#honestly the most insane thing about the halo jump is that they had to train a camera operator on how to skydive so they could shoot it ‼️

[lakecoded]

as a respected scholar on the subject what’s your top five mission impossible action setpieces 🤩

omg thank youuuuu for this. i love thinking about the action setpieces in the mission impossible movies 🥰 spoilers for the mission impossible movies below lol

it's simple compared to the other setpieces but i LOVE the prison breakout scene in ghost protocol. it has a fun dean martin song scoring it, there's a very fun ethan and benji interaction, ethan is at his most insane, the choreography is well shot. it's just a great opener for a movie!!

ROME FIAT 500 HANDCUFFED CAR CHASE YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS ‼️this is actually like 3 different car chases in one and has pom klementieff try to run them over in her massive armored truck and is the reason i want to see dead reckoning a third time in theatres <3 incredible slapstick premise taken seriously but still SO fun

another simple one but i love the footchase through london in fallout. its very fun seeing tom cruise sprinting as fast as he can on the roofs of london and cutting to henry cavill walking very calmly. the music does a lot for this scene. and i love tom cruise yelling that he's jumping out of a window in front of very confused office workers. also shockingly the setpiece that actually injured tom cruise (he broke his ankle jumping between 2 buildings)

another one from fallout and i think this is technically 2 different action setpieces but they blend together so well that i'm counting them as one. and it's the plot to break lane out of police custody + the motorcycle escape through paris. the planning scene for this is ALSO so good (again the music adds SO much to it) like i just love seeing a plan come together and then immediately fall apart. tom cruise driving against traffic at the arc de triomphe is so thrilling and the part where he crashes surprises me every single time. chef's kiss

tom cruise esai morales knife fight on top of a moving train + bridge explosion + hayley atwell and tom cruise running through vertical train cars before they collapse into the river. i don't know how to explain it any better. it absolutely rules

honorable mentions to the bathroom fight in fallout and the entire airport sequence in dead reckoning (i LOSE it every time shea wigham is like "where the fuck is HE" as you see tom cruise absolutely booking it behind him) and tom cruise hanging off the side of an airplane as it takes off in rogue nation and the OPERA SCENE and like every scene with phillip seymour hoffman in mi3 (not really action setpieces but he is SO GOOD in all of his scenes that it should count and the hospital escape in ghost protocol and and and

[wicked-mind]

The Angel and Devil on your Shoulder

Summary: One day you wake up with an angel and devil on your shoulder. And for some reason, they like to air all your feelings out to the one person you’re trying not to like. Bucky.

Word Count: 4.6k

Warnings: (+18 only. This contains sexual themes. Minors DNI and exit now.) Sexual themes. Pining. Implied sex. Swearing. I think that's it.

All Writings Masterlist

Note: This is a little different and out there but it was so much fun to write. Lucy is basically just all my dirty thoughts lol (: not beta’d. All mistakes are my own.

Any and all likes, comments, and/or reblogs are deeply appreciated (: I love that shit.

Bold for Lucy (Represents Lucifer)

Italics for Mickey (Represents Michael)

*Gifs not mine

You weren’t sure exactly when it happened. It surprised you as much as anybody. You just woke up one day to see two pocket sized creatures staring back at you on the pillow. You shrieked and threw yourself from the bed, grabbing the nearest gun you had hidden in your room and pointed at them, “What in the fuck are you?” You stammered out, breathing hard. One was what looked like a small woman dressed in a devil costume, tail and pitchfork included. The other was a small woman dressed in white with a small halo around her head. They honestly looked like cartoon characters of the sort.

“We didn’t mean to scare you.” The one in white said with a small smile, suddenly floating up in the air to float in front of you.

“Yes we did.” The devil looking one said, folding her arms with a wicked smile on her lips as she stayed laying on your pillow.

“Shut up, Lucy!”

“Make me, Mickey.”

You lowered the gun a little, wide eyes flickering between the two, “What the hell is going on?” You breathed out, wondering if you’d lost your mind.

“My apologies. I’m Mickey.” She said with a small curtsy and a smile, “That’s my sister, Lucy. We are your deities.”

“My what?” You ask confused, your brain trying to catch up with the fact that there were two tiny fairy-like people just floating in your room.

“Deities. You know, divine status.” The one named Lucy suddenly floated over and perched itself on your shoulder, “Usually humans don’t get any deities. We are pretty much reserved for gods and such.”

You looked at the small person on your shoulder before reaching a hand and flicking her off, sending her flying before she stopped midair floating and huffed at you, “Then why are you here?”

“We don’t know. We’re just your deities.”

“Well can you not be my deities?” You ask, looking back to the angelic one, “I’m not a god or a divine person so you two can just go back where you came from.”

“No can do, boss lady. You’re stuck with us.”

That is how you were introduced to your two deities. Lucy, the devil on your shoulder and Mickey, the angel on the other. You first had to make sure you weren’t going insane, calling Wanda incessantly until she came into your room with a concerned look on her face to see you pacing around. You had made Lucy and Mickey hide somewhere in the room before Wanda arrived. You paused when Wanda asked you what was wrong and looked at her, “Okay, first you can’t send me to the looney bin because I’m not crazy.” You pause, “Well maybe I am but I don’t want to go to the looney bin.”

Wanda tilts her head at you still with a confused look on her face, “No looney bin, gotcha.” She said slowly, “Now what’s going on?”

You let out a deep breathe before muttering a “come on out.” to the two deities in hiding. They slowly floated up from under the bed and floated towards Wanda who was staring at them with wide, yet confused eyes, “What are those things?”

“I don’t know, Wanda!” You say, “They just were staring at me when I woke up. They say they’re my deities.”

“I’m Mickey!” The one in white beamed, moving closer to Wanda and taking a seat on her right shoulder.

“And I’m Lucy.” The red one huffed out, floating over to Wanda’s right shoulder and kicking Mickey off Wanda’s shoulder.

Wanda stood in silence for a moment just staring at the two deities before smiling slightly, “They’re so cute!” She said before looking back to you, “Can we keep them?”

You groaned. Of course Wanda thought this was cute and not at all weird, “As much as I want to say no, I don’t have a choice. They say they’re stuck with me.” You inform, watching them float back over to you and sit themselves on either of your shoulders.

You figured out that Mickey was the parts of you that wanted to do good, be good. The part that cared and gave helpful advice while Lucy was the complete opposite. She harbored all your temptations and dirty, dark thoughts. The rest of the team figured out your secret eventually. Steve and Sam found you talking to yourself on the couch before seeing them sitting beside you asking all the questions about TV. They thought it was funny and Sam had many jokes about the angel and devil on your shoulders.The worst one was Bucky when he found out. He was a player, always having different girls up in his room almost every day of the week as well as make flirty remarks to you anytime he was in the room and that was before you had the deities. He loved the little devil on your shoulder. It got all worked up when Bucky walked in a room trying to make suggestions towards you about running your fingers through his hair or jumping his bones until your face was hot and you stormed out of the room. Luckily, you eventually figured out that you could give them orders. You once told them to leave you alone and they disappeared into thin air giving you about three hours of peace before they returned.

Now the whole team was out on a mission. Leaving you around with the person you didn’t want to be left alone with. Bucky. You were trying your best to stay away from him, especially when your deities were around. He got you so worked up which only made Lucy get worked up as well. As much as you were trying to stay away from him, there were moments where he managed to track you down. Like this morning when you were walking out of your room to head down to the training room. Bucky was walking down the hall with nothing but a towel on which made you freeze in your tracks as Lucy started fanning herself on your shoulder in a swoon, “Why are you walking on my floor with nothing but a towel on? Your room is upstairs and has it’s own shower, Barnes.” You scowled, folding your arms.

“Ah, c’mon, Y/N! Maybe if you’re nice he’ll accidentally let the towel slip.” Lucy’s words earned a smack from Mickey before she returned her arms crossed as well, mimicking your scowl.

Bucky put that signature panty-dropping grin on and came closer to you, staring down into your eyes as he towered above you, “You know, sweetheart,” He began, making Lucy giggle on your shoulder, “Maybe you should listen to your devil sometime. She’s got all the good ideas.” He finished before walking around you and to the elevator, disappearing through the doors.

“You should’ve kicked him in the shin.”

You and Mickey both look over at Lucy as she floated off your shoulder and in front of you, “What?” You ask.

“He could’ve dropped his towel if you kicked him in the shin. Then we could see the rest of him.”

You scowled at Lucy, “Shut up.” You told her before continuing on your way to the training room. You started with some weight lifting before moving onto punching the bag while Lucy and Mickey sat behind you on the ropes of the boxing ring bickering as they usually did. They both fell oddly silent and when you turned around to check on them, there was Bucky again towering over you inches away, making you jump, “Holy shit!” You gasped out, “You need a fucking bell, Barnes.” You hissed out at him for scaring you.

Bucky clicks his tongue at you, taking a step forward until you backed up against the boxing bag, a smirk growing on his lips as he had you cornered in, “Now, now Y/N. I’m not sure how your angel would feel about that kind of language.”

“I’ll allow it.”

“Mhmm…”

You leaned over to look around him, glaring at your deities before straightening back up and looking back up at him, “What do you want? I thought you were done with training this morning.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow at you, “Keeping track of my schedule, doll?” He asks, reaching out a hand to brush a strand of hair that was stuck to your lip away and tucks it behind your ear.

You scowled at him, crossing your arms across your chest, “As if. Did you forget about the towel thing already?” You sneer out. You couldn’t deny it though, his light touch to your cheek made you blush and a shiver run up your spine. Bucky was hot but to you he was also a walking cesspool from all the women he had flaunting over him. At first you had the biggest crush on him but that quickly turned to slight disgust mixed with your crush. But when he was standing over you like this, lightly sweeping away a strand of hair, your knees felt weak and your breath hitches in your throat.

“Oh I couldn’t forget the face you made when you saw me nearly naked. It was the most beautiful look I’ve ever seen.” Bucky grins down at you, taking another step closer so your bodies were almost touching and he reaches up his arms over your head to rest his hands on top of hanging punching bag, practically cornering you in, “Came to see if you needed any help.”

You stare up into those stupid, pretty blue eyes of his, biting your bottom lip at how close he is. You eventually advert your gaze from his eyes and look around him, anywhere but that hypnotizing stare, “No thanks. I’m just about done.”

“Oh booooo! You two should wrestle. That’d be hot.”

“Lucy!” Mickey began then paused, “Yeah you have a point.”

