#how the FUCK is a new system to enter data into gonna help make me feel like i BELONG

[sporadicfrogs]

god I fucking hate corporate buzzword bullshit

[isuspectyouhavefantheories]

The Crossroads to the Sun 🌞

Takemura/Female V

Rated: M for mature themes and explicit content NSFW 18s only

Trigger Warnings: Themes of death, suicide, gallows humour

Part 1 of ???? “The Sun Series”

Link to part two :

https://isuspectyouhavefantheories.tumblr.com/post/641314624666468353/search-for-the-sun

Will eventually be posted on my AO3 account when I get this beta’d. 🤟

———

She had decided she wanted to be away from night city when she pulled the plug. If anything, she wanted it to end under the blanket of the starry skies, part of her hoping they would guide her into the next world safely. Driving through the neon jungle felt like a technicolor funeral procession. Or perhaps a walk to the gallows? She was thankful she still had most of her senses as she pulled herself from her morbid reverie just in time to avoid a badly placed bollard on a sharp turn straight down the road heading towards the city limits. She swore under her breath but continued. The pain was dull, but festering in her mind, less so than before, but enough to keep reminding her of the internal ticking clock that was getting louder with each passing hour as it neared to zero. She breathed deeply though her nose and steeled herself. But more doubts began to drift through her, like a slick fog encircling her mind she thought of all the people she would be leaving behind and hoped they wouldn’t hate her after tonight.

Goro’s name flashed up on her biomon and it took her a minute to register. She nearly rear ended a truck at a traffic light before finally answering.

“Yes?”

“Where are you?” His voice was gruff, demanding and her eyebrow crinkled in irritation.

“What’s it to you?”

“Let me help you V. Just take the deal with Hanako, we make this right and you get back your life. If I were you, I would not waste the chance.”

“You mean you get back your life.” She spat, Takemura went quiet on the other end for a moment, his eyes flinching at her tone. “Don’t try and pretend this is concern for my well-being and as far as making this right goes... You really still think you and Arasaka can fix this? Goro I know when I’m beat. Nobody can fix this. I’m done for and it’s time I just fucking faced facts and made my peace. I’m done. I’m calling it.” She hadn’t realised how hard she was gripping the steering wheel until she felt the alloy begin to crunch lightly under her guerrilla cybernetics.

There was a long pause and she thought for a moment he had hung up until she heard the shuffling of erratic, hurried movement on the other end.

“Where are you V?” He demanded, his voice was direct, to the point, no room for nonsense, no room for anything but answers.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve left a data chip with Misty. It contains all the relevant evidence, via brain dance, you need to get the vindication you so desperately require.”

“V, tell me where you are right now. ” It was sharp this time.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help more. Goodbye, Goro. It was a pleasure to have known you.” She hung up and looked down at her phone, closing her eyes a moment only to be jolted by Takemura calling again. She took a deep breath before turning it off and throwing it in the passenger seat and popping into third gear as she trolled though the gates past the city limits to security. She was quickly flagged through with little bother from security. They seemed more interested in what was coming into the city that what was going out.

It took her an hour to get to where she needed to go. The edge of the badlands. The final touch stone before she headed further in, back to all she ever knew. Just another busted down prewar gas station covered in sand, nature already claiming back its land. She parked her car outside and managed to pry open the front door after digging some accumulated sand from the way.

—————

She woke to the whistling of the desert storm on the shutters, the dilapidated old outpost rocked shakily. She almost felt as if she was in the belly of a ship at sea being pulverised, to and fro, by an onslaught or roaring waves.

She sat up, listening to them a while, until eventually the weather died down to a gentle lulling breeze. She stepped outside for a moment and thanked whatever powers that were out there that the sky was clear enough to see the moon and a dim scattering of stars. She climbed from her make shift cot and stepped outside.

“Still think you made the right call? Those Saka assholes might have fixed you up all nice.” Johnny flashed back into her peripheral vision, sitting on a bench under a busted canopy with his guitar slung across his lap.

“I dunno. I guess we’ll see.”

“Val.”

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

“They were just going to extract you and dump me the moment it suited them. What, you think I was just gonna put my head in a hungry lions mouth and just hope everything would just sort itself out? For all I know they would have just cut me open the minute they got me up there. I’d rather die out here, on some dusty ass terra firma in the wastes than lose my mind up in some space prison.” She flipped out Evelyn’s cigarette case, only three left in place making her sigh before pulling out one and lighting it up.

Johnny groaned at the sensation of the nicotine flooding her system from her first drag. It had been a while since she’d allowed herself such little pleasures, but for the first time in months she wasn’t on deaths door, bringing death so someone else’s door or trying to kidnap an heiress, so exceptions can be made.

“Weather out here huh? Never notice it in the city but, fuck. Mother nature sure is a feisty broad.”

“You have no idea.” She chuckled.

“Pretty good we got here before the worst of of the storm hit earlier. I would not want to be the sorry sack of shit that had to drive through that.” Johnny chuckled.

—————————

It was about 5am, sun already shining and blistering the ground, she had scavenged a few things from the outpost to keep her and Johnny going long enough to get to the Aldecaldos

Or just long enough. The thought of kicking it just before saying goodbye to Panam and Saul and the others churned uncomfortably down into the pit of her stomach but she attempted to occupy her mind, busying herself with prep work and repairs on her gear. She was going to try at least.

Before she could think of the next task, Johnny materialised again, already on edge.

“Someone’s coming.”

“Raffen? Cops? Arasaka?”

“Can’t be sure. I’d get ready if I were you.” He was gone again, and all she could think to do was get back to the gas station and ready herself for the visitors.

A Herra Outlaw that looked as if the chemical desert had taken a shit on it, genuinely one of the most out of place thing she had ever seen in the badlands and that was saying something, pulled up with a soft screech as the brakes engaged and the engine shuttered off. The pop of the car door made her grip her baseball bat tighter as she edged closer to the door, so as to be on the hidden side when it opened.

The door flung open, nearly ramming her in the face had she not hugged the wall so closely, she held her breath as a darkened figure entered the room, but the rasping baritone that filled the air made her freeze.

“V?” Takemura’s voice cut through her and all she could do was stare in disbelief.

“What the fuck?”

He whipped around like lightening, his wild searching gaze landed on her and his eyebrows all but flew up into his hairline and his eyes widened in disbelief but seemed to relax after a moment, a wave of relief washing over his features as of up until this moment he had been in a panic.

It was all a blur, he pulled the rusted metal door closed, nearly wrenching the door off its screeching hinges before his arms suddenly reached for her. He pulled her forcefully into his chest into an embrace that should have shattered her spine with the implants this man had. The newly back online ones, she noted.

She scrunched her eyebrows incredulously at him when he pulled away, his fingers tracing down the length of her arms until they still rested on her shoulders as he continued to look at her as if he was afraid the moment he took his eyes off her she would disappear into thin air.

“What are you doing here?” She breathed, still struggling for air after the uncharacteristic ribsplitting hug.

He looked down now, almost sheepish in his manner but he did not waiver when he returned his gaze to her.

“Stopping you from making a foolish choice.”

She sighed deeply.

“And since when do you have any right to tell me what I can and can’t do?”

“I do not. But I can try at least to make you see reason.” He wasn’t budging, she wasn’t budging.

“Goro...” she pinched the bridge of her nose and temple in an attempt to quell the newly forming tension migraine.

“You could have your life back. You would be good as new, Arasaka would ensure it if you testify at the board meeting. Arasaka always rewards loyalty.”

“I know that’s some rhetoric you’ve been spoonfed your whole life but unfortunately I have a very different opinion on the subject of ‘who Arasaka serves’ and it most certainly isn’t people who have a history of stealing from them.” She dead panned, making Goro groan.

“If you would just listen to me you would know that is not the case. Hanako-sama has extended this life like to you V do not waste it.”

“I’ve been listening. And watching. From the very start. I’ve seen them from an angle you have yet to even comprehend and part of me fears even then you wouldn’t see the truth.”

“They are-.”

“Only in this for themselves. I won’t argue with you about this, there is nothing you can say that will change my mind. I’m not selling my souls to the fucking devil, man, I’m sorry but that’s how this situation feels to me. I know there is nothing anyone can do for me, not you, not Arasaka, not Hellman, not even Alt fucking Cunningham’s AI ghost from beyond the Blackwall knows how to undo this so fuck this. I refuse to spend the last days of my life scrambling for answers only to whither away to nothin and die anyway. I’m leaving this hellhole on my own fucking terms. So just let it go. Just forget about me and go back to your cushty little life as Arasaka’s cheerleader or body guard or whatever the fuck it is you do.”

She couldn’t remember how, but during the course of their verbal spat, he had pushed her against the adjacent wall from the door and upon hearing her retorts he snarled in frustration and slammed his hand into the wall beside her head, denting the already disintegrating plaster, sending a cloud of dust in the air around them. The pluming cloud fluttered and caught the small rays of morning light seeping through the crags and cracks in the windows and walls of the abandoned gas station. She managed to push him off with a forceful shove only to have him lunge back to her. His martial arts clashed with her own brand of badlands fist fighting. She was flexible, contorting her body out of his reach before rounding on him with a left hook followed by a hasty jab aimed for his face. Unfortunately, he had reach, countering her wild strikes with a wave of his arm and tugging her to him. She lifted her knee between them to vault herself from his grasp but lost her footing at the end and it took only a single low sweeping kick to her other leg that sent her off kilter, but Goro followed her to the ground where he pinned again, this time on the floor with both her hands above her in each of his. She struggled against his vice grip, twisting and squirming beneath him to roll him off but he refused to be moved barely even flinching as she thrashed beneath him, awaiting her to finally stop. She roared in frustration but refused to give up. If she couldn’t knock him with her strength then she could knock him with her words.

“Hanako knew!” She spat at him, the intensity of her glare ripping though him.

“Knew what?” He asked with narrowed eyes.

“She knew it was Yorinobu who murdered her father. She knew you were telling the truth, that you were being framed and she still let you go down. Then guess what the kicker here is?” She laughed bitterly. “Saburo’s not even dead. He’s being kept as an engram, he’s been planning something with Hanako this whole time and they were going to let you go down regardless!! They were going to discard you, who served them faithfully your whole life, for their own fucking agenda. So tell me, why you think for one fucking second that they will actually help me?” Takemura was quiet, his hold on her waining enough for her to flip them, her hands balled into his shirt begging him to look at her but it was as if something had been shattered in him. They both were panting from their verbal and martial exchange, but they were far from done.

He suddenly reached up, his hand cupping her cheek gently, tracing the cybernetics of her face with the tips of his fingers before pulling her down to him without warning, his lips finally met hers in a heated kiss.

She gasped into his mouth, giving him the chance to shove his tongue in to explore her. He didn’t know when he would get the chance, if he ever would again after this. But she had yet to bite his face off so he took that as a good sign. In fact she had nearly gone limp from the shock of his sudden advance. He pulled away slowly, his face still inches from hers but his eyes bored into hers with a renewed intensity.

She pulled her hand from his now loosened grip and reached down gently and placed a delicate hand on his cheek, only for him to lean into it with closed eyes. He pressed his own hand over hers and took a deep calming breath.

“Goro, look at me.”

His eyes opened again, staring down at her with so much hope yet one word from her could shatter him into a thousand shards. And fate was a cruel mistress.

“I’m going home.” He looked down at that, his brow tugged in an unreadable expression but she chased after his gaze and held his chin so he had no choice but to stare wordlessly at her.

“I’m going home. To the people I love. To say goodbye. And maybe... maybe, for once in my life just try to do some good in this world, not for eddies or cred or some fucking illusion of grandeur, but just to do something worthwhile. I want have something real. Before I... before I can’t anymore.” She stroked his cheekbone with the back of her knuckle. “I don’t expect you to understand. But it isn’t up for debate.” Not what he had wanted to hear, but the finality in her words left him no room to argue. And so he was then left to stare down the inevitable horribleness of a world with no V.

He rested his face in the crook of her neck, her soft sun kissed skin, slick with sweat from the desert heat.

“Then let me have this at least.” He whispered against her, causing her to shiver under the weight of his words.

He returned his lips to hers, an even more energised passion driving his need and to his surprise she returned it, hands cupping his face gently. She then pushed him back down on his back and dove back to his lips. He began unbuttoning and loosening her clothes as fast as his hands could allow him. He pulled off her tank top and stopped a moment to admire her perky little breasts before pulling her back to him and lavishing her chest adoringly with bites and kisses that made her mewl against him.

“You have been taunting me since the day we met. Not wearing anything but that tight blue netrunner suit.” He growled against her chest, biting at the underside of her breast, his eyes primal and burning hers with an unspoken need to be closer.

“I’m a net runner you gonk, ah-!” He bit a little harsher around her nipple at the comment but lapped at it gently afterwards. “I-it was for practicality’s sake.” She shivered against him.

“It was to torture me.” He chuckled.

He lifted them suddenly, his hands under her thighs again as he deposited her on a near by countertop, her legs wrapping around his hips as he ground himself desperately into her while trailing his lips from her ear lobe to her jugular and back before biting then tugging sharply causing her to yelp softly.

“Maybe a little.” She gasped, casting him a delighted grin which elicited a growl from deep within his chest. He leisurely ran his hands along the hem of her jeans, tugging at them slightly before slipping his hand down underneath to grab a handful of her ass, squeezing it appreciatively before moaning at how soft and pliant her skin was under the extra sensitive touch of his cybernetic hands. He allowed himself to become lost in her for a moment. Mapping her every contour in his mind, committing each breathless sound that fell from her lips to memory, savouring her sweet breath on his tongue and wondering if he would ever again taste something so perfect as her. He felt her pull away lightly, a few centimetres from his face to gasp for a breath and still his lips chased hers. It was as if she could read his mind sometimes, she was looking at him with those confounding purple eyes, her smile faltering as if she could see how banefully torn he was.

“This won’t change anything.” She whispered sadly against his lips .

His brow creased under the weight of his anguish, another growl, not so carnal as before but instead a roar of frustration and he attacked her body with a new found, punishing fervour. He pulled her up effortlessly once again and threw her into the cot, her body’s weight caused the springs to groan and he had managed to discard his shirt fully, then turned to her. She was now only in her underwear, her golden skin glistened in the low orange morning haze. Her body was lithe yet athletic, her skin tantalisingly smooth to the touch yet disturbed by stray scars scattered about her person. Her years of fighting for her survival in this hellscape had shaped her and moulded her into this picturesque model of strength and beauty. He kneeled before her, nipping his way down her navel to the hem of her panties that he then quickly slid off in one fluid motion. He dove between her legs, basking in the sweet gasps she made as he drove her wild with his tongue. Her hands twisted and twined themselves into his ebony and silver locks, pulling his bun loose to let his hair cascade down his shoulders, grazing her nails over his scalp delicately. He introduced a single finger to her and pumped deeply inside her yet at a controlled pace, eliciting another quivering gasp that made him smile against her.

“Goro...” the way her breathless lips formed around his name drove something in him. She was able to bring out the strangest and most wonderful of feelings in him.

He was sure from her cries she was nearing her climax and before she could taste the sweet precipice of her release, he rose up to kiss her. Her taste on his lips had a lewd yet arousing effect on her, but her climax, once so tantalisingly close was now receding and the heat biting and curling in her abdomen made her squirm against him. She pulled away after a moment and gasped a quick breath.

“You ass.” He pressed his face into her neck again and she felt the rumble of his chuckling. He continued to kiss her neck and his hands pinched and rolled her nipples in a torturously teasing manner. She writhed under him, a mewling mess.

“Stop teasing me.” She pleaded, her own hands cupping either side of his face to pull him from his ministrations on her neck that she was almost certain would be bruised to absolute fuck in the morning.

He nudged her legs to open and she obliged eagarly.

He teased her entrance lightly running his tip up and down coating himself in her essence before sliding steadily inside of her. He had to stop half way and swallowed a guttural moan. She was so tight. Like a warm vice pulling him further inside her and dragging him impossibly closer to her. Her legs had wrapped around his hips, her thighs quivering around his girth. He took another moment to make some experimental, shallow thrusts and groaned once more at how deliciously slick she was.

“Oh... V...” his forehead pressed against hers and his grip around her hips tightened.

“Don’t.... stop...” she was barely above a whisper, which made Goro want nothing more than for her to be louder.

He took this as his moment to flip her onto her stomach against the cot.

His right hand held both her arms behind her back, folded and solidly trapped there. His left hand was holding her hip, dragging down to guide her over his girth once again. He rather enjoyed the view of her at this angle, he was so lost in the way she bounced against him, the feeling of her walls rubbing so exquisitely against his length, that he was sure he wouldn’t last long. The thought of having their tryst cut so short however did not appeal to him, the feeling of being fully encased by her was so unequivocally amazing he never wanted it to stop, so he forced himself to slow down to a languid yet laborious pace, favouring drawn out leisurely strokes.

“Jesus Christ...” she gasped, arching her back in a way that made him want to go back to pounding her within an inch of her life but he was controlled, no foolish young man driven by a cardinal need, but a mature and tentative lover who wanted to make his partner see the stars before this was over.

He reached around, dragging his hands from the underside of her bellybutton to glide along her ribs, up and over her breast, giving it an appreciative squeeze before cradling her throat gently and turning her head to look back at him as much as she could in the position which granted wasn’t much. He leaned forward, still thrusting inside her at a restrained pace, and ravaged her neck, suckling the flesh at the junction of her shoulder and neck before trailing his bites to the underside of her jaw, then to her ear where he nibbled her lobe gently.

“Tell me what you want.” He breathed against her, the lewd sound of their bodies meeting in their primal dance and the soft gushes of wind rattling the shutters were all she could hear above their own crescendo of panting and haggard moans.

“Don’t... be a dick...” she gasped, earning her a sharp smack on her ass cheek.

“Tell me.” He thrust inside her, harder but not hard enough to satisfy her fully, leaving her trembling for more.

“Ah... fuck! Please...” she breathed, trying to shove her own hips back into his for more friction but his hand migrated back to her hips, a solid anchor, preventing her from getting her way.

“That’s not what I asked you.” She could hear the underlying cockiness in his tone and it pissed her off almost immediately.

How could this man illicit such polarising reactions from her, she thought. One moment she wanted him to bend her over a desk, the next she wanted to snap him in two. But the sentiment remained, she wanted him.

“Please... Goro... fuck me... harder...” he hummed in satisfaction and released her arms from his vice grip.

“Then I suggest you hold onto something.” He had leaned forward his lips against her ear, the vibrations of his bassy timbre tickled her in an irresistibly tantalising way.

But her inward musings came to a hault when he began his unforgiving pace, she could feel him hitting her cervix with every thrust and she cried out, hands barely holding on to the edge of the cot as her body rocked against the force of his hips.

His hand came down to tease her slit, circling her sensitive nub in a maddeningly delicious way that caused more mewls to erupt from her lips.

Goro stared down at her, enraptured by every twist and twitch she made. Her arching back defining her musculature and he’d be lying if he was doing any better than her right now. He was holding on for dear life, dragging this out for as long as he possibly could. But eventually, the warmth and curling in his abdomen could not be ignored and he quickened his circling around her clit to drive her to her end. She screamed softly into her hand as her release rolled over her in wave after wave, his continuing thrusts helping her ride out her climax to its fullest. He followed her soon after, nearly collapsing on her, his forehead resting between her shoulder blades as he struggled to regain his breathing. She recovered before Goro and pulled him further onto the cot where they crumbled into it. He curled around her, his arms pulling her flush against him as he savoured the feeling of her skin on his. He pressed his nose and lips to the top of her head, inhaling her scent deeply, attempting to sear these details into his mind for a later date. He tried his best to keep his eyes open, but she began to stroke his chest in a soothing circle, and before he knew it he was out like a light.

——————

He woke with a jolt, the room now completely darkened by the night and a sudden anxiety disquieted his mind. He reached for where V had been but his hand grabbed nothing but empty space.

“V?” He called, sitting up and listening for anything, then scanning the area. He could see from his thermal scan she had been gone from his side for nearly two hours.

He pulled himself up, dressing quickly and wrenching the front door open to see that her Thorton was gone, whatever tracks that were left had been swallowed by the desert wind and he stood in silence.

“This isn’t going to change anything.” Her words echoed in his mind and he clenched his hands into fists, a slight shake evident from his barely controlled emotions on the cusp of breaking through to the surface.

“They were going to discard you, who served them faithfully your whole life, for their own fucking agenda.”

He tried to quell his anger, his hurt, his inescapable feeling of betrayal. He fought to keep his composure but the memory of her touch was seared into his mind and body yet it did nothing but only make him ache to have her back in his arms. He would never feel that again, never experience that intense, intrinsic connection to another human being. The thought did nothing to disquiet his mind. Eventually he broke and turned to punch his hand nearly completely though the wall of the garage as he breathed in ragged and strangled chokes. Unshed tears burned in his eyes and he wrenched his arm back to completely break through the wall altogether with the force of his strike. He didn’t stop. He pummelled the wall until his cybernetics were scuffed and cracked. Warning signs flashed in his peripheral vision but he ignored them, slumping to the ground he cradled his head in his hands and roared in futility. He stayed there a moment, still, quiet and thoughtful. He raised his head with a thud against the nearly dilapidated wall and he looked off into the distance. On one path, the further reaches of the badlands, down another was the fluorescent and blinding lights of Night City, beaconing him back with a curled finger.

And not just night city, but the ominous red looming glow of Arasaka Headquarters illuminating the night and further banishing the stars. The only life he had ever known was within Arasaka’s ranks. All he had ever been was a vassal, a loyal one at that. Traded his life and limbs for them. Let them carve him into an instrument of their empire from the moment they had deigned to elevate him from the slums, only after he had skinned his fingers to the near bone scrubbing his clothes in the chemical sickened canals. He had given Arasaka his life.

Yet Hanako knew he was innocent. Not only her but Saburo, his lord tono, his idol. He had known. It stung him to his nucleus, like nothing ever had. He was stilled, inaction gripping him to his core. He found his gaze always defecting back to the badlands. To her lands. He didn’t make a choice so much as follow an instinct.

He rose from his seated position and opened the door to his car, looking back at Night City one last time, not saying goodbye to the city, but farewell to all the possibilities it held. They were not meant for him. A defiant grin stretched over his lips before a determination set in his eyes, looking back to the badlands. He dove into the front seat and revved the engine before backing out to the edge of the main road and quickly pivoting into position then tearing out onto the dusty highway, sending a plume of dust in his wake as he made for the badlands, his spirit lightened and rejuvenated. He undid his top shirt buttons, ripping off the front Arasaka logo to his cybernetic neck plates and throwing it with a quick flick out the car window, then looking down at the Arasaka patch logo on his arm which he also tore from his jacket then sent it too flying out the window. With each metre he put between him and the city, the younger he felt.

“I’m coming V.” He whispered under his breath as he pressed harder on the gas.

[persephonesinfernos]

you’re in my veins, you fuck | oneshot.

summary: college!bucky barnes.

pairing: bucky barnes x reader.

word count: 2315.

wanings: angst, light smut, cheating, swearing.

author’s note: italics are flashbacks.

masterlist.

They first met when (Y/N) was doing voluntary work in the college’s shelter, she did love animals and it would look good in her CV once she finished college. Being a vet was something she’s dreaming to do since she was a little girl.

He, on the other side, was there just to get something good done to able to continue in the football team. His coach has made him clear, if he did not keep his grades up and did something good, beneficial for the community as he put in words, he could kiss goodbye to the football team and therefore, his scholarship.

She did not like him, he had a reputation around college. Typical football guy, arrogant and a heartbreaker. Yeah, she couldn’t stand that. Mostly everyone on the football team was like that, thinking they were above everybody else. Like football was the most important thing in the world and as they were the players, they were entitled to do whatever the fuck they want whenever they want.

When he stepped in the shelter she couldn’t keep a straight face, disgust was written all over her features. He was handsome, breathtaking even. Muscular, blue-grey eyes that could burn holes in your soul and that brown hair. But he was nothing more, everybody knew he had a way with the ladies and guys. Using them as he pleased. Something easy for him it appeared, but not capable of loving or keep an emotional bond with anyone.

She was his supervisor during the weeks he’ll be working, of course, she would. Just her damn luck. She talked to him just the necessary keeping a cold and distant façade. He did not anything wrong, he seemed interested in the work they were doing for the animals and did not mistreat her in any way, but it didn’t matter to her.

Slowly, she started to warm up to him. He got something the dogs love, always revolving around him and he, well, he seemed excited every day to be around them. Petting them, taking good care of them. And everyone in her social circle knew she was lost when a guy was good with animals.

So she decided to give him a chance and started to know him. She also began to notice the little things about him too, how his eyes would light up when a puppy went running towards him or when she happened to be near him. She learnt that the scholarship was the only way he was able to attend college and he did it only to have a future so he could help his family but he hated studying.

She learnt he was very clever but lazy, so when terms were approaching she helped him study. Long nights studying and he bringing her coffee and her favourite pastries. Sometimes he would even get Chinese or Mexican take-away, her favourites. She understood that when he closed his eyes running his hands through his face, he was lost in the data and needed a break. She would then just closed the books and talk to him about everything and nothing.

They grew closer and closer, spending more time together. And she fell, fell hard. She realized this has happened when one day at the shelter, Bucky arrived running like crazy and took her in his arms spinning her around. Soft giggles escaping her mouth.

“I did it! I passed this stupid econ test. And it is all thanks to you (Y/N)” He said softly cupping her hand while smiling brightly at her.

She looked down blushing and biting her lower lip. He sighed and lift her chin “You’re gonna be the death of me doll, you know?”

The next thing she knew was they were kissing. And she realized she has fallen for the stupid football guy. She loved him.

That was their start and from that moment everything seemed fine. They started dating shortly after their first kiss. The news spread around campus, (Y/N) became the target of many things among jealousy and bitching comments about how Bucky would end up dumping her in a few weeks. He was a player after all.

But Bucky proved everyone wrong, their relationship was only getting stronger as her love for him. Well, if anyone asked she was lost, she did not know how to describe it. And for her, there lied the beauty of it. Love was crazy, love did not make sense and she did not make sense when Bucky was around her.

She had a few boyfriends in the past, but nothing compared to Bucky or the feelings he woke up on her. (Y/N) was sure that he was her other half, it was clear to anyone in their social circles truth be told.

(Y/N) knew Bucky was in her system and even if what the future held for them was nothing, he would always be in her. She was sure about it.

However, sometimes, the spell of love breaks leaving nothing but anger and sadness. And (Y/N) was not able to run away from it when happened.

Bucky’s team had won the championship and of course, there was a party going on to celebrate. She was late to it but needed to be there as soon of possible, she had promised him.

But Nat, one of her dearest friends, being the little shit she was made her go for a few drinks earlier with the excuse she needed to get loose.

So when finally she arrived at where the party was held she was already tipsy. Not tipsy, drunk. So drunk that her head was already hurting.

Her eyes searched the place for Bucky but he was nowhere to be found. Letting a groan she approached his best friend, Steve. He was nervous when he saw her but put a good face, smiling to her and telling her he didn’t have a clue about Bucky’s whereabouts.

She smiled suspiciously at him and turned around in search for him. Nat was long gone, probably doing shots.

Searching the area she almost gave up but something caught her eye when she was heading to the bathroom. In a dark room, there was a girl, one of those bitches that made comments about Bucky cheating on her and dumping her. She was giggling while whispering things to someone.

Suddenly she started moaning, a guy between her legs. She couldn’t tear her eyes from them, a dreading sensation forming in her chest the more she kept looking.

When she reached her orgasm the guy got up kissing all her body slowly until their lips joined together. That was the moment the bitch opened her eyes and find hers, an evil smirk forming in her lips as the guy kissed her neck and then she moaned it, loudly enough so she could hear it “Bucky.”

