#i COULD hook up my scanner so the colors look right or i could take a lazy pic with my phone

[shameboree]

been drawin with the good ol acrylic markers a lot lately but ive been too lazy to finish anything so heres a marinette ft an errant drop from my popsicle

[shreddedparchment]

Spa Day

03/04/2021

Pairing: Clark Kent x Reader          Word Count: 7,559

Warnings: language, depression, past abuse, emotional abuse, fluff

A/N: I wrote this because I have been feeling pretty down on myself. It’s pure self indulgence to make me feel better. I hope it will help someone else and if not, I hope you at least get a smile or some entertainment from reading it. If you happen to reblog, thanks so much for helping me spread my work! xoxo

You’re awkward, walking in. Feeling out of place.

This place was for special people. Well, people who mattered.

You’re not sure how you got the voucher. It all happened so quickly.

One minute you were sitting in Mr. Wayne’s office, twiddling your thumbs to expend some nervous energy as you awaited your firing then the next you were being shoved out his office door with a gentle but firm hand at the center of your back.

Mr. Wayne had smiled, his face relaxed and amused.

“It expires soon, so use it tomorrow,” he’d said.

“I work tomorrow,” you’d resisted, no intention of losing a full day’s paid work.

“Take the day. On me. Full pay,” As you opened your mouth to protest again, he quickly lifted his hand to silence you politely and tacked on, “There’s no use arguing with me. Now enjoy it or you’re fired.”

He’d shut the heavy wooden door in your face leaving you standing there, stunned. At a loss to think up a reason to not come here today but obviously you’ve failed seeing as you’re here.

“Good morning!” A young woman with soft to the touch looking blonde hair smiles at you from behind the modern pale wooden counter. The white marble top shines in your eyes.

“Hi. Morning,” you sputter.

“How can we help you today?”

She’s so nice. So polite. Professional. This place is super expensive looking. There’s a crystal chandelier behind you at the center of the small lobby space. Chic sofas line the wall behind you, large pots with dragon trees growing tall add a splash of color to the otherwise sterile and plain gray walls.

Despite its minimalist decor, the office exudes money.

You’re almost at the brink of following the impulse that wants to turn you towards the tinted glass door, but before you can make your escape, the receptionist’s kind voice interrupts you.

“Oh! You have one of our platinum vouchers! Lucky you,” she smiles, genuine in her glee. “Shall I take that?”

She holds out her hands, both of them and waits for you to place the thick and shiny ticket-like paper in them.

Quickly she gives it a read, turning it over and then placing it under a UV light by her computer. An image shines out from under the purple light of a shimmering diamond right at the center of the ticket.

“You’ve got the works. Was it a gift?” She looks up at you, not intending to insult you but you can’t help but feel a little stung by her assumption.

You can’t really blame her though. You reserve all of your best outfits for work. Casual yet distinguished pantsuits and skirts with matching tops or jackets.

Today you’ve chosen a simple floor length skirt. It sits snugly around your waist and hips. Your t-shirt, a simple graphic tee with the words “Touch the Radley House YOLO” printed in bold black letters.

“Uh, yeah,” you admit to the girl, wishing she’d just sign you in and let you go about your day. “My boss gave it to me.”

“Lucky, lucky. You must have a really nice boss,” she admires.

“Well, I lost his company nearly a hundred million dollars and he didn’t fire me, so…” you trail off, still lost as to why Mr. Wayne had been so adamant you take some time off and why he’d been so understanding about the Ronson account.

“Oh,” the girl says, blinking a few times as she tries to process what you just said. “A very nice boss then.”

Her conclusion brings a small smile to your lips because truthfully, Mr. Wayne is very kind. You’ve never heard him berate an employee and he’s usually only tough on his business associates. Members of his board and investors. Like Mr. Ronson.

If he wasn’t so out of your league, you’d even consider maybe letting yourself really look at him. He’s hot for sure, but he always seems so preoccupied. Like he has something he’s trying to keep buried.

Nice, but he has secrets. No one’s perfect.

“Well, we’ve got you all booked in. What you’ll want to do is head in through that door on your right, walk halfway down the hall and the lounge room should be there to your left. Someone will come and escort you to your first experience.”

You observe her vernacular. Every word she speaks is rehearsed and probably scripted to a certain point.

“Thank you,” you give her another small smile, still feeling out of place but a little more at ease.

“Enjoy!” she calls as you cross through the heavy wooden door.

It swings shut behind you silently, a soft hiss at it latches.

The hallway before you is just as simple yet chic as the lobby. The colors are less neutral, a calming turquoise with a black base and a thick silver stripe lining the center of the wall at about waist height.

The doors are pale wood, smooth to the touch. You pass several of them as you make your way to the lounge.

Inside the door to your left at the center of the hall you find the lounge room. Which actually turns out to be a locker room. Smaller than what you would have thought with only about fifteen lockers that look more like small safes. Each one has a digital keypad, a fingerprint reader, and an iris scanner.

“Sheesh…” you observe but pick one and move over to it to set up your passcode, fingerprint, and scan your eye so that you can come get your stuff when your day of relaxation is over.

Inside the locker you find a neatly folded outfit wrapped in sanitary plastic. Completely sealed.

Just in case you’re wrong about this being a spot where you can change, you look for a designated changing area but don’t find one.

With no other choice, you place your purse and keys inside the locker, then slowly begin to strip. Shoes, skirt underwear go into the locker but your nerves don’t let you remove your t-shirt just yet. Untucked from your skirt, it’s easier to tell that it’s intentionally oversized.

After another quick anxious look at the door you’d come in through, you hook your hands into the base of your shirt and pull it up...just as the door opens and a large clearly male body steps in.

You gasp, whirling around in surprise to reclothe your breasts.

Cool air blows against your bottom as your shirt also twists with your movement, but you reach back and yank it down.

“Oh, I am...uh, didn’t see anything?” The voice is deep, smooth. It puts you at ease even though you literally just exposed yourself to a complete stranger.

“No, no. It’s fine,” you tell him, voice strained with embarrassment. “It’s my fault, I didn’t know if there was a separate changing room. I just...didn’t see any.”

