#fandom went through a lot in the months leading up to termination

[sesshy380]

1, 3 and 14 for the writer asks?

1- What led you to start writing fan fiction? 

Honestly, I've kinda always been 'writing' fanfiction and stories, just it used to be entirely through art when I was younger. I still have an old Digimon and Matrix OC floating around in a box somewhere (others as well, but I am far too embarrassed to admit what fandom they belong to lol).

As far as actually writing and publishing, I had binged someone's fic and brain had one of those 'If they can do this, so can I' moments. Started writing up the first chapter of a story that had been floating around in my mind for about a decade (and mutated immensely over that time), posted it, received a comment not even a few hours later, excitement high lead to mania that lasted three days, and ended up with another 2 chapters.

The high/mania obviously died down, but I found I enjoyed finally getting the story out there. I've attempted to write something original MANY times over the years, but I always gave up. I have a bad habit of picking up 'hobbies' during mania, then dropping them after the crash. That ONE COMMENT on my longfic made it where that didn't happen. I can let myself down, but I can't bear the idea of letting someone else down. I am now determined to finish longfic for both that commenter, and self-spite to prove that I can finish what I started. All the other fics I've written (and the insanity that comes with them), are just an added bonus lol

3- What experiences/influences have shaped your writings the most?

The entirety of my life for the most part. I would have to say the biggest, though, would be the death of my mom when I was 16. I was already at an age where I was struggling with a lot of prior traumas, not to mention dealing with awkward teenage everything, depression and anxiety, etc. My mom first discovered she had breast cancer when I was 13/14. She'd went through the chemo, radiation, mastectomy, etc, and had been declared cancer free when I was 15. A few months later the cancer returned in her remaining breast, and spread like wildfire into the surrounding tissue. It was such a huge whiplash from being cancer free, to terminal...all while still dealing with everything else. My mom is one of the few people in my life that never made me feel 'weird' or 'different'. I was just ME...and she reminded me all the time that being ME was more important that being what others wanted me to be.

My writing is full of healing and acceptance in its various forms because of the most pivotal moment of my life.

14- What aspects of your creative process do you enjoy most? Which are most challenging?

The part that I enjoy the most is just daydreaming/visualizing the story. The most challenging is turning brain video into those things called 'words'.

Thanks for the ask!

And if your brain does a 'Now I feel bad' because of my answer to number 3...DON'T. It's a scar on my heart and soul that gets ripped open on occasion, but it's made me who I am. I have endured and overcome a lot in my life, and if it was something I wasn't comfortable sharing publicly, I wouldn't.

There's still a few questions that haven't been asked yet if anyone else feels like participating. Questions can be found here. Answered questions: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16

[randomshipperhere]

I’m still in a lot of pain after the MLDD server shutdown.

Even though I lost all my progress I am so glad that there are fans who do so much for the community by posting high quality version of the pics for free. Translate the game for free and make fan content for fellow fans to enjoy.

If this post gets seen by anyone who has contributed anything for the fandom I’m sincerely grateful to all of you.

[luckywatersao3]

Ahhhh I can’t believe I haven’t asked you this but!!! Do you have any fic recommendations (I’ll read any ship honestly and either marvel or hp)? I feel like you most definitely have top tier taste 😋💘✨

“top tier taste” heck yeah 💅

Sorry this took a week to respond to! I kept getting distracted when I was looking through my bookmarks being like "oh wow I forgot about this story" or "why haven't I bookmarked this story?"

Small disclaimer: I only really started using bookmarks in the last year, so a lot of fics that I read before than have fallen through the cracks here, especially in the HP fandom. But here are some that I really like!

Harry Potter

Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

The Man Who Lived (253826 words) by sebastianL Chapters: 42/42 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter Characters: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter Additional Tags: Original Characters - Freeform, Sexual Content, Violence, Slow Burn, First Person, Character Study, Enemies to Friends, Friends to Lovers Summary:Draco breaks a cup, and one thing leads to another. A story of redemption, tattoos, dreams, mistakes, green eyes, long conversations, and copious amounts of coffee.Set in New York twelve years after the war.

The Bucket List (32393 words) by GallaPlacidia Chapters: 17/17 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter Characters: Pansy Parkinson, Teddy Lupin Additional Tags: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, contrived love curses, terminal illness but in kind of a light hearted way?, Draco Malfoy living his best life, Bucket List, Secret Identities, Sickfic Summary:Draco will die in six months if he can't get Harry Potter to fall in love with him. Since that's not going to happen, he might as well spend his last days working through his Bucket List. Tap-dancing lessons? Rock climbing? Poetry-writing? Threesomes? Cocaine? Getting to know his adorable cousin, Teddy Lupin? Draco will try them all!Feat. Cheerily pessimistic Draco, devoted bitch queen Pansy Parkinson, and a Harry who can't help but notice that something seems DIFFERENT about Draco, these days.Inspired by a lovely piece by khasael called Somebody To Love. Also indebted to You've Got The Antidote For Me by Kandakicksass and IDK My BFF Hermione? by lettered

The Moon Looks Lovely Tonight (35723 words) by Omi_Ohmy Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter Characters: Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Gregory Goyle Additional Tags: Board Games, Owls, Potions, Sharing a Bed, Grimmauld Place, HP: EWE, Pining Summary:When Harry moves into the damp and empty Black house, it doesn’t quite feel like home. And then the first owl moves in. After that, it’s a steep slope leading to bed-sharing, more owls, assorted housemates, strange potions experiments, and terrible cooking. And a bit of waltzing, too.

Harry Potter/Severus Snape

Between the Lines (22816 words) by Dementordelta Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Harry Potter/Severus Snape Characters: Harry Potter, Severus Snape Summary:Harry discovers a secret in his Potions text and a friend in the Half-Blood Prince.

Final Examination (22807 words) by asecretchord Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Harry Potter/Severus Snape Characters: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Minerva McGonagall Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Snarry-A-Thon Challenge Summary:"Is this some sort of test?""Everything that doesn't kill you is.""Mind you," he added, "surviving doesn't always mean you passed."― Michelle Sagara West

Marvel

Peter Parker/Tony Stark

Stipulations (70043 words) by Anonymous Chapters: 11/11 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Iron Man (Movies) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Michelle Jones, Pepper Potts, Aunt May, Ned Leeds, Steve Rogers, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Wanda Maximoff, Vision (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), T'Challa (Marvel), Nakia (Black Panther), Happy Hogan Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Age Difference, Peter is 18, POV Alternating, Explicit Sexual Content, Power Imbalance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, author has already arranged a ride to church trust me Summary:Peter Parker’s longterm dream recently went from ‘get into MIT’ to ‘afford going to MIT’. As the time approaches, it’s dawning on him that he won’t be able to pay his tuition and afford the move to Cambridge all at once: he’s out of money, his secrets are beginning to pile up, and desperation has started creeping in...And then one night, he saves Tony Stark’s life.

Wouldn't Be The Worst Thing (7729 words) by deltorafray Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel) Additional Tags: Getting Together, First Time, Underage Drinking, (in the US), 20-year-old Peter Parker, Fluff, Smut, Fluff and Smut, Light-Hearted, drama-free, Daddy Kink, Panty Kink, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Rimming, Anal Fingering, Riding, Sugar Daddy Tony Stark, Sugar Baby Peter Parker, Graphic Sex Summary:In which Peter somehow finds himself having a sugar daddy in Tony Stark without either of them meaning to, but neither really do anything to stop it. It’s not like anyone else bats an eye either, so it just … happens.

Refraction (16300 words) by chelicerata Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark Additional Tags: Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, But also, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Tony Stark is not Iron Man, (...Yet), Dimension Travel, Multiverse fuckery Summary:In which Tony Stark gets kidnapped (again), meets a real life superhero, and has a long-delayed midlife crisis.

Gift of Choice (11744 words) by tuesday Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark Additional Tags: College Student Peter Parker, Sugar Daddy, Sugar Daddy Tony Stark, College, Explicit Sexual Content, Stealth Crossover, Multiple Orgasms, POV Peter Parker, Lingerie, Sex Toys, Age Difference, Canon-Typical Violence, Sounding, Romance, Flirting, Adult Peter Parker Series: Part 15 of Author's Favorites Summary:Tony Stark had a thing about giving Peter stuff.

Raising Hybrid Puppies (158269 words) by JayPendragon Chapters: 33/33 Fandom: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Iron Man (Movies) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Underage Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Characters: May Parker (Spider-Man), Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner, Ned Leeds, Michelle (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Adrian Toomes, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Phil Coulson Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Slow Build, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Age Difference, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Tony Stark vs. The Media, jarvis disapproves, Consensual Underage Sex, Last Week Tonight as plot point, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Humor, Angst Series: Part 1 of Hybrid Puppy Verse Summary:When Tony saunters into the coffee shop, he never expected to meet Peter Parker, the incredibly hot barista with a brilliant mind and a passion for engineering only rivaled by Tony’s own. Tony always gets what he wants – which is pushing Peter up against the counter and making sure he forgets his own name.But he can’t.Because Peter’s sixteen.~*~A non-powered Tony/Peter coffee shop AU with billionaire Tony and working-class, teenage Peter. Also, Toomes has a bakery and somehow Last Week Tonight is a genuine plot point.Translations: Korean | Russian | ItalianFANART by plavkivie | COLLAGE by 1r0n5p1d3r

Revelations (126830 words) by Anonymous Chapters: 19/19 Fandom: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Iron Man (Movies) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts, Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones, Happy Hogan, May Parker (Spider-Man), James "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Thor (Marvel), Stephen Strange, Wanda Maximoff, Vision (Marvel), James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Natasha Romanov (Marvel) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Power Imbalance, Age Difference, Peter is 18, Found Family, Slow Burn, Explicit Sexual Content, author has already arranged a ride to church trust me Summary:“I still don’t get it,” Ned says. “How you just... keep being ordinary in spite of all the craziness you’ve lived through. You were in space. You helped Iron Man save the universe. And nobody knows it was you.” His tone softens, becomes almost sad. As though he realizes that what he’s saying is so completely alien to him that he will never be able to understand this part of Peter’s life. “Peter, don’t you want people to know you for who you are?”An AU where they get the Gauntlet off of Thanos that first time, on Titan.

Left Hand Free (7836 words) by tuesday Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Aged-Up Peter Parker, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, Multiple Orgasms, POV Peter Parker, College Student Peter Parker, Flirting, Romance, Banter, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Civil War Team Iron Man, Adult Peter Parker Summary:Peter and Tony's first meeting is both the same and very, very different. In which Civil War happens when Peter is a college sophomore, and Peter catches Tony on the rebound.—"Are you—are you hitting on me right now?"Tony looked up. "Do you want me to be? Because normally I'd start with how impressive this is—" He gestured with his free hand at where he was stuck to the door. "—but I'm afraid you might take it as encouragement to leave me here."

James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers

Steve Rogers Versus the Classics (34078 words) by thecommodore_squid Chapters: 4/4 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Thor (Marvel), Lucky (Hawkeye), Rebecca Barnes, Winifred Barnes Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Modern Bucky, Bucky is a History Professor, Steve is still Captain America, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Literature, cinema, Steve's Therapists are a Bunch of Dead Authors, Steve is so Uncultured, Steve Has Issues, Bucky has issues, Healing Through Books and Movies, Amputee Bucky Barnes, Angst, Fluff, Happy Ending, Discussion of Past/Minor Character Death, Discussion of Suicidal Idealation, Drunk Steve is in Love With Thor, Clint Ships It, Violence, Injuries are Definitely Inaccurate, Glorified Movie Marathon and Chill Series: Part 2 of A Historical Relic and a History Professor Walk into a Bar- Summary:Steve narrowed his eyes. “I’m beginning to suspect I’ve been set up.”“I would never,” Natasha said, feigning shock.Steve sighed.“God fucking dammit,” he heard someone say and looked up.AKA An AU in which Steve is still Captain America and Bucky is the unfortunate history professor selected to help him understand those references.

Slide To Answer (6326 words) by relenafanel Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Captain America (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Wrong Number AU, Romantic Comedy, Phone Calls & Telephones, Dating, One Night Stands, Steve accidentally calls Bucky for dating advice, Bucky gives good advice, Meet-Cute, Misunderstandings Series: Part 1 of Slide to Answer Summary:"What do I do?” Steve appealed into the phone. “I’m freaking out.”There was silence on the other end of the line. It lasted so long that Steve pulled the receiver away from his ear and frowned at it. Pay phones were old. Maybe this one wasn’t working despite the obvious dial tone when he picked up.“Ok,” a stranger’s voice said over the phone. “First acknowledge the fact that you dialed the wrong number, but be quick about it because my cab is a few blocks away from my own plans and I’m about to drop some truth bombs on you.”

