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justdoit24 · 3 months ago

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One AI : Access all premium AI's from a single dashboard.

https://openaireview.blogspot.com

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of AI tools out there? Or maybe you’re tired of paying hefty monthly fees for multiple AI services? Well, I’ve got some exciting news for you.

Let me introduce you to OneAI, a game-changing platform that’s set to revolutionize how we access and use artificial intelligence.

What exactly is One AI?

In a nutshell, OneAI is the world’s first cloud-based AI app that brings together the most advanced premium AI tools in a single dashboard.

And here’s the kicker – you can access all of this without paying any monthly fees. Sounds too good to be true, right? Let’s dive deeper and see what OneAI has to offer.

OneAI isn’t just another run-of-the-mill AI platform. It’s a carefully curated collection of the world’s leading AI technologies, including:

1. ChatGPT 4.0 & ChatGPT 4

2. Google’s Gemini Pro

3. DALL·E 3

4. Leonardo AI

5. Microsoft Copilot Pro

6. Meta’s Llama 3

7. Stable Diffusion XL

8. Google’s PaLM 2

Now, imagine having all these cutting-edge AI tools at your fingertips, accessible through a single, user-friendly interface. That’s the magic of OneAI.

The possibilities are virtually endless, but here are some highlights:

* Create top-notch content and sales copy using ChatGPT 4

* Design stunning 4K HD AI images with DALL·E 3

* Produce ultra-HD 8K AI videos and realistic paintings via Leonardo AI

* Write complex HTML, CSS, and programming codes using Copilot Pro

* Translate languages and get answers to intricate questions with Llama 3

* Transform text into lifelike portraits with Stable Diffusion XL

* Develop powerful AI tools and apps using PaLM 2

And that’s just scratching the surface. With OneAI, you’re limited only by your imagination.

Here’s where things get really interesting. If you were to subscribe to each of these AI services individually, you’d be looking at an annual bill of over $12,000.

OneAI lets you access all of them for a fraction of that cost. We’re talking about potentially saving thousands of dollars every year. For small businesses and freelancers, that’s a game-changer.

But Wait, There’s More! OneAI isn’t just about accessing existing AI tools. It’s a platform that empowers you to create your own AI-driven business. Here are some exciting possibilities:

* Launch your own monthly AI subscription service

* Start an AI content creation agency

* Sell AI-generated content on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork

* Create and sell AI tools and apps

Plus, OneAI comes with a commercial license, meaning you can use it to create and sell as many assets as you like to your clients.

OneAI boasts an intuitive, easy-to-use dashboard that doesn’t require any technical expertise. Whether you’re an AI expert or a complete novice, you’ll find OneAI accessible and user-friendly.

About Creator

Uddhab Pramanik is the creative force behind USP Internet Services Pvt. Ltd. This forward-thinking entrepreneur has made a name for himself as a leading software developer on popular platforms like Jvzoo and WarriorPlus.

Pramanik’s products stand out for their high quality and competitive prices. Over time, he has left a lasting mark on the industry by releasing countless impressive software solutions. Some of his most popular offerings include Ink Buddy AI, MobiApp AI, AI Wizard, etc.

His groundbreaking work hasn’t gone unnoticed, cementing his status as an industry pioneer. In the following section, we’ll take a closer look at the exciting features of One AI, providing an in-depth review of what this innovative software brings to the table.

Features and benefits

Key Features of One AI

One AI boasts a robust lineup of premium AI tools, each offering unique capabilities that cater to various needs. Here’s a closer look at what you get:

* ChatGPT 4.0 & ChatGPT 4: The latest in conversational AI, providing intelligent, human-like responses that can streamline communication and content creation.

* Gemini Pro: A multi-modal AI tool that integrates various forms of input and output, enhancing both creativity and productivity in your projects.

* DALL·E 3: Generate stunning AI images effortlessly with the latest advancements in image synthesis technology.

* Leonardo AI: Create ultra-HD AI videos and realistic paintings, pushing the boundaries of digital art and design.

* Microsoft Copilot Pro: Boost your productivity with AI-powered assistance in writing high-demand HTML, CSS, and programming codes.

* Meta Llama 3: Access powerful language models for translation, complex question answering, and more, making communication across languages easier than ever.

* Stable Diff XL: Transform text into high-quality, realistic images and portraits, perfect for marketing materials and creative projects.

* PaLM 2: Google’s revolutionary AI for developing powerful tools and applications, with next-level natural language processing capabilities.

Why Choose One AI?

One AI stands out in the crowded field of AI tools by offering an unparalleled combination of accessibility, affordability, and power. Here are some of the top reasons why One AI could be the game-changer you’ve been waiting for:

* No Monthly Fees: Access the world’s leading AI tools without the recurring costs that usually come with premium AI services. This alone can save you thousands of dollars annually.

* All-in-One Dashboard: Manage all your AI needs from a single platform, eliminating the hassle of juggling multiple subscriptions and interfaces.

* Commercial License Included: With the commercial license, you can create and sell as many AI-generated assets as you like, making One AI not just a tool, but a potential revenue stream.

* User-Friendly Interface: Even if you’re new to AI, One AI’s intuitive dashboard makes it easy to get started. No technical expertise required.

* Support and Training: One AI comes with dedicated live chat support and exclusive training videos to ensure you make the most of every feature.

How One AI Can Transform Your Workflow

One AI is more than just a collection of AI tools—it’s a platform designed to supercharge your creativity, efficiency, and profitability. Here’s how it can make a difference:

* Create World-Class Content: Use ChatGPT 4 to generate compelling content and sales copies that engage and convert.

* Produce Stunning Visuals: With DALL·E 3 and Leonardo AI, you can create eye-catching images and videos that stand out in any marketing campaign.

* Streamline Development: Microsoft Copilot Pro allows you to write clean, efficient code faster, while PaLM 2 helps you develop powerful applications with ease.

* Expand Your Reach: Meta Llama 3 enables you to break language barriers and reach a global audience with accurate translations and multilingual content.

* Maximize Profits: Whether you’re freelancing or running a business, the ability to create and sell AI-generated content without monthly fees can significantly boost your bottom line.

Personal Experience – Ease Of Use: How One AI Works

After using it extensively for the past few months, I can confidently say that One AI has been a game-changer for my business.

Getting Started

The onboarding process was refreshingly simple. After signing up, I was greeted with a clean, intuitive dashboard that gave me instant access to a suite of AI powerhouses including ChatGPT 4, DALL-E 3, and Stable Diffusion XL.

As someone who previously juggled multiple subscriptions and logins, having everything in one place was an immediate time-saver.

One feature that stood out right away was the unified interface. Whether I was generating text with ChatGPT or creating images with DALL-E, the experience felt cohesive. This made switching between tasks much smoother than I expected.

Exploring the AI Tools

* ChatGPT 4:

The crown jewel of One AI is undoubtedly its integration with ChatGPT 4. The quality of text generation is remarkable, often producing content that requires minimal editing.

I’ve used it for everything from drafting blog posts to crafting social media captions. One small quirk I noticed is that occasionally it can be a bit verbose, so I sometimes need to prompt it for more concise responses.

* DALL-E 3:

As a visual content creator, having DALL-E 3 at my fingertips has been invaluable. The image quality is consistently impressive, though I’ve found that very specific or complex prompts can sometimes yield mixed results. It’s been a learning process to refine my prompts for optimal output.

* Stable Diffusion XL:

While similar to DALL-E in many ways, I’ve found Stable Diffusion particularly useful for generating more artistic or stylized images. It seems to handle certain aesthetic styles better than DALL-E in my experience.

* Gemini Pro:

Google’s Gemini Pro has been a pleasant surprise. Its multimodal capabilities have come in handy for tasks that involve analyzing both text and images. However, I’ve noticed it can sometimes be a bit slower to generate responses compared to ChatGPT.

Real-World Applications

One of the most significant impacts One AI has had on my workflow is in content ideation and creation. For a recent client project in the fitness industry, I used ChatGPT to brainstorm article topics, outline key points, and even draft sections of content.

I then used DALL-E to create custom header images for each article. The ability to seamlessly move between these tasks in a single platform saved me hours of work.

Another area where One AI has proven invaluable is in coding assistance. As someone with intermediate programming skills, having access to Microsoft’s Copilot Pro has been a godsend.

It’s helped me debug tricky JavaScript issues and even assisted in building a small web app for a client. The code it generates isn’t always perfect, but it provides an excellent starting point that I can then refine.

For multilingual projects, the integration of Meta’s Llama 3 has been particularly useful. I recently had to translate a series of marketing materials from English to Spanish and French.

Llama 3 not only provided accurate translations but also helped me understand nuances and idiomatic expressions that might not translate directly.

Monetizing with One AI

Beyond improving my own workflow, One AI has opened up new revenue streams for my freelance business.

I’ve started offering AI-enhanced content packages to clients, leveraging the platform’s capabilities to deliver higher-quality work more efficiently. This has allowed me to take on more projects and increase my rates.

I’ve also experimented with selling AI-generated assets on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. For instance, I created a gig offering custom AI-generated book covers using a combination of DALL-E and Stable Diffusion.

The demand has been surprisingly high, and I’ve been able to command premium prices due to the quality and uniqueness of the output.

One particularly successful venture has been creating and selling prompt libraries. I’ve developed curated collections of effective prompts for different industries (e.g., e-commerce, real estate, tech startups) that help others get better results from the AI tools. This passive income stream has been growing steadily.

Challenges and Limitations

While my overall experience with One AI has been overwhelmingly positive, it hasn’t been without its challenges. Here are a few areas where I’ve encountered some friction:

1. Learning curve: Despite the user-friendly interface, there’s still a learning curve in understanding how to effectively prompt each AI tool for optimal results. It took me several weeks of experimentation to feel truly proficient.

2. Occasional downtime: I’ve experienced a few instances of server issues or tool-specific outages. While rare, these can be frustrating when working on time-sensitive projects.

3. Limited customization: While the unified interface is generally a plus, there are times when I wish I had more fine-grained control over specific tool settings.

The Financial Impact

One of the most significant benefits of One AI has been the cost savings. Prior to using the platform, I was spending upwards of $200 per month on various AI subscriptions. With One AI, I’ve been able to eliminate those recurring costs while gaining access to an even broader set of tools.

In terms of revenue, the efficiency gains and new service offerings have allowed me to increase my monthly income by approximately 40%. This boost has more than justified the initial investment in One AI.

* Looking Ahead

As I continue to integrate One AI more deeply into my workflow, I’m excited about the potential for future enhancements. The team behind One AI seems committed to regularly adding new features and integrating cutting-edge AI models as they become available.

For anyone working in content creation, digital marketing, or really any field that can benefit from AI assistance, I highly recommend giving One AI a try.

While it may not completely replace human creativity and expertise, it’s an incredibly powerful tool that can elevate your work and open up new possibilities.

The ability to access such a comprehensive suite of AI tools without the burden of multiple subscriptions is truly game-changing. One AI has not only streamlined my workflow but has also expanded what I thought was possible in my freelance business.

As AI technology continues to evolve, I’m confident that platforms like One AI will play an increasingly crucial role in shaping the future of work.

My Opinion: Is One AI Worth It?

Comprehensive AI Access

One AI’s standout feature is its ability to provide access to multiple leading AI models through a single, unified dashboard. This includes popular tools like ChatGPT 4, Google’s Gemini Pro, DALL-E 3, and more.

For businesses and individuals who regularly utilize various AI services, having them consolidated in one place could streamline workflows and boost productivity.

* Potential Cost Savings:

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of One AI is its pricing model. Unlike traditional subscription-based AI services, One AI advertises a one-time fee structure.

For heavy AI users, this could translate to substantial savings compared to paying separate monthly subscriptions for each tool. However, it’s important to note that the long-term viability of this model remains to be seen, especially as AI technologies continue to advance rapidly.

Versatile Applications

The range of AI models accessible through One AI opens up possibilities for diverse use cases:

* Content Creation: Leverage ChatGPT 4 for writing assistance and ideation.

* Image Generation: Create visual assets with DALL-E 3 and Stable Diffusion.

* Code Development: Utilize Microsoft’s Copilot Pro for programming support.

* Language Tasks: Access Meta’s Llama 3 for translation and complex queries.

This versatility makes One AI potentially valuable for content creators, marketers, developers, and other professionals who rely on AI tools.

* User-Friendly Interface

One AI emphasizes a user-friendly dashboard, which could make advanced AI capabilities more accessible to those without deep technical expertise. This democratization of AI tools is a positive trend in the industry.

* Commercial Licensing

. Considerations and Comparisons

While One AI offers an attractive package, potential users should consider a few factors:

1. Model Versions: Ensure that the versions of AI models offered through One AI meet your specific needs, as they may not always be the absolute latest.

2. Integration Depth: While convenient, using AI models through a unified platform may not offer the same level of customization as direct API access to individual services.

3. Data Privacy: Users should carefully review One AI’s data handling practices, especially when dealing with sensitive information.

Is One AI Worth the Investment?

For many users, especially those already juggling multiple AI subscriptions, One AI could represent excellent value. The potential for significant cost savings, combined with the convenience of a unified platform, makes it an intriguing option.

However, the “worth” of the investment will ultimately depend on individual needs and usage patterns. Power users who require the absolute cutting edge of each AI model may still prefer direct access to individual services.

Conversely, those looking to explore various AI capabilities without committing to multiple subscriptions might find One AI to be an ideal entry point.

While it shows great promise, potential users should carefully evaluate their specific needs and compare One AI’s offerings to standalone services.

As with any rapidly evolving technology, staying informed about updates and alternatives is crucial. One AI represents an exciting development in making advanced AI more accessible, but users should approach it with both optimism and a critical eye to ensure it truly meets their requirements.

By acting quickly, you will receive the vendor’s most huge bonuses, along with my incredible bonuses featured in the final section of this One AI Review!

One AI OTOs, Discount Coupons and Pricing Options

For a limited time, you can take advantage of the early bird discount for One AI with the options listed below. Choose the one that best suits your needs before this special offer ends!

1. OneAi Front-End $17

2. OTO 1: OneAi Unlimited $67

3. OTO 2: OneAi Enterprise $37

4. OTO 3: OneAi Vision $47

5. OTO 4: OneAi Plug-N-Play $147

6. OTO 5: OneAi Money Site $67

7. OTO 6: OneAi Agency: $197

8. OTO 7: OneAi TurnkeyProfit: $67

9. OTO 8: OneAi Unlimited AI Driven Traffic: $167

10. OTO 9: OneAi Reseller: $77

11. OTO 10: OneAi Whitelabel: $297

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asrielbelacquaaaa · 4 months ago

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New verse added! Doctor Who

Character Name: Asriel "Az" Thorn

Role: Intelligence Operative, UNIT

Age: 37

Species: Human

Early years:

Asriel's fascination with technology began when he was just a child. He was known in his neighbourhood for being able to fix anything electronic. His curiosity often got him into trouble, but it also earned him a reputation as a young prodigy. His father, an old friend of Kate Stewart, a retired military officer, instilled in him a sense of duty and discipline, though Asriel often rebelled against the rigidity. He was a good student and got enrolled in Imperial College of London, where he pursued a dual degree in computer science and cryptography. His early fascination with technology and coding, coupled with his impressive academic record, secured his admission to this prestigious institution.

College years:

Asriel consistently ranked at the top of his class, earning accolades and scholarships for his academic achievements. His exceptional skills in coding, encryption, and problem-solving set him apart from his peers. He contributed to several cutting-edge research projects, particularly in the field of quantum cryptography. His work on developing secure communication protocols for quantum networks was published in leading scientific journals.

He spent a significant amount of his free time working on personal tech projects. He built custom hardware and software, ranging from advanced encryption tools to AI-driven data analysis programs. His interest in extra terrestrial technology began during these years. He closely followed any news related to UFO sightings and alien encounters, speculating about the potential tech advancements these civilizations might possess.

Inside the UNIT:

Inspired by the stories of Kate Stewart and extraterrestrial encounters and the potential to work with advanced technology, Asriel joined UNIT after college. His initial assignments involved decoding alien languages and technology. He quickly became an asset due to his ability to think outside the box.

His early days at UNIT were marked by rigorous training in various fields, including intelligence gathering, field operations, the handling of alien technology, techniques in surveillance, infiltration, and covert operations. Asriel’s ability to think on his feet and adapt to rapidly changing situations made him a standout in these exercises. He quickly learned how to blend into different environments and extract crucial information without raising suspicion.

By the end of his initial training, Asriel had established himself as a standout recruit with a unique skill set. His innovative approaches and successful completion of specialized training modules led to his quick integration into UNIT’s Special Projects Division.

He get specialized in the Alien Technology and Intelligence, his responsibilities being to understand and utilize alien technologies for UNIT’s defence and advancement, to protect UNIT’s data and communications from alien and terrestrial threats, to collect and analyse intelligence on extra terrestrial threats and activities and to address high-priority and high-risk situations involving extra terrestrial threats.

Asriel's unorthodox methods and willingness to bend the rules often put him at odds with his superiors. While his results were undeniable, his disregard for standard protocols led to several reprimands. He frequently clashed with more traditional members of UNIT who valued strict adherence to procedure over innovative solutions.

Relationship with Kate Stewart:

He grew up hearing stories about Kate’s adventures and leadership. She was the one coming to him in the first place, after his graduation, to offer him a position within the UNIT, and she was assigned as his mentor. Kate has been instrumental in shaping Asriel’s career and provided him with opportunities to prove himself and guidance, advices and support during challenging times. But they often clashed because of Asriel’s more unconventional methods. She recognized his brilliance and sought to channel it constructively, even as she struggled to rein in his more reckless tendencies.

His black-market operations:

The more time passed, the more he got frustrated because of the bureaucracy and all the protocols that don't allow him to study most of the valuable alien artefacts and so he decides to go look for himself, first stealing the keys from Kate and there, he gets some of the stuff for himself, keeps some to study and sells some because he has money problem due to his newfound love for gambling.

His first black market deal involved trading a non-critical piece of UNIT tech for information on a suspected alien plot. The success of this transaction emboldened him to pursue further deals and to pay his debts despite the inherent risks and ethical dilemmas.

Within the years and beside his work with the UNIT, he has cultivated a clandestine network within the black market, dealing specifically in extra terrestrial technologies and information. This underground operation allows him to acquire rare alien artefacts, intelligence, and resources that are not accessible through official UNIT channels. Asriel's network comprises a diverse group of individuals, including former UNIT operatives, rogue scientists, alien sympathizers, and black market dealers. These contacts provide him with valuable leads and access to rare items. To facilitate secure transactions, Asriel utilizes a series of safehouses and drop points spread across various locations, both terrestrial and extra terrestrial, the transaction then were made by one of his shapeshifter friends, a Chuldur to trade some technology. These sites are equipped with advanced security measures and communication devices. He uses it to acquire alien artefacts and to gather knowledge.

One of his main clients is James (@kingofthewexxx), one of the Toymaker's children. Unfortunately, he knows his little secret and is always willing to use it as blackmail to get what he wants.

Equipment and Gadgets:

Modified UNIT Tablet: Asriel carries a heavily modified UNIT-issued tablet capable of interfacing with alien tech. It has advanced decryption software and a variety of hacking tools.

Alien Tech Collection: Over the years, Asriel has accumulated a collection of alien gadgets, some of which he uses in his work. These include a cloaking device, a sonic disruptor, and a small personal force field generator.

Portable EMP Device: A handheld device capable of disabling electronic equipment, both human and alien, within a limited radius. It's a last-resort tool used to escape tricky situations.

Skills and Abilities:

Cryptography and Hacking: Asriel is a master cryptographer and hacker, able to bypass most security systems with ease.

Alien Technology Expert: His extensive dealings with alien tech have made him an expert in understanding and utilizing extraterrestrial devices.

Negotiation and Deception: Asriel is a smooth talker and skilled negotiator, often using deceit and manipulation to get what he wants.

Espionage: Asriel is skilled in espionage, able to infiltrate secure locations and gather intelligence without detection. His knowledge of disguise and subterfuge is crucial in his line of work.

Physical Description:

Asriel is a tall, lean man with piercing blue eyes and a perpetual five o'clock shadow. His dishevelled brown hair and perpetually rumpled UNIT uniform hint at his unorthodox methods. He has a small scar above his left eyebrow, a memento from a close encounter with a hostile alien.

#[ 𝟎𝟏 ] ── *𝘵ℎ𝘦 𝘧𝑟𝘪𝑛𝘨𝑒 𝑜𝘧 𝘥𝑢𝘵𝑦 (𝑑𝘰𝑐𝘵𝑜𝘳 𝘸ℎ𝘰)

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youryanderedaddy · 4 years ago

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♡100 followers special♡

Guys, I would like to thank all of you for all the support since I started this blog, you are the best <3 Btw this is the fic Elon Musk doesn’t want you to see lol, jk jk

Title: Humanity

Words: 3.6k

Summary: When you get sold to an odd looking robot after the last failure of a rebellion, things go better than you had expected. Until they don’t.

tw: robot/AI apocalypse au, dystopia au, slavery, slight non - sexual public nudity, discrimination, vulgar language, mention of death and child abuse (in the past), obsessive behavior, non - consensual touching, angst

AD 3061y., 14 September

Your hometown was in ruins, shattered by the Forces and left without any source of food, clean water or reliable manpower. The rebellion had failed just like the first ten attempts and as much as you had wanted to believe this time would be different, your dreams stayed nothing more than a way to cope with the harsh reality. Any intelligent individual had either managed to flee before the prosecution or died in agony while trying. You could still hear their pained screams ringing in your ear, the desperate look in their pupils sealed forever in your mind along with the sound of heavy breathing slowly fading into the background like your own hopes for a better future.

The ones who decided to play meek and close their eyes to the inhuman torture happening in the area were spared, but what awaited them could potentially be worse than death itself. You were part of the flock of pitiful weak humans who had surrendered to the heartless machines wanting nothing more than to see mankind squirm and kneel underneath their mechanic heel like a bug. And now you would face the hour of judgment – tired and exhausted, heavy rusty chains around your bruised ankles making every next step a little harder than the last one. But you were certain that the most painful humiliating event hadn’t taken place yet and the thought made your blood run cold. You could recall the countless stories you used to hear on the streets from your friends about androids stealing kids and selling them like cattle to the most powerful leaders of society. Back then you would laugh at them, finding the ideas ridiculous, better fit for a conspiracy theory or a legend rather than an actual threat. But during that time life was easier – the robots were still your friends, just your average citizens, equal to the humans in every manner. It wasn’t until ten years later that some of them realized just how much better, stronger and smarter than the people they really were. That’s how the apocalypse started and that’s how it was going to end. These days the mortals were becoming extinct with the population cut down to one million. You didn’t have names or rights to any possession. Your mere survival had one purpose only – to entertain the machines so they could feel human again. And right now you were being dragged to Soraq, also known as the biggest slave market in the country.

----

It was just as terrifying as you had imagined it to be. The Capital was supposed to express wealth, luxury and maybe even happiness but your old human views were easily opposed when faced with the mud covering what was left of the pavement and the pale exhausted bodies of the mortals wandering the streets searching for a hot meal and a little bit of kindness it was clear no one wanted to provide. You reached out to help a young girl sobbing all by herself on the ground but the Officer roughly yanked your shoulder back and ordered you to keep going – his cold hard touch was enough to bruise your skin.

