#didn't want to get blown up himself didn't want to murder anyone the bomb is the issue here not the fact that a boy disrupted the test

[rickjonesy]

obsessed with how bruce does not blame rick at all for the gamma bomb incident because he's like if i didn't want to get blown up i shouldn't have built that bomb 🤷‍♂️ while most everyone else around him thinks it's almost strange he doesn't blame rick because to them the bomb itself is not the source of the problem

[minhyunluvr]

look | insouciance

You and Shouto observed the rest of the class as they conversed among themselves, everyone waiting for instruction. Of course, All Might didn't disappoint as his booming voice filled the room a few minutes later. "I see that we're all here now. What we're doing today is indoor anti-personnel battle training, as previously stated. While simple battles are typically occur outside, more heinous villains are known to strike indoors. So, we'll split into pairs for two-on-two battles!"

  "No basic training...?" A small girl resembling a frog spoke up in a croaky voice.

  "Physical experience teaches the basics, young Asui!" He replied in his unusually cheerful voice. Questions sounded throughout the space in curious voices, the oldest male's eyes beginning to bulge. "My power isn't super-hearing! I'll tell you the rules... So, the plan is to have a hero team and a villain team. The villain team will go up to a certain floor and guard a bomb, while the hero team slips into the building and either 'retrieves' said bomb or restrains the villains with a tape." He reached into his pocket, pulling out a tan length of adhesive strap, shaking it slightly before continuing. "The villains must either protect the weapon until time is up or capture the heroes. Now, it's time to draw lots!"

  A few complaints about the method resounded throughout the room before you spoke up, arms crossed sassily against your midriff. "Shh, children. The person who's left in the bottom will either sit out or join one of the groups at some point."

  As things turned out, you ended up being the odd one out. 'Well, I guess this is what happens when there are 21 students...'

  "Well, young Yunseo, it's time to make your decision."

  Sighing, you corrected the man. "I go by (Y/n), and I'll accompany who you wish."

  All Might blinked, leaning his head back slightly before nodding. "That's fine. I'll let you know when it's time to go." Before continuing, he reached into the box beside him and grabbed two lettered spheres. "Anyway, it seems that... Team A and Team D will be going first!"

  A horrified whimper, a loud sneer, and two grunts of determination sounded in the room. Chatter started up as the students searched for the aforementioned groups, noting the tightness in the atmosphere. Bakugou and Iida made up Team D, while A comprised of Uraraka and Midoriya. The boy in the latter team swallowed the stone in his throat before rushing out of the room and over to the battle building in an agitated manner. The other three children followed in a much less hurried fashion, preparing for the scrimmage.

  Anticipation was almost tangible in the air as All Might started the timer. You had resumed your place in the back of the room next to your bi-hair colored companion, sliding down to the floor in disinterest. It was clear that there had been some sort of tension between Bakugou and Midoriya. Shouto looked down at you, emotionless, before turning his head back to the front of the room.

  You stared at the screens as the battle began, Midoriya and Uraraka trudging into the building with clear disregard of their surroundings. Bakugou turned the corner, successfully carrying out his ambush that could have easily been fatal had the pair been any less observant. 'That blow would have been so easy to avoid, had it been me...' You sighed at their negligence, almost feeling pity for their lack of training.

  "There's no point in watching. Let's practice hand-to-hand." As you pushed off of the wall to stand, the building tremored harshly.

  Shouto turned over and quirked a brow as you tripped, shaking his head in amusement. "Karma, (Y/n). I think we should watch to get an idea of how people with less experience plan for future reference."

  Your head cocked to the side in confusion, waiting for his clarification. He flopped his head back to look at you, "It's likely that we'll have to work with some of these people in the future. We have to know what their battle plans are so that we can be prepared if they mess up."

  "Oh, he just got fucking bodied!" Kaminari yelled, eyes glittering. The two of you looked back to the front to see a pained Bakugou on the floor, back bent painfully.

  "Why do you talk like a white middle school boy...?" Kirishima blinked slowly in disgust. Kaminari only winked as a response, turning back to the screens with his fist clenched in front of him.

  "Fine, but I still want to practice." You crossed your arms, nodding over at the male.

  Shouto exhaled through his mouth, "You can practice your battle assessing skills by pointing out what they do wrong."

  "You sound like Jinho...." Nevertheless, you turned, once more, back to the CCTVs and watched the battle. The only thing you had approved of so far was the fact that Uraraka had slipped away in search of the weapon while Midoriya payed attention to Bakugou. It may have been better that Midoriya went for the bomb and Uraraka had stayed, but there would have been a higher chance that he would notice him leave and the girl's quirk wasn't strong enough to defend herself. It had been made apparent that he doesn't go easy on girls, either.

  "Why are they just talking." Shouto rolled his eyes as the blond sat on the floor as the other boy yelled at him from his feet. "What a waste of time..."

  Just as he said that, Bakugou stood and launched himself at Midoriya, the latter boy dodging and catching him by his feet with the capture tape. However, Bakugou swung with right fist before Midoriya could get any good leverage. He dodged the explosion, dashing around the corner and down the hall.

  "How did he do that?"

  "He's not even using his quirk against the guy who placed second in the entrance exam!"

  "The only reason he isn't in critical condition at this point in time is because he knows Bakugou's battle patterns." You leaned flush against the wall, hands resting on their respective adjacent elbows.

  "How do you pick this shit up, (Y/n)?" The only response given was a shrug as you concentrated your attention at the battle in front of you. At this point it was more of a personal fight than a simulated battle, but who were you to say anything about that?

  Meanwhile, Uraraka arrived at the weapon's room. Iida stood guard, albeit neglecting to actually pay attention. He stood, incessant, as the small female snuck behind a pillar. He moved in an erratic fashion, almost seeming to chant something.

  "Of course, she had to fucking ruin the ideal opening that literally anyone else in Japan could have nurtured into a victory. Dumb fuck...." You practically yelled the first part, effectively gaining the entire room's attention. Some of the girls glared slightly at the last part, much to your indifference.