“So you’re on my side now about tall, dark, and handsome?”

“He may talk like a devil but he looks like an angel.”

Bucky grins, his eyes never leaving yours as he listened to your deities’s conversation, “Hear that, sweetheart? Even your little deities think I’m the best of both worlds.” He leans his face down, closer to yours. He was so close that he could capture your lips in a moment if he wanted to and you wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop him, “You just gotta give me a chance.”

You stared back into his eyes before moving your gaze down to his lips, watching his tongue flicker out and sweep across the bottom one lightly which cause you to let out a jagged breath. You quickly remembered who Bucky was and ducked down under his arms and away from him, “No thanks, Barnes. I’m not going to be just another girl that sneaks out of your room when you’re done.” You say, going over to the bench and picking up your water bottle and making your way out of the training area.

“Who said you’d be just another girl?” Bucky tucks his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants as he watches you go, waving to your deities as they passed him to follow you out, “And who said anything about sneaking out, darlin’? I’d let you stay all night and every night after!” He called out before you slammed the door behind you. What he said was true though, Bucky would give up all the one night stands and flirting with other women if you would just give him a chance. He honestly liked you, almost to the point where the crush had grown into being in love with you. And now that you had a little devil on your shoulder that spoke all your dirty thoughts, he knew you felt some sort of the same way. He hadn’t brought another woman home since Lucy started making remarks and he noticed you would blush and quickly exit a room. He never thought he had a chance with you, thought you disliked him. But now he had a chance.

You made your way to your bedroom, shutting the door behind you and let out a deep breath before touching your cheek where Bucky had swiped some of your hair away. It was like you could still feel his touch and it sent another shiver down your spine.

“Is she okay?” Mickey asks, tilting her head at you as she and Lucy sat on your pillow.

“I think she’s getting all warm and fuzzy.” Lucy snickered.

“Warm and Fuzzy?…. Oh!”

“Shut up.” You groan, tossing your water bottle on the bed before making your way to your bathroom and shutting the door behind you to have some alone time from your deities. You pulled off your sweaty clothes from your body before turning on the shower and stepping into the warm water. You closed your eyes and tilted your head back into the warmth, your mind immediately floating to how good you felt with Bucky so close to you. The way his words rolled off his tongue like velvet. And oh god, the way his tongue danced across his bottom lip as he stared right into your eyes. You quickly shook the thoughts from your head and scrubbed yourself clean of sweat and his touch before turning off the shower and pulling a towel around your body. You brushed out your hair in the bathroom before walking out into your bedroom, freezing when you saw Bucky sprawled across your bed talking to your deities. You gripped the towel tighter around you, your eyes wide, “What are you doing?!”

Bucky looked over to you, tilting his head as he ran his eyes up and down your body that was only covered by a towel, “You saw me in only a towel, figured it’s only fair if I saw you.” He teased, placing his arms behind the back of his head on your pillow with a grin set on his lips, “Better than I could’ve imagined, sweetheart.”

You frown a little at him, picking up a book from your desk and throwing it at him which he caught with ease. Damn super soldier reflexes. You watched Mickey and Lucy slowly float from over on the bed by Bucky to sit on your shoulders, “Well can you please go so I can get dressed?”

Bucky set the book down on your bedside table before sitting up on your bed, keeping eye contact with you with every movement he made, “I’ll go on one condition.” He smirked over at you, licking his lips again.

“I hope that one condition is to join him in the bed. Yum.”

You tilted your head to glare at Lucy who quickly made a motion to zip her lips shut before returning your gaze back to Bucky who was standing from your bed and making his way over to you. You back up until your thighs hit the edge of your desk and he’s towering over you once again, “What do you want?”

“Oh he’s close-close.”

Bucky kept walking towards you until he was almost flush against your body but left a little space between. His blue eyes pierced down into yours, the smirk never wavering from his lips, “Have dinner with me tonight, doll.” He says, reaching up a hand to brush his vibranium knuckles across your cheek, making goosebumps crawl up your skin and your knees almost buckle, “Just you and me.”

“She’s getting warm and fuzzy again.”

“Warm and fuzzy over dinner?”

“She’s probably thinking about dessert.”

You shut your eyes tightly at the words of your deities, why did they have to always speak up on what you were feeling at the most inopportune times. You opened your eyes again when you heard Bucky chuckle at their words, meeting his gaze that had been unmoving from your face, “Fine. Dinner. Just dinner.” You mumble out to him, “Now can you please go so I can get dressed?”

Bucky beams at your response, “A deals a deal.” He replied, but didn’t move away from you. He tilts his head as he gave you another look over, biting his bottom lip and scrunching his nose slightly at the sight before meeting your gaze again, “I’ll be cooking. Meet me in the kitchen at six.” He said before learning in and leaving a gentle kiss on your cheek before turning and leaving your room, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as he left your room, you walked on shaky legs over to your bed and sat on the edge with a groan. Bucky doesn’t do dinner, let alone cook dinner for the women he brings back. He’s usually on one mission when it came to women and that was to get them in and out of his room as quick as possible.

“Is she okay?”

“Shit, I’m not. Did you see him bite his lip? I almost fainted.”

“Yeah that even had me swooning a little bit.”

“I’m surprised her underwear just didn’t fall off right on the spot.”

“She isn’t wearing underwear.”

“Good point.”

“Okay! Time out!” You yell at them, glaring as your eyes flickered between the two deities. They both looked at you before disappearing into thin air, giving you some peace and quiet to process the deal you just made with Bucky. You took a deep breath, “It’s just dinner.” You tell yourself, throwing your towel into the hamper and changing into some jean shorts and your AC/DC tank. You decided it would be best to just avoid Bucky the rest of the day until dinner then you could go back to avoiding him. You tried to read to waste the time but your mind couldn’t stop drifting to the way Bucky kissed your cheek. It was soft, gentle and hesitant as if he was trying to be some sort of gentleman.

“You’ve read the same page six times.”

“I know.” You mutter out. Your deities had returned after an hour of peace and silence, but luckily they were behaving for the most part. You had another hour before you were supposed to meet Bucky in the kitchen.

“She’s thinking about Bucky.”

“Ooohhhh…. Good thinking?”

“Sexy thinking?”

“Is there a difference?”

You groaned and brought the book up to your face, hiding in the pages, “I don’t know what he’s doing. I feel like the mouse in a game of cat and mouse.”

“I’ll be his mouse any day.”

“Well, maybe he actually likes you?”

“I don’t know if he’s capable of liking anybody in that way.”

“He hasn’t brought anybody back to his bedroom since we showed up and I started airing out your dirty laundry.”

You look over at Lucy, “How do you know that?”

“He’s nice to look at. Sometimes I go stare at him.”

“He invited you to dinner. He hasn’t done that with anybody else before.”

“And he’s cooking. Hopefully naked cooking. Or nothing but an apron on, that’ll work.”

“Yeah, I know. Bucky doesn’t do dinner for his flings, let alone cook for them.” You pause for a moment, “Oh my god, is this a date?”

“Seems like a date.”

“You should put on a skimpy dress.”

You frown at Lucy, “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Nothing is wrong with what you’re wearing.” Mickey glared over at Lucy, “You wear whatever you’re comfortable in.”

“Thanks, Mickey.” You mumble out, putting the book down on your bedside table.

“I’m just trying to get you laid. Skimpy dresses work.”

You sigh, standing up and looking at yourself in the mirror, “Maybe I should put pants on instead of shorts so he isn’t eye fucking me.”

“Just more layers for him to strip off of you later.”

“I don’t think covering your legs will work. You were wearing leggings and a hoodie in the training room and he was still trying to undress you with his eyes.”

You bite onto your bottom lip as you look at yourself in the mirror. What was it about you that Bucky liked so much to where he was going to make you dinner? Ask you out on a date? Sure, he’s always made flirty comments with you but you thought that was the normal. He’s never made any towards Natasha which you thought was because she’d kill him in a moments notice but then he’s never flirted with Wanda either. You were the only one in the facility he bothered to flirt with and get all worked up. Maybe he did actually like you? And Lucy just confirmed it so now he was headstrong on asking you out?

Eventually the time came and you slowly walked out of your room and made your way to the kitchen, stopping when you see the table had been set with a nice white cloth, some candles, two wine glasses with a bottle of wine, and some bread.

“Definitely a date.” Mickey whispers in your ear.

Bucky turned from the stove to see you, a grin forming across his lips. He was wearing black jeans with a dark blue henley that seemed about two sizes too small on him, “Hey, sweetheart. Dinner’s just about ready.” He said, walking over to the table and pouring some wine into the glasses before walking over to you with one and stretching it out to you, “We are having steak, potatoes, and some salad. I hope that’s okay. You look beautiful by the way.”

You took the wine glass and nod, “That’s fine.” You say back to him before biting your lip. Beautiful in simple jean shorts and a band t-shirt? You couldn’t sense any lying in his voice and he was looking at you with soft, sincere eyes and a smile, “Thanks. You look good too.”

“Oh, steak. And wine. And candles. You know what they say about steak.”

“What?”

“When a guy buys a girl the most expensive thing on the menu, usually they expect at least a blowjob.”

“Oh. That makes no sense. Why does steak equal blowjob?”

“Oh my god.” You say, closing your eyes and pinching the bridge of your nose with your free hand, “You two. Gone. Now.” You hiss out at your deities. Once it was silent for a moment, you opened your eyes to see they had disappeared and Bucky standing there with an amused grin on his lips.

“Just so you know, doll, I don’t expect anything.” Bucky said with a grin down at you, stepping closer and gently placing a hand on your hip, “Just wanted to treat you to a nice evening.”

You bit your lip again, the same shiver running up your back as he touched your hip and you wondered if you knew what he was doing to you. You watched him for a moment before speaking, “James, is this a date?”

Bucky raises an eyebrow at your question, “You don’t have to consider it one. But I sure do.” He told you, “I’ve always wanted to ask you out, Y/N.” He said with a sincere smile before turning away and going back to the table to grab the plates and head to the stove to dish everything up.

The whole time during dinner, Bucky was nothing but a gentleman to you. He didn’t make any snide, seductive remarks. Instead he spent his time telling you about himself, answering any question you asked honestly. He asked you questions about your hobbies, which he already knew mostly everything about. He asked what books you were currently reading. You had never seen this side of Bucky and for a moment you forgot everything about him being an annoying flirt. It wasn’t until dessert that he turned on flirt back on. Bucky pulled out a slice of chocolate cake he must’ve picked up from a bakery and sat beside you, cutting a pice off with his fork before holding the it in front of your face, “Open up, sweetheart.” He told you, that grin returning to his lips.