“Oh, um...it’s the door right across the hall. But you know what? I’ll actually just step right outside and let you finish.”

That’s so nice…”You don’t have to, I can just-”

You turn around to look at him, keeping your hands on your shirt to pull it down. One at the front. One behind.

Simultaneously, though you don’t notice, both your and his jaw drop.

It takes both of you a moment to find your voices and while he speaks, your mind is busy taking in his massive size.

He’s thick. Muscles bulking through the should-be loose wrap top he’s wearing. Like yours it’s a soft peach color, the same diamond shape you’d seen on your voucher under the UV light etched into the right breast.

With the top he wears loose pants, or somewhat loose around his knee and down to his ankles; there’s a pair of charcoal slippers on his feet. His thighs, like his arms and chest strain against the clothes he’d been given.

It’s clearly too small. You wonder if maybe this place doesn’t carry the outfit in his size. It’s very possible, considering his girth.

“Miss?”

His slightly concerned expression brings you back to yourself, now flustered because he’s caught you gawking at him.

“Sorry, I’m-you just surprised me and my brain’s a little-what did you say?”

“I’ll just step outside,” he doesn’t wait for you to respond as he backs up to the door then pulls it open and disappears through it, closing it gently behind him.

“What the hell was that?!” you gasp, angry at yourself for staring.

He’s hot! You couldn’t help it. He also looks familiar, though you can’t place the face. How you could possibly forget a face like that you have no idea.

While you change, you think about the smaller things you’d notice.

His hair is dark. Black. Curls that are carefully kept in place with hair products. His skin is a perfect pale peach. Not so pink as the clothes you’re pulling on, but it falls under the same shade. There didn’t seem to be a single blemish from what you were able to see.

A small tuft of chest hair had been peeking out of the V of the top. His face had been perfect, yes, but kind. There was a gentleness in it. The small curve of a smile had played on his rosebud pink lips. Not thin. Not thick. They were perfect.

He was perfect.

And those eyes...so blue. Like a clear spring sky. So bright and observant. There’s no way he didn’t catch you staring. Shit.

You note as you shove your underclothes into your locker out of where he might see them, that your own outfit for this spa leaves even less to the imagination than what must be the male uniforms.

Where the handsome stranger had pants, you were given very small shorts. Little more than boy short underwear in length. Parts of your bottom were threatening to overflow.

The top, while similar to the one the stranger wore, also came with a bandeau given the unique look of being wrapped around your chest when it so clearly is just one piece. You were expected to wear this underneath the looser wrap top.

Pulling it shut, you’re still tying the top closed around your waist as you hurry to the door where the stranger must still be waiting.

You open it...but he’s gone.

Disappointment floods through you. Surprising you.

You have no reason to want to see him, but you suppose you had just wanted to apologize for the awkwardness.

With a sigh you shut the door and move back to your locker to shove the rest of your belongings in just as a kind looking young woman no older than the receptionist at the front desk comes in with a smile.

“Are we ready for the diamond experience? You’re a very lucky lady!”