  Kaminari snorted. "Chill your bean."

  "Things like this irk me." You breathed in deeply to regain your former composure.

  "There they go again, talking in the midst of a battle where she could tear another opening while he goes on and on about who knows what." Shouto sighed in the same tone that you had, shoulder brushing yours.

  Kirishima and Kaminari walked to the back wall, standing by the two of you. The former male chuckled lightly, "Uraraka looks like she's about to shit herself."

  Shouto nodded his head.

  "Wow, look who has a sense of humor!" Kaminari looked past you and Kirishima to the red and white hair-colored boy with a smile on his face. He leaned away from the wall, seemingly trying to get a better look at the screen, only to end up on the floor as the building shook almost three times as hard as it had previously. A gaping hole had been blown into the side of the training building, the cause likely being Bakugou.

  "So that's what his gauntlets do..." You noted, holding onto Kirishima's arm for support. All Might yelled orders into the microphone that seemed to have been ignored as the fight continued on, stronger than ever.

  You focused your attention on the screen that covered the battle in the middle of the fifth floor between Iida and Uraraka, wanting to see if she can redeem herself rather than watching Midoriya get beaten half to death by explosions.

  Iida buzzed into Bakugou's ear piece, loosing focus on the problem at hand. You flung your hands into the air in exasperation as she, once again, fucked it up by running straight into the male. He nearly grabbed her, but before he could secure his grip, she began to levitate into the air. The girl shakily floated toward the bomb, nearly touching it and securing the victory. But, of course, she failed at something as simple as that. Iida shot in and moved the bomb, ending with your hands yanking at your hair.

  "I will never be able to fathom why they talk through the battles..." Shouto sighed. Again.

  All Might yelled once more into the microphone, your aggravation for his negligence as a teacher beginning to surface. "Young Bakugou, I will have to end this battle with your team's loss if you use that move one more time."

  The boy looked as if he cursed up at the speaker, Midoriya still on the ground, speaking to Uraraka in her receiver. As you looked over to ever more eventful CCTV, your eyes picked up a crazed look in the blond male's eyes. His red hues shone like whirlpools of blood, as if there had been a shark fest inside of his mind just moments before. That type of look cannot go away, not unless it's sedated with closure. What that closure comes from depends on the circumstance, and this one was beating Midoriya no matter the cost.

  As soon as Bakugou took a step toward Midoriya, you shot off of the wall and re-placed yourself at the front of the room. It wasn't the best day to watch someone get murdered, and the teacher didn't seem to know what to do. Mustering up the most assertive voice you had ever used, you grabbed the teacher by the collar and pulled his face close to yours. "All Might, stop being an irresponsible bitch and do your job as a teacher unless you want your reputation as a hero on the line. Do you really want the life of a fifteen year old boy on your shoulders because you didn't end a simple training exercise? Are you oblivious enough to not realize that even after the timer finishes that this fight will not end? Not for years. They have a deep-rooted... something. And it won't go away unless it gets resolved."

  The man gulped slightly before turning away from you, looking conflicted. He sat for a moment as Bakugou continued to charge the smaller boy before coming to a resolution. "Time is up!"

  "What?!" The class chorused. There had been 43 seconds left in their fight, but he decided to cut it short.

  "All Might, if you thought that this win would satisfy him-" You started, only to be cut off.

  "I cut it because it has a better chance of giving him resolve than directly telling them to stop. By the way, no one tell them that the time wasn't actually over, for their own safety." All Might stood from the chair, walking to and out of the door to make sure nothing else happened with the four students.

  "What was that about...?" The three boys walked over, confusion drawn clearly on their faces.

  "He cut it short because it solves the most problems. Midoriya would have gotten hurt further if he let it run on, but if he told them that he was ending it because of the dangers, Bakugou wouldn't stop. There's also a chance that he won't stop even now, which is why he's going down. By telling him that the time is up, that means that the villains win, so he might gain some sort of temporary closure from that. However, by the look in his eyes... the only time he'll be satisfied is if he completely and utterly destroys Midoriya from the outside, in."

  "...That's dark."

[m.list]

[writr4luvrs]

Krieg [My Way] [Borderland]

Request: "Krieger is held hostage and reader saves him"

"He just stands there..." a children of the vault tells his fellow COV. "Menacingly." The COV occupying the Dhal mining camp had come across the vault hunter, Krieg, grabbing rakk's attention to attempt to jump on and ride it's back while yelling nonsense like "THE GIANT MAN REINS THE SKYS FOR BLOOD AND SCRAP" and "RISE! RISE! RIISE POOP STARS". Though, despite the efforts to take the skies, he was to heavy for the poor rakk's tiny bodies and fragile wings yet his determination caused ignorance making it easy to well....capture and throw him, among other captures, in other cages.

The COV assumed one of the great vault hunters that killed Handsome Jack's dictatorship would be a great gift to their Calypso gods in hoping for their recognition, praise, and hopefully goods "Do you think he's planning an escape?" a COV asks.

"Hes staring at the wall..."

"Maybe he's trying to trick us into thinking he's not planning anything when really he's making a master plan."

"This is the same guy that threw a Maliwan porter potty off a cliff."

"To be fair, he broke out of the potty and when you don't have money, that's not easy to do. A guy died in their last week and used a grenade and it still didn't open. Plus hes still a vault hunter."

"Whatever, he's trapped in there, no way getting out." They began walking away.

"Y'know, every time anyone says that its always either they escape anyways or someone saves them."

"You think too hard."

Once the COV were away, Krieg continued to stare at the wall in peace. His two selves fighting over each other. "Well, friend," the sane started. "We're in a dilemma with no shield, no guns, no water all because you wanted-"

"I AM THE REINING SKY BLOOD KING!" The insane bursted.