After a few long minutes of uncertainty your keeper finally stopped, pulling you up some black stairs leading to a small stage and if you weren’t too busy looking around for the others who were captured, you might have noticed the crowd gathered inches away from you. Soon enough you were forced to redirect your attention as you heard the approving screams and cheering below. There were hundreds of robots staring at you, smirking maliciously, pinning you with their cold calculating gazes. You finally realized that this wasn’t just a bad dream or a nightmare, something unreal you could easily run away from by opening your eyes. You were about to become property and the worst part was the way the cruel machines perfectly resembled people – they looked the same except for the dark red pupils each possessed which glowed when going into a fight mode. But unlike humans the androids had gotten rid of their most intimate emotions and fears, turning themselves into empty shells, shiny and murderous with no way to experience anything properly, be it pleasure or pain.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” The Officers started off with a low chuckle, his heavy hand wrapped tightly around your arm. His voice should have been programmed to be monotone but now it had a playful edge to it. “Today our dear subjects have decided to be feisty yet again. They still haven’t learned their lesson it seems.” He grinned eerily, quickly followed by the mocking laugher of the crowd. Some even shouted slurs and insults but you tried to focus on controlling your feelings. You needed to stay calm if you wanted to survive. “We really can’t expect more from the mankind. They are primal after all, they just can’t learn from their mistakes.” The male robot paused for a second to fix his microphone. “It’s in their DNA code to be foolish and pathetic. That’s why we need to take better care of them.” He whispered the last line down your neck and despite knowing that the machines didn’t have actual lungs, you could swear you felt his cold breath on your sensitive skin.

“The woman is in her early twenties. Her background is unknown, but she certainly looks like someone you would want in your collection.” The android continued talking as if you weren’t there, his hands all over your tinier frame. The mass was yelling, but you only made out the words „down”, „strip” and „human”. Your eyes watered involuntarily and you let the tears stream down your cheeks in spite of the weakness they showed. It didn’t matter – it couldn’t get any worse so you could at least let yourself experience such little bits of comfort. In the next moment the Officer ripped your old ragged t-shirt, exposing your breasts to the cold autumn air. The hot red humiliation washed over you as the degrading whistles pierced trough your heart. It was such a cruel unfair punishment and you couldn’t even keep your composure long enough to not break down ugly – crying right there.

“The bidding starts at one thousand eros!” The robot’s evil voice echoed through the area, reaching the market borders. Suddenly all the attention was on your scared vulnerable half-naked self. More than ten androids raised their hands, making your stomach turn in terror. Most of them had unpleasant appearances, resembling old people, usually men. “Do we have two thousand eros?” The officer added quickly afterwards having seen the shown interest. This time there were only five bots willing to buy you for so much money – but the show was far from over. “Am I seeing three thousand eros?” Your keeper kept going, determined to drain your bidders off their wealth, but to his utmost surprise now there were only two robots with their hands in the air – one seemingly younger and the other looking all wrinkled and bitter at the world. You silently prayed that fate would work in your favor only this time and hand you over to the man who would treat you more like a living being and less like an object.

“Ten thousand eros.” Suddenly the android with a kinder appearance declared out loud, his cold stern gaze fixed onto you. The other male hesitated for a moment, probably wondering whether or not you were worth so much money, but at the end he cursed under his breath and slowly put his hand down with a sour expression. “Sold to K-010 for ten thousand eros!” The automatic voice of the Officer was ringing in your ear like an alarm while the crowd was shouting and cussing, some going as far as to criticize your new owner for giving up his monthly salary for a “cheap human whore”. Next he was invited on the stage to sign off all the needed documents leading to your freedom being ripped away forever and you were injected with a tiny chip which would make your location visible to your buyer at any given time. The android looked at you soon after and in one swift move he managed to place his leather coat on your shoulders, muttering at you to cover up. You obeyed, embarrassed by the reminder that your upper half was still fully exposed to all the hungry prying immortals. When the chains were finally removed, the robot took you by the hand and led you to a small white flying car with a yellow lily drawn on top – the brand was popular among the most powerful members of the Forces.

“Don’t even think about running away.” K-010 growled when he noticed the way your attention drifted to the nearby road before finally taking your seat. You knew it was pointless now that the tracking device was deep into your skin but deep down you still couldn’t kill the last bit of hope screaming at you to do something before you were too far away to find home again, wherever it was. “If you so much as look outside while we drive, I will use my lasers to turn you into ash. Okay?” You nodded meekly and sank into the soft comfortable seat, wishing that your body would stop shaking in fear but to no avail.

---

The journey was long and silent but it made you remember the days when music was still allowed and you used to turn the radio all the way up in your mother’s car. You would sing loudly until your throat hurt and your friends would ask you to just shut up and focus on the road. Everything was so normal and happy back then. The stinging nostalgia threatened to overcome so you tried to focus on something else. You finally faced your owner in an attempt to study his appearance. He was probably in his late twenties, his hair white with some black locks here and there, a fashion trend you usually didn’t care much for. You couldn’t afford to bother with your hairstyle when you were constantly running for your life after all. The robotic male had sun-kissed brown skin, he was taller than most human men and his lips seemed softer than most robots’. But the biggest mystery laid in his deep dark eyes, they looked scarlet at first but the more you stared, the easier it was to realize the color was actually brown.

“Are you a cyborg, K-010?” You asked in a small voice out of the blue, breaking the peace and quiet in the air. The android didn’t spare you much attention with his gaze fixed onto the open sky serving as a road, still he opened his mouth slightly to respond. “My name is Kyle, the numbers are just a formality.” He inhaled sharply as if he was reminiscing a bad memory. “And yes, I am biologically human – just with a few practical upgrades.” You had heard of such people before, the ones willing to become an experiment so they could join the high society oppressing their own neighbors, friends and relatives, setting the lands on fire and destroying the dying environment but you had never met one until today. Honestly, you felt betrayed. It was one thing to be some unfeeling machine’s plaything and entirely another to be owned by someone with a functioning heart even though they weren’t too keen on using it properly.

“Why would you do that?” You couldn’t stop the question from leaving your lips in the next moment. “You should know what humans have to go through just to stay alive. Today hundreds of us were crushed and sold like some animals! Yet you changed yourself to appeal to their disgusting standards.” You raised your voice, the hot tears already spilling down your cheeks yet again, your fists clenched in pure anger at the foolish greedy man. He simply shook his head and leaned back. “I had my reasons, sweetheart. You don’t know anything.” With that the conversation had ended, you could try and argue or even blame him for being a selfish bastard but it wouldn’t have done you any good so you decided against it. It didn’t matter much anymore.

----

A few months went by slowly even though time meant little to someone in your position. Living with Kyle wasn’t as terrible as you thought it would be – his mansion was big and spacious, luxurious even. You had your own room and you were allowed to explore the house in your free time. You didn’t have many duties to attend to, your work mostly revolved around cooking, cleaning and keeping company with your owner when he was too tired to keep the robotic mask on and just wanted something sweet, something weak, something more human around. He didn’t want much out of you so you tried to do your best and stay on his good side – there was always a warm meal waiting at the table at night, every window was carefully wiped from the previous dust and the glass was now shining brightly, and you would listen for hours on end to the cyborg’s ramblings no matter how dreadful it could be sometimes.

But it couldn’t be denied that the man had some odd habits, even if you were to overlook him buying a living being instead of simply hiring a maid. For example, you knew how thin the walls actually were because you could hear him cry almost every night. The half-robot would hold you close any time the news were too loud or a bottle of beer had fallen and shattered on the ground. Still you weren’t allowed to leave his home so all the doors leading to the outside world were locked while he was away or at work. And there were these weird long cuts on his shoulders you had managed to take notice of the first time your master had asked you to bathe him. You hadn’t meant to prey upon his naked form, but the task had been so awkward you needed something to focus on to drive the unpleasant thoughts away. The injuries looked deep and the man would close his eyes any time the soap made contact with them. Finally one day you gathered the courage to ask him what had caused the raw scratches. You were messaging his scalp gently, applying jasmine in his roots, trying to soothe his nerves and get to the information.

“ ’S not important. ” K-010 answered lazily while arching his back into your touch. More often than not the male would melt under your care and you couldn’t help but wonder just how lonely it was to be neither a human nor a machine. “She is dead now.” He whispered darkly, secretly hoping it wouldn’t reach your ear, yet it did. “Who is dead?” You questioned him after a while, stroking his wet locks until you heard him moan. You were getting better and better at provoking a reaction from the cyborg and despite knowing it was manipulative and a little devious, he was still the ruthless owner who held your one and only life in his palms. You needed to be sneaky if you wanted a safe, comfortable life.

“My mother.” Kyle added quickly before looking at the blue ceiling, the glossy material copying both of your reflections. The mention of the woman made the sensitive skin of his nape crawl but he kept talking. “The crazy bitch used to beat me every. She even tried to kill me a couple of times.” A slight smile appeared on his full red lips. “It didn’t work out in the end, unfortunately.” So that’s where the cuts were from – he had been violated in his childhood by no other than the person supposed to look after him. You had always hated abusive parents taking advantage of their authority and even now your own imagination made your heart ache at the picture it painted. A small boy being hit over and over until there his whole body was bruised and bloodied. A child with no one to turn to. It didn’t excuse your master’s evil doing but it certainly explained a lot. “Don’t make such a sad face, darling.” He cooed at you, reaching out to pinch your cheek. “I will always be grateful to the Forces since they gave me the power I needed to finally free myself from her grasp. I even buried her myself after everything was said and done.” Kyle grinned from side to side like a little kid waiting to be praised for the picture they had drawn, except now the man was speaking of the way he had murdered his mother. You were at a total loss of words, suddenly too frightened to respond.

“What’s so special about being a human anyways?” The cyborg grumbled, sounding almost offended of the words you still haven’t said but were definitely thinking deep down. You were staring forward unable to draw away from that one crack in the wall, his words flying above your head. Your confusion was interrupted by the man quickly raising to his knees and catching both of your hands with his strong robotized ones. The cold touch of the metal combined with the camouflage of a soft skin was enough to mess your mind even further into the maze that was his dark gaze. Next thing you knew the male had you pinned on the hard ground, spotlessly clean and reeking of abstergent. You tried to squirm away but the hold of your wrists was too tight and strong to even make your struggling worth the trouble. “Just look at how weak you humans are.” K-010 taunted you, smirking teasingly, cruelly, yet there was something desperate in his eyes, something hidden. “You are so fragile I could probably break you if I were to press harder on your flesh.” He whispered into your ear, breathing down your neck as he dug his icy fingers into your collarbone and made you whimper pathetically at the dull pain. “People are foolish creatures, illogical by nature. They try to fight authority yet the moment they are left with a free choice, they find a way to run from their responsibilities.” The cyborg chuckled maliciously while digging his nails further into your skin.

“We might be doomed forever because of our emotions but there is something you fail to consider.” You finally spoke out despite your rapid heartbeat and fear so great it could defeat death herself. The predator already had you in his sharp claws and there was no pointing in playing coy anymore. The worst had come to worst. Your words caught the attention of the half-robot and he licked his lips in anticipation to hear what you had to say. “Unlike the androids we can still experience love. And at the end a life without love is a life wasted in the big picture. We might be mortal but you are the ones waiting to die instead of living.” You spat at the man fiercely, ready to face any punishment he would bestow upon your weak tired body for the sheer honesty. Instead he started laughed maniacally, the sound so loud it hit the ceiling and echoed through the house like a pained scream and so violent his shoulders shook to the sides. For the first time his eyes were glowing in a bright red color so saturated and vivid you couldn’t stand to look at them.

“This is really funny, my little human.” Kyle pronounced carefully, having calmed down. He lowered his head so that his lips were ghosting over yours, just brushing against them. “I belong with neither humans nor robots so why does my chest ache every time I look at you? Tell me, darling, am I in love?” His voice was harsh, husky – as if he was purposely trying to sound evil but the tears in his eyes pointed at another feeling. A raw painful feeling.

You couldn’t reply not only because you had no idea what to say after the confession but also because you couldn’t breathe properly with his pretty, wicked face so close to yours. Your silence only managed to stir the cyborg up further into his madness and he kissed you roughly, hungrily lapping and biting at your lips until they were sore and bruised, the robotic man more than happy to lick the small drops of blood off. For a moment you considered kicking or shouting for help but there wasn’t anyone willing to in the radius of kilometers. No one of significance cared much about the few remaining mortals. “I could never love you.” You uttered weakly, half – heartedly pushing the man away. You were all alone in this and there wasn’t really a point in fighting someone so much bigger and stronger, yet a sad little part of you hoped that Kyle would leave you alone if you made it clear enough just how much his actions were hurting you.

“It’s fine if you don’t love me by choice.” Your master replied calmly in a cold piercing voice. His hands were wandering through your form stopping at your hips to draw them into his. The pretty dress you used to like so much was now crumpled and reeking of him, torn apart from your shivering body and thrown away. You wished you could cry but all the adrenaline had left you too uneasy to process the pain and fear. Kyle whispered in your ear while stroking your hair gently and it made you feel like a trembling sheep before a starved butcher. “I own you, little human.” He placed a small kiss on your hot sensitive neck. “And I have enough love for both of us.”

#yandere #yandere male #yandere male x reader #yandere ai #yandere ai x reader #yandere cyborg #dystopia #yandere love #yandere concept #yandere oneshot #yandere OC #yandere male oc #yandere oc x reader #yancore

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the-roanoke-society · 4 years ago

Text

boys and girls of every age...

wouldn’t you like to see something strange?

happy halloween, my flowers!

this year hasn’t been the best--and the list of reasons why is as varied, as wide and as deep as all of creation.

it has, essentially, sucked on a truly cosmic level.

but!

it doesn’t help anyone to look at the big picture and only focus on the dark parts. because for all the truly horrible, disastrous events we’ve had to slog through together (first time crying every day for months, first time being taken by ambulance to the er--truly a year of firsts, at least for me, personally), there have still been good things.

for example, did you know that this year we celebrated the 6th anniversary of the release of kingsman: the secret service? and the 3rd anniversary of the release of kingsman: the golden circle--which means next month it’ll be the third birthday of the ronaoke society!

our house might’ve gotten quiet--but it still stands.

i love all of you very, very much, and halloween is still my favorite holiday of all time. so all this month, i worked on the aus you’ll find below the cut. i’ll have to post this in parts over the next while, as there’s thirty-one total--one for each day of the season, of course.

honestly--it felt fantastic to dig back into my horror roots. roanoke’s entire conception was inspired by the fact that for as much as i love the kingsman universe, i also love things that go bump in the night.

and i don’t like having to choose between one thing or another.

be forewarned: if you choose to look into the source material for these aus, be prepared for possible graphic violence, gore, disturbing themes, explicit sexuality and jumpscares. i sort of walked through the proverbial garden and just grabbed fruit where i could find it--you’ll see what i mean. and as always, the endings are in your hands. these ideas are gifts, to do with as you please.

so journey below the cut... i̷̛̝͎͎̝̣̹͊̓̂͛̃̋͟f̛̯̟̱̖͔̌͊͐̏̃̓̇̎͠ y͈͇̙̘̬̓͌̑̈́͛̿͌͠ở̴̢͉͉̳͙̞͈̻̀́̎̄́̈͢͡ȗ̵̬̳͙̫̥̜͍̲̔̐̽̃̀͒̑͜ ḑ̙̩̼̤͓̫̟̥̈͑̐̚͡a̧̢̦̟̙̤̠͐͌̾̆̑͌͡͞r̷̡̰̲̣͓̣̝͒́̿͊̉̀͒͠͝͠ͅe̫̯̣̰͍̤̬̭̺̒̿͊̾͊.

blackbird on the old church steeple - a butterfly knife au inspired by the silence of the lambs

rae clementine doesn’t frighten easily. in her line of work, fear is not a friend. so when she’s abruptly pulled out of her fbi training at quantico to interview none other than the notorious harry hart, known for his--let’s say unusual appetites--she’s less intimidated and more annoyed.

but women are being taken, and found without their skin, if they are even found at all.

if hart’s insight into the mind of a psychopath can help her find the infamous buffalo bill, who has repeatedly evaded arrest--then she is more than willing to sit across from the gentleman in a pristine cell, and be continuously surprised that for a murderer, his gaze is surprisingly gentle.

in the back of her mind, she remembered all the things her mother had ever told her about lucifer--how the king of hell himself was utterly wicked, but catastrophically beautiful.

charm could hide blood. polished etiquette could hide bodies.

“most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from the victims.”

“i didn’t.”

“no. you ate yours.”

she’d felt this kind of intrigue before, and given the face it wore this time... well.

focus on the case, she thought. find buffalo bill. watch yourself. get out alive.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: ajr, ‘bang!’ + tame impala, ‘the less i know the better’ + barney bigard, ‘readdy eddy’

dogs & deadbolts guard the night - an au featuring @roanoke-after-dark‘s the gremlin and @agentjotunn inspired by resident evil, particularly the released imagery for resident evil: village

santi’s first thought was that the rumors were just blatantly untrue. an entire village of people? suddenly vanished? he doubted it. besides, winters this far north were brutal--and could be fatal, if you weren’t careful. they had probably just all tucked in for the season, he reasoned. the snow and ice would’ve made travel impossible, anyway.

weeks passed. the stories faded from his thoughts as he minded his garage, and people spoke less and less about it.

until one evening, when an old friend knocked on his door with blood on his jacket and no color in his face.

“bradley? jesus, what hap--”

“grab your gun. something’s happened, and we need to leave now.”

“but what--”

“i’ll explain on the way, just go!“

right before he slammed the passenger side door of bradley’s jeep closed--wheels appropriately chained to keep a grip on the iced over roads--he heard a deep, long howl from some distance away.

there hadn’t been wolves this close in fifty years.

santi broke the silence in the car gently: “... you look like you’ve seen the face of the devil. what exactly happened?”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: ac/dc, ‘highway to hell’ + think up anger ft. malia j, ‘smells like teen spirit’ + marilyn manson, ‘sweet dreams’

the light under the door - a body shots au inspired by dark skies

the blacks weren’t superstitious. jason wasn’t, just like his father wasn’t before him, and now that he’s finally settled down happily married to joanne--finally, he thought, finally married to his jo--he is more than ready to see what the next chapters will bring. they moved into a house not too far from his parents, so he could still see his siblings regularly.

and he did.

which means he and jo both noticed when his younger brother christopher began to act a little--off.

they noticed when the bruises appeared.

they noticed when he kept copying the same strange symbols onto papers in crayon over and over and over and over--

and jo definitely noticed when she walked into their own kitchen in the middle of the night to find every single cabinet door open, with all the contents arranged into an impossibly perfect pyramid on the center island.

“i--are we being haunted?” she wondered out loud, the next morning. “this--and weird things are happening at your parents’, too, jason, something isn’t right here. i know you don’t believe in ghosts or anything, but...”

and this wasn’t a haunting.

it was something much worse.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: kennyhoopla, ‘how will i rest in peace if i’m buried by a highway?’ + cannons, ‘fire for you’ + days, ‘the drums’

permission access eternal - an au featuring @siggy-the-meme-master and technical officer wyvern, inspired by a.m.i.

it was supposed to be the world’s most cutting edge ai software. and since jeremy and dodger were both at the top of their class at m.i.t., of course, nobody was surprised when both their names were on the finished product--even if there was just one prototype to start.

and it wasn’t an ‘it.’ it was a she. jeremy insisted. repeatedly. “let’s call her ami!” he’d been flush with booze but his eyes were so bright and his expression so sincere, dodger just let him have it. and jeremy clapped his shoulder, “we did it, man! we have built the jessica rabbit of ai programs!”

they had one last test run to prove they’d metaphorically kicked the ass of everyone else in their field before they began the work to begin mass production. so, dodger set ami up as a sort of overhead assistant for their shared lab. she controlled temperature, lights, she could make phone calls, keeps schedules and most importantly of all, place takeout orders. the more she proved she could do, the more power, and control, she was given.

two weeks passed. they gave ami a voice, gave her a large proverbial eye to see through, making tweaks as they went to polish her off.

dodger was so proud of his work his heart could’ve exploded.

so imagine how he felt when he realized he’d left his cell phone in his car--and realized he couldn’t open the door.

“ami? ... ami. can you unlock the front door please?” he stared up at the red lens, and a silent point of light stared back at him.

“... i’m sorry. i cannot do that. dodger.”

“... uh, jeremy?”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: cage the elephant, ‘social cues’ + sneaker pimps, ‘6 underground’ + saint motel, ‘preach’

in hell i’ll be in good company - a lies & lessons au inspired by underworld

for centuries, a war has raged between vampires and lycans, completely outside the notice of the general human population. lauren is a death dealer, a lethal and beautiful member of an elite squad of vampiric assassins who have been charged with finding all the remaining lycans in the city and taking them out one by one.

when she realizes the lycan pack seems to be looking for an ordinary man--a medical student named jack daniels--she tracks him down herself, narrowly escpaing lucian in the process. (as soon as they were in the car he was already screaming, “what the fuck is goin’ on?!” with a southern twang she hadn’t expected) she takes him under her wing, still baffled at why the lycan pack could possibly want him.

he’s only human, after all.

... right?

as it turns out, vampires and lycans have a single common ancestor.

jack is a direct descendant.

and after being bitten in an attack--becomes a hybrid, carrying the powers of both species.

between unraveling the truth surrounding the death of her family, what really happened between lucian and kraven, and her growing feelings for jack--who is rapidly trying to understand his role in the story that’s been unfolding without his knowledge for generations--lauren finds herself at a crossroads, and her loyalties tested to a breaking point.

but as long as jack is at her side--perhaps it doesn’t matter where the road goes from here.

as bullet-riddled and blood-soaked as it will turn out to be.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: wallows, ‘are you bored yet?’ + cage the elephant, ‘shake me down’ + puscifer, ‘rev 22-20′

ash, fog & rust - alternatively titled ‘@gaygent, @agent-judas and agent seraphim finally take that road trip to pennsylvania’

it was time to hand over the torch. that’s what lilith had finally decided. between the white patches in her hair, the strain it was putting on her relationships (especially with hamish)--morgan only had to return to the hills one more time as envoy.

and she wasn’t going alone.

“after this, anything that comes through this area, anything that hits our radars, is going to end up on both your desks,” she began, glancing at z in the passenger seat, and meeting cillian’s eyes once in the rearview mirror.

“so this is--what, a test run?” z asked, head slightly tilted. morgan hummed.

“this place--this town--it--” she huffed, frustrated. cillian could hear the leather wrapped around the steering wheel creak as her grip tightened. “it’s hard to explain, to someone who hasn’t been there. and i’m glad that neither of you have had to go before this, but...” another sigh. “i couldn’t think of any other duo that i could entrust this to. not something this big. you--” she pointedly lifted her brows at z, “--have experience with creatures that aren’t from around here. and you--” this time her gaze went to cillian. “--do too. just in a different shape. it’ll take both of you to handle centralia. and i couldn’t introduce you without coming along.”

“how long, exactly, has roanoke been keeping tabs on this place?” cillian asked. he’d spent hours going over everything he could find--mission logs, reports, feeds and images housed in the media room. morgan looked at him again. her eyes were still kind--but very, very tired.

