hey, it’s ok.”  He soothes, rough palm coming up to cup her smooth cheek, and immediately he knows he shouldn't have.  He feels the dips where Dr. Chawkwas’s implants hide her scars, feels the heat radiate from them and her lashes fluttering against the pad of his thumb.  It's a familiar heat, like the one burning in his chest when he looks at her.  A heat that feels like it's breaking you from the inside out.  “My place is right here.”  Her lip catches between her teeth, cloudy eyes sweeping over his burning face only lingering over his lips for a moment longer than was appropriate.

“Here...like the Normandy?”  She asks, crowding his space yet his hand doesn’t fall away.  If anything, it only pulls her closer.  “Or here...with me?”

There's a vulnerability in her eyes that he never would've expected from Commander Charlie Shepard.  It reaches deep into his chest and squeezes and he has to desperately remind himself of what his Tio Emilio always told him about 'not shitting where he eats'.  And hell, James Vega is rarely ever stumped, but at this moment all he can do is draw his brows together and flap his mouth open and shut like a fish until Charlie puts him out of his misery, lithe index finger pressing against his lips.  She lets it drift over the scar there, eyes following its’ path.

“You don’t have to answer that.”  She rushes - heat coloring her pale cheeks and James realizes that maybe he isn't the only one thinking about breaking regulations.  He sweeps his fingers over that delicious blush once more, then drops his hand before he can do something he regrets.  Still, he takes her hands in his and smiles - repeating what he said to her in the shuttle before - and really meaning it this time.

“Don’t worry, Lola.  I’m not going anywhere.”

---

More Charlie Shepard x James Vega to come.

Mass Effect Tags are open!

[the-whispers-of-death]

Rescue Mission

CW: Canon-typical violence & death, PTSD (not entirely accurate, please tell me if it's offensive), mention of torture, and rather graphic description of scars/wounds.

"We have a new mission," Kali said as he entered The Lions' shared barracks, where the other three soldiers in his squad were. He walked to the dining table, unfurling a map and setting it down on the table.

Sarabi frowned, noticing how his captain didn't sound as upbeat as usual. "A new mission?" he asked, getting up from the armchair that he had claimed months ago and walking over to where Kali was.

"Uh, not to be a worry-wart, Cap," Nala started, also moving towards Kali along with Simba. "But you're usually more excited for a new mission than you are right now. Is everything alright?"

Kali fiddled with his hands, it being unusual since he had settled back into his usual projection of authority and strength ever since he and the other Lions were reunited.

"It's a rescue mission, Commander Graves is sending us to save a Fleet Marine Corpsman who was presumed to be dead six months ago but was actually captured," he explained, ignoring Nala's question. He cleared his throat as he continued. "The people who are holding him is the terror cell called Minerva."

The name of said terror cell caused Simba, Nala, and Sarabi to bristle at the mention, all of them having a bad experience with the terror cell. After all, a year ago, Minerva was the both the mission and the terror cell that injured all three of them and caused the Marine Corps to presume they were dead. It was a sore subject for all of them, even Kali.

Simba seemed especially bothered by this new information. "The Marine Corps still haven't taken them down after what happened to us?" he inquired, a sneer heard in his voice and no doubt was on his face that was covered by the black balaclava.

Kali shrugged, barely containing his own rage. "According to the file that Graves gave me, the Marine Corps tried to take down Minerva but the squad they sent after us to another warehouse of Minerva barely got out of there alive and their Fleet Marine Corpsman—the one we're rescuing—got captured in the mayhem," he said, his hands curling into fists at the thought. "Shadow Company scouts have caught a glimpse of this Corpsman, callsign "Cerberus", in a warehouse specifically meant for prisoners of Minerva but they're all going to be moving to somewhere else soon. The window to rescue him is closing."

He let this all sink in and he looked at his men.

Sarabi was stock still, but that was usual for the lieutenant. Simba seemed perturbed at the thought of encountering Minerva again and Nala was trying to hide his fear by fiddling with his leather gloves.