"Yeah..." the sane sighed. For a moment, the sane had gotten some control and quiet, able to stroll the dust of Pandora yet sadly the insane was took back his control the moment the idea of riding a rakk bombarded his head. "Now we're stuck together in COV hands, waiting to either be eaten or maybe you'll get lucky and meal on them. I was so close, so close to the quiet, so close to-"

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS PUNY MAN'S FROWNING!" The insane interrupts, occupying his time to smash the wall with his fists, soon for them to turn red. "You should focus your attention on escaping." the sane suggests and to his surprise, hearing the insane's not so subtle burst of just wanting him to shut up. The insane focuses on the bars of his cell, pulling with all his strength. If he continues, he could bend the weak bars and eventually (hopefully) push himself through. "We're almost free, keep pulling and-" before the sane could finish, there's a crash into a camp. Debris and dust flying, the sound of bullets ricocheting, and yells and cries for murder.

Krieg could here a motor and another crash causing another crash through the walls. Shielding his eyes from the dust, he saw... well a vault hunter.

You shoot at any COV that moves and for the moment, the scene goes quiet and you step out. "All right scat dumpers!" You pull out your melee as you see the only few alive were psychos tightly gripping their saws, bats, or meat bicycles, readying to charge you. "You gonna bring Krieg to me or am I gonna have to get him myself?! Have your way!" And as Krieg had expected, guts, blood, and glory had danced in the air before falling to the concrete. Krieg pretty sure he heard an angelic opera as the psychos hot intestines spilled from their torsos, the pieces of brain sticking to the heel of your boots, the blood staining your clothes.

The opera seemed to had faded once the area was rid of the COV and you throwing your bloodied melee away due to falling apart due to impact. "THE VAULT WARRIOR HAS COME TO POST BAIL AND FREE THE GIANT MAN!"

"Post your bail- did you not see me chop the arms off the COV?!" You ask in disbelief. "Man, just back up!" Grabbing out a sticky bomb, you place it on the lock and back up before have it blown up, freeing your friend. For a (awkward) moment, you and Krieg make eye contact. He was just staring at you...discombobulated. "Ha....okay.." The both of you look in the direction of angry chants and stomps running in your direction and you immediately run and jump into your vehicle. You got what you had came for, no need to waste anymore bullets in this economy. With the engine started up, you yell for Krieg to hop in and to his disappointment of not getting a fight, he jumps into the passenger.

"You gotta stop getting into situations like this, not that I don't like saving you but who knows what the COV may do... " You glance at him rolling down the window and gripping the side mirror, his fist closing, slowly crushing it. "Or what you may do.. "

"You know how he is." the sane comments

"Yeah, I know. He's a handful."

"We do good work-"

"QUIET VOICE IS TOO LOUD!" Krieg interrupts.

[zirawrites]

Hi! I love seeing new react blogs! This one could either go sympathetic or dramatic: *Spoilers!* Sole destroyed the Institute, but didn't take their love interest with them for the attack. Companions find out weeks later through gossip that Sole left a child synth, created in their son's likeness, behind to die in the explosion.

Oooooh, this one is HEAVY on the **SPOILERS** so if you haven’t finished the game… don’t be a big baby and just read this anyways. The game has been out since 2015 xoxo

Also, I forgot to make Codsworth romanced. If you’d like a romanced!Codsworth, just send me another ask! I like his platonic Mister Handy reaction too much to delete.

Cait: On one hand, Cait didn’t want to care that Sole left a synth behind. She had been against Danse joining their party when he admitted to being one of those monstrosities. Cait barely trusted humans. So a machine that looked and acted like one with having God-knows-what kind of special abilities or enhancements? No way was she coming near them. Hell, they were probably the things the Institute sent out to replace you with.

She overheard some settlers at Sanctuary discuss how Sole had left her synth-son behind and… for some reason this one was different. Cait marched over to Sole - fists balled up by her sides - and it took all of her might not to pummel them right there.

“So ya think it’s okay to leave little, defenseless youngns behind, do ya?” Cait became even more angry when Sole reminded her that she was against synths in the first place. “Not defenseless children, Sole! I know what it’s like to be vulnerable like that. Hell, it took me months to open up to you! I don’t give a damn about adults. They can fend for themselves. But that synth? That was just a kid. And you left him to die. Yer own flesh and blood.” She was disgusted.

Codsworth: For 210 years, Codsworth had dreamed of his master’s family reuniting. Though their house was nearly ash and he wasn’t exactly the Mister Handy from 2077, they could start where they left off. Sole would go off to work somewhere respectable, maybe with Piper in Diamond City. They would earn an honest living while their partner raised Shaun to be the best survivor anyone could be in the Commonwealth. Codsworth would help, of course. He would tutor the young master in school. Make his sack lunch. Tuck him in to a big-boy beg like he always wanted to…

But that would never happen. Sole left synth-Shaun behind, and Codsworth’s dreams of repairing the family were futile. Crushed like broken glass under a heavy boot. Blown to smithereens like an atom bomb over a quiet suburban city one unsuspecting morning.

“You monster!” Codsworth had never yelled at Sole that way. He honestly didn’t know his programming allowed such behavior. Sole tried to reach out to him as his metal began to shake, but Codsworth backed away. “I waited 200 years, mum/sir! 200 years for you to come home to me. For us to be a family. And you never cared. This was never about young Shaun, was it? You just wanted to prove something.” He turned away to go home, knowing Sole wouldn’t follow. “That means you never cared about me either. I rather be deactivated than serve another day under your care.”

Curie: As Curie sat with her face in her palms sobbing quietly, she realized she felt an entirely new emotion. Sole had left her synth-son, and was so unmoved by the gesture they hadn’t even bothered to tell her. Her shoulders shuddered as the only sounds around were the gentle lapping of the lake, and Curie’s own sniveling.

Sole touched the back of her shoulder, but Curie was too upset to react. They began giving her some excuse that a synth-child and synth-girlfriend were different. They always knew Curie as a robot. No one could ever replace their own son. But Curie still couldn’t shake this new feeling.