Even though you’re still only halfway sure you even want to go through with this whole thing, her excitement is catching and you find yourself nodding and scurrying after her as she shows you down the hall for your all expense paid spa day.

~~~~~~~~~~

You aren’t used to relaxation.

Not to this degree.

A gold facial? Full body exfoliation with sea salt and Indian kama oil? A rain massage which consisted of you being massaged with several different clays as warm water is cascaded down your body? An herbal bath with murky green water that leaves your skin feeling fresh--like mint but for your skin?

It’s too much!

You’re four hours into your spa session and you’re so sleepy you might pass out in this next one.

As you’re escorted by the same young lady who has been tending to you from the beginning, she opens the door of a long room, the outer wall of which is made up of endless glass panels that catch the rays of the sun.

As you step in, you’re assaulted by immediate drowsiness as your entire being is engulfed in slightly sticky heat.

This isn’t a sauna. It won’t make you sweat buckets. But it makes your skin dewy and your eyes droop.

“Oh, wow,” you gasp, suddenly wanting to run before you can collapse to the floor in unconsciousness.

Your escort laughs, “The hot room has that effect on all of our guests. Come, it looks like we’ve got a spot free over at the far end.”

Along this wall of glass, there are lounge chairs with soft cushions grouped in twos, separated by a lattice waterfall panel that tinkles pleasantly as it empties down into a bed of soft pebbles. On the table at the head of these seats is a pitcher of water, glasses, and a set of small handheld fans that one can use to cool off a bit in the heat. Just in case it becomes too much, you guess. Though you can’t imagine it will. The heat isn’t oppressive. Just consuming.

It’s everywhere but it’s not choking or frustrating.

“I hope you don’t mind if we put you next to one of our other single guests? Most of our diamond packages are used by couples, as you can see.”

Your escorts gestures at the chairs as you pass them and sure enough, every seat is taken with couples hiding behind large potted fan palms.

“No, I don’t mind,” you answer in single, as if you have any choice. “How long will I be in here?”

“An hour or so? If you’d like to exit early, there is a small button on the table by your lounge. Press it and I will come take you to your next experience,” she looks back and smiles at you.

You notice that you pass three spots without lounge seats and wonder silently why some of them have been removed. At the end of these empties is where the escort stops. A set of lounges in the very last spot against the wall.

“Here you are,” your escort smiles. “If you need anything, just give us a call.”

“Thank you,” you smile at her and squeeze between the potted palms.

Slightly nervous, you look for your unintended partner and gasp at the Adonis you’d thought you’d lost.

The sound draws his attention and his expression shifts from stoic concentration to soft smile, “Hey, it’s you again.”

It takes you a moment to find your voice because you’re too busy gawking again.

He’s not wearing a shirt or pants. That is, he’s wearing shorts. A lot longer than yours, reaching about the top of his thighs, but still short. Like briefs. It gives you a good view of every single muscle in his long legs and you suddenly envy anyone that’s ever had the privilege to ride that thigh.

What the fuck am I thinking?! You give our head a shake and try to focus on his face as he waits. It’s only a second too late.

“Yeah, hi. Sorry, I-” you avert your eyes and quickly take a seat in your own lounge chair to his left, keeping your eyes on anything other than the mass that is his chest.

Just as you’d thought, it’s covered in a mouthwatering line of chest hair that trailers down onto his stomach and makes an ever so subtle trail down, down, down...down...down…

He chuckles, “It’s alright. It’s only fair you get a good look too, right?”

You’re not even processing what he’s saying, unable to focus for a bit.

“You’re here alone?” It’s more an observation than a question but you answer anyway, grasping at the distraction.

“Yes,” you nod. “A gift from my boss.”

“Me too,” he turns a little in his seat so that he can look at you, but adjusting his angle so that he can still keep his legs up, one propped up as he rests his elbow on his knee. The other stretched out before him.

This draws your gaze back to him and you’re able to pay attention this time and ignore his very distracting body.

“Oh?”

“I mean, not my boss, but it was a gift from a friend. He thought I could use a nice relaxing day.”

The way he says it, sounds like you’re not the only one saddled with what you perceived was a burden or at the very least, a waste of time.

You grin, “Mine too. My boss. I saved the company I work with from a scandal and his idea of repaying me was to give me a spa day. A raise would have been more than enough.”

“Tell me about it,” the man says, smiling with stunning pearly whites.

His smile is gorgeous and you’re enamored again by how sweet he looks.

How can someone look like he can tear the head off a rhino and still look so adorable? It can’t be fair.

“Rent keeps going up and my job doesn’t pay nearly enough to keep up. At this rate I might end up having to move back to the farm.”

“Oh,” you reply lamely, piecing together where he might have grown his sculpted figure. Farm work can be grueling.

He gives you a look, assessing your response then waves his hand gently as if to swat away his complaint, “Sorry, don’t listen to me. I’ve got it better than most. You don’t need to be hearing about my problems.”

“No!” you rush to assuage his worry. “No, it’s okay. That sucks about your job. Is there no chance at a raise?”

“Not exactly, I have a uh, a hobby that keeps me from taking more work and I kind of get paid by assignment. I have a flat salary but working extra would definitely help with the bills.”

“What do you do?” you wonder, trying to picture this guy doing anything other than just looking like a God in a spa.

He could be a bodyguard? They get assignments. Construction? Personal trainer?

“I’m a journalist,” he tells you, speaking matter-of-factly as if it makes perfect sense.

You blink, then chuckle and then laugh once.

“What?” he asks, amused and smiling again as you chuckle. “What’s funny?”

“Nothing,” you shake your head. “It’s just, journalist is not where my mind went.”

He doesn’t seem surprised but he also doesn’t say anything else.

The two of you lapse into silence. It’s not uncomfortable and at least you don’t feel like you need to say anything to fill the dead air.

Twenty minutes pass and you lean back in your chair to relax, sighing lightly and smiling at the immaculate aura that this stranger seems to emanate.

It’s unlike anything you’ve ever felt before.

The longer you lay there, suddenly not sleepy at all, the more your curiosity grows. Turning towards him, you find him already looking at you.

This startles you but in a good way. You smile and the soft curve of his lips breaks into a full toothed smile.

Both of you move your lips to speak, but before you can either of you get a word in a rustle of palm leaves pulls both your attentions behind your seats.

You sit up, twisting a little to look at who’s come, expecting to see your escort or some other spa staff.

Instead you find a woman you’d spotted laying in another spot with who you’d thought was the other half of her couple. Her waist-length auburn hair clings to the skin of her bare shoulders and sides. She’s removed her top, leaving her in her bandeau.