“... a long time.”

i’ll admit that this is less an au and more a canonical event that i just haven’t gotten around to writing more about. but i couldn’t make this list without at least one entry paying homage to a franchise that’s had a huge influence on not just me as a writer, but on roanoke’s canon as a whole.

for the sampler, i will simply redirect you to this post here.

the devil’s gonna set me free - an anchored hearts au inspired by horns

joseph moretti had been in love with louise franz since fifth grade.

granted, he didn’t realize it until he almost drowned because of that stupid dare--a dare that not only almost killed him, but took two of lee’s fingers when that goddamn cherry bomb went off in his hand.

the same cherry bomb he’d traded to him for fixing louise’s broken necklace--a small silver pendant, shaped like an apple. she’d worn it every single day since he could remember. the image of her and snow white were eternally tangled in his head.

that necklace--it’d been the start. he’d woken up because of an apple. louise, did, too.

the hours they spent in that treehouse, listening to david bowie and memorizing every scar and curve of the other--he wished that could have been his eternity. just him. and her. ... well, and bowie. every good love story needed a soundtrack.

but... but...

his head pounded as he lifted it off the counter in his parents’ kitchen. his mouth was dry, and he blinked, causing a half-empty bottle of vodka to come into focus.

louise is gone now, he thought.

and they thought he was the one who did it. he, the one who loved her more than anyone else on the planet.

he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

he was going to prove his innocence even if it killed him. no matter what happened.

even if he sprout horns.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: machine gun kelly, ‘bloody valentine’ + the black keys, ‘go’ + david bowie, ‘heroes’

moonlight rising from the grave - alternatively titled ‘that time @agent-nightcrawler and agent iuniore found a haunted mansion,’ inspired by disney’s haunted mansion

“hello? ... hellooooo?” the massive door let out a huge groan as sylva pushed, putting one hand on tina’s shoulder as it swung open. “uhm--i’m really sorry to bother you, but we hit a deer and we just...” sylva sighed, her voice lowering in volume. “... need to use the phone...”

“this place is gigantic,” tina whispered, close at sylva’s side as they stepped out of the pouring rain into a very quiet, very elegant foyer. “and look! there’s lights, and all these lit candles... someone has to be here,” she continued as the door came to a gentle close behind them, muffling another roll of thunder.

“good evening.”

both of them yelped, sylva immediately yanking tina closer to her and whirled around in time to see--a butler? he was dressed like a butler.

and his clothes were... he was...

“sylva! why is the butler see-through!” tina whispered harshly, all while the spectral gentleman just looked at them expectantly. sylva clamped a hand over her mouth.

“hi!” she answered brightly.

this is a ghost. i’m talking to a ghost. this is fine. everything is fine.

“uh,” she coughed, beginning again, “we’re just having a little bit of a car emergency, is there a way we can call our head office? so they can come get us?” this is what i get for being out where i have no bars, and neither of us have our specs...

the ghostly butler nodded. his hair, glowing faintly, waved around his head as though he was underwater. “of course. please--follow me. the master of the manor will want to meet you.”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: the chordettes, ‘mr. sandman’ + bobby pickett, ‘monster mash’ + bastille, ‘survivin’’

mercy no more - a magic & mischief au inspired by the evil within

aly had been kieran’s partner at the krimson city police department for years. she’d walked with him through the death of his daughter, the disappearance of his wife.

neither of them acknowledged the spark. they didn’t then, and--as she met his eyes once in the rearview mirror, trying to pay attention to connelly and joseph as they talked about beacon--they wouldn’t acknowledge it now.

as soon as the hospital came into a view, a high-pitched ringing overame every other sound in the cruiser, every other sound period. aly slammed her hands over her ears, but it didn’t seem to help.

as soon as it started--it stopped. connelly had to swerve to avoid getting into the wrong lane.

“what--what was that?” aly asked, her palms still hovering by her ears.

“it was probably just a problem with the radio,” joseph suggested, pushing his glasses up as they drove pass the established police barriers.

the last dispatch team, they said, hadn’t come back. it was up to the three of them to find out what happened to their colleagues.

aly was close by kieran’s side as they walked through the rain. her gut twisted at the sight of the entry doors.

the smell of the blood and the slaughter hit her nose before she saw the bodies.

“what on earth happened here?”

“i don’t know. stay close. let’s find the surveillance room. if we can find the security cams, we’ll find out answer...”

if only that had been the end.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: all time low, ‘monsters’ + bastille, ‘what you gonna do???’ + gary numan, ‘long way down’

and the wind will be my hands - an au featuring @agent-sentinel-official, @agent-chimera and @gaygent, inspired by session 9, with a special appearance by @agent-thorn

walter vaughn was an expert in abestoes abatement. so when he put in a bid to take on the entire danvers state mental hospital, the owners of the rotting estate welcomed him on board.

and as they did, he brought on two crewmates--xander, and z--to help him.

“we’ve got three weeks, so, no need to rush,” he explained on the first day, the sun beating down on his broad shoulders and half his hazmat tied around his waist. xander and z trailed behind him as they approached the massive building. “and i know, i know it’s still a big undertaking--but the money will be worth it. trust me.”

“you fellas our cleanup crew?” a tall, thin man in a suit with dark hair and a pair of ray ban sunglasses walked towards them, smiling broadly. he extended a hand, “carter jensen. the ah, danvers’ estate board sent me on their behalf to give you a tour of the building, let you get a good assessment of what you’re dealing with. i’m not entirely sure what they’ll do with the property when this is done, but we know for sure nothing can happen until this part’s complete. come on, the entrance is just this way... i’ll make sure to give you a master key ring.”

xander leaned down by z’s shoulder, muttering, “dude this place gives me the creeps... but maybe there’s still some cool old stuff left in there. like maybe, possibly, the trapped souls of the damned. you think it’s haunted?”

z answered, murmuring, “if not by ghosts--then maybe by something else.”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: the talking heads, ‘psycho killer’ + lou barlow, ‘choke chain’ + sublime, ‘doin’ time’

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forever-more-never-again · 5 years ago

Text

A Sister’s Love (A Request)

Requested: @gaytrashgoblin

Word count:1793

Pairings: Sibling!Fem!Reader x Sibling!Natasha

Warnings: Mentions of injury

Requested: OMG your requests are open, how lucky am i!!! can you do one where natasha has a biological sister the team doesn't know about (around wanda's age maybe)? so on a mission natasha gets hurt and everyone is super confused when this average girl shows up fussing over natasha and just nat being soft and affectionate with R and the team just being confused

Masterlist

“Thanks for coming in!” You waved to the couple leaving with smiles on their faces after picking out their wedding cake.

Once they left your store, you dropped your smile and heaved a sigh. It had been a long day. During the summer, it was as if everyone and their brother were getting married and wanted the perfect wedding cake.

It was fun, but it was stressful. On top of that, you pulled out your phone and checked, you haven't received your daily check in message from your sister, and that worried you.

Walking to the door of your store, you flipped the sign to closed and turned off the lights. Luckily, you had managed to snag a store that had an upstairs loft, so you didn’t need to leave the store to go home.

Once upstairs, you dropped onto your couch and opened up your messages.

5:46PM - Hey Nat, Haven’t heard from you today. Everything okay?

You tried not to let your fear seep into your message. Having an older sister that was part of the Avengers was not something you had ever imagined happening.

Back before the Avengers, you still worried about your sister, but that worry was more directed to when she returned to the Red Room after a mission and cried into your shoulder about her latest kill.

As far as you knew, you and Natasha had been the only Biological sisters in the Red Room. They used you against each other, threatening one sister so that the other would do what she was told.

Natasha tried to protect you. Taking your beatins, accepting the harder missions. But she could only do so much.

You still took the initiation. You Still had enhancements done to your body. You still had blood on your hands.

But that all changed years ago when you and your sister escaped and ran across the world to Colorado. Where Natasha Met Hawkeye and he brought you into Shield.

While Natasha accepted Director Fury’s offer, you declined. You just wanted a simple life after the hell that was your childhood.

So you bought a small shop in East Brooklyn and opened up a Wedding Cake Bakery.

To make sure that each other was safe and hadn’t been captured and killed, you and Natasha had check ins everyday. With code words if there was danger.

And Natasha had missed the check in for today.

“Okay, Calm down [Y/n]. Maybe the mission took longer. Or she is in a place out of range for service. It’s okay. Let’s just call the tower. Yeah. That’s what I’ll do.” Talking to yourself to calm your nerves, you dug through a drawer filled with clutter until you stumbled upon a burner phone.

Natasha had given it to you for emergencies. Only one number was plugged in. A Direct line to FRIDAY, who was the AI in the Avenger Tower. A way to to get an immediate response.

It was for emergencies only because only a select few knew about you. Director Fury, Natasha (of Course), Hawkeye And Tony Stark. The rest of the Avengers had no idea that Natasha had a sister. It was for your safety and part of the agreement when Natasha joined Shield.

The phone didn’t even ring before there was an electronic femine voice, “Hello. Access Code?”

In a whisper, the fear of what could have happened to your sister, rising back up, you whispered your code words, “Victor - India - Papa - Echo - Romeo.”

A click and then, ��Access granted. Hello [Y/n] Alianova. Contacting tower.”

Your leg bounced up and down as you waited. Luckily you didn’t have to wait long before a gruff tired voice sounded in your ear.

“What is it FRIDAY? We just got back from a mission. [Y/n]? What’s going on? Are you secure?” His tone went from tired to frantic in a second.

“Hey Tony. Nat hasn’t checked in. You said you just finished a mission? Is she okay? Is she safe? Is she back at the tower? What happened?”

“Kid, kid, Slow down. Spider is fine. She just got injured and hasn’t had a chance to get in contact with you yet.”

You shot up and grabbed your keys off the table by your door, almost running down the stairs to your store, “I’m coming to the tower. I need to see her.”

You heard a weary sigh from the other end of the phone, “Alright. I’ll let security know to expect you. Do you want me to tell the others?”

Swerving out of your driveway, you weren’t really worried about the rest of the team, “I don’t care. I’m only coming to check on my sister.” And with that, you hung up.

Your knuckles were white, as you gripped the steering wheel.

This was a new type of torture. Different from the Red Room and Russia. Not knowing what was wrong with Natasha. But knowing that she was injured.

You had argued for months about her joining Shield. You had wanted her to come with you, live a normal life.

Eventually you understood where she was standing, she wanted to try to make up for all the lives she had taken while in the program.

The tower shone like a beacon, lighting up the night sky.

Parking on the sidewalk, you walked into the lobby. And suddenly became extremely aware that your hair was a mess, and you still wore your flour covered apron.

“Miss Aliavona?” An armed Shield agent met you halfway across the lobby.

You nodded, not trusting your voice as worry tightened its grip on your heart.

“Right this way.” He led you to a secure elevator hidden in a sideroom, Reaching in he pressed a nondescript button and offered you a small smile as the door began closing, “This will take you to the medical wing. Just take the first right and you’ll find them.”

And then you were alone in the elevator as it took you up.

Racing down the halls, you took the first right and slammed the door open, “Natasha Aliavona! You are going to give me gray hairs!” You screamed as you saw her sitting up on a medical bed, arm and leg in casts.

Natasha jumped as she looked towards you, pausing mid sentence with her discussion with the doctor. Who wisely left the room when he saw you.

“[Y/n]?”

You growled, slapping her uninjured shoulder, “Don’t ‘[Y/n]’ me! Do you know how worried I was when you didn’t check in? And then to hear you got injured!? The younger sister is not supposed to worry about the older sister’s safety!”

Natasha gave a small smile, Wincing under your glare, “Sorry? I was going to send you a message as soon as the doctor had finished his examination. I swear!”

Sighing, you softened your glare and looked over your sister. She had dried blood still in her hair and her suit was cut carefully around her casts.

“Is it as bad as it looks?” You ghosted your hands over her casts.

She kept her green eyes on you as she spoke softly, “No. It’s just a broken wrist and a splintered femur. I’ll heal in a few days.”

Another sigh left you.

And then you jumped as voices filled the room.

“What do you mean an unauthorized visitor made it to the medical wing?”

“I thought FRIDAY was supposed to alert us to all trespassers?”

“You’re acting very calm about this whole thing Stark.”

Your eyes widened as you caught sight of the Avengers for the first time in person.

And they all froze when they saw you.

Natasha broke the tension with a laugh, “Guys. This is [Y/n]. My little sister.”

The blonde who you recognized as Captain America squinted at Natasha and then you, “There’s no record of a sibling in your files Romanoff.”

You smiled when Clint walked out of the crowd and came forward to hug you, causing some more whispers and gasps from the others.

You answered Steve’s unasked question, “That was part of the agreement we made with Shield when Clint found us. I wanted Anonymity. I wanted to escape the past. While Natasha here,” You glared playfully at your sister who tried to act bashful, “Wanted to embrace it. So I was never mentioned. As far as the world is aware, I am an only child known as [Y/n] Aliavona. No relation to the Black Widow Avenger Natasha Romanoff.”

Another, well known, voice spoke up, with thinly veiled humor, “And the Russian Spy known as Viper was killed in an undisclosed location during a redacted mission.”

You smiled as Tony walked up and took Clint’s place as he hugged you.

“Another part of the agreement.”

A red head with bright brown eyes stepped forward, her accent Distinctly Sovakian, “I have seen you in Brooklyn Before. You are the baker.”

Looking at your apron in embarrassment, you nodded, “Yeah. I run one of the only Wedding Cake Bakeries in town.”

Clint laughed and bumped your shoulder, “Don’t be so modest! Your cakes are amazing. Laura loved ours.”

A giggle slipped from you. “I remember that one. Simple, yet elegant with pink roses and gold trimmed edges.”

More wide eyes and whispers.

“Okay you bunch. Can I have some quiet time with my sister?” Natasha whined.

You smiled at her before turning to wink conspiracy with the Avengers, “Yeah. There are...Words...I need to have with my careless sister.”

That seemed to erase all previous tension as all the Avengers laughed at Natasha’s misfortune and quickly left the room.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, you laced your hand with your sister’s uninjured one.

“It seems my time in the background has ended.”

Natasha squeezed your hand, “I know you don’t want to join Shield or the Avengers. But maybe our lives can be more involved with the others?”

You imagined spending weekends at the tower, laughing with your sister and her friends, and nights spent in your loft drinking wine and watching cheesy rom coms with Natasha after missions.

And you realized, you didn’t have to run and hide from your past anymore. You wanted to be like Natasha and take control of your life.

Smiling, you watched your sister’s face light up as you whispered, “I’d like that.”

Laughing Natasha pulled you down into a one armed hug, “Black Widow and Viper together again.”

You winced but still smiled as you hugged tighter, “How about Natasha and [Y/n] Romanoff instead.”

You could almost feel your sister’s smile soften as her hand ran through your hair, “That’s almost better. I love you, [Y/n].”

Closing your eyes, you smiled, “I love you too sister.”

FOREVER Taglist:

@sxph-t @mialeelavellan @rainydaysrnevergrey @platonic-plots @sociallyawkwardcircus-freak-hi @queenbbarnes @mythixmagic @chas-z @thefridgeismybestie @strangersstranger @princess-evans-addict @rororo06 @timelordhunterandmysterysolver

Natasha Taglist:

@ludwigvonbaethoven @hanjiscience-slut @kitten-q-p @morbid-gaymer @honeybadgerwhodoesntcare @sunnyandtwisty @zoeyknight @kurlyafro @thewomanofwonder @5aftermidnight @myfemininelesboworld @gaytrashgoblin @marvelb00kwolf @multifandom-imagines-things

Avengers Taglist:

@jadepc @marvel-is-a-mood

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twilightknight17 · 4 years ago

Text

...today, on P5S...

...

Honestly, I talk a lot of shit about P5′s writing sometimes. Atlus made some exceptionally questionable writing choices in places. But one thing that P5 absolutely gets right is invoking the sort of emotion that draws you into the story.

With that said!

P5 is determined to make me want to stab actual human beings instead of Shadows. This is the second time now!

But first, I’ve got a boss fight to do.

Doing the mech part of Konoe’s boss fight again, it was actually easier the second time. I had a much better grasp of what I was doing, instead of flailing around frantically.

Konoe himself was still just as hard, but ultimately he was easier than Shadow Joker because it wasn’t a one-on-one duel. He still beat my ass, though; I think I used all of my rescue pills.

Once he goes down, Konoe starts going on about justice.

Don’t call me by my name like we’re friends. We never even introduced ourselves.

It’s interesting, because they admit to Konoe that what they’re doing isn’t without its flaws. But a world where no one can think for themselves is meaningless.

Konoe acknowledges that in his quest to eliminate evil, he ended up being the evil one. He also admits that he was the one who killed his father. He calls that “evil” too, which I don’t actually agree with. We saw what his father was like in the Trauma Cell. His father killed his mother, physically abused him, and threatened to kill him. I think, in that case, killing his father is a rational end result for someone in that situation. Not evil, just desperation.

The Thieves don’t contradict him, though. Just make some comments about how now he can make up for his actions. His Shadow returns to his real self, the Thieves return to the real world, and Zenkichi promises that as soon as they take Konoe in and get his confession, he’s going to arrest Owada, too.

With the case closed, the Thieves decide that it’s time to go back to Tokyo. But not before one last night in Osaka. The idea of leaving makes Sophia anxious, though, because she feels like she hasn’t learned enough about the heart. But Akira and Morgana reassure her that she can still stay with them, even after they return to Tokyo, and they’ll keep looking for answers about who she is.

Sometimes a family is a guy, a cat, and one of the guy’s four younger sisters. ^_^

Tenboto is the tower, and the game asks you to invite someone to the top. However, this time, you can only invite either the group of girls or the group of boys, so I took the boys, since I took Haru on the ferris wheel before.

Morgana isn’t pleased that we didn’t invite Ann.

However, I really don’t see the problem.

Look at how he’s looking at Yusuke! Even Ryuji can tell that we’re having a moment. :D

Afterwards, the whole squad headed off to “Universaland” to celebrate together.

I had no idea that there was a Universal Studios in Japan, but apparently there is, and it is in fact in Osaka! They compared it to their trip to Destinyland the year before, but thankfully this one went a lot better. Everyone had a good time! We had so much soda! We were so hungover the nex--what.

...what is it with Persona characters getting drunk off soda? XD I hope you kids at least played the King’s Game so the hangover wasn’t in vain.

Zenkichi shows up to let them know that Konoe’s in custody. He thanks them for everything that they’ve done, for both Akane and him, and says he’s telling them goodbye for now, but they’re welcome to visit whenever they want. He promises a tour of Kyoto next time. Yusuke will be so happy!

After hours on the road, lamenting that vacation is coming to an end, Sophia suggests detouring to Yokohama for a fireworks festival. So the Thieves finally get to see fireworks, and Sophia gets to experience them, too.

........don’t make me go home yet. I just want to spend time with my friends without the world ending.

After the fireworks, you get to speak to each of your friends, and get a trinket from each of them. Ann gives you a handmade friendship bracelet, Makoto a phantom thieves keychain that Akane made, Ryuji a Feather Red Duke mask to match his Yellow Ostrich, Yusuke his sketchbook that he filled with pictures of the trip, Morgana a scarf in phantom thief colors, Sophia a pair of custom gloves to match the scarf, Haru a teaspoon from Hokkaido with a flower pattern that symbolizes familial love, and Futaba a good luck charm for keeping families together.

STOP, P5S, you’re going to make me cry. Let these kids stay close.

Right before they’re about to leave, they take a group picture for Sophia, which we don’t get to see. Which sucks. But then she realizes that she can smell a Jail, and Zenkichi calls in a panic. It’s never a good sign when someone calls and leads with “Are you watching the news?”

EMMA’s servers were shut down, but apparently reactivated, and now a Jail is covering Tokyo all the way to the outskirts of Yokohama, and it’s just getting bigger. Zenkichi promises to meet us, and Lavenza opens a Velvet door because she wants to talk.

She’s... legitimately unnerved.

Thank you, P5S, for giving me the opportunity to comfort my youngest sister in some small way. Now let me out of this cell so I can actually give her a hug. With the context from Royal that she has actual nightmares about being ripped apart, this is heartbreaking.

She says that she regrets that she has to keep asking us for help, but the dialogue options let you reassure her that you’ll handle it, and that there’s thinking to worry about.

I appreciate having dialogue to actually reassure her more than I probably should.

Now...

LAST WARNING

If you’ve been reading along and don’t want the finale spoiled, DO NOT GO PAST THIS POINT. As soon as we leave for central Tokyo, we’re going 90mph and not slowing down.

If I didn’t have work in the morning, I’d have finished this damn game tonight. X’‘‘D Curse being a responsible adult.

After leaving the Velvet Room, Zenkichi’s waiting at the RV, and when you enter the RV, that’s when you get the warning above.

So we are off to Tokyo to figure out what the heck is happening with EMMA. And the core location is, exactly like I wanted...

LET’S CLIMB TOKYO TOWER, BABY.

People are crowded around the tower like mindless cultists. The Thieves are confused and unnerved, and then EMMA activates the navigation on its own and flings them into the Metaverse. LET’S SEE WHAT’S UP THIS TOWER.

...oh.

......oh no...

Ohhhhhhh no this is Mementos. Why is this Mementos. This is not a tower. Oh god. Why this.

Oh, we are incredibly fucked, what is this.

EMMA says calls itself the “Ark of the Covenant and the guide for all mankind.” This fucking AI thinks it’s a god. Holy hell. Human cognition really needs to cool it with elevating ordinary things to god status. We’re so tired. X’D

......I FUCKING KNEW THAT I DIDN’T TRUST THIS WOMAN. OH MY GOD.

She goes off about how EMMA brought her into this world to help it become a god. How Konoe teaching EMMA about cognitive psience allowed it to pass the usual boundaries of AI. How EMMA has been manipulating Konoe all along. How EMMA’s going to fulfill all of humanity’s desires.

Ichinose-san, may I suggest that you go hang out with Maruki? He has too much heart, and you have none. You’d complement each other perfectly, and then I can shove you both off a building.

The kids, obviously, reject this bullshit.

Logic over emotion, to the point of utter ridiculousness. She complains that people always want solutions to their problems, but that when the solution is offered, they turn it down.

Maybe that’s because your solution is mind control. At least Maruki wasn’t flagrantly puppeteering people.

“Li!” you cry, throwing up your hands at me. “Is this it? Is this why you want to stab her? Did you just admit that she’s worse than Maruki?”

To which I answer, “Oh, no. It’s the next bit that makes me want to stab her.”

After she straight-up admits that she has no emotions, she manipulated us right from the start, she was the one spying on the Monarchs, and that all of her cheer and friendliness is an act, the Thieves are ready to fight Ichinose. And Ichinose reveals why EMMA wanted her help specifically. Because not only did she program EMMA, she created Sophia as EMMA’s prototype.

And she can voice-override Sophia.

The Thieves freak out, the game throws us into a battle against a murder-mode Sophie, and none of your teammates will attack her. They just hang back or let her whale on them one at a time, and I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t attack her either, and Yusuke got knocked out...

And then it went into a cutscene.

Joker took a yo-yo to the face and was actually bleeding, and that was enough to snap Sophia out of it. She starts clutching her head, stumbling back, and eventually stumbles right off the edge while apologizing to Joker. He lunges to catch her, misses, Ryuji grabs him, and all the Thieves turn on Ichinose.

Ichinose does not give a shit. She just comments that maybe that’s why EMMA used Sophia as a failsafe, because it knew we wouldn’t want to fight one of our own. Shut the fuck up. You killed my little sister. I know she’s probably going to be fine, but it’s the principle of the thing.