“I think…” Her voice quivered, and it took Sole stroking her hair for a few moments for Curie to regain composure. “I think I feel betrayed. The boy did not have to replace your son. But he was still just as alive as me. I do not think you understand life.” Sole winced, and Curie finally looked up at her partner. “I do not think you understand me.”

Danse: Sole knew her Paladin better than he probably knew himself. That was what made his silence so disheartening. When Danse was upset, he was usually in an uproar. Smashed belongings scattered wherever he could reach them. Holes in the walls. Chest puffing. He didn’t have a temper, but when his facade cracked, Sole had seen a man full of emotion and anguish.

But instead, Danse was quiet. They finally had to ask why he reacted to their decision in complete silence. Danse looked over at Sole; eyes full of thick tears. “I thought when you said you loved me, you loved all of me. Even the synth part.” His voice cracked. Sole had never seen him this upset, even when he left the Brotherhood. “Now I don’t know why you stay. To you, I’m just a machine. I was right all along.”

Deacon: “What the FUCK, Sole?!” Deacon slammed the door to HQ so hard the frame cracked. He had followed them back from picking up a lost synth when the man innocently asked why Sole had left young Shaun behind. Sole didn’t even have the audacity to deny it. 

Sole pleaded with Deacon to lower his voice, but it only fueled him on more. He said something about never truly knowing them. That they couldn’t be trusted. They were the only thing just as scummy as him in the entire Commonwealth.

“We’re through,” he said. Deacon’s voice was low. Seething. “I don’t want to be your partner. I don’t want to be your boyfriend. Because apparently I’m traveling with a murderer. I want you to look Des in the eyes and explain why you left a boy to die, because I sure as hell never want to see your face again.”

Hancock: “Wow,” Hancock said as Sole entered their shared apartment in Goodneighbor. “That’s low. Even for the likes of you.” When Sole asked what Hancock was talking about, his eye twitched. Today was not the day to mess with him. “A little birdy told me you left your son to die in the Institute. And here I was thinkn’ we were out to make the world a better place. To stick up for the little guy.” 

After that, Hancock and Sole drifted apart. It was a quiet, gradual break-up. He couldn’t be with someone who didn’t value all life. If Sole felt so apathetic about smoothskin synths, he didn’t want to know how they really felt about ghouls.

MacCready: “I can’t believe I was gonna let you meet my son!” MacCready stood between the bed and dresser. He wasn’t sure if he should sit down, or start packing his bags. Soul explained that the synth wasn’t really her son, and that it would be too hard to see young Shaun every morning knowing he wasn’t really him. MacCready calmed down enough to try and see it from their side. He ended up staying, but still hasn’t let Sole meet Duncan.

Preston: Preston’s first reaction was to get mad at the Minuteman who started spreading the rumor. His lovely, caring Sole would never leave an innocent person behind; especially not a child. He approached the topic carefully while the two were headed to a settlement that needed their help. To his horror, Sole admitted to leaving synth-Shaun behind.

“Y’know, a lot of the folks we help out here are synths, too. They deserve a chance at life. What you did was… cold.” Preston wanted to ask Sole if she would still help a settlement of synths, but he didn’t want to know the answer.

Piper: Piper felt conflicted. She didn’t trust synths, but she wasn’t a complete racist. Spending so much time in Diamond City had filled her head with doubts about the legitimacy of synths. Could they really be trusted? She knew Nick Valentine was alright, but he didn’t actually look like a person.

Sole asked her to imagine if she found out Nat was a synth that had replaced her a long time ago. That only made Piper angry, and she threw Sole out of the newsroom. As much as Piper would be hurt to have Nat replaced by a synth, it wouldn’t have been the synth’s fault. She supposed Sole wasn’t as trustworthy as she hoped they were.

Nick: “Well isn’t that just great,” Nick seethed. “I wonder when you were planning on ditching me, too.” Sole tried to explain that leaving Shaun had nothing to do with how she left about Nick, but he wouldn’t hear it. They had never seen him so angry, and his eyes pierced in to their own with fury. “You couldn’t even tell me. I had to find out around the streets of Diamond City! Do you really care that little about me, Sole?” Even though Sole continued to apologize, Nick didn’t even want to have a conversation about it. He couldn’t. It broke his heart.

X6-88: For the most part, X6 understood Sole’s decision. He hadn’t wanted them to leave the Institute in the first place, but he was programmed to obey and watch over the relatives of Father, and that was what he was going to do. However, he allowed himself to feel hurt. X6 wouldn’t say it out loud, but hearing the gossip from others made it much worse. When Sole found out X6 knew they left Shaun, they tried to explain themselves.

“You don’t need to tell me anything, sir/ma’am,” he said. X6 had that deadpan look he had given Sole the first time they met. “I’m sure your decision was an educated one. I just hope you aren’t planning on leaving me any time soon.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

Hello! If you're taking prompts still, could you do a coldwave one? Where the mind eraser that mick used on Len didn't quite work, so he remembers but he only sees it in is dreams? So most- if not every- nights len wakes up screaming but Micks always there to comfort him which he doesn't understand cause he ~killed Mick~ and still doesn't understand it until Rip proposed them becoming legends and then it's so much clearer. (Which could lead to Len just refusing the legends idea completely?)

By overwhelming majority :D ficlet #1, featuring a brief Harley Quinn cameo

ao3 link

————————————

It’s dreams, at first.

Len’s never had recurring dreams before, though, so this is new. They’re so vivid, so clear – they’re not nearly as nonsensical as Len’s dreams usually are. They make linear sense, for one thing, instead of jumping around from one horror to another, or randomly introducing pineapples in the corner of every scene.

He wakes up shouting at himself to stop.

Stop fighting, stop hurting, stop killing Mick.

They’ve fought plenty of times, aimed their guns at each other, but they’d never pull the trigger the way he sees himself doing, his face frozen in anger and hurt and betrayal.