“Hi,” she says to your stranger-wait not your stranger. Shoot.

He looks confused but not unfriendly, “Hello.”

“My friend finally talked me into coming over and talking to you,” she informs him.

“I see,” your-the stranger says.

The girl seems to be expecting something but the stranger just looks up at her expectantly. Awkwardly.

He looks at you and you quickly turn away from their conversation, pushing yourself to the end of the lounge to sit with your hands holding onto the edge, feet flat on the ground.

You try not to eavesdrop but they’re right there.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” he asks her, sounded polite but not uninterested.

You can hear the woman shifting from foot to foot, probably pushing her hips from side to side. Her figure is nice. Not like yours. She’s attractive, in a conventional way. In a magazine accepted way.

Your mood sinks the longer you ponder on this random girl and the stranger. There’s an endless string of disappointments that have built you into this person you are.

Insecurities made worse by words spoken by people that should have supported you or those you thought were on your side. Affections misplaced. Kindness taken advantage of. Betrayal. Worst of all the betrayal. Some small. Some big.

You know that you should be less shaky in your self worth. You know that you’re more than the words spoken and the actions taken that brought you to this point. But how do you turn it off? How to fight the thoughts that bring you down?

It’s not something you can do all at once. You know this. And yet feeling bad about yourself makes you feel guilty because you know it’s bad and that makes you feel worse. It’s an endless cycle.

You’re fully wallowing in your own self-pity before the girl even has a chance to answer the stranger’s question.

“Well, I noticed you came by yourself and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to have dinner sometime? Or maybe coffee?”

You don’t dare turn back, you just resign yourself to a lack of luck and stare out at nothing even though the view is really nice.

“Thank, I appreciate the offer, but I’m not looking for a date right now, I don’t really have the time,” the stranger says, giving her a diplomatic response.

Letting her down without letting her down.

“Oh, well,” there’s a beat of silence. “In case you change your mind, here’s my number. Call me, if you find some time?”

You hear her retreat and the soft shift of what must be a business card against the wood of the table behind the stranger’s chair.

Movement shifts in your periphery and you see that the stranger has moved to the end of his own lounge, mimicking your pose though he’s much bulkier and takes up much more space.

“That was weird,” he says, a small puff of air passing between his lips as he huffs a laugh.

“Why?”

“Well, she just came up to me, out of nowhere,” he clarifies.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not the first time that’s happened to you.”

The stranger seems to pick up on your mood shift, his face etched with concern as he tries to lean forward, head tilted a little as he strains for a better look at your face.

“Actually, that never happens to me,” he says. A lie?

“How about you?” he checks, probing gently to see if he can get you to talk.

“No. Never.”

“But you’re so-”

“I’m nothing,” you interrupt, the words an automatic response as if you’ve been hypnotized into saying those words exactly. A trained response.

The silence is no longer comfortable, but thick and heavy.

“Why would you say that?”

“Because it’s true. I’m nobody.”

It hurts to speak these words aloud. Words that have hurt you in the past. Words that have cut you time and again. Scars left behind by those people that should have loved you but didn’t.

“No one is nobody,” the stranger counters.

He watches you, observing.

You don’t like the front row seat he has to your wallowing. You try to pull yourself out of it but the hole just keeps getting deeper.

“I’m sorry,” you sigh, stealing a quick glance at him.

He’s still got his head tilted a little in pure concentration as he watches you, brow crinkled with focus.

It’s not judgement though, just intent. You can tell he’s really listening and it makes your heart flutter. No one has ever listened to you before. Not like this. Not with a deep desire to understand like he does.

He shakes his head, “Was it the girl coming over?”

You look away, feeling embarrassed, “She reminded me of someone I knew. Someone I dated.”

Nodding, he indicates that he’s listening.

You smile without humor, hurt by the memory, “He thought I should look like her. Or...he didn’t say exactly like her, but he said he wished I looked better.”

He frowns, his deep dislike for your story honest, “He doesn’t sound like a nice guy.”

“No, he wasn’t. He wasn’t like, evil or anything, but yeah. Not a nice guy,” you admit, accepting that in that case, it was definitely your boyfriend’s problem.

“But that’s not it?”

You look at him.

“There’s more to it?” he guesses.

You look out at the scenic view finally, not really seeing it but appreciating the colors at least.

“This spa day?” you begin, stealing another glance at him.

He turns to sit facing you, his elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped as his listening intensifies.

“The only reason I got it was because as I said before I saved the company I work for from being dragged into scandal. I also lost a bunch of money by losing the client but my boss was pretty pleased.

“But the only reason I even touched the account was because I was sorta forced to?” Is that the best way to describe what happened?

“How were you forced to deal with that account?”

“Well, I’m not exactly the best with making friends? I mean, I have had friends before. I just--I got really sick a while back and I lost most of them because I cancelled on plans a lot or I didn’t have the energy to maintain contact? Even texting felt like such a chore. Just the act of responding and-I guess they thought that I thought being friends with them was a chore, and that wasn’t it.

“I just couldn’t find the energy to try to do anything. Some days I wouldn’t even eat because I’d have to get up and make myself food and I barely got up to go to the bathroom much less make a meal.

“Anyway, I just kind of gave up and they did to and now, I don’t really have an in with people? I don’t say much and it’s not that I don’t want to talk, I just don’t have anything worth saying. Or maybe I just can’t think of anything? I don’t know. But it affects work relationships too.”

“How?” he asks.

You take a deep breath, looking down at your hands clinging to the edge of the lounge before releasing it slowly.

“It’s really just me getting in my feelings,” you shrug.

“What you feel is what you feel, even if you don’t think you should. Our pasts can affect us well into our futures.”

His encouragement helps, and you feel a little less vulnerable to share with him.

“I work in the PR department. There are six of us in total. We’re a pretty big company. Multinational big. So there’s one of us for every form of media. Since we all work for the same clients, bridging the gap, we usually spread the workload evenly.

“Or, the other five members of my team do. Sometimes they just forget that I’m there and I usually get stuck with the leftover work. I’m not one to complain, so-” you shrug. “But they forget me for other stuff too. Company dinners. Competitions for prizes in the office. Secret Santa. Stuff like that.