You give him a look but opened your mouth and took the bite of chocolate cake, smiling a little, “That is so good.” You say after swallowing the bite. You bit your lip for a moment before taking the fork from him, slicing off a piece and holding it in front of him like he did for you, “Open up.” You say with a teasing smile.

Bucky grins but parts his lip, his teeth scraping slightly against the fork as you pulled it from his lips. He chewed a little before swallowing the piece and leaning a little closer to you, “Mmm. That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.” He purrs out to you.

You blush slightly at his velvety voice, “Yeah, it’s really sweet. Really good.” You reply slightly stumbling over your words, watching him lean in a little closer to you.

“I could think of something sweeter I’d like to try.” Bucky breathed out to you, his face inches from yours now. He took the fork from your hand and set it down on the table without breaking eye contact before lifting his hand to cup your cheek gently. He didn’t move closer to you though, instead scanning your face as if to ask for you permission.

You bit your bottom lip, able to smell the chocolate on his breath as well as the wine. You stared into his eyes, not moving away from his touch or away from him being so close to you. You swore you could hear your heart pounding in your ears, “Then try it.” You whisper out to him.

Within a second after your words, Bucky’s lips were on yours. It was gentle but bruising. His other hand quickly came to rest on your thigh, sneaking up until he reached your hip. He didn’t stop at one kiss, instead he kept laying sweet kisses on your lips, deepening each one until his tongue traced your bottom lip begging for entrance which you happily parted your lips for. He groaned when his tongue danced with yours, pulling you off your chair in one swift movement and onto his lap to have you straddle his waist.

You pulled away for air, not knowing when your fingers got tangled in his dark hair. You look down at him from where you sat on his lap, taking deep breathes as his eyes met yours. His hands were gripping onto your waist and he was licking his bottom lip as if to taste any remnants of your lips.

“Been thinkin’ about doin’ that forever, doll.” Bucky groaned up to you, “First time I saw you… I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about making you my girl.”

“Me too. That was hot.” Lucy said, sitting on the top of the counter with Mickey at her side.

You blushed and hid your face into Bucky’s shoulder at your deities’s words.

“Don’t stop on our account. We are just here for the show.”

“What show?”

“The show of them having hot sex on the table.”

“I don’t think we should watch that show.”

You lift your head to look over at your deities with a glare, “Go away. There will be no hot sex on the table.” You hissed out at them before watching them disappear again. You look back to Bucky who was staring up at you with an amused grin, “I meant that.”

“No sex on the table?” Bucky chuckles out, pulling your hips against his making a small gasp escape your lips, “That’s fine, darlin’. We can start in the bedroom and work our way out here.”

_____________________________________________________________

Permanent Taglist: @buckypops @bibliophilewednesday @stcrryslibrary @redhairedfeistynerd @princessnnylzays

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs “High Altitude Low Opening”

Whipped something up for you guys this morning, decided I needed to incorporate a few more of the alien races that I have mentioned in the past. Sort of based on events that happened after Color Vision, but you don’t need to have read it. 

“We can’t stop them, they are hemmed in by the mountains, guarded on all sides and they shoot down any aircraft that dares to come close with supporting troops. Before our informant was killed he managed to send us a message that the Gnar’lak have reverse engineered Finnari rocket technology and from there plan to leave the planet destroying it completely on the way out.” There was silence in the council chamber as the statement set in. All around, the grand halls echoed with the shuffling of many feet.

“Why…. what is the point of that?” 

The council turned to find the human delegation looking more than  a little confused. 

The Finnari representative sighed deeply, “Their hatred of us has been a core trait of their species for centuries. Once upon a time they fed upon our peoples life force for nourishment. We were kept as livestock to fuel their hunger until eventually escaping their control, but by that time evolution had taken it’s course. They must drain us to live, and are completely unsuited to empathy towards us, which would make consuming us that much more difficult. In essence they were designed to hate us, and now that the technology exists to sustain them, they have no real reason to stay.” He hummed thoughtfully, “Then there is, of course, their grudge against the humans.”

The human council seemed surprised, “Grudge, what grudge.”

The Finnari whistled amused “May I remind you, Commander, that once upon a time you and your crew single handedly defeated one of their greatest armies saving us from enslavement and possible extinction.”

The commander’s mouth opened in a surprised, “Oh, right. I forgot about that. I didn’t realize it had been such a heavy blow. It was one battle after all, and we only pushed them back.”

“You Killed nearly all of their mature mating females.”

“Oh….. whoops.”

He waved a hand, “No matter, the point is their population took a heavy hit and it will take decades for them to rebuild, if they recover at all. Either way they plan on destroying the planet out of spite for us and for you who sided with us.”

“Does that seem a bit of an over reaction to everyone else, or is that just me?” The commander glanced around the room for support.

“If they had a true name, Commander, I am sure the phrase “over reaction” would be in the title…. Now  the true issue is how to even bother lying siege on them. The mountains make it impenetrable, all large ground vehicles, and  low flying jets will be shot down. Not to mention that the terrain is not suited for large amounts of troops or military vehicles.”

The human Commander stood and walked forward to examine the map, “This can be delt with…. But it depends on how many of them you'd be willing to kill.” The room went very silent, and the human looked up “Guided missiles, nuclear weapons, artillery, or biological warfare. There are plenty of ways to deal with the issue, the biggest problem is that most of them will be lethal…. Likely for the entire remaining population.”

No one spoke for the longest time, until the chairwoman leaned forward in her seat, “As dire as this situation may be commander, we would rather avoid such extreme measures. Not to mention that their anti-air defences are sophisticated enough to intercept a missile and if that was nuclear you'd be affecting the entire planet.”

The man tapped his chin then paused, “How sophisticated is their system?”

“Quite radar pared with physics analysis mark objects based on speed, shape, movement and density. Anything larger than ten units, or ten pounds, traveling over 200 miles per hour, with an aerodynamic shape, and moving on a predictable vector course will be targeted.”

The commander leaned over the table eyes locked up on the map with that predatory way that humans had when thinking, almost as if he was preparing himself for a hunt, “What if an object were to hit only one of those requirements.” 

“What do you mean.”

“Say you had an unpredictable object traveling at 120 miles per hour or slower, but with a weight of up to 250 pounds?”

“How would these objects be entering the airspace?” 

“From directly above.”

“Like it was falling…..?”

The human smiled, “Exactly like that.”

The council glanced at each other, “I don’t think that would even register on Anti Air for meteorites, but commander, what sort of technology would you be using.” 

“No technology really.” The man stood, “We would be doing this the old fashioned way, and if we do it right, no one has to get hurt.”

“And what exactly is the old fashioned way.” 

“HALO.” 

***

“You aren’t serious!” Krill screeched from the small antichamber off the GA council room. The Rundi chairwoman and one representative of each council stood around the table with shocked looks on their faces.

“For fuck’s sake. Can you just be safe or FIVE MINUTES, every time I  turn my back you ahve some stupid idea….”

“This isn’t the first time that I have done it.” The man replied calmly, “It was part of my training during flight school. One involved a simulated ejection from 15,000 feet and one was a HALO certification from 35,000 feet.” 

“This is stupidity.”

“Madness.”

The room chorused with agreement, even the Drev counselor seemed put off by the idea .

“It makes sense. The high altitude is outside the Anti Air range, with minimal metal and an unpredictable landing vector, we would be unseen by their radar. If we open low it reduces the amount of time those on the ground would be able to see us all the better if we are thermally cloaked like they are. In that case we would be invisible by standards of radar and by those on the ground. We could send in troops, get in, and take over the entire encampment in a matter of hours with no bloodshed.”

“This is madness.” The Drev counselor spoke in, “When we asked for your tactical expertise commander, we hardly expected you to volunteer to throw yourself from the sky.” 

There was a muttering of agreement around the room.

“I know you humans are durable, but not even you can survive in that kind of environment.”

The human sighed and rolled his eyes, “We have been doing this for literally thousands of years. Some people do it for fun.” he growled silencing the room, “My point is humans have the perfect solution, and no one would have to get hurt,” 

At the head of the room, the Rundi chairwoman shook her head, “We can’t allow this. It is far too dangerous.”

“Did all of you miss the part where we will have parachutes?”

The room stared at him confused. 

Turns out that not one of their languages had a comparable word for the piece of technology, and the translation was less than adequate.

With a sigh the human ordered a five minute break while one of his crew members ran to get an example. WHen they came back, Commander Vir threw the backpack on the table, “Welcome to show and tell everyone, gather round, gather round. You see this.” He said tugging at the backpack’s straps, “This is what is keeping me from slamming into the ground at 120 miles per hour.”

They stared at him blankly.

“Here’s how it works.” He grabbed the backpack and looped his arms through the straps threading his legs through the harness and tightening the cords, “This harness will keep me attached to the bag while I am falling.” He hooked his thumb under a little blue clip, “This is the cord, once I pull this, the bag opens, and the chute comes out.” he had his assistant open one of the bags and began pulling the large nylon tarp across the ground. The representatives stepped back.

“The nylon is shaped in such a way that when deployed it increases air resistance and drag slowing previous 120 to 17 miles per hour.” The group murmured in surprise and he held up a hand to Krill who had opened his mouth in protest, “And before you have a conniption, the harness distributes the forces caused by the sudden deceleration. If the cord doesn't deploy the parachute when pulled, there are TWO backup cords after that. F neither of those work, you grab these tabs on the side which pull the entire back of the bag off releasing the chute inside.”

“What are the health risks.” Krill stubbornly continued.

“The bends, hypoxia, but both of those things can be dealt with. Nitrogen is released from the blood prior to jump, and pur oxygen is provided while the altitude is too high. Temperatures are mitigated with warm clothing. Honestly the biggest danger is an awkward landing and twisting your ankle. Seventeen miles an hour is pretty slow, some humans can run that fast, and coming in at a shallow angle helps for sure.”

The aliens looked on unsure and nervous staring at the human with increased awe. Many of them had almost become used to the human’s strange behaviors, but this? This was an entirely new level of insane, falling from the sky at hundreds of miles an hour on a cloudy day….. It was truly insane.

Unspeakably so.

“And where would you find people willing to do this?” The chairwoman asked tenatively.

The human smiled, and that wolfish grin was enough to cause the entire assembly chamber to squirm, “Oh, I know just the people.”

***

“Hell yeah!.” 

“WHOOP WHOOP!” 