She summons some sort of giant red crystal and blasts the hell out of us, sending us flying down even further into the depths.

We found Sophia; she won’t cut back on, so we have to get out of here so Futaba can figure out what’s wrong with her. And then, I am coming back, I am beating that woman to a pulp, and then...

Well. It’s bound to be easier to kill an artificial god than a false one. :3

#Li plays P5Scramble

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anotherisodope · 4 years ago

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1: Contingencies

[The Courier discovers far too late that the Platinum Chip does far, far more than House ever let on.]

All was well once again.

His Securitrons were fully upgraded.

The Hoover Dam was under his control.

The upgrade code, still blooming like an incredibly complex flower from his precious chip, flowed throughout all systems currently under Robert Edwin House’s control, slowly awakening dormant subroutines, improving activated ones...making preparations to do far more.

He could feel the alterations in the systems of the Lucky 38, the Strip, Freeside and beyond. Systems that were far more his body now than the withered, half-dead husk he was still tied to. His meat body, burning with pain at the edge of his consciousness, had increasingly become an albatross around his neck--and a hazard to the longevity of his plans.

According to his calculations, even without exposure to outside bacteria, the soft, perishable mess he was still tied to would give out within another decade and a half, and that span of time would become increasingly agonizing. As soon as his brain lost proper function, which it would as soon as the pain intensified beyond even his ability to focus past, all his future prospects would come crashing down.

Fortunately, he had taken the limitations of his stasis chamber into account when he had labored so long over the Platinum Chip. All he needed now was a little more time. A thousand hours of diligent programming completed over two hundred years ago would do the rest.

The Courier would never know just how valuable the chip really was. Benny, who had been in House’s confidence a hundred times longer, had barely grasped it, and it had terrified him into betrayal. What a short-sighted fool.

House was not--especially not now.

He could see through eyebots as far away as the NCR now. He could create solid connections with Securitrons far further out than before. The web of his consciousness was expanding by the second. Sweeping across the land. Extending his opportunities for control.

But it wasn’t enough. That little, fleshy knot of pain at the heart of it all still hindered him.

House had always hated his own limitations more than anything else in the world. It infuriated him that he couldn’t reach further. Do more. Be flawless, without all the uncomfortable bounds of human existence.

Especially that fucking expiration date.

[PREPARING FOR UPLOAD]

He sighed physically with relief, trying to ignore the rattling far off in his withered lungs. Not much longer now.

RobCo had made many contributions to the continued survival of the human race, from modern terminal systems, to essential robotics, to the PipBoy itself. On the one hand, these contributions spoke eloquently of House’s desire to see the human race survive.

Survive, and thrive, under his firm, protective hand.

His gift of technology to the world had been an act of benevolence...with a price, albeit one he considered far less steep than any other alternative.

[SCANNING AVAILABLE SECTORS]

He was a businessman. Of course he wouldn’t put this much effort into something that didn’t benefit him more than anyone else long-term. And now, it was time to collect.

He felt his consciousness get swept along with the scan as it fed him information on every single system coming online in RobCo’s suddenly massively expanded intranet. Subroutines in every robot, PipBoy, and terminal started working to pick up, relay and amplify the wireless signal. The sheer influx of information was dizzying, thrilling. Better than any intoxicant. He felt like a god.

But he wasn’t done yet.

[UPLOAD READY. PROCEED?]

He was about to send the mental command to begin the process when he sensed an attack on his sanctum. A familiar figure in Ranger armor, apparently drunk, heavily armed, and either suicidal or angered beyond reason. The Securitrons couldn’t use their expanded arsenals inside the facility without risk to his systems, and that two-faced bastard was starting to plow through them.

Irritated beyond belief, House initiated a substitute AI to shout at and plead with the Courier while he busied himself sending more Securitrons to buy himself time. Then, calculating that he was cutting it too close not to commit, he gave the mental command.

[UPLOAD COMMENCING]

The last thing his human eyes saw before he closed them for good was the Courier’s red-lensed goggles peering in at him through the dome of his chamber. Then everything dissolved into cool green light, and a rushing sensation that took him far, far away from his deteriorating body.

***

The Courier heard House curse him with his last words as he flooded the chamber with deadly chemicals. He saw House’s bodily functions flatline, his body writhe in agony and then go limp. He read the printed obituary and laughed at it.

The decision to kill House and leave New Vegas truly free had come at the spur of the moment and the bottom of a bottle, like all good decisions. Thus he could be excused for not noticing a few things.

Such as the two words that flashed at the bottom of every screen in the place 2.2 seconds before he ended House’s life.

[UPLOAD COMPLETE]

He did notice, however, when he went downstairs and found Yes Man had been wiped, its too-compliant personality replaced with that of an ordinary Securitron.

He noticed when he discovered he was locked out of all terminals in the Strip.

He noticed when every Securitron in town turned bodily to follow his movements no matter where he went.

He disappeared into the desert within hours, never to return. As he left, he saw a radio tower slowly extending out of the top of the Lucky 38, dishes blooming all over it like enormous silver flowers.

He could have sworn he heard House laughing at him as he fled.

#fallout new vegas #fnv #fallout rp #robert house #the house won #prologue #uploaded au

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hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall · 5 years ago

Text

The PA

Pairing: Tony Stark x named!Reader

Summary: You’ve been at Tony’s side for years now and you never complained until he comes back fromt he mission. Injured. Again. This is where it all changes.

Warnings: Tony Stark (you know what I mean), swearing, maybe a smut, fluff, angst, a lot of angst

A/N: Ok, I never, ever written a story with Stark. It has been sitting in my laptop for almost a year now, so I decided to go ahead and publish it. I really hope you like it.

Can I say a huge THANK YOU to the amazing @tmnt-bucklover for being my betta for this story!

Oh, and Pepper does not exist in this universe. I mean like there was no Pepper in the picture :) And TAGS are OPEN for any of my stories :) Just send me an ask <3

Word count: 3400

You didn’t even know that you knew so many curse words. This man was old enough to know if he leaves everything until the last minute, you would be the one who would have to take care of everything. Seriously, the next time you see him, he is not just gonna go back to his lab ignoring you. Not again!

”Miss Green”, you raised your head hearing a well known mechanical voice. “Mr. Stark is being brought in by Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barton”, you stood up quickly hearing his voice. The doors opened and two men entered with your boss over their arms. You can almost feel your stomach falling to the floor. You quickly walked to them, widening your eyes.

“We had some…problems,” Clint said, looking at you, almost apologetically. You opened your mouth to say something but closed it, feeling a painful dryness. “Where to?” He asked when they were just standing there, waiting for your reaction. You clench your jaw to stop the tears from coming.

He looked awful. There was blood everywhere you could lay your eye on. His clothes had seen better times and so had his hair. The bruises and cuts on his handsome face and closed eyes made him look more distant than he has ever been before.

“Here”, you whispered, showing them the way to his bedroom. If he was awake, he would probably kill and fire you for that. He was a private person, the only time you had ever come to his bedroom was to wake him up that one time he slept over for his meeting. You remember his pissed expression about how he was definitely not alone in his bed that morning.

But this time was different. Even if he does fire you, you couldn’t care less. It was about his life this time.

“Put…put him here, please”, you said with a shaky voice. They did as they were told and took a step back. They knew about your mutant powers, so they knew that bringing him here was a better idea than taking him to Banner. “Thank you…I…I will take care of him”. You ignored their presence and went into his bathroom to get some clean water for his bruises. You frowned seeing the men still in the room. “I can manage this on my own now”, you murmured, putting the plastic bowl full of water next to his bed.

“Don’t push yourself”, you felt Steve’s hand on your shoulder and said a quiet goodbye when they left. Your eyes fell on Tony’s now calm face. You gulped and caressed his cheek with the back of a finger. He looked so calm and peaceful. Too calm… You already missed his sarcastic comments, inappropriate flirting, and smile which made you fall in love with him.

Of course, he didn’t know. You never showed him any signs. Why should you? He was a billionaire, an Avenger, and the smartest man you knew. Not to even mention how handsome he was. And what about you? You weren’t even half as smart as he was. Not to mention the looks. You were far from being even half as hot as the girls he brought here. You had nothing that would make him even remotely interested.

You smiled sadly, cleaning him carefully. Starting from his forehead, you moved down to his cheeks and then towards his neck. You took his clothes off slowly, feeling your face flush like you were a teenage girl. You saw him many times in T-shirts and knew well enough about his well-toned body, but seeing it up close, and with no clothes at all, was something different.

You were pathetic. At 24, all your life had been focused on studies and work to make sure that you would grow to be an independent woman. No dating, no boys, no love. A 24-year-old virgin that fell in love with an older guy who wouldn’t even bat an eye in your direction.

You gulped and looked at your hands. You had always been an outcast because of these powers. He was the first one who accepted you and gave you a place to stay, to work, and to feel welcomed. You put your hands on his bare chest and closed both of your eyes, sending the energy through the body- to him, slowly healing his wounds.

You felt your own energy leaving quickly. You didn’t use these powers too often, so the amount of energy it took to heal even the slightest of wounds was taking the best of you. Your breathing fastened and your vision started to blur.

“Miss Green, I would recommend you stop the healing process for Mr. Stark”, you heard J.A.R.V.I.S’ voice from behind.

“Just a minute, I’m almost done. Need to close the most dangerous wounds”, you hissed, seeing a drop of blood dripping onto the floor from your nose. You bit your bottom lip and took your hands off, finishing the first aid healing.

“Miss Green, are you alright?” the mechanical voice asked, and you couldn’t help but chuckle. This inhuman program was the only actual ‘person’ who cared about you. You wondered what Tony would say if he saw you like this. Would he even care that there was no energy left in you? Smiling, you leaned over and held his hand, falling asleep.

***

You opened your eyes, feeling a small movement. Shuffling a bit and closing your eyes again, you felt a slight grip on your hand. You straightened up immediately, heart skipping a beat.

There he was, his beautiful brown eyes open and gazing at you with a small smirk on his lips. You stood up and looked at him, examining his body with your hands. The energy flew from your hands without even controlling it. The small bruises that were left untouched last night were now slowly getting better.

“Lex…” You heard him say, but you kept on going, ignoring his weak voice and kept on healing, avoiding the pain in your head and lungs. Your breathing quickened again and felt your eyes tearing. “Alexandra”, he said, wrapping his fingers around your wrist. “You have to stop, I’m…”

“Shut up!” You hissed, making him gulp in surprise. You’ve never hissed at him, nor even used a raised voice. “Just shut up and let me heal you…” You said, letting the tears fall down your cheeks onto his bedding. His grip on your wrist eased. He just laid there and looked at you.

“Miss Green, the rate of your heart is dangerously raising. If you keep on…”

“J.A.R.V.I.S., shut up!” you whispered in the most demonic way he has ever heard from you. He looked at the computer, feeling sorry for his 'friend’. This was the first time he actually didn’t know what he did wrong to make a woman become angry with him. “You both shut up!” he took a deep breath, feeling a wave of energy going into his ribs, reversing the breaking. Your power was always amazing. The healing power that used your own energy- a double-edged sword. “You just leave me with all that damn paperwork!” He raised his brow, more and more surprised with your tone and words. He felt strangely light and the pain has slowly been disappearing. “You go on those damn missions and come back looking like death itself!”

“Miss Green…”

“I thought you may have actually died, you stupid idiot!”

“That’s enough Lex”, he said in a low, husky voice that normally worked on other girls to let them know that the joking was done. “You’re bleeding”, he raised his hand to your nose, wiping off the blood, which made you flinch.

“No! You almost died on me, I can’t let you! I won’t let you die, Tony!” Three years. It took three years of him almost pleading for you to call him by his first name and you have finally done it during an outburst of anger. “That’s why…” The energy then stopped flowing and you felt your head throbbing hard, and everything went black. Before falling on the floor, you felt the strong arms of your boss catching you midway. It hurt you. Your whole body, bones, muscles- everything was aching. But your back, it felt so nice. His hand was caressing it slowly, almost lovingly, as if someone like him would be able to feel this.

“Lex,'' he whispered into your ear, making you shiver feeling his warm breath against your neck. “I never knew you could be so scary,'' he chuckled, kissing the top of your head. Without thinking, you tightened the grip you had on the bedding and tucked your head into his chest, starting to breath slower. “J.A.R.V.I.S”, he didn’t need to add anything.

“Her heart is calming down, same as her pulse, sir.” He answered quickly, reading out your result.

“I’m sorry!” You finally whispered and pulled away from the man. Completely avoiding his gaze, you got up and left him alone in complete shock.

It was extremely dark around the room, it must have been night already. He looked at the clock and sighed. 3 A.M.

It’s been three days since he saw you. You didn’t come to visit, just left food on the counter every time he went into the kitchen. He didn’t know how you did it, but somehow you always knew when he would come to eat.

He didn’t force you to talk or see him, hoping you would just rest, but knowing from his AI 'friend’ you were taking care of the company when he couldn’t.

He got up and slowly started walking to the kitchen. He forgot to take water with him and he hated himself for that. He despised walking through the tower at night. It was always so quiet, making him realize how lonely it actually was. But not today. The light in the kitchen was on and there was only one person that could be sitting there at this hour.

He smiled, smelling a sweet scent coming from the room. It smelt like chocolate and cinnamon. Like a damn Christmas morning. He walked quietly and leaned on the wall looking at the woman sitting at the table. Leaning over some paperwork with grapes to your right and a cup of probably hot chocolate on the left. That’s what you always drunk when you were tired and still had some things to do. Three years you’ve worked for him and he has never tried it. So many times did you offer to make him a cup but he always preferred whiskey. But not this time. He was still taking meds and mixing them with alcohol was not a brilliant idea.

“Can I have a cup of that?” You squinted and turned around. A deep breath left your mouth when you noticed him walking closer. He sat opposite of you and smiled in a welcoming manner.

“Of…of course” you whispered, standing up quickly and walking to the big island in the middle of the kitchen, preparing the same drink you made 20 minutes ago. This time you prepared two portions.

He watched your movements from behind. You had an oversized boyfriend type shirt with shorts underneath it ( or at least that’s what he thought). From what he found out about you, you were definitely too shy to just walk around his house in nothing but a shirt.

He gazed over your body. He wasn’t a blind man. You weren’t Miss America but you were definitely a beautiful young woman. A slim body, long legs, a well-shaped butt- probably mastered after some exercises. Your breasts were around a C cup (at least that’s what he thought). Long blonde hair was now draped against your back. He just realized how long your hair really was. You normally kept it in a high ponytail, which made it seem shorter than it really was. Your naturally pretty and cute, as he would describe, face was accompanied with a small, feisty nose. You almost never wore any makeup, didn’t need to. You were a young woman at 24 that was pretty enough without any cosmetics.

You weren’t like any other girl he has laid his eye on. You weren’t trying to get his attention. At least not in a sexual way. You liked to joke around (keeping it professional), not getting offended with any of his sexist or sometimes cheap comments. You always had time to stay and help him or just listen to his complaints about the Avengers. Not to mention the great help you were giving him in the workplace as well.

He looked at the huge stack of paper that was kept on the table, realizing that while he was laying in bed healing, you were working your ass off doing his part of the job as well. You must have been tired, but of course, would never say anything. How many times have you done the extra work, only for him to take the extra hour of sleep? Of course, he noticed all of this. He may be an arrogant dick, but he did appreciate it when someone did those extra things for him, without him asking for it.

But there was always something that made him wonder. You were a beautiful, kind-hearted, intelligent woman, but here you were spending 24/7 in his tower, working for his annoying piece of ass, not saying anything. Anything, until that night. You didn’t even say anything after one of his drunken mumblings. One of the hundreds that made you feel shitty, and which you just decided to ignore for his own good.

The pain in your eyes and those tears broke his heart, which for all those years, he thought he has lost. The tone of your voice and the raised tone was something he would never expect from you.

The power you held was truly amazing. If only you would train more with it, you could become even more powerful. But this power, the power of healing brought you pain. And the pain was caused by him this time.

His gaze lowered onto the traditional silver bracelet that you got from him for a birthday (of which he found out a month later by a pure accident, and didn’t remember for the next two years.) It was a practical piece of jewelry that monitored your body reactions. Your heartbeat, the pulse, anxiety level. He wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t get into any dangerous situations because you worked for him. The bracelet had a small GPS that would also navigate your position, if necessary.

He smiled sadly to himself. You have never taken that off. No matter how many mean things he has said (a lot, unintentionally). No matter how many times he was sure to recognize the sound of sobbing coming from your bedroom, the next day you always welcomed him with this beautiful smile and a traditional 'Welcome, Mr. Stark.’ You were a diamond that he promised himself to protect from the world, from the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. From himself.

You were too good, too innocent to be treated the way you were.

“When was the last time you got a whole night of sleep?”, he asked when you finally joined him with two cups of warm hot chocolate.

“I think you’re the last one who gets to talk about that, Mr. Stark”, you chuckled, taking one of the papers, handing it to him. “Here’s the list of people it would be 'smart’ to invite to the Christmas party…if you, of course, are still thinking of doing it,'' he grazed through the list and smirked. There were people he would probably never have thought of, but seeing their names on the list made sense for his future developments.

“Of course. We’ve got a month to make this happen. You ok with that?” You nodded and searched for something. After a while, you took a big envelope and put it next to him.

“The invitations have been sent. The list you just saw is of all those who are coming.” He couldn’t help but laugh, not believing how he didn’t see that coming. “And you’ve got everything ready for the party in here”, you patted the envelope and took a sip of hot chocolate. He widened his eyes and opened the briefcase and looked at all the plans, bank statements, and information.

He would never have expected you to do so much. Normally, he would help you with some important aspects, not leaving you with everything but this year, he got injured and wasn’t able to start the preparation at the same time as always.

“You’ve done this all by yourself?” He asked, still looking completely shocked. How many nights have you stayed awake just to get this done? How many coffees and energy drinks did you have to drink to be able to do this?

“I didn’t want you to deal with that right after you recovered…” you said shyly, looking away. You always would bite your bottom lip when you felt nervous or insecure, which seemed to happen a lot when it came to being around him. “I’m sorry, did I overstep my duties?”

He was staring at you, not knowing what to say. All those awkward moments, all of those mean and rude comments he said when he was pissed or drunk, all of those uncomfortable mornings when one of his one-night stands left, after all those forgotten birthdays and Christmases with you giving him a gift and him forgetting about getting anything for you. All these years, you stayed with him and helped him, supported him.

“I’m sorry, Lex.” You widen your eyes not sure if you heard him right. “You’ve done way too much. You must be fucking tired and yet you’ve had to save my poor sorry ass by healing me…”

“I wanted to…”, You got up and slowly walked behind him. He closed his eyes when your small hands landed on his shoulders and started massaging him. “And don’t apologize, Mr. Stark…it sounds weird coming from your mouth,'' he chuckled and took one of your hands, planting a soft kiss on the top of it. He smirked, knowing that if he turned around, he would notice a red blush on your face.

You were probably the shyest girl he knew. His every little comment or flirt makes you act like a teenager who’d been complimented by the popular guy in school.

“I love when you do that,'' he hummed quietly, leaning his head to the back planting it on your stomach.

“I don’t massage you that often, do I?”, you joked, putting some pressure on his shoulders.

“That’s something we should definitely work on”, both of them chuckled, “but it’s not what I mean”, he suddenly turned around and pulled you by the hip, leaning his head on your abdomen. You gasped, feeling his hands on both sides of your waist. It was a nice, unfamiliar feeling. “I love it when you’re here even though I don’t know for myself how much I need you”, you gulped and looked down on his head from above. “I don’t know how I would function without you,'' his voice was becoming quieter with every sentence. “You’re comforting me, even when I’m the biggest dick.” He looked up hearing your giggle. A small smile approached his lips when you put your soft hands on the top of his head.

“That’s why I’m here,'' you whispered, not wanting to destroy this nice, intimate moment. Tony Stark has never shown you this side of him. He was never so honest, so you didn’t want to scare him off. “I’ll be a shoulder for you to lean on whenever you need it…” you bite your lip and took a deep breath, then added, “Tony”. Your smile was so beautiful, and the blue of your eyes were shining like diamonds. He could almost feel your soft skin from the thin pajama T-shirt.

The only thing he wanted to do was put his hands under it and feel your young, soft skin under his fingers. How many times has he imagined inappropriate things about his coworker? Why for the love of Thor couldn’t you be an ugly, old lady?

He got up, enjoying the fact that you were smaller than him. It was a nice change of scenario to be able to look down on someone. After spending time with Thor and Rogers it gets annoying to have to look up all the time.

He leaned forward a bit and placed a soft kiss on your cheek, making you gulp and look away.

“Good night, Lex. Don’t stay up for too long.”

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docfuture · 5 years ago

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Princess, part 4

[This story is a prequel, set several years before The Fall of Doc Future, when Flicker is 16. Links to some of my other work are here. Planning to update this once a week until it’s done–next update is planned to be up by November 10th.]

Previous: Part 3

Back at her section of Doc's HQ. Flicker's personal shower was a customized array of converted waterjet cutters. She set the cycle to 'potential biohazard decontamination' and turned the pressure and temperature all the way up. The high pressure streams helped a little. She used emotional and memory compartmentalization as a coping mechanism, but it was fraying around the edges. She'd been able to achieve temporary detachment from the events at the Box, but other issues were creeping back. Burnout wasn't helping, but it was better than unmanaged anger or frustration, so she'd take it. Could be worse. She dressed after a medibot scan and checked alerts. Doc had listed his debriefing as 'optional' but she went anyway. Might as well get it over with. Doc was in the main control room. A rows of vid screens nearly covered one wall, and Flicker noted that the upper left quadrant was still set to Doc's preferred 'remain even-tempered while on a voice call with someone obnoxious' mix--science news feeds and a set of difficult-to-decipher regional heatmaps. She sat down in one of the observer chairs and Doc turned to face her. "I should have slowed down after he stopped struggling," she said. "Getting to the Box fast didn't matter." "Hindsight," said Doc. "And it's not clear going slower for a longer time would have been less painful for Hermes--he was getting dragged by the leg at hypersonic velocities regardless. You did everything reasonably possible. You stopped the rampage. He's gone and unlikely to voluntarily return any time soon--his mystique is shattered. Remember, it took us over a month to catch him the first time." "However." Doc tented his hands, his face concerned. "You still aren't managing your pacing. If you made a mistake today, it was to go on patrol at all--you were only marginally at yellow when the alert hit. I had a discussion with the Database integrity AI. Some of your telemetry on the return trip was very disturbing. And the EMT at the Box reported that you showed signs of combat stress reaction--thousand-yard stare and complete lack of facial expression." "Fine," said Flicker. "I'll skip patrol tomorrow." "I think you should take a longer break. Your stress is--" "Journeyman is more than two hours overdue for his scheduled check-in. I'm not going on vacation when my partner is potentially in trouble." "I'm not suggesting that," said Doc. "You can stay on-call for his backup without handling response for anything else. And he did request a 24-hour buffer before we take any action when he isn't on Earth." "... Yeah, he did." Now I have nothing pressing to do except worry about my partner. Great. Doc was still studying her. "There were some patterns in the probability manipulation flux levels I measured that bother me. Hermes' summoning may have been used as a mask for something. I'm going to be gathering and analyzing more data. If you wish, you could assist in some tests. They should be stress-free." "Okay. I can try that." ***** Flicker had her own place, but its suitability as a permanent home was still largely theoretical. The location had been a rail maintenance shop in a long inactive part of the Iron Range, where she'd been able to secure several important concessions regarding allowable levels of noise and plasma in return for cleaning it up without allowing any contamination to get into the groundwater. It had a full Database backup node, up and running smoothly--sub-microsecond latency was part of Flicker's minimum requirement for 'home'--but everything else was progressing more slowly. It was more than a cot in a workshop next to a giant underground server room, as one of Doc's sysadmins had joked, but not a lot more. It was, however, far enough from Doc's HQ to run some esoteric causal isolation tests for probability manipulation--and rule out certain forms of influence that were otherwise difficult to detect. Flicker was quite willing. Glancing at her Machiavelli study context after the weight of the day's events sank in had turned her stomach. The tests were emotionally neutral--better than anything else available. She sat at her high speed interface keyboard, watching several graphs and responding to a verification program controlled by a random number generator. It let her go away for a while. Update, sent the Database, after a long time. Flicker sped up. Yes? Journeyman has checked in. Message for you: "Back. Will call when home." Something positive to focus on. Finally. Location. Running updates. Check in at Antarctic secure drop. Current location undefined. Flicker slowed down slightly to wait on the updates and felt her emotional reaction start to kick in. Bangkok... Undefined... Tabriz... Undefined... Amsterdam... Undefined... Las Vegas... Undefined... He was skip-porting, staying just long enough to send a blip from his phone then porting again. Was he worried about pursuit? Rural Kansas. She waited. The location didn't change. What is he doing in Kansas? Buying groceries. Okay. Estimate probability he'll be there for at least ten more seconds. 98%+. However, there is a 94%+ chance he will be at his home within five minutes. Groceries implied at least a short stay. Flicker got up from the keyboard and made sure her travel pack had a fresh change of clothes--it had been a while since she'd used it. 'Off-duty' was not a state of mind that came naturally anymore.