Never.

“You sure you’re okay?” Mick asks after the first few times.

Len shrugs it off.

“You’re not okay,” Mick says firmly after the tenth or twentieth time. Not even going up against the Flash with Lisa had helped, a casino break and a grandiose battle just like he’s always enjoyed, and usually there’s nothing like having both Mick and Lisa where Len can keep an eye on them – all his chicks in their nest, so to speak – to calm Len’s subconscious down. Didn’t work this time, though, and Mick knows it just as well as Len.

“I might have a problem,” Len confesses, and tells Mick the whole story. The weird dreams that started right after his first battle with the Flash - the linearity of them - the consistency of them - how much it felt like a memory, for all that he wakes up with Mick, alive and well, curled up by his side -

“Okay,” Mick says when Len’s done. “That makes – exactly zero sense, but let’s get started working this out.”

“Working this out how?” Len asks doubtfully. “It’s just a dream. It’s not real.”

“And most of my memories from before the age of ten are non-existent because I have trauma-related amnesia,” Mick points out. “Don’t see them anywhere but my dreams.”

“You’re here, Mick,” Len points out in return. “I obviously didn’t kill you. Also, there were two of you. None of that makes any sense as anything other than a dream.”

“You say it’s still fuzzy,” Mick says. “Let’s start by clearing things up. My shrink can recommend someone.”

“You want me to see a shrink?”

“No,” Mick says patiently. “I want you to see a hypnotist.”

“Wow, that’s a terrible idea,” Len says. “We’re not doing that.”

He dreams again that night of killing Mick, sees the ice freeze his partner’s heart, sees the blood spill out, thick and red, and that scene just repeats on endless loop again and again and again –

“Mick,” Len says, shaking his partner awake at four in the morning.

“Wha…?”

“That hypnotist,” Len says. “Who’d you have in mind?”

“Well,” Mick says. “I kinda only really know one that deals with supervillains…”

“Wow,” Poison Ivy, Mick’s pen pal plant-buddy (weirdos, both of them), says about a week later, after Len’s told her and her girlfriend the whole story from the start. “This is a terrible idea.”

“I know, right?” Len says gloomily.

“I mean, I’m a shrink an’ Ivy’s good with hypnotism, so I guess we’re the best you’ve got?” Harley says, but she sounds very doubtful. “We ain’t that good, though. But, like, we don’t want you to fall into Hugo Strange’s lap either, so…”

“You guys helped me clear up some old suppressed memories that were causing me some trouble not four months ago, following the fire,” Mick argues. “You do it all the time for the local girls, I know you do.”

“Those are suppressed memories,” Ivy stresses. “Not dreams.”

“Same difference.”

Harley opens her mouth, then closes it with an effort of will. And then a second later bursts out with, “Do you even know how wrong that is -?!”

“Shhh, it’s okay, babe, relax,” Ivy says soothingly to Harley. “Mick, stop it before she starts ranting about the DSM, okay?”

“Just do it before I chicken out,” Len interjects quickly, because Mick’s looking mutinous and Harley’s looking murderous and no one wants to get in the middle of that. “And we all know how Ivy feels about chicken.”

“Don’t mock the vegetarian about to entrance you,” Ivy says, rolling her eyes. “Okay, let’s do this thing.”

Len goes under.

When he resurfaces, he has a brand new shiny clear set of dreams (memories?), and they still make zero sense. He tells them to everyone, and they puzzle over them together.

“Okay,” Harley says. “There’s one thing that might make this whole stupid sheebang make a lick of sense.”

“What’s that?”

“Bear with me - we start by assuming that time travel exists.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Why not?” she presses. “If Ivy can exist, if your Flash can exist, and all those metas – why not time travelers?”

“If there were time travelers, wouldn’t we have seen them?” Len points out. “They’d come back to famous events or something.”

“Well, maybe they can’t. Maybe there’s some sorta Time Police to keep ‘em from interfering…”

“Even if there is something like that, putting aside how distressing it is to imagine law enforcement getting its fingers into something as awesome as time travel, how’d Mick and I get caught up in it?” Len demands.

“Boss,” Mick says. “If anyone offered you a chance to go time traveling, you’d leap at it.”

“Only for a year,” Len says.

Mick frowns. “Why?”

“Because then it’d be a leap year. Get it?”

Harley hits him with a pillow, cackling madly in approval, as the other two groan and put their heads in their hands. Len hadn’t even seen any pillows – either Harley secretly has access to a pocket of space-time, or it’d been hidden in the plants somewhere. In which case Len really doesn’t know.

He’s pretty sure it’s the space-time pocket.

“So what do we do?” Mick finally asks.

“Don’t go time traveling,” Ivy says immediately.

“But what if the consequences of us not going are worse than the consequences of us going?” Len asks. “I assume our past selves had a good reason.”

“Let’s focus on getting back the rest of your - you know what, let’s just assume they’re memories,” Ivy says firmly. “Maybe that’ll explain.”

A few hours later, Harley has still not stopped saying “Damien Darhk? And Malcolm Merlyn? What is this, the League of Shadows rejects society?”

“I’d feel offended, but the League would never try to recruit me,” Len says thoughtfully. “Also, thanks for finally explaining what the League of Shadows is; I’d been wondering. How do you even know about foreign ninjas?”

“Eh, Bats is pretty thorough,” Harley says with a shrug. “They either all pass through here or at least we hear about ‘em.”

“That still doesn’t stop us from figuring out how to stop this,” Len says.

“According to your memories, they recruited your past self – who’s an idiot, by the way – by telling him, believably, that you die in the future,” Ivy says, tapping her lips. “I think we have to assume that you actually did die, but in a way that was necessary for some reason. That’s why Mick betrays you to his hero team -”

“I’m never joining a hero team,” Mick grumbles, not for the first time.

“- and why you’re so upset. You think he’s killing you, and you’re lashing out.”

“I still feel like it’s an overreaction,” Len objects. “We’d fight it out, not kill each other.”