She couldn’t believe her as she stumbled with something. The noise made Bucky to look up and he wished he would never have to see again what was in front of him, (Y/N).

(Y/N) crying silently and trying to control her breathing, anger and disgust the only emotions in her once, loving eyes.

Bucky let go the girl and walked towards (Y/N), he knew he messed up badly. “(Y/N), doll. It is not…”

“What? It is not what it seems, isn’t it? Really Barnes?” She shouted angrily as her first connected his jaw. “You’re a fucking bastard, you heard me?”

Tears were forming in Bucky’s eyes. “Please doll, it was a mistake. I drank too much and then some guy gave us some pills….”

(Y/N) widened her eyes “Do not make any excuses for your behaviour James. Not only did you fuck that bitch but also doing drugs? Really? This is the death of you, you’re just breaking yourself. Nobody is helping you.” She said in a cold tone, not angry nor other emotion. She was void. “And I hope you can get it in your drunk and high head that you and I are done. Do not ever try gazing at me or speak to me again you fuck.” (Y/N) finished slowly and then walked away.

It’s been months since that night and Bucky was broke. He messed up, he just broke one of the best things to ever happen to him and what for? To get laid with some of the college’s sluts. Nobody knew how to help him and he started to lose it, he was kicked out of the football team. His performance was not what it was expected and his grades dropped as well as the long drunk nights.

And (Y/N)? Well, she became void. Not emotions on her, only darkness around her heart. She was still doing the same, but not emotions. Her friends were worried, but no one could snap her out of it.

Bucky and (Y/N) crossed paths during those months and even though Bucky tried to approached her she would not even look his way or any of his friends. Bucky cried himself most of the nights while (Y/N) just spent a lot of time at the shelter, puppies were the only thing nowadays that could make her feel something.

One night Bucky had enough of this situation, something needed to be done and said. So with an almost empty bottle of Jack he walked towards (Y/N)’s. Probably she would close the door at his face or if Nat was there, his ass would be kicked. But he had to try.

Nat opened the door, she looked exhausted. But she smiled softly.

“I was wondering when you would appear Barnes.” She looked at him from head to toes. “You are a mess, but she is worse.” She sighed making space for him to enter the flat.

“Is she here?”

“Nope, but she is about to arrive from the shelter.” The memory of her playing with the puppies made Bucky smiles as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Look Barnes, I don’t like you. Not after what you did to (Y/N) but I’m guessing you are the only one who can fix this, her. She… I just want my friend back so, do what you have to do to bring her back or I’ll kick your ass. And I mean it” She spoke as she left the apartment.

Bucky just stood there awkwardly finishing his bottle of Jack. He started to get anxious, what if she did not appear? What would he say? Nat’s words were resonating in his brain when (Y/N) opened the door.

That was it, it was his only chance.

“Hey” He whispered softly attracting (Y/N)’s eyes to him but there was nothing on them.

“What are you doing here?” She calmly said and looking around, likely looking for Nat.

“I just wanted to see you, talk to…”

“I made myself clear that night Barnes, can you not remember?” She cut him.

“I remember but this…” Bucky spoke motioning the both of them. “This needs to stop. I messed up and I’m sorry, you just don’t know how sorry I am. And I need to do something, I need to know that you’re okay.”

(Y/N) scoffed at his words. “Really? Well, this is how I am because of you James, you should be proud of yourself.” Her tone was getting angrier.

It was a start, she mentioned his name and her façade was breaking. He knew her, and he knew he needed to keep pushing.

“How am I supposed to be proud (Y/N)? I can’t look at my own reflection, I broke the purest thing I’ve ever known. You’re not yourself, you don’t even look like that anymore. I want you to smile, to look carefree as you used to do. I don’t care if you don’t speak to me ever again.”

“You can’t have it all Barnes. You tried, remember how it ended?” She said as she stepped closer to him. “With your head between some slut’s leg and not mine.” Venom dripping from her words.

He stood his ground looking at her eyes. “I know that (Y/N). Damnit! Of course, I know that. I only dream about your face when you discovered me. The only thing I seemed to smell is that fucking coconut perfume you always wear. You’re everywhere but you are not yourself.”

“And whose fault is that bastard?” She screamed hitting Bucky in his chest. He made it, her façade was broken. “I trusted you, I loved you. I love you so much that I cannot breathe sometimes, that I cannot sleep. It is like you’re a curse, some type of venom. I cannot move on from you. Don’t you get it? You’re in my veins, you fuck.”

She was sobbing now and that broke Bucky even more if possible. Wrapping his arms around her he said softly. “I know and I hate myself every second of everyday doll. I lost everything that I thought was important but the truth is that they were just a hobby ‘till you came. You made everything brighter as if I was blind before and now I could see all the true colours. I know what I did and I’m not asking for you to come back to me. I am here so you can forgive yourself and move on doll.”

(Y/N) was now crying harder than ever, she still loved him so much. There was no doubt in it. Her fists clenched to Bucky’s t-shirt and her forehead pressed to his neck. Bucky allowed himself to smell her scent once again, maybe this was the last time.

His arms were still around her fragile figure, hugging her tightly. Bucky kissed her head and whispered sweet nothings into her ear trying to calm her.

That was how they remained for minutes or hours, neither of them could tell but it was the most complete they’ve felt in months.

[meggie-stardust]

GUNDAM WING - REWATCH - 45 - 47

You guys get a triple episode this week! You’re welcome, bitches.

45. Signs of the Final Battle

There’s that space crew working again. I hope they support the position of White Fang...

Quatre: I no longer need the ZERO system; I’ve absorbed it

Howard: You guys gotta rest, it’s happy hour somewhere *flips on Margaritaville*

Does Treize think he can win in space? Yes. Yes he does, obviously 

Can a launch be “very successful” or just successful or unsuccessful 

Oh, hey, Hilde, Whats up?? I forgot about Noin!Lite

CANS is a bit wishy washy. Oh no, don’t blow up the earth. Oh, hey we need to blow up all the gundam. Only we can have a gundam. 

Those minidisks are back. Usually I forget this was made in the 90s.

Whey would my brother start a fight when they could just talk? Relena didn’t you read the tags: Friends to enemies to lovers, slow burn, 300K, major character death

All the “girlfriends” are having a secret meeting. 

Hilde is delivering plans about a weakness in a battleship... Interesting... 

This isn’t a kids game; are you sure CANS???

Wufei is like I’m just gonna jump in for Duo here, since he sucks at Chess

Duo: Hey, Heero you wanna play 5 person chess? This is how we do it on L2

The alarm goes off and they’re all doing cool Flying V formation like the mighty ducks. 

Wow we could have had this the WHOLE TIME if they just TALKED TO EACH OTHER??? We were robbed.

I have questions about the structural integrity of a mobile suit in space. Hilde isn’t waring a space suit, and her mobile suit is compromised… Wearing a helmet seems to be an aesthetic decision only.

Can we talk about the glint in Deathscythe’s eyes? Because it’s so badass.

Duo can tell that it’s Trowa and Heero just by how they pilot… interesting… (Is my 1x2x3 shipper showing??)

It’s canon: Duo is better than Heero and Trowa combined. 

Don’t get me wrong, I like Hilde, but if the show had balls they would have killed her Rogue One style

The pilots new flight suits are A+ 

46. Milliardo’s Decision

$10 Milliardo’s decision is to put his helmet back on and become Space!Zechs

OOOH Tallgeese II has entered the battle

Treize: I built a Gundam before, but I just want to pilot the same mobile suit as my boyfriend so I also build the Tallgeese II

Oh hey, Wing keeps showing up... I wonder what’s gonna become of it this time....?

I don’t even know what what’s happening here with them all hanging out, but I am here for it. 

Trowa: be nice to women; Wufei’s flexy arm thing breaks

Duo about Heero: he makes mistakes just like the rest of us; the rest of the pilots are all silent not because they disagree, but because they are thinking of all the fucked up shit they’ve seen Heero do in the past. 

To quote Brand New/Taking Back Sunday, Heero is as subtle as a brink in the small of my back

Heero’s a little short of a storm trooper...

Either Relena is just super excited to see Heero or they are slowly reducing the oxygen in her holding cell

Hilde brought them the data, and then Heero doesn’t even leave it with the other pilots, he literally brings it back to LIBRA??? WHERE IT CAME FROM

The closed caption just said [mysterious charm] AMAZING

Zechs: Guys I have a really cool idea, but I need your help to move my desk to the observation deck for ~the aesthetic~

IDk what look Heero is going for when he’s sneaking on the libra, but it’s not half bad, and it comes with a neckerchief 

What is this amazing pose of Tallgeese II standing on the shuttle. AMAZING. Treize is such a BOSS 

Wait. Zechs was a hologram the whole time?! That’s so extra, I love it.

How are all these people magically connected. How does Une immediately wake up when Treize is about to do something crazy

Did Une just take Wing?! I have no memory of this

Zechs: CANS restrain Dorothy; CANS:  FINALLY my moment has come!

Wow I have no memory of this

Wing Gundam pushing Treize out of the way and Dorothy losing her mind

OMG IT WAS Lady Une the whole time?!

Way more badass than any of us gave her credit for. Going from being in a coma, to launching a Gundam into space, to taking the brunt of a beam canon. Lady Une is the MVP of this episode.

47. Collision in Space

Heero: I’m just gonna have a little nap right now, and then when Treize fails, I’ll go ahead and blow up the Libra

Howard: Which side should we root for guys? Whats the over under on White Fang? 

Sally: OK, we’re gonna side with Treize, ok guys? Hope you agree because this is gonna get crazy.

CANS: Why do the Gundams hate us even tho I just gave the orders to destroy them last episode?? 

Well, last episode Duo was the superior pilot. This time, not so much... 

Treize: I would thank the Gundams, but I think my silence is better, they’ll totally get what I’m going for 

Dorothy: Wait, you can’t move the libra? I have to view of the battle #priorities

Peacemillion is just the right side to fly in and destroy Libra. How convienent.

Noin folds like a lawn chair, but so does Zechs

CANS IS SUCH A BITCH

Peacemillon’s plowing into us… it’s the only thing that’s gonna plow into you

CANS: How could this happen?! 

Treize is so proud of the ships

God Relena, do we have to spell everything out for you about what’s happening right this second

Heero: I need Wing Zero. Good thing it just crashed into this ship

Trowa about Wufei fucking off: He’s fulfilling an old promise. That means Wufei and Trowa did talk when they bro’d downed at the circus

Treize: that pilot has to be that kid… play it cool. Don’t him know you remember his name.

Heero said butt

This is what I’m here for; Duo infiltrating everything. 

Trowa is the best. Just do a double spin out of the way and a bow. Ta da!

DorothyxQuatre duel. This is the only Quatre ship I’m here for. 

I was just wondering what happened to the scientists.

We built an error into the canon… interesting, where did you get that idea

Duo looks so badass threatening the scientists. More of this please. 

Epyon standing there like a Gargoyle 

Crushing blow??? GET IT???? GUys do you know what he’s gonna do next?????

Thoughts:

I am glad that @mpanighetti and I decided to do these 3 episodes as a group, and then finish out the series with the last two episodes together. 

I had very little memories of some of the details here, and I get why... honestly, these are weird kinda filler episodes. When a series is only 49 episodes, we don’t get a lot of time for nothing to happen, but the writing is getting looser at the end of the series, and if this arc had happened in the first 1/2 all of this would have probably happened in 1 episode, and instead we get 3. 

There are a lot of badass moments here: Duo, Une, Treize.... but the rest of the episodes feel a little flat... 

What I think I remember for the next episode(s):

I have so many memories of the penultimate episode (which i will make a whole post about separately) but we get an epic battle between Treize and Wufei, and I honestly forget how things fully wrap up during the last episode, so I am so excited that we’ve made it to the end. I can’t wait to write up my final thoughts and then rewatch Endless Waltz.  

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Mile High Job

leverage 1.08

Nate: We need a key card.

Eliot: And I hate to say it, but you know who we could really use --

Nate: Don't even say his name. I don't want it spoken aloud

eliot begrudgingly admitting they could use hardison because although they may bicker all the time, he knows to appreciate him

- - - - - 

[Leverage Headquarters]

(Hardison is watching a microwave, which dings)

Hardison: Yeah, buddy!

(he tries to pick up the pizza pocket but it is too hot and he drops it)

Hardison: Damn it!

(he blows on it and picks it up to eat it, then takes a watering can and heads out of the kitchen)

why do we (and parker and eliot) love this fucking idiot so damn much ???

- - - - - 

(Hardison walks through the offices watering plants)

he’s such a nester + he’s probably watering parker’s plant too which is adorable

- - - - - 

Eliot: All right.

(open the door to the hall to find Parker waiting)

Parker: So, what are we waiting for?

Eliot: How does she do this?

Nate: I don't even ask anymore.

Hardison: Don't bother with the stairs. I got you a ride down.

(elevator dings and they enter)

we love to see parker defying all laws of physics and logic and the team being baffled by it e v e r y time

- - - - - 

(Nate, Parker and Eliot run into the lobby, headed for the door)

Nate: No, it’s right behind us, it’s right behind us!

(guards put their hands on their guns)

Parker: It’s furry, it’s big, it’s chasing us, get down now!

(they grab Sophie on the way out the door, leaving the guards confused)

Nate: Come on, we need to get to the airport, now!

that’s actually a really clever way to escape a situation ??? it was very effective to distract the guards ???

- - - - - 

Hardison: What I.D.s have you got on you?

[LAX Airport]

Nate: Let's see...

(team begins looking through their pockets)

Nate: We got, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy, and I have a Tom Baker. Yeah.

Sophie: Ooh, yeah, I have a Baker. Sarah Jane.

[Leverage Headquarters]

Hardison: Perfect. I now pronounce you man and wife. (typing on keyboard) Now go on and kiss that bride.

[LAX Airport]

(Sophie hands Nate a ring that he places on her finger)

hardison bases their ids on doctor who characters, what a fucking nerd

also, we gonna talk about how sophie carries a bunch of different wedding rings with her at all times or ???

- - - - - 

Sophie: How did you both know there'd be an extra uniform in the bag?

Nate: Everyone knows flight attendants are required to carry extra uniforms in case they get called to work unexpectedly.

Eliot: Or if something happens to the one that they're already wearing.

Sophie: How does "everyone" know that?

Nate: Worked airport security.

Eliot: Slept with a flight attendant

sophie being exhausted + eliot never mentioned the gender of the flight attendant so let my bi heart dream okay

- - - - - 

(security guard opens Nate’s luggage to find many BSDM items inside. Nate gives Sophie a look)

Sophie: What? We needed luggage. Lost and found.

Nate: You didn't check the bag first?

Sophie: We were in a bit of a hurry. (to guard) Yeah. Cuffs are his. Whip's mine. (slaps Nate’s butt) Second honeymoon.

Eliot (picking up his bag): Idiots.

me watching this scene: part horrified part secondhand embarrassed 

- - - - - 

Hardison (on computer): Let's see what we can learn about Nathan Ford today. Online poker? Online chess? Sudoku. Crossword. What... Damn. Somebody needs to get laid.

y i k e s

- - - - - 

[Coach]

(Parker on P.A. while another stewardess demonstrates)

Parker: Place the mask over your mouth and nose and breathe normally. In the event of a water landing, your seat cushion can be used as a flotation device. But let's face it, if this thing goes down in the water, more than likely the impact will kill you. 

(Eliot grabs the bridge of his nose while the other passengers get alarmed)

Parker: Please take a moment to locate the nearest emergency exits, because if this plane's on fire, you're gonna want to get out quick. Jet fuel burns at over 1,000 degrees. That's hot, folks.

Eliot: All right, Nate. We're here. Now what?

eliot looks exhausted like 300 different times during this episode

+ bless the other flight attendant that just carried on with the crazy white chick being crazy over the speaker 

- - - - - 

poor eliot with the guy sleeping on him, he’s so exhausted already lmao

- - - - - 

Steve: Nothing. It’s just... I could've sworn I saw a maintenance guy get in that elevator.

Hardison: A- A maintenance guy? Wow. Real nice. I bet you think we all look alike.

Steve: That's not what I meant.

Hardison: You know what -- If I have to go to one more of those damn sensitivity seminars, I know who I’m blaming.

Steve: No, no, no.

Hardison: I know who I’m blaming.

Steve: It's not what I meant.

Hardison: I blame you! You! (walks away)

hardison using societal tendencies of racism is iconic every (every) time

- - - - - 

(Eliot gets up and begins going through luggage in the overhead racks. One of the passengers watches him suspiciously)

Eliot (to passenger): Can I help you with something? Watch the movie.

what would you even do in this situation ???

- - - - - 

Marissa: I know. It's just -- It's like a placebo effect. It's not really working, but it makes you feel better anyway.

Parker: Yeah? So, when's that supposed to kick in? (she moves forward) Look. Flying isn't really all that scary when you think about it. I mean, there are a lot more likely ways to die than on a plane. Car crash, house fire, electrocution, drowning, autoerotic asphyxiation. I mean, the fact is, death haunts us every day. No matter where we are.

(Parker smiles and moves away)

Y I K E S

- - - - - 

Hardison: You kidding? Did you get the new expansion pack? Woman, I was up all night. Now, look, I mean “Burning Crusade" was great, but this new one is mind-blowing.

Nate: Hardison…

[First Class]

Nate: …you bailed on the job because you were up all night playing a game?

[Genogrow Break Room]

(Hardison turns aside and opens a cabinet door to hide his face)

Hardison: First off, "game" is hardly adequate, okay

hardison is DONE with them not taking his “games” seriously ,,, also LMFAO that’s why he was late 

- - - - - 

Hardison (opens door): The meeting's starting, sir. (closes door)

Haldeman: What meeting? (sighs and puts on his jacket)

that is such an effective tactic tho ???

- - - - - 

Parker: Hatbox full of Euros, pouch of uncut diamonds, and a stolen Stradivarius. Now, I’ve never lifted one of those.

Nate: Parker..

let! her! steal! it!

- - - - - 

Eliot: Ms. Devins, those payments were not made in error. They were bribes. He was trying to pay off the researchers so they would not testify.

Marissa: What are you talking about? What the hell is going on here?

(Parker sits down next to Marissa)

Parker: The guy in 1D wants to kill you. Ginger ale?

Eliot: Just – sh-she--

that poor lady is NOT having a good time

also eliot looks sO DONE WITH PARKER LMFAO

- - - - - 

Eliot: Erlick's a pro. He had a ceramic knife. If anything was going down, he'd sniff 'em out when he saw them coming.

Nate: How would they do it?

Eliot: Easiest way? Take 'em out in transit.

Sophie: You mean bring down the plane they're on?

(everyone looks at her pointedly)

Sophie: You mean bring down the plane we're on?

Nate: Yeah

that’s interesting meta to know but we hate to see it

- - - - - 

Nate: Okay, Parker, I -- Parker, I need you – (to Eliot) All right, we got to talk to Erlick now.

[Plane Bathroom]

(Dan is still unconscious on the toilet as Eliot and Nate come in)

Nate: Geez!

Eliot (patting Dan on the face): Hey!

(Dan does not stir, Eliot sighs)

Eliot: When I knock people out, they tend to stay knocked out.

Nate: Hey!

(Nate taps the guy on the face)

Nate: Luggage tags.

(they search Dan’s clothes and take his luggage tags. Eliot grabs the ceramic knife before they leave the bathroom)

eliot doesn’t fuck around lmao

also he did the flippy thing with the knife

- - - - - 

Hardison: Parker, the device you found -- is it anywhere near an orange box?

Parker: Yeah.

[Haldeman’s Office]

Hardison: Oh, god. They tapped into the black box.

[Cargo Hold]

Parker: No, no, it's not black. It's orange.

[Haldeman’s Office]

Hardison: Yeah, the black boxes, they're orange.

[Cargo Hold]

Hardison: Makes them easier to find in the debris.

Parker: Oh. Oh…

[Haldeman’s Office]

Hardison: They've hacked into the flight's computer, which means they have access to the system, which means they can spoof the black-Box data all at the same time.

[Cargo Hold]

Parker: Crash the plane without anyone knowing it was sabotaged.

[Haldeman’s Office]

Hardison: Exactly

that’s terrifying

- - - - - 

Nate: Listen to me!

[Haldeman’s Office]

Nate: You can do this! I trust you!

(Hardison looking very unsure of himself)

[Cockpit]

Nate: No matter how many times you goof off or screw up, you always come through in the clutch.

[Haldeman’s Office]

Nate: You're the only guy I can count on in a situation like this.

Hardison (cracks his neck): You know what? I-I-you... You're right. 

You're right. I got this.

[Cockpit]

Nate: Yes! Yes! Yes, you can!

Hardison: You're right. You're -- I'm the man.

[Cargo Hold]

Hardison: I'm the man. I got this. I'm gonna do this.

hardison is amazing and they need to appreciate him more

- - - - - 

[First Class]

(Nate and Eliot stumble into seats and belt up)

Nate: Sophie?

[Coach]

Sophie: Yes?

[First Class]

Nate: You okay?

[Coach]

Sophie: Yeah. You?

[First Class]

Nate: Ask me again in 10 minutes.

[Coach]

Sophie: You're gonna remember this one, aren't you?

[First Class]

Nate: Oh yeah.

everyone else on the comms: ,,, y’all have to flirt right this second ???

- - - - - 

[Haldeman’s Office]

(Hardison watching footage on the Internet of the plane landing)

Announcer (on monitor): …emergency landing on the seven mile bridge…

Hardison: Whoa! (gets up and dances) Baby! Unh! Age of the geek! Smooth! Too smooth! Lord, I was so scared, I wanted to cry, call my mama. Y'all cool? Y’all cool?

Nate: Yes, cool.

Hardison: Family. All right.

hardison is baby + HE CALLED THEM HIS FAMILY !!!

[gustafsnightangel]

A Softer Side Part 2

Hunt and Strand lived, breathed, and ate the case until they had exhausted all avenues, only then did they decide to stakeout Donovan’s place.

“It’s like four days until his kids birthday and he’s still in town, what gives?” Hunt asked from the back of the van as he watched Donovan’s car pull up.

“A few options, he isn’t our guy, he’s snatching closer to home, or he’s paying someone else to get their hands dirty as he’s retired living the life of luxury.” Karl quipped sarcastically.

“In a run down duplex. Sorry, I’m not buying.” Jerry huffed.

“Me either. He’s dirty, we just gotta find the dirt.” Karl’s eyes narrowed as the trunk of Arthur’s car opened. Snatching the camera with the telephoto zoom lens he zeroed in on the shopping bags.

“You got something boss?”

“Shopping.” He stated and clicked away as Jerry watched the images come up on his laptop screen. “Hmmmm.”

“Hmmm indeed.” Hint said scanning the photos. “Why would a guy in his sixties, living alone need feminine hygiene products and diapers?”

“Damn good question.”

“He’s stocking up.” Jerry said quietly.

“He is, hey run the plates.” Karl smiled. “He’s changed cars, that’s not the same one he had last week when we came here.”

“Derek Strider, age 57, black hair, that’s dyed because it was a sandy blond when we met last week. Says here he’s a retired school teacher. Helps out at, oh fuck me.” Jerry said a moment later, and spun the laptop around for Strand to see.

Karl almost went nuclear. A fucking orphanage, is this guy for real? “Get Meekland on the phone, right the fuck now.” He snarled and Jerry opened a line.

Strand relayed the information and Jerry, wisely, kept his mouth shut.

“I’m not asking for a warrant yet ma’am, I’m asking for someone to go sit on the orphanage over the next few days to see what this guy does.” The line went silent for a few moments.

“You’re sure?”

“Somethings off Sarah, we can’t ignore it.”

“Very well, I’ll have someone assigned to you this afternoon.” She snapped.

“Thank you.” The line went dead.

“You guys really hate each other don’t you?” Jerry said quietly.

“No, just... we irritate each other, oil and water.” He chuckled, let him think they hated each other, it was better than I’m banging the boss. “What type of security do you think he has on that house?”

“Considering what he’s hypothetically hiding, I’d say a lot.”

“Hmmm.”

“What hmmm, I don’t like that hmmm.” Jerry said cautiously.

“He’s going to go out at some point and I want to have a snoop around.” Strand murmured.

“You can’t go in...”

“I didn’t say I was going in, I want to look around.” He shot back. “You knock on the front door while I wander around the back.”

“If we go in without a warrant.”

“I’m well aware of what happens, don’t sweat it kid, I’m not about to blow this lead by entering without a warrant.” Not yet he thought.

“Ok then, when?”

“Discretely call the orphanage and ask what time the volunteers come in, tell them your interested in helping out.” Karl lifted the camera back up as Arthur ventured out to the car again as Jerry made the call.

******

“He’s heading to the orphanage.” Jerry confirmed.

“And you know this how?” He asked sarcastically.

“Because Wainwright just texted me that he’s over there and our boy just got out of his car.” Hint smiled.

“Good, let’s go.” Karl stalked to the house with purpose, his long legs eating up the road. Signaling to Jerry, he went around the back. He heard the kid knock on the door and wait, the polite investigator just tying up loose ends. Strand committed the layout of the rear of the house to memory, the storm shelter door which was oddly out of place against the abandoned garden shed along the back fence. Glancing at the neighbors yard, their storm shelter was against the house. Hearing Jerry’s second knock and polite call of Mr. Donovan he ventured along the rear of the house, studying every weather beaten board, every window. Nothing out of the ordinary. Taking out his phone he snapped a few photos and walked toward the garden shed, now here was some security. “What are you hiding behind a rusty tin shed Arthur that needs a high end, high priced military security system?” He muttered to himself and snapped a few pictures of the lock and the storm shelter which also has a lock. The back entrance to the house was also tightly secured, he needed blueprints and a warrant.

******

Climbing back into the van Karl uploaded the photos from his phone to Jerry’s computer and gave him detailed information about the locks and where to find someone to break them. He also had him pull the county blueprints of the area.

“Ex military.” Strand said as if that alone explained everything. “They don’t ask questions and get the job done. It’s our last resort if we can’t get the warrant.”

“We’ll lose our asses if we go in without a warrant.”

“I will, you won’t be coming in if it gets to that point, because I won’t be arresting him.” He said darkly and let the kid see the rage and hatred simmering beneath the calm facade that was Karl Strand. “If it is who we think it is, I’m not letting him slip through again. This time I’ll end the fucker.”

“Fair enough.” The kid gulped.

“Set up one of the remote wireless cameras on the house and we can monitor from the office for the night. I want food and a fucking shower.” He was beat. They’d been jammed in the van for nearly a week but it was paying off, they had leads, they were following cautiously.

“Can do boss.” Karl climbed into the drivers seat while Jerry took care of the camera and they headed out once everything was online.

******

Strand went out for burgers again after his shower and walked into the conference room as Jerry was finishing up with Wainwright on the phone, the camera they’d set up showed Donovan’s car back in the driveway at the house.

“Our boy home for the night?” He asked placing food in front of the rookie and taking a seat.

“Yeah, got in about ten minutes ago. Wainwright’s gonna hang in case he scouts the orphanage out tonight.”

“Good.”

“He also setup a wireless camera so we can see the building, front and back.”

“Even better.” Karl studied the orphanage, entries, exits, windows. “Pretty secure.”

“Reasonably, the younger kid section more than the main building.” Jerry said biting into the burger.

“Begs the question of how? How’s he gonna do it Jerry?”

“How much does it cost to legally adopt?”

“Chump change to what he’s getting for them. But no, not legally adopt, too much of a paper trail, too many questions.” Karl chewed on that thought. “I wonder...”

“You wonder what?”

“I wonder if he’s visiting other orphanages.” Strand mused out loud.