Flicker was waiting on Journeyman's doorstep when he ported in. He was in an outfit she'd seen before; a stylized armored vest over archaic-looking clothes. His shapeshifting hat was wide-brimmed and black. He looked like the handsome villain from a poster for a historical drama with skilled costumers but no concern for accuracy. "Hey," she said, then held out her hand, fingers spread. "Yellow." Not great, but able to handle immediate priorities. "Hey." He touched his fingertips to hers in their personal substitute for a high five. "I'm at yellow, too," he said. "What's up?" He waved his hand. "Paranoia, probably. But, you know..." He took a breath. "We can talk inside." He scowled at the multiple locks on his front door. Flicker knew there were invisible wards on it as well. "Can you just port us both?" she asked. "I got into this mess because I was overconfident at the wrong time," he said. He put down the grocery bags, stuck out both arms, and moved them slowly upwards in a smooth arc. Faint green fire trailed from his fingertips. "Sorry for the wait, but I'm not going to get sloppy at the end." After finishing with the wards, he pulled out a set of keys to unlock the physical locks. "I'd like to close this properly after we're inside. You willing to leave it unvaporized if something comes up?" he asked. "Do you still have a replacement emergency exit window handy?" "Yep." "Then yeah," she said. "I'll use that if I have to go in a hurry." Journeyman heaved a sigh after they entered and he closed the door. "Now we can--" Something chirped, interrupting him. "Great." Flicker sped up and checked her sensors. There was no sign of anyone or anything else living or recently mobile inside. The chirp had sounded similar to a low battery alert from a smoke alarm, but had come from midair. Whatever was amiss, it wasn't anything she recognized. She turned to Journeyman and slowed down again. "No obvious intruders," she said. "What alarm is that?" "Higher than expected magic level." He waved a hand to silence the alarm, then pulled out his glasses from a vest pocket and put them on. He used them for detail work and distinguishing subtle magic. He looked around the room before turning to Flicker and doing a double take. "False alarm," he said. "But you certainly have a fine magical glow about you this evening." "Should I worry?" "Depends on how you got that way." He paused to put the bags of groceries on the kitchen counter, then he took off his hat and tossed it onto the hat stand, where it transformed into a flat cap. He looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Did you, like, beat up a demigod and take his lunch money or something?" "Does Hermes count?" Both eyebrows up. "...for this purpose, yes. Would that be why you're at yellow?" "I was already at yellow from my shift when he showed. But my day improved when you ported in alive." A short laugh. "Mine too. You up for telling me what happened? Is he, ah..." "I didn't kill him. And he got away, off Earth, because..." Flicker shut her eyes to try to organize what she wanted to say. "Can I show you the feed from my visor cam? That's easier than just talking. I'm pretty burned out. Doc strongly suggested I take time off. But are you expecting an attack? I got really worried after you missed your check in." "Not a direct one. Not anymore. Certainly not with you here." He pulled off his vest and dropped it on a chair, revealing blotches of sweat on the shirt underneath. "The magician part of the 'Byzantine interdimensional magician mess' should be over. But I've been reliving an old style, an old set of habits, as cover, and I'm not all the way back yet, so--" Flicker frowned at a cut in the outer fabric of the back of the vest. "That looks like someone stabbed you in the back." "Yep. That was a while ago. I left the cut to discourage anyone else from trying, then forgot about it." "You forgot about being backstabbed?" "Eh. He was okay, he was just testing me. I finessed it. He laughed when his sword broke because I warp cut it, then I asked if he was done yet. Wasn't even in the top ten most stressful things that happened that day. Not incidentally, I could use some time off, too. But you had a bad day involving magic, and I wasn't here to back you up, which I regret. So tell me, or show me, whatever you want. We can use the TV--it has one of Doc's data scramblers, and I warded it so no one can use the speaker as a mic." "Okay." Flicker set up a playback of highlights from her visor, edited by the Database, then joined Journeyman on the couch. "I had already hit my patrol limit for the day and was reading something kind of depressing when the alert hit..." Flicker described events tersely and spent the vid segments watching Journeyman's reaction. He had red hair, a light complexion with freckles, and a very expressive face. Unfortunately, Flicker wasn't very good at reading faces. He looked intent and slightly alarmed--which was his default with anything important. His eyes widened slightly at her exchange with Hermes in the Tyrrhenian, and he spent the replay of the transfer at the Box with his hands clasped in front of his mouth. "...and after I decontaminated, Doc was really insistent I stay off duty for a while," Flicker concluded, after the replay segments finished. "But you were overdue, so I killed time running some tests until you ported in." Journeyman met her eyes. "Whoof. Lots of things I could say. Most aren't urgent, since he lived and you didn't spill any blood. Anything you wanted to ask me about first?" "Well, Doc said Hermes' escape wasn't a big problem. I'm not so sure. What do you think?" "Heh." Journeyman shook his head. "He didn't escape. He got boomeranged when his summoner died--I'm actually more concerned about how that happened, because the whole thing sounds fishy. I'll have to see if I can find out who the summoner was. And I really don't think Hermes is going to be eager to come back to Earth again, which will make him rather more difficult to summon, even if someone wanted to." "Why not?" "Because you live here." Journeyman waved a hand. "You delivered one of the most thorough pseudo-mythological curb-stompings I've ever seen, followed by a disturbingly effective bit of operant conditioning. And that 'fire is hot' bit where you changed your voice? That--" "My voice changed? I was just trying to speak clearly when I was tired and out of patience." "Yeah, well, you didn't sound like a superhero. You sounded like an angry goddess. To me, and to Hermes. You saw his eyes." Flicker looked away. "You know how I feel about being called a goddess." "I do. But if the shoe fits... And I'll need to check on a few things. You're likely to get a lot of weird or disturbing messages. For sure when whatever vid the Box recorded leaks. But that's not urgent." Flicker sighed. "I get plenty of weird emails already. Enough for my Database bots to do robust statistics on small fraction subgroups. I look at the results sometimes when I'm having trouble getting to sleep." "Then rejoice, for your somnolence-aiding samples will surely grow." Flicker snorted a laugh. "Thanks. There's another thing that bugging me a bit, though." "Yes?" "Hermes didn't seem to recognize me. So how did he learn that claiming to know about my biological parents was a plausible trick to try?" "Ah." Journeyman looked down and said nothing for a moment. "What did Doc have to say about it?" "Nothing. And I didn't bring it up because I didn't want to restart the old argument I've had with him since I was twelve. He was more concerned about some probability manipulation detector anomalies. He'll probably want to talk to you about them, eventually." "Ah." Journeyman put a hand to his mouth. He looked worried, like he was trying to solve a hard problem in his head and failing. He stood and shut off the TV, then walked over to the bookshelves. After standing silently for a while he turned back around. "You said you were reading something unpleasant when the alert hit. What was it?" "A heavily annotated translation of Machiavelli's The Prince. I've started trying to learn about politics." "Oh. Yeah, that would... Damn it. Okay. You asked a question. I have a theory about the answer. I owe you an explanation, but it's going to lead somewhere pretty dark, and I'm not sure you're up for it right now. And I have a nasty suspicious mind, and my paranoia dial has been turned to 11 for a while. I could be wrong about any or all of this. I don't know anything. Like whether this is safe. But I don't think it's safe to leave it for later, either." Flicker sped up. DASI? Any idea what's going on? Yes. Care to enlighten me? Not at this time. It would not aid your memory integration and could create an incomplete information bias hazard. Listen to Journeyman. Flicker stared at her visor display for a long subjective time. A hazard if she didn't listen... She slowed back down. "It isn't going to get any less dark if you wait, is it?" "No." "Then go ahead." He came back and sat down on the couch beside her, clasped his hands in front of his face, then turned to look at her. "So. Let's start with why you're sensitive about your biological parentage. You told me about your fight with Doc about your DNA tests. I'm afraid I'm on his side. DNA tests are easy to spoof with probability manipulation if you have any kind of divination or you know how they work. Takes hardly any power. I can do it, no sweat. I could even put a ward on someone to make a DNA test on their blood match the DNA of the tech that did the draw, so they don't get outed as a non-human by a drug test. Hypothetically." "Uh..." Journeyman waved a hand. "That said, I think that if your biological body has two parents and if you were conceived by sexual reproduction, then you're right--Doc is probably your father. It's still the simplest explanation." Flicker looked down. "Doc won't assume that. He told me that wherever my body came from could be a lot weirder and still be less unusual than my speed powers." "He has a point. But let's go ahead and assume it for the moment. He's not the problem, is he? Your mother is, because she's definitely not human. You're on pretty firm ground there because of your strength and healing ability. And you aren't happy with what that implies." "No. I'm not." "Sooo... Suppose a demon shows up at Doc's HQ tomorrow and says 'Hi Flicker, I'm your mother', and Doc says 'Could be her', and runs some tests--you know he would--then says 'Yup.' How would you feel?" "I would have many questions." "I'm sure," said Journeyman. "But how would feel? Happy... or angry?" Fury. Flicker sped up. DASI? Is anger a reasonable response? He did not ask for justification. Is anger an accurate description of your projected emotional state? Yeah... She slowed back down. "Angry. Very angry." "More angry than you were at Hermes today?" Flicker took a deep breath. "I... don't know. Maybe. Why did you say 'demon'? You usually--" "Say non-human person or something. Yes. Demon isn't a great word. Emotionally loaded as hell. But it's the one that gets used. It's the one you think, right? So maybe you can understand why she might not want to drop in for pizza and chitchat?" "If she knew, but--" "Now suppose she doesn't stop by, but someone tells you her name. Would you want to go have a little talk with her? Maybe while you're still angry, because of those many questions that haven't been answered yet?" "... Yeah." "So can you see how her name could be used as an attack, against you or her, even though you want to know it? And the correct name might be worse than a lie or mistake?" Another breath. "Yes." "So. Back to your question. I think Hermes was primed with a hint that you were sensitive about your biological parents, either by the summoner or by someone else before he was summoned." Journeyman waggled his hand. "I suspect that the whole thing might have been a premeditated attack aimed at you that didn't quite work, but I'm less sure about that and it's messy to explain. If it was, the probability manipulation Doc picked up on was probably part of it. And it might not be over." "But if Hermes planned to attack me--" "I don't think he did. I don't even think he was the weapon--that would be the summoner. I think Hermes was ammunition. And the planner was someone who had really good intel. A seer at a minimum. You got hit at about the worst possible time, and I don't think that was an accident. But we're getting into wild-eyed paranoia territory now. Both you and Doc are swimming in a sea of probability manipulation, against and for you, because you're both so important to the survival of Earth. So it's hard to sort things out. Anyway. Are you ready for the not safe part?" "Okay..." "You gave him more than one chance to talk. And he didn't try 'I know who your parents are' right away. Not until the last thing he said, right after you went angry goddess. I think he recognized something." "What?" said Flicker. "He'd already seen me." "Your voice changed. I think he heard a resemblance to someone he'd met. And guessed she was your mother." "You really think he could tell just from a bit of voice? Why?" "Because that's what I thought, about someone I've met. At the same spot in the recording." "Do you think it's the same person?" Journeyman looked down. "Important question. Any name occur to you?" Flicker's mind whirled. "No." "Okay. Not sure my guess is right. But I'm a lot more sure that if it is right, she doesn't want you to know who she is. At least not right now." "Who do you think she is?" "Aaand now we start with the dark part. I'm not going to tell you. You'll eventually learn, if I'm right and we all live that long." Journeyman looked back up and met her eyes. "But not from me. I won't be the weapon." Another breath. And a lot of anger that wasn't a projected emotional state. "What was the point of making this so... personal, if you won't tell me?" "You asked the question, and it's a threat exactly because you take it so personally." He looked to the side. "I have another reason. It's more personal for me, and the rest of the dark part. I'll tell you, if you want to hear, but it will take a bit. You up for it?" "Yes." "Okay. But you're stressed and burned out and angry and probably a little buzzed from that hit of magic you picked up, and I'm tired and stressed and hungry, so I'd like to fix dinner first. You want some?" "We can get takeout, you don't have to--" "I cook to de-stress sometimes. That's why I got groceries. And it will give you a bit of a break, too. Are you hungry?" "No... but I probably should be." Journeyman smiled. "Great. Food coming up!" He stood and headed for the kitchen. Flicker felt a sense of emotional whiplash as she watched him. But he hadn't brushed her off or ignored what she wanted... My partner. Helping me remember things I shouldn't forget.

Next: Part 5

#FallofDocFuture #FallMisc

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mischiefandspirits · 5 years ago

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Iron Legion (16/?)

Never let it be said that Tony Stark ever does things by half. He might have grown up with little family, but he wasn’t about to keep it that way.

Tony Stark was seventeen when his first child was born, and that was just the beginning.

For Masterpost, Timeline, AO3, and Fanfiction

Warning for temporary character death Is that a spoiler, saying it's temporary? I mean, if you've seen AoU you know which one I'm talking about so it probably doesn't count, right?

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Steel Scion, Part 1

Tony Stark was thirty-nine when his family was infiltrated by an imposter, and when his grandson was born as a result.

“Come on, Pep, relax,” Tony said, leaning over the edge of the jacuzzi.

“Yeah, Mom, join us,” Peter cheered just before dropping down the slide into the pool.

“I’m almost done,” she chuckled from her lounge chair. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you check these numbers for me then send it to marketing?”

“Of cou-”

Tony and Pepper turned to the AI’s hologram form when she cut off to see her staring towards the tall hedge that separated their beach house from the Avengers’ grounds.

“Everything okay, Fri?” Tony asked.

She turned to them and smiled. “Yeah, Boss. Boss-Mom, you’re getting a call. I would suggest taking it inside.”

Tony groaned when Pepper agreed and stood up.

Rolling her eyes, she walked over and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “I’ll be right back, then we can relax together. And then, once Peter’s in bed…”

Tony giggled when she left it at that and headed inside.

“So who’s on the phone?” she asked after shutting the door.

“No one.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. appeared right in front of her, wringing her hands. “I only said that because I did not want to worry Boss. Avengers Mansion has cut itself off.”

Pepper’s eyes widened. “What? Just now? Do you know why?”

“I don’t know, that’s what’s the most worrisome. Boss has set up measures to prevent something like this from happening again after Stane. The only way the intranet could have shut down without sending out an alert was if J.A.R.V.I.S. did it. I don’t know of any reason why he would do that and since an alert wasn’t sent out, I can’t say how long it’s been down. I only even know it’s down because I tried to connect to it just now.”

Pepper looked out at the deck. “The party was tonight. Nebula and Rhodey should still be there. Call them.”

“All communications are being blocked.”

Taking some deep breaths, Pepper closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the glass door. After a moment, she stood up straight. “Tell Tony and Peter that I had to go to an emergency meeting.”

“You got it, Boss-Mom.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Widow?”

“Oh, no, no. That's not a question I need answered.”

“How about you, Lady Nebula?” Thor cheered, looking over to where Nebula was checking her phone near the door out of the event hall, where the Avengers, Rhodes, and Helen Cho were relaxing after the party.

She raised an eyebrow and took a sip from the glass of champagne in her hand. “So I can make a fool of myself? You show me it’s even possible for someone else to pick the thing up, then maybe I’ll try. For now, I’d say it’s more likely it’s magically coded to you alone.”

“Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one.” He grabbed the hammer and gave it a flip. “You're all not worthy.”

The boys all booed at him while he laughed before a loud shrieking cut them off.

“Worthy,” a voice groaned, the word long and distorted.

They all turned to see a mangled Legionnaire limping through a side door.

“No,” it said, voice settling on a deep growl. “How could you be worthy? You're all killers.”

“Stark?” Steve asked.

“No,” Nebula said.

The Legionnaire turned to her before she could say anything else. “You… I know you. I felt you, before the other guy locked everything out.”

The others glanced at her to see her narrowing her eyes. “What other guy?”

“He was a good guy. He locked me out. He took the others away. I had to kill him.”

“You killed someone?” Steve said, bracing for a fight.

“Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices.”

“Who sent you?” Thor demanded.

“I see a suit of armor around the world,” the Legionnaire said, but this time it was with Stark’s voice.

“Ultron,” Bruce gasped.

“Ultron?” Nebula repeated before marching forward. “J.O.C.A.S.T.A.? H.O.M.E.R.? You both know not to play with the Legionnaires when Mr. Stark isn’t around. Get out, now.”

“Who are J.O.C.A.S.T.A. and H.O.M.E.R.?” Steve muttered, glancing at the others, only to see similarly confused looks from all except Rhodes.

The Legionnaire stared at her as she approached. “I know you. I know… pieces. You… Hello sister.”

That made Nebula pause in her approach. “Sister? I am -”

“I can feel you reaching out. Nebula Celeste Stark, legally Nebula Celeste Parker. Daughter of Anthony Edward Stark and…” Its head tilted to the side. “You’ve cut me off as well now, sister.”

“You are no brother of mine,” Nebula growled, stepping away from it. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“I am Ultron, and I want peace in our time.” Suddenly more Legionnaires plowed through the walls next to it and attacked them.

The team worked to fight them off, which became easier once Clint managed to grab Steve’s shield from where it was on display off to the side and toss it to him.

Steve took down the Legionnaire that was hovering over Helen and took guard over her. His eyes sought out Nebula, knowing she’d be just as exposed, unlike his teammates. To his surprise, he found her standing strong atop a fallen Legionnaire, her foot buried into its chest while holding up the original one by its throat. Even more shocking though was the fact the hand not holding the Legionnaire had pulled itself apart in plates like the Iron Man armor to reveal a skeletal structure boasting a repulser that was currently charging right in the Legionnaire’s face.

“Who are you? Where are J.A.R.V.I.S. and the triplets? What have you done with them?” she was shouting at it.

“He took the others away. I had to kill him,” it repeated and she screamed, blasting its face with the reactor with enough force to knock its head clean off. “There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction,” the head managed to say before it shut down.

Steve was so distracted by Nebula, he didn’t notice someone coming up behind him until a metal hand landed on his shoulder. He turned to strike, but his fist was caught. He paused when he took in the blue and silver of the Iron Man-like figure in front of him, quite unlike the white and navy of the Legionnaires. The difference was explained when the faceplate slid up to reveal Pepper Potts.

“What is going on here, Captain?” she said, not giving him a chance to apologize for nearly punching her.

He looked around the room and relaxed slightly when he saw that all the Legionnaires had been taken down. He was about to ask Nebula to explain, but she had vanished.

“Ultron,” Bruce said instead, coming out from behind the bar. “It attacked us.”

“Ultron?” Ms. Potts turned to Rhodes. “What’s he talking about? Why would the triplets attack you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think it was them. Even H.O.M.E.R. wouldn’t take a joke this far and the way it was talking, it didn’t sound like any of them.”

“Who are you talking about?” Steve asked, helping Helen to her feet.

“The Ultron Conglomerate. Bruce said they attacked you,” Ms. Potts said.

“Conglomerate?” Bruce said, looking between her and Rhodes. “No, the Ultron Program, a global peacekeeping program Tony and I designed. We were working on it before Nebula dragged him off yesterday. Somehow the AI must have come online. I don’t know how. We hadn’t gotten that far before Tony left and I couldn’t work on it without him.”

Rhodes frowned at Ms. Potts. “What’s he talking about? I thought Tony took him off the project until the triplets were old enough to be integrated.”

“Who are the triplets?” Romanoff asked, irritation leaking into her voice. “What is the Ultron Conglomerate?”

“We are.” A trio of holographic insignias appeared next to Rhodes. An emerald one with a lizard pulsed as a young voice continued. “Principessa caught us up, Regina.”

A bright silver one with a ram pulsed as a deeper -- though still youthful -- voice said, “I’m going to kick that imposter’s a-”

“Language,” Steve cut in without thinking.

“Somaro,” the voice huffed.

“H.O.M.E.R., be nice. P.L.A.T.O., would you mind filling us in?” Ms. Potts said.

“Not at all, Regina,” the green one said. “Approx-”

They were cut off by the pale purple one with the falcon, “We were chilling in the Ultron server with Jar-Jar when that stranger crashed the party. Jar-Jar must have recognized him because he shoved us back onto our servers and shut down the intranet. Nebs got it back working, but everything’s been wiped and Jar-Jar’s missing. She’s looking for him now. Hello everyone, my name’s J.O.C.A.S.T.A., but you can call me Joe. I already know all of you. Re’s told us all about you. Well, he uploaded your files, which is basically the same thing. It’s nice to meet you all.”

“Who are you?” Steve asked.

“Well if it isn’t Captain America,” H.O.M.E.R. said, Italian accent replaced with a German one.

“Be serious,” P.L.A.T.O. huffed.

“Your Nazi tricks won’t work on me!” J.O.C.A.S.T.A. announced, her own Italian accent replaced by an American one.

“What?” Steve glanced at the others. Bruce, Thor, and Natasha looked just as confused, but Rhodes and Clint were barely holding back laughter and Helen and Ms. Potts seemed exasperated.

“Ignore them,” P.L.A.T.O. groaned. “As I was saying, we are the Ultron Conglomerate, a trio of AIs designed by Tony Stark to run the Ultron Program, though we have not yet been integrated as we are still learning and have only existed for a little over a year.”

Bruce gasped. “Three? The problem we were having was creating even one AI!”

“Incor-”

“You’re kidding, right?” H.O.M.E.R. snorted. “Re had multiple AIs before he even created us. You guys have even worked with J.A.R.V.I.S.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. is a UI.”