Etc or Multi pairings

Astronomy In Reverse (184785 words) by pansley Chapters: 25/25 Fandom: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, T'Challa (Marvel), James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Baron Zemo Additional Tags: Gratuitous Superfamily, Becoming a family, Hydra being a dick, Peter is canonly adorkable, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Peter Parker, unfair representation of the foster care system, Fluff, canon amount of angst, amateur (but effective) equine therapy, Civil War Fix-It, bucky is a good dad, Peter is a good kid, Steve is a good boyfriend, Tony is a good friend, and also kind of a sugar daddy, without benefits, Hero Worship, Peter is majorly stanning everybody in this fic and it's cute, world's most adorable basketball Series: Part 1 of Winter!Dad Summary:A year after the Winter Soldier failed his mission in DC, Bucky Barnes is doing his best to stay under the radar from both Hydra and Steve Rogers. His hope for a peaceful day-to-day life in limbo goes awry, however, when he meets Queens’ newest hero; a pure-hearted kid with a death wish and a ridiculous pair of red and blue pajamas.The last thing Steve expects when he finally tracks Bucky down is that, not only has the man been living in Queens all this time, right under his nose, but also that, in the two years since they last saw each other, Bucky somehow acquired a kid.Alternatively: How Peter Parker effectively fucks over Bucky Barnes, and also totally saves him.Dramatic reenactment by fanfictionbookclub on tiktok (WARNING: contains spoilers) LuckyWaters note: This is technically stucky, but it's more of a genfic IMHO

I've Found a New Baby (17756 words) by TellMeNoAgain Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Harley Keener/Tony Stark, Harley Keener/Steve Rogers, Harley Keener/Bucky, Peter Parker/Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Steve Rogers, Peter Parker/Bucky, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts, Tony Stark/Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov Characters: Peter Parker, Harley Keener, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Noir, Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - 1920s, Period Typical Attitudes, Mob Boss Tony Stark, Mob-Type Violence, Dark Tony, dark bucky, Dark Harley, Dubious Consent, Mental Instability, Mild Kidnapping, Polyamory, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers Series: Part 1 of Roaring Hot Summary:This is the first story in the "Tony Stark is an insane 1920's Mob Boss and there's sex everywhere" fic that literally no one asked for but that kept me up nights until I wrote it.I'm sorry.But at least we'll be in that handbasket to hell TOGETHER, friends. LuckyWaters note: This is me recommending the entirety of the Roaring Hot series, I just thought it would be excessive to list all 13 parts lol

[wearevillaneve]

Killing Eve S3, E5: “Are You From Pinner?“ should  really  be called “Killing Oksana.”

With “Are You From Pinner?” in the books, we are past the halfway mark of the Suzanne Heathcote era of Killing Eve and in some circles of the fandom, the hope is this wet firecracker of a season will blow up in the final three episodes.

Based upon what’ has come before, this may be a tad optimistic.   As erratic and disjointed as the preceding four episodes, E5 introduced something entirely new and different to Killing Eve.  A standalone showcase for Jodie Comer’s Villanelle without Eve or Dasha or Konstantin or any of the other regular cast to block the spotlight. Can you see the fatal error in all this?

Typically when something is dubbed a “shitshow” it’s meant metaphorically, but as one of the set pieces was Villanelle literally throwing shit, it becomes an accurate description.

Before we got to this point, the six-month time jump from the end of last season looked like a combination of a tactical error and a missed opportunity.   Instead of Villanelle returning to Russia to drop in on the home folks, there were a many more unanswered questions from “You’re Mine” in dire need of an explanation.

1.  Who rescued Eve found and transported her to the hospital?  The “lucky some tourists found you” one-liner by the late Kenny Stowton seems pretty flimsy.   Didn’t the Rome police have any questions about this Asian woman with amazing hair ended up in Hadrian’s Villa lying facedown in a pool of blood?  Was it a robbery?  Okay, so then did Eve have any money, passport or ID to get back to England once she healed sufficiently?  Did she receive any rehabilitative aftercare?   Is she on any pain-killing medicines?  What was her mental state after being shot by V?  What was her emotional and psychological state after slaughtering Raymond to save V?

2.  How did Niko get out of the storage locker?  Eve didn’t know where he was and neither did MI6.  Even if he was found by someone else, how did he explain away the small matter of Gemma’s rotting corpse? Niko griped to Eve that MI6 intervened to make it look like Gemma committed suicide to cover up the fact that not only can’t a spy agency catch an international assassin who kills British citizens at will, they later hired her to work on an off-the-book mission where a technocratic billionaire got his throat slit.  

Why would MI6 go through all that fuss and bother to cover up a murder of a civilian when it could easily be laid at Niko’s feet? His only defense is Gemma was killed by a beautiful blonde psychopath with a crush on his estranged wife.  Carolyn told Eve she was on her own after Rome.   What changed, because something must have for MI6 to ride to Niko’s rescue. 3. Isn’t The Twelve presented as this immense, almighty, sprawling international diabolical entity of murder, violence, and sowing chaos and espionage against nations with their dirty little fingers apparently manipulating every intelligence agency on the planet?  It also deploys assassins and goons too fucking stupid to look under a bed to find an unarmed MI6 agent hiding there quaking in fear OR recognize said agent when a thug asks her out for a sushi dinner.   Well, okay then. Killing Eve logic explains it all.  Returning back to this sluggish solo flight, Villanelle’s family in Mother Russia are a bunch of dopey dunces with anger management issues, poor self-control, and flat-earthers who break out in spontaneous dance routines while the prodigal trouble child, Oksana, looking like the Whitest White Girl Ever who tried to shake her moneymaker, but couldn’t because both of her feet were super-glued to the floor, stands by bewildered probably thinking, “Who the hell are you people?”

A few weeks ago rumors from not-very reliable sources were floating around that executive producer Sally Woodward Gentle had mused it might be conceivable Killing Eve could conceivably go on without one of the two leads.  Perhaps Woodward Gentle is hedging her bets should Comer or Oh not return after the fourth season. “Are You From Pinner” is proof that’s not true.  The show is called Killing Eve, not Killing Villanelle.  Though she has become the sun to Eve’s moon, there’s a reason for Eve Polastri to inhabit a central place in Villanelle’s life.   She is the other half which makes Villanelle whole.  Whether together or apart, what keeps the audience coming back is the strange relationship between Eve and Villanelle. Without Eve to humanize Villanelle, she become just another attractive, charismatic killer with a sad back story.   Yet Villanelle is not a Marvel super villain and many fans were perfectly fine with not knowing what it was in her past that made her who she is now.

Heathcote subverted expectations of another meeting between the central characters in episode 5 as her showrunner predecessors Emerald Fennell and Phoebe Waller-Bridge had done previously, but she went further by removing Eve completely.  Eve was not referenced a single time by Villanelle and weirdly, Sandra Oh and all the other cast members names were removed from the credits.�� Heathcote’s erred by that omission as it reinforced the notion some KE fans have held that she and Fennell tilted the balance in favor of Comer’s character as Oh’s is diminished.  That may not have been the newest showrunner’s intention, but it certainly feeds the impression that it was. The conclusion of Villanelle killing her mother and burning down the house was a wrenching, powerful moment, but taken in totality of the entire show, not nearly enough to compensate for the lackluster and pointless set-up scenes.

What we learned from Oksana's origin story is you really can't go home again.  Fine, but why did that require an Eve-less episode to know that.  This all could have unfolded in the six-month jump after Rome as a sub-plot playing out over the first four episodes.   It didn’t justify a standalone showcase for Villanelle. 

All it did was blunt the equally affecting impact of Eve witnessing Niko’s death.  A better and much fairer approach would have been devote the first half to Eve grieving for her murdered husband and the second to Villanelle less-than-warm welcome home. Minus Eve,  and without Konstantin and no Dasha to exercise some guidance over the nuclear missile that is Villanelle, what you get is an unleashed assassin alternatively being childish, being a smart-ass, being mysterious, being fashionable, before inevitably turning murderous.

Most of the time it works and we forgive Villanelle her many trespasses  This time it face-planted despite a sensational closing sequence between Oksana and her mother.  Unfortunately, ten riveting minutes do not make up for the uninteresting 32 minutes which preceded it. 

Villanelle has become unstoppable in her homicidal tendencies.   She has morphed into a female Terminator who occasionally imitates human traits.  Nothing can stop her or barely slow her down.  She commits mayhem and slaughter like most of us breathe and suffers zero consequence for it.  The fact she took out her own mother should neither shock nor surprise. 

“Are You From Pinner?” demonstrates Villanelle’s complex charms shine most brightly in her interactions with Eve, Konstantin and Dasha. Remove them from the equation and even Comer’s wealth of talents are not enough to rise above flat, lifeless characters, muddled motivations and a plot which wavers between the comedic for too long and the tragic too late to register.    A friend said she didn’t much like “Are You From Pinner” but hoped it would be better after a second or third viewing.  I told sometimes a first impression is a right impression and that it was doubtful a third watch would help much.  How much subtlety and nuance is there to be found from a turd tossing contest? I can say with all confidence, I can't see myself watching this episode again.   Like ever.  If you got something out of this misfire and it touched your heart and made you squirt a tear for Oksana, more power to you.   All I got out of it was confirmation why the show is called Killing Eve and not Villanelle and Her Wacky Russian Family.   Come for the comedy.  Stay for the kills.  In a new interview for her Elle Canada cover story, Oh spoke of how she had reached a point in her life where she was not looking for the next big blockbuster movie, but interested in roles where her Korean American identity can be explored.  “I decided that I’m only going to play characters that are essential to the plot, that conduct the narrative and therefore can’t be cut out.” Eve is an essential character who conducts the narrative, and was cut out of the latest installment of the program that bears her name.   And that bothers me.   It bothers me a lot more than just a mediocre Killing Eve story.  I will never watch another Killing Eve which erases one of the female leads to elevate the other.    That is not how women empower women. 

FINAL GRADE: C 

[popculturebuffet]

The Casagrandes Reviews: Operation Dad

In my first look at The Casagrandes, We meet Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s dad Arturo as Ronnie tries to get him to start working in the city to be closer to them.. and when a genuine honest appeal dosen’t work, shenanigans will have to do. Dad stuff under the cut. 

This is one i’ve had in the works since my labor day catchup binge of shows, but kept getting pushed back either due to regular coverage or specifically timed things like the bi visalblity day review of “What Was Missing.  And with Halloween next month, my time to cover this is running out a bit and I feel it’s a great place to start covering this show so, pitter patter.  The Casagrandes didn’t really hook me in at first: It did have two things going for it: An intresting premise A blended family coming together, with our heroine and her big bro being fish out of water in a new family situation. Wheras with the Loud House Lincoln, and by extension most of his sisters, is used to how his house runs, knows the score and knows how to manuvre around it, Ronnie Anne was being dropped into a new situation, with people she KNEW, but only likely from seeing them breifly. It’s one thing to see your cousin once or twice a year, as I did with mine at that age, it’s another to live with them. It had a lot of potential. The other thing was Bobby Santiago, Ronnie Anne’s brother, and one of my faviorite characters across both shows, an endlessly nice guy who while suffering from a terminal case of dumbass, is utterly likeable, helped by his VA Carlos PenaVega, with the spinoff and i’ts build up only fleshing him out more by giving him his job at the Mercado, and showing he has serious buisness acumen  in addition to his many other talents. 

But what made me wary was the lead: Ronnie Anne didn’t get the best intro on the loud house. You know this, I know this. We all know this. No sense beating around the bush: She was a bully, who had a crush on lincoln and masked it by pummeling him. And this was seen as okay by the show which isn’t as suprising in hindsight as Chris Savino clearly has messed up views about women and harassment, and is thankfully no longer part of this. She did get slightly better once she actually showed up, getting genuine chemstiry with Lincoln and being shown underneath the bully exteriror was a pretty nice kid who shared his intress. Granted it wasn’t perfect as the show madei t clear he was terrified of her, but it did at least also make it clear he no longer had a reason to be, and while she’d prank her boyfriend, or assits his sister during her dark time once a year in doing it, and if your wondering if i’m ever going to watch or cover the april fools episodes .. yeah i’m just waiting you know.. for april fools. 