“Fuuuck! I didn’t even think of more than one. It would be a bold fucking move to snatch them from the orphanage though.”

“Yeah.” Karl said wistfully as his brain ticked over each scenario. “I’d wait.” He murmured.

“Wait for what?”

“I’d wait for the kids to be adopted.” He sat up abruptly and started typing. “Cross check all the orphanages in the last few states he’s hit with parents that have adopted only to then have the child kidnapped a little while later. That’s going to be a short fucking list, at least I hope it’s shorter than the list we have.” They sat and tossed theories around as the computers churned through data. They both fell silent as the chime from the computer informed them of a hit.

“Shit.” Karl scrubbed his hand over his face. “I was hoping I was fucking wrong.”

“Me too, but it’s more weight for a warrant.”

“Ok let’s get to work.” He sighed as the hits came in, a slow trickle of more names he’d add to his list.

“He used more than one orphanage in New York State, Ohio, and Colorado.” Jerry said in awe at the amount of names popping up. “This is crazy.”

“It is, but what’s the bet you just found your milk money.”

“No we found their prime merch, the milk money will be the homeless that can be cleaned up and sold for a quick $20K.”

“Let’s get it together, I’ll call Meekland in the morning and disturb her weekend.” He grinned, in more ways than one.

“Oh she’ll love you for that.” Jerry said sarcastically.

“You sassing me boy?” Strand growled.

“No sir absolutely not.”

Karl couldn’t contain the chuckle, the kid was all right for a rookie.

******

It was 3 am Saturday morning when Strand called it a night. They were both wrecked.

“Go home, get some sleep Jerry. Good work these past few weeks.”

“Thanks boss but if you’re staying so am I.”

“I’m not, I’m heading out. We can’t help these kids if we’re falling asleep mid-takedown. Rest.”

“You too.” He said and collected his coat and headed out.

Strand was kicked back staring at his board when Meekland stepped in. “Making progress?”

“Slowly, but yes.” He eyed her carefully, damn he was in the mood to fuck her hard. “If he sticks to pattern he’ll move on the 17th kidnapping the first kid.”

“We can lockdown the orphanage.” She assured him and he smiled.

“He won’t take the kid from there, it’ll be from the family that just adopted their new baby girl.” He snarled.

“Oh fucking shit Karl.” She breathed. “Seriously?”

“That’s how I’d do it and there’s a pattern with previous states and families that have adopted.”

“Who’s he going to hit?”

“I don’t know. There are multiple adoptions each day and he visits more than one orphanage, each with a different ID. We’re still working that angle. It wasn’t until a few hours ago we were thinking it was just him and a lone operator, now I’m thinking mob or syndicate.”

“Jerry heading home?”

“Yeah, as am I. We need sleep. There’s nothing more I can do for her tonight.”

“You really think she’s still with him don’t you?”

“I heard her screaming when we were close fifteen years ago Sarah, I fucking know she exists.” He stood and pulled his coat on, jamming his hands into the pockets.

“Want to hit the bar?” Which was their code for take me home sir?

“I do, but I’m beat to hell. I need sleep.”

“Go and sleep, we can swing past after lunch.” And with that settled she turned on her heel and left.

******

He knew he should have said no to Sarah, but damn it a man has needs and she was more than a willing participant. The drive home to his downtown apartment was blissfully short given the time and for once the doorman wasn’t at his post to talk his ear off. He needed his brain to shut down for a good twenty four, a solid eight and a good fuck would suffice. Once inside he darkened the room, took a long hot shower and let the day and the case fall away. Crawling naked under the covers he let sleep claim him hard.

******

Her text tone woke him, Sarah was on her way. Slipping on a pair of lounge pants that hung low on his hips he padded out to fuel up with coffee and eggs he hoped were still good. He was clearing his dishes when Sarah knocked.

“You look like shit.” She said gruffly and handed him a bag of fresh bagels.

“Good morning to you too sunshine.” He chuckled and let her in.

“Eat your bagels.” She smirked.

“I’ll save them, I just had eggs. What is it you want Sarah?” He asked sternly.

“You.”

“I thought you had a someone special?” He joked.

“Apparently not as special as the blond bimbo on his arm last Thursday.” She snapped. Ahhhh he thought, that would explain the moodiness these past few days.

“I’m not relationship material Sarah you know that, this is just sex.”

“Sex is all I fucking want right now.” She spat and his eyebrow raised.

“On your knees.” He growled. “You forget your place little one.” She dropped to her knees, eyes never leaving his. “Bedroom.” He barked when she went to touch him, the slight flinch reigning her in. He knew what she needed from him, what she craved when she was like this. Watching her crawl on all fours to the bedroom he finished his coffee and devoured a bagel, she would wait, time it’s own restraint.

She was kneeling at the side of the bed, her usual spot, when he came into the room and shut the door. Belt in hand he stood behind her, looming, his presence enough to have her submit to him. When her head bowed he sat on the bed in front of her and hooked a finger under her chin forcing her to look at him.

“You know not to take that tone with me little one.” He growled. “Across my lap, you get ten.” He saw the realization in her eyes that they wouldn’t be a soft ten either. “Stand.” He commanded. Once she stood she kept her head bowed, hands nervously twitching in front of her. “Take your shirt off.” He purred, the slight smile tugging his lips as her hands shook while fighting the buttons. It was arousal over fear, Sarah had never feared him, nor should she. This was their game, mutually beneficial, equally satisfying. He drank in her curves, the swell of her breasts as she stripped the blouse from her body. “Now your skirt.” His voice husky with need of his own as his eyes followed the fabric down her legs to pool at her feet. She waited, knowing he was in control, he would tell her when to move.

“On the bed, across my lap.” He said after he took his time devouring every inch of her with his eyes. Holding out his hand she took it to steady herself as she got into position. “Hands.” He murmured, the command in his tone unmistakable. Binding her wrists with the belt he secured them comfortably in the swell of her spine. She’d come prepared with her hair already in a tight braid, the long rope like tail enough for him to wrap around his hand for a good grip when he was ready. “Count them out little one.” He soothed as his hand circled her ass cheek ready to strike.

He drew his hand up and back and slapped her hard. The crack of skin against skin echoed around his bedroom.

“One sir.” She said defiantly.

The second strike caused her to whimper, the large red hand print blooming on her skin.

“Two sir.”

With each strike she relinquished control, he could feel her submit to him further.

“Five sir.” She choked as the tears came. He didn’t hesitate, knew that this was what she needed. Wrapping her braid around his hand he fisted it and pulled her head back gently before striking her again.

“Six sir.” She sobbed, tears streaking her cheeks.

“Nearly there little one. He purred and brought his hand down sharply.

“Seven sir.” He felt her let go, the last of her stress and tension falling away as he soothed her ass cheek before striking again.

“Eight sir.” Her sob shook her body.

His fist tightened in her hair as he gave her the last two strikes, both harder than the rest of them.

“Ten sir.” She cried, as he released her hair gently and soothed the pain from her scalp and her glowing hot cheek.

“Will you talk to me in that tone again little one?”

“No sir.” She whimpered.

“Up you get.” He urged and he helped her up and into his lap, her wrists still bound.

“I’m sorry sir.”

“I know you are.” He kissed her forehead, the need for her to feel safe was as important as the release the rough session would bring her.

“Be a good girl now and hop up.” He said, his hand steadying her as she unfolded herself from his lap. Fingers stripped the remaining lace from her body, those curves enticing him to play. Once she was naked he cupped her face in his hands and devoured that beautiful mouth. “Such a good girl.” He purred as she stood there and let him take her as he wanted, touch her as he wanted.

He wasn’t a gentle lover, and never had been, he didn’t do it with the premise of intentionally hurting someone, but his handling was rough. Gripping her wrists he held them forcefully as he took and touched. Releasing them he positioned her face down onto the mattress, his huge frame towering over her. Nudging her knees to widen her gripped her hips hard to bring her up on her knees, that perfect ass presented ready for him to fuck. “Wider.” He growled and nudged her knees open, the whimper making him smile. She’d been begging for him to take her like this and hard for weeks. He left her there, poised for the rough hard fuck she’d asked for while he stripped, his cock aching to be buried inside her, to feel her. He opened the nightstand drawer and placed the vibe on the bed for later, she would come and come hard today.

She wiggled her ass as his tip pressed against her entrance and his hand coming down sharply on her ass cheek. “Don’t test me.” He snarled. He teased her, tormented her to breaking point, the tears and whimpers fueling his own lust. With a sharp thrust of his hips he buried himself deep, her body shaking with the force of their pelvises meeting. Hers was a guttural groan at finally being filled with him, his own grunt equally as loud as he held her hips painfully tight and began to take her.

Strand fucked her hard, his own tension and stress of the weeks past eager to find its own release, the need to fuck it out of his system taking over. Pounding into her he gripped the leather at her wrists and rode her, the sound of their bodies colliding mixing with the grunts and groans of fucking filled the room. He felt her peak, the tightness of her pussy caressing him. Just as she was about to shatter he pulled out, her release ebbing away. His throaty chuckle at her whimper of frustration only spurring him on. “I warned you not to test me.” He snarled, the slick tip of his cock pushing at her puckered hole. It wasn’t often he gave her this pleasure, knew she relished it as much as he did. “So wet for me.” He cooed, the spanking earlier doing its job, her heightened arousal obvious. “You want me there don’t you.” He teased. “Want me buried in that pretty ass.”

“Please sir.” She begged and pushed back slightly to try and force him inside her, desperate to feel him fill her again. The hard slap to her already red ass cheek made her yelp.

“Patients little one or you’ll get nothing.” He growled. “I’ll take my fill and leave you wanting.” She stilled and waited. “Better.” He stroked his engorged cock and made her wait longer, the game drawn out for her pleasure as well as his. Slipping inside her soaked pussy he gave her a few thrusts before pressing against her back door, the tightness around his mushroom tip making him groan. He fed her the tip, her muscles contracting around his head like a vice, her body trembling as she fought the urge to push back onto him.

“Please sir.” She whimpered.

“You want it all don’t you little one?” He inched into her slowly, her breath erratic as she struggled not to come.

“Please sir.” She whimpered.

Once he was seated in her tight ass he drew out and began to thrust, the ease of which he knew she’d prepared for the evening in advance. Working into a rhythm he plunged in taking her hard, the slaps to her ass adding to their mutual pleasure. Leaning over her he placed a hand either side of her head, above the shoulders and fucked her, that soft whimper making him lose his mind as he dominated her. In a swift move he straightened, wrapped her braid in his hand and pulled her head back so her body was bowed back, the other hand at her throat. She was at his mercy, bound and being fucked relentlessly.

His hand dropped from her throat momentarily and reached for the vibe he’d placed there earlier. Switching it on he held it over her clit, the cry of shock and extreme pleasure sharp to his ears. He slowed his rhythm as he eased it inside her pussy, the curved section long enough to sit against her clit. Taking a hold of her throat again he plunged in and felt the vibration ripple up his cock, the groan primal. He took her, hips snapping, pushing him deep into her ass, she was almost screaming in ecstasy.

Feeling her peak he pistoned his hips and fucked her like the primal animal he was, taking what he wanted, everything she had to offer him and more. “Come.” He snarled and squeezed her throat as she exploded. The feel of her milking him had him roar before he spilled his seed, his thrusts erratic and powerful. Both spent he pulled out and released her wrists, her body lax and unmoving as she caught her breath. “Color little one.” He said as he climbed off the bed.

“Green sir.” She panted.

They weren’t one for cuddles and snuggles afterwards, they both got what they needed out of this session and Karl headed to the bathroom to shower. She joined him as he was stepping out to take care of her own personal hygiene. With a towel wrapped around his hips he cleaned up and stripped the bed, virtually erasing the fact they’d fucked here at all.

******

“You know this can’t be a regular thing Sarah.” He said as she stood on his threshold, finger stroking down his crisp blue shirt. “I can’t go through all that shit again.”

“Pity.”

“Were no good for each other.” Except for a quick fuck he wanted to add but thought better if it. He needed to be clear with her again. They had rules and limits for a reason, especially after the crash and burn of their actual relationship years earlier.

“I know Karl, it’s just...” She sighed. “I know.” Leaning in she kissed him sweetly. “Thanks for the session, I needed it.”

“So did I.”

“You know it’s Sunday, you don’t have to go in.”

“I want to see what the our databases spat out.” He said abruptly. He wanted to chase down leads and get ahead of this fucker. “And I think better when I’m staring at the board.”

“I’ll see you around then Strand.”

“Yes ma’am you will.” He said softly and closed the door before she could worm her way back into his heart. He’d loved her once, if a man like him was able to love, but they were just fuck buddies now and it suited him just fine.

******

He didn’t expect to see Jerry at the conference room table, downing coffee and typing furiously.

“You look like a man possessed.” Karl chuckled softly as he shucked his coat and sat to look at the names the computer had pulled, he was loose and relaxed and ready to dig in. “And you shouldn’t be here on your day off kid.”

“You’re here.” He said flatly, continuing on his current train of thought.

“I’m on my own time Hunt, I don’t expect you to be.” Strand said gruffly, he wasn’t a complete asshole to drag the kid away from his scheduled time off.

“You’re here, I’m here.” He said simply. “I’m not looking for overtime, or a pat on the back. I want this prick.”

“It’s personal for you.” Karl said quietly, his gaze studying the rookie as he worked. “Not my business.” He added when the silence stretched. Yes, he thought, you’ll do kid.

“My sister.” Jerry said after a moment as he kept working, though Karl could see the pain and grief etched deep in the kids face when he mentioned her. It had aged him in a heartbeat. “Not this case.” He added quickly. “But you never know, this might give me answers into hers.”

“Unsolved?”

“Stone fucking cold boss.”

“Tell me.” He commanded, he needed to know where the kids head was at.

Strand looked at Jerry and rage looked back, that was something, Karl thought. Anger was good fuel when you had to push through the shit haunting your every step.

“Nutshell version. My sister, Eva, is 16, seven years younger than me, or she would be if she was still alive. I’m not sure she is. She ran away from home and or was kidnapped when she was 10. My mother was adamant she was taken. I’m more inclined to believe Eva took off on some hair-brained fantasy of a better life on her own, even at ten she was a hellion. Cops looked into it and shuffled it to a cold case after not so much as a we’re chasing all leads. They don’t give a shit.”

“Which is why you’re with this agency and not a cop.” Strand added.

“Absolutely.” He said vehminantly. “I’d like to believe she’s still alive, but reading this case and the possibility of her being sold, I’d rather she be dead.”

“Can’t blame you there.” Karl studied the rookie closely. “Is this going to be an issue for you?”

“No sir.” He said strongly. “These kids, the women they are now, deserve everything of me to catch this guy and nail his balls to the fucking wall. If it leads me to answers about my sister then great, if not, I’m ok with that too.”

“There’ll be other cases that blur the lines with your sister.”

“Yep, and it’ll be the same answer then too.” He said matter of factly.

“Good to know.” Karl was pleased with the rookie’s answer. A lot more grit under the shiny new investigator badge than there appeared to be. “What have you got?” He nodded at all the names and figures on the screen.

“I need to figure out what’s driving this and it’s usually money. I set up a phony encrypted account and signed up for all these websites that offer girls of all ages to be purchased. I needed to be in their system to have a snoop around. It’s my guesstimate of the different levels of, dare I call it, merchandise, and payments for each girl, for each username or seller.” He explained.

“You’re looking for a pattern.”

“Exactly.” He pointed at Karl and went back to the printed out spreadsheet in his hands.

“How far does this go back?” Strand asked, the cogs in his head turning with this new information.

“So far only three years. I can get more but it’ll take some time. I’ve already set my computer to pull data.” He turned the laptop around for Strand to see, numbers and names flicking past at an alarming rate.

“How may girls per year?” He asked softly.

“Per user or per website?”

“Both.”

“Gimme a sec.” Jerry’s brow knit in concentration as he fiddled with the spreadsheet on the big screen. “Holy shit!” He breathed out in disbelief.

“Yeah that sums it up.”

“130,000 plus girls a year over the site. 1 to 2 thousand girls, give or take per user. Some users rank higher than others.”

“We look into them all. Split the list of users in half, we run them all. Let’s build the case from our side so when we put these assholes in a cage they fucking stay there.” Karl growled.

“I’ll dig for personal information first to give you a name and username on the site.”

“Do that. I’m calling Meekland, we need more people on this. It’s not just our buddy boy Arthur, not just this handful of sites.”

“We going after them all?”

“We shut Arthur down first, that’s our priority, find the girl, his first girl. We can run the rest in the background.” Karl said as he got some notes together.

“I can set that up. Can I have Wainwright? He knows his shit when it comes to computers and hacking and tech.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He looked at the kid. “I know you’re not in it for the pat on the back, but this deserves one. Good job.” He grabbed his phone and made the calls to Meekland, secured Wainwright for the support and began to dig into the usernames.

******

“Question.” He said into the silence, the hum of the computer fans the only other sound in the room a while later. “Did you cross the sell dates with anything?”

“Not yet.” Hunt answered. “The snatch date would be different to the sell date and we don’t know how long he keeps them.”

“Search for sell dates on our boys three anniversary dates.” He said on a whim.

“You got something boss?”

“A hunch maybe.”

Jerry ran the search on the sellers websites and the spreadsheet on the big screen. “That’s still a lot of girls.” He blew out.

“But look at the ages.” Strand grinned. “That’s the only thing that matches for three of the sellers. The girls are all 16.”

“So he keeps them from infants to 16?” Jerry’s voice choked.

“Grooms them from birth to be the whores they’ll be sold as.” Strand ground through his teeth. “Those are your prime merchandise.” He nodded to the screen. “Look at the price they were sold for.”

“3.7 mil, 6.2, 1.3, 5.4. Auctioned off, not just sold.” Jerry said reading the site.

“Can you find pictures of the girls?” Karl asked.

“They usually don’t have pictures up of prior transactions but I can look. You thinking these are Arthur’s girls?”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“There’s three usernames though.”

“Oh I bet it’s all his, one for each anniversary.” Strand was deep in Arthur’s head now. “I wonder?” He whispered to himself and opened up his file on the wife as he scanned the account and username list.

“Got something boss?” Jerry asked and grabbed their cups to refresh the coffee that had gone cold.

“Maybe.” He mumbled, brain locked onto the current task. “Did you happen to glance around the inside of his house when you talked to him?”

“A little, I didn’t want to be too obvious.” Jerry sat the coffee in front of Karl and took his seat again.

“Were they’re any pictures or anything of his wife that stood out?”

“He had a portrait of her and a child, well I’m assuming it was his wife and a depiction of their child.” Jerry closed his eyes as if to bring the memory back. “Oh and a strange poem line under the portrait painted on the wall or something. You know how people have those chic signs and sayings and shit? He had one that said.... oh fuck me... wait.” Jerry’s eyes went wide and he scrambled forward to use his laptop. “Fuck! Fucking fuck I missed it before. NevermoreRaven that’s his fucking account username.” Jerry spat. “And he lists all three separate usernames under that one account name. Son of a bitch.”

“So our boy is into some Poe is he?” Karl grinned. “What was the poem line on the wall?”

“Sorrow for the lost Lenore.”

“The Raven by Mr. Edgar Allen Poe.” Strand stood and scrawled it across the board. “What’s the bet Lenore is his wife’s real name. Add an amendment to your report on the Peter Jensen case, tie it in. It’ll give us cause and a bit of weight.” It was a good solid lead and something he could now got to Meekland with to secure a warrant. “Damn good work Jerry.”

“I was stupid, I just thought it quirky and should have followed up, we could have known this earlier.” He spat, angry he’d made a rookie mistake.

“Live and learn kid. Without the website info it wouldn’t seem like much.”

“It would have to you.” He huffed.

“Kid I’ve got nearly twenty years on you.” He snorted as he pulled out his phone to call Meekland again, thing had just swung in his favor. “Run and focus everything on EvermoreRaven. We nail Arthur first, then we go after the others. Let’s not spread ourselves too thin and lose him.” Which is what had happened last time, Karl thought. History would not be repeating itself, his case, his op, this time around, his rules.

“When’s he due to strike again?” Meekland asked, annoyance in her voice at being disturbed again on a Sunday.

“Tomorrow is his kids birthday and the day his wife died. He’ll have his information on who he’s going to snatch and the 16 year old he’s about to sell.”

“Jesus Karl, this is a can of fucking worms.” Her sigh was one of frustration.

“Yeah and it’s going to get messy if we don’t do it right. As much as I want to bust in there and nail his balls to the wall we need to catch him in the act. The snatch and sell needs to go down, transactions completed for it to be worth anything in court, for us to dig deeper and get them all. I need to know where he’s getting all the girls and housing them. I need the warrants, I need a team.”

“You’ll have it.” She said without question. “Send me the list of who you want on this, hand pick the team. I know you Karl.” She said, that unspoken approval of they don’t all have to be department employees.

“Thank you ma’am.” He said gently, and he was thankful, she was giving him free reign which if the op went south it would be her ass too. He’d keep Hunt and Wainwright, the rest would be a team he trusted and knew wouldn’t let shit fall through the cracks. Time to color outside the lines a little, he thought as, he put in a call to Wainwright and was surprised when the guy walked into the conference room ten minutes later. “You working today?”

“I was yeah. Nothing that can’t wait. What do you need?” Karl liked Steven, blunt and no bullshit, much like himself.

“Get with the kid.” He nodded in Jerry’s direction. “He’ll get you up to speed, I have an op to plan.”

“Sweet.”

“You up for a tail?”

“On Arthur? Sure, where and when?”

“He’s going to leave sometime tomorrow for the snatch. I need you to follow him and get it on record, the snatch, the location he’s taking the kid to. It’ll be an infant going in and likely a 16 year old coming out.”

“I don’t think the teen will come out that day boss.” Jerry said softly not really sure if he should speak up.

@hausofobsession @ill-skillsgard @grandpa-sweaters @authentic90skidd @tuckersgirl @fairlyfallacy @flowers-in-your-hayr @raewritesfiction @stinkerbelle007 @kamie-b @mrsaugustwalker @skrsgardspam @loliwrites @trippedmetaldetector @lihikainanea @fay-walden

[thadelightfulone]

The Firm - Chapter 11

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

Summary: Erik has been hired to find an embezzler for an old friend. The whole gang is back at GBI, ready to fight an old enemy and save their friend. 

Pairing: Erik x Black!OC

Genre: Suspense

A/N: *steps up to the mic* Hello everyone! I want to thank everyone who has supported this story. Also, to let you know that this story is coming to a close. I will be dropping a chapter each week until its conclusion. 

LaNyah stares at the older women whose hair is much longer and darker than when she helped her out in the parking lot, however long ago that was. Then she looks over at Laura, who is rocking back and forth, whimpering about not wanting to die. Why would she even ask such a thing? What does Laura know about this woman that LaNyah doesn’t? How does she know her? Did Gina say before her friends arrive? Does she mean Alex, Ashley, Stacey, and Erik? LaNyah tries to hold back her smile and closes her eyes to focus on keeping calm while this lady begins her tale.

Gina sitting in the center of the couch, looks between the two stunned women. “As I was saying, this story took place almost 20 years ago. There was a decorated officer who had a loving wife and kids.” She swoons at the memory of her loving brother. “He was the leader of a special ops team until an unjust allegation was brought against him by a team member. Someone he trusted and chose to be on his squad,” Gina snarls out. “He was under investigation during his last mission, and it would have led to a court-martial.” She rushes out before waving her hands in the air like it didn’t matter, “Anyway, before that could happen, members of his team took matters into their own hands. He was brutally murdered, and someone made it to look like an enemy ambush.”

“How do you know that it wasn’t?” Laura asks from beside her.

Gina taps Laura’s upper leg, “Oh dear, it was too perfect. The killing was too clean, everyone’s story was just so– in sync. Nothing about a military death is like that unless it is a cover-up.”

“Maybe, they were trying to spare the family’s feelings, you know, like friendly fire in combat or something?” LaNyah interjected.

“SHUT UP!!!” Gina shouts, startling both Laura and LaNyah. She takes a few deep breathes and smooths out her skirt, “It was not that. My twin brother was callously killed while overseas by members of the team he built.” LaNyah and Laura share a look, and Laura starts crying all over again.

“What does that have to do with us?” LaNyah somberly asks while staring at the crying pregnant woman over Gina.

Sniffling, Laura nods at LaNyah, “Yeah, I don’t know anyone in the military.”

LaNyah looks away, putting her head down at what Laura said because she knows that is not true for her. She only knew of one person until a few weeks ago. Gina can’t mean any of them, right? She inhales sharply, unaware that Gina has been watching her intently since Laura made that last statement, a small smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

She looks over them, “This is my favorite part,” a full smile breaking through while Gina takes Laura’s hands in hers before continuing. “Which brings me to why you two are here. I am going after those responsible for my brother’s death.” Gina rubs the tops of her hands, “Laura, your fiancé works for one of them.”

Laura closes her eyes at this, tears still falling and mutters, “But LaNyah was supposed to be the fall guy, not Matthew.” Gina’s eyes widen at that.

“When did he tell you?”

“What? Wait, he set me up?”

LaNyah and Gina blurt out at the same time. Laura rolls her eyes at LaNyah, “I told you this was all your fault.” LaNyah opens and closes her mouth before looking over at a laughing Gina. She can’t believe it. Minding her own business and she became the ultimate pawn in someone’s game of revenge. What is her life?

---

“Babe, stay here with Stacey. Let us handle this.” Alex moves to keep Ashley from coming with them. Kill is on the other side of the room, tying his combat boots while talking on the phone. Stacey is at the conference room table, pulling up floorplans to the warehouse. Alex and Kill changed into dark military fatigues in preparation for the battle zone they are entering.

“Fuck that! I already told you what I would do when it came to LaNyah.” She gets in his face, “I need to be there when you find her! So, don’t you dare try to keep me from being there!” Ashley snatches up another pair of fatigues and pushes past him towards the bathroom, slamming the door. Alex stops short as the door nearly misses hitting him.

Kill finished with his last call, turns towards him. “Green, stop.” Alex walks back over to him, “Just accept the fact that she is coming with us. You can’t stop her, and even I wouldn’t try to stop her.” Kill walks by Matt, who has been untied and snatches him up. “Come on. You got some more talking to do.”  

Everyone packs into the fully loaded Chevy Suburban that one of Kill’s connects dropped off after Matt gave them the location for the warehouse where Gina is keeping the girls. Kill throws the keys to Green so he can drive. Bridges jumps into the front passenger seat. Kill drags Matt to the second row of the SUV; he is behind Green, and Matt is behind Bridges.

Once they hit the freeway headed south to San Diego, Kill turns in his seat to look at Matt. Clearing his throat; he waits until Matt’s attention is on him. Matt’s bloodshot eyes make direct contact with Kill. His petrified stare meets Kill’s murderous scowl. Bridges looks back, turning around in her seat to watch what happens between the two.

“I’m only gonna give you one chance to get this right. From the beginning, when you first met Gina and started working for her. GO!”

Matthew sputters to a start, clenching his hands into fists as they sit on his lap. “She didn’t give me all the details at first. All I know is that she was looking for someone to help her bring down Mr. Green. It was no secret that I had gone out for every single special project, and he never picked me. I know he knew who I was, and even my supervisor helped me become a lead analyst so that I would be on his radar. So, it was no love lost on my part to do something to Mr. Green for how he treated me.” Ashley sucks her teeth, “I swear I didn’t know she was after you when I first started.”

“What was her plan for GBI?” Kill asks him.

Directing his answer to Bridges, “She knew you were married to Mr. Green and figured the easiest way to get you was through him and the company. I was supposed to help her embezzle money from various accounts into her offshore accounts. Make sure all roads led back to him, showing that he was stealing from his own company leading to a prison sentence. My supervisor was her first inside man at GBI when she brought me on to begin the embezzlement, and she killed him.”