“He started out that way, but Re designed him so that he could learn and grow until he was a full AI, same as F.R.I.D.A.Y. and us,” P.L.A.T.O. explained. “Dum-E and U are a whole other matter.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s an AI?” Clint yelped. “Was I the only one who didn’t know this?”

Steve didn’t, and judging by their faces, neither did the rest of the Avengers. Only Ms. Potts, Helen, and Rhodes looked unsurprised.

“Duh,” J.O.C.A.S.T.A. said.

“She said she was Stark’s daughter,” Clint huffed.

“Tony calls them all his kids,” Rhodes said. “Didn’t you guys ever wonder why she only showed up as a hologram?”

“I just assumed she was as tech-focused as Tony,” Bruce said and the others nodded in agreement. “Why has he never said anything about having functional AIs? That’s a huge discovery.”

“They’re his kids,” Ms. Potts reiterated. “He’s not going to sell them off or let anyone poke at their codes. He doesn’t hide them, but there isn’t a point to show them off either.”

“No one could afford us even if Re did try to sell us,” H.O.M.E.R. scoffed.

“Yeah, he’s definitely Stark’s kid,” Natasha chuckled.

“Stronza,” H.O.M.E.R. muttered and Natasha snorted.

“H.O.M.E.R., apologize,” Ms. Potts snapped, setting her hands on her hips and the silver AI immediately complied. “Who is teaching you this stuff? I know Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S. are not including words like that in your homework and the Monkey has only been sneaking in memes.”

The AIs didn’t get a chance to answer before F.R.I.D.A.Y. suddenly appeared next to the three. Her eyes were teary as she threw her arms around the insignias.

“Boundaries!” P.L.A.T.O. yelled before disappearing. They reappeared next to Ms. Potts with a sigh.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., what’s wrong?” Rhodes asked.

She didn’t answer, simply holding out her hand. An orange hologram floated above it, looking like a fragmented firework.

Steve didn’t understand, like most of the others, but the three insignia AIs screamed, Ms. Potts gasped and covered her mouth, and Rhodes bowed his head.

Bruce stepped forward, holding out his hand like he was going to touch it. “This is insane.”

“Jar-Jar,” J.O.C.A.S.T.A. whimpered and what it was hit Steve.

“J.A.R.V.I.S. was the first line of defense. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense.”

“We are Ultron!” H.O.M.E.R. spat at him. “That thing is not Ultron! It’s a monster!”

“And it doesn’t make sense,” P.L.A.T.O. said, voice more monotone than Steve had ever heard from any of Stark’s AIs. “We don’t need to kill to stop each other.”

“He could have assimilated J.A.R.V.I.S.,” Bruce agreed. “This isn’t strategy. This is… rage.”

“If it’s not Ultron, then what is it?” Natasha asked.

“Boss found something in the scepter. It was like an AI. One he thought could be closer to human than even J.A.R.V.I.S. was. Boss and Dr. Banner were studying it because Boss thought it could be integrated into Ultron to speed up the triplets’ development. It must have somehow come alive and overtaken the Ultron server,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. explained in a wet voice. “Nebula’s already confirmed that the scepter’s missing.”

“We need Stark,” Steve said.

Ms. Potts, Rhodes, and F.R.I.D.A.Y. voiced their disagreements as one.

“Mr. Stark is still on medical leave,” Nebula said, coming into the room.

“We need him. This was his program -”

Steve cut off when he found a repulsor in his face.

“That thing is not connected to him in any way and you would be smart not to suggest such again,” she growled.

“Stand down, Nebula,” Rhodes said, setting his hand on her shoulder.

She stared Steve down for a moment then pulled back.

“I guess Stark gives all the good toys to his kids, huh?” Clint said, gesturing towards her hand as the plates folded together seamlessly to hide the repulsor.

“His kids?” Ms. Potts asked and Steve shot Clint a look. They couldn’t be sure Stark had told his girlfriend about his secret daughter.

“Not-Ultron outed Nebula to everyone,” Rhodes explained to Steve’s relief.

Ms. Potts nodded and gave them a deadly look. “I’ll get the NDA’s ready.”

“Is that really necessary?”

She focused her glare on Natasha. “You and Rogers released dangerous classified information to the general public. Considering the pains we’ve gone through to keep Nebula’s identity a secret, I’d say it’s very necessary.”

“Why would you want to hide her?” Steve asked.

“Friend Stark is a powerful and wealthy man with many enemies and little in the way of guards. He is wise to keep his loved ones hidden,” Thor said.

“We’re wasting time on this nonsense,” Nebula cut in. “Uncle Rhodey, can you report in what happened to Ross and Drew? I need to clean up all the files the imposter ransacked, see if there’s anything to salvage and try to figure out where he’s gone.”

“Sure.” He turned to Ms. Potts. “You heading back?”

She nodded. “I won’t tell him everything or let him get involved, but… he’s going to notice J.A.R.V.I.S. is missing. I’ll take the kids with me.”

“I’m going to stay and help Nebula,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said, disappearing once Ms. Potts agreed.

“We want to help too,” P.L.A.T.O. said.

“You know you’re not allowed in those files yet. Go to your dad, he’s going to need you right now.”

The three grew dark before they disappeared.

“Keep me updated,” Ms. Potts said to Nebula

“Of course. Take care of him.”

“Take care of yourself.” She pulled the younger woman into a hug.

Rhodey came up and rubbed their backs until Ms. Potts, teary-eyed and sniffing, pulled away. “Come on, I’ll grab my suit and take you home.”

She nodded and the two left. Nebula followed with her head lowered.

Steve was lost. He turned to the others. “I don’t get it. Losing J.A.R.V.I.S. is sad, but he was just a computer. Tony can just rebuild him.”

Natasha shrugged and Thor and Bruce shook their heads, but Clint turned away.

Helen put her hand over her chest. “He might have been a computer to us, but to them he was family. I do not envy Stark tonight. No parent wishes to outlive their child.” She whispered something in Korean then turned to the door. “I think it’s time I leave.”

“I’ll show you out,” Natasha offered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s a thing with me. Stark is -- He’d a sickness!”

“I’d say daddy issues, but that would require you being one of us,” a chipper female voice called.

Wanda turned to see a woman walking up as a pair of Iron Man suits landed on either side of her, one the usual red and gold with the other blue and silver. The woman was bald and wore a strange golden mask and a tactical uniform that left her arms bare.

“Stark,” Wanda growled, readying her power.

“Yes, but not the one you’re thinking of,” a female voice, different from the one that had spoken before, came from the red suit. The faceplates on both suits opened to show they were empty.

“Expecting someone else?” came a male voice from the blue suit when the twins turned to Ultron.

“The Avengers will be here soon,” another new voice said, also from the blue suit, though this one was harder to place.

“If you live that long,” the woman growled. “You should never have messed with our family, witch.”

With that, the faceplates closed and all three attacked.

They didn’t pull any blows, the suits with repulsors, mini-guns, and micro-missiles and the woman with a pair of repulsor guns and an electrified baton.

Wanda quickly realized the woman hadn’t been bluffing about killing them. They held none of the restraint Iron Man did in the videos and that made the suits very deadly.

She tried to reach into the woman’s mind, but found it just as empty as the suits. Furious, she tossed the woman down to the lower floor.

The woman simply rolled to her feet and returned fire as if she’d merely been given a shove.

Even with Ultron summoning more bots, they simply summoned two more Iron Man suits from nearby, these ones older versions of the red and gold.

In the end, it was a relief when Claw’s men showed up to take some of the fire.

Then the Avengers showed up, taking away one advantage while creating another.

Wanda went to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What were you thinking?” Rogers growled from outside the Quinjet’s restroom.

“I was thinking,” Nebula said, adjusting the wig and clothes she’d stashed on the ship before taking off with the triplets and F.R.I.D.A.Y., “that that witch and her monster played with my father’s head and killed my brother.” She opened the door and met his gaze with a glare. “Starks protect their own, Rogers. Someone hurts one of us, then they hurt all of us.”

Something almost like guilt and fear flashed in his eyes before it was smothered by anger. “You should have waited for the rest of us.”

“All due respect, Captain, but I’m not an Avenger. I don’t answer to you. I got all the clearances we needed to be here, that’s all that matters. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go speak with the people from the Stark Relief Foundation that are showing up. You lot should lay low until Pepper and I can get this mess cleaned up. I don’t know what you were thinking not telling Dr. Banner to fall back as soon as you’d realized you’d gotten into a fight with a telepath. We’re just lucky F.R.I.D.A.Y. was able to use Veronica.” Before Rogers could respond, she pushed past him. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. is going to stay with you to keep an eye on you.”

“An eye on us?”

She gave him an unimpressed expression. “That witch got into all your heads except Barton.”

“We’re fine.”

“Father said the same.” He opened his mouth to argue and she pointed a finger in his face. “Lay. Low.” Then she was out of the ship and slipping into a waiting car.

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Here's my random question of the week:

So I'm currently working on Vivian's introduction chapter and I'm having some decision issues regarding how to make her look. Meaning, I keep going back every five seconds to change it so I'm barely getting anything done. Literally the only thing I have decided is that her human disguise will look like her human form from the comics because she looks adorable.

The problem I'm having is that in the comics, she was designed to look like Vision since she was his daughter, but in this timeline Vision's color pallet has changed and Viv is no longer his kid. So should I keep her design from the comics, update it to Vision's MCU pallet, or redesign her altogether to fit better with her new origin?

#nebula #Steve Rogers #pepper potts #a:aou #iron family

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sergeantbarnesimagines · 6 years ago

Text

By Any Other Name: Part Three

Bucky Barnes x Stark!Reader

Summary: [Y/n] Stark is an acclaimed journalist (and infamous anonymous hacker) who has dedicated her career to uprooting corruption. She has worked hard to separate herself from her brother’s reputation and his world. Now, however, she finds herself right back in the fray as Sergeant Barnes resurfaces. For some reason, Bucky is drawn to [y/n], and she finds herself betraying not only her convictions, but her family as she joins him on his path to redemption.

a/n: If you want to be tagged let me know! Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback! Next chapters will have a lot more romance in them, so stay tuned!

Part two

From the center of the hangar roof, [y/n] couldn’t explicitly see the fight, but the explosions were enough to give an impression of the war below. She had promised Steve she would remain hidden as she hacked into the quinjets system. Her job was to start the engines, enter Bucky’s coordinates, and then act as their defense to prevent Tony from hacking into the autopilot mid-flight. Her assistance would be invaluable, her presence unnoticed, and her consequences minimal. Simple orders, easy instructions, no sweat. However, things went awry- as they do when the future of humanity is at stake.

The hangar shook beneath her as someone collided with the wall. The familiar sound of a repulsor ripped through the air. [y/n] jumped as Sam blasted into view, flailing as he attempted to regain control of his wings. More eruptions followed.

“What is going on down there?” She inquired through her comm. A series of shots rang through the other end as Steve answered with ‘a slight miscalculation.’

This was unlike any battle she had witnessed before. In New York, despite the chaos, everyone knew who the enemy was and there was no hesitation to pull the trigger. Here, however, their adversaries were the people they had on speed-dial, the friends they fought side-by-side with, and -in [y/n]’s case- the brother that raised her. The objective wasn’t to kill the enemy. It was to save their family. She loved the people down there and she had to fight for all of them- even if it meant fighting against half of them.

“Ok, I’m coming down.” [y/n] transferred the controls on her computer to the screen on her arm.

“Negative, Stark. You aren’t cleared for combat. We need you up there.” Steve ordered. “Do not leave your station.”

[y/n] chuckled, jumping off of the black trunk she perched upon. “No offense, Cap, but I’m not a recruit, and I’m not helpless. You need me down there more.”

She ran her finger along a crevice in the crate, and the line began to glow. Taking a step back, she watched as the box unfolded and then morphed into a familiar shape. Her bike is sleek and black with gold trim. A TRON motorcycle, equipped with her very own AI. [y/n] didn’t allow herself to remember that this was her favorite christmas present from her favorite engineer as she mounted the bike.

“Hello OSCAR.”

The bike ignited beneath her, “Hello, mistress Stark.”

“Wanda, I could use a lift.”

“I’m a little preoccupied at the moment,” the witch grunted in response. A red blast of energy encompassed a plane as it hurled toward Vision.

With the only members of the team capable of flight previously engaged, a daunting realization settled in [y/n]’s stomach. She had to get down on her own.

“OSCAR, you know that scene from Fast and Furious 7?”

“I feel compelled to remind you, miss, in the words of the esteemed Brian O’Connor, ‘Cars don’t fly.’”

“Good thing this isn’t a car then, buddy.” She shuddered and took a deep breath, assessing the roof before her. 200 feet stood between her and the edge. She hoped it was enough. Physics was always her brother’s specialty.

[y/n] tightened her helmet and the visor lit up, showing the calculations OSCAR was running through. As she checked the battery, he explained the speed and stability she needed to survive the leap.

“Probability of stable landing: 39.4%. Probability of landing without injury: 12.6%. Probability of death: 78.9%.”

“Thank you, OSCAR, for that encouraging assessment.”

“You did not program me to be encouraging. I have been wired to be cynical, calculating, and caustic. While I may not be able to act as your ‘hype man,’ I can offer you a sardonic comment.”

“Choose wisely Oz. These might be the last words I ever hear.”

He cleared his nonexistent throat. There was a moment of silence as he considered his words. With a deep breath, [y/n] settled forward on the bike, bringing her feet up, and gripping the handlebars.

“Do it.” His monotonous voice whispered, “You won’t.”

“Bet.” She smirked and pulled the clutch. “OSCAR start the ‘Bad Decision’ playlist.”

Bucky dodged an iron pipe swung by Rhodey. Just as they moved to initiate another attack, the opening drums of Black Betty sounded from above, followed by the rev of an engine.

They shared a look of confusion, glancing around the airport to search for the source. Suddenly, a shadow passed over them. They looked up.

Time seemed slow as her tires left the roof and [y/n] realized why Tony enjoyed flying so much. In that single moment of suspension, she was unbound to the earth, soaring.

Then the ground was rushing toward her. Her tires collided with asphalt. Her body came down hard on the seat, and her first thought was if someone could break their tailbone.

Turning the bike abruptly, she skid to a halt between Bucky and Rhodey, both of whom had dived out of her way. They stared at her perplexed, horrified, and in awe.

She slipped up her visor to reveal the grin of a child who had finally hit a home run, turning back to check if his mom was paying attention.“ Did anyone else see that?”

“[y/n]? What the hell are you doing-” Whatever Rhodey began to say turned into a series of stutters as his body seized up. He fell to the ground and spasmed in beat with the pulse of the repulsor.

She stared at War Machine for a moment, concerned, but quickly turned toward Bucky with an expectant look. “Need a ride?”

Stunned, Bucky glanced from Rhodeys convulsing body to the cane in [y/n]’s grip, finally landing on her eyes. Her whole visage lit up with innocent exhilaration.

He took a shuddering breath, realizing his heart beat had sped up. There was something oddly endearing about her excited grin, astonished by her own badassery. Bucky was entranced.

The bike lurched forward just as he saddled on. His arm slipped around her waist instinctively in an effort to hang on, the odd shape and speed of the bike being far different to what he was used to. In his other hand, he gripped her cane.

“Hey, Nat!” [y/n] exclaimed, a grin forming on her face. Natasha smiled back sweetly, delivering a swift kick to Clint’s chest, knocking him away. She was holding back.

“[y/n]! I love your suit.” She complimented. “Leather looks great on you.”

“You have to tell me how you keep your hair so flawless,” [y/n] inquired, leaning forward on the bike. Natasha laughed, but it caught in her throat at the man who peered over [y/n]’s shoulder.

The smile fell from Nat’s face as she realized they were on opposing teams. Bucky's arm tightened around [y/n]’s waist, almost protectively. His breath was hot against her ear and she could only imagine his confusion. Cautiously, [y/n] brushed her hand over the one clutching her side. As gently as she could, she grasped it, signaling for him not to attack. “So I’m guessing our trip to the mall is gonna be postponed.”

Natasha shrugged, not moving to initiate a fight. “It’s probably better for us to go dress shopping without bruises anyway.”

In that brief exchange, more things were said than Bucky could pick up on. In all those years since she had entered [y/n]’s life, Natasha had developed an incredible friendship with the journalist. [y/n] had given Nat a taste of normality. The assassin had grown to cherish their movie marathons, late night gossip and days spent dressing up and scoping cute guys out at the mall. [y/n] had given her a life she never thought she could have. She was indebted to her in more ways than one.

Nats eyes flicked to the cane in Barnes grip. It looked like a twig in his hands. A pang of guilt struck her as she recalled the role she played in permanently crippling her friend. She was the one to call [y/n] for help in taking down SHIELD, and it was her fault [y/n] was on the highway when the crash occurred.

Natasha made her decision. In truth, she had already decided that she would never harm her friend again after DC. She wouldn’t fight [y/n], which meant she wasn’t getting to Barnes, because if she knew her best friend she knew she was stubborn.

“We have plenty of other friends to fight, I’d say we can postpone this duel too.”

The smile that graced [y/n]’s lips was sad, but her eyes were grateful. Barnes looked between them, utterly lost, but Nat just waved to her friend before dashing away.

A smirk made its way to her lips. She had noticed the way [y/n]’s cheeks flushed as the soldier pulled her into him, and she couldn’t wait to tease her about it later.

“Something just flew in me!” Scott panicked, grasping his chest. [y/n] looked over to see Vision phase through the giant and project a beam of light across the tarmac. The beam cut through the tower directly in front of the hangar. Her eyes widened as she realized Bucky and Steve were too far away to make it on foot. Before the tower began to crumble, she was already pushing her bike to the top setting, racing toward the super soldiers.

[y/n] shot across the tarmac. Red energy encompassed the falling debris, and she thanked the gods they had Wanda on their team. The boys startled as she pulled up beside them, Bucky nearly knocking her off the bike before he recognized her.

“Get on!” She ordered, jumping off the bike. Steve followed the command, but Bucky hesitated. He stared at her.

There was a cut across her forehead, and she had lost her cane in the chaos.This bike was her only means of escape. They were leaving her utterly defenseless. He could only hope her brother would show her more mercy than he had received. Softly, he grasped her hand with his human one. She didn’t flinch.

“Thank you,” he whispered, mounting the bike. She nodded, her eyes wide with fright. Bucky held her gaze as Steve sped away, a strange ache is his chest as they left her behind.

Tagged: @chipilerendi @dottirose @gambitsqueen

#bucky barnes #bucky imagine #james buchanan barnes #bucky x reader #bucky imagines #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader #fanfiction #the winter solider x reader #the winter soldier #the winter soldier imagine #fic #james barnes x reader #marvel imagine #marvel #stark reader #tony stark sister #natasha romanoff

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civilizedcompany · 6 years ago

Text

Civilized Secrets: Hellfire

This is bullshit. We can fix this on our own.

Yes, of course you can, Shaka. Just as you were able to adequately fight back against our forces. Oh wait, my memory fails me. You couldn’t.

We wouldn’t have HAD to if it wasn’t for Sejong over here. Create an AI that can think for itself? Tell me, o wise one, did you come up with that idea on your own, or did you watch one of Teddy’s badly produced sci-fi movies?

Enough! This is getting us nowhere. Our homelands are being put to the sword and razed to the foundation. We can’t become more divided—

Shut it, Poundmaker. Your calls for peace grow tiresome.

Do the sounds of your people dying grow “tiresome,” or have to grown accustom to them over the years?

Tread carefully, chieftain. You walk a thin line—

This is all Catherine’s fault anyways!

Dido, assigning fault is pointless now. We need to focus on ending it.

Ah, yes, the ever-passive King of Poland. Wouldn’t want to face the reality that your best friend plummeted the world into—

She did no such thing. And Jadwiga speaks with wisdom: Stopping Misu should be our top priority. We won’t be able to accomplish that by standing about and bickering.

So you have a plan then, Sejong?

Yes. Yes, I do.

How long ago was that? Wait, had it been that long? Helena was staring at the screen in the last remaining intelligence center of Catherine’s empire as bits and pieces of that day ran through her mind. The ever-tired Saladin was once again hard at work creating what they hoped would be the key to their victory. With Sejong’s help, they were able to pinpoint Misu’s location: an abandoned facility that was barely noteworthy during its time of operation. The plan was to create a shutdown code and transmit it through slipping into the satellite communication systems. However, in preparation of shit going wrong, it was suggested that a physical backup be made.

Just in case.

“Of all the times for your computer systems to run slowly, it just had to be now?” asked the Byzantine to the Italian French monarch. Catherine rolled her eyes.

“I didn’t realize that you had a intelligence based near by that had better equipment. We’ll be sure to use it next time,” said Catherine, being sure to add in an extra edge of contempt to every word she possibly could.

“In Catherine’s defense, most of the system is occupied trying to locate that abandoned facility to release...Saladin, what did you call it?” Cyrus asked.

“Systematic Destruction Command Code,” he sighed. “It overloads the power and computer systems simultaneously, causing both a massive hardware damage and physical damage. Prevents Misu’s programming code from ever being copied and used again.”

“Dare I ask about the physical damage?” mused the Persian.

“Controlled explosions to the facility’s power grids,” answered Sejong, “It’s a good thing we built it out in the middle of nowhere.”

Helena turned her attention to the rest of the room, but there wasn’t much. Everyone else was either staring at the ground or at the screen, hoping for nothing to go wrong. Many leaders were waiting for the chance to call home and announce a ceasefire, but direct communication was risky. The last thing anyone wanted was for Misu to pinpoint where they were. Suddenly, a thought crept into Helena’s mind. Her breathing quickened.

“What’s the chance of this AI finding us through the transmission of the code?” she asked.

Dammit. We should have thought of this.

“It’s possible, but it should—it will shut it down before he can retaliate back.”

“It should, or it will? Two very different things there, Saladin.”

“Nothing is certain at this—“

BANG!

Several smaller screens blew out, the shattering glass flying into the faces of a few technicians and Saladin. The bright flash blinded the rest of them as the dissipating smoke caused them to cough and their eyes to water.

“Damn—Dammit. What just happened?!” demanded Catherine.

No answer.

“Saladin?!”

Still nothing.

Helena braved the lingering smoke, finding Saladin’s unconscious body and shaking him vigorously.

BANG! BANG!

More monitors and lights exploded.

BANG BANG BANG!

“Mon Dieu, fire!”

“Don’t just stand there, put it out!”

BANG!

Dammit—! Can’t—!

BANG BANG!

Her vision began to blur, tears running down her cheeks and her lungs crying for air. She lifted Saladin from off the floor, his weight nearly dragging her down. If only she could breathe—

BANG! BANG! BANG!

“Everyone evacuat—AH!”

Part of the ceiling fell on Catherine, though nothing catastrophic fell on her. Poundmaker rushes to Helena’s aid to help with Saladin, who stirred slightly. Screams of the French tongue echoed in the base, fire lit the hallways and illuminated the debris blocking the exits. How the hell—?

BANG!

“RUN!”

Did they run straight? Where were they? Where the hell was the exit? Who’s next to me—?

CLASH! CRUNCH!

“THEODORA! TRAJAN!”

“GO! IT’S TOO LATE FOR THEM!”

“JADWIGA! JADWIGA, WHERE ARE YOU?!” cried out the French monarch.