“If it helps, I think that fuzzy bit of memory in the middle is Merlyn doing something to your brain,” Ivy offers.

“He’s called ‘the Magician’,” Harley agrees. “Excellent with hypnotism. He’d totally fuck with you, make you more on their side than you outta be.”

“The future is bright,” Len says with a sigh. “We’ve seriously got to figure out a way to avert it.”

“Wish we could just ask ‘em what the deal is,” Harley agrees, also heaving a sigh.

Len pauses.

“Boss?” Mick asks.

“I’ve got a really bad idea,” Len says.

The Waverider does, in fact, show up to stop them from burning down STAR Labs.

“I don’t know how it happens,” the woman in white – Sara? – is saying as she walks down the platform. “Mick, you’re involved – what’s going on?”

“I don’t know!” Mick’s voice rings out. He’s walking behind her - a few pounds heavier, a grumpy look on his face, but unmistakably Mick.

The present Mick, who’s hiding with Len behind a curve of the building, starts in shock. Seeing is believing, Len guesses.

“Well, figure out where those bombs are,” she says.

“Sure,” future Mick snaps, and marches away from her – right to where they’re hiding.

The two Micks stare at each other.

“This is weird,” present Mick says.

“No kidding,” future Mick grunts. “Listen, last time I crossed paths with my past double, things went to shit. What’s going on? This didn’t happen the first time around.”

“We know what happened the last time that happened,” Len says. Future Mick starts – in just the same way present Mick just did – and looks at him, then doesn’t look at him, then looks conflicted and lost and awful. Len can’t help but reach out a hand to wrap around his arm, a comforting motion, like he always does, but it backfires – future Mick looks like he’s about to cry or something. “We just need more intel on what happens to me. So we can stop it.”

“You die,” future Mick says. “At the Oculus. Some sort of magic timeline-controlling device that the Time Pigs got their hands on, use to manipulate time. We were gonna destroy it, but someone needed to stay behind. You – you take my place and get blown up.”

“Why would you be there?”

“Stupidity?” future Mick suggests. “I really don’t know, somedays, but it seemed worth it at the time. We saved the whole timeline from being fucked with by some pretty awful guys. They tortured me.”

“Are they dead now?” Len demands.

“Yeah, they all died in the explosion,” future Mick says. “Why are you…?”

“No, I have an idea,” Len says. “Now go disable those bombs while we make a getaway.”

“You’d better have an idea,” future Mick says. He looks desperate.

Present Mick doesn’t look much better.

“Leave it to me,” Len says.

Future Mick nods and goes to disable the bombs.

And then he goes back to the Waverider before Sara can get back.

“Gideon,” he says. “Is there a time anomaly remaining?”

“Yes, Mr. Rory,” Gideon says. “The burning of STAR Labs has been successfully averted, but another anomaly is forming, relating to one Leonard Snart and his –”

“Beta delta zed, baseline override,” Mick says. “Forget about the Snart anomaly. You don’t know about it, and if anyone asks, you deny it exists.”

“Understood, Mr. Rory,” Gideon says.

“Sorry, Gids.”

“I understand,” she says. “I don’t appreciate it, but I understand.”

A day passes, though, and Mick doesn’t feel any different. He vaguely remembers the incident in question, remembers Len being all reassuring and shit, but nothing ever really came of it, and eventually he largely forgot about it.

Another day.

A week.

The plan must not have worked.

And then they get called back to 2017, and there Len is, standing by the Flash’s side, and he’s smirking. “About time,” he drawls.

“You asshole,” Mick says, understanding. “You didn’t tell me the plan?”

“Didn’t want to cause paradox!”

“I’m going to punch you!”

“Wait,” Jax says. “Is that our Snart? Back? For real?”

“I’m the one that went boom,” Len confirms. “Also the one who killed animal girl here – I’d apologize if I really cared – but I got over that years ago, and you should too.”

“How?” Rip demands.

“I remembered what happened in the past, and used it to shape the future,” Len says with a shrug.

“The device should have worked – you shouldn’t have remembered it as anything other than a dream!”

“You didn’t tell me that,” Mick snaps. “Or I would’ve told you that wouldn’t have worked. Snart has nightmares or dreams about pineapples and that’s it. Of course we got suspicious when he started dreaming about evil dystopias and murder.”

“Pineapples?” Ray asks.

“Don’t ask,” Len says.

“But even if he did retain the dreams, the memories wouldn’t have been anywhere near clear enough –” Rip starts.

“Yeah, about that,” Len says. “I promised Harley and Ivy a ride in the Waverider as recompense. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course we mind!” Sara exclaims.

“Awwww, that’s no fun,” Ivy purrs, coming out of the door in her usual state of undress-masquerading-as-a-costume, Harley a few feet behind her in what appeared to be three pieces of black-and-red leather barely stitched together - Mick has really got to have a word with her about her costume choices. He and Len share a look of total agreement on the subject.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Sara says, staring. “We don’t mind. At all. Hiya, girls.”

Ivy blows her a kiss.

All the people even slightly attracted to women in the room that haven’t been inoculated – which is to say, everyone but Harley, Mick, and Len, because there’s straight and there’s gay and then there’s Ivy-resistant and just about no one is Ivy-resistant – promptly go all glazed-eyed.

Interestingly enough, this category includes both Amaya and Iris.

“Yeah,” Len says. “This is gonna be fine.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me the plan,” Mick grumbles.

“Oh, get over it,” Len says, sliding a hand around Mick’s waist. No one’s going to notice their public display of affection with Ivy and her pheromones in the room. “At least I’m alive, and no more nightmares of murdering you.”

“No?”

“Nope,” Len says. “I’m back to pineapples.”

“One day, you’re going to explain that,” Harley tells him.

“It’s going with me to my grave,” Len says.

“Not anytime soon, it’s not,” Mick says. “You’re staying right here where and when I can keep an eye on you, you hear me?!”