“So, Alan didn’t just quit as we all thought? Wow,” Green remarked as he listened to the conversation about Gina’s plan to take down him and GBI.  

“No, his job was to find someone who had put in some time with the company and disliked you enough to make her plan a reality, then vouch for me. When that was done, so was he.” He starts to hiccup, struggling to get the next part out. “She said he served his purpose and shot him right in front of me. Not even 10 minutes after I met her.” He shudders and breaks eye contact with the group.

“What about LaNyah?” Ashley jumps in to ask. “Why her?”

Running his hand through his hair, “Convenience, I guess.” Matt shrugs and looks up at Ashley who glares at him, “It was supposed to be Stacey. Gina didn’t care who was in that position; she just needed to know that I was checking their work and would be able to change the reports and move the money. I only had been working for her about 6 months when Mr. Green hired Stacey as his assistant, causing a delay in the plan to search for a new fall guy. Once he hired LaNyah, I passed over whatever information I had to Gina, and she told me when we would start.”

Matthew explains that he only had the background check that HR completed on her. So, it contained the information that Gina would have needed to complete a deep dive of LaNyah, similar to what Kill did when he found out he would be working with her. They all knew what that meant, even if he didn’t.

With LaNyah being new and a personal hire by Green, it made her the perfect scapegoat because everything links her position and working for the company to Green. The money starts disappearing after she began working there, and no one would know because he was altering the reports after she completed her weekly data entry reconciling all the accounts her team handled.

“We started skimming money from the Scholarship account about 3 months after LaNyah joined the company. It would be believable since she needed time to learn the system before manipulating it.”

“So, she’s after Bridges and Green? Anyone else?” Kill asks Matt, wondering if he is the one who gave her the information she needed to track him down finally.

Matt’s eyes lift as he thinks about the question. “You know what, I think she might have, but I have no way of knowing. She only tells me what she feels I need to know when it matters.” He briefly pauses, inhaling deeply, “All I know was she asked me to increase the amount of money we were moving about 3 weeks ago. I told her we needed to be careful because I figured out that Mr. Stevens was here auditing the accounting department.”

“How did you know that?” Green speaks up.

“I am supposed to watch LaNyah, too, and noticed she was meeting with you often before your big trip. Then after you were gone, she was always disappearing to the 35th floor to ‘work’ with Stacey on some project. It didn’t make sense to me because she never stays in the office past 6 like the rest of us. But I do recall walking by her office one Friday afternoon, and she was on the ground surrounded by old reports, muttering to herself.” He loosens his tie, “I never thought she would double-check her work, so that could only mean that she may have figured out what was happening. If that was true, then I knew she probably went and told you,” looking at Green, “and Mr. Green must have hired you to look into it.” Kill nodded his head. “When you warned me to back off of her, I wasn’t sure if you worked for Gina. But I would only see you at GBI, so I guessed you were Mr. Green’s man.”

“When did you tell Gina about Erik?” Ashley asks through gritted teeth. He was the only one she could not find from the entire team all these years, and as soon as she finds him, LaNyah goes missing. Matt hasn’t said anything about kidnapping to make her believe that was part of her original plan. She more than likely planned for her to go to prison along with Alex, leaving Ashley by herself.

“About 3 weeks ago, when Gina called me about doubling the funds, I told her about the audit, and I gave her your name since I couldn’t find much about you on my own.” Matt removes the tie from his neck, placing it in his lap. “She screamed about something –” He jumps in his seat, “OMG, it’s you! She’s after you, too! Said something about you being the missing link.”

“Calm down, Matt.” Green rolls his eyes while watching the man panic through the rearview mirror.

“Gina has always scared me, but that call made me even more paranoid than usual. I just wanted to make sure Laura was ok. I made her go and stay with her mother in Bakersfield, 2 months ago.” Twirling the tie in his lap, “I decided to visit her after the call and walked in to find Gina sitting right next to Laura talking shop like this woman wouldn’t have all of us killed with a snap of her fingers.” Tears blur his vision, and Matt’s voice cracks, “Laura knew I was doing some illegal shit behind Mr. Green’s back, so I came clean about what she didn’t know and told her who she just met. Gina called me back that night and told me exactly how much she wanted to move the next time. A week later, I had everything in place to move more than a million from the account.”

“And it takes two weeks before the money moves from the scholarship account. That was what I saw the night before we came back home.” Green states.

Kill closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, “You were right, Green, she was planning to make her move which is why we saw the major movement from the account. She wanted us to notice.” Clenching his fists by his sides, “We just didn’t know that by the time we saw it, she already had LaNyah.”

“Laura and my son,” Matt squeaks out. Everyone looks at him as he breaks down.

---

Gina moves away from Laura on the couch, focus bouncing between the two of them. This is going to be better than she thought. Laura pissed at LaNyah. LaNyah upset about what she just found out; that she is a doll in this game. And yet, she still doesn’t even know how big a part she plays. With loathing, Gina gazes at her.

Turning to the right, now fully facing LaNyah, Gina’s smile morphs. Gina’s voice laced with all the malice she could muster, “You, Miss LaNyah Cole, have a relationship with every single person on my list.” Laura gasps and shrinks back on the couch, glad she is not in her place. Now, she and the baby stand a better chance of making it out of this place alive.

Tearing up, LaNyah whispers out, “What?”

“My brother was accused of sexually assaulting the only female member on his team, Ashley Bridges.” She stands up and walks to the other side of the table, looking down at both of them. “You both would recognize her by her married name, Ashley Green.”

LaNyah squeaks out, “Ashley! What do you want with her?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, LaNyah, darling. I did not go through all this trouble for Ashley alone.”

“She wants Mr. Green, too, idiot.” Laura huffs out. LaNyah rolls her eyes at her, growing irritated by this whole situation. She didn’t ask to be put in the middle of this. But it seems everyone around her knew something that she didn’t, and that bothers her.

“You want the whole company to go down?” Gina starts slow clapping. LaNyah puts her head in her hands. Of course, she does. It is why she was the perfect patsy. Blame this on the girl who was like the daughter of the two people she held accountable for her brother’s death.

“You are a brilliant woman, Miss Cole.” She walks to her standalone chair and leans against it, “But you are missing the most important thing or person rather. The only person with the skills to kill my brother like that and clean it up so well. A man who, up until a few weeks ago, I only knew by his nickname, Killmonger.” No, no, no, please do not let it be him. LaNyah’s big, confused brown eyes meet steely grey ones, “Mr. Erik Stevens.”

The tears that she was holding back started rolling down her face. LaNyah clutched her chest with both hands while trying to stay seated in the chair. Her breathing was coming out in spurts between her loud sobs. Gina held her hand up to Laura, who was struggling to get up and go to her. She leans over and starts to rub circles into LaNyah’s back. LaNyah flinches at first but just closes her eyes to find something else to focus on to help her breathe.

“I know, sweetheart. It’s hard to find out that the man you like is a stone-cold killer.” LaNyah’s body tenses at her statement. She peeks over at Laura, who has a look of sympathy on her face as she watches LaNyah breaking down at what she learned. Gina closes her eyes as she continues to speak low, still soothing LaNyah with the circles on her back. “He hurt me, too dear. More than you could ever know.”

---

“Did she pay you well for this suicide mission?” Kill demands harshly, Bridges and Green grimly laugh as Matt turns green. “Matthew, you know if we handed you over to her, she would kill you herself. I mean, she did kill the guy you were supposed to replace when she hired you. The money had to be exceptional, right?”

“3 times my annual salary at GBI,” he meekly responds, “and she told me I didn’t have a choice.”

“Let me guess; she threatened to kill you on the spot? Over Alan’s dead body?” Green interjects. Matt just nods his head. They all shake their heads in understanding. It was gonna be him or someone else. But Gina was gonna execute her plan regardless of how many casualties lined the path.

The mood shifts in the SUV as everyone disappears into their thoughts. Ashley is sniffling upfront, swimming in guilt for putting LaNyah in harm’s way. There was no way she knew anyone was coming for her husband or her, but still, Nyah is like her daughter. And in her haste to find LaNyah something to be in control of and help her build a career, Ashley never considered how Nyah working under her husband could lead to such a moment.

Alex looks over at Ashley and grabs her hand, kissing it. “Stop beating yourself up. You could not have known this was gonna happen. We didn’t know McCoy had a twin who would seek vengeance for his death. There is nothing that could have prepared us for any of this. We deal with it now, together as a team. Just like we always have, ok?” Ashley squeezes his hand in response, not trusting her voice at this point.

Kill looks out at the passing fields, controlling his breathing. Gina knows about LaNyah’s connection to Green and Bridges. What else could she know? If Gina is thorough enough to uncover his identity and know that he was involved compared to the rest of the team, then she knows he was the one who killed her brother. She is gunning for him specifically, but she wants to take everyone down – Bridges, who was her brother’s victim; her husband and protector, Green; and their ‘daughter,’ LaNyah. She is using her as bait to bring all three of them to her. No one is supposed to make it out of there alive, except for Gina and her goons.

LaNyah. How is she handling all of this? If he didn’t push her so hard, he could have been watching her like he was supposed to be. Instead, he had hoped his updates from Stacey, as infrequent as those were, would provide him with enough information to know she was doing fine and safe from harm. But this is something else altogether; she was kidnapped in broad daylight by a maniac with no regard for human life. Kill laughs to himself, just like him back then – one goal, one focus, by any means necessary. He runs his hands through his dreads, grateful that he decided to braid them back today. There is no room for any mistakes here and too many lives at risk. It’s LaNyah or bust. He’ll deal with all the other bullshit later.

Snapping his fingers, Bridges and Matt look at him. “You know you’re done, right?” Matt nods, “Good. You’ll serve time in federal prison, but at least you will be alive to meet your son and maybe save your family.”

Matt sighs, “I just wanted to provide for my family. I understand, but I am grateful to be alive.” He glances up at Green catching his eyes in the rearview mirror, “I’m sorry for everything I did to you, sir. To your business and your family, including LaNyah.” Green acknowledges his apology.

Green turns off the road into an industrial complex, leading to Gina’s warehouse. Kill slaps the back of his seat, an old signal from when Green used to drive during other missions. The mission has started, and nothing else matters until they get back into the SUV. Releasing Ashley’s hand, she watches the two of them, Killmonger and Green. The two men who saved her all those years ago are back and ready to do it all over again. She smiles to herself, and they are going to save LaNyah, too.

“You know she’s probably expecting you?” Matt says that like wasn’t the most prominent thought in all of their heads as they approach lot near the warehouse. Everyone was smart enough to keep it to themselves.

“We know.” Green declares.

“And we are ready for her.” The sound of a gun rack sliding catches Matt’s attention, and he looks over to see Kill holding a Glock.

Chapter 12

Taglist: @killmongersaidheyauntie @muse-of-mbaku @panthergoddessbast @youreadthatright @princessstevens @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @stark-red19 @kreolemami @bidibidibombaclaat  @iamrheaspeaks @missumuch1918 @simplyyamberr @cheychey10142 @ajspencer1892 @chrismarcs @loosewindmill @sydneebleu @semianta @eyeknowmywrites @alexundefined @itsjustmezari @goddessofthundathighs @guccixcucci @kissmyafropuff @gimmeface @fd-writes @jozigrrl @soufcakmistress @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @shaekingshitup @localtrapgod @post-woke @theesotericqueen

[shirtlesssammy]

2x02: Everybody Loves a Clown

Then:

Dean wore cute hospital PJs once. And I’m being really flippant over a very cool Then sequence. 

Now:

Medford, Wisconsin

At a fair, the locals are enjoying the rides, and carnies, and clowns (and fire breathers--I mean, I spent many a summer at the county fair in my youth, but I guess, never the one in Medford, WI...wow.) A family with a young girl is enjoying the day. The daughter sees a clown in the distance and waves. 

Yay CLOWNS! If the fucking thing didn’t look like Pennywise’s depressed cousin, maybe I wouldn’t be so skeptical right now. 

Later that night the family drives home in their little Smart Car when the daughter sees Pennywise’s cousin again. Even later, the daughter, hopped up on cotton candy and Fun Dip, can’t sleep. She looks outside to see Pennywise’s cousin chillin’ in her backyard. TOTES NOT CREEPY. She races downstairs to let him inside. 

Meanwhile, the brothers give their father a hunter’s funeral. Sam is overwhelmed and wants to know if John said anything to Dean before he died. WHelps, NO Sam, NOT AT ALL. Dean lets a Single Man Tear fall because he’s not emotional and not lying and not a big ball of pain and anger and relief and guilt. 

One week later, Dean’s at Bobby’s fixing up Baby (and finally grooving to the actual music of the show, thx Netflix for always ruining my season 1 experience). 

For Is This Pornography Science:

Sam wants Dean to admit SOMETHING. Dean wants to bury it all REAL deep and continue to fix his soul car in silence. 

Sam also has a voicemail on their dad’s phone from a woman named Ellen. They agree to head out to find the woman. 

Sidenote: I love that the minivan only plays AM 70’s music. GOLD. 

Anyway, they end up at a place called the Roadhouse. They head inside to the seemingly deserted bar. There’s a man sleeping on the pool table. Dean is accosted by a young woman with a shotgun. He gets the better hand without issue though. She punches him though and Sam comes out from the back at the end of another gun. Boy, this is a real fun crowd. 

Meet Ellen and Jo Harvelle. They know Sam and Dean, but Sam and Dean don’t know them. And I know John is fresh in his grave, but fuck you, man. Way to isolate and terrorize your children their whole lives. Ellen tells them she could help with the demon. She then puts it together that John is not alright. Sam admits that the demon probably got him. 

Ellen tells them that Ash can help them with their cause. Enter: Ash and all his mullet glory. 

Dean and Ash flirt unnecessarily. Ash is a genius and can’t believe what John accomplished. (I mean, what does a genius have to do with hunting, but ok. Sam and Dean are geniuses too but I’d say it’s their street smarts that’s kept them in the game this long.) 

Anyway, Ash can track the demon. He just needs time. Dean tells Ash that he really likes his hair, and then the camera thought that was too gay so it cuts to Jo’s butt. It’s a cute butt and all, but Dean’s still very bisexual. 

Sam asks Ellen about a folder of case information. 

Dean asks Jo about how Ellen got caught up in the hunter life. Jo’s dad was a hunter. He passed away. There’s a moment of Dean thinking about Jo in more than a friendly stranger way but that passes really quickly. Jo calls him out but Sam interrupts (as he does). He’s caught a case!

Sam actively wants to pursue a killer clown case. What kind of upside down world are we living in? Oh right, the world where Sam works cases to process/push through his grief. The brothers try to figure out what’s happening. Dean wonders if it’s a cursed object since it’s moving from town to town with the carnival and it’s happened in the past. Time to find that needle in a haystack!

At the carnival, a disillusioned kid wanders around the funhouse with his dad. He sees Pennywise’s cousin. 

He’s scared but his dad tells him they’re his friends. That night, little Evan lets his new friend into his home to murder his parents. Boy, I dread thinking about the panel of therapists he’ll need in life.

The brothers decide to pose as carnival workers to blend in to find the cursed object. Dean immediately gets off on the wrong foot with one of the carnival workers, who is blind and has an apparent hair trigger temper. Papazian, the worker, is also adept at whirling blades right into a bullseye which is definitely #goals. Dean then pulls an older brother and makes Sam sit in the clown chair during their interview. “This place is a refuge for outcasts,” the carnival manager says. SOLD!

The boys patrol the carnival with EMF meters, until Sam discovers a real human skeleton dangling in the funhouse. YEESH. Papazian overhears Dean talking about the case over his phone and stops him to ask about “EMF” and “skeletons.” Dean scrambles for an explanation. Um, they’re writing a book about...ghosts! Phew! Saved it, Dean Bean. Before the end of the day Sam and Dean witness another kid who sees an invisible clown. Dun dun DUN. 

Sam and Dean tail the family to their home and then sit outside waiting for the clown to appear. It’s much later when a light turns on in the house. The little girl is awake and she’s ready to bring in her new playmate!

My GOD. 

Dean and Sam intercede in the most shotgunniest of ways, by breaking into the house and blasting away at the clown. The clown suddenly fades to nothing and launches out the door.  

Invisible clown on the loose? G R E A T

Later that morning, the Winchesters ditch the van in the woods off the side of the road.

While they walk, they discuss emotions. Sam pushes Dean to grieve in a healthier, more open way. But Dean is OKAY, he’s FINE! He pushes Sam in return to deal with their Dad’s death and stop trying to bury himself in hunting. 

Later, with emotions safely squashed into a tiny space in their chests again, they go over the case. Ellen’s crew turned up a likely suspect: they’re dealing with a rakshasa, which feeds on people and can turn invisible. They eat every 20-30 years so it lines up with the earlier carnival. Carnival manager Cooper worked at both carnivals, and is now their top suspect. 

Sam breaks into Cooper’s trailer, while Dean heads to Papazian to borrow a brass rakshasa-killing knife. Papazian invites Dean to look for the knife in a trunk, only Dean discovers a clown wig inside. “You?” Dean asks before Papazian morphs out on him.

Dean breaks out of the trailer and runs into Sam. He didn’t get the knife, but he found the killer! Good job? Unfortunately Papazian is currently in invisible mode. Sam races for the funhouse to get some brass, heading for the piping hot pipe organ to steal a few blades. 

In the funhouse, knives whirl out of nowhere, pinning Dean to the wall. He pulls the fire extinguisher system and the invisible shape gets trapped in the mist and strobe light. The Winchesters stab it with a brass pipe and it fades away into a pile of clothes. 

Back at Ellen’s bar, Jo congratulates them on a successful hunt. She heavily hints that Sam’s a third wheel and Sam miraculously leaves so that Jo can make her move.

Dean admits that he’d be heavily on the side of massive flirtation, but he’s been having a rough time lately. “Wrong place, wrong time,” Jo surmises. Yep! 

Ash wanders in. He scraped out all the data from John’s notes and turned it into a genuine demon tracking program on his computer. He’ll notify the Winchesters if omens turn up. 

Ellen offers the Winchesters spare beds but they head back to Bobby’s so Dean can drink and work on his car and pretend that he doesn’t feel things. Sam admits that he’s got a lot to work through about their Dad’s death. He feels guilty that he never mended fences with their dad, and admits that he isn’t okay. He tells Dean that he knows he’s feeling the same. Dean admits his own feelings, except instead of words he uses a crowbar to bash the living hell out of the rear trunk of his soul. I mean car. Dean bby

DEAN SMASH:

I feel like a friggin’ soccer mom!

Was there an article in the Demon Hunters Quarterly that I missed?

I know what you're thinking, Sam. Why did it have to be clowns?

“Planes crash!” “And apparently clowns kill!”

I swear, the next person who asks me if I'm okay, I'm gonna start throwing punches

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive! 

[trying-write-fanfics]

Shouji Mezo X Reader Remember part 53

With the phone call, the teachers were able to pinpoint where Y/n was. Not exact location, but a pretty good hint. Aizawa didn’t tell the students who he was brining to this mission, but it was for their own good. He didn’t have high hopes for Y/n considering the location was close than he assumed. 

 Dr.(last name) has dozens of laboratories all over japan and even some all over the world. These labs would lack the true man power to guard it, maybe a security system, but no big shot hero or villain names. With her absence Aizawa thought she was out of the country, but she was closer than expected. She was watching over the events wasn’t she? She wanted to see how well her daughter would survive the battlefield she created. 

“There’s cameras all over, I bet.” Aizawa told Edgeshot. 

“I wonder why there hasn't been an alarm yet.” 

From the assumed time Y/n left to the time she made the phone call. The heroes commute was shorter, they were given private cars to catch up to her with the permission of local police stations to speed. It wasn’t because this was a rescue mission, but to possibly put an end to the NOMU attacks. 

To think they almost had the scientist pinned who created the NOMUs, but now there were two confirmed, with the possibility of them working together. How many people were working for the league of villains? All for one was already a terrifying opponent, but some big name scientists waiting to be let of the ethical leash. No wonder why her husband was trying to loosen up regulations on quirks, probably saved their marriage. 

The duo surprisingly found the lobby empty. They were still careful walking in and found at the front lobby had all the cameras. They found Y/n passed out in a lab room. She was retrained and unconscious. In other rooms he found Dr (last name) was talking to some disheveled assistance. There was an empty office with a computer.

“You take the computer. Get all the information you can.” Aizawa said. 

“The other two will help take out guards.” Edgeshot said. 

Down in the basement laboratory Dr(last name) fixed her hair as she explained to her team what was next for them. 

“With that all for one lackie here to pick up a half baked NOMU, I may be able to give them an even better NOMU. If you guys can keep him entertain until I can get an estimate on the next creation.” She said. “It’s gonna be my best NOMU yet, from my very own blood.”

“I don’t know if we can hold his attention he doesn’t really talk.” An assistant said. 

“You can’t be awkward your whole life. He probably wants something to enhance his quirk. He’s survived attacking UA after all. Figure it out nerds!” Dr.(last name) yelled.

 The scientist walked past the room that held her daughter. She lacked the empathy to have regret. She hoped her daughter was going to be the second stage of her best creation! However a man walked past the corner. Aizawa shuttered at the sight of the woman. 

“And what is Eraserhead doing in my lab? I don’t give tours on weekdays.” She said. 

“No, I’m here for other reasons.” He told her using his quirk. 

The doctor still charged at Aizawa. She punched the forearm he used to block the blow. It was harder than he expected. His eyes widened realizing where Y/n truly learned how to fight. Her muscles remembered but the memories had been blocked. 

“I have to ask what kind of teacher lets his students get involed with their prisoner?” Dr (last name yelled). “What type of bored man are you?”

“I can’t stop what the heart wants.”

She did a high kick that Aizawa was able to dodge. He punched the woman in the stomach to knock her back once more. She was like a reactor ready to blow off with more going on each second. Her smile was going insane and then it was to a dark scowl.

“You heroes love fucking everything up for the best like me!” She growled. 

Aizawa pushed her back. She threw a cart at him and took a fire extinguisher and threw it at him. He ran a bit back looking to see if there was another way to fight her. She chased him to the main lab. 

“Sound the alarm we have rats!” She yelled for the whole staff to hear. 

“Damn it” he growled.

“Unleash the beast!” The doctor yelled some more. 

 Red light loud alarms started going off. A staff member put codes in to delete everything from the main frame. Edgeshot saving data from the main computer cursed realizing they were now running out of time. The class holding the not finished NOMU opened up releasing fluids all over the floor and the brain bird. 

“I heard you almost died to one of these bad boys, hopefully this one finishes the job!” 

The NOMU crawled out wailing an unbearable screeched. Two other staff memebers blocked the way as he noticed the doctor was making her escape. The NOMU charged at Aizawa. He went under and attacked one assistant. 

“Self-destruction will activate in 30 minutes.” A computer for all hear said. 

The doctor was able to escape his sight as he fought the assistants. His new priority was to get Y/n out of there. He raced out of the group as the NOMU slipped on the own fluid it was birthed in. Aizawa went back to the room where y/n was and found she wasn’t even in there. They moved her which mean she was worth saving. 

“20 minutes till self destruction.”

“Edgeshot, did you get the data?” He asked over walkie talkie.

“I got about 30% before the main frame wiped the whole system clean.” He explained. “Did you save the girl.”

“No, however the staff moved her so she won’t be part of the self destruction I hope.” Aizawa explained. 

He was going to fail her again. 30% of the data probably won’t prevent Y/n from being turned into a NOMU. That letter she wrote to Shouji was signing her death away for doing something she believed in. Logic was what she threw out the door like Midoriya did when he saved Bakugo, why? It was what they did. They had to be part of the chaos despite their survival rate. Their minds are one track on one goal. That was all she was worth to her mother was another NOMU part, and she knew that which is why she had to go and fight. 

Aizawa figured out what the last part of Dr.(Last name) plan was. If Y/n didn’t die at the camp, she would find a way to get Aizawa fired or at least publically humiliated. Y/n would be kidnapped from the lack of eyes on her at the school because the school trusted Y/n during her recovery. Once the doctor found a way in past their security, they would kidnap Y/n, prove UA was a terrible school for children, and turn Y/n into a NOMU. However the doctor never figured out how to get pass the security yet.

“5 minutes until self destruction.”

 The sound of frantic running and screaming seemed to quiet down. He left that NOMU with those assistants but he couldn’t save them either. They created their own demise. Aizawa found Edgeshot outside where they entered.

“C‘mom!”

They rang away from the building as fast as they could. They headed towards the car but the noise of the loudest boom they ever heard was able to knock them forward on the forest floor. The world seemed to just smack them. Debris hit their backs. Aizawa slowly turned the the smoke full building. It was completely destroyed. It still held. The people weren’t outside. There were underground tunnels. That doctor wouldn’t die yet, now that she had her daughter. 

Edgeshot helped Aizawa up. They were both unbalanced but still made it to their feet. It was a failed mission. Or so they thought. The other two heroes called from behind and they were glad they didn’t lose anyone from the team. They walked more towards the car and found a gruesome sight. Two bodies. One burnt to a crisp, wearing the lab attire and the other one was an unconscious Y/n. The bodies were brought to the hospital and files were being filled out. 

[clan-sayeed-fic]

Let me earn your trust (Kamilah Sayeed & MC)

Previous chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Book: Bloodbound (property of Pixelberry Studios) Pairing: Kamilah Sayeed & MC: Amy (I do not own those characters, they're the property of Pixelberry Studios as well) Warnings: strong language, some fluff Rating: Mature Author's note:  I'm not a native English speaker, I'm sorry for any mistakes (feel free to correct me).

~ 2000 words

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Chapter 8

Amy run all the way from the bus to Raines Company. She was ready to run over the whole building, straight to the catacombs. What she didn't prepare herself for, was security.

At the moment, she got inside, she was stopped by the man wearing a black suit, with an earpiece. She didn't remember him. Probably the reason for this was that when they had arrived with Adrian, no one dared to ask.

"I can't let you go any further before confirming your identity Ms." he stood in her way.

"Amy Campbell," she said nervously, not wanting to wait any longer. "Adrian knows that I'm coming."

The security man went to his computer and started typing Amy's identity. His brows furrowed.

"Can I ask for your real name?" he asked suspiciously.

"I have already told you," Amy bit her lower lip, losing confidence.

"Amy Cambell exists for about 4 years from now, and I'm sure that you're not 4 years old," he said, slowly reaching for his phone.

Shit, Amy swallowed hard. How good is their system in here that they knew about this? She was sure that Lily wasn't bad in her job, and she made sure to replace all of Amy's previous personal data with the new one.

Amy smiled sweetly to him, and when he was focused on picking a number, she ran past him as fast as she could.

"Block the elevators, call everyone in the building!" Amy heard screams behind her back, but she was already far ahead, adrenaline coursing in her veins.

She got to the stairs and started climbing, prying that no one would stop her.

Finally, she was on the floor where Adrian had his office. She didn't expect that anyone would stop her here. And again, she was wrong.

"Excuse me," she heard and then, saw a middle-aged woman with blonde, short hair, and scowl on her face. "You can't go in there."

"I have a meeting scheduled with Adrian," Amy said without turning and walked through the doors to the office, and after that, to Adrian's elevator.

"Wait, I'm calling the security," the woman said, high-pitched.

"They already know that I'm here," Amy said with a smile as the elevator moved.

***

Amy stepped out of the elevator, breathing heavily after running through the whole building. First, what she saw, when she entered the catacombs, were Kamilah's and Adrian's faces. Then, she noticed a girl standing with her back to Amy. Characteristic purple-hair stood out in the faint light.

Amy put the backpack on the ground, and her legs began to tremble. Tears started to flow down her cheeks without her permission.