They were scared and Kali couldn't blame them. Kali was the only one who managed to not get an injury during the fateful "Minerva" mission The Lions were sent on, but it still scarred him emotionally. And it had scarred his men physically.

Sarabi had his entire right side of his body, face and all, burned from barely diving out of the way when a grenade was thrown. Nala had a nasty knife scar on his stomach which still throbbed and felt like it could open out at any time. Simba had a bullet scar on his back and his legs still felt shaky despite the numerous months of physical therapy he was going to.

"I can ask Graves to assign another squad to the mission," Kali suggested after a few beats of silence. His hand reached for the closest Lion, which was Simba, intertwining their fingers together in a comforting gesture. "We don't have to do this mission, I will back you all up if you don't want to do it."

Sarabi looked at his other squadmates, all of them communicating silently. "We want to do the mission, Mufasa," he replied after a few seconds of silent communication. "There's a Corpsman in need of rescuing, assigning another squad could take more time than he has. You said it yourself, there's a window of time to rescue him that's closing."

Simba nodded in agreement with his lieutenant, squeezing Kali's hand. "Yeah, besides, we're in dire need of a Corpsman, yeah?" His comment was light-hearted and it made Nala and Kali chuckled just a little bit.

"Alright, then let's go over the plan." Kali let go of Simba's hand and took a deep breath before launching into the details of the plan.

*************

A day later, The Lions were executing their plan, having a back-up Shadow Company squad waiting in case the plan went wrong. Again.

Their entry to the warehouse was smooth, Kali leading the front of the group and shooting down enemies. They moved through the warehouse as one, Kali in the front while Simba and Nala were in the middle with Sarabi flanking the rear. They shot down enemy after enemy, making quick work at getting to the large room where the prisoners were being held.

"Simba, you have the flash grenade ready?" Kali asked as they all pressed themselves against the wall near the door, Kali on the left side of the door while while Simba was right side.

Simba nodded, holding the flash grenade. "I'm ready, Mufasa."

"On three, Simba. One, two, three."

Simba opened the door and threw the denoted flash grenade into the room. It exploded and there were sounds of enemies shouting out in surprise as they got blinded.

The Lions used the temporary disadvantage and breached the room, taking down enemies. They didn't bother keeping any alive for interrogation, as their mission was solely a rescue mission. So all of their shooting were lethal, hitting their targets efficiently.

When all of the firing was dead twenty minutes later, Sarabi and Nala got to work on the freeing the prisoners while Kali and Simba moved to the other parts of the warehouse to take down the rest of the enemies.

"We're friendlies, from the private military company called Shadow Company," Nala said, his voice soft. He got to work getting the chains off of the prisoners. "We're going to get all of you out of here and to safety. But we're also here for a specific person, a Corpsman. Callsign "Cerberus". Any of you fit that description?"

"I didn't break," a weak masculine voice said, prompting Sarabi and Nala to turn their heads to look at the man.

His brown skin was pale, dirty, and scarred with knife and whip scars that covered almost everywhere on his body. There were scars spanning six months on his arms, legs, torso, back. One could barely see the tattoo of a swallow on his left shoulder and the tattoo of an eagle flying over a globe with the words "Semper Fi" underneath it that was on his right forearm because the swallow tattoo was marred by a whip scar and the Semper Fi tattoo was marred by a knife scar going up his right arm. His black hair was shoulder-length, evidence of his six-month captivity, and when he lifted his head up to look at both Sarabi and Nala, there was a huge knife scar that went from his right eyebrow down all the way to his cheek and seemed to blind the eye as it was white and cloudy.

"You didn't break?" Sarabi asked, slowly walking towards the Corpsman. He knelt down and gently unchained the man. "You stayed true to your country?"

The Corpsman, Cerberus, nodded. "They tried to get me to turn, I held my ground," he replied, his eyes drooping as he was so dehydrated and hungry.

Sarabi felt a pull towards the Corpsman and he very slowly and gently cupped Cerberus' right cheek, running his gloved thumb across the scar.

"You did great, soldier," he murmured, smiling softly beneath the hard-plated lioness mask and his black balaclava to which Cerberus could see his eyes crinkle as he smiled.