[oumakokichi]

What do you think Ouma would have been like if he survived to the end of the game? Or what about just outside of the game, like in an au where this game didn't happen? (I'm sorry I just love his character and I want the next game(?) that says no one ever died and they're all living happily)

There’s no need to apologize! Ireally love these particular questions, and it’s not exactly a secret that Oumais my favorite DR character—I would honestly have loved to see him survive,moreso with what an important, vital character he was to the whole game evenafter his death. The fact that even after dying, Ouma was essentially “present”at both the Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 trials (first because of the Exisal planwith Momota, then because of all the clues, hints, and mysteries surroundinghim that led to them finding out so much of the truth) has always struck me asvery, very interesting. And he had so much potential as a survivor, especiallywith his cover blown and his plans against the mastermind made clear.

I’ve actually talked a littlebit about my ideas on this before, in a post here a while back! And some peoplelike @klepotmaniac and @ouma–kokichis have also expanded on the idea and beeninterested in it! I still feel like there was real potential to take the Exisalplan in Chapter 5 and take it in another direction entirely. It was stillincredibly amazing with how well done it was in-game, of course, but I feellike there was definitely a very noticeable opening there where Ouma couldactually have been one of the survivors.

The most interesting thing, ofcourse, is that Ouma would have lived through that event without wanting to. Heclearly was very willing to die in Chapter 5. His death was entirely avoidable,and if he’d wanted to throw Maki and Momota to the wolves and just hole himselfup in the Exisal to be malicious, he easily could have. Instead, he chosewillingly to give the antidote to Momota instead, have Momota be the one tocarry out the plan in the Exisal, and went completely willingly to his deathunder the press, all because he could strike back at the mastermind. And Maki,who did honestly, truly intend to kill him, didn’t have to be executed as aculprit.

I feel like if Momota hadrealized what Ouma was trying to do with the antidote ahead of time and refusedto drink it, things could’ve gotten really interesting. Because Momota wouldn’twant to die from the poison and therefore make Maki into a killer, but he alsorealized that his time was limited no matter what he did. Even without thepoison, his sickness was just about ready to kill him, as is clear from how hedies only midway through his own execution later on.

And Momota is such a shounenprotag at heart: if there’s a way to avoid the biggest number of sacrificespossible, he’ll take it. He wants to fight people, but he doesn’t want them todie. Had he realized exactly what Ouma was trying to pull, and realized thefact that there was no need for Ouma to die, I think it’s entirely possible hewould’ve thrown Ouma’s plans off somewhat by just refusing to drink theantidote. If that were to happen, both of them would die, Maki would beexecuted for a double-murder just like Korekiyo, and nothing about the killinggame would change at all.

So very bitterly andreluctantly, I think Ouma would spell out his whole plan about trying to usethe press to discover the cause of death and identity of the victim/culprit,hoping that by making it super clear he could get Momota to go along with it.And the plan is brilliant, of course, but it would still require one of thembeing a victim and the other being a culprit, except for one thing: contrary toOuma���s expectations, it’d be perfectly possible for Momota to kill himselffirst, and then for Ouma to disguise the state of the body, cause of death,etc. using the press afterwards.

In a very Sakura-like twist fromdr1 where Momota is both the culprit and the victim of his own murder, there’dbe two lives saved rather than one.And the whole plan with the Exisal, and confusing Monokuma, would still work.The Exisal would still protect Ouma from Maki trying to kill him (because shewould, undeniably want to kill him, blaming him for Momota’s death).

And no matter how tired he wasand how ready he to die he was after all the shit he’d gone through in thekilling game, I don’t think Ouma would have ultimately been able to convinceMomota out of it. If it were an all-or-nothing situation where they were goingto keep being stubborn, and considering how little time they had before theeffects of the bomb wore off and the cameras came back, I think Ouma would havehad no choice but to compromise. Momota and Ouma lay out a plan for Momota tokill himself in the machinery bay first, Ouma drinks the antidote for real thistime so he’s no longer being slowly poisoned to death, and after the deed isdone, Ouma disguises the truth about the body with the press.

With Ouma in the Exisal insteadof Momota, the whole catbox plan regarding the victim’s identity probably would’vebeen taken even further than before. The things Ouma managed to convey just byhaving Momota act them out with a script he provided, Ouma himself would beable to perform a million times more convincingly—and that’s saying something,since Momota was already a pretty damn convincing actor. Meanwhile, littletip-offs and slip-ups in the trial would’ve caught his notice, probably,including things about the Remnants of Despair, Junko, the whole “hope vs.despair” language the others were now talking in, etc.

But what Momota knew in Chapter5, Ouma clearly knew too, because the hints he left behind were so obvious, andno matter how badly he wanted to strike back at the mastermind, he was neverwilling to bet anyone else’s lives to do it, because lives are so important tohim. They both knew Saihara would ultimately reach the truth of the matter, ifgiven enough time. And so Saihara, having to disregard all his previousmisconceptions, and having to deal with Maki still convinced and unshakable inher belief that Ouma is the culprit, would manage to reach the truth that Oumais the one in the Exisal but didn’t kill Momota at all, and that Momota killedhimself and let his body be crushed after death precisely because the detailswould be closed up into a catbox.

If Ouma had truly wanted toeven in-game, much less in this AU idea I’m discussing, he could’ve made theChapter 5 trial into a real catbox. There was absolutely no reason for him totell Momota to leave the clues he did, including his shirt in the toilet, thecamcorder video of “Momota” being killed under the press, or Momota’s jacketsleeve poking out from under the press—unless he definitely did not want to risk everyone’s lives forreal, and he knew that Saihara wouldreach the truth once he had those clues in hand.

And if he were a survivor, he’dknow it too. If Saihara were able to reach the truth in spite of everything,and particularly in spite of what a convincing villain routine Ouma had beenrunning ever since Chapter 4, I think even Ouma would come out of that Exisal.After a whole trial of a convincing, super dramatic act full of questions like “Whoam I?” and “Who are you guys gonna vote for?”, at the very end I think Ouma woulddecide to “open the catbox.”