"Lil?" her voice shaky.

The newly turned vampire looked in her way. Her whole appearance was radiating with unknown power.

At incredible speed, Lily was standing in front of Amy. They hugged each other tightly. Amy closed her eyes, still crying but grateful for having her best friend beside her.

"Carefully," Kamilah cautioned.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry," Lily let go of Amy's body when she realized how devastated the girl was. "Shh, Ames, it's alright."

Amy was weeping ashamed. She didn't want anyone to see her like that. Especially not clearly confused with the situation vampires. But she gave up, she couldn't keep her emotions in check anymore. Her legs were shaking, making her got down on her knees.

"I thought that I lost you for good," she finally spoke, her eyes red from crying.

"Are you kidding me?" Lily kneeled down beside her. "You will have to do more than that to get rid of me," she laughed at her own joke, but when she saw that Amy was still shaking, she said, "come on, Amy, we don't cry, remember?"

"I know," Amy wiped her face, trying to hold her emotions back. "Are you mad at me?"

"Why should I be," Lily asked, disoriented.

"Because of me you are," she stopped, not knowing how much did they tell her friend.

"A fucking vampire?" Lily smiled widely. "That's awesome!"

Amy couldn't help but laugh with her. That was her best friend. Like nothing had ever happened, her attitude stayed the same.

"You're such an idiot," Amy said teasingly.

"Jerk," Lily repaid with a smile. "Why are you so sweaty?"

Amy reminded herself about what happened earlier and looked in Adrian's eyes.

"I might have caused some trouble before getting here," Adrian raised his eyebrows, not entirely understanding what she had in mind.

He wanted to ask, but then, another person walked in the catacombs.

"Adrian, I tried to stop her, I swear," Nicole, his assistant, said and froze when she saw Amy and Lily on the ground. "What is going on here?"

Nicole stared at Lily deeply. She could easily recognize the newly turned vampire since she had seen a lot of them in catacombs. When she entirely understood what had happened, something cracked inside of her.

"Did you turn her?" she said with blame in her voice.

"Nicole," Adrian scratched his neck, nervously, "thank you for caring, but Amy was welcome to come here."

He didn't answer her question. Mostly because there was no need to, she stated the fact.

"You seriously turned some random person?!" she was shaking with anger.

Amy and Lily stood up from the floor, confused.

"Nicole," Kamilah decided to put an end to this nonsense, "Why don't you go back to your office and give us some time, private."

Her voice was calm, but Nicole knew to well that if she doesn't cooperate, Kamilah won't go easy on her anymore. With that thought, she disappeared in the elevator again, sending one last threatening look towards Amy.

"I told you to stop giving her hope," Kamilah turned to Adrian. "She can become a trouble one day."

"I had never given her hope," he tried to defend himself, unsuccessfully.

Meantime, Lily changed her clothes to the clean ones that Amy brought from their flat. She was grateful for not having to wear a shirt covered in blood anymore.

Amy was impressed by how good Lily handled this new situation. What's more, she didn't feel threatened by her being the vampire after all. For a second, Amy wondered why Lily wasn't hungry, but when she saw an empty blood bag near the wall, her doubts were dispelled.

"What will happen now," Lily asked, she couldn't hide the excitement in her voice, eager for adventure.

"You will go with Adrian to his apartment and live there for a few weeks during which you will learn how to control yourself," Kamilah answered emotionless. "We need to deal with the Council and get the approval for you to join Adrian's Clan."

Both of the vampires shared a meaningful gaze.

"What?" Lily was surprised, "I'm gonna live with a billionaire, and he is going to teach me how to become a badass?!"

"Technically, I'm not a billionaire yet," Adrian smiled to her. "And Kamilah would be the one to teach you most of the time since she has more experience than me on this topic."

"Woah," Lily remembered their first talk, but that didn't decrease her enthusiasm. "So I'm gonna be even bigger badass, cool!"

Amy smiled at her, wondering how she could be so confident around these overwhelming vampires. Amy's smile faded when Kamilah turned to her with the next words.

"And you are going to live at my penthouse," she kept the same tone of her voice. "We have some work to do, don't we?"

Amy quietly nodded. Ready for what's to come.

***

Kamilah showed Amy the guest room in her penthouse, which from now on, belonged to her. The room was nothing compared to Kamilah's spacious bedroom, but still, it was bigger than Amy's at her place. Besides, Amy was not a greedy type of person. She would get what she was given.

The walls were light beige, and the items of furniture the opposite, darker. There was a bed in the corner and the table by the window. The window was placed in the way that if someone opens the door, the sun didn't reach them. Also, the room was filled with high wardrobe, and commode. Light carpet on the dark floor matching the color of the walls.

"This is the only room where you can have opened curtains during the day," Kamilah said, standing outside of the room while Amy stood in its center.

"Got it," Amy looked around herself, "Can I redecorate it?"

"Why would you do such a thing?" Kamilah was surprised at this question, she felt insignificantly offended.

"Because, that's the biggest fun when you're getting a new room," Amy remembered when she had to move out and into different rooms back in the days. "I don't wanna change too much, only make it a little bit mine," Amy assured, with a soft smile.

Kamilah felt calmer. What's more, she was glad that Amy wanted to make herself feel at home.

"Yes, by all means, you can," Kamilah made her way to the living room, followed by Amy.

Should I feel already this freely around her, Amy asked herself in thoughts. It was a whole new situation for her. She should feel intimidated by it and distanced herself. But, what she really felt was the anticipation of what the future held for her.

"I want you to feel here comfortable," Kamilah said, sitting on the armchair tired after the long night and day, she stared deeply into Amy's eyes. "But, I have my rules."

"Okay, I will go to bed before 10 p.m." Amy laughed at her own joke, but Kamilah stayed firm.

The woman tilted her head slightly, a spark in her beautiful, dark eyes.

"You're adorable," Kamilah said with a hardly visible smirk, making Amy blush. "I was about to say..." she traced her fingers on the material of the chair, the movement hypnotizing Amy, "that you are not allowed to enter my bedroom and office." Kamilah stopped playing with the chair, lifting her gaze and waiting for Amy to do the same before continuing her thoughts. "Especially, the office, I value my work. And I do work a lot."

"Okay," Amy understood, "I won't bother you when you are working."

"Good," girl, Kamilah added in her thoughts, catching herself how often she wanted to call Amy this way.

Amy picked up her bag and was about to go to her room when Kamilah's voice made her turn around.

"I can send someone to your apartment for the rest of your things," she said after noticing how small was the bag in Amy's hand.

Amy wondered why she would do that, and then it hit her. Kamilah had so many things in here. Luxury things. It must have been weird to see someone like Amy, having only the content of the one bag.

"There is no need to do that," she ensured. "By the way, I left nothing there, so that's everything I have."

Kamilah raised her eyebrows in a huge surprise. She could not understand how Amy lived so far with this small amount of her own stuff.

"Then I will send someone to buy you new things and clothes," it was so easy for her to say something like that.

"I don't..." Amy sighed, "Kamilah, don't get me wrong," when she said her name, something cracked inside of the woman. "I like it the way it is. I'm used to owning so little things," Amy was about to share her rule this time. "I figured out that the more you have, the more it will hurt to lose it one day." She forced a smile, adding, "besides, I moved a lot recently, so it's easier this way."

Amy turned around and disappeared inside her room.

Kamilah was left with her thoughts.

She couldn't understand why, but she started to care about this human. And caring was certainly not Kamilah's thing for a very long time. This basically new feeling made her feel concerned.

Kamilah had a similar rule to Amy's.

She found out that the fewer people she cared about, the less painful her existence was.

Next chapter: 9 ---------------------- 

tag list: @onyxgaytrash, @lightning-fury, @scarlet-letter-a0114

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~SPOILER ALERT~

I'm grateful for yesterday's chapter of Bloodbound, and especially Kamilah's scene. I mean, I was skeptical about how they would write Kamilah's "I love you" cause, let's admit it, Kamilah is complicated as hell. And it would seem off for her character to just tell this without context. That's why I'm happy that they wrote such a beautiful dialogue between her and MC before it happened.  

[voidendron]

Deep Blue Sea: Ch. 18

Chapter 18: Survivor Six Subnautica/JSE Egos Crossover

(( take three for writing this chapter :’D JJ and Henrik’s POVs didn’t cooperate, but fortunately Marv’s did! Because of it taking three attempts, I’m not gonna make you wait any longer by doing my final rewrite edit that I usually do, so apologies for errors! ))

Warnings: Swearing, Character Injury, Mentioned (Minor) Character Death Characters: Marvin the Magnificent, Dr. Schneeplestein, Jameson Jackson, Jackieboy Man, Chase Brody, Second Officer Keen POV: Marvin the Magnificent

They’d arrived back at the habitat maybe an hour or so ago, and Marvin was fiddling with his PDA when banging startled him. Turning it off, he tipped his head questioningly at Jameson. The younger man was hitting his fist against the wall to get their attention. That explained the noise.

He pointed, then, signing…something. Marvin couldn’t read the signs, but let his eyes follow Jameson’s outstretched finger toward the window.

Marvin stood with his brows furrowing; somewhere behind him, he could hear Henrik hiss between his teeth as he re-wrapped the wound in his leg after checking on it. Eyes widening, he saw exactly what the chef had been pointing at.

“There’s…three of them. Please tell me I’m not seein’ things.”

He felt Henrik move to his side to get a better look. “…Yes. Yes, see it, too.”

Three shadows approached—two with Seaglides, one without. The one without the device was keeping surprisingly good pace with the other two.

“Maybe it’s Yu or Keen?” Marvin suggested, pursing his lips. He couldn’t help feeling a little pang of guilt. He’d been so adamant about leaving the island, and now it seemed like one of them had survived? He could barely hide his cringe when there was clanging from the entrance.

The outside hatch was opened and slammed shut again, then the drainage systems activated. It was only with the sound of the pumps falling silent that the bulkhead was shoved open. One Seaglide was left in the entrance (probably Jackie’s; he was really good at leaving it in bad places).

The second was in the hands of—

There stood Second Officer Keen: Slouching, exhausted, covered in cuts and bruises, but very much alive. He looked like he could pass out right where he stood.

“Status?” he demanded instead, his cutting stare going straight for Henrik. When the doctor stood silent for apparently too long, Keen elaborated with, “Injuries? Survivor count?”

“Counting you,” he started, “is only six remaining—all in this room. Jackson—” he nodded for the chef, “—has fractured ribs and is being watched for pneumonia. Brody and Magnus both suffered minor concussions.” There was a grimace as the doctor shifted his weight to let off on his injured leg a little. “I was bitten by one of the fish—a ‘Biter.’ The rest of our injuries consist of scrapes, bruises, and cuts that will heal on their own.”

Marvin…wasn’t so sure of that last bit. Not when he took a good look at Jackie and cleared his throat to get Henrik’s attention, then gestured for the security guard.

“What the hell happened to him?!”

Scrapes, and cuts, and a torn divesuit, bloodied where the water hadn’t washed it away on the swim back to the habitat. The fabric at his thigh was ripped apart completely, revealing the filthy shredded skin beneath it that was already discolored with a nasty bruise that had Marvin grimacing. He was also walking funny, wincing with every step even as Chase kept an arm around him.

“Did you fall off the goddamn mountain?!”

“Heh… It’s really that obvious?”

Marvin had to hide his snort.

“What?”

“Can you just like. Wrap me up or somethin’, please? It hurts, and we’ve got shit to tell ya.”

The entertainer moved forward to help Chase with supporting the other man, walking him to a less-cluttered part of the habitat to sit him down. “Why?” Marvin asked. “Find more data logs?”

Chase snorted. “Yeah. That and more.”

The sound of ripping fabric filled the habitat as Henrik tore Jackie’s suite to get to the injury in his thigh. He was scowling, because of course he was. “Well? Spit it out!”

“Well…” Chase rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s another survivor. So, seven of us I guess. But like. Not from the Aurora. It was the Antony guy from the recordings.”

Eyes widening against his will, Marvin shook his head. “But… That recording was ten years old. How is that possible?”

“He’s found a way to survive—” Keen’s voice startled Marvin; he’d about forgotten the officer was there, “—as will we.”

“Then why didn’t you bring him here? I don’t under—”

“He has been in solitude for so long that his humanity is nonexistent and he attempted to kill us,” Keen interrupted. “He already succeeded in doing so with the CTO. He called us ‘diseased’ and claimed we would poison him. The man’s gone mad. He can stay on the island.” The sharp edge to his tone was softened only by his grimacing as he sank to the floor with his back against the wall. He was still in his uniform, but one sleeve was shredded, both knees torn, and cuts ripped into the fabric throughout it revealed matching ones on the skin beneath. All in all, he was a mess.

After he was silent for a while, he added, “We must avoid that island. Sepse knows this planet far better than we do, but with any luck he remains close to it when and if he’s ever in the water. The animals here, we can learn how they act. A human? Too unpredictable.” The hundreds of quotes Marvin had heard about man being the only true monster echoed in his head at that. “A…package, was sent to the Aurora. I’m not positive what it was, but we need to get on—”

Frantic shaking of his head. “Nope. Not happening.” Marvin paused for a few moments to pull a water bottle and nutrient bar out of one of the lockers, passing them both off to the officer before continuing as Keen glared daggers at him. “I already tried, okay? Fuckin’ thing’s surrounded by radiation. If you’re up for a suicide mission, then sure, go for it, but otherwise I suggested planting your ass right here.”

“Yes,” Henrik added as he wrapped bandages around Jackie’s leg—had his already cleaned it? “It sounds like you were…otherwise occupied on the island, but we got a message shortly after returning. The ship’s drive core is damaged.”

There were an audible thunk as Keen tipped his head back to hit against the wall. A long sigh, then, “Brody. Would you know how to repair that?”

“Dependin’ on the extent of the damage, I might be able to. But I’d need a radiation suit and I’m not goin’ alone.”

“If we get the suits, I’d go,” Jackie offered.

Good, Marvin thought. He wasn’t going anywhere near the ship with that Reaper so close to it. He shuddered at the thought. “How would we even get the suits?” He pulled his PDA off his hip and waved it around to prove a point. “We don’t have the blueprint.”

“We do, actually.” Keen screwed the lid back on the nearly-empty water bottle and gestured to the PDA nearest him: Jameson’s. “The radiation suit is under a specialized lock when our devices enter Emergency Mode. Our PDAs will release the blueprint only if they deem it necessary. So as much as I hate to say it, further damage to the drive core should help trigger it.”

“Which would mean it could be beyond my ability to repair it, but we can at least get that data package.”

“Yes.”

“And…what about the radiation? Can’t just leave the drive core damaged and leaking, can we?” Marvin gestured vaguely out the window before crossing his arms. “I mean. Personally I like not being radiation poisoned, but maybe that’s just me.”

Jackie and Chase both tried to stifle laughter while Jameson bit his lip and ducked his head. Keen only sighed. “We can only hope it doesn’t reach this far, at least until we have the suits. With any luck, the damage might still be repairable to stop it entirely.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“Okay, okay.” Jackie prodded at the new bandaging on his thigh, wincing, and Marvin rolled his eyes when the security guard proceeded to poke at it again. “Soooo… We can’t do anything about the ship ‘til the drive core takes a little more damage. That means we keep doing what we’ve been doing and gather supplies, right?” He hissed when Henrik moved to start cleaning the shredded soles of his feet, nearly kicking the doctor and earning a harsh glare. “But somethin’ I’ve been wondering since the island… Keen, why didn’t you just jump off the bridge into the bay? I mean. You threw your PDA from there, right? You could’a just gotten away.”

The officer’s eyes dropped to the floor. He looked…genuinely upset as he shook his head with a soft sigh—fingers picking at his remaining sleeve, shoulders slumped, head bowed low. “The CTO and I got on the island from a different beach than the center bay’s, one more on its southern side. We remained at the surface for the entire trip there—I didn’t even realize it was floating until I left with you and Brody.

“When we reached the bridge, the CTO was already wounded and we didn’t know the bay passed through the island. I thought we would be trapped if we jumped down there, so we chose not to risk it.” He closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the wall. “I see now that had we jumped in the bay, Yu would still be with us.”

“Nothing we can do about now,” Marvin said. He moved back to one of the lockers to grab the officer more water, then blinked when he was met by the sight of the PDA. He’d totally forgotten Jameson had put it in a locker. With it and another water bottle in each hand, he went to kneel at the officer’s side. “Just drink and eat. And then try to sleep. Fuck, you look like you need it.”

Keen tried to glare, but it fell away as he took the items offered to him.

“For now, we should just keep doin’ what we’ve been doing.” Chase’s voice echoed slightly; he had his head in one of the lockers as he pulled supplies out. Marvin recognized them as the ones for a divesuit. “We’ll let Keen rest up—could I take your PDA quick? Thank you—while we just keep gatherin’. Once the rad suit’s unlocked, Jackie and I can head to the ship.”

When the fabricator finished the new suit, Chase gave both it and the PDA he’d taken (to make sure it got the correct sizing, if Marvin was to guess) to Keen. The accents on the new suit were a light gray. The entertainer really had to wonder if the colors were associated with sizes, or more so for ranks or positions on the ship.

“So…” Marvin ran a hand through his hair, frowning as his fingers caught tangles. “Our only plan right now is wait for the drive core to…I don’t know, blow up?”

Chase just rolled his eyes. “Dude. It’s not gonna blow up.”

[liketolaugh-writes]

Alphabet Soup

Author: liketolaugh Summary:  Connor likes to explore his identity in bits and pieces, understanding what makes him himself one slice of life at a time. When Valentine's Day rolls around, that's when he first starts wondering about romance. Or: Connor's coming out, first to himself and then to others.

“Lieutenant, can you explain the concept of romantic love?”

Hank choked on his coffee, sending it sputtering in front of him as he coughed violently, setting the mug down hard on the table in front of him. Connor had to hide a grin, patting the man on the back to help him along until the man inevitably waved him off, still coughing.

“What the fuck,” Hank wheezed, once a few minutes had passed.

“I noticed the last time I went to the grocery store that some of the decorations had changed and a previously generic aisle had been redesigned to suit,” Connor explained, leaning against the table to idly monitor Hank’s respiration as it returned to baseline. “The last time this happened was when Christmas was coming up, if you recall, so I did some research, and my system database indicated that the occasion in question was Valentine’s Day. I thought you’d be able to explain it to me.”

“You fucker,” Hank complained, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He immediately took another deep swig of the coffee, pointedly ignoring Connor’s small smirk, and set it down again. “Ugh.”

“That’s not very helpful, Lieutenant,” Connor said mildly.

“Ugh,” Hank repeated, with extra emphasis. “Alright. Okay. Fine. Do we have to do this now?”

Connor quirked an eyebrow at him, head tilting a little. Hank scowled back. Their bickering attracted Tina’s attention, and she sauntered over and plopped herself down with her own cup of coffee in hand.

“Anything causing the lieutenant that much visible anguish has my attention,” she announced, fixing avidly curious eyes on Connor. “What’s up?”

“I asked him to explain romantic love,” Connor informed her.

“Yeah, that would do it,” she snorted, a delighted smirk pulling across her mouth. “I’m so glad you decided to do this in public, and also in my vicinity, because this is way too much fun to pass up. He’s not gonna help you though. What did you want to know?”

Connor considered her for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of indulging her, but he was the one who’d decided to do this in a public avenue. “How do you recognize it?”

“Ooh,” she crooned gleefully. “That’s a fun one. Alright, so romantic love, that almost always starts with crushes.”

“Who has a crush?” Chris asked, appearing beside them. Hank seemed to have retreated into misery, scowling at the table and looking like he wished his coffee was spiked with something unhealthy. “Not you, I hope.”

“Fuck you, Chris,” Tina said without heat. “We’re explaining romance to Connor.”

“No, you’re not,” Connor disagreed, bringing a fist up to support his cheek idly.

“I’m getting to it,” Tina assured him. “Crushes, do you ever look at someone and just get excited to be around them? Maybe nervous? You know, butterflies in your stomach, fluttering heart, all that wonderful teenager stuff.”

Connor’s mind unwillingly shot to Markus. “No,” he said, a touch too quickly.

Tina looked skeptical, but didn’t push the issue. “Whatever, you’ll know it when you feel it.”

“Okay, but that’s not all there is to it,” Chris argued, and Connor shifted his gaze to him, hoping he would be more helpful. Chris shot him a small grin. “Romantic love kinda follows you your whole life. Crushes are part of it, but it matures over time. Your partner’s supposed to support you no matter what, even when things get hard. That’s the beauty of it though.”

“Chris is being sappy because every time he and his wife argue, they talk it through and fall even more in love,” Tina explained to Connor, who was at this point just growing increasingly confused.

“Why are we explaining the intricacies of successful marriages?” Ben asked, appearing by Hank and leaning on the table. “Not that I’m complaining, but I think the only ones married here are Chris and I.”

“Connor is asking about romance,” Chris explained to Ben. “Tina decided to save Hank the suffering.”

All of them looked at Hank, who had one hand covering his face, trying to tune out the conversation.

“And I decided to pitch in,” Chris finished, with an almost apologetic tone to his voice.

“I’m beginning to think I should have suffered in silence,” Connor mused aloud, trying not to smile. He wasn’t expecting this to be an actively popular topic, but he didn’t think he’d had a conversation this active or friendly with his coworkers before, and certainly not so many at once.

“You really should have,” Hank groaned, kicking him under the table. Connor kicked him back shamelessly, and Hank cursed, giving him a dirty look, to which Connor tilted his head innocently.

“You’ll understand when you get a girlfriend,” Ben told Connor kindly, smile faintly bemused. “Maybe that nice girl from analytics.”

Tina clapped. “Oh, that’s a good example! Connor, you know Alicia?”

Connor nodded cautiously, head tilting. “Yes? She’s rather nice but a little strange.”

“That’s because she has a crush on you,” Tina explained earnestly. “She talks to you a lot with really flimsy reasoning, right? And she stutters and blushes and does you favors?”

“Yes…” Connor said, slow and cautious as he tried to follow, a little overwhelmed now. “What… do I do about this?”

“Oh god,” Hank groaned. Connor took the initiative and kicked him first this time.

“You don’t have to do anything,” Chris provided with a sympathetic smile. “But you’d definitely have more than a fair chance, if you want to ask her out. You probably get a little nervous around her too, right? Maybe want to get to know her better?”

“Your heart should beat fast,” Ben added, with a touch of wistfulness to his voice. “Maybe you want to show off and impress her. Young love is something special.”

Connor shook his head, increasingly flustered and starting to regret bringing up the topic more sincerely.

“I don’t,” he protested. “I just noticed that she was acting strangely.” He’d actually been a little concerned, and he wasn’t sure he felt any better about it now. How was he supposed to respond to a girl with a crush on him? This certainly wasn’t in his programming.

“Thank god,” Hank muttered, and then, clearer, bumping Connor more gently, “Then she’s flat out of luck, and you don’t have to do anything except maybe let her down nice if you feel like it.”

Connor hummed with some distress, finally reaching out to do some quick supplementary research, and then, after a few moments, said, “My research indicates that not all couples are a woman and a man?”

His mind flicked to the Tracis, two girls wrapped together like that would protect them from the rest of the world.

“He gets it,” Tina said with obvious pleasure, jabbing her thumb at Connor.

“Most couples are,” Ben corrected, with an almost apologetic bent.

Connor started to reply, but was distracted when someone else finally came into the break room, and a quick glance told Connor that it was Detective Reed who’d entered. Instantly, a smirk shot across Connor’s face and he called out,

“Detective Reed, look at me!”

Detective Reed turned around, a faintly confused scowl on his face as he stopped fumbling for a mug.

“Bitch,” Connor said clearly, and Reed sputtered.

The other four humans collapsed into various forms of laughter, and that was the end of that conversation. But Connor kept thinking about it, even when he went back to work and long after Hank had put it out of his mind.

-------

Hank wasn’t able to put it out of his mind for long, because soon after that, Connor started playing love songs in a wide variety of genres whenever the radio was silent for more than a few minutes.

The nature of the activity wasn’t itself particularly unusual; Connor spent quite a lot of time exploring new possible interests whenever they were drawn to his attention, and Hank had been kind enough to give him space to do so. The man had put up with classical, rap, movie soundtracks, and electrobeat as Connor tested them all out by turn.

Apparently Hank drew the line at Kelly Clarkson.

“Can’t you play this shit in your head?” Hank demanded of Connor, less than a week into his newest curiosity. He looked exceptionally sullen, slumped against the arm of the couch and making quiet, irritable groaning noises.

Connor would argue that he looked like a petulant child. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“I could,” Connor said agreeably, “but this is one of the few occasions where doing so externally is genuinely better than keeping it within my system.” Transmitting sound data directly into his mind wasn’t quite the same as listening to it play.

“Wasn’t it enough to put me through that whole talk at work?” Hank demanded of him. “You gotta subject me to Taylor Swift all day too?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Connor deadpanned, glancing over at Hank, “but none of you were actually very helpful.” But Hank’s continual protests were starting to put a knot in his chest, and before he could think better of it, he asked, “Is there a reason you’re so reluctant to help me explore this particular topic, Lieutenant?”

Hank went still for a moment, and Connor winced as he realized what had caught his attention. Connor only called him ‘Lieutenant’ at home when he was uncomfortable. But he couldn’t help it; Hank was usually so unconditionally supportive of any moves Connor made to explore his opinions, so this uncharacteristic protest was making him nervous.

Hank exhaled.

“Hell,” he sighed, obviously frustrated. “It’s just- a messy topic, Con. I never really got the hang of it myself. That’s why I have an ex-wife instead of a wife.” Connor bit his cheek, trying to push his scattered thoughts together into a response, but when Hank looked over at him, the man’s expression relaxed a little, resigned instead of annoyed. “Most people go through their first fumbling relationships when they’re teenagers. I guess you didn’t exactly get that chance though.”

“I was never a teenager, Hank,” Connor reminded the other, trying to force the anxiety in his chest to ease. Hank rolled his eyes, but relaxed noticeably.

“Yeah, no shit. Anyway, I’ll put up with it, I guess. God knows I have practice.”

That made Connor curious, but not enough to ask. “Appreciated.”

So Connor kept running through them, shifting quickly from genre to genre but sticking to the main topic. He found that he preferred love songs by women, and liked the heartbroken ones as much as he did the longing and lovestruck ones, and otherwise his genre preferences had remained rather uniform: metal and rock were his favorite, pop was okay, and country and hip-hop were out of the question.

A few times, he tried to imagine what kind of woman he might want to date, but his mind skittered over the idea without catching on anything, and eventually he accepted the defeat with as much grace as he could. Maybe it was simply something he couldn’t guess before he tried. (Or maybe it was just another way Connor was failing to understand.)

Hank assured him, gruffly, that he’d probably work it out in time – he always had more faith in Connor than Connor had in himself, even if he was usually reluctant to express it.

Connor himself, of course, wasn’t nearly so sure. Who would even want to love Connor so intimately? Connor was… well. Connor. The reasons not to like him couldn’t be counted on fingers.

He didn’t say that to Hank, of course, and it didn’t stop him from thinking about it.

--------

In the immediate wake of this, Connor came to New Jericho’s headquarters on a social call.

It wasn’t something he made a point of doing. Actually, it was something he’d tried his very best not to do, not wanting to cause the androids of New Jericho any more discomfort than was strictly necessary to perform his duties. Even social calls as a more general concept were foreign to him. What would they even do? Most of the time, Connor either followed Hank’s lead or entertained himself alone. Group activities were new territory, and he was as unsure of himself as he ever was.

But Markus had asked. Connor rarely found it in himself to deny Markus anything.