“Let’s go kick ETs ass!” 

The plane rattled slightly coming upon a low pressure pocket. Their voices were somewhat muffled inside their oxygen masks and goggles rocking in their seats and against their harnesses. Krill and sunny stood inside the jet looking at each other in great trepidation.

Krill was so mad he had gone from ranting to enraged silence.

He refused even to speak to the Commander as he monitored their vitals.

Every time he passed by, the little doctor would slap the man in the helmet as hard as he could, which amounted to nothing more than amusement for the human. Sunny’s  feet clattered across the deck, and she wobbled a bit as she knelt in front of him behind his mask. Two eyes stared back at her today him having ditched the eyepatch for a prosthetic for obvious reasons. Behind the clear plastic surface, she watched his eyes crinkle a bit the way humans had when they were smiling, really smiling.

“I know I usually encourage your insanity, but this…. This is too much.” She muttered 

“Stop being such a mother hen.” He chided softly, “I'll be fine.” he winked with the fake eye, “I’m indestructible.

“That attitude is what worries me.” She patted his shoulder watching the amusement in his bright green eye.

A human made a gagging noise off to the side, “Get a room already you two.” Ramirez chimed in.

“Seriously if this gets any more touching I might just cry.” Maverick responded 

“True love!” Someone yelled.

“Wuv twue Wuv is what bwings us togeva today.”

The commander sat up in his seat, “Shut your trash mouths you hooligans.” 

“NEAR, FAR, WHEREVER YOU ARE, I BELIEVE THAT THE HEART WILL GO ON!” Their voices were a discordant wash of half yelling half singing all in different keys arms around each other, swaying back and forth.

The commander punched Ramirez in the arm but it didn’t stop him from singing, though eventually their voices petered away.

“Someone forgot to bring our soundtrack?”

“What soundtrack?” 

“Come on, shouldn't someone be playing Fortunate Son?” 

Commander Vir shook his head, “Fortunate son is for helicopters, just like Danger Zone is for jets.” he turned to Sunny and Krill, “The two of you better get inside.” Sunny patted him on the shoulder before reluctantly retreating behind the door. The lights in the back went dark, and the pilot came over the line, “Depressurizing.”

She felt and heard the plane rattled as the ramp hissed open peering through the little window in the door. Red light illuminated the darkness behind them casting the humans into silhouettes as they were ordered into a standing position grabbing  handles on the ceiling to keep themselves up. Sunny watched heart hammering as Adam raised a hand holding high waiting for a signal.

The lights in the back of the jet blinked green and the arm cut downwards.

The marines broke into a jog towards the end of the ramp.

She couldn't look away. At her side Krill cursed repeatedly and creatively.

The first of the marines leaped suspended for a moment framed against the cloudy sky, but a blink later and they were gone. Adam followed after the last marine stepping up to the edge of the ramp turning around to wave at sunny before pitching backwards into darkness.

***

Wind roared tugging at their clothes pressing against their faces their arms held out to the side. Breath came in short ragged gasps inside the plastic oxygen masks that cover their faces. All around them the sky was dark, nothing but the glowing hands of their altitude gages. Darkness enfolded them and the wind continued to scream as their bodies fell helplessly from the sky.

Time roared by  with with the passage of the wind, and the gage inched twaords 3,000 than passed it. They had agreed at 1,5000. The clouds broke around them, and the ground below grew closer and closer and closer. The well of the mountains rose up in their vision.

One thousand five hundred, they reached out, and chute’s exploded upwards with the flapping of wings. They waited with bated breath for Anti Air fire, but when none came, they remained silent slowly curving themselves towards the ground. A ground that was quickly approaching.

In orbit, the GA ship circled slowly watching with awe and horror the feeds sent to them by cameras on the Human’s uniforms.

***

The Gnar’lak general had been working late on his plans. The FInnari had driven them back with the help of the so called GA and were now threatening his species with extinction. Why they would side with such a disgusting primitive race continued to boggle his mind, a mind which was admittedly one track and aggressively unimaginative.

The Gnar’lak had survived for thousands of years in an almost opposite way to the humans. Where they were cognitively adaptable, the Gnark’lak had survived being straight forward and unchangeable. Where this evolution had helped them to survive in the past, when diplomacy became involved they found their species to be falling behind, a relic of a more barbaric time.

Of course this was not something they were particularly capable of seeing since their minds were not built for possibilities and philosophical debate. The Gnar’lak knew two things, survival, and that the only way to get it was the Finnari….. Well I guess he knew three things and the third was that the Finnari were nothing more than a resource to be used and farmed. It was that simple, it seemed reprehensible that a logical species would take up arms against him with a source of food.

It would be similar to aliens coming down from the sky on earth and siding with cows against humans, or at least that’s how they saw it despite the Fennari being sentient and greatly more intelligent than cows.

All of this thinking was making him angry, and with a foot he shoved open the door to walk out into the early morning sunrise.

What he found, was his entire army immobilized on the ground before his dwelling. Six humans dressed in dark gear, and holding familiar weapons stood before his door. One human had his lieutenant pinned to the ground with a boot weapon pointed at his head. Another human was busying themselves tying up another platoon of his soldiers.

One stood patiently outside his door as if waiting for him.

He stared in disbelief.

“Good morning general.” The human said baring its hideous teeth at him, “By the power invested in me, Commander Vir of the UNSC Harbinger and the GA, you are hereby detained for the callous plotting of genocide and world destruction.” 

He glanced away wondering if he could run, but a soft click and the human’s smooth voice stopped him, “I wouldn’t do that if i were you general.”

He turned his head staring at the ugly creature, “Something…. Seems familiar.”

The human simply grinned, “maybe, i've been here once before….. To assist a rebellion.” 

The general knew exactly who the human was.

And even he knew there was no chance of escape. 

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Empires on the Horizon VIII

Jason is a CEO: Part VIII

Push (should defs listen with earphones at an insane volume at 1am- i’m not talking from experience)

Here’s my masterlist for the next part and my other stuff

This is a helllllaaaaa long chapter y’all. I just couldn’t bear to cut it. Please enjoy.

push it

push it

back up on me

make me believe you want me

-Enrique Iglesias and Lil Wayne

Friday arrived with bright blue skies and an icy winter wind. Jason breathed in the crisp air, letting it flow through his lungs as he slowed to a walk. He hadn’t gone on many morning runs since, well since Luke, and he missed the quiet of the streets and the fresh smells of Bakery Avenue. His anticipation for the night was lightning crackling under his skin. They had signed the contract with Harley Davids yesterday, but today he would have to call Octavian and break the news. He didn’t want to have that conversation but being the CEO of the company meant dealing with the highs and the lows. He was buttoning his shirt when his phone dinged on the side table, so he abandoned the task, letting it fall open, and opened his messages.

Zoe: open up ;)

Jason: Like emotionally?

A knocking echoed through the apartment and he raced to open the door. Zoe stood on the other side laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes. She looked ethereal. A white dress hugged her figure and the gold jewellery hanging from her neck rivalled her glow. He just stood there watching her, enraptured in everything that she was. Finally she stopped giggling, taking deep breaths to calm herself, and looked up to see him staring.

“What?”

“You’re gorgeous.”

She smiled at that, “And you’re hilarious.”

“What are you doing here?” He grabbed her hand and pulled them together.

“I came to visit before you rushed into work. I’m off today because your lovely assistant is taking me out before tonight. I don’t have party clothes,” She scrunched her nose.

“Oh Haze didn’t tell me she was taking today off?” He frowned.

“I think she’s playing hookie.” Amusement danced on her lips.

He laughed at that, “I don’t think you’re supposed to be tell her boss­–”  He gasped, “Your hands…”

Zoe looked up at him innocently, fingers roaming distractedly on his bare torso, “My hands are what?”

“Cold,” He breathed, “Your hands are cold.”

“You don’t seem to be that upset,” She said cheekily, looking down at his rising evidence.

“Little minx!” He wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her into the house.

Her laugh was music in his ears, a song he wanted to hear on repeat. She threaded her fingers in his hair and tugged gently so he was looking up at her.

“You’re cute.”

He buried his nose into her neck as she slowly slid down his body and onto the fleece rug of his bedroom, “You’re cuter.”

“Wanna play a game?”

He raised an eyebrow, suspicious of the gleam in her eye, “What game?”

“How late can we make you for work?”

His eyes blazed, blue becoming impossibly bright, “Let’s find out.”

And then his lips were on hers, like the beginning, middle and end. She was soft and supple and melted against him in a way he had never known. A low moan dragged from his throat as she sunk her teeth into his bottom lip, and then eased the sting with a swipe of her tongue. They explored each other languidly, relishing in the feel of whatever bloomed between them. Without breaking contact they moved towards the bed and fell onto those white sheets, smiling into each other.

Jason walked into his office building with a Cheshire grin on his face and the halo of someone who had been properly–

“Mr Grace!”

He turned around to see a girl coming towards him, sneakers squeaking incessantly against the marble.

“Yes, can I help you?”

“I’m just passing on a message from Aphrodite’s Armour. Drew and Silena would like to take you up on your offer to find them a replacement for the time they’re gone.”

“Oh of course! I’ll call them immediately. And your name Miss?”

“Lacy,” She beamed, “Nice to meet you Mr Grace. I’ve heard so much about you.”

He smiled, studying the girl, who was starting to look younger and younger with every passing second. “All good things I hope?”

“Absolutely. Drew and ‘Lena talk about you all the time. They say you’re the nicest man they’ve ever met.”

“Well thank you kindly. How do you know the ladies?”

“Oh I’m Drew’s little sister. Well half-sister on my mom’s side but you know what they say, ‘the blood of the convent is thicker than the water of the womb.’ She honestly means more to me than just a sister anyway.  I’m visiting them before school goes back next week. They’re a little busy today. Two ladies, oh they were gorgeous you know,” She nodded her head vigorously, “Anyway they came into the shop about a half hour ago and they’ve been there ever since.”

Jason had a feeling he knew who it was, and a lopsided smile crept onto his face. “Thank you very much Miss Lacy. Please tell your sister and her fiancé I will get on finding them a temp as soon as possible. Do you need a ride back to the shop?”

“Oh no thank you sir, Drew’s allowed me to explore the city for a little, while they’re busy.”

“Oh,” He looked at her thoughtfully, “Well do you need a guide?”

Her eyes lit up, “Mr Grace but aren’t you so busy?”

“I am busy I’m afraid, but I was thinking of someone more your age who can show you all the cool spots.”