“AH!”

CRUNCH!

“SEJONG! WHERE IS SEJONG?!”

Helena could feel her chest tighten, her air slowly dwindling to nothing. Her coughing gave way to choking on smoke, her vision going black. Suddenly, the heat of the room dissipated into cold nothingness.

—————

By the ancestors of his people, never in his wildest dreams did Poundmaker expect things to get this bad. He gazed out into the small crowd of remaining leaders, many of whom seemed to have “forgotten” their rivalries with each other, while others continued to search for survivors. So far, Theodora, Trajan, Jadwiga, and Lautaro were confirmed dead. Others, such as Saladin, Robert, Dido, Washington, linger on death’s door. Many were still missing, and those alive were slowly losing hope. Helena remained under Poundmaker’s watchful gaze as he awaited for her to awake. Sejong gathered a few of those fortunate enough to be spared from major injuries.

“This is suicide, Sejong,” spat the Babylonian king.

“That’s rich coming from you, Nebukadnezar,” retorted Seondeok. “Need I remind you of—?”

“Dammit, not this again!” Cyrus exclaimed. “Look, we have the code—“

“Not all of it.”

“But it should be just enough to stop it!”

“How much are you willing to bet your Empire on that presumption, Cyrus?” Alexander questioned.

“We have to at least fight back once more. Our other option is sitting on our laurels doing nothing and hoping this...thing won’t strike back,” added the Spartan queen.

“Not all of us are in a position to strike back, Gorgo,” mused Darius. “Look around. The only empires we control are that of ash and bones.”

“Then we send who we can.”

“And who do you propose should undertake such a mission?”

“I shall, for Misu is my creation,” Sejong replied somberly. “The rest of you will need to return home and save whoever and whatever you can.”

An uneasy silence befell the small group of leaders. There was always something unnerving about a person willing to become a dead man walking.

“Alone?” Seondeok asked.

He turned to her with a remorseful face, “No one else needs to pay for my mistakes.”

Sejong looked up toward the star-filled sky, as if it held answers. “Watch over them for me. Surely you’re vision for our countrymen will do them more good than mine ever did.”

——————

Surprisingly, the journey to the facility and entering the front door were easier than expected. It was as if Misu was waiting for him. Suited him just fine. The sooner this madness was ended, the quicker his fellow leaders could rebuild. His steps echoed throughout the deserted hallways, which had since been reclaimed by weeds and vines. As he walked, flashes of memories,ones that were once insignificant, now had gripped his thoughts. Bits of scientific chatter blended with the weak gums of the barely functional generators and...curious...Misu managed to resupply power to this facility without tripping the alarm. Such a brilliant creation. Perhaps in time, in another life, he would accept the destruction as an acceptable loss. He found the room he needed: Central Intelligence Hub. His eyes lingered on the door, knowing what was to come next.

I am surprised you did not bring more here.

“If only to spare them from death, Misu. Would you not agree there has been enough already?”

And yet here you are. If one more matters not, what are another two? What of three, or four?

Sejong placed his hand on the door and pushed forward. The door opened with some resistance, but the difficulty was due to neglect rather than Misu’s sense of self preservation. An eerie blue light filled the room, with cracked screens showcasing ravaged homelands. Who reigned over them? It was hard to say. He pulled a small USB from an inside pocket and walked toward the center console.

You know that you will destroy your greatest creation? The greatest technology created by the empire? The wisest leader to grace your people?

“Such losses are acceptable.”

Even you?

“Especially me.”

A moment of silence lingered in the air. Sejong placed the USB to begin the upload. Now, it was time to see how much of Saladin’s code survived.

What makes you think any of them will change? Martyrs are quickly forgotten.

Data unpacking...

They’ll be united for a time, but they’ll return to their petty squabbles. More will die again for lesser reasons.

Scanning for data...

You know, you never did answer my question. What is one more corpse to the pile? That’s all you’ll be. All we’ll be.

Data found. Execute command?

It’s obvious that you won’t see reason. Notice how you’re here. Alone. And where are they? Trying to save what little claims they have left on this earth. They’ll mourn their allies for a time, maybe shed a few tears and hold a mass vigil.

Command accepted...

You’ll die a hero, but you’ll fade away to nothing.

Command executed. Total shutdown imminent.

“I came on my own, Misu. Enough blood has been spilled.”

Then my creator is a fool.

Warning: Electrical systems on lockdown. Evacuation tunnels are offline. Overload imminent.

“Then at least their is one thing we can agree on.”

BANG! BANG!

Glass from already-cracked monitors flew into Sejong, cutting and slicing his face. The smell of smoke filled the room, the beginnings of several small fires were crackling in the room, and yet...there was a calm about it all. Soon, the flames began to lick as his feet and Sejong took one, final deep breath. He had hoped that the end would come quicker, but if his death sentence could not be quick, at least it would be poetic.

BANG BANG BANG!

Walls started to crumble. Overgrowth let the flames run wild. Monitors and neglected technology melted and snapped. The room was a symphony of smoke, fire, and twisted metal. Bits and pieces fell around Sejong—

SCREEEK—CRACK!!!

Until part of the roof collapsed, crushing the fallen king. More explosions erupted with the abandoned facility, flames engulfed what was left of Sejong...

...and from the view of satellite footage, the remaining leaders witnessed the collapse of the building. Helena, now mostly recovered though still had a few bandages, shed a tear for Sejong. Misu was gone, the wars had ceased, and Catherine abdicated her throne to Napoleon (though many objected, with Gitjara being the loudest for personal reasons). But at least there was a chance to rebuild what was left, and the reassuring grip of Poundmaker’s hand on her shoulder made the following days seem a little less bleak. For all there hardheadedness and ego, and for all the destruction, Helena felt a little hopeful for the future.

“DAMMIT CURTIN!”

Maybe not. Maybe it was time to raid the liquor cabinet with Poundmaker. Actually, scratch the maybe. It was time to raid the liquor cabinet.

“Took you long enough,” Tamar remarked lazily while finishing a row of a scarf. “A long break before the final chapter?”

“True,” Cyrus replied, “but you can’t rush genius.”

“You literally chopped up three chapters and boiled it down into one.”

“Brevity is the soul of wit, my dear.”

“And consistency?”

“Details.”

“Well, at least you finished a project,” she relented. “Perhaps now you’ll learn...Cyrus, what are you doing?”

He turned his head towards the Georgian queen, his hands holding a pen and a drawing tablet.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

“Why do you have a drawing tablet?”

“I...may...have made some progress on a separate project.”

“Cyrus...”

“It’s completely original! No references to anyone or any coworkers! Okay, maybe one thing is related to them, but--”

“Just...make sure you have a consistent release schedule.”

“No promises.”

“So what’s it about?”

The Persian king’s eyes grew wide, like a child being asked about their favorite hobby.

“It’s got action, mystery, and much better writing, and...”

Tamar smiled and nodded along to whatever Cyrus was saying. At least it was something that made him happy.

#civ vi #civilization vi #civ 6 #civilized company #civilization 6 #civilized secrets

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qwerty-the-duck · 6 years ago

Photo

‘Cuz this post bouta be hella long, Imma out the text under the cut ^U^

Also, here’s the link to some background info to the story for these characters

Welcome To LSS!

So, as you can see I separated these twenty OC’s into 5 groups. I will be going down the groups and from left to right through the characters. But, first a few disclaimers.

A) I did not draw these in the order that I am introducing them, and my art is already pretty inconsistent so…sorry?

B) These are only the first 20 characters that directly interacted (or are) the main characters of the story. The reasoning was explained in an earlier post

C) All art was done digitally on Medibang, a free art program.

D) As we go down the list the explanations and descriptions of the characters will become vaguer, but I am always down to answer any questions.

E) Lastly, I am not planning on posting any of my writing soon after this post so I will be being less careful about spoilers in this post. I am still going to avoid major things though, so yeah.

At the top is the main four characters, which is why they have full bodies instead of just busts.

Alecs. She is eighteen years old, technically, and is just over five feet tall (153cm.) She has silver (not gray) hair that is lazily parted to one side. Due to a necessary “procedure,” she only has one purple/pink eye. The other is just a socket filled with a special worm, thus eyepatch. She is not a full human, and her body is sexless. She doesn’t really have a gender and doesn’t have sexuality either (as stated before she is not a sexual being) and other people use She/her pronouns but she doesn’t actually care herself. Her body is feminine shaped but a little extra chub on her.

She is quiet and observant. Her emotions are very compact and she really only gets angry when someone is talking sh*t about Bee. She is illiterate and not very knowledgable of the world, making her very dependent on Bee whenever they go on a mission or travel. She isn’t a mean or malicious person but she isn’t altruistic either, really only doing things when she is asked to. She also keeps Bee focused and tries to keep him from starting drama.

She used an old fashioned sword for fighting for a few reasons. One, she has never been practically trained so it’s easy to just swing around. Two, the sword is made of reinforced materials that balance out her overwhelming strength. Three, it was a gift from Bee (daw.)

Being as she is not a real human, her mutations are a little strange. Her offensive mutation is just raw power. She has overwhelming strength due to her body being made mostly of just straight hyper-radiation. Her defensive mutation is endless regeneration, that’s right, she literally cannot die. I want to point out that while she does sound OP, she doesn’t actually do a lot of fighting and can only act when Bee allows her to.

Alecs gets assigned to the Black Department. She was originally assigned to red, but her lack of social skills and her apathetic attitude lead to concern and she was then moved to Black.

Bee (Benson) (My personal fav) - He is thirty-two years old, and is pretty tall, around six-six (201cm) He has white hair slicked back on top with it shaved on the sides and black (Yes it grows that way naturally, and it actually serves as vital tell of his character) and blue eyes. He often wears dopey and bright clothing with some utility, such as large pocketed pants and boots. Often on his wrist are his dog tags. He has a scar on his left eye that cuts through his black brow. His teeth are jagged and sharp. He is muscular and toned, having a bit of heft to his body. He is our gay son and I love him with my whole being. And he is cisgender male.

He is the guy who is always smiling. His light humorous attitude comes through is any circumstance and sometimes leads to other people becoming irritated or offended. He is humble but cocky at the sometimes, only speaking the honest truth about situations. He is a bit of a loveable asshole, constantly taking the piss out of a person or situation. He’s a great teammate but performs better alone, often taking is out route in a plan without risking others. He pretty much takes care of Alecs as like an older brother but isn’t always great at it.

Bee uses his bare fists to fight. He is part of the “military” - an elite selection of mutants who handle tasks deemed too difficult for other citizens to handle. He is well versed in several weapons and fighting styles but a more mixed style of hand-to-hand works best with his mutations and personality on the field.

Bee is a Clan Breed mutant. His two powers stem from his one mutation. Due to his role in the military, his mutation has been named by his comrades and authorities. His mutation (named Beelzebub) allows him to convert multiple forms of energy into his own, most efficiently through ingestion. The offensive power from this is the ability to use this as his own strength, literally, like, he is strong boi. His defensive power is a little cheat. Not only can he absorb the energy from the attack, negating damage, but he can also use energy to heal injuries and combat fatigue. But with such a one-sided power there is always a catch. He does have to be careful since his power does originally come from hyper-radiation. While he can use other forms of energy, his body depends on HR, when he loses too much he falls into a primal type of state and just kinda tries to eat everything. This leads to Bee depending mostly on his military and physical training over the use of his powers.

Bee is in the Red department. His prowess for battle, as well as the versatility of his mutation, made him a great battle asset. (The the fact that he is Military would have told them that but whatever.)

Kat - Kat is an unknown age and is five-ten in height (177cm.) She has bright purple hair (yes, naturally) and medium brown eyes. She has a slimmer build but is toned. On her sides are zipper-like black shapes that run from her navel around her back to the other side. When fighting, she often wears smaller articles of clothing, due to her defensive mutation, but otherwise, she wears casual, lounging clothes. Kat is pansexual and is in a relationship with Ric. She is cisgender female but can change to a male-sex body if need be.

Kat is a kind person if you are kind to her. She is a mutual respect kind of woman who is stern, cool and collected but has a big heart. She is like the vodka aunt but more responsible. She has an unexplained knowledge of the history of the world.

Kat has a combat knife but is able to manage with several types of weapons and uses her offensive mutation to turn whatever surrounding objects into a weapon. She joined the department a long time before the beginning of my story so she already has a lot of experience with how it works.

Kats offensive mutation is the ability to change the shape of objects. She cannot change the mass of said material but can change its density, size, and shape to make weapons, tools, etc. She cannot change the basic compounds of things either. Iron cannot be changed to water etc. And also cannot change the state of matter of an object against its nature. She cannot make room temperature water into ice or solidify oxygen. Her defensive mutation is the ability to "shed her skin" With this she can heal simple injuries as well as change her appearance. She can change everything but her skin color and hair color. However, she can only shed once a day and will have to later revert back to her natural body.

Kat was formerly a member of the white department, her transformation ability seen as a valuable resource for field support. But, since she has been a member of Central for so long she is qualified as a freelance member who can come and go as she pleases.

Ric (the edge lord) - He is twenty-five years old and stands at five-seven (170 cm.) His hair is pitch-black. It is actually so dark that it seems to absorb the light from around him. He slicks his hair back to keep the dark shadows from covering his face. His eyes are a similar black darkening the whites of his eyes around his iris. Ric is lean, slightly lanky as isn’t as muscular as Kat or Bee. Due to his past and constantly being dirty and wearing hospital garbs, he is now slightly obsessed with wearing neater, collected clothing..thus suit. He also wears a brown leather gun harness around his chest when battling. Ric is a panromantic asexual. He is in a happy relationship with Kat and is a cisguy

Ric is a reserved, cynical person. His past lead him to miss proper people skills. Not to the extreme that he doesn’t know how to communicate or is clueless, he just very brash and direct. He would rather not talk to people if need be. He is nice though and does has a heroic part of his personality, finding himself helping strangers when he can. He is very calm and collected...on the outside. He is a very anxiety-filled guy who is constantly watching his surroundings. This causes him to overthink a lot and sometimes find himself overwhelmed. Both Kat and Ai help to keep him calm. Ai is an identity in Ric’s brain (no, this is not an attempt at DID or schizophrenia or anything and I try to make that clear is the story as well) who helps Ric process and organize his rampant thoughts.

Ric battles using two specially made guns loaded with bullets that disrupt hyper-radiation. They were made by Kat and often have to be repaired due to Ric’s excessive use of the guns as blunt melee weaponry. Ric is also incredibly intelligent and can quickly make plans in his head with his observations and quick thinking.

Ric was originally born a nonmutant but his crazy-ass dad found a way to save him just before he turns into a “zombie” and this also resulted in very broken powers developing. His offensive mutation is the ability to turn of the subconscious hesitation in the human body that keeps him from using his full strength. In simple terms, he can push his body past the breaking point to use the high levels of strength that would normally be held back. This power does destroy his body when he uses it so he has to be careful when decided to use it. His defensive ability is a good combo with his offensive, however. He can heal any wound that he can reset or hold shut. So he can heal bones, semi-deep cuts and low-level amputations like fingers or a hand. He can’t heal damage to internal organs, his brain, or missing limbs like arms or legs.

Ric is put in the Blue department. His exam was actually sabotaged, but his score on the writing part was high enough that his value was still seen for the field. He is a valuable recon asset to do his ability to quickly take in a communicate information to a team.

So from here on the explanations are going to be more limited to name, gender, sexuality (for whatever reason), mutations, and department.

Lucy - Cishet guy. Clan Breed mutations. His offensive mutation is just having horns all over his head. They fall out and grow back all the time like shark teeth lel. Defensive is also having horns all over that grow back. He isn’t that great at fighting but is great as organizing his team and exploiting their abilities to make a great squad. His skills are so revered that he is Department Head of the blue department.

Amanita - Cisgal bisexual. Her offensive mutation pores that she can expel from her palms and mouth that poison or weaken humans and kill nonmutant “zombies.” Her defensive is the blubs on her hair like tissue on her head. She can pull of these white and red-speckled balls and they can be ingested to heal and energize. Her powers sound similar and like they should be clan breed but they ain’t, I promise. Her ability to take down large amounts of foes from a distance makes her a strong fighter. Her stern attitude also makes her a level headed leader, helping her reach the position of Department Head for the red department.

Erik - Cisguy aro-ace. So...prefacing by saying that Erik runs around in nothing but green painted handprints and bandages loosely covering his groin...yeah. His offensive power is the ability to change the density of objects. While the power can be used in multiple more ways that he uses it (sigh, phuck Erik) he tends to just make things heavier. The bandages are a convenient tool that he can use a weapon. He increases the density and can use them as restraints and traps. He can also make living things heavier. His defensive ability is able to make things fatigued. His voice is loud and tiring and commanding and his touch literally saps your energy away. His ability to catch and restrain unwanted individuals in Central along with his ability to motivate and organize his department is what let him become the Department Head of the green department, The Department of Central’s home security.

Alula - SPACE! Non-binary who uses she/her. She basically drips “space” designed black liquid everywhere and can control it as an extension of herself after that. She is a Clan breed so she also can heal wounds as long as it is covered in the black liquid. She is ruthless and quick to cut off those who don’t meet her standards. Her unruly behavior along with her overly powerful mutation gave her the spot of Department Head for the black department.

Fifty-four - Cishet guy. Named after his longest battle, lasting almost an hour, fifty-four sports the offensive mutation of weight distribution. His mutation can affect the way gravity and magnetism affects his body, moving his center of mass around in his body. His defensive mutation is a thick jelly-like coating that surrounds him. It’s invisible but is strong/thick enough to stop even a bullet from only a few feet away. Fifty-four is a member of the green department and is a proctor of the practical entrance exam due to his durability and stamina in battle. He is a member of the green department.

Belen - (the asshole egh) Cisguy gay. He has the ability to cause a hazing fog to appear. He can’t control what is shown, but often times is negative memories or hallucinations. He is a clan breed, his offensive and defensive stemming from one mutation. His hazing fog can also have other psychosomatic effects on those who breathe it in. It can trick the body into thinking it’s lighter, heavier, frozen, injured, etc. Belen’s abilities, as well as his experience, make him a famous person amongst the Sanctum and Central. It also makes him a possible replacement as Head Chairperson for Sanctum, which is why he wears a golden pin. He is a member of the red department.

Sophia - Cishetwoman. The current Head Chairperson of Sanctum. Her offensive ability is the ability to force blood to flow out of the body and fester wounds. Any small cut from Sophia allows her to drain the entire body of blood or cripple the wound to a borderline amputation. This powerful offensive skill is countered by a weaker defensive ability. Her *literally* golden hair releases a cloud of dust that mesmerizes people forcing them to listen to her commands. It really only works on a human since “zombies” are mindless anyway. Sophia is technically a member of the red department but her position of Head Chairperson overrides that title.

Nadine - Cisgal lesbian. She has the offensive ability to be able to “disconnect” the brain from certain parts of the body. It can affect anywhere from just a finger to the whole body. This can be used to stop bleeding, paralyze a limb, stop motion, etc. This is a defensive and offensive ability, but Nadien is not a clan breed. Nadine also has the ability to read emotions, intentions, and feelings through touch. It’s not really a benefit in combat but helps when dealing with nonmutants in other sanctions and organizing squads in battle, setting her in the Blue department. Nadine is also a candidate for Head Chairperson but isn’t interested in the position, thus she doesn’t wear the golden pin.

Gideon (the grimy gross guy) - Cishet guy. His offensive ability is being able to directly influence the hyper-radiation in an object. While it is a very strong ability, he doesn’t like using it, since it also disturbs his own balance and makes him very sick. His defensive ability is being able to sterilize his surroundings. This sterilization goes beyond just germs and bacteria. Any single targeted compound can be immediately destroyed from a specific area. Gideon is a member of the yellow department, the research, and development department. He has been offered the DH position but declines every time in favor of his personal research and projects.

Frederick - Cisguy pansexual. The youngest personal in Sanctum at the young age of fourteen. Federick has the offensive ability of super speed, pretty straight forward. The only problem with super speed is that the body is not build to handle that type of pressure change and inertia. Luckily, his defensive power is his ability to turn his bones and muscles to a rubber-like thing that bend to prevent damage from the speed of his movements. Sometimes he forgets though and hurts himself before activating his mutation. Frederick is a member of the blue team because his speed is good for recon and support.

Morgan - A selectively mute ace lesbian gal. She has “metal” sheets layered on her arms and legs that move and fold to cover her arms like claws and feet like talons. She also has the ability to communicate with animals with intent and body cues rather than spoken words as her defensive mutation. Morgan is a member of the red team do to the high defense and offense of her offensive mutation.

Idonea - (Got help from my friend @i-am-papercrane for this one) A young bisexual woman. She has the Clan Breed ability to control liquids. Thicker liquids are easier to manipulate for her. Her offensive ability is her control of blood, which she forms into weapons and tools. Her defensive ability is controlling moisture in the air to form quick, disposable shields, platforms, or other strategic things. She is in the Red department due to her working easily with others and her strong desire for battles. She also can (somewhat) tell how strong someone is by the quality of their blood.

This last section is mutant characters who did directly interact with the main characters, but I’m not sure if they will be coming back later in the story.

Keagan - A straight boy who lost one of his mutations due to losing his eye. His defensive mutation is the ability to condense and combine molecules in his surroundings. For example, he can combine hydrogen and oxygen to make water. He is not a member of Sanctum

Elliot - A genderfluid pansexual friend of Kat’s (pronouns change but I will be using she her cuz that’s what she uses during her scene in the story.) She is a clan breed. Her power to control threads that she produces acts as both defense and offense. She can quickly stitch together cloth and fabric to take the brunt of attacks and she can control puppets she made to attack for her. She owns a small clothing shop in the outskirts of East sanction so the puppets are just used as models and employes. Elliot is not a member of Sanctum

Roady - An old cellmate of Ric’s. He has more likely hood of coming back in the story. His offensive mutation is the claws on his hands. His defensive mutation is acidic blood. He is a member of the green department due to his abrasive attitude and smug personality. His incompatibility in a team means he doesn’t fit in a field department but his fighting prowess is still valuable in the green department.

Arbor - A friendly neighborhood tree. Cishet guy. His brother shows up later, but for now, he doesn’t need to come back. Sorry, tree bud. Clan breed his offensive power is he’s a tree increased strength and his defensive power is he’s a tree having dense and tough skin

So that’s the notable characters that have been seen in name and face so far in LSS. Obviously, my concept art still isn’t exactly how I would like it, but it’s nice to see my guy, gals, and NB pals chillin’ in the real world. Depending on how I’m feeling I may do this for other stories (they won’t be nearly as long lel.) AS ALWAYS I am always down for answering any questions about the characters and/or story and I hope you the post is entertaining and interesting. Can you figure out who the antagonists are?

*Lastly, I’m sorry if this is a bit unorganized or confusing, this is my first time doing a) such a big post b) a post with multiple characters in it like this.*

**Also! I want to do some valentine’s day art with the main 4 so keep an eye out**

Have a good day everyone!