My point is it was kinda mixed and their solution was to soften her up a bit but also act like she and LIncoln weren’t intrested in each other all of a sudden instead of you know, dealing with her past actions and having her make up for them. It was sloppy is what i’m saying and the character while not bad wasn’t in the best positoin to tkae the reigns of her own show. They did add some intresting depth with the move though, showing that Ronnie Anne and Bobby were often on their own, and that Maria moved them to the casagrande household simply because she felt her daughter would be happier NOT having to be the strong one or take care of herself all the time and actually have someone look out for her instead. It was a good emotional reason for hte move and both casagrandes showed up ocasoinally, mostly Bobbi whose still with Lori to this day as seen in the season 5 premiere.  It was an okay foundatoin but it would depend on what they did with her character.. and i’m glad to say.. they made it work. The show still has rough edges, mostly having the same problem ducktales and the loud house itself had during season 1 of juggling such a large cast: Most of them outside of Ronnie Anen and Bobby have only gotten 1 episode, and even then CJ feels underutlized despite being amazing, while the adults outside the grandparents feel underutlized.  Buuut the show is funny, intresting, has good pacing and unlike the loud house, having already learned that lesson, while Ronnie Anne does get more episodes than the rest of the family, it does feel more like an ensemble show and the focus on her feels less like the show not knowing what it has and more like easing the viewers into the rest of the cast by using her as a viewpoint.  Ronnie herself is better, the bully aspects gone. She can still take care of herself, and is still fairly indpentent and clever, but she’s got a sharp sense of humor and a clear love of her family and the fish out of water aspect I hoped for, while not used a ton, still comes up in intresting ways.  Overall i’d say the show is off to a good start.. and it has Melissa Joan Heart and Ken Jeong as a married couple and let’s Ken play a diffrent role for once: A dorky, kind dad instaed of any degree of lunatic. That being said given his character her’s last name is Chang, I can’t help but think this and community are in the same universe and that the Changs have just had to put up with whatever insane phase Senor Chang was going througha t the time every time he visted. I mean i’d love to hear Sid tell ronnie anne the time her uncle came over in a napoleon outfit and revaled he’d taken over his community college with the help of a bunch of children.  But i’m getting off topic, I gots an episdoe to cover and out of the ones I watched this felt both like a great re-introduction into the cast and was easily one fo the best with a great emotional core and great jokes and LOTS to dig into. So i’ve jawjacked enough, pitter pater. Again!

It’s with this episode we properly meet Arturo Santiago, Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s father, Maria’s ex, and owner of one hell of a beard. Ronnie mentioned him back in friended aka the pilot because fuck that airing structure but not the time or place for that moving on. 

We see he video chats his daughter once a day, though today she made hte mistake of doing so on a crowded subway while with her best friend and future wife Sid. NOW we can talk about Sid. Sid was introduced in Friended! over on the loud houd house as part of that mini arc I keep yelling about and will again and again. Sid is Ronnie Anne’s clyde: A best friend whose there as her sidekick, emotoinal support and resident goofus, being a bit of a weirdo and given i’m a giant ass weirdo, you can see why I like her/want to keep her safe from the nightmare that is at last half this fandom. Plus she and ronnie anne are adorable together and have more chemstiry than she and lincoln did.. thoguh the two do have OT3 energy together in his one episode, but that’s for another time. 

Anyways as Sid helps her rangle wifi by them by doing the mecha shiva we soon find out Arturo is coming home! Home lord he’s been off in Peru for too longggg. Point is Ronnie Anne is excited, Bobby is excited, everyone’s excited except for Hector who hates him.. and honestly I can see why the contrast. For everyone else, Arturo is a charming, friendly guy who genuinely loves his kids and only is away from them because he has a lot of important work to do and even with that is still an active part of their lives. Buuuut Hector likely sees it diffrently and is likely homing in more on the fact Arturo is barely there in person for his kids and left Maria to do all the raising them by herself, with her own demanding job.  It’s not a black and white situation is what i’m saying and.. I genuinely love that. It’s a complex thing to deal with: A parent who isn’t there for his kids but it’s hard to say if he’s being selfish or not. He’s not david from roseanne doing this so he can feel good about not wanting to deal with being a father or the death of his brother, Arturo genuinely just wants to help those who need him, even if he has to sacrifice a lot to do it.  Ronnie Anne naturally wants him to move here though and convince him during his visit, and her plan nicely shows off the duality of her charcter: She’s clever and can easily think things through, as his originzation has it’s home office in Great Lakes City so he could still help those in need, just more from the organizational end, as well as i’m assuming GLC’s own homeless and needy. But she also has an 11 year olds understading of complex issues and thus thinks the easiest way to convince him is to take him on a fun daddy daughter day that will make him love the city. Bobby is less optimistic about the plan though.. and that’s because he’s been through this with Arturo already. Granted his job for him was at weenier on a stick because it’s bobby, the boy is a peach of a human being but has the plkanning skills and common sense of a basset hound on qualudes.  He just sugest she enjoy the time. And this says a lot about BOBBY too: He’s used to his dad being out of his life, he’s probably been gone for most of it and while he loves him, he’s had ot get used to the fact he’s probably never going to be regularly in his life and while he understands why his sister’s trying this he wants to spare her the pain he went through. It’s interactions like this that to me show the series at it’s best and what it could be: deeper character interactions that really let the characters and voice cast shine, that still mix well with the usual nonsense.  Arturo arrives and everyone loves him.. and again it’s easy to see why: he’s kind, friendly and to the kids, he’s their cool uncle who lives in another country and as someone with one of those, It does feel neat. Hell he was my cool uncle when he just lived in chicago or seattle, but somehow he had to top those by moving to fricking ireland. So I get where they come from and really relate to it.. I mean I met mine in high school, my family tree is complicated, but still.  So while everyone but Hector is happily remeetinmg their uncle Maria shows up. And it’s awkward, the two not knowing how to greet each other, but it’s very obvious Maria and Arturo are on good terms, it’s just hard when theres so much history there.  Speaking of Maria let’s talk about her since this is one of her only scene’s this episode. Maria is one of my faviorites. She isn’t used a ton, but this is more excusable than it is with the Casagrande parents, as the whole point of Maria uprooting her kids to Great Lakes City was to give them company and someone to take care of them while Maria worked the long and varied hours of being a nurse. She’s a good parent, who just picked a rough career, and made the hard decision to uproot her kids, not for her sake, as it can’t be easy living with both your elderly parents, your sister and her husband not to mention 5 kids, a giant adorable pupper and an obnoxious parrot, but so they’d be happy.. which given Ronnie Anne went from having no friends and largely having to be the rock in the house, to having a sizeable friend group plus her cousins, as well as generally being happy while Bobby went from bouncing from job to job to running the family buisness and planning to expand it when he gets older. She’s a good gentle person who still makes time for her kids, and I wish we saw more of her with her spotlight episode, which was about Ronnie Anne trying to spend more time with her, being one of my faviorites so far. I also like the fact that for once in a cartoon a parent with a time sink of a career isn’t demonized for trying to put food on the table and rather than just quit or have a mean boss or the usual cliches, Maria just found a way her kids wouldn’t be alone. She’s awesome.  Ronnie Anne first tries showing him how great the city is with home cooking and a warm bed, but the first while nice is something he still gets, and the latter in a nice touch is just.. too soft for him. Ronnie meant well, but understadably he’s just not used to it and makes a cot under the stars instead.. he’s not trying to be ungreatful, he’s just sued to it. 

Anyways Ronnie indeed takes him on a montage, with some cab headbonks beacause why use an uber that’s cheeper and safer huh? Anyways our father and daughter do have a montage, and hector gets beaten up by a luchadore because this promotion apparently dosen’t get not to attack the crowd. They really need to stop booking that guy.

Ending on our article image, which is really sweet and a real beautiful shot, Ronnie Anne finally gets to her Ronnie Plan. First Arturo cycles through two diffrent assumptions about what she’s asking him about. He first thinks she’s about to tell him about a special boy or girl in his life, his exact words. He backspaces to include that. She says no which.. I guess okay you have other things in mind but you can’t put off him meeting Sid forever. That aside I do think it’s a good indication Ronnie Anne might be bi, and both her parents just easily accepted it which is great. I could be reading too much into this, and I probably am, but I’ve thought I was before on nickeodeon and look how legend of korra ended. 

The next is just hilarious as Arturo tries to let her down gently that he’s not getting back with maria which Ronnie Anne agrees with and was not remotely her point, but I do like as it shows their well and truly done, and it’s nice to see that sort of dynamic with a divorced couple in fiction where it’s not because of lingering sexual tension or anything, just that their apart but have kids to think about and presumibly the split was amicable if again still awkward. Finally Ronnie asks him.. but he gently refuses, since the people he helped need him as much as he wants to stay.. but part of what makes Arturo likeable, especially since he’s in the REALLY throny situation of not being in his kid’s lives in person despite having the opprountiy now, is that he genuinely tries to compromoise, saying he’ll try to up the calls to two a day, and he’ll visit more often. Ronnie Anne sadly and half heartdly says it’s fine and walks off.  So Ronnie Anne vents to that girlfriend she apparently dosen’t have that he cares more about her patients than him and Sid sidgests that part of that is simple: He dosen’t feel she and bobby need him since, as I pointed out earlier, their doing better than ever. So Ronnie Anne intitates a second Ronnie Plan: to convince him she’s a troubled youth and get him to stay and reasssmbles her cousins to help.  Before we move onto this plan that’s totally a good idea and not a borderline Zach Morris evil scheme, let’s talk about those cousins real quick. Quick fire: CJ is really great, a sweet kid and I wish they’d use him more and generally do nto get why they don’t, Carlota is fine but not all that defined at this point but Alexa PenaVega tries.. and why yes it is kinda weird Carlos PenaVega’s wife and the former star of spy kids is playing his sister. And Carl.. I don’t likes him. I just don’t. He did give me a really good episode, which we’ll be covering next month, but he’s just a little asshole with out the charm of fellow little asshole Louie Duck, who alsos cams people but actually gets consqeunces more often. 

That quickfire done Carl does a forgery which depsite me being eh on him, clearly, is a funny bit, to make Ronnie Anne look like she’s failing, but that fails as you’d expect when he can help her with that from Peru.  So it’s on to the actual plan: Which really boils down to this. 

I mean.. that’s essentially the plan convince him she’s running with a dangerous crowd and is breaking bad, dressing up in punk clothes and making a scene at breakfast. She also gets a really neat new haircut, similar to luna’s but spiky which.. why isn’t this her normal hair? and why dosen’t she at least keep the cool leather jacket? I always get annoyed when a character’s temporary costume change is even better than their default design and htey fail to realize it but whatever.  IT starts to work a little but clearly a breakfast tauntrum won’t be enough so Ronnie Anne enlists Sid.. who is frightend,d osen’t recognize her and dosen’t want to get shoved into a locker. .. who hurt you.. tell me.. I have a box to deliver. Just let me pop a quick H on there real quick. 

Anyways, once Sid realizes “Oh that’s not a bully come to shove me in a locker that’s just my girlfriend in the middle of a zack morris grade elabroate manipulative scheme”, which happens once a week their fine, she comes up with one last plan: Have her friends, who are neat but need more filling out, dress up like punks bullying her friend sameer.  This plan.. makes no sense. For one she was already a bully back home.. granted it was because she liked the kid, which no just no, but it’s heavily implied she did the same to the rest of the lincrew too. .which aside from Rusty isn’t a good look. I mean his face is punchable and he mocked hte idea of them being together despite next season hitting on Lincoln’s sisters, there’s a 1:1 chance he hit on her and she shoved him in a locker as is the natural response to anyone getting asked out by that goober. No matter how hard the show tries to pretend that didn’t happen it did. If her bullying kids didn’t get him to move home back in royal woods it won’t work now. 

So they had behind the fish market for their plan, Arturo is directed there.. and sees through it. I mean she’s probably sent him pictures of her friends, he knows who they are and no amount of costumes is going to fix that. I mean you really only changed Nikki’s hair. Why not just have a dance fight. i’m legitly asking dance fights are rad and this reminds me of the venture bros episode where hank, to impress his date, has billy and white pretend to be a street gang to impress his date. Just do that for sid instead of trying to gaslight your dad into staying.  But no while he pulls her into the car, Arturo knows this was a stunt and asks why. When Ronnie Anne tearfully reveals she just wanted him to stay.. he hugs his child.. and agrees. He realizes that if she’s willing to go to these lengths to get him to stay, she must REALLY miss her papa. So he plans to call the office to transfer.  But then while helping her dad unpack, Ronnie Anne finds something and we get another emotional scene: Ronnie Anne finds the letters he got from the various kids he’s helped, and is moved to tears. Props to Izabella Alvarez for her performance here as she reads the letter and realizes just what her dad’s work does ,and why it means so much to him. He truly helps those who need it and she decides she can’t take that awy from it: Sure her dad won’t be around.. but other kids need her dad more. She has a big family, she misses her dad.. but she can live without her dad. They need a doctor. 