"We're getting you out of here, you survived. You survived and you're going home."

Reblogs are welcomed & appreciated! Asks are open, feel free to pop in and talk or request something! (SFW requests only, please and thank you)

[jellygay]

I'm that anon and I wanted to ask if it's ok that I kind of ship my CoD oc with Cerberus? 😳

It's ok if you're not comfy with that /gen

I would’ve normally said it’s okay/I’d be down for that but I made Cerb’s backstory that he is only for casual relationships, he doesn’t want to “be tied down”

😭

[funkypoacher]

For the angst questions; 3, 12, 24, and 33 for Hes Shepard and Iris Ryder.

Hes

3 What is your OC’s worst memory?

Her parents’ murder when she was 12. They were killed over spare credits by a junkie. The ordeal’s most acute, easily recalled moment was the sounds her mother made when the bullet hit her. Wrapped around Hes to protect her, blood gargled up her throat, splat out, after which she wheezed helplessly for a few, long seconds before dying. Hes didn’t see her parents die so much as hear it (her face was buried in her mother’s neck), but, somehow, that made it worse.

12 To what extent would your OC go to survive?

To any and all extents. Akuze kind of ‘made’ her in that way. The thresher maw kept coming at the unit’s soldiers, huddled and hiding in the colony’s various buildings, and Shepard kept making sure there was another body between her and what was chasing them. She didn’t out-right throw her comrades at the thresher maw, but when finding a good hidey-hole she didn’t share, and she wouldn’t break cover to try and draw the maw’s attention when she saw it going after someone. She made sure she survived (and she barely did, at that). 

Basically, she sees herself as a mission’s best resource (regardless of the mission), and there’s no way she’s letting such a fab resource go to waste. 

23 What is your OC the most guilty about?

Heh. So much. Pre-Reapers, Hes was an ends-means kind of gal, and very goal oriented, meaning side-objectives like helping civilians was a last priority. She was like Seren in a lot of ways, and low-key agreed with his tactics. Hes and Anderson had a few heated discussions about that.As the Reapers hit, however, Hes has recently suffered a huge (poorly-timed) crises of self, thanks in large part to her trial and dishonorable discharge. She mourns ‘exterminating’ the rachni queen, killing infected Feros colonists,  letting Kirrahe’s team fend for itself, and using Kaidan for sex before they dropped on Ilos. She also hates how loyal she became to Cerberus. When the Alliance kicked her to the curb following her ‘resurrection’ (she tried to go back), Hes goes very pro-Cerberus, largely due to bruised ego (she gave everything to the Alliance, and they just abandoned her). While fighting the Reapers, Hes is fighting just as much to sort her shit (and guilty past) out. 

33 How does your OC let out anger?

Pre-Reapers, she takes frustrations out on whomever is closest, and whomever it’s most feasible to bully rank-wise (if on duty). Ridiculous chore lists and public punishments (particularly the latter) were a favorite. Post Reaper-invasion, Hes swallows her anger down alongside a buttload of pills.

Iris

3 What is your OC’s worst memory?

Walking into the food tent that fateful morning, Iris was looking forward to french-toast Friday. After sitting down with her breakfast, she was informed by the Prothean dig’s excavation director (/the asari she was sleeping with)  of her father’s dishonorable discharge. It was also explained to Iris that she should go home to ‘support her father’, and that they didn’t want anyone connected with Alec near their work, considering the stigma associated with AI research.

Iris sat there, staring at her breakfast tray, knowing that everyone, in turn, was staring at her while waiting for her to get up and go. That’s her worst memory: their judging her, and putting her in the same boat as her father. She felt like a traitor, worthless, and stupid. Plus she just got has ass dumped by her lover.

12 To what extent would your OC go to survive?

Put a gun to her head, and Iris will put a gun to someone else’s head–though whether she’ll pull the trigger is another matter. She plays it tough and unflappable, but she’d likely fall short of murder. 