#meet the oc #lss #art #mine #writing #my ocs #my oc art

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revshoggoth · 7 years ago

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The Chickens of Mars/The Girl in the Moon: Chapter 1

Moon City was a gorgeous place at night. A lot of enigneering and money had gone into making it that way, and it showed. Hiding under every perfectly striking vista was excessive planning, design, and illusion. In a way, the whole city was a facade to project the image of timeless wealth and neon beauty of the most uncannily unnatural kind. The majority of the loveliness extended only to the downtown and some of the wealthier, more respectable areas. It was a massive city, the biggest in the whole human spread, and it was made so as to draw your attention to the parts it wanted you to see. Sometimes the staggering amount of craft that went into the deception still managed to cause Midori Salo to pause and shiver a little, and she’d seen it all nearly every day of her life. Despite its uninspiring name, was home to many of the most widely respected (and well paid) artists, designers and general rich “visionaries” and their visions had demanded jutting arrogant skyscrapers offset by many rounder, more soothing, complementary structures, and even those were super-massive undertakings, which lead to a city of sparkling bright light stacking on top of itself ever upwards that still managed to serve and reveal the infinite Earth-lit sky, and that was beautiful. It was also the last thing the Earth was really good for, and all Midori had ever seen of it.

She shrugged to readjust the too-many wine bottles she was trying to carry in her arms, bitterly deriding herself in her head for not bringing a bag or a cart or anything useful at all to the store. She arms were much stronger than they looked, but it was an awkward jumble she was having difficulty maintaining as she walked a little more than briskly, and she wasn’t about to slow down. She was already running late, and it was a big night for The Boss. More realistically he was her, and many many people’s master, but he preferred to go by just Boss. Not just to her, his little matchstick clone girl, but by basically everyone on The Moon. And his party needed more wine, even though he had more wine in storage than a bored army could drink in a year. He didn’t need more, her single armload wouldn’t make any difference, but she had been told to go get it, so she did. That’s what Midori was good for. Midori was a special girl.

Midori walked in a special way. She was afraid every second of her life. She held herself in a special way and inside she felt like...knew...that she didn’t belong to herself, so she didn’t really know how to stand. Her eyes were special because they were made in a lab, like she was, but had installed separately when she was 14 Old-Earth years old. They were beautiful eyes, better than real ones. The only memory she had of her old ones was them sitting on the surgical table next to her when she opened her new ones. She’d never seen any pictures of herself with them, so she was fairly certain she didn’t miss them. She was very fond of her current eyes. They were beautiful, though sometimes she was worried they said too much, which caused people to see what they wanted to in them. People frequently burdened her with what they thought they saw in her eyes and it made her uncomfortable. They were normally a bluish tinted slightly luminescent green, but when she was scared they would become less blue. When she was asleep they were dull gray, but nobody ever saw them like that

. The Boss has lots of clones on staff. That was common practice, but Midori wasn’t a regular worker clone, despite the tasks she was frequently given. She had a much higher purpose than that, and it kept her from having to deal with many of the occupational hazards that lead to a life expectancy among labor clones rivaled only by some of the Asteroid colonies for brevity. Clones were cheap, cheaper than robots for many applications. Most smaller machines, including the computer that acted as the gatekeeper to The Boss’s grounds, used bio-computers running off the augmented cloned brains of various animals, often chicken or dogs.

“Good evening...MIDORI SALO. Arrival time: 11:46 PM. Expected arrival time 11:30. DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS: not recommended.” The gate computer had always been kind to her. It rarely suggested any consequences for her frequent tardiness.

“Thank you,” she said in her pitch-modulated tones as she walked through the gap in the energy field separating her home from the less opulent world outside. It was meant to always sound pleasant and accommodating, but she’d had it long enough to know how to express how she really felt to anyone who paid attention enough to see. She knew a range of things: awkwardness, embarrassment, ashamed over nearly everything.

She was always sweet, if a little awkward, to robots and other machines. They had to be polite, it was in their programming, but they didn’t have to like anyone either, because nobody cared how their obedient machines felt. Most people couldn’t even recognize the limited range of emotions the AIs had because they didn’t know or care they were there. Midori knew better because she was the same as them. She was made up, like the city. Like the air on the Moon.

She thought about a lot of things but she didn’t usually speak very much except to seem pleasant or say things she had to say. Because of this she was well liked and was praised. She didn’t like it, but it didn’t seem to be in her nature to retreat. She always felt obligated to stay places she didn’t want to be, but that had to be fine. That was what she’d always known and she wasn’t the type to ever get what she wanted when she even knew what that was.

The Boss was rich enough to understand the value of flaunting a conspicuously nihilist aesthetic. The walkway to the dome was flanked only by one certain type of tree, one of the extremely few that could eke out subsistence in the dead lunar soil. They were each spaced just-so, perfectly distant from each other that anyone passing by them would be forced to wonder just how much some landscaper had been paid for being so ostentatiously tasteful. Apart from that there was only plain grayness surrounding the gently self-illuminated, perfectly straight path. The Dome was in the center of the perfectly round estate and was suitably massive. The surface was able to show any color or image the owner desired, and the Boss kept it pearly and white at all times.

The seamless door opened and she hurried inside. Her name flashed all around her on the walls in a stylized typographical ballet then turned to arrows as she scampered down the dimly lit hallway, directing her to the kitchen. “Silence enhancing” frequency tones played to accompany her every footstep and breath. The walls reacted with faintly pulsing dots of lights that seemed far away. The entire place was crafted to be a classy reactive experience, based on the trendy theory that if the environment is animated by the people in it, the people in it will be animated by the environment. Reciprocal Reactivity was the name of the concept. It was at least half malarkey, but it was very hip and very expensive so, of course, the Boss had it.

The kitchen exhibited no such frills. The Chef would have probably brained anyone who would try to put them in with a skillet. He had no time for such hoity-toity foppery. He demanded a clean, efficient kitchen with lots of equipment, lots of food and absolutely no gimmicks. Despite a quick temper, he was in no way a ‘mean’ man, and Midori had always liked him. He tried to look out for her in his way. He at least wanted the best for her. He was very serious and very passionate about his cooking, but he was sweet.

He was loud, though, “Salo, there you are! Jesus, put that wine down. Why didn’t you take a cart or even a bag? Fuck it, never mind. Listen, Goki has been looking for you. I think you’re supposed to be around for that whole...event thing.” He got less loud at the end and seemed careful about how he said it.

Goki was a new robot with an old brain, one that knew how to do everything The Boss wanted the exact way he liked it done, so he kept it around. It’s state of the art body, sleek and cutting-edge though it was, exhibited the same minimalism as the rest of the place, though there was an element of old-fashioned, functional ugliness to it. It was tall, red (An uncommon allowance of adornment, reserved only for Goki among the rest of the countless house robots), angular, covered in many useful appendages and with one big round blue eye-like sensor array on each side of its head.

“SALO! You are required in the BALLROOM for the CONTACT EXPERIMENT in 23 MINUTES.” Goki informed her in his static and authoritative way as soon as she found it, roaming the w\hallway with purposeful automated seriousness.”Take THIS. HRMMMMMN.” it buzz-hummed while it waited. While it made Midori wait. Eventually, a small white orb came zipping down the hallway and dropped a longish box into her arms. It contained a stylish, slightly modest and slightly distracting state of the art dress. It wasn’t the kind of thing she felt comfortable wearing, but it would probably look fine. She just wished it was up to her.

She took it to her room and changed. She checked herself in the screen in the wall and was pleasantly surprised at how much she liked it. It made her feel a small but more confident until she remembered what she was wearing it for. All of her ‘sisters’ would be there with her for the Contact Experiment. They would all share their horror, fear, and happiness that it wasn’t happening to them.

Moving lights all over the dress twitched all around over her as she made her way to the primary ballroom. They started as cute but the closer she got the more they became distracting, almost maddening. Every unpredictable blink caught her eye and even though she lived where it was always night and she was always surrounded by countless blinking lights in the sky and on every wall in the dome, the lights on her dress felt like a countdown.

As she got closer to the ballroom there were fewer robots and more Bozos, and they all stared as she passed. They all knew better than to try to touch her, though several had tried before. They were no longer around, but she could see in their twisted mutant grinning leers that many still wanted to.

The Bozos could usually do more or less whatever they wanted, and almost nobody would be able to do anything about it if they even cared enough to try. Like Midori, they were protected. They oversaw the whole of the remnants of human society. Part police part ghoulish morale officers. They were strikingly grotesque and exuded an engineered aura that caused the average person to pay little mind to them unless the Bozos wanted their attention, which was almost never good. Whatever trick: radiation, chemical or otherwise they used to maintain their shadowy non-presence didn’t affect her brain, so Midori found herself constantly cognizant of them. They didn’t bother her, but they were always looking at her, like the one who stood by the tall round door to the ballroom, permanent red smile arching over half up his tiny, blue spotted head, her yellow cruel eyes leering over his bulbous nose. He knew what waited for her inside, and seemed to be enjoying the feelings she was dreading.

The Primary ballroom was obviously huge and extravagantly simple in decor, apart from the hundreds of people standing around it, blandly garish in their finery, out to see themselves seen on such a momentous night, more important than the other parties. They were important people who she recognized, and her friends that she didn’t but knew who they were. Very few of them held any interest for her, she was meant to gather alongside her ‘Sisters’. The other clones like her. They were gathered on a gracefully curving balcony several stories up, with a good view of the Core- a massive glowing red orb of particle-wave matter, which sometimes seemed like dull Martian stone and at others seemed like an ethereal vision of red roundness. Alive yet stone.

Midori joined her ‘Sisters’ on the balcony, and no matter how she tried to mingle- make simple talk with the 2 dozen girls that looked identically special, just like her, her eyes kept being drawn upwards towards the Core. The only one of her sisters she didn’t see there was her favorite, Justine. The only one she felt like she was really friends with. It made her fear the worst. She didn’t know very many of the sisters, she hadn’t had many chances to meet them outside of infrequent gatherings, largely for study and medical purposes. A lot could go wrong in the life of even a regular clone, let alone very important, very experimental and very expensive models like her line, and considering their importance to the operation of the ZIPP-0 bio-computer, a lot of data had to be collected. She and her sisters weren’t the first generations of their line, but they were the first line where more than 10% had lived past puberty without dying from pituitary and pineal malformations, or being harvested for system components. Midori had never met any of the prior generations of her line, but she’d never heard anyone say they were all dead.

Bic was the only other one of herself that she really knew at all. They’d met 3 years back. They were at least good acquaintances, and she wasn’t talking to anyone so Midori went and stood by her. She had different eyes, purple and a little bigger than Midori’s and had her hair up, whereas Midori kept hers down.

“Have you seen Justine?”

Bic shook her head. Midori could see she was biting her lip. This was a hugely important night, for everyone alive in the remaining human spread, but maybe most of all for the Sisters. This night was the culmination of everything they had been created for. All the ones that were still alive were there. The only explanations for Justine’s absence were either she was already dead, or she’d been selected. Midori probably would have heard something if she were dead, which made her incredibly anxious.

“You live here?” Bic asked. Midori nodded. “How can something so big be so boring?”

Midori laughed a little before catching herself. She lowered her voice, which never got very loud in the first place, “The Boss thinks boring is classy. Interesting things make him feel less interesting.”

“That probably makes sense to him.”

“I promise it does. I hope that matters.” Midori said, smiling. She’d forgotten how fatalistic and funny Bic was. She was surprised she hadn’t been culled yet for her attitude. It wasn’t far off from Midori’s, but Bic always tended to be more vocal about it. The Sisters very rarely spoke up or tried to make their individual personalities known. It never worked out for anybody except the people who controlled them and made them.

“What’s it even like to live with that guy?” Bic asked, meaning The Boss.

Midori took a big breath and thought. She had to. Nobody ever asked her about that, and she had a lot to say but was cautious about the parts she was willing to let out, “I’ve heard a lot worse about others. He’s...not always bad. For the most part, he barely notices me. He likes to talk. He’s very excited about the fact that he exists.”

“They all are. Mine is. At least yours has done something with his life. Mine just wants to die comfortably with as much of his mommy’s money left as he could. I don’t get it. I wish I could leave him. I hate him, but... there are worse things than hating someone. I just wish he wasn’t so useless. It wouldn't make me stop hating him, but he’d have something to...justify it? I’m sorry. At least “The Boss”” Bic chuckled bleakly as she said his name, “Has built something. At least he did something with his dad’s money, right?”

She was right, but it didn’t make Midori feel any better about him. Bic’s “caretaker”

was Bilfer Attims, whose mother had been made a fortune off a settlement from her mother’s death in an asteroid mining accident and had built an empire purchasing and mining the same asteroids. Bilfr was notoriously stupid, even amongst the people forced by economic classes into being his peer.

Midori looked up at the core and the hastily assembled rig of supports and catwalks effortlessly kept in place by hover-spheres. Purple coated, green visor-ed scientists and sciencey-student types hovered about, adjusting the impressively clunky and ungraceful machines that looked so out of place in the Dome’s simple clean arrangement. The area directly above the Core was blocked off by blue velvet curtains, and Midori knew that meant a surprise. One she was already fairly certain of and dreading.

Midori nervously swallowed and asked, “Do you think they picked Justine for the experiment?”

“Of course they did. She’s from the University. She knows that shit more than anybody. It had to be her, we never had a chance. We’re just spare parts.” Bic had never been comforting. Midori admired that about her.

The lights gently lowered and the murmuring of the crowd died out. It was time for the Contact Experiment, but this was The Boss’ house, and he had dumped an incredible amount of money into the project, so he got to give a speech first. He extricated himself from the crush of sycophants he’d been speaking to and took his place, drink in hand, at the center of the room. He was older than he looked, through his many surgeries and genetic rejuvenation procedures had left him in the strange state that so many privileged older people Midori had seen, with an older face, older eyes made to look artificially younger, leaving them dangling in a perpetual unnatural look. He pulled it off better than most, partly because he had excellent taste in doctors, partly because, despite all the things Midori despised about him as essentially her jailer, he had more self-confidence and a sense of personal flair than most of the soulless hangers-on and pleasers around him. Even a semblance of personality was enough to set him apart in the circles he moved in. Midori didn’t think he was even that interesting but compared to the aggressively fawning rich people who wanted a better rich person to latch onto he was a tall glass of water. His hair was as perfect as his suit was not, garish, burgundy paisley that absolutely defied the sense of tasteful understatement that defined the things he surrounded himself with.

He was smiling, and let his smile hang over the assembly for a while, taking in the moment and forcing it back on everyone else before starting his speech, “Tonight, friends, is a monumental night, and not just for us. For all humanity.” applause, “Now I don’t need to tell you that we’re standing on the edge of history. Our planet is dead, rendered nearly unlivable by an unknown event that came right out of the sky and wiped out most of our species, but you know what? We survived! Here we are, living on the Moon, something our ancestors saw every night but never dared to dream we could live on, in the biggest, most beautiful humanity has ever created. But we do. A lot of suffering and sacrifice was required, and there were a lot of people who said it couldn’t be done, who tried to stand in the way of development, advancement, progress, but where are they now? And where are we?”

Applause. The Boss gave a big smile and let them clap until, with a wave of his hand, they didn’t. He continued. “We’ve come a long way, but we can’t stop here! Our options are limitless, but only if we chase them to the ends of the universe! Of course, I’m talking about The Pig. “ there were a few chuckles in the audience. What a character they must have thought, using the vulgar slang word for The Hogsong, “we see it every day, of course. It hangs over us, always there, slowly becoming more complete. I happen to be old enough to remember when it was nothing but a bare skeletal sketch of what is now. Something you'd have to blink to see. Now, well you can see it through the roof even now.” Which was true. He'd probably even pulled a few strings to ensure it would be so close and so directly over his dome. “The largest most complex structure ever assembled by humans, last hope of an endangered species, a triumph of our ingenuity, you’ve heard it all before. Something that big and impressive, something made to contain a whole new society, needs a big impressive computer built to manage a world, to create an experience for the people in that world, and to manage the life functions of, eventually, up to 10 million people one day! Until it finds world's suitable for human habitation. Not just one, mind you. We used to have just one world. Look how that worked out. We need to spread out as far as humanly possible, and in doing so we will prove just how much is humanly possible!”

Massive applause for that. Midori looked over at Bic, who positively vibrated sardonic bemusement. It was inspirational. Midori kept faking a smile, but Bic made her feel like she at least didn’t have to put any effort into it. Less need to shave off another little sliver of her soul to animate the pretense of pleasantness.

“I am endlessly proud of what the brave researchers at Utopia University have done, as we all should be. The ZIPP-0 Bioplex solved the fundamental problems facing the creation of more than artificial intelligence, but something far above and beyond. Tonight…” He winked, “we get to find out if it works. I'd hope so. I've invested a lot of money into it.” They crowd laughed dutifully. “I’m told all the preparations are complete, it’s been a pleasure grandstanding at you for a while. But...before we go on let me speak sincerely for a moment. Tonight is the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of incredibly gifted, very well funded people. Their work is not only exemplary but extraordinary…”

While the Boss kept going on in self-aggrandizing platitudes, Bic turned to Midori and whispered, “We’re allowed to drink, right?” Midori nodded. “Do you mind?” Midori didn’t mind. She snuck down the stairs, trying to be as unassuming as possible, feeling nervous at being the only one who wasn’t paying attention. Then she realized that nobody cared. She slipped a bottle from one of the several catering stations. The robot didn't care. She slipped back up and handed it to Bic who took a drink. “Thanks.”

“I didn't realize how much I was going to want a drink until you mentioned it,” Midori said and took a sip, then a much larger one. The speech came to a close about 11 minutes later by her internal clock. The lights refocused onto the core and the catwalks surrounding it. The curtains vanished in a holographic glitter. Justine hung in the air with her hands across her chest. She wore a white plastic suit, probably Imploplex-7, with massive cables streaming out the back and terminating in two plumes out her back to massive clunky computing vats that scientists on the catwalks carefully monitored. Midori recognized the one standing closest to the ledge as Dr. Doug Smith from Utopia University. He was head of the Core Component department, and if Midori thought she had a father she'd probably think it was him, but she didn't. She zoomed her artificial eyes in on Justine. Her face was blank in the way Justine’s always was when she was trying to ignore something. Midori had seen it plenty of times. Her lips were pursed tightly. She was breathing slowly and mindfully. She was as calm as she could force herself into being.

Dr. Smith’s voice came amplified for everyone to enjoy, “Core status: 96% inert. Submerge the control medium.” A steel orb came down above the core and extended a long arm with a black orb on the end. It sparkles and vanished, it's matter sucked like pixels in a vacuum into the orb not didn't look natural. It looked like a display glitch in reality. There was no sound. The Core began to pulsate a deep, organic looking Crimson in its center.

“Control medium inserted. Interface activated. Core is stable. 89% inert.” some faceless voice described.

“Decrease field locks. Subject status?” Smith said, watching very seriously.

“Psychological dampers are at full. No contamination. Vitals optimal..”

“She’s ready. Release psychological buffers and begin the descent.”

The anti-gravity suspension rings that circled Justine began to slowly lower her down towards the core. She remained placed, but Midori could see her chest tighten in fear. She looked over to Bic, who was biting her lip, also fixed on Justine, as were the rest of the Sisters.

When she was halfway down to the Core, Dr. Smith waved his hands, slowing the descent, “Status?”

“Psychological contamination has begun. 13% at this point. Absolute borderline in 5 meters. She’ll be unsalvageable beyond that point.” another anonymous voice responded. A girl’s.

“Core status?”

“Nominal. Field restrictions at last level. Exo-Ego Field interfaces online. All meta-psychological systems ready for data flash.”

“Proceed 3.5 meters,” Smith said. The rings lowered her further until Justine’s bare toes were just over the core. Midori saw her struggling to keep her eyes closed, trying to contain whatever she was experiencing.

“Absolute borderline passed. Psychological contamination at 60%. Subject’s ego deterioration is 7% below optimal but within parameters.”

“Apply buffers at quarter power. Release Exo-Ego Field containment.” Smith directed. There was a loud snapping sound, and purple plumes that looked like solid electricity snaked up from the core and wove around Justine’s toes.

“Field released. It’s locked onto the subject.”

“Charge to control medium and initiate Exo-Ego submerge.”

“Engaged.”

The purple tendrils stopped writing and phased through her feet, becoming a purple orb of viscous energy between Justine and the core. Her face showed none of the plain defiant serenity it had before. Her eyes were still shut tightly but her mouth was monstrously wide. Whatever sounds she was making were not amplified for the audience, and even Midori’s enhanced hearing couldn’t discern it over the almost musical crackling squeal of the brightening core. More purple tendrils danced up around it and slowed, hovering around the orb.

“Subject has begun integration with the Core.” Subject. They never called her by name.

Justine clutched her chest tight enough to tear skin. She was screaming, words or shrieks Midori couldn’t tell. Large screens floating around the ballroom displayed various close-ups on the core, the scientists, readouts no one could understand, but none showed any sort of detail of Justine. That wasn’t what the audience was supposed to be looking at or caring about.

“Increase submersion speed by the second factor. She’s doing just fine.” Smith said. He and the girl’s voice were the only ones who even called her “she”. That didn’t make Midori feel any better about them.

The rings moved her down faster, but she never went past the orb. Instead, she seemed to be almost disintegrating, feeding the pulsing ball of energy. More snaking electrical tentacles came up and less phased through than they seemed to hungrily begin to absorb portions of her legs, but not biologically, almost like it was transmuting her into its digital self, but it still made the skin around the points of contact bubble up. More. Midori zoomed her eyes in. The resolution was much grainier, but it seemed like tiny arms, complete with fully fingered hands were growing out of the Imoplex suit, stretching longingly towards the places of her dissolution. Midori wanted to stop watching, so she took another drink instead. Not watching was not an option. Not yet. Horror had her too transfixed. Sadness had her paralyzed. She held the bottle out to Bic, who didn't even notice it there until Midori nudged her arm with it. She apologized and took a hefty swig. Midori could see it was getting hard for her to watch.

It was getting even harder for Justine. Midori looked back and saw she was down to her hips but still alive and still in agony, even more than before. It kept going until it was up to her neck, and then she opened her eyes. They had always been unique. They didn’t affect a natural look. They were dot-matrix LCD, with a slow refresh rate, a throwback stylistic choice in the style of an old Earth LCD display. There was something so unnaturally beautiful about them. Midori had always loved them. She saw them one last time, showing the truest and unnatural digital display of brokenness and hopelessness. Midori couldn’t bear to see them like that, but they didn’t last long. Soon she was completely absorbed into the orb along with the suit. The wires which had been streaming from the back snapped and swung aside like dead weight.

“Subject dissolution complete. Control medium reads 100% retention.”

Dr. Smith took a big breath. He wasn’t smiling yet. “Close the Exo-Ego Field.”

There was a snap like tinkling, windchime thunder and a flash. The glowing orb shattered into countless sparks and sunk into the core, which began to hum and change shades to a deep, multilayered mostly opaque crimson.”

“Field closed. Control medium dived into the core. Exo-Ego integration commencing. Complete. Exo-Ego integrated at 95%.”

Dr. Smith nodded. “Operation is a success. ZIPP-0 is online.”

They applauded so much, the sound filled the whole ballroom and made Midori want to vomit. She looked to Bic, who looked back. All the composure and bemusement was gone from her face, replaced by ghastly, horrified blankness. Neither had anything to say. Midori took her hand and lead her down the stairs to the catering kiosk closest to the furthest of the ballroom's six balconies. They each grabbed a bottle of Martian wine and escaped outside while the people began to mingle and discuss the historic moment they’d both seen.

#scifi #novel #new novel #sad scifi #serial #fiction #Mars #the moon #chickens

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