So Arutro heads out with a tearful goodbye and Ronnie Anne leaves him a scrapbook of their time together. We then cut to the Santiago sibs playing cards, and being sad about their dad and all that.. when Arturo calls.. and then shows up in person. He took the Headquarters job after all, though a close friend of his we met earlier in the episode but I ddin’t mention will be taking over in Peru, and from earlier clearly wanted to get back out in the field, so it all works out. And it’s a nice character moment; Arturo realizes while his work is important, and as mentioned he does make sure a compient replacment will continue it.. his family can be too and it’s okay to think of himself and them for once. As I said he’ll still be able to help just in a diffrent way and there are probably needy kids who need him here too, if not in the same ways obviously as a doctors without borders type project. So eveyrone shares a group hug and even Hector bursts into tears. And Maria comes in wondering what she missed whiel Sergio asks who wants to tell her. oh sergio.. why didn’t you stay away when you ran away in a future episode.  Final Thoughts: Not much more to say. It’s a well done episode with high emotinal stakes, great acting and some great jokes I didn’t get to, and while the plot of “Make absent parent stay by pretending things are bad’ isn’t new, it’s done well enough here. Overall just a really good episode that shows what this show can do and why it’s unique family setup makes for intresting stories a lot of shows can’t tell, and validates this spinoffs existnace. The episode also really fleshes out Ronnie Anne’s character, and givne Arutro’s been gone since the divorce if not longer, it’s resonable to supsect her earlier bullying might have been lashing out at her parents divorce. It’s just good stuff. Keep an eye peeeld to this blog for my regular loud house and ducktales coverage , and some more casagrandes this october. ANd until then, Go Team Venture!

[ofstarsandvibranium]

Vienna: Part 3

Fandom: Marvel (College AU)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: When Bucky went on a family trip to Vienna when he was 12, he met a very pretty girl and had his first kiss. 16 years later, he’s back in Vienna.

You sat on the grass beside Bucky with your friends and his friends making up the rest of the circle. Pietro was trying to flirt with Nat, emphasis on trying. Wanda was speaking with Sam, as they traded weird and funny tourist stories. Steve and Clint were discussing what place to visit next on the itinerary. Bucky? Well Bucky was just staring at you. 

“What?” you asked with a giggle.

He couldn’t help but laugh, “I just-I can’t believe you’re here. Who would’ve thought that we’d be here in the same place sixteen years later?”

“I didn’t, that’s for sure.”

“You know, you’ve grown up into a very beautiful woman.”

You bowed your head a bit, shying away from the compliment, “Thank you, Bucky. And you’ve grown into a very strapping young man, yourself.” your compliment made him giggle. 

“Thanks,” he looked down, seeing how close his hand and yours were. He moved his pinky closer, hooking it around yours, cautiously, giving you some time to pull away, but you didn’t. He cleared his throat, “S-So, um, you never told me why you’re back here.”

“You didn’t either,” you said with a cock of your brow.

He gestured to you, “Ladies, first.”

You nodded, “Very well. I told you I’m a culture studies,” Bucky nodded in confirmation, “Well, I’m here for a year to study abroad. I could’ve chosen any country in Europe, but I decided here to, again, redeem my former self.”

“How long have you been here already?”

“Four months, still got a long way to go. But the months have been going by so fast and I’ve been learning so much. It’s great!”

“So what school are you doing this through?”

“NYU,” you said proudly and Bucky choked on his own saliva.

“W-What? You go to NYU? I go to Columbia!”

Your jaw dropped, “You’re kidding!”

“I can’t believe it! We’ve been in the same state for what, five or six years now and we didn’t even know it?!”

You threw your head back as you laughed, “Oh that’s hilarious!��  you moved your hand from Bucky to nudge him, “I think destiny is trying to tell us something.”

He licked his lips and rolled them in, a softness in his eyes, “Ya think?”

You shrugged, “I mean, two coincidences like this? Definitely a sign or something.”

Too caught up in your own conversation, you and Bucky didn’t hear the rest of the group’s discussion. Clint flicked Bucky’s hear and Bucky recoiled back, “Hey!”

Clint nodded behind him, “C’mon, we wanna check out the maze and we’re all done eating. You guys comin’ with?”

You and Bucky looked at each other, a mischievous glint in your eyes, “We’re coming.” 

Everyone packed up their stuff and stood up, heading over to where the maze was. Like during the tour, you and Bucky were walking at the back of the group. Bucky was murmuring to you, “Okay. So I’m gonna go in. Count to thirty and try to find me.” 

You smiled widely at him as he remembered the words you had spoken to him when you were twelve, “And when I find you? What’s my prize?” 

“Guess you’ll have to wait and see,” he winked at you as he hurried after the group, replaying his idea to the rest of them. You saw everyone nod their heads. The guys grouping together and the girls.

“C’mon, Y/N!” Wanda called out for you, waiting at the entrance. 

“Alright. Count to thirty, ladies,” Steve said coyly. 

Nat rolled her eyes, “Yeah, yeah. We know how to count. Go on already!” the guys stumbled over each other’s feet as they rushed into the madness that is the maze. 

An exciting buzz washed over your body like when the roles were reversed sixteen years ago. But this time, you were no longer the hunted. You were the hunter. 

When the three of you counted to the thirty, you shouted, “READY OR NOT HERE WE COME!” and ran into the maze. Let the hunt begin.

Bucky’s heart was pounding. He didn’t know if it was because he was rushing around the maze or because he was anxiously waiting for you to find him. As much as he was running away, he wanted you to find him. He wanted to return the favor that you gave him years ago. But this time, the kiss wouldn’t be so sloppy.

He turned a corner and immediately ran into Wanda, “Hey!” he held her by her shoulders, “Where’s Y/N?”

“Uuuhh she was behind me, but I’m not sure if she went the other way.”

“Buckyyyy!” you called out for him, bringing a smile to his face, “Where aaaare yooouu?”

“She sounds close. Alright. Thanks, Wanda!” he continued to go different directions. Left, right, right, straight, left, straight, right, le-AH!”

You ran into him and as soon as you realized it was him, you grabbed him by the shirt, pushed him against the maze wall, “Found you!”

He smiled proudly, “Guess you did, huh?”

“So, what’s my prize?”

Without another word, Bucky cupped your face and pulled you into a kiss, a much better kiss. It wasn’t awkward like before. This was passionate and desperate and a little bit hot. 

Bucky dropped one hand to your waist, wrapping his arm around you to pull you in closer, deepening the kiss. You pulled away for some air, your lips grazing against his, “Your kissing got a lot better,” you teased.

He chuckled, “Had a lot of practice these past sixteen years.”

“Interesting,” you muttered before pulling him in for another kiss. 

“Y/N, every-MY GOD!” you pulled away at Pietro’s cry of horror. He looked at you startled, eyes wide and mouth ajar, “Oh come on! How come you get to makeout with the beautiful blue eyes and I can’t even get Nat to smile at me!”

Bucky snickered, “She’s a tough one to crack, my friend.”

Pietro sighed, “Well, anyway, everyone is out now. Should we wait for you guys oooorrr...”

You cleared your throat, taking another step away from Bucky, “We’ll follow. Lead the way, Piet.”

The silver-blonde looked at you two cautiously before going back the way he came, heading towards the exit. You two, indeed, followed him, your hands laced with each other’s and giving each other a knowing glance. 

After spending another two hours at the gardens, it was time to say good-bye. Bucky and his friends were leaving to go to their next destination: Berlin and you were saddened by the news. 

“So...this is it,” you muttered, standing before Bucky next to the car they rented out.

He slowly nodded, “Yeah. God, I just found you again and I gotta leave. This sucks!”

You shrugged, “At least we found each other again. And well,” you looked into your bag, finding a receipt and pen, scribbling down your name, your number, your email, and your Skype contact, “Here,” you handed it to him, “So we can keep in touch?”

Bucky slowly took the receipt, fingers grazing over your name, “At least this time, I won’t lose you for good.” he leaned in and pecking your lips, “I’ll email you every day. It’s gonna be so annoying.”

You breathed out a small laugh, “I don’t mind.”

He sighed, looking down at your intertwined fingers, “We’ll see each other again, Y/N. I promise.” with one more kiss, Bucky got into the car with his friends. They all waved out the windows until you could no longer see them. Your shoulders sagged with grief.

You slowly exited the terminal. Your backpack on your back and your carry on suitcase rolling behind you. You were back in New York and you were anxious. After seeing Bucky again, true to his word, you two spoke every single day for the past eight months. Through the magic of Skype, you two were able to see each other. You had your first “date”, said your first “I love yous” and, well, you didn’t a little naughty stuff too. But let’s not focus on that. 

For the past eight months, Bucky Barnes has held your heart and you were anxious to see him in person. If he even came at all. You told him it was alright if he couldn’t pick you up, but he promised he would.

“I’ll make sure my entire day is free, just for you, Y/N,” he said with an excited grin. And you believed him.

Now that you were here, you weren’t so sure. Your eyes were scanning everywhere. You went on your tippy toes to try to find him, but you came empty handed. 

Then came a group of balloons in sight and a yell of your name, “Y/N!” Bucky pushed through the group of people, bolting right up to you and throwing his arms around you, holding you tight. The group of balloons eventually caught up to him and you realized they were attached to Steve, Nat, Sam, and Clint. 

“God, I missed you!” Bucky pulled back to press a deep, loving kiss to your lips. When he pulled away, he had the biggest grin on his face, “Hey, sweetheart.”

You melted under his gaze, “Hey, baby.”

“Welcome back,” he kissed you again, but was pulled away by Sam.

“Alright. Alright! Save it for the bedroom, Barnes! There’s kids around!” each of Bucky’s friends greeted you with a hug and welcoming words. 

One of Bucky’s arms remained on you. You all walked to baggage claim to collect the rest of your luggage. 

“So, now that you’re back, I was thinking we go on a real date.”

“What? You didn’t like sharing meals via computer screen?” you asked sarcastically.

“I loved our Skype dates, but I really wanna see you sitting across the table from me. I wanna see you stuff your face with breadsticks and wine. I wanna reach across the table and hold you hand. I wanna randomly lean over and kiss your lips.”

You pulled yourself from his embrace and moved to stand in front of him, cupping his face you spoke to him, “And we can do all of that, Bucky. We have all the time in the world now. Nothing can ever stop us now.” A mischievous smirk, like the very first one he saw when he was twelve, made a reappearance on your lips, “Vienna was just the beginning.”

[the--sad--hatter]

Name Calling (47)

FANDOM - MARVEL MCU, DEADPOOL & X-MEN

PAIRING - BUCKY X READER (female reader, no physical descriptions)

WARNINGS - ALL OF THEM, SMUT, VIOLENCE ANGST

DESCRIPTION -  

Vernichtung - Destruction, Annhialation.

It was what you were named and what you were supposed to be but the only thing you wanted to destroy was Bucky Barnes.

The ongoing and bloody war of words between you and Bucky turns in your favor when a disgruntled one night stand of his lets slip a secret when you run into her in the elevator… Now you have all the ammunition you need to destroy your enemy but you don’t plan on killing him quickly. Oh no, Bucky Barnes was going to suffer and you were going to enjoy every second. You just didn’t count on enjoying it quite so much.

But when your past catches up to you in the form of the mad scientist who made you, Bucky might be one of the only things that can save you from yourself. You can’t run from what you are but with his help, you can fight back.

Current Word Count -  127,743

MASTERLIST  or   Read on Ao3

Moodboard by @talesofakindredspirit

Chapter Forty-Seven - The Doctor Will See You Now

Jack Docherty, like all men was born with the potential for good and evil. There was no deciding factor ingrained in his DNA. At 06:24 am on December 3rd 19 1951 he was born a blank slate and his fate was to be decided by the man and woman the midwife handed him too.

Ian Docherty was a man of faith, a God fearing man. To him, the squealing babe in his arms was another miracle of the lord.

Emma Docherty was a woman who felt she was forsaken by God and her husband. To her, her infant son was nothing more than another burden.

The first three years of Jack Docherty’s life were unremarkable. Seven months into the third year, everything changed.

“Your father is sick. God is punishing him.” His mother told him.

Jack crept into his fathers room and peered at him over the top of the bed. His once vibrant father was nothing more than a bag of bones lying on the bed, his skin sallow and sunken in, stretched over his skeleton. His chest rasped and wheezed as he tried to breathe. Jack reached up and with his little fist, grabbed his fathers hand.

Almost like magic, colour bloomed across his fathers flesh and life returned to him. For the first time in days he opened his eyes. There was a small thump from the next to the bed and he looked down.

“Jack? Jack? EMMA!” He yelled.

Emma Docherty rushed into the room, falling onto her knees next to her sons prone form. As soon as she touched the boy her skin took on a sallow palour. And so at three years and seven months old, Jack Docherty healed his father and killed his mother.

“God knew my wife was poisoning me and gave me a son to heal me and punish her for her sins.” His father told the church.