“Oh,” She hummed, head tilted in consideration, “Okay Mr Grace. Who is it?”

“Why don’t you come up to my office and I’ll give them a call. You can also call your sister and tell her the plan?”

“Sounds good! Do you really have candy in every office? And do you always celebrate valentine’s day by giving all your employees roses? Isn’t valentine’s day just the loveliest concept Mr Grace? A whole day dedicated to anything and everything you love. There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved. George Sand. Delightful isn’t it? And did someone really bring a pinata to work to hit whenever they were stressed? And do you always wear fancy clothes? Do you like jeans Mr Grace? Oh I have so many questions.”

And before Jason could answer any of them, she was already onto the next.

“Oh wow is that a whole room just for board games? And how come this room is green and this room is red? Why do you have a wall of hand-prints? Do you celebrate Easter by hiding eggs? You know, Mr Grace, I’ve always admired you. When Drew told me you were starting a business to help communities, I immediately wanted to use you for my project at school. I’m taking economics you know?” Her brown eyes looked up at him then, and he opened his mouth to answer her, only to be led astray.

“I want to start a dance school when I’m older. I believe dance is the movement of the soul. Isn’t that the most lovey thing you’ve ever heard? When you dance your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It is to enjoy each step along the way. Wayne Dyer said that. Dancing is a bit like life isn’t it? In that funny way that it’s not about the end it’s about the moments, the journey.”

“Indeed Miss Lacy.” He nodded at her, thinking about the words.

“Wow Mr Grace,” Her eyes were wide as she took in his office, “This is beautiful. I don’t know how anyone can be unhappy when you have a view like this.”

“It’s certainly difficult,” His lips twitched as she walked around the room; dragging her fingers across the white couch and studying the bookshelf opposite with trinkets from his travels and various books, both fiction and non.

He sat down at his desk and quickly called who he needed to before handing the phone to Lacy to call Drew. When that was done, she went back to looking at his things.

“Books are mirrors; you only see in them what you already have inside you. That’s from The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon. Do you like to read Mr Grace?”

“Yes, do you?”

She nodded, then shook her head, then scrunched her nose and flopped down on the couch. “I love the idea of reading, you know the cup of tea, and the rain, and getting lost in a completely different world, but whenever I sit down to actually do it– I just can’t seem to get past a couple sentences before my brain is thinking about something else. Silena, oh I adore her Mr Grace. She’s just the nicest lady and she’s so patient with me even when I ask her a million questions, I’m so glad I get to call her my sister-in-law. Anyway she tried to sit down with me and read but I just couldn’t do it. Even Uncle Charles has tried, and you know he has all the patience in the world, but I think after twenty minutes even he was starting to lose it. So you see I think there may be something wrong in my brain.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you.” He gave her a small smile.

She sat up suddenly and looked directly at him, “You don’t?”

“Not at all. Some people can sit down and read for hours and some people can’t, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them.”

“Even if they’re like me and they want to read?”

“Even then,” His smile was wider now, “Have you tried audiobooks?”

“No?” Her cheeks were flushed with excitement as she hung off the edge of the couch in anticipation.

“A narrator reads the books and you just have to listen to them. Like how people told you stories when you were younger.”

“So you mean I can listen to them and do other things at the same time? Like dance? Or draw? Or schoolwork?”

“That’s exactly it. People listen to audiobooks on the train, in the car, when they’re exercising.”

“Mr Grace!” She jumped up and slammed into him, “Oh you truly are the most wonderful man! I am so glad I met you. To think if I hadn’t, I’d be suffering forevermore.”

“I’m glad I could help,” He laughed, returning her hug. “And look here are your personal tour guides now.”

In walked Jake Mason and Kayla Knowles, two of the students in a school he funded and some of the brightest kids he’d ever met.

“Oh wow, I love your hair!” Lacy exclaimed, pointing at the green streaks in Kayla’s bright red locks.

“And your shoes are to die for!” Kayla squealed, pointing at Lacy’s sneakers, decked in paint splatters and writing over every inch of the canvas.

Jake Mason, a usually shy person immediately gravitated towards Lacy’s bubbly aura and in a matter of moments the three were chattering away.

“Alright little ones, I’ve got work to do. Don’t get into too much trouble and if you need anything you call me okay.”

“Sure Mr Grace.” Came the chorus of replies and then the young teens were bounding out of his office and into their adventure.

Jason on the other hand had a less than ideal quest to complete, and traitorous Hazel had ditched him for a shopping spree. He had a good mind to hide her stash of chocolate as payback.

He took a deep breath and dialled the number to Titan Industries.

“Titan Industries, Mr O’s assistant, how can I help you?”

“Hello sir, it’s Jason Grace from Anemoi Empire. Could you put me through to him please?”

“Just a moment.”

And then he heard a click and the oily voice of Octavian crackled through the phone.

“Ah Mr Grace, I was expecting a call.”

“Octavian, I hope you are well. I’m just calling to say we won’t be contracting with you. It has been a,” He swallowed, forcing the next words out, “A pleasure, but we have found someone who better suits our interests.”

“Well,” the sharpness is a knife Jason can feel resting on his cheek, “I certainly didn’t expect this. I hope you know what you’re doing Grace.”

“Yes Octavian. Again thank you for your patience and I wish you all the best for the future.”

“Goodbye Grace.” Was the icy reply and then his phone beeped with the end dial-tone.

He rubbed a finger across his brow and took a deep, steadying breath. At least that’s over. Now to finish up some admin and get out of here. He had friends waiting for him.

***

“Jason!” Zoe squealed, crashing into him.

“Hello my stella,” He hugged her and then pulled her back to stare, devour.

A soft-cream satin dress draped over her, like it felt privileged to be there. It cut off at mid-thigh and left you no choice but to drag your eyes down till you were met with the ribbon straps of her matching shoes. She had taken out her braids, and her hair, tightly coiled, was now cropped closely to her head. She looked unbelievable and he told her as much.

“You ready to go?”

“Hell yes! I want to meet your friends.”

“I’m glad you’re excited. I’m sure you’re going to hear embarrassing stories about me all night.”

She grinned at him, “All the better.”

They arrived at Trepsichore, or Treps to the locals, where the lively sound of chatter and music were already weaving through the atmosphere. The gang had started coming to this place the day it opened, and they still haven’t found a better club; although they could be biased since it was owned by Connor Stoll, a good friend of theirs.

“Oh Leo, I am leaving you for Jason’s lady.” Annabeth Chase stood up from her stool and walked around to greet them.

Zoe laughed, and embraced the blonde, “Jason would it be rude if I agreed. You won’t take offence, will you?”

He feigned hurt, pouting at them and pulling Leo towards him, “I think they’re dumping us Firefly. Wanna get married? At least we won’t break each other’s hearts.”

“I’m down buddy, anything for you.” Leo cupped his cheek and brought their faces together.

“Didn’t we promise we’d never do this again?”

“Yes but that was before our girlfriends decided to leave us for each other.”

“Are we interrupting something?” Hazel Levesque giggled, as she and Frank saddled up to their table.

“Annabeth and Zoe are leaving us for each other,” Leo sighed.

“Oh yes I do agree. Frank darling you wouldn’t mind, would you?”

Frank gave her a sordid smile, “Please leave me, wouldn’t mind a bit.”

“Oh gods we’re going to be all alone because our girlfriends love each other more than us.” Jason groaned, looking between his friends.

Annabeth swung her arm over Zoe’s shoulder and grabbed Hazel’s hand, “It was inevitable; you can’t expect me to give up my chance with someone who looks like they could murder me and kiss me with the same degree of passion.”

“Hello, hello everyone!” Reyna waved, tugging Percy behind her.

“Hello babe,” Hazel kissed her cheek, and hugged her counterpart.

Everyone took their turns saying hello and just as they were settling in the last of the group made their way to the table.

“Di Angelo,” Leo spotted them first.

“Sorry we’re late everyone. School meetings ran a bit overtime.”

“Is that code for you two were fooling around in the supply closet again?” Jason teased.

Nico blushed a bright red and Will laughed.

“We aren’t teenagers anymore Grace.” Black eyes narrowed at him.

“Oh to be that young and free again,” Leo sighed, flinging a hand over his forehead.

“What on earth was going on before we got here?” Percy asked, motioning between them.

“Annabeth and Hazel are leaving us for Zoe,” Frank said, rolling his eyes teasingly.

Reyna pouted. “You guys started a girl gang without me?”

“It’s more like a cult if you ask me,” Leo mumbled.

“A sapphic group is the preferred term,” Zoe interjected.

“GAY!” Nico grinned at them.

“Well that’s not a surprise to anyone.” Annabeth laughed, “And of course you’re part of it Reyna. These boys can form their own group if they want.”

“How is it six against four and we’re still losing?” Percy mused.

“It always happens like this.” Leo flashed him a look, “Their badassery outweighs us ten to one every time.”

“And don’t you forget it Valdez.” They all chorused.

The night went much the same way, ribbing at each other, reminiscing, telling embarrassing stories. Jason couldn’t help but stare at his friends, at these people who he loved with every part of him. They all burst into laughter at something Nico said, and he felt his soul bloom, felt his lungs expand, and his heart grow to the point of pain. Besides his sister he did not have any family so to have found one, chosen one, was a feeling he wanted to immortalize in his bloodstream, let it be the magic that sparks the stardust in his veins.

“You ready to dance pretty boys?” Reyna smirked, grabbing Zoe’s hand and sashaying to the floor.

Leo’s excitement was infectious, “Coming? My Latino ass needs to move.”

Frank started saying no almost immediately and Nico firmly agreed but Will insisted they at least hang around on the side of the bar closest to the floor. Jason followed the rest of them to where the life of the club was thrumming between writhing bodies. A bass boosted version of Push by Enrique Iglesias started playing and the roar that went up was deafening. Annabeth grabbed Hazel, Zoe and Reyna and started dancing– grinding on each other and body rolling. Their hair was wild, their cheeks flushed, and their bodies moving to every beat. Jason stared at Zoe, her head thrown back as she grabbed Reyna’s ass and pulled it flush against her. He realised with jarring clarity that he was starting to fall for her, fall deeply, exhilaratingly.

Before he could think on it, Percy grabbed his hand and pulled them together. Those green eyes, bright with laughter and alcohol, looked into his as they matched each other hip for hip, step for step. That swimmer’s body rolled into him and he laughed, gripping the man’s hips and swaying them.

Percy grabbed his neck, half whispering half shouting into his skin, “You got moves, white boy.”