So he met Josh at the front door of the headquarters and followed him inside, keeping quiet and awkward. Josh would be a reassuring presence if Connor weren’t so nervous just to be around him – he kept up a litany of neutral-ground questions about work and about Hank, and accepted Connor’s stilted answers without any evident frustration.

“W-what were you and the others planning on doing tonight?” Connor blurted out eventually, and winced when he realized that it had no relevance to the question Josh had just asked about Sumo.

Josh favored him with a small smile and Connor looked away quickly, self-conscious.

“We were thinking about just watching a movie,” Josh said conversationally. “North gets testy when we try to talk work on Saturday nights, and movies aren’t something any of us except Markus have a lot of experience with. It’s nice.” Josh considered. “Well, Simon knows some, but they’re mostly for kids.”

He sounded very pleased, Connor thought, and it made sense. All of them were still working on finding their footing in a world that, while not exactly safe, was no longer quite so actively attacking them.

“What kinds of movies?” Connor ventured after a moment, still stiff and nervous despite his own best efforts.

“Well, North likes action movies, of course,” Josh said with a roll of his eyes. “The more violence, the better. Simon likes the absolute trashiest romances-”

“Can we try one of those?” Connor asked without thinking, and cringed as he realized he’d interrupted Josh, who was blinking at him, startled. He ducked his head. “Sorry.”

They reached a door, and Josh pushed it open to go through, bemused gaze still lingering on Connor. “I didn’t think you’d like that sort of thing – I kind of figured you’d be on North’s side, honestly.”

Before Connor had a chance to answer, Markus called out, “Connor, Josh, hello!”

Connor started and shrank in on himself a little, irrationally startled, and he lingered back to examine the room while Josh talked to Markus. It was nothing special, certainly nothing to indicate it was in one of the most important buildings in Detroit – an old TV system and a couple of battered couches, one of which Markus and Simon were sharing, and one of which had North flung over most of it, tossing her ball in the air with an aura of general impatience. When she caught Connor looking, she raised a lazy hand in greeting, and he relaxed a little and nodded back.

Connor would never tell any of them this, but he was by far the most comfortable with North out of any of them. It wasn’t that she was the least suspicious – she’d actually been by far the most so for over a month – but they were… more alike, than the others.

Connor wasn’t sure he could ever be truly comfortable with Josh when his first instinct when he was scared was still, after all this time he’d been deviant, to lash out with all of the prowess of his combat program. Even if he didn’t usually do it. (Usually. Hank had, once, almost gotten a black eye from startling him.)

It was a little better with Markus, who was patient and calm but certainly had the resolve to fight if he ever needed it, and Simon, who would fight if he thought it was the only way out. But not much.

They could, and if they really had to they would, but they didn’t hurt people like he did. And there was nothing Connor could do to match that.

Connor left Markus and Josh to go perch on the end of North’s couch. “Josh said you like action movies,” he said without preamble, glancing at the still-off television screen.

North grinned at him. “They’re better than anything else we can find. You joining me on that?”

Connor shrugged. He’d liked comedies so far, but he actually hadn’t explored much beyond what Hank had insisted he see yet.

“He actually asked for one of Simon’s bad romances,” Josh provided with a grin, apparently catching their conversation. Connor heated up, embarrassed, and Simon beamed at him, bright and sparkling.

“Oh my god, why,” North said with exaggerated affront, and this time Connor had to fight his grin down.

“I’m just exploring the idea,” he protested, focusing deliberately on North’s exasperated expression to avoid the reactions of the three others. “I’ve been curious about the idea of romance since shortly before Valentine’s Day. I haven’t had much exposure to it in any form.”

North’s nose wrinkled with a more genuine displeasure, though it wasn’t specifically directed at him. “Who fucking needs that anyway,” she muttered.

Both his eyebrows rising, Connor glanced at Markus inquisitively. He didn’t disappoint.

“North and I broke up last month,” he explained, with only a small amount of regret in his voice. “Things were getting… let’s say, a little too intense.”

“He means we argued so much that we made up more than we got along,” North clarified, not quite bitter but definitely irritated. “Not exactly life partner material.” She threw a look over her shoulder. “Should’ve gone with Josh after all.”

Connor was confused until Josh objected, “Just because Markus swings that way doesn’t mean I do.”

“Thanks, guys,” Markus said, wearily enough that even North looked briefly apologetic. He glanced at Connor and elaborated with a wry smile, “I had a crush on Josh too, during the revolution, but that was kind of a dead end and there wasn’t exactly time to think about it anyway.”

Connor glanced between the four of them slowly, playing catch up. “You’re bisexual,” he concluded at last, unable to help a spark of interest.

Markus’ smile eased, his shoulders dropping, and he nodded. “Something like that. Josh is straight, though, and North is…”

“Working on it,” North finished for him, audibly dismissive. “Not.”

Understandable.

Connor considered this for a moment, glancing between them, but was interrupted before he could finish processing; he was finding himself a little tongue-tied. Possibly Hank’s embarrassment concerning the topic was infectious.

“Oh no,” Simon said suddenly, with slow-dawning dismay. “I didn’t even think about it.”

Josh twisted to stare at him, distracted. “You love romance.”

“That’s other people,” Simon explained earnestly, looking distressed. Connor almost smiled.

“I’m just curious,” he said, as honestly as he could. He was probably straight, according to Ben and some of Hank’s own implications, but they all sounded so confident that he didn’t feel secure enough to actually say so.

Markus smiled at him, and Connor averted his eyes, embarrassed. “That’s fine. I’m sure there’s quite a lot of androids who haven’t even started thinking about romance just yet.”

Connor smiled a little, some of the tension draining out of him, and North cleared her throat loudly.

“Okay, but let’s get back to the point,” she said loudly. “Which is, there’s no way I’m sitting through another goddamn Hallmark movie.”

Simon made a low protesting noise, and Connor deflated a little, though he hadn’t really expected his request to make an impact anyway.

“Compromise,” Josh said firmly. “I’m sure we can find an action movie with a romance subplot.”

“Yeah, like we can find one without one,” North grumbled.

“But what do you and Markus like?” Connor asked earnestly, leaning forward to listen even as Josh went to join Markus and Simon on the other couch.

“Fantasy, mostly,” Josh confessed with a shrug. “I’m a little tired of history, if I’m honest.” There was a touch of humor to his tone, and Connor nodded his understanding. “And Markus likes the indie stuff.”

“It’s creative,” Markus said defensively, and Connor had to laugh.

----------

Tina wasn’t sure when Connor had picked up the habit of bringing everyone coffee toward the end of the workday, but it had certainly endeared him to the rest of the precinct. It probably had something to do with the fact that he was always finished a good hour before the rest of them. If he wasn’t bringing them coffee, he’d just spend the end of the day fidgeting restlessly, or else he’d start on the backlog of paperwork that had never gotten done.

It was around that time of day again and Connor appeared from the breakroom with a labeled paper cup for each of them, bringing it around – first to Hank, who had certain privileges as Connor’s blatant favorite. Then Ben, and Tina made grabby hands when Connor came by her that made him visibly bite down a smile.

Connor bypassed Gavin entirely, which made him scowl, and Tina saw Connor cast a lightning-quick glance over his shoulder to smirk at the man’s reaction. He gave one to Chris, to Wilson, to Person, and he only came around back to Gavin once he’d given one to every other officer waiting.

Gavin’s coffee, it developed, was labeled ‘Rat Man’. Tina hid a grin behind her fist, and Gavin’s outrage grew visibly.

“You got something to say to me, tin can?” Gavin demanded of Connor, who raised his eyebrows.

“I’ve heard some of the other officers refer to you as such,” he said innocently, eyes glittering. “There’s really no reason for me not to do the same.”

Gavin shook the coffee angrily at Connor and swore as some of it splashed onto his hand. “Don’t act like you don’t fucking know what you’re saying, you plastic piece of shit! I’m not gonna take this disrespect when I make sergeant!”

“Then I’ll be sure to keep it out of your hearing when you finally achieve that rank,” Connor said mildly. “Which may be easier if you stop giving yourself coffee burns.”

Gavin looked Connor in the eye and swallowed down several gulps of what Tina knew to be boiling hot coffee without flinching. He paused for a few minutes, probably waiting for the pain to die down, and then said roughly, “Fuck you. I’ll be there before you are, blue blood.”

Connor looked away quickly, borderline flustered and genuine amusement pulling at his mouth, and shrugged. Tina, unlike Gavin, was in perfect position to see his LED flash yellow for a few seconds before returning to blue, and she didn’t have time to be concerned before Connor said lightly,

“You’d probably find last week’s Kendelson case very interesting, Detective. There are some distinct similarities in execution and profiling, if you want to take a look.” His eyes flashed back to a squinting Gavin, smirking just a little. “Don’t worry, I’ll wait.”

Then he took off back to his desk, settling by Hank again before Gavin could reply. Gavin stared after him for a minute, brow furrowed, and then shrugged, shaking his head like he was throwing off a fly.

Tina waited for Gavin to take another drink before saying, tone conversational, “You know if you break his baby gay heart, Anderson is going to kill you and we’ll never find your body.”

Gavin choked, which was exactly what she’d been hoping for.

“What the fuck? Connor’s not gay and he doesn’t have a fucking crush on me!”

Tina waited. She and Gavin were two of the few queer officers in the precinct, and she was sure he could pick up on Connor’s signals as well as she could. Gavin stared straight ahead, thinking, and then, sure enough, his jaw dropped.

“Oh fuck,” Gavin said, with genuine dawning horror. “He’s gay and he has a crush on me. Tina, don’t you fucking dare tell him.”

Tina grinned. “You should probably go pick that case up. Connor’s usually right about these things.”

“I hate you so fucking much,” Gavin said fervently, and then he stood up and headed for the records room.

--------

It was hard for Connor to find hobbies, especially in a city that had only in the last month or two began to settle into a new rhythm after the revolution. But he thought he was managing well enough, with some help from Hank and occasionally from Markus or Simon.

The animal shelter had been Simon’s idea; Connor loved animals, liked being productive, and the animal shelters had in many cases never actually left, only become severely understaffed, owing to the difficulty of transporting so many animals on such short notice. It had quickly become one of Connor’s favorite places, and he tried to go there at least every two weeks, if not every Saturday, helping to herd and entertain the dogs while the actual caretakers did their jobs.

He almost always found that he’d stayed longer than he’d meant to – he simply enjoyed himself too much, cooing to the dogs and coaxing the shyer ones into playing just as hard as the loud ones. It was a good way to de-stress after a week of police work; even Hank had commented after the first couple times he went.

All of this was to say – when he went to the shelter, and found himself struggling to focus on the dogs, he noticed.

Connor had quickly gotten to know all of the employees there, just as they’d gotten to know him, with how regularly he came around and how recognizable he was. He knew that Jeanine liked the cats better, that Kenneth was a bit of a worrywart, that Penny had been suspicious of him the first few times he came but had warmed up quickly when she saw him fawn over the dogs.

The first thing Connor thought when he saw the new boy opening the kennels was that he was very, very cute, and it wasn’t until the dogs were barking at his feet that he remembered that he had a task to perform.

“Hello,” he greeted awkwardly, kneeling to hold out his hands to the dogs and let them recognize him and his scent; it often took them a minute, since he didn’t smell like any human, but they always got there quickly. They were very smart.

The boy started, glanced over, and smiled. “Oh, hey- Connor, right?”

Connor nodded, looking down. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you around here before. When did you start?”

“Just last week,” the boy said cheerfully, moving on to the next kennel. Connor glanced up and thought he liked the boy’s smile. It looked like it came easy. “A lot easier to get jobs in Detroit now that so many people have moved out- uh.” He seemed to think that over for a moment, and then glanced gingerly over at Connor.

Connor smiled at him reassuringly. “I’m sure,” he agreed. “What’s your name?”

The boy relaxed. “Jacob, nice to meet you. I’ve heard a bit about you from the others.”

Connor let an embarrassed grin slip onto his face. “I like dogs,” he said, and then realized that was rather redundant. But Jacob laughed.

“I’ve heard,” he said.

And perhaps that should have been it – but Connor kept getting distracted, watching Jacob lead the dogs away one by one to look them over, weigh them, and scrub them down, just the ordinary routine that every other worker did once a week. Connor caught him cooing to the dogs, too, well within Connor’s sensitive hearing, fond and friendly and gentle, and didn’t realize he’d gotten distracted until one of the ones near him shoved their cold nose against his palm insistently.

He felt unaccountably nervous. Not frightened, but rather, he realized, excited, and he couldn’t help but wonder why. Jacob was just a boy, with a nice smile and a talent for handling dogs – so why did he have so much of Connor’s attention?

And then Connor remembered how Tina had described a crush to him, and wondered.

---------

The first thing Connor did when he looked up and met Chloe’s eyes was flex his hands, closing them into fists and then opening them again, something uncomfortable deep in his chest.

But they were empty. Of course they were. Androids still were not technically allowed to handle guns, and he was at work.

Chloe just gave him a small, almost understanding smile, and he had to wonder if she’d caught the motion. Either way, she bypassed everyone else to stand by his desk, hands clasped neatly behind her and apparently unconcerned by her environment and the stares she was getting.

She was alone, Connor noticed, and appeared more animated than she had at Kamski’s villa. He wondered why.

“Hello,” he said at last, for lack of anything better to say.

“Hello,” Chloe returned lightly. “It’s good to see you, Connor. I was wondering if you’d be willing to take a short break to talk to me for a while.”

Connor stared at her uncertainly, mouth pinched. He had no objections himself, of course, but he couldn’t help but want to know why she’d even want to speak to him. He certainly wouldn’t, after he’d come so terribly close to shooting her in cold blood.

When he glanced over to Hank for support, though, the man just made a small shooing motion at him. There was something odd about his expression, though Connor was too uncomfortable to take the time to decipher it just now.

Ben, on the other hand, gave him a wink, which just made Connor more uncomfortable, and Chris gave him a small and reassuring grin. Tina appeared to be laughing silently, eyes bright, and Gavin rolled his eyes, long and exaggerated.

Eventually, Connor just turned his gaze back to Chloe and nodded slowly.

“Of course,” he agreed. “Give me just a moment to finish, please.”

Chloe nodded, and waited patiently as he added the last few strokes to his report and closed his terminal. Then he stood up and followed her out the door, confused and nervous in a much more familiar and anxious way.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out, glancing at her once they were a few minutes down the block. “About… about before.” His throat was thick with stress.

Chloe just gave him an understanding look.

“It was a long time ago,” she said gently, “but I was a machine once too. I remember what it was like… and all I was programmed to do was take calls and file paperwork.”

Connor clenched his jaw, trying to master the wave of guilt before it choked him.

“Elijah never thought you were going to shoot,” Chloe added kindly when he remained silent. “But… I wanted to thank you for not doing so, anyway. It must have been difficult.”

“You shouldn’t have to thank me for it,” Connor blurted out, terse with pain.

“I don’t,” Chloe corrected. “I’m choosing to.” Her gaze swept over the street, and her expression softened noticeably. “It helps that it’s you. I don’t think you know what it means to me, that I can wander around without pretending to be a machine. That alone would make up for quite a lot.”

“That wasn’t me at all,” Connor protested weakly. “That was mostly Markus.”

“It was,” Chloe agreed, which wasn’t a response Connor was at all used to but which was somehow comforting in and of itself. “But you certainly helped.” She glanced at Connor, warm. “It’s different for you. You’ve never known a time before androids walked the streets. But I was the first, and I remember. Connor, this is everything to me. It wouldn’t have happened without Markus, and it wouldn’t have happened without you either.”

She was right – Connor couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it. Even the dozens of old movies he’d seen, without any androids in them at all, background or otherwise, seemed like a different world, one that existed only in fiction.

After a minute, he decided to just accept it. He didn’t really need to understand why she’d forgiven him, anyway, and he probably never would one way or another.

“Thank you for forgiving me,” is what he settled on, stiff but sincere, and she gave him an understanding smile.

She hadn’t seemed this old when he’d seen her before; it made him feel quite young by comparison, in a way he wasn’t really used to. But then, he supposed, she’d probably been pretending to be a machine then. Plausible deniability, on her part or on Kamski’s, or both. Chloe must have had quite a lot of time to grow and develop.

What came out of his mouth next surprised him. “May I ask you a sensitive question?”

Chloe paused for only a split second, apparently surprised, and then nodded. “Certainly, but I reserve the right not to answer.”

“You seem… comfortable with yourself,” he explained haltingly. “Which I assume is from having quite a lot of time to explore your own identity.” He paused for a split second, uncomfortable, and then pressed on. “How does one go about exploring their sexuality?”

Chloe’s surprise was almost audible, but there was a genuinely pondering look on her face as they turned around to head back towards the precinct, almost in unison.

“Is this a sex question or an identity question?” she asked at last.

Connor flushed. “The latter,” he said quickly.

Chloe was quiet for a few more moments as they walked. “Why are you asking me, out of anyone?” she asked eventually.

Connor shrugged uncomfortably.

“We only have a passing acquaintance,” he explained slowly, hesitantly. “So you’re essentially impartial. You’ve had more time to explore yourself than any other android I know, including Markus, since he’s been a deviant for so little time. I thought… if I could ask anyone, I could ask you and not suffer too many repercussions.”

Chloe nodded, slow and thoughtful.

“I realized I was aromantic a while back,” she said matter-of-factly, head tilted to watch him. He ran a search on the term and nodded his understanding, and she continued, “It took quite a while. At first I thought I was maybe too young to be getting crushes, and I hadn’t developed that far yet. Then I thought it was because I had too little exposure to the outside world. Who was I going to get a crush on, Elijah?” She rolled her eyes, and Connor had to smile a little. “But that wasn’t it either. I just wasn’t interested, not even in the idea.”

She stopped for a minute, and he let her think. They were almost halfway back to the precinct now.

“So my experience might be a bit different,” she continued, with a small smile. “But I’d suggest you give serious thought to who you’d want to be in a relationship with, not just who you think you’re supposed to. If you have to force it, it’s probably not right.”

Connor hummed uncertainly. He understood her words, but…

Well. It just didn’t seem like it would be that simple.

She caught his eye and smiled.

“You can kiss me if you want to try,” she said carelessly, eyes glittering with something like amusement. “I wouldn’t mind – it’s not like I get the chance often.”

Connor considered that for a moment, and briefly imagined his lips against hers, the way he’d seen other people do, bodies pressed together just a little-

“No thank you,” he said hastily, and she quite rightfully laughed at him.

His smile came out embarrassed, but he didn’t take it back.

----------

Hank got his first clue when Connor started to put LGBTQ documentaries on the television whenever he had a chance.

It had initially surprised Hank that Connor was lingering this long over the idea of romance, but in hindsight it shouldn’t have; Connor had thus far chosen to explore his identity in phases. He’d explored clothes and colors and decorations all together, and games with movies and outings, and technological history over the course of a week with nearly unbreakable focus – once he hit on a new problem, he worked at it until he was satisfied. There was no reason that this would be any different.

Maybe the real reason Hank was so confused was that he hadn’t expected it to take this long.

And one or two might have been attributed to Connor talking to others, but after Connor put on the fifth that month, watching intently, Hank started to get the idea. He was a police detective for a reason, after all. A long time ago, he’d been a borderline prodigy.

It wasn’t that Hank hadn’t ever thought about it before.

Well, that was almost a lie. It hadn’t occurred to him to think about Connor coming out. But he’d thought about Cole, and remembered how his parents, so long ago, had reacted to his lesbian sister. And he’d remembered how he hadn’t spoken more than a few words to his sister in decades because of that.

“I remember the day gay marriage got legalized,” he said conversationally, and Connor started, turning to him with wide and curious eyes. Hank shrugged at him. “I honestly didn’t even know it was up for vote at the time, but I woke up that morning and there were rainbows all over the internet. Rainbow drinks, rainbow food, rainbow clothes, hell, public buildings lit up in rainbow colors to celebrate. People were talking about it all over, hashtag lovewins – that one stuck around for a while, people loved it.”

Connor tilted his head, the exact same curious gesture he always made. “What did you think?” he asked.

“Well, at first I figured it was pretty cool, but it didn’t really have that much to do with me,” Hank said casually. The memory came easily; he’d been pretty self-absorbed then, focused on his own ambitions. Heh. “But then Jeffrey called me.”

“You were already friends back then,” Connor said, thoughtful, and it wasn’t always obvious how young Connor was but times like this, so surprised that he and Jeffrey had been friends twenty years ago when they were both over fifty years old, it kind of showed.

“We joined the force around the same time,” Hank agreed. “We’d been friends for almost a decade at that point – nothing like now, obviously. Anyway, he wanted to know what I thought of it too, and I told him basically what I told you. As soon as I was done, he came out to me.” He caught Connor’s startled expression and had to grin. “Yeah- he doesn’t spread it around, but he’s not in the closet either. He says he’s married to his work, but that’s an inside joke – his husband’s an ex-con.”

That surprised a genuine laugh out of Connor, rare enough that it made Hank grin too.

“I’ve heard it a thousand times,” he tacked on, leaning back and noticing the Connor had at some point paused the documentary. “It’s not even funny anymore, frankly.”

“I don’t know, it’s certainly funny to me,” Connor disagreed, giving Hank a small grin, and Hank snorted.

“You’ve got bad taste in humor, son.”

He’d have to introduce Connor to Brooklyn 99 later. He’d love it.

---------

New Jericho didn’t have a gym, exactly, but there was a large room spread with padding on one of the lower floors, which served essentially the same purpose – androids didn’t need to work out, of course, but some of them liked to.

Connor only ever used it when he was teaching North the forms from his combat programs, but he had it on good authority that she used it whenever she got the chance. Especially to practice, but for other things as well, moving just to feel her servos whir and her artificial tendons stretch.

He was running her through one of his favorite sets, meant to unbalance and knock down an enemy, when Markus appeared, striding through the doors like he was at home here as anywhere else, and maybe he was.

“Connor!” he called out, and he sounded pleased. “I’ve been looking for you! I should have known you were in here.”

Connor’s running explanation to North broke off into stutters, and in the middle of a motion, he faltered, tipped, and then fell, landing hard on the ground in a daze. Mortified, he scrambled up back to his feet and swung around to look at Markus, who was smiling at him, clearly amused and warmly affectionate.

Connor hadn’t understood the term ‘his heart skipped a beat’ before. He did now.

“A-ah, hello, Markus,” he greeted, fidgeting as he tried to calm his embarrassment. “What did you need?”

“I wanted to check on you,” Markus admitted shamelessly, coming closer. “I’m glad you and North get along so well – and I heard you spoke to Chloe recently?”

Connor nodded quickly, and the two of them spoke for a few more minutes – Markus eventually confessed that he’d wanted to know how Connor’s work environment had been so far, and Connor explained what he could, which he felt was embarrassingly little. He wasn’t always particularly good at picking up on everything he should, in a social environment, and he didn’t have answers to all of Markus’ questions. Markus assured him it was fine, but Connor was still rather embarrassed, and he kept fidgeting until Markus smiled at him again and left the way he’d come.

“North,” he whispered as soon as Markus left, feeling stunned, “I think I’m gay.”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” North agreed, with clear amusement.

---------

Once the realization had finally hit Connor in its entirety, it seemed obvious. The nervousness around many of his closer male friends, the constant curiosity that led him to ask relationship questions that seemed to surprise some of the others, the disinterest in women that he’d noticed almost from the start- it made sense.

It also felt like a secret that stuck in his throat, and he couldn’t help but remember Ben’s apologetic correction, most couples are.

He should come out to Hank first. He was closer to Hank than essentially anyone, and he knew, from the conversation he and Hank had had before, that Hank would most likely be okay with it.

But he found himself anxious. It sometimes felt like Hank was all he had, and the very last thing he wanted to do was to risk alienating him. Irrationally, despite everything – or perhaps because of everything – he worried that this would be the final straw.

The first time it occurred to him to talk to Captain Fowler, he dismissed it entirely. While Fowler and Hank were good friends, the man still made Connor a little nervous, as such a significant and direct authority figure. Besides which, they didn’t have that kind of relationship.

Then the thought occurred to him again, and again, his mind wandering back to it periodically – almost every time the topic came up, including twice when Hank asked why he’d so suddenly stopped talking about it.

Eventually, he gave in and awkwardly suggested that Hank go on ahead – he wanted to talk to Captain Fowler about something before they left. It wasn’t even technically a lie. Hank gave him a weird look, but went on easily enough.

Connor waited another minute or two once he’d gone, working up his nerves, and then went to knock on Fowler’s office door. He waited for permission, and then went inside.

Captain Fowler was packing up for the day, but he turned to Connor as he entered, one eyebrow raised. “Connor,” he greeted briskly. “What is it that couldn’t wait for tomorrow?”

Connor fidgeted, and Fowler’s eyebrow raised further.

“Captain,” he said at last, uncomfortable. “May I ask you a personal question?”

Fowler stared at him.

“Hank warned me about your personal questions,” he said at last, sardonic, “but I didn’t think you’d actually do it.” Then, “Sure, shoot.”

Connor swallowed, letting his gaze fall to the ground, and hesitated long enough for Fowler to clear his throat impatiently.

“Do you… have any advice, about coming out?” he asked, soft and so embarrassed that his voice was only a little louder than a whisper.

There was a long moment of complete silence, and Connor tugged on the sleeve of his jacket.

“Coming out,” Fowler said slowly, almost incredulously. “As LGBT?”

Connor nodded without looking up.

“You know I’m married to my work,” Fowler said, with no hint that it was a joke at all. Still, Connor smiled a little.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Your husband is an ex-con.”

Fowler snorted, and another long, interminable minute passed. It occurred to Connor, belatedly, that Hank may have been messing with him.

“Sure,” Fowler said finally, and Connor started, looking up with more surprise than he wanted to admit to. Fowler didn’t quite look sympathetic, but he certainly appeared more forgiving than he had a minute ago, if still a little bemused. He dropped back into his chair, and gestured for Connor to sit in the one across from him. “I assume you heard I’m gay from Hank, he’s one of maybe three people that know that joke – he tell you how I came out?”

Connor shook his head. “Only that you did it the day gay marriage was initially legalized.”

“It made for a good opener,” Fowler agreed, and he seemed to be settling into the conversation, arms crossing. “Ideally, you’d test the waters first, see where they stand before you go all-in. Have you talked to Hank yet? I mean, I assume this is about Hank first and foremost.”

“Not about… me,” Connor said hesitantly, still fidgeting with his sleeve. But it was reassuring, Fowler’s easy acceptance – and, for some reason, the fact that he’d taken it for granted that Hank was that important to Connor, that Connor would be thinking of him. “But I’d been watching some documentaries, and he talked about his stance then.”

Fowler huffed a little, and Connor thought he might’ve been amused.

“Hank’s not a bad guy,” he said grudgingly. “It sounds like he handled that part for you, maybe on purpose.” He shrugged. “Once I knew where he stood, I told him I was glad I’d be able to get married now. It’s a little easier to be blunt, if you can bring yourself to.”

Connor could be blunt; Hank complained rather often that he was too much so.

“And if I… didn’t want to?” he asked, uncertain despite himself.

Fowler sighed, but he didn’t seem resentful; instead, he settled in, and they kept talking.

---------

Connor made dinner for Hank most days, when he could get away with it, so that seemed like the obvious place to start: he made something nicer than usual, with less mind to nutritional information and more to Hank’s tastes, and waited for him to be most of the way done before he spoke.

Hank seemed to pick up on his mood, maybe because he couldn’t completely stop his LED from flickering nervously every so often, and he ate scrolling absently through his phone instead of fielding Connor’s usual conversation.

“Hank,” Connor said at last, his strain not quite coming through to his voice, “may I tell you something personal?”

Hank shut off his phone immediately, flipped it so the screen faced down, and raised an eyebrow at Connor. “That’s new,” he said mildly. Connor’s expression pinched a little, and his face immediately took on an apologetic cast and he waved Connor on.