23 What is your OC the most guilty about?

Iris did some stupid stuff for the sake of embarrassing her father following his discharge (public intoxication, public fornication, drugs smuggling; was caught stealing from the dig site she was kicked off of). Although she’s never regretted doing it out of pettiness, Iris did regret putting other people in a difficult situation. As long as the ‘other people’ weren’t her father.

33 How does your OC let out anger?

Revenge. When she was angry at her father, she acted out (see last answer). She stops short of physical violence, but she’ll start rumors, lie, and be generally vindictive. She has to be pretty pissed off, though. For the smaller/medium sized slights, she’ll refuse to talk, stewing in silence, and maybe do some name-calling.

[forlornmelody]

Spare Parts Chapter 16 -- Champagne

Rating: M/E (See below for notes)

Ship: FemShep Clone/Maya Brooks, FemShep Clone/Asari OC

AO3 Links: First Chapter. Previous Chapter. This Chapter.

FF.net Links: First Chapter. Previous Chapter. This Chapter.

Summary:  Cerberus wants Shepard’s clone dead. Hope Lillium wants the clone to replace Shepard. The reapers want to exterminate her along with the rest of the galaxy. No one asks what the clone wants–and even she isn’t sure if she has the right to ask. But she asks that question every day.

Notes: While this chapter is safe for all platforms, previous chapters have different versions.(The extended, explicit cut is hosted on AO3.)

They are so close. Maya Brooks and the Clone have spent the past weeks training the mercs, training with the mercs, and they’re ready. Over meals, the Clone and Brooks go over plans, strategies, potential obstacles and ways to work around them. Together they review Commander Jane Shepard’s history, her interviews, unauthorized biographies of her life, even security footage they’ve intercepted from C Sec. Shepard is a difficult woman to catch off guard. She’s never seen off ship without full armor and a squad to back her up--save for two places.  The Normandy they eliminate immediately--it would take too long to override the ship’s AI, and with Shepard and her crew on board, it would cost them more than time. However, when the Normandy docks at the Citadel, the crew parts ways, some to a few hours of shore leave, others for their non-Council duties, Alliance or no. In these hours, Shepard often heads off by herself, making a laughably predictable circuit of the Embassies, the Presidium, the docks, and the refugee camps, even a dance club called Purgatory. Now it’s only a matter of being ready the next time she stops by.

With the losses on Thessia, Shepard must be heading to the Citadel soon. She’ll have diplomatic meetings, hoards of refugees to visit (since she banned C-Sec from turning them away), and likely strong drinks to buy with her favorite Asari warlord. Brooks and the Clone deploy pockets of mercs to infiltrate the wards, some posing as refugees, others as off-duty soldiers, still others as private residents. With the recent coup, Cat6 has plenty of identities and weaknesses to exploit.

“So...what’s our next step?” The Clone leans her chin on Maya’s shoulder, getting on her tiptoes to do so.

Maya leans her head against the Clone’s. “I need to meet with a contact on the Citadel. We’ll need someone to smuggle in our arms if we have any chance of making it through security.”

“And then we arrive and wait for Shepard.”

“Mmhm.” Maya turns, running a finger up and down the Clone’s arm. It makes her shiver, but the Clone presses on.

“How are you going to signal?”

Brooks scrunches up her nose. “Through your omni-tool, of course. An encrypted message.”

The Clone fingers Brook’s collar. “How long should I wait before sending reinforcements?”

“You mean if I fail?” Maya snorts. “That won’t happen.”

That night the Clone had some of the mercs smuggle in a bottle of champagne (more like she seized their bottle of champagne upon entry, but they’re in her employ, so she feels she has a right to it), and she pops it open over dinner with Maya. Their rations are still barely edible, and they’re drinking out of regular glasses, but this is as close as they can get to a celebratory dinner, then she’ll take it. She even finds a couple emergency candle sticks for when the backup generators fail, and she lights them, using machine parts for holders.

“What’s all this?” Maya sits down, datapad still in hand.

Reaching over, the Clone grabs the datapad, and turns it off. “Things are going to get pretty crazy once we reach the Citadel.” She leans forward, pouring the champagne. “This might be our last chance to celebrate.”