“Years of spending time with Leo.” His lips brushed against his dance partner’s ear.

Percy’s smile was wicked as he turned around and pressed his ass up against Jason’s front. Their friends hollered, pretending to throw money and wolf whistling as they writhed against each other. Gods Jason loved to dance. The strobe lights flashed across his vision as his eyes fluttered. The music raced through his blood, setting everything on fire. He could live in this feeling. Liminal space.

When the song transitioned to the next Zoe pulled him away and they had their own session. Mostly it involved being pushed up against the wall and devouring each other. He really shouldn’t have had this much tequila, but Hazel’s puppy-dog eyes were impossible to say no to.

“Seeing you and Percy was hot as fuck.” Zoe breathed, chest heaving.

“You enjoyed it?” He smirked, grabbing her hips and flipping their positions so she was against the rough brick. He marvelled at the difference between her and Luke. Luke who would have been angry, jealous, hateful; who would have dragged them home and lectured him about it. He banishes those thoughts. Tonight was about having fun, about celebration, about the goddess in front of him.

“Hell yes! And your friends are pretty cool.”

“I think they like you better than me.”

“Well I like you better than them,” She winked.

“Good to know,” His smirk was delicious, “Now, where were we?”

“As lovely as this is, I really need to go to the bathroom before I burst.”

He laughed into her, and let her go, watching as she murmured something to the girls before they all traipsed off.

“They seem to get on,” Nico observed, nodding as they disappeared behind the doors.

“I’m glad. I knew they would, but there’s always that little seed of doubt, you know?”

“Yea,” His friend nodded, floppy black hair falling into his eyes, “She’s great. We all love her.”

“I think me too.” He confessed.

“Really?” Nico peered at him then, trying to gage something under the streaking lights, “Since when?”

“Since a couple hours ago maybe,” He laughed, “I don’t know. It may just be the tequila talking.”

“Alcohol doesn’t create feelings, just amplifies what’s already there.”

Before he could reply a heart-stopping scream sounded from the far side of the club, near the bathrooms. He flashed a look at his friend and then they were both sprinting towards the source where a crowd was forming. He pushed his way to the front and nearly hurled as he took in the scene.

There lying on the floor in a growing pool of blood was Zoe Nightshade.

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

I’M SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME?!?!??!?!

Tags (if you want to be added to/ taken off the tag list just let me know, all my channels of communication are open):

@lesbian-peanuts​

@leydiangelo​​

@queen-of-demons-and-hell​

@msdrpreist​

@sparkythunderstorm​

@nishlicious-01​

@lucyisblue​

[coolingdownanddrawing]

IM BEING EATEN ALIVE BY DRAGON QUEST 9 

I picked it back up because the idea of randomizing my party entirely  to draw withand then playing through the game hit and one thing lead to another and im 2 of 7 of the devil fruit and have traveled the entire world trying to get all the locations i can zoom listed

I am definitely going to sketch more of my party and celestian in the future

here is some ideas about my party for anyone interested

palesa

Palesa’s hair is permanently blue do to a alchemy accident in college, palesa claims she had it from birth and its proof of her strong magic

Palesa went to school as a child/teen in the swinedimples academy and loves the idea of one day teaching magic at the school so she intends to learn as much magic as possible to help her future students thrive , my plan is for her to go into all the magic slinging classes (if i dont go nuts at max level everyone in every class pray i keep my sanity and dont) 

Palesa talks like she’s practicing talking to children and knows their smart, not tending to listen to brandys requests/leadership becouse she knows whats she’s doing better then a minstrel, after coffinwell and learning about her celestrian origin palesa is more open to listening, though she’ll put her foot down to stupid ideas and requests (NO IM USING THE BANG SPELL TO FISH USE A FISHINGROD LIKE A NORMAL PERSON)

Terrance

Terrance was sick for most of his child and teen years and when the earthquake hit it gave him the motivation to move out of coffinwell  and see the world before life decided to end him, he left just before the contagion got there and was horrified to learn about it when he got back, he’s taken up martial arts to push his body back into shape and make sure he can defend himself with or without a weapon, he’s very tense and awkward with new things that makes him come off as short even if he’s never outright rude- by coffinwell standards anyway

Terrance always feels like he has to prove he’s not a drag on the group, and will disappear into the moods when camping and come back with insane amounts of fire wood and would go beyond reason in combat, not really having the experience to keep a ear open for his parties warnings or leadership attempts, once the whole fiasco with his hometown he starts getting better

Bala

Bala was  once a dancer in gleeba before deciding upon the last rulers death to move away and see the world outside her desert island, she likes trying out the fashions and food of everywhere she goes, she use to climb the trees in the palace gardens and make silly faces at the guards with her friends she’s never been inside the palace before even though its open to visitors, she’s always been to busy and intimated by all the guards

Bala has a lot of experience following a cue and working with new people and improvisation and bonds pretty quick with brandy over their shared class at the time, so she’s honestly the best out of the team in combat at first

Brandy

 brandy is our resident fallen celestian who funnily enough has enthralled metal slimes unintentionally many times, perhaps its the shine of her sword, either way she has made one her companion, it’s name is Birdy

she is not handling the loss of her wings and halo very well, she never fully gets use to the change in balance and the fact she cant just fly over gaps or soften her falls, nor see the sky from the air without the screaming of a train engine, sometimes she feels creeped out when people notice her wandering around and jumps when people yell at her for messing with things that she doesnt own or just standing and staring at people silently as they do things 

[isabellakristen]

Alarms | Chatzy

Summary: Edward finally gets back from his night at Oswald’s, to see what Isabella’s been up to in his absence Trigger warnings: Emotional abuse, imprisonment, torture-lite (defined as being a torture method that is less severe than physical torture, such as noise bombardment) Written by: @riddle-me-that and @isabellakristen​

Riddler: It was a long night before Edward had finally reached Oswald and he had been exhausted the moment he got there. Initially, he wanted to spend a good few hours with the Penguin just to cool off. However when he had a look at the streets again – the chaos had only gotten worse since he got there and it was much safer to just stay put with Oswald until daybreak. Eddie didn't expect to rest as long as he had, sleeping in past noon. A good, long rest. He couldn't remember the last time he slept like that, but it had to have been before Arkham.

Walking into his safehouse now, he closed the door slowly, as if he was afraid to make too much of a sound before sliding the couple of locks in place. He would be fine here. It wasn't like he could stay with Oswald forever... not when he had Isabella to deal with. He checked the time and felt himself cringe. It was well into the afternoon by now which gave her way too much free time. She could have left and he would have never known. The Riddler rushed to his screens and turned them all on, glancing at every room until he found her comfortably curled up on the couch. At least she's still there. A small part of him was glad she wasn't out in the chaos, but he convinced himself that it was simply the game he was concerned about. Not her.

She looked lovely. Her hair fluffed out like it had been air-dried, his shirt was large on her swallowing her body in it, like she was still attempting to hide herself from him. The first thing he did was remotely shut off her television, interrupting her movie.

"Hello, Isabella." He spoke into the mic. "Did you miss me?"

Isabella: Simply showering and feeling clean again had done Isabella wonders. She felt human again, and as she sat on the couch, settling down to watch a mindless movie with a cup of tea, she felt at peace. She knew it would be short-lived, and the price of her afternoon of freedom would be steep, but she honestly didn't care. It was still wonderful. She felt relaxed and content. And she was luckier than most, wasn't she? She was at home, comfortable and safe, and completely alone. It was difficult not to think of her friends, but she kept her gaze on the TV screen and tuned out the real world, getting lost in the movie while she still could.

She'd been watching it for maybe about 45 minutes when the screen went black. Isabella was quietly grateful that Edward had chosen to turn off the TV before addressing her, because it wasn't as much of a shock, and she didn't jump when he spoke. She had been waiting for this. And she wasn't afraid.

Her hair felt soft and hung like a halo around her head, and his shirt was cotton and gentle against her skin. Just cleansing herself, and spending some alone, without the heaviness of his gaze on her, had revitalised her. She felt strong again, in a way that she hadn't done since all of this had started, days ago.

"Hello, Edward," she replied, bluntly, looking up at the ceiling. "Long time no hear." The question was pointless, and she completely ignored it. He knew the answer. Instead, she calmly picked up her phone and raised it up a little, showing it to him with a smile. It felt so good to smile again. "Did you enjoy your night with Oswald? I've had a wonderful day. Do you know, I actually showered? It's amazing, the things you can achieve when you're not being stalked."

Riddler: He immediately felt irked at her statement. She had been talking to Oswald, that or she just assumed that was where he went. Still, the way she made it sound got on Ed's every nerve. "I'm not stalking you." He clarified, "We're playing a game... and you have yet to make your move." He said. "I don't understand why you haven't showered since we started. In Arkham there are showers, but you see... Guards are posted outside of the doors and come in only when they hear something unusual. They aren't posted inside the shower room." He hinted. "Perhaps you should have done your research." He hoped that would make her feel stupid.

With that, he pulled away from the mic and looked her over on the screen. She had smiled, she seemed content – that couldn't be allowed. He tried to think of a suitable punishment for Isabella. Something that would ruin her mood and hurt her. He needed to break her down emotionally.

[text: UNKNOWN]: What's a good punishment, do you think? [text: UNKNOWN]: You didn't follow our schedule.

Isabella: "Stalking," Isabella replied, calmly. "Harassing or pursuing someone with unwanted attention." She shrugged. "I would say that definition applies, but I suppose we're going to have to agree to disagree." Her heart was pounding, and she put her phone down on the couch beside her and clasped her hands together tightly in her lap. She kept her gaze on the ceiling as he spoke, and the realisation that there wasn't a camera in the bathroom crept up on her slowly.

Oh. He hadn't been watching the bathroom. She hadn't even thought that there might be some rooms he wasn't monitoring. She'd just assumed he would be watching every room in the apartment. Why hadn't she considered the possibility that he wasn't? Of course there weren't guards inside the showers at Arkham. Unless he was lying? Maybe he wanted her to think there wasn't a camera in there, so he could watch her unimpeded? Oh, this was ridiculous. It was impossible to know if he was tricking her, and she felt her carefully built control slip slightly. Just like he wanted.

She didn't know what to say, but kept her face impassive, and stayed completely still. He wanted to embarrass her. That was obvious. Luckily, she was saved from having to respond when her phone buzzed, and she opened it immediately. Edward apparently didn't think she was worth wasting breath on, so he'd returned to texting.