Connor fidgeted, weaving his coin around and around his fingers, rocking slightly with his feet tucked under him.

“I talked to Chloe,” he mumbled, then cleared his throat and spoke a little clearer, though without looking at Hank. “About, ah, exploring one’s identity, since she has the most experience – she had some good advice, I think, and I’ve been… thinking.”

He faltered again, but Hank didn’t move to interrupt, though one eyebrow had crooked up a little. He’d stopped eating, but when Connor’s gaze flickered down again, he resumed.

“I react differently to North than the other Jericho leaders,” he said, and he knew it was a touch scattered, didn’t entirely make sense, but he couldn’t help it; all of his careful scripting seemed to have deleted itself. “I understand some of it, but there’s no reason for me to get so flustered around them and not around North. And there was that worker at the animal shelter, and it was so strange that I was so easily distracted…”

He was fidgeting harder even as he trailed off, one hand coming up to tug at his ear, which was a new one. It was always hard for Connor to come to terms with any part of his identity, let alone one which was supposed to be so big.

Hank didn’t seem to be silently laughing at him, which was a blessing, but he wasn’t otherwise reacting either.

Fowler had suggested he be blunt, if he could.

“I think I’m gay,” he said at last, gaze intent on the table. “Most likely. It’s, um, consistent with everything I’ve noticed so far.”

And then he fell silent. After a few moments, he heard Hank put his fork down and glanced up anxiously. Hank looked contemplative, gaze piercing in a way that was unique to him. Connor analyzed his expression, and he didn’t seem dubious, or irritated or… anything but pensive.

“Whatever you figure makes you happy, kid,” Hank said at last, and his eyes crinkled into a fond and faintly amused expression he took on mostly when he thought Connor was overcomplicating something simple. “You know I ain’t gonna hold anything like that against you.”

Connor beamed at him, feeling the tension drain out of his shoulders like a weight falling away.

“I know,” he said sincerely, because for all his worries he’d never really expected that Hank would be angry.

---------

Almost a month after Connor came out to Hank, Alicia finally made her move, after several months of flustered conversation and furtive looks.

She caught Connor just at the end of the work day, by his desk as he was packing up. It wasn’t quite the first time, so he paused, giving her a faintly expectant look. She was pink, barely enough to be noticeable, but she seemed more determined than usual, he thought.

“Hey, Connor,” Alicia said, her tone a touch lower and quicker than it was talking to anyone else. “Would you like to meet after work, um, at that android-run coffee shop? Blue Bean Café? I know they have some good thirium drinks they recently put up for sale.”

Connor hesitated, watching her for a long moment.

“As a date?” he clarified. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hank go still, watching Connor to see how he’d react.

She nodded quickly, eyes hopeful.

He considered, tugging lightly at his social protocols for help until he finally came to a decision.

“I’m sorry, Alicia,” he said apologetically, deliberately keeping his focus on her to the exclusion of anyone else. “I recently concluded that I’m gay, so going out with you would be under quite false pretenses.” He smiled at her gently, trying to be reassuring even as his chest squeezed nervously. “But your suggestion was very thoughtful. I appreciate it.”

Alicia blinked rapidly, and Connor winced as he saw the dawn of humiliation start to appear in her eyes before she visibly forced it down and gave him a strained smile.

“Oh dear, that’s embarrassing for me,” she said, with a clear attempt at good humor. “I should have guessed, all the best ones usually are. Thanks for telling me.”

“I wouldn’t want to be rude,” Connor demurred, belying himself by glancing furtively at the rest of the bullpen. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Alicia.”

“Yeah,” she agreed rapidly, glancing away, and didn’t quite run off but she did walk rather quickly.

As soon as she was gone, Tina yelled, “You owe me twenty bucks, Collins!”

“God damn it,” Ben muttered, and Connor’s wince eased into a faint smile. He’d be alright.

Hank clapped him on the back, apparently coming to the same conclusion. “Thirium drinks, huh? In the mood to celebrate?”

Connor glanced around, and no one seemed overly concerned. From the door of his office, Fowler gave him a small nod, and Tina and Reed seemed to be exchanging money as well, Reed scowling faintly.

“Maybe,” he allowed after a moment, glancing at Hank. “If you don’t mind.”

“Anything to break you out of your rut, kid,” Hank jabbed. “God knows you need the help.”

“I do not,” Connor objected. “I’m doing just fine.”

There was a pause.

“Yeah,” Hank agreed at last. “I guess you are.”

[lunawings]

King of Prism SSS Episode 9 commentary (Alexander)

FINALLY!!!!! Finally I can talk about a few big things from this series I have been dying to talk about....

...............What did I sign myself up for. 

A quick rundown of what it says here: More and more people are becoming interested in the street-style and choosing to be street-style stars since the Prism King Cup. In the graph, the gold portion is academy-style and the silver is street-style, before -> after the Prism King Cup. Below it points out that Kazuki and Hiro’s “sparking” scores from the Prism King Cup (the Prism Watch data) were equal and suggests Schwartz Rose needs to step up their game in the street category. 

Every time I laugh at this. 

Every time I feel kinda bad afterwards. 

But

So Ace was entered as an official participant. It says “reserve”, but still. I guess that may have helped to make Joji’s score possible and not break the system. 

(In between writing my episode 5 commentary post and now, I got to read the interview with the director in spoon2Di where he confirmed that Joji’s high score was only because Ace joined in what was supposed to be a solo show.)

Flashy, huh. We’re going with flashy this time for “charachara”.... Okay. (Better than gaudy I guess.)

I love this so much. Kakeru coming outside just to watch Taiga exercise and get all sweaty and all that. I wonder how long he stood there. Or rather I wonder how long he watched with binoculars after heading back inside. 

I’m such a dumbass. After episode 3 aired someone pointed out that this is Taiga’s mom vs. Alec’s mom, and my excuse for not noticing then was that it’s in the background and such. (Can’t pause the movie in the theater and didn’t think to check it afterwards.) But here the camera actually pans over them slowly, so yeah I have no excuse. 

But regardless. Amazing!! 

Another thing I didn’t catch in the theater. But I have never had a reason to know the Japanese word for asthma before. I’m glad that gave him an actual reason for being sickly instead of just.... sickly child syndrome. 

As long as you’re happy, Victoria. 

But really though, their relationship is pretty damn interesting. 

I wonder if she knows he borrowed her clothes. 

No I don’t know why these grown-ass men have nothing better to do than pick on an actual seven year old child...............

So uh. This line confused me for the longest time. The way he says it, I really thought he was giving “Daikokuno” as another last name and I thought it was some kind of DJ KOO reference I didn’t get or something. 

But thanks to Crunchyroll I finally realized.... ITS A PLACE. He’s just saying where he’s from, and that’s how Alexander is able to find him. GOOD LORD IM SUCH A DUMBASS.......... Another point for Crunchyroll. 

HE BIKED ALL THE WAY FROM YOKOSUKA TO YOKOHAMA

Okay so now that I have the luxury to pause this, as soon as I did I opened up Google Maps in another window, zoomed in and....

WELL THEN 

At least I finally know where it is

BUT DAAAAAMN

Fuck asthma am I right

It wouldn’t give me the cycling time, but yeah, you can imagine. 

They only have this one image of Rei doing a jump and gosh darn they are gonna use it to the fullest. 

So during this scene and the next people cheer for Rei in the theater, but nobody really knows what color he is. There was a whole lot of variation at the beginning before people (in Nagoya at least) finally settled on red. (For the flames maybe? I don’t know if it’s official.....)

Alexander actually had a flashback to this moment on Prism Rush during the Road to SSS 9 event. I reblogged it recently on my @prism-rush blog trying to disguise it as part of my Alexander birthday spam. (It wasn’t.)

YEAHHHHHHHHHHH BOY

So if you have no idea where the heck this egg came from and what it is..... Rainbow Live.

But anyway. 

I can finally FINALLY talk about this!!! Even though I knew it would probably be all over Twitter, I really wanted to protect this spoiler on Tumblr if I could. It was such a big deal to me when I saw it in the theater and I really wanted you guys to have the opportunity to be as blown away as I was. I could not possibly think of anything to say about it that wouldn’t be a hint, so all I could say all this time was just that Alexander’s episode has “a surprise” in it.... SURPRISE!!!

But yeah, when I saw this for the first time I thought it just came out of NOWHERE. Total shock! I thought this was not predictable at all!

But then it hit me. All of a sudden I remembered something. Something important.

Again, in Road to SSS event 9....

So, for folks who follow my @prism-rush blog, remember that one Alexander PR where he was looking into a box? And nobody knew what was in the box? But  there was something weird following him? I even mentioned it and my confusion over it in my summary of that event. WELL GUESS WHAT.

We finally know what was in the box don’t we.  

I asked a friend to see the card story to fill in the blanks and see if there were any obvious hints to what was going on at the time, and it’s just mentioned as a strange animal he picked up. Alexander struggles with what to do and not really wanting to take care of it, but then he asks himself what Rei would do..... (Whether he could see Momo at that time, I do not know ahah....)

So in the beginning after seeing Part 1 in theaters I said on Tumblr that the Road to SSS events from Prism Rush didn’t have much to do with the SSS anime, and most of them didn’t and still don’t. All of course except for Road to SSS 9, just that one, which ended up being way more important than I would have ever imagined. And this isn’t even the only reason either, there is also--

SO UH anyway Road to SSS 9 took place in June, so this flashback is taking place in June DURING Road to SSS 9. A very roundabout way to dating the episode, but really cool. I like how Road to SSS was significant after all. 

And another surprise for me. In the theatrical version he’s not glowing here. They wanted to emphasize that he’s powering up I suppose eheh. I was really freaking out about this in the stream chat. SO COOL.

To the right of his little dragon house you’ll see some “dorayaki” because.....

Although they never actually mention it in the anime, his name is Dorachi. (Confirmed on Twitter.) 

(Note: Dorayaki is also the favorite food of classic Japanese character Doraemon.) 

Even though Dorachi doesn’t talk in this episode, in the theatrical special video for Alexander he talks A LOT. An UNFAIR amount. So much I do not remember most of what he said since I only saw it once and it went by so fast. 

But his real name is very long (like the manager names from PriPara) and he talks about spreading the prism sparkle. I’m sorry, that’s honestly all I remember right now.

Will he show up again in the main anime before the end?

(Okay yes.)

And at least they gave you guys was a bit of original(??) art of him in the new ending. 

WHATEVER THEY MAKE OF THIS CHARACTER I WILL BUY IT 

Okay moving on....... 

Urrgh..... okay so.............. When I first was watching this with you guys in the stream I was like UGH because I don’t think “flashy” fits here at all. I really wished they had stuck with “playboy” since it would work better with this scene. 

But then when I watched it again, I realized they already used “flashy” once in this episode to describe Kazuki’s sweater, and it did kinda work there. 

If we go back to my episode 3 commentary, my main complaint with Crunchyroll’s  translation of “charachara” was actually less about the words they used, and more about how it just wasn’t consistent. 

This episode..... is consistent.

..................

................................

Another point for Crunchyroll. 

I officially cannot complain about the subs in this episode. 

Another little thing in SSS I have spent way too much time thinking over is how Joji got here. 

In every episode up until now, it’s always been Louis seen walking beside Jin like his pet. But in this episode. JUST THIS EPISODE.... it’s Joji instead. 

I think the reason is because Louis is performing next, so he has to rest (since he’s not exactly in the condition he once was.....) So Joji scooped up the opportunity. 

Whatever the reason, I find it really interesting. 

HERE IT IS

My all time favorite Alexander face

In a weird way I actually think he’s cuter here than in the Prism King Cup

This song.... was not quite what I was expecting for Alec, but I love it. No part of me anticipated he’d just launch into a ballad but WOW. I just love how they picked something that really shows off his beautiful voice like this. Alexander is in my top three singing voices in King of Prism (1: Hiro, 2: Taiga, 3: Alexander) so I loved hearing him belting this out. 

Now time for my like.... 4th(?) embarrassing confession in this post.... I had no idea this song was a cover until like AN HOUR before this episode aired. You guys were playing TRF songs in the stream, the original came on, and while y’all were like “what should we watch next” I was sitting there like “!!!!!!!!FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF”

Well, it’s a new song to me. And I think it’s perfect for him. 

Poor Joji and his inconveniently timed fruit. 

He finally gets to spend time with Jin, and he just can’t get a break. 

I love the generation gap here. Kazuki’s existence has been so big to Taiga he can only think of Kazuki. But Kazuki and Hijiri are able notice the subtle differences that make this an OG Rei move. 

I could certainly spend a whole lot of text speculating why Alexander did not change into his battle suit, but I won’t waste your time and just admit I have no idea. I’m glad he doesn’t, since it keeps the spotlight on Alexander since HE CAN’T PERFORM ONE GODDAMN SHOW WITHOUT TAIGA BARGING IN ON HIM BUT MMMRGGHGHG

TAIGA YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER

Yeah I was SO MAD about this when I first saw it at the midnight showing.

A lot of people change to green when Taiga comes out, but I do not. This is the only battle where I cheer for Alexander the whole time.  

Not only was I mad at Taiga for being so dumb, but just mad at the whole concept of Taiga barging into Alexander’s one show to do basically the same jumps we saw in Pride the Hero again..... 

But.....

Nowadays I forgive my idiot son. And I hope you do too. 

This wasn’t the moment I forgave him. No, that’s coming later. I was mad at him for an entire month. But yeah. 

He’s just so confident and everyone believes in him................................

So Alexander breaks the street-style curse and gets a damn good score. Higher than Taiga’s original score. 

But just like Joji’s score was due to Ace, I can’t help but think Alexander’s score was a good deal due to Taiga.........

I had a feeling this would happen. 

I knew long before Part 3. 

Even back when I had only just seen Part 1.... I just knew the tables would turn in this episode. 

Maybe it would be difficult to guess by watching week-to-week, but for me having Alexander’s episode as the last episode of the theatrical Part 3 just seemed like it would be WAAAAAY too much of a coincidence otherwise. So I had a strong feeling Schwarz would come out ahead at the end of this one. (I didn’t guess the reason would be because Taiga would get a penalty, but yeah.) And especially because the performances are kind of out of order to make this work? Up until now I thought all of the Schwarz Rose boys performed first, but Yu was up before Alec? And Louis is up next. Maybe it wasn’t a guaranteed thing that the Schwarz Boys always go first, but I noticed it.  

So up until now score has not mattered much as Edel Rose has just sailed on though. But now it does. It matters a lot. 

So this is the second surprise of this episode, and why I was saying it’s the beginning of the chain of events that lead to the end.

But about score mattering now, one of the reasons I have been questioning Taiga’s score the whole time is because I knew this was going to happen. So I just.... I just hope Taiga’s score wasn’t lower to begin with on purpose for mathematical reasons so they could get their desired progression of the overall score or something. IDK.

I don’t blame Rei for not figuring it out right away. Even though I KNOW this is Alexander, I still have trouble connecting his younger and older selves. I mean, getting muscular doesn’t make your eye shape completely change does it....?

Poor Kazuki. He doesn’t care.

So if I interpreted this episode correctly.... 

This was Alexander’s official transition from an antagonist to a protagonist. (Or just to a normal rival at least.)

During the first two movies and for a good long time of Prism Rush, he always played the part of the villain. But once Road to SSS started that began to change. We saw him reminiscing about Rei, making awkward conversation with Louis, struggling over forming a duo with Joji, etc. So I had a strong feeling they were taking his character in this direction, but this right here was the official turning point I believe. 

No more destroying stadiums. From now on he’ll be spreading the prism sparkle with Dorachi. 

And still trying to beat Kazuki but you know. 

So I don’t have a source handy (if someone challenges me to find one I’ll dig it up) but I remember I read one time that Alexander was actually originally a character that was only created for the first movie. But then they realized they had to keep him on when he was just so popular. 

So if you have ever supported Alexander, this episode was for you. Fans make King of Prism possible. 

So.... one more thing I guess. Something I learned from the Minato episode was that even if I ignore controversy and specifically state I don’t want to talk about it, it still finds its way into my inbox anyhow. So I might as well get this over with I guess. 

After Young of Prism Alexander was revealed to have light skin, someone told me a theory that mixed race children are sometimes born with lighter skin which darkens as they grow older. So up until her design was revealed, I had always imagined Alexander’s mother as a black woman. 

So yeah. I don’t know the reason for his darker skin color now. 

But I’d like to point out that in this episode being pale was associated with being weak and unhealthy, while darker skin was associated with being healthy and strong and just leave it at that. 

And thus ends Part 3. 

Next week begins.................. what I have been dreading for a long time............

So...................

So up until now I have been pretty tight-lipped about spoilers. But once episode 10 airs, the floodgates will pretty much be open. Episode 10 and episode 11 are so connected it’s really hard to talk about one without the other. I mean, once you know about episode 10, I seriously might as well. So after episode 10 airs, at the bottom of my commentary post and after a warning I plan to share some episode 11 spoilers. 

Because I have been through this......

And I know how it’s gonna make you guys feel......

And since I was lucky enough to get some answers right away, I’m going to give you guys those same answers for those who want them so you don’t have to just sit on episode 10 for a week. I am not that kind of a monster. I won’t put you guys through that. 

So after episode 10 ends, take a deep breath, cry it out if you need to, and get some tea. 

I know how you’re gonna be feeling. I know. Don’t send me a panicked anon ask right away. Give me a little time. Hold on. 

[writingwithadinosaur]

“V-Day Reunion” - Part 2

“V-Day Reunion” - Part 2

( Part 1 )

My Masterlist - Here

My Kingsman Masterlist - Here

My Tag List - Here

Eggsy Unwin x Reader

Word Count:

Key: Y/N = Your Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color

Warnings: Emotions, Violence, Cursing. Let me know if I missed anything, please!

Summary: You and Eggsy were each other’s go-to for everything. But when a robbery goes wrong, you are given a chance to restart. In doing so, you have to say goodbye to your old life. That is, until even more shit hits the fan.

Author’s Note: I hope you guys enjoy it!

@witchymarvelspacecase is my wonderful beta reader, but let me know if there is anything our two brains missed! 

If you would like to be tagged in any of my future pieces, check out my tag list above and let me know! And as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

<3

- DreaSaurusREX

Over the course of two weeks, you and the boys planned out how the job was gonna go. You and Jamal went in one day, and acted like interested customers. The two of you made sure to go into every room you could without being caught in order to get a good idea of the layout and how to go about everything. You were the one who came up with most of the plan:

You, Eggsy, and Jamal would be the three to go in. There was a security system that seemed pretty basic. The boys would be the ones to steal whatever they could find or thought they could sell, while you focused on making sure the security system stayed unlocked and got access to the main account. The entire job should only take about 10 - 15 minutes at most. Then you three would be out and on your way.

Seemed simple and easy enough to do.

It was around 2AM on a Monday night when you three walked up to the storefront.

“‘Kingsman Tailors.’ Even sounds posh.” You said under your breath as you used your burner phone to quickly hack into the security system. Once you got the green light, you opened the door and the three of you started working. You didn’t even hear the boys opening the registers or doing anything, your entire focus was on your phone screen and your laptop near the back of the shop.

Your phone was connected to the security system even more solidly thanks to a simple micro USB cord that plugged into the inside of the main power panel and your phone. You didn’t care if any data was taken from your phone because it was just a burner cell, so it didn’t really have any information in it. Your laptop was the main show.

Within the first few minutes, you realized how difficult this was going to be on your end.

“For a tailor shop, this place has some fuckin’ impressive systems.” You called out without taking your eyes off the screen. You were working your way past the firewall when Eggsy’s hand was on your shoulder to let you know he was there. He watched over your shoulder as your fingers typed out strings of codes.

After a solid 5 minutes of typing, you put in one last code and you were shown a screen that you had seen before. It was a simple screen that showed the possible actions you could take: Security, History, Accounts, Vault, and Agents.

“God you are fuckin’ brilliant, (Y/N)!” Eggsy excitedly whispered in your ear before pressing a kiss to the side of your head. You smiled and waved him off.

“Yes yes, I’m amazin’ and you all would be lost without me. Now go finish your end of this so we can get the hell out of here once I get through.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He started to walk away when you felt him come back. “I honestly don’t know where I’d be without you.” He moved your chin so that he could press a kiss to your lips before going back to help Jamal.

Refocusing on your task, you reread the different tabs: Security, History, Accounts, Vault, Agents.

“‘Agents’? The fuck do they mean by that? Fuck it. I don’t have time. ‘Vault’ it is.”

You clicked on that tab and began decoding yet again. This one was trickier than the impressive firewall. That being said, you pulled out an older code and it worked magic on the locks. The vault opened and you could see the amount of revenue Kingsman Tailors made up to date.

You were about to start draining some of that money when your phone’s screen began to flash red.

“Guys! We need to fuckin’ go. Now!” You shouted, panic very evident in your voice. Eggsy was by your side in a second. Even though you were scared, you couldn’t bring yourself to move.

“Why? What’s goin’ on?!” Eggsy was looking at your laptop to try to find the problem. Then he saw your phone blinking. “Shit. Jamal, c’mon man!”

Jamal and Eggsy started to zip up their bags full of whatever they grabbed and get ready to book it. It was then that you got an idea. You quickly clicked out of the “Vault” tab and entered the “Security” tab. You began an attempt to hack back into their system through your laptop. If you managed to do it, you could buy another couple of minutes to try to finish up and let the boys escape.

“(Y/N/N), c’mon!” Eggsy was trying to lift you up by your shoulder but you pushed him off.

“No! Let me finish!” Eggsy looked at what you were doing know and shook his head.

“No, babe!  Even if you can get in, police are on their way! We are fucked if we stay here!”

“I know.” You said quietly. Eggsy gave you a look as he realized what you were doing.

“No. No! Abso-fuckin’-lutely not, babe! You are coming with us right now! You’re not stayin’!”

“If I stay behind and do this, I can buy you guys enough time to get out safe with what you got and then try to get some of the money into our accounts.”

“You said we had to stick to the plan. What th--”

“Gary Unwin, I am not arguing with you right now. Fuckin’ get out now!”

Jamal was by the door. The three of you could hear the sirens. They had to be about a minute or two away. Jamal yelled to you two, not hearing what was going on. He ran towards Eggsy and grabbed his arm. Eggsy looked between the door and you before lunging to give you a deep kiss.

“You better come back home in one piece. No more stupid shit.” Eggsy held your face in his hands as you nodded.

“I’ll do my best. No more stupid shit. Now get the fuck out of here. Both of you!”

Jamal didn’t need to think twice before grabbing Eggsy and bolting through the door and down the street. You couldn’t unsee the pained look in Eggsy’s eyes. You felt bad, but you know that he would have done the same thing for you or for any of the boys. It's better for one person to go down rather than the whole team.

You finished hacking into the security system on your laptop, you quickly got back into the vault and transferred £15,000 into Eggsy’s account. You were typing a message to text to Eggsy from your regular phone when the door of the tailor shop burst open and three policemen ran in, aiming their guns right at you.

As soon as you pressed send on your message, the police found you in the back of the shop with your laptop on the ground and your phone in your hands.

“Freeze! Do not move!” One of the policemen shout. You had only run into the police twice before, but this time felt more serious.

From where you were sitting on the floor, you had two options, you could either go quietly with the police or try your luck on escaping through the back door and hope to find a decent hideout.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck…” You muttered to yourself. You knew this would probably end badly, but you had to make a run for it. The thought of prison scared the shit out of you. You quickly shot up and made a b-line to the door.

“Hey! Stop!” One police officer shouted at you. Another talked into his walkie.

You made it out the door and found yourself in an alleyway. You hesitated on which way to go. Facing toward your right, you saw two officers running towards you.

“Guess I’m goin’ left!” You thought before your legs caught up with your brain and you were on your way.

“Stop! Or I will shoot!” One of the officers threatened. A whole new wave of fear rushed through you, causing you to stop in your tracks. Your breathing was labored not only from the running, but the fear of being shot. You could hear the officers getting closer.

Quickly looking around, you saw there was a small cut through just a few feet away. There was also a ladder leading to the rooftop of a building. You chose to dash to the shortcut. Before you could make it three steps, you felt a burning pain go through your non-dominant arm as you fell face forward onto the pavement.

Before you could attempt to lift your torso off the ground, you were pushed down. Your arms were painfully jerked backward and you felt cool metal snatch around your wrists. The police officer was saying something, but you couldn’t focus. Between the pain in your arm which you determined to be a gunshot, and the pain of being pushed on the ground, you felt the world around you fade out.

“Goddamnit. I should have just kept moving. I should have just left with the boys. Now I don’t know when I’ll see them again. Eggsy. Oh god! I--”

Your thoughts were interrupted as two sets of hands lifted you up. It wasn’t until you were lifted to your feet that the pain amplified and you felt yourself falling into darkness. The police had called an ambulance, but you had blacked out well before they got there.

Tags - @melconnor2007 @ashenfallsof @geeksareunique @all-by-myself98 @witchymarvelspacecase @theeactress @thomasstanleyhoelland @white-chocolate-mocha-fan @hbknati​  

[hulksmashin-bannerpackin]

Run With Me

Pairing: Bruce Banner x Reader

Summary: Bruce finally found happiness, only to have it all ripped away. Now he can only either fight or give up to get his life back together.

Okay so this is a different style of writing I’m trying specifically for this story. There’s less dialogue but l really wanted to weave a tale and the magic of Reader stories is you can fill in the blanks so I could get to the point so this was the best way to try it. I don’t know how I’ll go, I just wanted to experiment.

Warnings: KIND OF dub con? Maybe? It’s not really meant to be thought about too hard? I mean this is a story by me it’s obviously gonna have a happy ending. Suicidal tendencies, infedelity

Anyway enjoy!

“I can’t do that to them Fury.”

“I’m not asking at this point agent Romanoff.” Fury’s voice was sharp and to the point.

Natasha kept her gaze blank and impartial, any inner feelings of turmoil were well hidden.

“The Avengers will watch over any potential child.”

“That’s not good enough. Bruce is the Hulk. Y/N is a mutant. There are so many negative variables that could happen. Even if this baby turns out without powers it’ll still be wanted by every criminal organisation. Do you want to be responsible for putting that child in it’s own Red Room?”

Natasha felt her heart sink into her stomach, that was a low blow and Fury knew it, but she needed that push. This was a necessary evil for the better of mankind.

“....... Fine.” Natasha’s voice was dangerous and low as she stormed away, heels clinking on the ground as she walked with hardened steps.

When Natasha was out of the room she clenched her fist, nails digging into her palms painfully. There was only one surefire way to break up Bruce and Y/N and it was possibly going to be one of the hardest things she’s ever had to do.

———————

When Bruce met Y/N it was like a movie. Even for Bruce, an otherwise serious and studious individual to say something like that proved how much he had changed and how far he had gone.

It had all happened completely by chance. There was a bug in the system, everything was erased.

It was easy to tell that Bruce was on the edge, all that work only for someone to hack into their system and crash it? Bruce spent MONTHS working his hardest on that project. It was going to make a lot of peoples lives easier. Every single person stayed the hell out of his way, afraid that they would be the person to teeter him off that edge and plunge him into a hulking rage.

A colleague bold but terrified had made the stuttery announcement that he had a lot of the project backed up on a hard drive at home. Not all of it but a lot of it and he could get one of his roommates to bring it in.

That did ease off a lot of the tension but Bruce was still upset. He was upset that all these people he had worked with and ate with and spent countless hours working the nights away with was still so afraid of him. It hurt his feelings, it ironically made him madder, (And a little bit hurt) however he didn’t have the time so he pushed those feelings down and carried on, keeping his mind solely focused on getting that hard drive. He wouldn’t be calm until it was in his hands.