And rather than pulling anyfurther acts or facades or routines, I think he’d just be blank. Shaky, from nearly being poisoned to death before, andtired, and further traumatized by Momota having died in front of him. Therewouldn’t be any further need for his usual acts and routines, because Saiharaalready reached the truth of his plans to confront the ringleader, and alreadyknows now that Ouma himself is not the ringleader. And I think while stilllooking very blank and neutral, Ouma would tell them all the entire truth ofwhat happened in the machinery bay.

There would be so muchpotential for his inclusion into the group at this point. I’ve thought about ita lot. While it’s certainly true that Ouma did things, horrible things, inorder to progress with his plans this far, it’s also true that the whole groupwould’ve died without his help in previous cases. And rather than realizingthat he was trying to literally stop the killing game once and for all, it’strue that the entire group reacted against him, and that Maki in particularwent off right into the real ringleader’s plans and tried to torture and killOuma to death despite promising not to try anything of the sort in front ofthem all.

There were definitely mistakeson both sides, and Ouma’s desperation to end the game and disgust at the ideaof killing and murder is precisely the reason he was so willing to try and lethimself die under that press. But since he’s now essentially living on forMomota’s sake, because it’s a sacrifice Momota was willing to make for thewhole group, now he has to stick around, and he hardly even feels like it,because he already had to compromise his morals and dirty his hands.

But the truth Saihara wouldhave reached in this scenario isn’t just that Ouma wasn’t the culprit  of that particular case, or the ringleader—it’sthat despite Ouma’s act, and all his claims, he’s not evil. He’s not irredeemable.

With Ouma on their side, theChapter 6 investigation would have been so much fun. The group would still havebeen reacting to having him actually included as one of their number, ratherthan just a figure to be reviled. Maki, while still probably unable to bringherself to like or trust Ouma entirely, wouldn’t have been able to help feelingsomewhat guilty, I think, considering it’s her own actions, not Ouma’s, thatwound up getting Momota killed—and because she almost got Ouma killed too, eventhough he was never the ringleader or the leader of the Remnants of Despair atall.

The trial with Tsumugi wouldhave been an absolute blast. I’vepointed out that there are some pretty blatant contradictions in some of thelies Tsumugi tells them all, particularly when she starts aiming for thingslike their romantic feelings or emotions, and when she brings up “every singledevelopment being part of her scenario” (because things like Momota’s illnessclearly contradict this).

Even though the rest of thecharacters were far too traumatized and shocked by these realizations to noticewhere it was obvious that she was lying, I feel pretty sure that Ouma wouldhave noticed. And after quite a while of being blank and unsure how exactly toproceed within a group that he had felt isolated from for so long, I think he’dreally find himself slipping back into the role he does best, and some of hismost fun sprites and dramatic routines would’ve come back in the Chapter 6trial.

No matter how much Tsumugiwanted to make things into a real catbox of her own in Chapter 6, with all thecharacters unable to prove or disprove anything about her fictional scenarios,Ouma is very skilled at pinpointing other’s lies, precisely because he deals inlies himself. There would’ve been so much potential for him to really shake herarguments in Chapter 6, and I’m kind of sad that we’ll never get to see itoutside of some potential fanart or fanfictions.

Chapter 6 features so muchabout the characters being led to believe that they were not necessarily thebest people before entering the killing game. It’s impossible for them to knowthe truth about themselves one way or the other: everything, from their memoriesto their backstories to their talents, is called into question, and they haveto live with knowing that it’s incredibly likely that they signed themselves upfor this kind of game. And still, they decide to embrace the identities theyhave within the game. Even if they’re just fiction, even if their identitiesare “lies,” they’re real to them, precisely because of what they’ve been through.

But so much about Ouma is thatby knowing ages before the rest of them that these things are lies, he has nosense of identity. The reason he calls into question things like “common sense”and “reality” within his FTEs, even the very early ones with Kaede, is becauseOuma knows that nothing is trustworthy in this game. Not his talent, not hismemories, and not the people around him. So much about his prison mode ending,too, is about trying to “discover” himself and figure out who he really is ormight become—and I would have loved to see this explored with him as asurvivor.

If most of the rest of the gamehad proceeded the same, and they had all decided to abstain from voting inorder to flip a giant middle finger to the killing game and the audience atlarge, then I could see Ouma winding up as a survivor exactly the same asSaihara, Maki, and Himiko do. And it would have been very rewarding, in a way,to see him get the chance to see the hole in the dome representing the way tothe outside world, and realize that he had in fact accomplished some of what heset out to do.

If there’s a character arc I’ma sucker for, it’s atonement. Even if there are things that a character can’tever be forgiven for, even if they’ve done awful things and can’t forgivethemselves, I honestly enjoy characters who try to atone anyway, precisely becausethey’ll never be forgiven, but they can at least lessen their guilt somewhat.And I think Ouma would fit into this kind of trope quite well as a survivor—andI think that even if he wasn’t sure of “who” he was or what would be on theother side of that dome awaiting them, with the killing game over once and forall, I think he’d honestly, finally be able to start trusting Saihara and theothers as a group.

The end of ndrv3 deals so much “lies”becoming “truths,” and therefore being accepted as reality no matter what otherpeople or the real world might tell you. This motif is the “answer” Saihara andthe others find in canon, in response to Tsumugi’s “unshakable truth” that theyare fiction, and it’s the reason they’re able to reach an answer for themselvesthat had nothing to do with either hope or despair. And it’s Ouma who wassuggesting this kind of answer long before any of the rest of them. I really,truly would love to see the rest of the survivors, and Saihara in particular,kind of realizing that fact about Ouma.

Anyway, this has gotten prettylong so I’ll stop, but it’s an AU idea I love to think about! I’m really gladyou both asked, and I hope I was able to share some of my thoughts on the matter!