She stared down at the messages, and her stomach flipped. But she couldn't panic. Logically, she knew that he wouldn't kill her this early in the game, and she doubted he would physically harm her either. That would mean paying much closer attention to her, when he obviously wanted to take breaks from guard duty. She was safe. Besides, she couldn't give him the satisfaction of making her panic.

Ignoring the slight nausea she felt at his question, she looked back up to the ceiling. "I didn't follow it because you weren't here to enforce it," she said. "I'm not going to dig my own grave, Edward. I'm sure you're clever enough to come up with something suitably awful." Her voice was steady and cold, but inside, she felt the fear rising again, and she ignored it.

Riddler: She was right. He hadn't been there to enforce it. "Stupid, stupid." He muttered to himself and hit his head a couple of time with his hand before hiding his face in them for a moment. He shouldn't have left. No matter how cramped and how insane he was beginning to feel. Leaving her meant losing the respect he had spent so long building back up with her. It meant having to break her down all over again. He was weak last night, letting her crying get the better of him. He was weak for not staying with her through the day and night like he usually did. Taking time off? That was stupid and it wasn't happening again.

"It's okay, Eddie. We can pull this back." He whispered to himself, looking back at the monitors. She looked a little afraid at least, when he had mentioned a punishment. He sighed to himself. He had always hated the injections. He hated it when they felt he was acting up too much that he needed to be forcibly held down and given something to 'take the ease off'. There was the shock therapy of course, as well. But these were physical actions and he only had a mental presence of himself to work with.

Then again... She was terrified of loud noises. She jumped at the alarms he set, she was scared of cars and trains because of how Oswald had murdered her.

"Okay." He said to himself. "Let's see how you like this..." He reached over and set up an alarm, one that would just keep going. One that wouldn't shut off without him doing it manually and pressed it. The alarm sounding in her apartment, just a little louder than normal. It rang in every room. Blaring non-stop.

Isabella: The silence dragged, and Isabella knew that he must be thinking about his next move. She closed her eyes, and stayed absolutely still, and told herself that it would be fine. Edward couldn't harm her. She could feel him thinking it over, considering his options, trying to decide what would be a fitting punishment for her crime. She could just picture him, sitting at some desk, in the dark. In her head, he was in a warehouse in the pitch black, lit up only by the light of his monitors, the artificial light flashing off his glasses, making him look sickly and pale. It was a stupid idea – she knew that it was impractical for him to sit in the darkness, and terribly cliché – but she couldn't imagine him any other way.

And then the alarm started.

As much as Isabella had been trying to prepare, and she'd half expected something like this, it was still startling. She flinched, and opened her eyes, staring at the wall. It was shrill and loud and non-stop. It rang and rang, and she knew he wasn't going to turn it off. It blared out into every room. It had only been going for a few seconds, and already it was grating on her nerves, wearing down her composure, burrowing into her brain through her ears, echoing through her head.

She covered her ears and shouted at him over the sound of it, hoping that he hadn't muted her, so he couldn't have to hear the alarm himself. "Okay, Edward! You've made your point!" Pressing her hands against her ears helped, and quietened it a little, but she knew that it wouldn’t be enough, in the long term. Even with her hands blocking it out slightly, the alarm still rang inside her skull. On and on and on. It was merciless. She kept her eyes tightly shut, and hunched over slightly in her seat. "You can turn it off now!"

Riddler: It was only a few seconds before she started yelling at him and he knew from that that it was working. It was getting to her. He had to gain her respect back somehow and this was the easiest way of doing it. With all the chaos going on outside, it wasn't like the alarm – if someone heard it – would be cared about by anyone other than the woman living in the apartment it was blaring from. She was yelling to turn it off, and Edward clicked the mute button to give himself a little silence.

[text: UNKNOWN]: What did you say? I can't hear you over the alarm! Wow, is that ever loud.

He texted her, letting out a small chuckle to himself. Beginning to feel a little better about taking the time off. He shouldn't have, of course... but at least he knew it was easy to get to her. He would have her respect back soon, it was only a matter of time. He made himself comfortable in his chair and turned on the television for a little background noise. The news, so he wouldn't miss Joker's capture. The capture that was bound to happen at some point. The entire bat-cast were active and on the streets right now. It would only be a matter of time before Batman caught the Joker.

Then again... Batman was acting a little strange when he saw him. It lifted Ed's spirits to hear that he needed his help. Just saying that made it clear that Batman did respect Ed's genius. The only problem was that he encountered a "Batman" just before. And who was to say that this wasn't just Superman dressing up, or someone else filling in. Someone needed to do it. Batman's words rung in his head. Was the man he encountered really Batman? Did he really respect him enough to ask for his help.

To offer him the game of his life? For a moment, he was lost in his own thoughts. Staring at the woman he used to love in the monitors. He could be helping Batman but he had to babysit her. He couldn't lose any more of her respect. She needed to understand what it was like for him.

Isabella: Ever since her train crash, Isabella had hated loud noises. She flinched at speeding cars, and jumped at sudden sounds, and always kept her TV and music slightly quieter than average. Being woken up by an alarm every morning, since being trapped here, had been bad enough, but this was awful. It was deafening, and her head was already starting to hurt a little.

After the calming shower, and a whole morning of silence, and quiet TV, she felt so much more sensitive. Her brain ached and the alarm kept going and going and going. She screwed her eyes shut and tried to think, but she was noticing tiny things about the alarm. The way there was a beat to it, like a heartbeat, like a drill, worming its way into her head. The way it looped, almost melodically, over and over. One ring faded into the next and into the next and into the next. It was shrill and constant and she couldn't think.

Her phone vibrated beside her, and she looked down at it. Her hands were pressed against her ears, trying to muffle the sound, but it hardly helped. She picked up her phone with one hand, and the noise became more ear-splitting without the cover of her hand. His text was so mocking, so cruel, that she wanted to scream in frustration. Oh, he was enjoying this. Of course he was.

She texted back furiously, trying to focus on her anger instead of the sound, ringing and ringing and ringing.

[text: UNKNOWN]: Turn it off, Edward. You've made your point. [text: UNKNOWN]: I get it. You're angry because you left me unsupervised. [text: UNKNOWN]: Stop punishing me for your mistake.

She dropped the phone immediately, but left it open, so she would be able to see his reply, and covered her ears again, trying to block out the incessant noise. Maybe she could find some headphones? They would be more sound-cancelling than just her hands. And, if she buried her head under several pillows, she could drown it out. But she didn't want to break so quickly. Maybe he would stop it before she had to resort to that.

Riddler: He read her texts. Stop punishing me for your mistake. He read and frowned to himself. It was his mistake, but he was the guard, not the prisoner. She was the one who always had to bear the consequences. That was how it worked, wasn't it? She said she got it, but she was still trying to tell him what to do. He couldn't turn it off when she asked him to. It would give her a sense of power, and this was a delicate game. She had to feel completely powerless the whole time. That was the real point of the game.

[text: UNKNOWN]: You know, I'm trying to turn it off right now! But it might be stuck. [text: UNKNOWN]: I think I recall seeing some earplugs in your drawer next to your bed. [text: UNKNOWN]: You should check there, that might help!

Ed looked over at his desk where he had placed the small box of confiscated items from her house. Inside of it were the earplugs he was talking about. But he wanted to see her get up and try to look for them. He wanted the frustration that came with realizing there was pretty much nothing concrete that would help cancel the sound of the alarm. Edward could force whatever cruel punishment he felt like against her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She could beg all she wanted but she was a patient now at Nygma's Asylum. She was his new toy to play with... and his to break.

Isabella: Edward replied almost immediately, and Isabella stared down at his messages, and felt a sinking sort of horror in the pit of her stomach. He was lying, of course. He was playing with her. It was all a game to him. She couldn't think. The alarm was relentless. So loud and constant and piercing. She was pressing her palms so hard against her ears that she could feel the cartilage digging into her hands, but it wasn't making a difference. On and on and on. Her neck ached. Her head hurt. And, even though she knew he was lying, she knew that there wouldn't be any earplugs in her drawer, she had to check. Just in case. In case there was there was the slimmest chance for a scrap of mercy, a tiny act of compassion.

Besides, if she did what he told her, maybe he would be satisfied. Maybe, if she just looked for the obviously non-existent earplugs, he would see that she was willing to do what he said. She walked to her bedroom with her phone in one hand, still covering her ears tightly, pressing the phone against her left ear. She bent down beside her bedside drawer, trying to steel herself for what she knew she would see. And she opened it.

She'd known they wouldn't be there. Of course, he had taken anything that might give her relief. But it was still heart-rending to see the empty drawer, and Isabella felt something rise inside her throat, like a sob or a gasp or a scream, but she couldn't break. Had it even been ten minutes of relentless, nonstop, ear-piercing, noise? How long was he going to do this? People went mad from constant sound, didn't they? Was he going to drive her insane? Was he going to deafen her? She couldn't think, she couldn't focus, she couldn't hear anything except that alarm. Blaring and blaring. It rang through her skull and burrowed right into her core.

In an effort to get some peace, she walked over to her bed and covered her head with her pillows, pressing them against her head. No choice but to bear it. On and on. Screeching. Hurting. No choice. He would stop soon. He had to stop soon. She pulled the duvet over her head as well, and it muffled the sound ever so slightly. But it was inside her skull. Inside her head. After a few seconds of hiding, she texted him again, using one hand to keep her pillows against her ear.

[text: UNKNOWN]: Very funny.

She typed a text but didn't send it. Eddie, please. I can't stand it. That sounded so weak, so pathetic and broken, and she couldn't give him that satisfaction. She wouldn't grovel. It hadn't been an hour yet. Maybe she would feel differently after an hour of this headache-inducing onslaught of noise. But, right now, she wouldn't break.

[text: UNKNOWN]: Is there ANYTHING I can do to make it stop?

Riddler: He watched her walk into her bedroom. She opened the drawer, with nothing in it and unlike what he expected – didn't make a sound. He wanted her to yell, or to clearly be frustrated to the camera. Maybe she did without physically indicating it, but he wouldn't know. He had muted her because the sound was annoying to him as well. There was never an alarm that went off forever in Arkham, but there was always the screams of the insane. Every day, every night... constant screaming or laughing. Constant noise. He was treating her with a worse version of that. One she couldn't simply get used to.

She curled up under the covers and under the pillows. Trying to burrow herself in them to help ease the noise. He remembered doing the same from time to time with his much thinner blanket and cheaper pillows. He wasn't expecting to get another text from her, but his phone vibrated and he looked down at it.