At first nobody believed him but when his son lay hands on old Mrs Carver and she was healed of her blindness they knew the truth. It didn’t matter to them that Jack was now blind. It didn’t matter to his father. Until he realised that the next person Jack touched would inherit the blindness.

That was the day his father started buying rats. It was also the day Mrs Carver saw her husbands transgressions with the neighbour and killed them both.

Not even four years old and Jack Docherty was dragged to churches up and down the country to heal the sick, no matter how much pain it caused him. And everywhere they went there was a trail of dead rats and ungrateful people.

When Jack Docherty was seventeen years old he laid hands on a man with a painful, terminal disease. And instead of passing it to a rat, he passed it to his father.

“When you see God, ask him why he would do this to me and not expect my revenge.” Jack hissed to his dying father.

Evil is not born in the womb, it festers over time, through tragedy. And humanity was evil, Jack Docherty knew this to be true.

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

Leaving Bucky behind was the only way to keep him safe, if you hadn’t then he would be in a cell next to yours and while you loved him, you weren’t quite that co-dependant. Besides, if you were going to get out of this then you wanted Bucky out there, looking for you.

So you went quietly, letting Docherty lead you to the helicopter. You had planned to kill him as soon as you were in the air and you knew Bucky was safe but he had planned for that and as soon as you stepped onto the craft you were hit with several tranq darts and tazed for good measure.

When you woke up again it was in a cage almost identical to the one you had grown up in, the only difference was the room around it. This room was dark and musty and your grandfather was sat waiting for you to wake up.

He’d never been much of a talker before, apparently he had a lot to share now though.

Of all the tortures Docherty had subjected you to over the years, this was by far the worst. You shoved your hands in your pockets and gave him a bored look.

“So you’re a mutant?” You asked casually, it had been the only part of his story that had picked up your interest.  

“It never occurred to you I might be?” He asked, as if genuinely surprised you didn’t know.

In retrospect, it made sense. Your mother was a mutant, she had to have got it from somewhere. It also explained how he had poisoned a mutant with healing abilities.

“Honestly I never really gave much thought to why you were such a dick and I gotta say... Cool backstory, you’re still an asshole.” You responded with a shrug.

“Such fire. Stark was good for you.”He said mockingly.

“You thought if you could raise me like you were raised I would turn into a psychopath like you did? Well I bet you feel like an idiot now because guess what Docherty? It wasn’t your upbringing that made you the way you are, you’re just a dick.” You mocked back.

“I saw the depravity and selfishness that people posses. They don’t deserve to live.”He hissed.

“I saw it as well, courtesy of you and agree to disagree. There are good people in the world. I’m one of them, despite your best efforts.” You rebutted.

“Ungrateful child. My best efforts made you what you are, into a god! You have no idea what I had to sacrifice to make you into Vernichtung, to bring the world to it’s knees and make people pay for their depravity!”

“Sacrificed? You mean your daughter? My mother. The one you kept locked away, waiting for the right moment to kill?” You snarled.

He looked taken aback.

Locked in another cage by him, you didn’t feel as brave as you sounded. But you were channelling Tony because this pathetic, snivelling excuse of a man would never see your fear again. So you would trade barbs with him and rile him up and you would do it with a smile.

You thought of your father and he gave you the strength to smile at the man you hated above all else.

You thought of Bucky and he gave you the strength to stand tall in the face of your abuser.

“Sorry, did you want to dramatically announce that? Go ahead, I’ll even fall to my knees in slow motion when you do.” You quipped with a signature Stark grin.

“Yes, I killed my daughter. I needed the healing mutation she had but she was weak. So I gave Vernichtung to you, your natural mutations and super soldier serum made you strong enough to survive the multiple volatile mutant abilities in your veins.” He explained calmly.

“She wasn’t weak. All those years and she still remembered me! She loved me!” You exclaimed furiously, determined to defend her memory.

“She was a slave to her heart, to her emotions. She wasn’t like me so all she was good for was her DNA. She died to help make you into what you are supposed to be.” He said callously.

“You’re right. You went to a lot of effort, sacrificed so much and for what? You’re an old man who has achieved nothing. I’m never going to destroy the world.” You scoffed.

“But you will. When you let that mutant escape I saw an opportunity. I let you go, let you be free. And I never stopped watching, waiting. You needed to have it all before I could take it from you.” He said, holding up a picture of you and Bucky, the one of you on the balcony.

“That was your master plan? Let me befriend Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and then steal me away from them? They will come for me. Whatever dank hole you have us hiding in, they will find us.” You vowed.

He chuckled and walked over to a button on the wall, pressing it. You winced as the wall in front of your cell rose and the light blasted in. As soon as your eyes adjusted you looked out of the window.

“Motherfucker.” You swore.

This was why nobody had been able to find Docherty, he wasn’t hiding. You were looking at Stark tower, it was a literal stone’s throw away. Three, maybe four blocks at most. He’d been right under your nose the whole time.

“Do you see? You never escaped. You never could.” He told you.

You couldn’t look at him, you turned your back on him as you tried to get your breathing under control. This whole time, he’d been right here. Those first days at the tower, learning to trust Tony... He had been down the street. Every moment you spent at the compound, Docherty was here where he could get to Pepper. You weren’t afraid anymore. Not even close.

You were pissed.

“Are you with me?” You growled.

“I’m always with you.”He answered.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” You said turning around with a feral smirk.

You raised your hand and blasted the cell door open, sending it spiralling across the room in pieces.  

“Vernichtung.” He breathed out reverently.

“Sorry grandpa, it’s still me.”You snarled.  

“Impossible.” He gasped.

“No, it’s not. Because all of me hates all of you.”

You stood tall and let the black veins ripple across your skin but your eyes remained clear. You and Vernichtung were united as you advanced on him, ready to tear him apart and put an end to him once and for all. In this, in your hatred of him, you were one with your darker self.

For you, for your mother, for every innocent he had ever hurt... He was going to pay.

“The thing about Vernichtung my dear is it is not a natural mutation.” he snarled and grabbed your wrist.

As soon as he touched you, the veins fled down your skin and onto his hand, rippling up his body.

“It’s a disease. That’s why it turns your blood black.” He said victoriously.

“No!”

You could still feel her in your mind, snapping at the man stealing her power. He convulsed as it overtook him.

“You need the healing mutation to survive it. You’ll be ripped apart.” You warned him.

“Not before I rip apart everyone you love, and then you will have nothing. Then you may have your power back and you will finally be ready to use it.”

“I won’t let you do this.” You said desperately.

He only laughed and you were thrown backwards, the Deathwave being unleashed on you and rupturing you from the inside out.

Your broken body landed in a pool of your own blood and you realised there was nothing you could do, he was going to rip apart New York and with it, everyone you loved.

And then he would get his wish, because you would destroy the world if you lost them.

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

Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn.

The next chapter is the penultimate chapter, the big battle, the explosive finale before the dust settles. So strap in folks, next chapter is going to be long and painful.

Also... Jake Peralta: Cool motive, still murder.

@nerdandproud-86 @harrison-shot-first@thejourneyneverendsx @thelostallycat @inquisitor-selvala@the-corruptor @iovher @kendrawr-kitkat @phoenix-whiskey-tears @the–real-wombat @buckitybarnes@fairislesheets@angieptt @meganjonezzzz@dugan365@fluffeh-kitty@memanda17 @krystallynx@theonelittleone@piscesbarnes@free-as-fishes@tarastudiesalot@captainamericasbeard@dropthepizza346@jaynnanadrews@likes-to-smell-books@drdorkus @life-wanderer@metalarmlover @animegirlgeeky@jsmith509

[ilovemesomekillianjones]

Happenstance

A/N: Hi All! I forgot to post my @csmarchmadness story yesterday! Thank you so much for having this event, I am posting a story I’ve worked on for the past three Januarys, so yes, I’ve written it over a three year period and just never had the motivation to finish it. When CS March Madness came along this year, it was the kick in the pants I needed. I went from four chapters complete to nine of ten now finished. I will post every third day until the story is complete. Thank you to my friend @hookedonapirate for sprucing up this piece with her expert beta skills!

Summary:  Happenstance - noun, a chance happening or event. This Lieutenant Duckling story chronicles the events that lead two people, who are alone in the world, to each other. Their lives have been ever changing, Emma’s since she was born, and Killian’s since he was seven. When they meet each other after a series of events bring them to the same place, a new set of events, set in motion by their friendship, will lead them down a path to new possibilities. Love, friendship, and family, things neither thought they’d ever have, are all within their grasp, will they be able to reach out and take hold?  

Rated T          ao3          ffnet          13.1 K

Chapter 1

Her earliest memories were of a kind family, the Brown family. Remembering back, they had seemed perfect to her almost 3-year-old self, but Emma knew now, there was no such thing. Really, the first sign that they weren’t perfect should’ve been the appearance of perfection. The second, the fact that they only wanted her and not her twin brother, but the social workers chalked it up to the young couple not being able to afford two children.

She’d missed her brother so badly, it sometimes hurt. At that age, Emma wasn’t capable of understanding the deep wound being separated from her sibling would cause. And despite the fact that she was the one taken, she still felt a sense of abandonment without him. As young hearts tend to do though, she began to heal.

She was with the Brown family until she was almost four, which meant she had one year of seeming perfection. That was when the third and glaringly bright sign came. The couple decided to dump her back into the foster system; they didn’t say why, they didn’t give her warning. The social worker came for a visit, and when she left, she took Emma with her. The stress of losing her family had a huge impact on Emma. She didn’t speak for weeks, and wouldn’t eat for long periods of time; she cried every night, three thoughts ever present in her little mind - she was alone, she was unloved, and she could no longer remember her brother’s name.  

She was never adopted, and bounced through the foster system without a safety net to catch her when she fell into the homes that used her as a meal ticket, the homes with abusive foster parents, the homes with drunks, and the homes that just didn’t care. As she entered teenhood she was sent to various group homes, where she eventually met him.

~~~

They’d moved here when he was 7, and shortly thereafter Rose Jones was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. She was the whole world to him and his brother, and in Killian Jones’ opinion, father should’ve been the one with cancer since he was the smoker… and an arse.

He remembers his mother telling him not to speak that way, even as their father proved to be a coward, running away from the situation shortly after her diagnosis. To keep the boys together Rose signed the consent paper allowing Liam to enter the U.S. Navy at the age of 17. Liam would have to be the man of the house and raise his younger brother now, she’d told them, to which Killian proudly stated he could take care of himself just fine. He didn’t know that in time, that’d be his only choice.

Liam finished boot camp and his schools, managing a month back before their mother’s passing. In a stroke of what might be considered luck, Liam was granted repeated shore duty positions. As the boys had no other relatives, he was the only adult in Killian’s life, and could not deploy.  It was rare for accommodations like this, Liam had found a sympathetic detailer in Chief Nemo who’d lost his own family. Nemo knew the importance of these two boys only having each other, as he himself now had no one. For a little over 7 years, they were able to make a decent go of life after losing two parents. As Killian knows now though, if things seem too good to be true, it’s likely they are.

~~~

She was almost 16 when he’d swept into her life like a storm, all smiles and pretty words. They’d clicked right away, or at least she thought they had. It was her junior year at yet another new school. Emma Swan had blossomed into a gorgeous young woman, unbeknownst to herself; she still only saw the ugly duckling when she looked in the mirror. She was the new girl again, but this time, someone took notice.

He was the first person to show her undivided attention and affection. She changed over the next year as she let him rule her world, some of the jadedness acquired over years of being alone fell away. She opened up to him, quickly clinging to the belief that he truly loved her, and even more importantly, he chose to want her. In return for that affection, he’d monopolized her attention, her time, and groomed her to bend to his every will. They went to school together, ditched together, he even hung out at the group home with her.  Neal also taught her some of the tricks of his trade - a petty thief - and Emma was putty in his hands.