“It makes me feel alone.”

You chance a glance at him, and he’s still watching you but his eyes are far away for a bit as if he’s remembering something.

“I know how that feels,” he nods. “I’ve felt alone almost all my life in some ways. Luckily, I’ve made a few friends to help me see things a little differently but that loneliness will never really go away.

“I understand.”

You smile, feeling more and more at peace again with him. Calm, like he really does get it.

He responds to the shift in your expression by relaxing his own. A small crinkle forms at the corners of his eyes, a subtle curve of his lips.

Now that you’re both feeling a little better, you can admit to yourself that you were jealous. Not just because the girl was everything that you were made to think you should be, but because this stranger, gorgeous as he is, is so nice.

He’s sweet and you want that in your next partner. You want to have someone care about you genuinely. You’re a little ashamed of wanting to claim him. Do you even dare entertain the thought?

“Yeah, I think you probably do,” you smile wider, turning in your seat to face him like he’s facing you.

“Now that you know all about my depression, would you like to know my name?” you ask him, teasing a smile.

He smiles more freely, “On a first date? Isn’t that moving kinda fast?”

Your stomach tumbles, heart sprinting at his words.

“A date?”

He only smiles wider, your heart stuttering before taking off at double speed again.

You tell him your name and then bite your lip, unable to believe your good luck.

“What about that other girl? You told her you weren’t looking for a date,” you wonder.

“Well, how can I be looking for a date when I’m already on one? Besides, how many girls do you think I can come across before I find another one wearing a shirt about my favorite book again?” he asks, all sincerity.

“Your favorite book is to Kill a Mockingbird?”

His smile is blinding.

“It’s really nice to meet you,” he nods, reaching out to shake your hand. “My name is Clark. Clark Kent.”

You take it and almost faint as your head goes dizzy at the soft touch of his skin.

The veins of his forearm bulge as he squeezes gently but he doesn’t actually shake it and instead seems to just hold your hand.

“Wait, I’ve seen your editorials before. You work at the Daily Planet.”

“I do,” he nods.

Your stomach suddenly falls, jealousy raking up along your ribs to settle around your heart to make it ache.

“Aren’t you dating Lois Lane? I thought-you two went to one of my boss’s parties together.”

It had been so long ago. Months and months. You remember Mr. Wayne going on about his friends Clark and Lois. You hadn’t met them, but Mr. Wayne had left to greet them when they’d arrived.

Clark’s own face falls just a tad, a small melancholic shift but it’s not deep. He keeps his smile, though smaller, and nods.

“We broke up last year,” he confesses, still not releasing your hand.

His thumb grazes against the back of it, sending goosebumps up from that point to spread along your arms and the rest of your body.

“I’m...not sorry?” you laugh, unable to help yourself because how can you be sorry about it now?

Clark also chuckles, “You know, right now, suddenly I’m not either.”

Before you can think of something cute to say, your stomach gurgles loudly, announcing to anyone close enough to hear that you’re hungry.

“Oh,” you utter, embarrassed as you finally take your hand back to rub your belly. “Sorry, I guess I haven’t eaten in a bit.”

“They have a menu here, I’ll grab us one.”

He rises and is gone before you can stop him and holy hell does he have a nice butt.

Watching him leave, you contemplate the way he used the word “us” so casually and wiggle with the pleasure it gives you.

As quick as you can, you look for any reflective surface and settle on the window across from you on which you can barely see yourself.

It’s enough though and you quickly go about fixing your hair which is surprisingly not bad even after all the treatments you’ve undergone.

A soft voice calls your name, the young woman who’s been escorting you.

“Hi, are you ready for your next treatment?” she smiles at you politely, kindly even, her body slightly bent down so that she won’t speak too loud and disturb the other people enjoying the hot room.

“Oh, um...I’m actually super hungry and I was going to order something to eat?”

The idea of being taken away to somewhere that you can’t be around Clark devastates you. You haven’t been this into anyone in so long.

“Oh okay! What would you like to order? Did you get a menu?”

The young woman gestures over her shoulder as if asking if she should go get you one.

“Actually-” but you don’t get to explain because Clark suddenly steps up to loom over both of you.

He doesn’t mean to, you don’t think, he’s just so big and he kind of naturally just looms.

“Hi,” he greets her kindly, and she flushes.

You can’t blame her. She takes a step back to put some space between herself and Clark and she’s seriously flustered. He’s hot.

Clark squeezes back by and sits himself in his seat before opening the paper menu and leaning towards you to give you a look.

You read through the choices quickly and nothing looks too crazy.

“Ooh, this one looks good,” you tell him, pointing down at the bottom of the menu.

“Should we get that one?”

“Yeah!” you reply eagerly, excited for the food.

You’re really very hungry.

“Can we get the gourmet pizza?” Clark asks, “And an order of the mini muffins? What kind are they?”

“Blueberry today,” the girl informs him, back to her composed and professional attitude.

“Two orders of those. And…”

“You don’t offer any kind of burger?” you ask the young woman looking back at her.

She smiles kindly but shakes her head, “No, sorry. The closest would be the sandwiches. We have tuna, cucumber, egg salad, and ham.”

While they sound like normal sandwiches, you have a suspicion that they’re going to be fancy in one way or another.

“Can we have an order of the tuna?”

She nods.

“And we’ll get the chocolate fondue, for desert?” Clark adds, folding up the menu and handing it to your escort.

“Alrighty, and for drinks? We can bring just plain water or perhaps some herb infused tea?”

“Do you have any sweet tea?” you wonder.

She nods.

“Two please,” Clark smiles. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” your escort says and hurries off to put in the order.

Both of you watch her go then when you meet Clark’s eyes, he laughs, just once. Failing to keep it inside.

“Did we order too much?” you wonder.

“I’m hungry too,” Clark assures you.

“I really wanted a burger,” you lament. “I mean, this food will probably be better than some greasy burger but-”

“A burger sounds like heaven. I love greasy burgers. Double meat. Triple cheese. Lots of pickles.”

He makes a funny face, pretending to salivate over the image he’s painted and while it’s a subtle change in his expression, you can tell that he’s more prone to being serious and that makes the gesture funnier for some reason.

You laugh, shaking your head.

He laughs with you, leaning back in his lounge.

You follow his lead, then turn onto your side and shove an arm underneath your head.

He mimics your pose, drawing his long legs up a little to bend them.

“I’m sorry about earlier, with the locker room? I really didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to change in there.”

Clark’s smiles shift to a soft curve of his lips.

“I’m the one that should be apologizing,” he counters. “I walked in on you.”