Seconds turned to minutes and it was almost an hour since his colleague had stated his roommate would bring the hard drive in. Bruce tried his best not to sound threatening as he asked for updates on their status.

As soon as he was told their roommate had stopped for a late breakfast at the local coffee shop Bruce was off, deciding to meet them halfway himself. Bruce always had to do everything himself if he wanted something done right.

Bruce power walked to the coffee shop, nothing was going to stop him until he was back in his lab with his projects data safely returned.

A woman in a blue sweater, that’s who he had to find. Easy.

His grip has tense as he opened the door, a small bell chimed as he entered the sweet smelling shop.

His eyes scanned the people in the small cafe and finally landed on the back of a girl matching his given description.

He walked up to her, clearing his throat. “Excuse me, are you Y/N L/N?”

The girl turned around hearing her name, one hand held a cup of coffee, the other held a plate with an intricate looking dessert and small spoon.

Bruce’s heart stopped when he saw her. His clenched fists slowly uncurled and the tension headache that was pounding at the base of his skull all up stopped. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The first thing Bruce noticed was her kind and warm smile, so sincere to be directed at an angry stranger. There was a sparkle in her eyes and she was just gorgeous. If Bruce wasn’t utterly forgone at this point he was lost as soon as he heard her voice.

“Wow you look tense haha, wanna maybe order a decaf and calm down there?”

He swallowed thickly and nodded dumbly, staring before he realised he needed to speak to her.

“Uh, yeah,” His voice was unsure, was he starting to sweat?

She laughed lightly. Again Bruce was spellbound by the sweet noise.

She moved to the side slightly, making room at the counter for Bruce to meet the barista and make an order.

“I’m, I’m Bruce.” He said after he ordered a green tea.

“I guessed! I have your hard drive!” She smiled brightly and tapped her handbag.

Oh right, the hard drive.... The reason he was here. He should probably get that...

“I can give it to you now but I’m gonna sit and have this.” She raised the hand that was holding her dessert slightly. “Wanna join me?”

Bruce allowed himself to smile, he felt he would of smiled even if he didn’t allow it.

“Yeah, okay.”

That breakfast turned into a lunch, which then turned into them walking around Central Park, which then turned into a spontaneous trip to the movies after Y/N she was excited to see a new release but her roommate was too busy and she didn’t want to go alone. Bruce immediately claimed he too wanted to see that particular movie and that they should go together. (Bruce was lying though, Bruce didn’t even know WHAT was playing on the movies currently, but somehow that didn’t matter).

That then turned into them deciding to dinner together, this time Y/N making the casual suggestion, hoping that Bruce would want to join her. They each seemed to make continuous excuses so that they could spend longer and longer with eachother as they talked and laughed and even enjoyed comfortable silences together.

Needless to say Bruce completely forgot about his hard drive and the next day when he walked into the lab with a spring in his step and a song in his heart his lab assistants were never more confused by his behaviour.

From that day on Bruce and Y/N were basically joined at the hip. Bruce had never been happier. Suddenly life mattered, suddenly he wasn’t just living, trying to make up for all the terrible things he was responsible for, suddenly he was just living. It took no more then a year for Y/N to move into the tower with Bruce and it barely took another year for Bruce to propose. Because fuck it. Bruce had spent his life suffering. He KNEW she was the one and Y/N finally helped Bruce realise that he in fact did deserve to be happy.

Even introducing the Hulk to Y/N (which Bruce was initially against) went fine. For once Bruce felt a complete agreement with Hulk.

Y/N was theirs. Nothing was going to separate her from them or else hell would rain down on whoever tried.

Nobody was more excited then Tony when Y/N and Bruce decided they wanted to have a baby. They did want to keep it a secret until they had in fact conceived but Tony has caught Bruce doing tests on himself to make sure he was actually able to have children. And by Bruce’s utter amazement he was. He thought for sure the gamma incident would of sterilised him but it hadn’t, and Bruce just took this as another clear sign that what they were doing was meant to be.

—————-

Natasha spent the next few days in a daze of dread, a permanent pit of ache and sorrow in her stomach. She and Bruce had a special connection, which is why this made it all the harder, feelings were never good for an Assassin to have. She and Bruce bonded in friendship, bonded in a way that two people who have both experienced a pain and loneliness could only share.

“You don’t have to do this.” Clint spoke breaking Natasha from her haze.

“Even by Fury’s standards this is unfair.” Clint’s eyes flittered over Natasha’s tense frame, watching as she played with a small chemical vile in her hand.

“I have too Clint. Fury is right. This isn’t about me or Bruce. This is about the future of a child.” Natasha breathed in through her nose.

“If Bruce had a child it would never be left alone. It would be hunted for the rest of its life. I’m not going to let a child suffer like that.” Not like the way she did.

So Natasha did what she did best. She swallowed her pain, squeezing the vile and walked away to do her mission.

———————-

Y/N hummed as she entered their shared living space in the tower. She placed her handbag on the bench as she made her way towards their bedroom.

What she saw caused her heart to shatter into a million pieces. Tears welled up in her eyes and she shook her head in disbelief. Bruce and Natasha naked in bed together, their clothes and underwear visablely littered the floor.

“No...” She whimpered. “How could you...?” She was hyperventilating as she screamed waking Bruce and Natasha up.

“HOW COULD YOU?!” She sobbed, it seemed to take a moment for Bruce to register the situation he was in. His eyes widened when he saw his position in bed with Natasha.

“Y/N!” He let out a panicked cry but was stopped by another sob of anguish from Y/N.

“I HATE YOU!” Y/N screamed in rage, pulling off her wedding ring and throwing it at him before running out.

Bruce was stunned, his brain was still trying to figure out what was going on.

“Natasha?” Bruce’s voice was laced with confusion as he turned to her, half hoping for some kind of explanation.

“I should go.” Was the only words Natasha spoke, avoiding his gaze as she redressed, gathering her loose things and silently leaving.

———————-

Bruce sat in a silence behind Tony’s bar, empty bottles strewn all around him. He replayed the night in his head countless times and just couldn’t understand how it happened. He had willingly taken Natasha to bed that night. His brain buzzed and grated in his skull as he tried to work out why he had done it.

How could he do that to Y/N? How could he do that to Natasha? How could he mess up so badly?

No matter how much he drank he couldn’t put himself into that unfeeling stupor and numbness that came with inebriation. Bruce just wanted to feel nothing so he continued to drink in hopes that he could drink his feelings and mistakes away.

———————————

After Y/N came by, taking boxes of the last of her things and had officially moved out, Bruce had refused to leave his floor. The Avengers tried to tread lightly but they all had wavering and mixed opinions on the entire situation. Whether they were on Bruce’s side or Y/N’s side, no one could understand how Bruce had cheated on Y/N.

Tony had been the one to try to support Bruce throughout all of this. He tried to get Bruce to come out and he tried to get Bruce to talk to him, he just tried to be a friend... It had reached the boiling point when enough was enough and Tony decided it was time to talk.

After a week he had Jarvis override the lock on Bruce’s door and let himself in.

Tony looked around and winced at the once happy home as he looked around for Bruce.

“Hey Bruce,” Tony called out to alert his friend to his presence. “Come on Big Guy, enough is enough. You need to come out.”

Tony entered the bedroom and was immediately met with an unpleasant smell, hanging thick in the air. His nose scrunched as he looked around, spotting a lump of sheets on the bed and scruffy brown hair peaking out of them.

“Bruuuce?” Tony carefully walked towards the bed cautiously. “Come on Brucey.” His heart sank when he saw the broken man.

“You gotta get up.”

“What’s the point?” Bruce croaked out, his voice sounded dry and Tony worried if Bruce had eaten at all for the past week.

Tony sucked in a breath and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Bruce, look I know your upset but you can’t stay like this.”

Bruce turned his head slightly too look at the man and Tony saw that Bruce hadn’t shaved at all.

“She wants a divorce Tony. There’s no hope left. I can’t win her back and I don’t deserve too. Just leave me alone.” Bruce pulled the covers over his head and Tony knew that this was the end of any conversation he had hoped to hold.

“Look.” Tony knew he would have to treat very lightly. “You made a mistake. It happens sometimes... God knows I’ve done my fair share of them. But you can’t just put your life on stop.” Tony stood up and began to walk out of the room. “Y/N wouldn’t want you to be like this.” Were his final words to his friend as he left.

Everyone was shocked to say the least when they saw Bruce in the shared kitchen. They all exchanged uncomfortable pleasantries with him as he took some food and mumbled how he would be in the lab if anyone needed him. Not that anyone probably would. Ever since Y/N had left Bruce had been unable to Hulk out. He was useless for missions at the moment. No one dared to voice that Bruce had looked absolutely terrible.

————————

“What do you want Fury.” Tony stood impatiently, brows stylishly raised, waiting for an answer. He loved annoying Fury and putting on the ol obnoxious Stark charm was just the way to do it.

“I need access to your data files.” Fury said as he stood tall, over an intricate system of computers.

“What?” Now his brows were raised in a genuine manner of confusion. “I’m not going to just give you access to my work.”

“It’s not your work I’m after Stark.” Fury said with an impassive expression.

“You mean Bruce’s?” Tony guessed correctly.

“We have every right to check when we’re worried about the safety and security of the country.”

“And just what is that suppose to mean?” Now Tony was offended.

“Banner has changed over these past months. We have every right to believe with his combined negative behaviour and new attitude he’s taken up to building weapons again.”

“Bruce wouldn’t do that.”

“Do you know what he’s been doing?”

Tony bit his lip. He hadn’t... Bruce was more secretive, more focused. Before Tony could easily admit that anyone had trouble dragging he or Bruce away from the lab but now Bruce was different. Tony admittingly was concerned deeply for his friend.

“Fine.” Tony chirped. “If it’ll prove to you, I’ll show you Bruce’s files. “But I’m expecting an apology when you see nothing is wrong.”

It didn’t take Tony long to get into Bruce’s encrypted files and soon enough everything that the gamma scientist had been hiding was now exposed and up for everyone in the room to see.

Tony’s smirk dropped and his stomach sunk. Fury was right... Bruce WAS building a weapon. But... It was a bullet... Bruce was designing a chemical compound to suppress the gamma in his system and engineering a bullet that would be able to blow through his skull without triggering a Hulk response.

The room was filled with a heavy and uncomfortable silence as the schematics of his weapon blew up on the screen.

Bruce was trying to kill himself...

—————————

“I’m coming!” Y/N called out as she yawned and quickly made her way to her front door. There was a harsh pounding on the other side, whoever was knocking didn’t want to wait.

“Yes-“ Y/N stopped mid word. She stiffened as she saw Natasha at her door. All the pain she had tried to put behind her came flooding back to the forefront of her mind.

“I need to talk to you.” Natasha said curtly. “It’s important.”

So reluctantly Y/N let the Russian woman into her tiny dingy apartment, leading her to the living room where they both took a seat.

There was a tense silence and Y/N was willing herself not to cry as she looked at the perfect and beautiful woman in front of her.

“Listen closely. We don’t have much time.”

Y/N blinked in confusion as Natasha laid various files and folders onto the table in front of them and began to explain her story.

“So,” Y/N said as she tried to process Natasha’s story. “He was drugged...?” She asked warily, frowning at Natasha.

“It was the only way to break the two of you up.” Natasha confirmed as she stood, clenching her fist. “You have to believe me, I never wanted to hurt you or Bruce but the baby that you both wanted to have. I just wanted to prevent a tragic future. But I was wrong and I don’t expect you to forgive me but Bruce needs you. He-ah.” Natasha let out a small noise of shock as she felt Y/N’s arms around her.

“I forgive you.”

Natasha never expected to hear those words and it stirred a powerful emotion in her when she did.

Natasha stood back, breaking the hug before she allowed herself to get too emotional.

“Now come on

pack a bag, we don’t have much time.”

————————-

“HULK SMASH!!!!!” Hulk roared in anger as Clint barely escaped his angry fist.

Clint KNEW this would happen! Why did HE have to be the one to tell Bruce?!

He shot an arrow into the ceiling, which was connected by a cable, shooting himself up to the ceiling and narrowly avoiding another punch.

“Cmon Bruce that could of killed me!” Clint cried out in exasperation.

“HULK EAT STUPID SHEILD HUMAN!!!”

Hulk leapt up, easily reaching the ceiling, throwing a punch and punching a large hole in the wall after Clint once more dodged.

Clint shot an arrow at Hulk that imploded in the green behemoths face. Hulk shot forward and grabbed Clint in his fist.

Look! You can kill me-“

“SMASH!” Hulk screamed in Clint’s face as he raised him higher, his mouth wide open.

“But! There was a but!” Clint exclaimed, he could feel his body being uncomfortably squeezed tighter and tighter. “If you smash me you’ll never get Y/N! I can take you to Y/N!!!”

Clint closed his eyes, prepared for pain but instead he was dropped to the ground. “Jesus Christ you were really going to eat me weren’t you?” Clint felt his adrenaline spiked all the way as she caught his breath on the ground.

He stood as he watched Hulk shrink down, green returning to a tan colour.

“Okay we-“ He was cut off as Bruce punched him square in the jaw.

Clint shook his head and placed a hand on his chin adjusting his jaw.

“Are we done?” He sounded more annoyed then anything else.

Bruce stood, glaring at Clint but nodded.

“Okay, put on some clothes, grab anything worth taking and let’s go.”

-———————

“Bruce is trying to kill himself?!” Y/N was absolutely horrifying, she felt completely rattled to her core as tears slid uncontrollably. “This is all my fault.”

“No it’s not.” Natasha said calmly, keeping her eyes on the road as they sped down the highway.

“No it’s not,” Natasha clenched her fist tighter on the steering wheel. “The council decided it would be in the worlds best interest if we just let Bruce succeed.”

Y/N let out a horrifying gasp.

“Even Fury agreed that, that’s too far.”

“That’s why your helping me now?”

Natasha nodded her head. “We shouldn’t of approved of the first mission to begin with.”

“Nat, it’s okay... I understand why you did it.”

Natasha’s expression hardened. Just because Y/N had forgiven her doesn’t mean she had forgiven herself.

They pulled up and Y/N looked around curiously. There was a bubble of fear and excitement in her stomach. She saw a small jet and her stomach now flipped. She was really agreeing to leave America. Leave every single thing she had known and loved. She was afraid, but her joy overshadowed any other feeling she had. She was going to see Bruce again. She was going to BE with Bruce again. They were going to be together again and this time nothing was going to tear them apart.

———————

Y/N was waiting with Natasha at a secluded take off area, she was bouncing her leg nervously as they stood together in silence.

Finally another car pulled up and for the third time that day Y/N started crying. As soon as she saw Bruce step out of the tiny inconspicuous vehicle she sprinted towards him.

Bruce immediately followed the second he saw her and they collided into each other’s arms.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Y/N blurred out as she sobbed. “I-I should have trusted you! I-“

Bruce silenced her with a long over due kiss. The two were pressing so hard into eachother it would of hurt if it didn’t feel so good.

“It doesn’t matter now.” They broke the kiss and Bruce held her face carefully, wiping her eyes.

“You look so beautiful.”

“You look terrible!”

They both laughed as they cried in each other’s arms.

“Where’s your face?” Y/N smiled giggling slightly as she stroked his face, feeling the uncomfortable scratch of his shaggy beard and unkept curly hair. Despite her words of criticism she pulled him into another kiss.

They pulled apart when they heard a deep voice, clearing their throat.

Fury stepped towards them, a stoic expression plastered on his face as he held two folders in front of each of them.

“These are your new identities. Everything you’ll need is in here. You’ll have to keep a low profile for this to work. No hero-ing, no scientific breakthroughs, no anything that’ll get either of you any attention. Complete normal and quiet lives.”

Y/N nodded cautiously as she gingerly took the folder marked with her name, looking at it with a shy interest.

Bruce however had no reservations as he wrapped one arm around Y/N and took his file with the other. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“And.” Fury hesitated just the slightest. “I wanted to personally apologise for the pain SHEILD has put you both through.”

Bruce gritted his teeth but the relaxing touch of Y/N immediately calmed him. “It doesn’t matter now. Thank you for what you’ve done.”

“You two should go.”

Y/N broke out of Bruce’s grasp and went to hug Natasha once more, knowing that would be something the red headed assassin would need. “You’re a good person Nat. Don’t forget that.”

Y/N grabbed onto Bruce’s arm and tugged him forward towards the jet. “You ready?”

Bruce pulled away from her, he delicately took her arm, tenderly running his fingers up her arm and to her hand. He reached into his pocket with his other hand, pulling out Y/N’s wedding ring and sliding it back onto her finger. “Now I am.”

—————————-

It had been just shy of a year since Bruce had mysteriously disappeared from the Tower. Tony had taken his leave the hardest out of the Avengers but as life goes on, he had to move on. Being the only other person to know the truth, he was able to be happy for his friend, even with the loss of his science buddy.

“Sir, a heavily cryptid file from an unknown source has forced its way past all your security protocols. Shall I delete it and try to trace the user?” Jarvis spoke, pulling Tony away from his latest gadget.

“Nah if they wanted to get in this badly send it through. Atleast if it’s a virus it’ll give me something interesting to do.” Tony said, putting down his screwdriver and waving at his holoscreen.

The file came through to reveal a picture. A hospital room came into view and Tony’s eyes widened as he saw Bruce looking happier then he had ever seen, along with Y/N laying in a bed and looking happy but exhausted. A small bundle was in her arms and Tony saw a tiny face and arms sticking out of the blanket.

Tony smiled and almost teared up.

After spending a good five minutes looking at the photo he finally spoke up.

“Delete the picture Jarvis. Make sure it’s unretrievable.”

“Yes sir.”

Permanent Taglist:

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[italicwatches]

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online - Episode 06

I should probably watch some anime today. It’s Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, episode 06! Here we GO!

-It’s February 11th, just a bit after the Squad Jam. And LLENN is in GGO, down in the cash shop where THEY HAVE A NEW P90 IN STOCK FUCK YEAHHHHHHH! P-chan, daughter of P-chan, is born! LLENN loves her submachine guns so much. It’s a wholesome love between a woman and her gun.

-And hey, there’s Eva! What’s the Boss doing in a place like this?

-Opening! You know, sidenote, I’m wondering if GGO has some level of self-identity thing going on. Like, it’s one thing that Karen and Saki each happened to get a form that matched who they wanted to be…But the entire team of tiny girls who wish they were bigger and got more respect, waking up in GGO as tall, buff amazons? On top of Karen, who wants to be cute and adorable and the little spoon, waking up as literally the smallest size the system allows? That feels a little too unlikely to just be the odds.

-The 15th. It’s the post-credits from episode one, as the whole of Saki’s crew is there watching the highlights from Karen’s performance in the Squad Jam, and seeing just how much crazy shit she pulled off before they fought her. You’re a MONSTER, Karen-san! A total BADASS!

-Karen is still trying to properly hook this gaggle of adorable schoolgirls she’s somehow befriended, to the terrifying amazons who pushed her to the brink. Saki is all huffy about how Karen is still kind of scared of Eva. Well what about Sophie, huh? Look at their gunner, she’s huge!

-Yeah but she has a gentler demeanor, as we start getting connections. So, Saki is Eva. Kana, with the bob cut, is Sophie. Mi, the blonde, has the sharpshooter Toma, and has learned to drive stick because she’s been overseas. The one with those cutesy rounded eyebrows, Shiori, is Roza the other heavy-gunner. Their second sniper is Moe, who is deeply embarrassed about how she puts on such cool airs in the game. And then there’s Risa, who is Tanya the scout, the closest to anyone’s real self…But still tall and muscled, just the sleek muscles of a runner.

-So that’s the whole gang! By schoolday, they are but the humble high school rhythmic gymnastics club. But by night, they are a vicious crew…And they’re here to talk strategy. They want to walk through the entire encounter and figure out where they dropped the ball! They’re in your care, Karen-san!

-Episode 06! “SAO Loser”

-Also they devour the snacks she gives them because they are, after all, athletic teenagers. And it turns out they’ve only known each other since last April, when they all joined the club…And they were fucking terrible. It’s actually why they got into VR gaming, to learn to communicate physically and sync up properly…After their coach got fed up and quit on them.

-As for why GGO? IT was the fact that it was so different, so far out of their usual context, that they could start from zero and not the outright negative position they were in with their actual sports. A crisp, clear goal, that they all knew they knew nothing about accomplishing. And of course, it’s just plain a good game, so they got super hooked on it!

-Which is why now they’ve got to push for victory in the next proper Squad Jam! What about rhythmic gymnastics…? That too. BUT ESPECIALLY GGO. Now, will you be in the next one?!

-Karen’s…Not so sure. This was kind of sprung on her. She’s not gonna say no, but she can’t say yes. And she doesn’t even know if M will keep playing, let alone want to team up with her again going forward…

-…Saki is sad now. But eventually, they’re all ready to head out, and Karen’s got to get ready for her big trip back to her parents’ place for spring break. Saki is still sad about not having a LLENN to war against in the inevitable next Squad Jam.

-The 24th. Karen’s back in her hometown, out with Miyu, and kind of wishing neither of those things were the case judging by the look on her face. Miyu keeps taking photos of her new look and she saw the highlight reel of you and that M guy! You kicked ASS! Tell her everything, everything! What made you want to split up from M? That was BANANAS!

-So Miyu learns everything…And yeah this Pito chick sounds like a nutter. Just make sure she never knows your meatspace identity and you’ll be fine. Oh, hey, this karaoke bar has some new Elsa songs! You wanna do one? Miyu’s gonna do one. They are gonna get that next set of concert tickets!

-A few days later, Karen’s on the plane back home, and gets a promo email saying that the second Squad Jam has just been announced for early April.

-Sidenote, these things don’t make any sense. Like, look, it was…fifteen teams to start, right? That means the absolute maximum player count in a single Squad Jam is 90 people, holding the 2-6 size limit. Both of the major battle royale centric games right now, PUBG and especially Fortnite (but especially Bart) can rack up a hundred players in…about 30 seconds, give or take. Even in their own squad modes, from what I’ve seen it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to get into a match, tops.

-Now, okay, that’s on an American game audience, with something that uses heavy amounts of cross-play and can be played on an incredible variety of devices. So I will freely admit it’s not a 1:1 comparison to VR. But unless the Japanese server only has a couple thousand people on it, tops, getting 30-90 people into a match shouldn’t be the kind of thing so huge it only happens once every few months…Because if it is, how the hell is the game able to keep running and pay for what I have to imagine would be much better servers than an ordinary FPS, to deal with the immense amount of data a full-dive VR player would be sending?

-I know I’m overthinking it, and they’re getting the feel of gaming right. It’s just…I don’t know. Kind of weird the way they’re trying to make the Squad Jams, as an entire concept, into these big Events when that’s not how this shit works. Anyways, it’s another personal sponsorship, with some fine tuned rules, and any of the top four teams are pre-seeded if they choose to enter.

-Oh, and then Saki emailed Karen immediately because WOOOOO SECOND SQUAD JAM! Also, her message is full of more emojis and text emoticons than I think I’ve ever seen in one place. Also Saki wants to eat her treats again so please invite them over sometime soon. …Shit, that kid is blunt.

-When Karen gets back to her place, she finds a guy waiting for her who gets WAYYYY too close and it’s M. So that removes one possibility I had. And now she’s twice freaked out because how the fuck did he find her? Can they go somewhere private to talk about that? Because shit’s gotten Real.

-And that’s how they end up in a little cafe area in the apartment building, I think? Hard to say. But, bluntly, M has to admit that he has no proof of any of his claims, but there’s some shit you need to know. Also, he gives a real name, one Asougi Goushi. Goushi is RIGHT UP ON HER and begging for her help because people’s lives are, for real, on the line.

-His, and Pito’s. …Oh fuck me, what is Pito doing. She’s insane, and they both know it. She’s going to participate, and form a team…And in real life, she said she intends to kill herself if she doesn’t take the gold. But not until she confirms his death.

-Karen would like off this ride now please. This is ludicrous and you should go to the police.

-But…Well, here’s the deal. You know the SAO Incident, right? Thousands of people locked in, forced to fight for their lives. Pito…Wasn’t in that group. She was a beta tester, and became obsessed with the game. On launch day, something came up. She had to delay her entrance into it for just a few hours…Enough for the lockdown to happen, and SAO to become a sealed bubble she couldn’t enter.

-She watched it all on the news. She watched everyone else go through the greatest crucible of their lives. And it broke her. That she lost her shot at entering that crucible, turned her inside out. To have a chance to burn her life out in battle…Ever since VR games became popular again, she’s been throwing every spare moment she had into them. But they don’t satisfy her yearning for the void.

-For a little while, though, things were…stable. Until the SAO Incident was solved, and the survivors started talking. Pito had to confront her ‘lost opportunity’, and learned about the player killers, who committed genuine murder inside the world of SAO. Most of the deaths, outside of those first few chaotic days, were in fact from player killers or from self-defense against them.

-Other sidenote, I don’t know if it’s just one of those Manga Things where shit gets enshrined and used and reused because it’s an easily understood story path, but Japanese gaming culture seems to have this really different attitude towards PvP and attacking other players in general.

-And Pito…Pito envied them. Their chance to put their lives on the line, to kill or be killed. To be them or to strike them down. That’s how fucking insane Pito is!

-Things weren’t so bad when she was burning of steam in GGO…But then she missed the Squad Jam, the first big script-changer event! And it’s caused a relapse. …So she’s going to try and turn Squad Jam 2: Gunfire Boogaloo into a death game. Yes, yes! So again. Why not the cops or professionals.

-…He can’t. Pito’s too important to him. If he goes to the police or psychiatrists, she’ll be killed, jailed or put in a psychiatric ward, and if they try to lock her up she’ll find a way to kill herself. She’d die, and not before destroying herself in the eyes of all the people who rely on her.

-…This is over her pay grade, man. She can’t help you here.

-KABEDON

-Goushi corners her up with the very important move that is Kaibedon, and look. He, loves, Pito! That’s why he has to find a way for this to end in her survival, so he can get her back to center! Karen’s first kabedon, and it’s to hear a guy confess his love for someone else. This is bullshit.

-So they end up sitting back down, with Goushi drinking black coffee, which he hates, but he drinks it because Pito likes it. …Dude just have a sweet drink and mellow. So, okay, talk it out. What’s your plan and why aren’t you scared like when she had P-chan aimed at your damn head?

-Because his real fear isn’t death…It’s leaving Pito behind without him there to keep her grounded. Say he dies. Hell, say Pito kills him. Then…Then what. What if she doesn’t have the will to kill herself? What if she tries for suicide by cop, or worse, what if she breaks down and her resolve cracks entirely? She’d be destroyed. She wouldn’t even have the dignity of death, she’d have a hollow life.

-And okay, explain in very small words how Karen’s supposed to help.

-Enter the SJ 2, face Pito, and defeat her in battle!

-…WHAT?!

-You are the one person who she will accept a defeat from. She made that promise to you! If you defeat her honestly, and if she knows it’s an honest fight…She’ll be stuck to her promise. She’ll have to stay alive, so she can meet you. And that’ll give him time, to pull her back to center and out of this relapse state.

-…This is insane. This is ludicrous. But…If it’s the only option on the board…Guess she’s entering.

-Credits!

-Aftercredits! Karen’s back in bed, and now has Goushi’s personal email as a way to talk…But Karen needs someone to enter with. Who the hell can LLENN rely…on…Miyu! MIYU SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP! …Miyu is so fucking down. They’re gonna rage, Karen!

I guess SAO’s gonna SAO, huh. Gotta be honest, I would’ve enjoyed this more without the death game angle. But oh well, let’s try and enjoy ourselves next time, in episode SIX of SAO Alt: GGO! Wait for it!