There had been signs, there were always signs, but Emma had chosen to ignore them. Who cared that his father was the richest man in town, yet Neal still chose to steal? Who cared that he got insanely jealous and overprotective when other boys would talk to her; he must love her a lot, right? She’d thought it was love, but it was nothing more than control. Deep down she knew that her desperation for love had made her blind, and in her opinion now, love will only make you weak. But, at the time, she believed there wasn’t much else out there for a person like her, so she stayed. It beat being alone.

~~~

Killian was almost as old as Liam had been when Liam joined the service, so why the fuck should he need to go into the foster system? He thought he’d experienced the worst day of his life, the day that his beloved mother passed, but here he was looking at two naval officers who’d come to notify next of kin… and that was all he’d heard. When he came to, he was on his couch. He silently thanked his lucky stars that it’d all been a dream until he sat up to the crashing realization that this was the new worst day of his life.  

They’d told him he was sole beneficiary to Liam’s life insurance policy, and would be entitled to the insurance money once he aged out of the system. What bloody system, he’d yelled. He was old enough to be on his own, dammit. The state disagreed, and at almost 16, Killian Jones became a ward of the state.

He was put into the system and promptly landed in a fancy new teen group home, belonging to one Robert Gold. Rumor had it, the teen home was a front to launder Gold’s dirty money. Befriended quickly by the spirited Mrs. Gold, he ate up the attention. They talked about everything; well, he talked, she listened. It was soothing to have found a parental figure to be able to confide in; it was soothing until it wasn’t. He’d naively believed she cared about him, even though he knew one of the boys here was her actual child, although he wasn’t sure which one.  

A year into his time there, he was on his way to bed when he overheard her discussing the details of his life, and future, including the insurance money that would eventually come his way.  Intent on finding out who the hell she was telling his business to, and why, he found himself shocked to silence when he heard the sordid details her husband was cooking up. Peeking through the cracked door, Killian saw Milah sat upon the lap of Gold, arms around his neck, his arms around her waist, as he told her to ‘seduce the boy, just until the money comes, it’d only be a year’.  

He was so disgusted, so angry, he slammed the door open, ready to fight. She’d jumped up immediately calling his name, but he’d seen red. He’d attacked the man, beating him until his knuckles were bleeding and he was out of breath, tears of rage blinding him, and violence coursing through his veins.  No charges were pressed; Gold had just as much to lose as Killian, if not more, as all the shady practices at Gold’s group home wouldn’t be looked upon kindly by the state. He was promptly moved from the group home without consequence.

Tagging some fandom readers: @laschatzi @hollyethecurious @winterbaby89 @kmomof4 @resident-of-storybrooke @artistic-writer @jennjenn615 @snowbellewells @xhookswenchx @ultraluckycatnd @emeraldwitches @nikkiemms @roseyflush @killianjonesownsmyheart1 @onceuponaprincessworld @captainswan-shipper88 @andiirivera @teamhook @tiganasummertree @deathbycaptainswan @kday426 @sherlockianwhovian @mayquita @captswanis4vr @effulgentcolors @welllpthisishappening @princesseslikepirates @officerrogers @therooksshiningknight @thisisforcs **Please let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the tag list. 

[lfthinkerwrites]

The Commission-Results

Title: From the Case Files of Edward Nigma, PI

Fandom: Batman

Rating: T

Summary: The Commission releases their recommendations, which causes shockwaves throughout Gotham.

Author’s Note: Thus ends this arc in the fic! Things are starting to get serious in Gotham, and soon, the last person Edward ever wanted to get involved with this mess will find herself entangled in it...

Saturday, February 24th, 9:30 am

"So when do we get to see the kid again?"

Edward looked up from where he was cleaning out his coffee mug and shot Deirdre an indulgent smile. "I told you, Sunday. We'll all go out for dinner at that Italian Restaurant on 4th street."

Deirdre nodded and went back to reading her newspaper where she was lying sprawled on the sofa, her head in Nina's lap. Nina carded her fingers through Deirdre's hair and smiled at Edward. "Just the four of us?"

Edward shook his head and dried out the mug with a washcloth before setting it in his dishwasher. "No, Selina will be there too." He tried not to laugh when he saw Nina's face curdle in displeasure. "Now now, don't be like that. Ellen's quite fond of her, you know. I won't have you sit next to her or anything like that."

Nina huffed. "Better not. What about your lady doctor friend? Will she be there?"

Edward hadn't even thought to ask Penelope if she'd want to join them. She probably wouldn't, workaholic that she was, not to mention the fact that given her testimony yesterday, the last thing she should risk was being seen with him in public. "Well, no,-"

"You didn't ask, did you boss?" Deirdre sassed.

Edward rolled his eyes. Any quip he was about to make was cut off by the sound of his cell phone ringing from the dining room table. "Bet that's her now," Nina added.

Edward crossed from the kitchen sink to the ringing phone. "Edward Nigma, Private Investigator."

"Edward it's me."

Penelope. Any annoyance he might have shown at Nina for being right was overtaken by how shaken his partner sounded over the phone. "What is it?"

"Victor Goodman's dead."

There was a name Edward had hoped he'd never have to hear again. "No offense, but is that really much of a surprise? The man did have terminal cancer."

"He committed suicide."

Well. He hadn't expected that. "Hold on just one second, Penelope." He looked at the couch where a curious Nina and Deirdre were watching him. "I need to take this. I'll just step in my room for a bit. I'll be right out." He quickly walked down the hall into his bedroom and shut the door behind him. "There, I'm back. Now, tell me everything."

"Strange called Commissioner Gordon an hour ago and told him that Goodman hanged himself in the Arkham Infirmary. Gordon called me half an hour ago to tell me."

Edward scoffed. "Nice to see that Arkham's supervision hasn't improved. You're not going to lose any sleep over Goodman's death, are you?"

Edward could almost see the irritated expression on Penelope's face when she spoke. "Of course not, but Edward, this is serious. Gordon asked for Goodman's body so GCPD could do an official autopsy, but Strange told him that Arkham had already conducted one and cremated Goodman's body."

This was a bit concerning. Edward furrowed his brow. "I take it that's not standard Arkham practice?"

"When I worked there, we did have our coroner conduct autopsies, but we always kept the body available for GCPD or the families if they requested an additional one. I'm suspicious about the timing of this too. Goodman's been incarcerated in Arkham for two months, and he chooses to commit suicide the night of my testimony before the commission? Perhaps I'm seeing things, but this isn't adding up."

Edward rubbed his chin. A suspicious death in Arkham...this seemed...almost familiar. "You think that Strange murdered Goodman."

"That was where my mind went first, but even that doesn't make much sense. Why would Strange kill him after I testify? As far as we both know, Strange wasn't involved in Goodman's rampage, so he doesn't have any reason to silence him. Strange has sadistic tendencies for certain, but in that case, he'd let cancer kill him." Penelope let out a sigh. "I'm just thinking out loud. What do you think?"

Edward considered this. "You're right," he said. "It is suspicious. But I don't think Strange killed him. If Goodman's death was a homicide, I think Strange is covering for someone else."

"Who? Bolton?"

"Not likely. Bolton's a minor thug. He's replaceable. It would have to be someone of much greater importance to Strange. Someone who he's been working with from the beginning." There was only one person Strange would lift a finger to help.

"Edward...you don't mean...Sharp?"

He grinned a bit. He knew there was a reason he liked this woman. "Who else? Sharp would still have access to the asylum as the former warden and the current mayor. And you said yourself, Sharp did begin to implement stricter policies at the Asylum when he was the warden."

"Yes, but Edward, it's a bit of a leap from that to murder-"

"You were all but accusing Strange of murder just a few moments ago," Edward chided. "You're the psychiatrist, Penelope. Sharp chose to become as entangled with Strange as he is for a reason."

"Sharp's many things, Edward. But a murderer? Believe me, it's not that I think Sharp is a good man deep down. He's pompous, demeaning, and he takes credit for things he hasn't done. He's a coward though. It's obvious in the way that he carries himself that he uses his position of power to overcompensate for a lack of character. I just don't see him as being capable of murder."

Edward hummed. His memories of Sharp from when he was incarcerated at Arkham were still faint at best, and from his own past interactions with the fool, he'd agree with Penelope's assessment. There was something nagging at him though at the back of his mind. "When did you first become acquainted with Sharp?"

"When he moved from Blackgate to Arkham, of course. I'd never met him before that."

Edward nodded. "And before? He was the warden of Blackgate?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"I'm just saying, there's a lot we don't know about Sharp's background. If we want to understand Strange's plan, we need to understand Sharp and how and why the two became acquainted with each other."

There was a pause on the line before Penelope spoke again. "So then we should look into Sharp's background too."

"Exactly. I can begin some research on him this week."

"One thing still doesn't make sense to me. Sharp's the mayor. Why would he risk losing everything he's spent the last five years working for to murder Victor Goodman?"

Edward had an idea what Sharp's motive might have been. He just needed to put it in a way that wouldn't alarm her. He swallowed a bit before he began to speak. "Well, it's all in the timing. Goodman was killed the night of your testimony where you detailed exactly what he did to you. And you've said in the past that Sharp is paternalistic towards you, yes?"

"Oh my God," Penelope breathed. "He killed Goodman for me?"

Edward flinched a bit at the quavering in her voice. "It's a possibility." He bit his lower lip. "Do you want me to come over?"

Penelope's voice resumed its clinical tone. "That's not necessary, Edward. Joan said she'd be coming over today. I know you still have your friends over, I don't want to take up any more of your time."

"Alright, as long as you're sure," Edward said. "I don't want to be over-dramatic, but if my hunch is correct, then Sharp may have an unhealthy interest in you. Be careful around him."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Penelope said. "I'll see you Friday."

"Right-by the way, what are you doing Sunday?"

"I'm going to be over at Aaron's home visiting. Why?"

Edward sighed. It was just as well. "Never mind. I'll see you Friday." He hung up the phone and looked at it with a feeling he couldn't quite identify. If he was right, then Sharp was more dangerous than he'd anticipated. If he was right, what might he do to Penelope if he got his hands on her-he wouldn't. Edward wouldn't let that happen. He would not lose her. Not like he lost Jonathan.

Monday, February 26th, 9:00 am

"This is Vicki Vale, reporting live from Gotham City Hall with a breaking news development. After a dramatic week of testimony, the Sharp Commission will officially be releasing their report by the end of this week. The Sharp Commission was convened to review the actions of GCPD and Arkham officials during the crime spree of Victor Goodman last December. During the hearings, the conduct of senior GCPD Detectives Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya was specially called into question. During his closing statement this last Friday, lead Commission member Phillip Ward, warden of Blackgate Prison, stated that what happened last year during Goodman's rampage represents the inadequacy of Gotham's criminal justice institutions to deal with serious crime and that the complacency of GCPD under Commissioner Jim Gordon, in particular, has led to criminals becoming emboldened. He then stated that the commission will release recommendations to get at the heart of the problem of costumed crime in Gotham. We'll keep you informed as to the latest updates here on GCNN."

Gordon looked at the badge and gun on his desk, then at the detective who deposited them with a heavy heart. "Harvey," he said gently. "You don't have to do this."

Bullock wiped his face with the back of his hand and sighed. "Yeah, I do, Jim. They got my number. I let Nigma piss me off too much and I screwed up on the Goodman case."

"Harv, there was plenty of blame to go around. I should have kept a closer eye on Nigma-"

"I'm the one who detained him. If he hadn't broken out, Doc Young would have gotten killed. I own that. I'm not gonna let you or Renee get dragged down by this too."

Gordon shook his head. Bullock was stubborn as he was loyal. There was nothing he could to dissuade him from this course of action. "What are you going to do?"

Bullock shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'll be a PI too, give the green asshat a run for his money."

Gordon let out a sad chuckle. "You would, too." He got out of his seat and stepped around to the front of his desk. He grabbed one of Bullock's hands and gave it a firm shake. "If there's anything you need, anything at all, you know where to find me."

Bullock nodded. "Yeah. I know." He slowly let go of Gordon's hand and walked towards the office door. "See you around, Jim. Don't let the creeps in City Hall get to you." Bullock opened the door and walked out into the bullpen for the last time. Gordon followed him to the open door and watched as Montoya gave him a hug and some younger cops shook his hand. Gordon's fist clenched. Sharp and his damn commission had cost him one of the best officers and men he'd ever known. Why? What was his goal?

Thursday, February 29th, 9:00 pm

Sharp sat in the plush chair behind his desk, reading over the document Ward had handed to him two minutes ago. The longer he read, the redder his face got and the more nervous Ward became. He furtively glanced at Dr. Strange, who was sitting behind Sharp, an impassive expression on his face. This did little to settle Ward's nerves. Finally, Ward spoke. "You'll see that Greene and Roberts went along with our recommended changes to the parole process for Arkham inmates-"

"Yes, and not much else!" Sharp shouted, crumpling the paper and throwing it towards the wastebasket in the left corner. "This isn't even half of what I asked for! What about the TYGER program?"