Maya’s smile glimmers in the low light. “Funny, I had the same idea.”

The Clone blinks, watching as Maya pulls out a slim black box. A gold ribbon ties the layers together, the Clone fingers the bow, glancing at Maya.

“Go ahead. It’s a gift.”

Pulling the ribbon as if she’s disarming a bomb, the Clone gingerly lays it aside, lifting the top to reveal the contents inside. She gasps softly as the metallic sheen of a shotgun catches the candle light. She swallows, delicately taking it out of the box.

“It’s the M-11 Wraith--the same shotgun--”

“Shepard uses, I know.” The Clone interrupts softly, standing so she can test its feel in her hands. She pops open the ammunition chamber, running her finger over the ammunition block, closes it, then checks the next chamber for heat clips. She only finds two in the filled chamber. “Ballsy, giving me a loaded gun.” It’s a gun so deadly it’s banned in Citadel space, but that doesn’t stop mercs, pirates, and the infamous Commander herself from using it.

Maya smirks. “I know you’re not stupid enough to use it now.” It’s not quite trust, but it will do. “There’s more underneath.” Is she shifting in her chair? Brooks never squirms.

The Clone sets the gun down, lifting the next layer of the box and setting it aside. She eyes the last object in the box, quirking an eyebrow at the woman across from her. “You bought me a fake penis?”

Laughing softly, Maya reaches over, taking the Clone’s hand. “I know it’s been hard for you lately.” Her thumb brushes the back of her hand. “I wanted to show you how I appreciate the woman you’re becoming.”

“By buying me a dick.” The Clone laughs too, but she swallows at Maya’s touch. She knows where that touch leads, regardless of the awkwardness.

“You might like it.” Maya picks it up, managing to thrust it through a ring she makes with her finger and thumb.

They break down in fits of giggles together. The Clone squeezes her hand. “Thanks, I think.” As weird as it is it to get a gift from Maya, maybe it’s a good sign. Maybe she’s becoming a different person, too.

“It’s not the same as Asari biotics but it does vibrate.”

The Clone freezes, her gaze cold and hard as she says “Don’t.”

“I know.” Maya squeezes her hand. “I’m just trying to help.” She stands, heading for their bedroom alone. The Clone stares at the dildo for several minutes, and then she throws it back into the box, slamming the lid closed.

[valen-dreth]

1-22 ahzrukhal :0c

1. Their physical weak spotspunch him in the gut. itll take him forever to get his breath back AND he doesnt have enough air to call for backup. just make sure charon’s back is turned

2. Their emotional/moral weak spotsahzrukhal??? moral weak spots??

3. Scars or painful spotshands and feet… complains constantly to charon

4. Best places to kiss on their body please no…………..

5. Guilty pleasureshe feels no guilt

6. Their vices (physical or emotional)fuckin he….. makes charon do all of his dirty work. threatens his patrons with physical violence. literally owns a fuckign slave??? takes advantage of anyone he can???? at what point do i stop listing these

7. Their tickle spotshe WILL kill you for trying (theyre really weird anyway.. inside of elbows, behind ears, things like that)

8. Bad memories/experiencesi wanna say prewar… there were too many rules and people stopping him from being Horrible

9. Humiliating memoriesokay so i think he used to have a lot of power in underworld and he brought other cronies with him. they ‘mysteriously’ started dying off and then barrows arrived and gained popularity and the vote to be mayor. ahzrukhal never got that same power back.

10. Fears/phobiashe’s pretty paranoid actually. he’ll have charon check up on people he thinks are out to get him/things he thinks will go wrong. highkey afraid of cerberus.

11. Bad or petty habitssmoking but like. constantly. not cleaning the bar. notoriously bad at keeping an eye on patrons. he’s known to drink a little bit himself while on duty. complains about everyone, out loud, to charon.