“But you had no idea I’d be in there half naked, I kinda just thrust my body at you.”

There’s a beat, he looks down at your chair instead of maintaining eye contact, then, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Your neck is suddenly on fire. Cheeks, ears, the base of your belly. It all burns as your heart stutters.

As he looks up to meet your eyes again, those baby blues burning with a striking spark, something he said when you first came in here replays itself in your head.

You frown, narrowing your eyes at him, “Hey, when I came in here, I apologized for staring at your naked upper body and you said that it was only fair I get a good look too.

“Are you saying you saw me when you clearly said you didn’t in the locker room?!”

Clark averts his eyes, clearing his throat loudly before throwing himself onto his back to stare up at the ceiling.

“I’m gonna have to get my friend something really good in return for gifting me this spa day,” Clark says, pointedly changing the subject.

But he has a point. This has been the best little indulgence you’ve ever given yourself and none of it could have been possible without Mr. Wayne’s generosity.

“Me too. I’ll have to make sure my boss knows how glad I am that he forced me to come here.”

Clark smiles, “What’s your next treatment? Did you pick them before you came?”

“We could do that?” You gasp.

Clark just smiles wider.

“No, I’m just going with the flow. The girl who took our order has been suggesting stuff and I’ve just been going with it.”

“I have a fresh water soak after this. You should join me.” Clark offers.

After the hot room, a swim in some fresh water sounds like heaven. And extending your time with Clark is a definite bonus.

“Aren’t we not supposed to swim for thirty minutes after we eat?” you tease.

Clark chuckles, “It’s a soak.”

Then, his voice shifts and you’re knocked breathless as he basically pleads with you.

“Join me. Only if you want to. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to.”

Your brain is buzzing with that pleading voice of his. Gentle urging that betrays his want to be with you rather than wanting to control you.

“A fresh water soak sounds amazing.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing could ever top today. You and Clark stuck together the rest of the day. It was fun getting to know him and exciting because the longer you two spent time together, the closer he sat to you.

As you dropped your spa outfit into a canvas souvenir bag that your attendee had given you at your last treatment--a couple’s massage that you and Clark had talked all the way through--Clark peeked around his own locker door, shutting it.

“So, I was thinking,” he began, moving to lean beside your locker as he towers over you, making you internally swoon with the curve of his lips.

“Yeah?” you urge him on, taking your other belongings and throwing them into the canvas bag along with your spa outfit which is also free for you to take.

“I have some things to do tonight but, how would you like to get some burgers tomorrow?”

“Are you asking me out on a second date, Clark?” as much as you wish you could sound like you were teasing, your excitement betrays you and Clark beams at your tone.

“Definitely,” he says low and deep.

Fuck, you’re totally screwed. You’re falling hard.

You really want to reach up and gently slide the curl falling on his forehead to the side lightly, but you resist the urge.

“I’d love to go out and get greasy burgers with you,” you bite your lip and Clark’s expression shifts a bit more serious but there’s a fire in his eyes, a darkening as his pupils dilate that makes your heart stutter.

“Come on,” Clark nods towards the door. “I’ll walk you out.”

He bumps into you, flirtatiously nudging you as he leads you out and you return his gentle push with your own.

“Had you been to a spa like this before?”

“No,” Clark shakes his head. “I actually don’t get much benefit at these places. It feels good, but it’s not really my thing. You?”

“I feel cleaner than I ever have,” you scoff. “But I could never afford it. Even the cheap places. I’d rather just take a walk around a park or something.”

“Me too,” Clark agrees, smiling.

As the two of you walk out into the parking lot, the cooler air outside feels pleasant against your treated skin.

In the setting sun light, Clark looks especially good and you can’t help yourself. You steal several glances at him with no worry as to hiding it.

You’re happy to see he’s doing it too.

“Oh good,” a familiar voice interrupts, pulling your feet to a stop as you search for your boss’s face. “You two met.”

“Wait, us two-?”

“Bruce?” Clark also stops beside you, eyes narrowed, a crinkle between his eyes.

You look between the two of them, confused but starting to put two and two together.

“Bruce? You-Mr. Wayne is your friend who gave you the voucher?” you realize.

Clark looks at you, his own realizations starting to manifest.

“Bruce is your boss?”

Mr. Wayne moves towards the two of you, hands shoved into his long charcoal gray coat. There’s a satisfied grin on his handsome face, a pride in what you realize must have been a carefully crafted maneuver.

Clark looks at you, a knowing smile on his face as if amused but maybe also a little irritated? Not with you, of course. Clearly his annoyance is with Mr. Wayne.

“You did this,” he accepts, looking back at Mr. Wayne with a tilt of his head.

“I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Wayne denies. “I just gave you two a free day at the spa. Did she tell you why I gave her the voucher?”

“She did,” Clark nods.

“Not every PR rep would overlook a five hundred million dollar investment in order to keep us clean from associating with a suspected illegal arms dealer. Most of them would just look the other way.” Mr. Wayne brags.

A look of understanding crossing Clark’s face and he looks down at you, smiling again as if he’s pieced together a puzzle.

“It was really nothing, Mr. Wayne, and thank you for today. I-I’m actually really glad I came. I would have hated it if the voucher expired.”

“Expired?” Clark asks, turning that confused look back on his friend. “They don’t expire.”

Mr. Wayne clears his throat and turns his full body away from you both, looking back at his shiny expensive sports car.

“Yeah, they do,” he says.

“Bruce,” Clark chides.

“We’re gonna be late,” Mr. Wayne says, ignoring Clark’s reprimand, then looks at you as he pretends he wasn’t just caught in a lie. “Do you have a ride home?”

“Yeah, I brought my car,” you gesture at a modest white sedan parked a few spots over.

“Good. I’ll see you on Monday. Clark?” Mr. Wayne urges him, then walks towards his car.

“I’ll be right there,” Clark tells him, then waits for you to lead the way to your car.

Your heart is still thrumming rapidly with the realization that Mr. Wayne went out of his way to make sure you and Clark met. A set up?

You stop by your car door and unlock it. Clark is quick to take the door from you as you open it and he holds it with his left arm as you turn to look up at him.

“I had a lot of fun today, despite the obvious premeditation of us meeting,” you scoff. “I’m glad I met you.”

You’re quickly becoming acquainted with the gentle curve of Clark’s lips, the peek of his pearly whites as he blushes and meets your eyes.

“I’m glad Bruce interfered,” he nods. “I’ll see you tomorrow for burgers?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” you assure him.