"Given the City's budget, it isn't feasible right now-"

"There's nothing in here about Gordon either! You both said you were going to use this commission to force him out!"

Ward took a sharp breath to avoid saying something he'd regret to the mayor. "I told you, Quincy. We can't quite get rid of Gordon yet. Your little friend from Arkham made it quite clear to me what would happen if we did."

Sharp shook his head furiously. "You must have misunderstood her. She wouldn't-"

"For God's sake Quincy! She all but said what her intentions were!" Ward shouted, pounding his fist on the desk. "She's not the woman we knew from Arkham anymore! She's a threat! You need to acknowledge that!"

Sharp shook his head again. "She's being misled by Gordon and his lackeys at GCPD. She'll come around. You'll see. I am her benefactor. She would not betray me." Ward sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Was this genuine affection for Young, or was this another one of Sharp's delusions? Or was he just being stubborn?

Before either Ward or Sharp could anything else, Strange stepped forward and placed his hand on Sharp's shoulder. "Patience, mayor. Patience," he soothed, his Teutonic voice low and slow. "I told you at the beginning that it would not be a quick process. I have it on good authority that Bullock has resigned. That will leave an opening for us to take advantage of. Why don't you go lie down?"

Almost robotically, Sharp stood up. "Yes," he repeated. "I think I should go lie down."

Strange smiled. "Good night, Mayor."

"Yes...Good night..." Sharp slowly walked out of the office and towards, Ward presumed, his bedroom.

As soon as the mayor was out of earshot, Ward looked at Strange. "What have you done with him?"

"Nothing drastic," Strange replied. "I've merely taken the liberty to up the dosage on his medication. After the incident with Goodman, I thought it was necessary."

Ward didn't fully believe the man but decided it was prudent not to press further. Instead, he sighed. "Quincy's right though. It's not exactly what we hoped for."

"It is a setback, yes, but it's not a total loss. We still have important provisions put in place."

Ward nodded. "Is it true about Bullock resigning?"

"Yes. It's not being reported on, but I have a source in GCPD who confirmed it. I have a man in position to take Bullock's place. If nothing else, we will have eyes and ears in GCPD to monitor Gordon's activities."

Ward let a small smile come to his face. It might not be exactly what they wanted, but it was a start.

Friday, March 1st, 9:30 am

"This is Summer Gleeson with a breaking news bulletin. The Sharp Commission has officially released its recommendations! We now to live to City Hall, where chief commission member and warden of Blackgate Prison, Phillip Ward, is addressing members of Gotham City's press corps, including our own Vicki Vale."

"...The Sharp Commission makes the following recommendations: 1. The Parole Process at Arkham Asylum must be overhauled. Patients should receive a minimum of five years of treatment before any consideration of parole. All parole decisions must receive approval from the Warden of Arkham Asylum. 2. Any released inmates of Arkham must make themselves available for further treatment at any time requested by the warden of Arkham Asylum, or be in violation of their parole. 3. Any deviation from a treatment plan will be considered a violation of parole. 4. Any association with any of the super criminals in Gotham City will be an automatic violation of parole. 5. All current and future Arkham inmates will be required to remain on a specially created registry for ten years after their parole and must report their status to any employer or law enforcement official without being asked. Furthermore, the Commission makes the following recommendations for inmates of Blackgate Penitentiary, Stonegate Penitentiary, Gotham City jail and Gotham County jail: 1. As with Arkham Inmates, all paroled inmates from these institutions must make themselves available to their parole officers and to correctional officers when requested. Any association with any of the super criminals in Gotham City will be an automatic parole violation. Any crimes carried out in service to the super criminals must come with an automatic sentence enhancement. Finally, any individual apprehended committing a crime while in any kind of mask or costume will face an automatic five-year sentence enhancement in addition to any other fines and penalties. The Sharp Commission will send these recommendations to Mayor Sharp for his approval before going through the proper channels to ensure their passage. Thank you."

Penelope switched off her radio, let out a long sigh and brought her fingers up to massage her temple. Across the desk from her, Edward was sitting back in his favored chair, watching her intently. "Well," he said in a breezy tone. "I suppose I should consider myself fortunate that the Arkham recommendations won't become retroactive, otherwise I'd be in a fix. What do you think?"

Penelope dropped her fingers and gave him an incredulous look. "What do I think?" she asked. "It's a complete overreach, that's what I think! Arkham Asylum is a mental asylum, not a prison! I could understand stricter protocols for the super criminals, but the majority of the inmates in Arkham aren't there because they're criminals! They're meant to be treated and reintegrated into society, not-" she let out an irritated huff. Edward's face had kept its curious expression and she bit her tongue to avoid from snapping at him.

"Notice who and what wasn't mentioned, however. GCPD. Gordon. Your testimony and your threat to Ward did something."

Penelope clasped her hands in front of her and looked down. "Not enough. Aaron told called me on Monday and told me that Bullock resigned."

"Good riddance. That's not on you. Bullock's resignation was a natural consequence of his own stupidity."

"He's Gordon's right-hand man, Edward."

"If I hadn't managed to get word to Selina about being detained, you would be dead. Because of Bullock. You don't owe him a thing-"

"It's not about Bullock, Edward! It's about Gordon, about GCPD as a whole! I don't like Bullock anymore than you do, but you have to-" Penelope paused. Edward had only begun his investigation after being directly attacked by Strange. The GCPD, Gotham City itself, Edward could care less about. He wasn't the heartless, irredeemable criminal she'd thought he was two years ago, and he had proven he did care about individual people, but it was a far cry from that to caring about the greater good. She worried her lip and continued in a cooler tone. "Bullock's resignation, no matter how much you think he deserves it, is a loss. And it's something Sharp and Strange are going to take advantage of."

Edward rolled his eyes. "I realize that. Which brings me to what I originally going to share with you." He reached down to the briefcase at the foot of his chair and placed it on Penelope's desk. He opened it and pulled out paperwork, which he neatly piled next to the case. "I managed to uncover some juicy details about our illustrious mayor." He looked up at her and his face grew uncharacteristically serious. "I think both of us have been underestimating Sharp."

Penelope felt her stomach sink. "What do you mean?"

Edward tapped his fingers on one stack in particular. "This is Sharp's biographical information. He comes from a military family and applied to West Point himself."

Penelope took the stack from Edward and began to thumb through the paperwork herself. "Applied...he didn't get accepted? He would have been the first of a long line of men in his family not too. That could be at the root of his overcompensation."

"He did not. You should see why."

Penelope looked through the stack and found a psychological evaluation. She gave Edward a sharp look. "Edward, this is strictly confidential. How did you-"

He gave her an impish shrug. "It's me, remember? Read on."

Penelope looked back at the file and read out loud. "'During evaluations, Sharp displayed symptoms of a schizophrenic personality disorder. He denied it when asked and has refused any further diagnosis or treatment.'" Penelope reached up to brush at her bangs. "Well, this is illuminating, but I'm not comfortable using Sharp's mental illness against him."

"Go on."

Penelope shook her head and continued to read. "'Beneath a pompous, self-important demeanor, Sharp is a cipher. He is psychologically susceptible to-'"Penelope's breath caught in her throat. "'to molding especially at the hands of an authority figure. He is not fit any sort of military duty.'" Penelope let out a shaky breath. "Oh God. Strange isn't just working with Sharp, he's working through Sharp. He's a puppet master."

"That's not the worst of it, Penelope."

Penelope scoffed and looked up at Edward. "What? What else did you find out?"

Edward bit his lip, then gestured to the other stacks on her desk. "I took the liberty of going through the lists of patient deaths from before Sharp arrived at Arkham and after."

Of course. If Sharp felt secure enough to kill Goodman, he must have done it before. "And?"

"In the twenty years Jeremiah Arkham served as the head of Arkham Asylum, there were three patient suicides, all of which were independently confirmed as such by the GCPD Medical Examiner. There were three patient suicides the first six months alone of Sharp's tenure. So, either Sharp was indirectly killing people through his reactionary policies, or-"

"He was killing them himself," Penelope finished dully. How had no one caught this? How did no one see this? Where had she been? "This is my fault. All of it. I was so focused on that damn experiment, my own career, I didn't-"

Penelope nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a pressure on her hands. She looked down to see Edward's gloved hand covering them, awkwardly petting them. "Enough of that," he scolded. "That won't get us anywhere. Put everything that happened out of your mind and treat him like he's any other patient or suspects you have to profile. What does all of this tell you?"

"I don't-"

Edward's hand gave her own a light squeeze. "I'm certainly the smartest person I know, but I can't look into the human psyche the way you can. You're an intelligent psychiatrist. Act like it."

That may have been the most touching thing Edward had ever said to her, awkward as it was. Penelope nodded, took a breath, then withdrew her hands to look over Sharp's psychiatric profile again. "Contrary to popular media perception, schizophrenics aren't any more likely to be violent than the rest of the population. However, Sharp's denial of his condition and his refusal to seek treatment suggests that he is ashamed of it. The overcompensation in his behavior likely stems from deep self-loathing. He projected this self-loathing onto the patients at Arkham Asylum hence the harsher policies and his behavior towards them. He always seemed disinterested at best and disgusted at worst. By killing patients, he's actually trying to kill the sickness he sees in himself. At some point, he crossed paths with Hugo Strange-"

"And Strange found a willing puppet," Edward finished with a smirk. "See? I knew you could do it."

Penelope scoffed. This man really was impossible. "We still can't prove anything. And now two dangerous men are controlling policies in this city."

"True," Edward shrugged. "But now that we have a better sense of who they are and what they're capable of, we can prepare for it." He smiled at her. "Right, partner?"

Despite herself, Penelope felt a small smile come to her own face. "Right." She looked down at the stack of papers again and tapped her finger on her desk. "There's still something I don't quite understand. The provision about criminals in costume."

Edward furrowed his brow. "I'll admit, that is something that stuck out to me too. I mean, the kind of person who puts on a costume to commit a crime isn't the sort of person this kind of deterrent works on. The only person who might care about this is-" Edward's eyes lit up and his mouth dropped open. "Of course," he muttered. "Of course! How did I miss this? How did I miss this?"

Penelope leaned forward in her chair. "Miss what?" Edward got up and began to pace up and down her office, almost as if he hadn't heard her. "Edward?" she asked louder. "Miss what? What are you talking about?"

Edward suddenly looked at her. "Sharp and Strange are targeting Gordon. Why? What do they gain by that?"

"What do they-well, they get rid of the one city official who would stand up to them-"

"No, there's more to it than that! Don't you see? Who has Gordon sanctioned for over ten years? Who has he protected? Who would find himself without an ally in Gotham City if Gordon resigned tomorrow?"

Penelope brought her hand up to her mouth. "Batman? Sharp and Strange are targeting Batman?"

Edward clapped his hands. "Exactly! One thing I've never forgotten Penelope. Eventually, everything in this city leads back to Batman."

Penelope sank back against her seat. "Why?"

Edward rubbed his chin and Penelope tried to ignore the excited gleam in his green eyes, the same gleam she'd seen when he was her patient in the not too distant past. "What are Strange and Sharp up to that they think me, Gordon and Batman are a threat to? That is a riddle, isn't it?"

Friday, March 1st, 9:30 pm

Bruce sat in his chair at the head of the dining room table in Wayne Manor. Around him sat Dick, Tim, Damian, Stephanie, and Cassandra. Alfred stood by his side. "Barbara?" Bruce spoke into the cell phone in front of him. "Are you there?"

"I'm here," she said over speakerphone. "What's going on Bruce?"

Bruce cleared his throat. "The Sharp Commission released its recommendations today. Mayor Sharp and the City Council will have them implemented by the end of the month at the earliest. The provision about the criminals in costume is troubling."

Tim sat straight up in his seat. "That's really about us, isn't it?"

Bruce nodded. "That's what I believe, yes."

To Bruce's left, Damian scoffed. "What do we have to fear from City Hall?"

"Damian, my father will have to enforce this law," Barbara's voice crackled through. "Whether he wants to or not."

Dick sighed. "What's the plan then?"

"Be vigilant on patrol. Try not to go alone if at all possible. Stay in communication with me and each other at all times. And if you see law enforcement, back off. Don't get into a situation where you end up in a confrontation with them. Understand?"

Dick, Tim, Stephanie, and Cassandra nodded. Damian huffed. Barbara then asked the question that Bruce hoped he wouldn't have to answer. "What about Jason?"

Bruce sighed. "I'll try to talk with Jason. In the meantime, don't approach him or the Narrows."

"No problem there, Boss," Stephanie saluted. The rest of the team voiced their agreement as well.

Alfred looked mournful but said nothing. Bruce gave his partners a nod. "Good." They all had work to do.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: King-Size Avengers #6: No Final Victory!

November, 1976

There’s a sort of joke in various anime fandoms where they like to mock off-model background characters. And that’s all I could think looking at Beast on this cover.