12. Grudges and vendettashis biggest one is against winthrop. they run a tight balance between being full-blown enemies and not; ahz knows he cant cross that line or he wont have anyone to maintain his bar for him, winthrop cant cross the line because ahzrukhal has so many people on his side and patchwork is one of them so

13. What gets them flusteredgenuine praise but uh. good luck.

14. Ingrained habits/forces of habitonly ever sleeps on his right side, never with his back to charon. uhh hitting on lady customers

15. What it takes to make them crycry???? hes gotta be reaaaallly drunk otherwise he just gets mad. talk abt things hes failed at

16. Dark secrets/’skeletons in the closet’so many my guy i cant even imagine. the biggest one i can think of is that he ordered to have edith wormwood killed

17. Regretsultimately hiring charon, letting barrows live

18. Things they’ll never admithe picks favourites……..literally like. everything found on his terminal he would never confess out loud. misses edith sometimes.

19. People they’ve hurt or indirectly killed, and how it affected themdoes not care who he’s hurt or killed. crowley is one of them actually; ahz tried to defend dukov when crowley asked if charon could clear his hitlist and crowley hasnt forgiven him for it

20. What-ifs/Alternate Timelineswhat if…. he wasnt Absolutely Disgusting And Terriblealso the ghost au

21. Turning points in their lifethe bombs dropping, founding underworld

22. People who’ve influenced them greatlycan i say edith?? (shes an oc idk if that counts) probably winth before she came around tho

[citadelsushi]

Meteor! Stardust! Black hole! Galaxy! (For either or both of your Shepards)

First of all, you are wonderful and I love you for always supporting my OC ask memes lol.

Meteor and galaxy answered here

Stardust:What kind of clothes do they usually wear off-duty? (sporty, elegantor specific clothes like sweatpants, jeans, etc)

Woo!I was hoping for this one!

Avoryis all about comfort, functionality, and feeling like she could stillkick ass; she usually looks like she just woke up or is about to goto the gym. Slim fitting sweats, leggings, spandex, loose fittingtops, tank tops, sports bras, etc. Her wardrobe is mostly in shadesof black, grey, and blue. If she’s trying to dress up her look,she’ll usually opt for soft, tight fitting jeans and draping tops.She’s also a fan of leather jackets and will wear boots witheverything.

Addysonis about deep, rich colors; hunter green is a favorite, but alsomaroon, plum, navy, cream, etc. If something is a color she likes butnot her typical style, she’ll get it anyway. Ideally, she’d wear asoft, slim-fitting pant and a soft sweater all the time, but she’sopen to pretty much anything. She has a thing for shoes; if she hadthe opportunity, she’d have a different pair of shoes for literallyeverything.

Blackhole: What is your Shepard’s greatest fear?

Makingthe wrong choice. Strangely enough, that doesn’t stop her from actingquickly at the time, but afterward she’s often struck with a sense ofdread: what if she killed the wrong person, made the wrong call? Ifshe had acted differently, would things be better? I’m loving writingher post-Toombs reaction right now because she kills the scientistand then, in ME2 hears that there was insufficient testimony to bringlegal action against Cerberus. Making mistakes like that are herbiggest fear and she has even bigger choices coming up.

ForAddyson, failure. She’s still young and not as experienced ascanon-verse Shepard and she’s thrown into a leadership position witha lot riding on her shoulders. If she fails, she fails all bioticsand will see everyone she loves die.

Shepard Ask Meme

[the-whispers-of-death]

The Lions Masterlist

This a masterlist for The Lions (which include COD OC "Kali"). As of right now, each COD OC doesn't have a separate section, with the exception of Kali. That may change in time.

Basic Information on Kali

Survivor's Guilt/Blood-Stained Hands

Memories of Old

Seeing Ghosts

Basic Information on Sarabi

Basic Information on Simba

Basic Information on Nala

The Lions with Shadow

Why Those Nicknames?

Detailed Physical Description of The Lions

Reunited with Family

Teasing

Paperwork

Something's Amiss

Rescue Mission

Happy Birthday, Ivan

Smiles & Giggles

The Fifth & Final Lion

Basic Information on Cerberus

Hello Again, My Dear Old Friends

Trust Falls

Playing Matchmaker (and Failing)

Lovebirds?

This is not a complete list! It will be updated as time goes on!