[text: UNKNOWN]: I thought so.

He replied to her text, calling his little prank funny and he grinned a little to himself. There was something about this conversation, them being sarcastic to one another that reminded him of a simpler time. They used to fight like this when they were together. It was a lot more light-hearted than before.

There was a pause and then he received another one from her. Asking what she could do. Ed blinked in interest and looked back at her monitor. She was actually playing now. She wasn't just waiting for him to stop like usual. She was asking for an order. Asking if there was something she could do. He perked up a little as he thought about one. He missed making her think...

[text: UNKNOWN]: Actually, there is something you could do. [text: UNKNOWN]: You would have to get out of bed for it.  [text: UNKNOWN]: Could you tell me a riddle I've never heard before?

Isabella: Isabella tried to relax as she lay in bed, under her duvet, but it was impossible. She felt like she was under attack. The sound – the constant sound – made her tense up automatically, and her muscles locked and her head felt like it was burning. The alarm had been so consistent now, ringing and ringing and ringing its high-pitched trill, that it felt like a part of her brain. It was like being beaten. It hurt to think. It hurt to do anything. Even covering her head with her pillow, trying to quieten the din, she felt like she was under fire. But she couldn't cry. She couldn't break down. Not yet.

Yet. Because she knew she would. If he kept this up for hours, it would wear her down. Isabella could practically feel the urge to beg him, to plead for him to stop this, right on the tip of her tongue. But she couldn't give in. She had to hold on, for as long as she could, until her mind started to fail her. She could still think, for now. Her brain ached, but she could still think. So, for as long as she could, she would bear this.

She didn't think he was going to reply. There was nothing she could do to stop this. He would keep blasting the sound until she burst into tears. Maybe he wouldn't even stop then. He wanted her to feel powerless, helpless, trapped. He wanted her to pay for her whole day of freedom. But then her phone buzzed again, and she stared at his messages, unable to believe what she was seeing. There was a way to stop this. He was giving her a way out.

But her skull was ringing with noise and she was desperately trying to focus on anything but the constant loop of the alarm. How could she write a riddle? How could she piece together something that the Riddler himself had never heard? It was impossible. Not like this. She wanted to tell him that she couldn't do it. But he wanted her to play, didn't he? Hadn't he called this a game? And he'd accused her of not making her move yet. She'd allowed herself to fall into the role of his victim immediately, without really fighting back, except for ignoring him. But now was her chance to. Now, she could prove to him that she could do this.

[text: UNKNOWN]: Fine.

Without anything more to say, Isabella took her head out from under the pillows. Her ears hurt, and her brain felt like it was being crushed, and the alarm was ringing and ringing. But she had to focus. She had to focus on this. It was her chance. So, she walked into the kitchen, carrying her phone with her, and picked a pad of paper and a pen from the counter. She sat down at the table, placing her phone on it, and stared at the blank page.

She knew, immediately, what she wanted the answer to be, and she wrote it down in the centre of the paper, hunching over it to shield it from him. And she started to mind map, frowning a little, writing frantically, desperately pulling synonyms and antonyms and adjectives from her aching head. She didn't think about Edward, and she tried to ignore the alarm, though it was almost impossible. But she had to do this. She had to prove herself to him.

Riddler: He wasn't expecting the woman to actually agree to his nearly impossible task. He had asked her to create a riddle he hadn't heard before, even under these conditions. The alarm blaring so loud, he doubted she could really think all that much... sure, he could do something like this pretty easily. But her whole life wasn't about the thrill of puzzles. He could pull a riddle out of thin air, she on the other hand had only been writing them since they started their first game about a year ago.

He watched as she got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. Getting her things together and setting up at the table, he was curious about the way she was going about it. It looked like a brainstorm but he couldn't read anything on the page with her bending over it, and also how far the camera was from her. He wanted to see her expression. The way her her eyebrows used to furrow and her lips would pull into a frown. It was always so clear to him when she was thinking. She didn't chew the end of her pen like he did, but she did had small habits besides her expression that could indicate she was deep in thought so he was focused on those. Her body language would change ever so slightly, so he was watching for that. Any slight indication that she was deep in thought was enough for Ed.

He missed her like this. The whole game and all she was doing so far was taking what he was throwing at her. She wasn't fighting back. She wasn't playing until now. And his heart nearly skipped a beat. He was excited that she was playing. Happy that she was finally using that beautiful brain of hers. He used to love her because she was intelligent and she wasn't showing him that the entire time she was trapped in there. Ed smiled slightly to himself, his eyes still glued to the monitor as she worked out her riddle for him.

Isabella: It was difficult to think. Isabella frowned, and stared down at the scribbled words, trying to link them together in some intelligent way. She had a small cluster of synonyms in one corner of the page, and she tapped the end of her pen on her lips and looked up, staring into space.

She knew that she couldn't beat Edward. There was no way she would be able to write something that he wouldn't be able to solve. But she'd consider this a triumph if she could even give him pause. If he took more than ten seconds to answer, then she would be proud of herself. Besides, he hadn’t asked her to write something he couldn’t solve. He’d asked her to write something he’d never heard before.

And there was a small, stupid, part of her that wanted to impress him, wasn't there? As ridiculous as that was, she wanted to impress him.

The alarm was deafening, and her head hurt. She stared at the wall, her mind spinning dizzyingly. One line rolled over and over in her head, a line from a document. Oh of course. Article One. While she still had, before it slipped away, she wrote it down quickly, and tried to drown out the sound of the agonising alarm by focusing on the words. The faster she was, the faster the noise would stop. But her brain was pounding inside her skull, and she kept getting distracted and losing her train of thought.

She scrawled down two lines, and then tore her gaze away from the paper again, to stare into the middle distance, biting the inside of her cheek. The slight tingling in her mouth, that should have been pain, distracted her from her headache, and from the incessant alarm.

She was determined to show off, so she bent over her paper again and wrote and rewrote several versions of the penultimate line, crossing some words out, replacing others. Was it ever like this for him? she wondered. Was it this difficult, this intellectually stimulating, this challenging? She'd wondered that before, when they had played their game almost a year ago. And this reminded her of that, in a way. Now, she was aching, and tired, and furious with him.

But when was the last time she'd thought this hard? When was the last time she'd tried? She felt more alive than she had done since becoming Edward's prisoner. As if writing this riddle, trying to play his game, trying to impress him, was waking her up again.

With the last line written, Isabella sat back and picked up the paper in one hand, chewing her lip pensively. It certainly wasn't her best, but it got the point across. With her free hand, she texted him quickly, not giving herself a moment to consider or doubt or change anything. The quicker she got this sent, the quicker he would shut off the awful alarm. It was deafening, and she just wanted it to stop.

[text: UNKNOWN]: I’m priceless when taken, and invisible when you have me. I can be seen in an open door, an unwatched room, a key. According to the U.N.G.A., all humans are born with me. What am I?

Riddler: It was a pleasure to watch her think again, to watch as she scribbled on the paper, eliminated words by scratching them out.... She had clearly a vision for the riddle. She probably wanted it to be as difficult for him, well- as difficult as she could make it under the amount of pressure she was under. The constant blaring of the alarm in her ears as she wrote. He felt a small feeling in his chest. A tiny sense of pride that she could do this under all the pressure he was putting her under. She was so determined, and god was it ever nice to see her finally playing with him. Ed watched her closely, waiting for her to send him the riddle.

When she did, he found the answer incredibly obvious but that wasn't the task he had set for her. He wanted her to write a riddle for him. That was all he asked from her. So, immediately, keeping his word. He reached over and shut off the alarm before sending her his answer.

[text: UNKNOWN]: Freedom.

Of course it was freedom, what else could it be? It could have been anything but she related it to the situation. He sighed. At least she was playing. He had to keep her playing somehow. He wanted her to take a turn on him, too. He couldn't just keep hitting her, as if she was a punching bag. She needed to hit him back. It wasn't any fun if she wasn't fighting back... It wasn't a game if it wasn't two players... He sighed to himself wondering how he should go about triggering her attack on him. He was hoping for a mental attack, a challenge of sorts.

[text: UNKNOWN]: If you want your freedom, fine. You're free to leave.

He sent, waiting for her reaction impatiently.

Isabella: Without warning, the alarm shut off, and Isabella didn't even try to hide her relief. She breathed out and visibly relaxed. The silence was unbelievable. The alarm was still ringing in her head, but she already felt more at ease, without the constant sound. He had kept to his word, and she was a little surprised. It was a very small act of kindness, but it was still an act of kindness. Then again, Edward had always been a victim of his rules. If he promised to turn the alarm off when she finished the riddle, then it would have odd for him not to do so.

Her phone vibrated, and she wasn't remotely surprised to see him nonchalantly answer it. Of course he'd got it. She hadn't checked to see if he'd taken more than 10 seconds – she'd been too distracted by the wonderful silence – but at least he hadn't used the mic. At least he'd let her have her silence. And he hadn't answered immediately, so she considered it a triumph. She sighed to herself, and looked up at the ceiling. "I know, it was cliche. But what did you expect?" And she felt such a wave of tiredness that she wanted to just lie her head on the table and close her eyes. He'd turned the alarm off, but how much longer would he keep her? When was he going to do something?

As if he'd read her mind, her phone buzzed again, and she stared at the message in disbelief. Was it a trick? Was it another test? Maybe there was a loop hole? He wanted her to leave, but only for a few hours. But she knew Edward. If he wanted her to have a time limit, surely he would have told her outright? Unless he wanted to play with her? And then, just like that, it clicked. He wanted her to play. He'd said he was happy to see her trying, in his text. And he was giving her her freedom so she could make her move against him. It was so like him, so moody and childish, that she felt suddenly endeared to him. He just wanted attention.

Isabella immediately pushed that thought away. It wasn't endearing. It was tragic. He wanted her to leave? He wanted to stop his turn, and give her hers? Well, he had no idea who he was dealing with. She stood up quickly, scraping her chair back, and picked up her phone. "I'm going to assume it's my turn, then," she said, coldly. "I'm going to leave for the rest of the day. I trust that you will have removed the cameras and microphones by the time I return tonight."

There was a pause, and she knew Edward was eagerly waiting to see what she'd do. So, she smiled hatefully up at the ceiling. He had given her a chance to get him back, and she was actually excited. Besides using her freedom to see her family and friends, she would hunt him down like a dog. "En garde, Eddie," she said. Then, without daring to ask if this was some sort of trap, she headed for the door.