After a moment of hesitation, he reaches out and places his hand on your bicep then traces the length of your arm until he can take your hand.

It sets your skin on fire. It makes you dizzy and breathless.

“You have my number,” you remind him, eager to reconnect if he has the time.

He gives you that pearly smile, blue eyes full of excitement, “I’ll call you later. Tonight?”

You nod, “Tonight.”

He waits for you to get in, shutting the door for you when you’re sitting.

You lower the window as he backs away, “Bye.”

“Bye,” he nods, then turns to meet Mr. Wayne at his car.

“What?” Bruce asks, “It’s been months. She’s perfect for you.”

“Really?!” you can hear Clark demand, more annoyed with his friend again than any consequences his actions might have brought, however positive.

“You like her, don’t you?” Mr. Wayne asks.

“That’s not the point, Bruce. Boundaries.” Clark reminds him. “Why did you lie to her?”

“I knew you were coming today, I had to get her here,” Mr. Wayne explains. “Besides, you’re-”

As their doors shut, you’re cut off from their distant conversation. You shut your window, watch them speed out, and smile to yourself at the unexpected turn your spa day took.

[anjanettexcordonia]

Chapter 4: Psycho

Book: The Royal Romance A/U

Catch Up Here Ties That Bind Masterlist

Rating: Mature (18+); NSFW; Dark; Torture; Rape; mentions of child abuse; Death

Pairings: Liam x Riley; Drake x Olivia 

Word count: 2,922 (+/-)

A/N: Please excuse any grammatical errors. 

A/N: Please Read With Caution! 

Thank you @texaskitten30 for bouncing ideas with me & beta-reading! If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have finished this chapter anytime soon! 

Thank you to @yourmajesty09 for Godfrey! ;) 

Disclaimer: Some characters & some scenes belong to Pixelberry. (This is not based on any actual events!) 

Tags: If you would like to be added or removed please let me know. 

PermaTags: @yourmajesty09 @gkittylove99 @kingliam2019

Series Tags: @cordonia-gothqueen @mom2000aggie @texaskitten30 @hopefulmoonobject

Clink. Clink. Clink. 

Celeste winced at every snap against the bars in her small confines. 

“Uh what’s going on Li? Why is she in there?” Drake choked out. Drake's eyes darted around the dimly lit room. He saw Celeste curled up a small cot in a jail cell. 

“Shut up Drake.” Olivia snapped. 

“Olivia Nevrakis, Drake Walker.. is.. is  that you?” Celeste choked out. Liam pressed his finger to his lips to silence them. 

“Hello, my dear Little Sister” Liam hissed. Riley could feel the heat radiating off his naked body as she stood next to him. 

“Hello brother, I had a feeling my abduction had something to do with you & her,” Celeste pointed in Riley’s direction with her long bony fingers,” when I was left in this filth of country.” Celeste eyed Riley. Celeste always felt a slight connection towards Riley. Not friendship but kinship. They shared demons, not the same demons different traumas but demons all the same. Celeste craved power. Power at any cost no price wasn’t worth paying. Riley craved blood, the blood of the powerful. Blood of those who had wronged her or Liam. 

Liam scoffed at her remark. “Cece, of course you know why you’re here?” 

“William, You know I had nothing to do with what happened to Leo. Or you. I had no idea anything was going on. Madeline she.. she.. forced me. And Regina & Adelaide.” 

“Ya know Cece, I don’t care what lies you tell yourself to clear your conscience. Better yet you're more like me than I like to admit. We don’t have a conscience, do we dear sister? Madeleine’s blood is on your hands.” 

“Go cover your dick and get out William, I’m done with this conversation. And take your whore of a wife with you.” Celeste mumbled as she turned to face the wall away from the group standing on the other side of the bars. Riley could barely contain her excitement the more defiant Celeste became. 

Riley walked over to a scanner mounted on the wall. She presses her thumb firmly to the scanner. The wall retracted into a much larger room. The room had a large bed in the center and large ornate thrones for the King and Queen. The thrones were positioned against the wall with a perfect view of the entire room. Surrounding the bed were.. torture devices to say the least. Riley grabbed a catch pole and large hook and joyfully walked towards Liam. 

“My King,” Riley knelt to one knee in front of her husband holding the pole and hook above her head, her arms outstretched towards him to take the pole from her hands. 

Liam leaned down taking the devices from Riley and caught her pouty lips into a passionate kiss. Riley wrapped her arms around his neck and her hands finding the hook in Liam's hand. Still locked in a heated kiss, Riley and Liam rose to their feet. Riley suddenly broke the kiss and snatched the hook free of Liam's hand. In a flash, she put the shaft of the hook through the iron bars and hooked Celeste around her neck pulling her towards them. Riley pulled the pole as hard as she could causing the cable around Celeste’s neck to tighten. With Liam standing behind her with a wicked grin appearing on his face she pulled Celeste flush against the wrought iron bars. Liam pried the pole from Riley’s fingers and brought his face as close as he could to Celeste. 

“Sit.” He commanded Olivia and Drake. Both of their faces twisted in fear and confusion. “I understand you’re both curious as to what’s going on. Right now, you will observe and your questions will be answered. Please be assured neither of you will come to any harm at my or Riley’s hand.” In typical Olivia fashion, laughed at Liam’s remark, “Me, harmed by either of you, I'm interested in what game you two are playing.” “Liam, I don’t know about this. Can I at least have my pants back?’ Drake runs his fingers through his thick dark hair nervously. Liam gave Riley the catch pole that held Madeline flush against the cold bars. He sat down on his throne, Olivia and Drake took their seats on a bench on the far side of the room. “Bring her to me, my Queen.” Riley bowed her head, she opened the door to the cage and jerked the catch pole pulling Celeste hard. Riley pulled her infront of Liam and slammed her to her knees on the floor. “What the fuck, you bitch?” Celeste yelled at Riley. “Let me out of here Liam NOW!” She bellowed. Riley drew her hand back to hit Celeste for her outburst “Riley stop.” Riley froze at Liam’s command.

 Riley knew, right now her and her husband were not equals. He needed her to do this for him and she was more than willing. He needed to heal and she would heal his wounds. She would save him from himself. She is saving him from his torture and hate. She will fill the void that they left behind. What’s love without obsession?

“Celeste, the more you fight, the worse it will be. Riley come here my Queen.” Riley dropped the pole and went to sit on Liam’s lap. Liam pulled her into a tender kiss. Liam kissed her down her chin to her neck and up to her ear, “Get the knives.” Riley walked over to a safe built into the wall. She typed in the password and scanned her palm. The safe opened and she pulled three small daggers out. Each dagger was adorned with a large jewel. 

“Olivia, Drake here.” Riley handed them each a dagger. “These daggers are of importance. Each one has a specific crown jewel encrusted in the hilt. Olivia, red obviously for the scarlet duchess and House Nevrakis. Diamond for you Drake. You’re a true diamond in the rough and a pillar in our reign.” Riley explained. “Riley, Liam I don’t know what to say.” Olivia thanked them as she looked at the dagger in her hand. A large red ruby was encrusted in the hilt along with Nevrakis Justice engraved along the blade.