Oh. Yeah and I guess Nuklo is up to his old tricks again. And Living Laser with his new hat. And I think an ennui-filled Whizzer just punched a GI.

And we have another Jack Kirby cover which is frankly obvious by all these Jack Kirby faces. The man had a style.

There’s a lot going on here.

So lets get to it. There’s a lot of pages to cover and I have again waited for the night before to start. Just like in college...

So last time: There’s a lot of context but suffice to say the Avengers stole the very naughty Serpent Crown from another universe and then just left it in the ruins of corporate America just because a giant whale man punched them. That’s just irresponsible.

Also, someone brought Wonder Man back to life and mailed him to the Avengers which is a hecka rude present.

Scarlet Witch went off on a journey of self-discovery and also to retrieve the crown, got ambushed by Living Laser and shot by a mook. Wonder Man wandered off and fell under the sway of Living Laser. And the Whizzer came to ask the Avengers for help only to beat them all up because someone (Living Laser) shot him in the eye with a laser. As you can see, a lot of laser is going on recently.

That brings us to: Scarlet Witch busting through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man Oh Yeah (and she is red)!

And she seriously tries to play off getting shot as just a flesh wound and “nothing serious.” Damn, Wanda. Damn.

Anyway, before she passes out from blood loss or shock or whichever, she manages to remind the Avengers that they kind of just left the Serpent Crown at Brand. But she doesn’t manage to reveal that Living Laser has it. Just that “he’s found it... taken it...”

I’m not going to be too hard on her. I’ve certainly never flown across New York with an experimental flying belt after getting shot, blown up a wall like X-Factor, and revealed nearly everything important to my teammates shortly before collapsing. I can’t judge.

Vision, of course, goes into full on panicky protective husband mode and starts yelling for a doctor physician. It kind of makes you wonder why the Avengers don’t just have one on call all the time? Even the X-Men manage that, sometimes.

Oh, remember how last post I commented that Wanda being afraid of her powers felt like a new direction from a new writing team thing? Because now we have Wasp commenting that the Avengers changing so much since she left the team scares her more than the Serpent Crown.

Which is an... interesting character moment. From gung-ho ‘hell yes i’m going to rejoin the Avengers i’ve been so, so bored’ Wasp.

Annnnnyway. The Whizzer wakes up. Doesn’t even remember attacking them. And while he takes a moment to catch his breath, Beast decides to skip out on old man recap time. He’s going to go look for Wonder Man. And somebody has to be worried about where that mindless chump got off too.

So Whizzer gets into his story. He explains that when he was beating up the Avengers, he saw them as Isbisa, Future Man, and Madame Death. Some of his foes from his All Winners Squad stint.

He guesses he’s just getting old. Again, the horrifying specter of a super-powered man with dementia is raised.

Wasp insists there’s another explanation. Because she understands that this is comic books and nothing is ever simple.

Lets split up, gang. We’ll cover more ground that way, Iron Man basically says. Wasp and Yellowjacket will take Whizzer to get some dinner. Cap and Iron Man will try to track down the Serpent Crown. Vision is off getting medical attention for Wanda. And Beast went looking for Wonder Man.

If the Avengers had a DM, he would be furious at them. Splitting the party so much.

So once Cap and Iron Man are off alone in the scanning room, Iron Man comes clean with Cap.

No, no. Its nothing morally dubious, as will populate Tony’s later years. But when they were on Other-Earth, Iron Man stealthily took some readings of the Serpent Crown’s unique radioactive aura with his wristlojackimator.

So conveniently, they can track the crown. Which I guess is why Iron Man was pretty casual about just forgetting it. ‘Eh, I’ll find it later using its secret radiation signature’ probably.

And the scanning room finds the crown heading west toward California. Wanda was right! In that somebody has the crown as opposed to nobody.

So Iron Man and Cap get into a Quinjet and head off after it alone.

Because going off on your own without telling anyone has never lead to bad circumstances on this ever has it??

They just don’t learn they just don’t learn

Anyways, Wasp and Yellowjacket’s problems of their own is having dinner with a lonely old man who has been spoiling for an audience to tell his sad life story to.

I’m being uncharitable. Actually Hank and Jan would love to know where the hell Mr. Frank has been since the wedding. Because they too were worried, off-panel.

Okay so remember how the Whizzer first showed up because of Nuklo? And the Avengers stopped his rampage. And Whizzer found out that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were his kids until they weren’t down the line? Well that was all well and good but old man Whizzer still felt old and useless.

His wife is dead. One of his children is a monster. And the other two are married and don’t really need him in their lives.

So he wrote Wanda, telling her he was going away. And then he disappeared into New York’s Bowery and tried to drink himself to death. He found himself in a charity ward and hallucinated a nurse was his wife and realized that yup, time to get his life back together.

So he took months to sober up. And then he went to the government to find out what happened to his monster son. They weren’t accommodating so he just stole the files from them. Because hey. He loves his monster son.

And apparently what happened to his monster son is that while the Whizzer was pickling himself, Nuklo became a prisoner of the US Army in California.

Hey, isn’t that where Cap and Iron Man are going? Hmm...

Meanwhile, chapter two. INTERLUDE!

Beast has managed to track Wonder Man to an alley. Little suspecting that Wonder Man is lurking right behind him. Beast is also musing aloud about the connection between VIsion and Wonder Man because somebody has to keep the audience reminded of these things and why not Beast?

Anyway, Wonder Man jumps out and CHOMM!s Beast so hard he BOMMmms.

Beast tries to interrogate him to find out hey whats up with you. But Wonder Man isn’t really that curious how he has come back to life. Although he describes his time dead(?) as “For years I lived in darkness, unable to speak, unable to move!”

Anyway, Wonder Man kicks Beast’s big blue ass. And Beast realizes that Wonder Man is powerful enough to turn him into blue confetti unless

Unless he pulls out the most genius battle strategy of all!

He waits until Wonder Man is charging him and just kicks him so he slams head first into a wall.

And that knocks the guy out.

Wonder Man, your durability is confusing.

But a crowd has started to gather and gawk so Beast grabs Wonder Man, takes note of some charred spots that corroborates Living Laser’s involvement, and then takes off to get Wonder Man some medical help.

And that’s how Beast beat a guy who could solo the original Avengers in one move.

Chapter Three: CONFRONTATION!

I’m not really sure how to parse the perspective on this but Iron Man and Cap have followed the Serpent Crown’s signal to a secret army outpost slash mansion.

And the outpost is ignoring their hailing frequencies. Troubling.

And I’m not sure what kind of holding pattern the Quinjet was in but a tank on the ground aims up and blows up the Quinjet.

Geez. Quinjets. Always with the exploding.

Both Cap and Iron Man jumped out at the last second so they don’t die. And Iron Man shoots a tree to ricochet a repulsor at Cap to prevent him from dying to fall damage... somehow.

Its all a bit of a mystery.

Anyway, Cap starts beating up the rogue soldiers. As does Iron Man, who gets a cool moment of tanking a bunch of gunfire like a Terminator.

And then a tank happens.

So Iron Man breaks it.

Anyway. The two heroes have beaten up enough mooks to summon a larger fish.

General Pollock: “We’re ready for a cease-fire -- and I guess it’s time we explained!”

Cap: “You’ve got a lot to explain soldier -- so make it good. We want to know why you refused to acknowledge our radio signal -- and why you jumped us!”

Iron Man: “More important than that, Cap: where’s the Serpent Crown?”

General Pollock: “All those questions have one answer, gents. And at the moment, he’s right behind you --”

ZAMMMMMMMM

And both Avengers are lasered unconscious.

Yup. So obviously Living Laser is in league with this renegade brigadier general. And the cease-fire was just a ruse to let Living Laser surprise them from behind.

Dirty tricks. But if a hero pulled the same move, it would be heroic resourcefulness.

Okay so now: Chapter Four: CLIMAX

From what I gather, Living Laser is up to his old tricks. But instead of taking over South America Country, now he’s going to take over the United States. With a little help from renegade General Pollock.

Who decided to go freelance after Nuklo was placed under his care for national security reasons. Sounds like he was insufficiently vetted, really.

Anyway, lets fill in some more gaps. Living Laser read books in prison! He read about Lemuria and consequently the Serpent Crown! He decided to find it after he got out of prison.

But he heard that the crown had been destroyed so instead he did experiments so that he could incorporate laser energy into his own body and manipulate lasers in more creative ways (such as creating the hallucinations the Whizzer saw).

So now he’s a true Living Laser. Take that anyone who ever mocked his codename.

Oh and then the Serpent Crown resurfaced (from another universe). Its not really clear how he found out about it. It will remain a mystery, perhaps.

Living Laser starts gloating about how with the Crown’s knowledge he is invincible and in true tempting fate fashion, something immediately happens to undercut him.

In this case, big stinky blue feet BONKing him about the head. And knocking the crown from said head.

Vision pulls a Vision and yoinks the crown and just flies off with it.

He honestly just flies off in the middle of the fight to “dispose of this Serpent Crown forever!”

So apparently all the Avengers that didn’t fly off half-cocked (looking at you Iron Man and Cap) compared notes off-panel. And the Whizzer was able to give them the location of the outpost because of those files he stole from the government.

Living Laser tries to regain control of the situation by atomizing Beast but Wonder Man shouts a warning. And then tanks the deadly pink glow.

Iron Man comes to and just marvels at what all happened while he and Cap were going off half-cocked. And then he repulsors Living Laser. And then Yellowjacket and the Wasp distract him with Best Power, covering him with ants.

General Pollock orders some of his grunts to deactivate the support shell keeping Nuklo quiescent.

And the big, radioactive glowing child LIVES AGAIN!

Or rather he wasn’t actually dead at all ever, stop being so hyperbolic, Cap. Geez.

General Pollock orders Nuklo to kill the Avengers. And he makes a mighty CAHROOM! which knocks out Wonder Man, Yellowjacket and the Wasp. But up side? Living Laser is also knocked the hell out.

Oh and when General Pollock berates Nuklo for attacking Living Laser, the giant radioactive baby just backhands him.

I’m not even sure why General Pollock thought Nuklo was even remotely under his control.

Like. Its not like its even made explicit that the renegade army group was doing experiments to control him. Its like he thought that just having Nuklo in his possession implied mastery.

Maybe he’s an idiot.

Anyway, Beast just jumps right up and socks Nuklo in the face.

And Nuklo pays him back in kind. Womp womp.

Oh, also, Nuklo is growing. Even faster than the last time the Avengers encountered him. He’s grown even taller than the mansion/outpost.

Annnnd Iron Man is at kind of a loss? The last time they fought, it was Scarlet Witch who defeated Nuklo, using her powers to drain his energy.

He tries using a reverse-polarity repulsor ray (to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, perhaps?) but Nuklo grabs him before he can DODGE.

Cap rouses the rest of the Avengers but before they can come up with a plan of attack, the renegade army tanks fire on Nuklo.

But he just feeds on the impact energy to grow even more swole.

What’s worse is that according to actual scientist Hank Pym, Nuklo is building to critical mass.

He’s going to blow up and take most of Los Angeles with him.

Actual engineer Iron Man reacts to this by telling the Avengers (or actually he specifically addresses this to Cap) to “run... before we all explode!”

What part of “most of Los Angeles” seemed unclear, Tony?

But the Avengers being Avengers, won’t die running. Instead they keep trying to fight Nuklo, possibly fruitlessly.

But then. The wondrous Whizzer whizzes wondrously in a golden blur across many panels.

And like a golden hug missile, launches himself full speed right at Nuklo.

AND BAWHOOM! They explode. But not the “most of Los Angeles” explode.

In fact, more of an implode. The Whizzer’s super speed someone triggered Nuklo’s critical mass to implode and also release all his energy. Because now he’s less of a giant.

Oh. And everybody is okay. Both Whizzer and Nuklo survived.

The Avengers prepare to take the two to a hospital while Cap muses:

Cap: “We should also say a prayer -- for a man with the courage of Abraham, a father willing to make the greatest sacrifice of all -- HIS SON!”

I don’t want to rain on your parade, Cap, but that allusion maybe doesn’t entirely fit.

Anyway, that’s the King-Size Special Avengers #6.

I don’t like Living Laser but at least this scheme is consistent with his general pattern. Trying to take over a country while obsessing over the Wasp. But in addition to lasers he has a snake-themed hat, a renegade army faction, a giant nuclear baby, and additional lasers.

Although even with that upgrade, he didn’t amount to much. He doesn’t even get a climactic fight with the Avengers. Once they show up, he gets sidelined pretty quickly. In his first Avengers appearances, he was portrayed as an actual threat. Not so here. And its this trend that will lead him to being punked by Count Nefaria of all people!

Also, Iron Man calls President Rockefeller “Rockefella” and the Whizzer calls Wasp “Mrs. McCoy” which isn’t even the Hank she’s married to.

So not only did new creative team not remember that Scarlet Witch couldn’t fly, they can’t even remember the Wasp’s last name.

There are also a few coloring errors that weren’t really worth pointing out but they existed.

We are getting some growing pains in these post-Englehart issues.

Also, in the original version of this issue there was also a short solo Vision story where he fights Whirlwind. Its not included here but I vaguely recall it from the b&w Essential volumes. You work in mysterious ways, Marvel Unlimited.

Anyway, next time we find out what Vision got up.

When he flew off with the crown, I mean.