Liam stood from his throne. “Let’s get on with it. I’m tired of waiting. Riley Rhys, Olivia Nevrakis, and Drake Walker, today I am judge and jury. You are executioner.” 

“Jesus Christ Liam, you are such a drama Queen. You’re not going to kill me and neither will these bastards. It’s treason.” Celeste snapped. 

Riley couldn’t control her blood lust any longer. She walked over to Celeste and sliced her across her back with her Rhys sapphire encrusted dagger. Riley froze as she watched the blood pour in small estuaries down Celeste’s back. “Fuck you really are a crazy bitch aren’t you!” Celeste screamed in pain. “Liam stop this NOW. I’m the mother of your first born child!” Liam’s lips curled at the sound of mouth forming the words mother. “YOU ARE NOT A MOTHER OF ANY CHILD OF MINE.” His voice boomed. “Regina forced me and so did father. You know that Liam!” “Shut up. You’re a liar.” “Do you think I WANTED to fuck my half brother over and over?” Liam sat down quietly. “Maybe, maybe not. But your natural response spoke otherwise. Every time I fought, you came harder. And what about Savannah?” 

Drake's eyebrow quirked at the sound of his sister's name. “Savannah? Li what?” “Tell him Cece. He knows you raped me. But does he know that you are the reason for his sister's death? And his father’s death? That had Jackson Walker executed for false allegations of rape. That you found out about Constantine,our father, abusing Savannah and impregnating her? Instead you helped Regina take her son away.” 

“Son?” Drake screamed. “My father… my sister… because of you..” Drake charged at Celeste. Liam grabbed Drake by the throat. “Stop. I’m not finished.” He calmly spoke. “Get the fuck off me Liam. This bitch… she.. she..” “There’s more,” Liam directed his attention back to Celeste who sat in complete silence. “What about Olivia, Celeste?” Olivia's face drained of all color. She knew exactly what Liam was about to say. She had never spoken a word to anyone before. “No Liam, stop. Don’t…” she whispered. Drake eyes his wife. “What’s he talking about Olivia?” 

“Liv I’m so sorry. I tried to stop it.” Celeste sobbed. “No, no, Cece tell the truth.” Riley interrupted. Celeste’s tears stopped abruptly as if she could control her tears. A smile formed across her face. “You’re right Riley. I’m lying. I knew what Constantine was doing. Why do you think I was your best friend, Livvy. He said he would fuck the traitor out of you. I guess he didn’t do a very good job.” She shrugged. “None of you are worthy of the crown. You’re weak. You allowed the torture. You weren’t strong enough to fight back. Liam, your own father destroyed you. I stole your illusion of innocence. No one may have touched you Drake but your poor sister and disgraceful Kings Guard of a father got it enough for you. And Liv, you were the most trusting. You are the most weak. You don’t rule Nevrakis with an iron fist. You all got what you deserved.” 

Liam returned to his seat on his replicated throne. “Riley. It’s time. We will let Drake and Olivia work out their aggressions. Drake, Liv… you may do as you please to her. Do not kill her and make sure when you are finished she is fully concious.” Drake felt the anger rising inside of him. He felt as if his skin would burst into flames at any moment. He had never felt hatred in his life until this moment, listening to the evil drip from Celeste’s lips. The hatred engulfed him and he understood. He understood Liam in a way he had never before. Drake darted from his place on the other side of the room. He felt himself losing control until he pounced on Celeste. “You stole my family. You murdered them.” Drake screamed as his arm drew back to hit her hard across her jaw. Celeste screamed as Drake pummeled her. “Enough.” Liam’s deep baritone voice boomed through the room. “Sit Drake.” Drake immediately turned to look for Olivia. Celeste lay balled on the floor. She was badly beaten and bloodied from the brutal beating Drake had given her. “Well deserved. That was for my father and my sister. And for my nephew and my mother.” Drake hissed at Celeste. Olivia kissed Drake deeply. Drake poured his anger and relief into the kiss, emotions he never knew he felt for the loss of his family and finally knowing the real truth. 

Celeste lay on the floor breathing heavily. She closed her eyes and laid her head back on the cold tile floor. “Princess CeCe..” a smooth yet sharp voice poured into the completely silent room. She felt her breath hitch in her throat. She felt the cold sharp lightly touch the sensitive skin of her throat. She felt the sharp scratch of the dagger glide down her chest between her breaths and stop abruptly at her pubic bone. She felt the dagger press harder until she felt the pierce of her skin and the blood coming to the surface. Celeste’s eyes opened in a flash. “Nevrakis” she hissed. “No need for words.. shhh.” Olivia pressed her finger to Celeste’s words. Olivia continued running the dagger down her thighs drawing the slightest bit of blood. 

Liam, Riley and Drake watched in awe of Olivia. Liam felt his cock twitch at the sensual torture taking place in front of him. He took Riley’s hand and placed it gently on himself. She gripped him hard and slowly pumped his shaft. “Bring her in. She’s going to watch.” Riley nodded her and released her husband from her grip. She disappeared into another room. 

Olivia continued to make the small cuts over Celeste’s body. Celeste was crying out for the pain to end. Olivia pressed deeper and deeper into each cut. Liam was getting more and more excited as more and more blood pooled on the floor beneath the vile creature before him. He watched as Olivia’s naked body hovered over Celeste, Olivia’s hands were deep red from the blood of Celeste. Liam snapped his head when he heard the muffled gasp. “Regina,  join us.” Liam grinned a sinister grin at her before he turned his head back to Olivia and Celeste. Riley pushed Regina down against the wall to sitting position. 

“Enough Olivia,” Liam barked. 

He stood from his throne and reached for his wife’s hand. Riley placed her hand in his, both of them transforming themselves into their regal Queen and King stance. Olivia slinked back to her place beside Drake. Liam looked at Riley, an unspoken conversation happened between them. Riley knew exactly what to do by her husband’s expression. She knew the depths of his tortured soul better than anyone. She knelt down beside Celeste’s head. She pulled Celestes arms above her head and held them in place. The catch pole cable still wrapped tightly around Celeste’s neck. Liam knelt down between Celeste’s legs. 

Regina cried out, “Liam please no.” Liam ignored Regina's pleas. “Did you stop when he begged you to stop Regina?” Riley spoke through gritted teeth. “Did you Celeste? When you forced his seed into you? Did you think he would never come for you?” Liam slammed his cock into Celeste as hard as he could lurching her forward. She let a scream, “No.” “How does it feel to to be the one vulnerable?” Riley whispered into Celeste’s ear as Liam continued to violate her body. “Hold her My Queen.” Liam commanded his wife. Her grip on Celeste’s wriggling body tightened holding her in place. Liam leaned into kiss his wife deeply as he continued his assault on Celeste. “Dagger.” He whispered. Liam could feel his orgasm building within his body not caring about the sandpaper feeling that enveloped his cock. Riley released her grip on Celeste and went to retrieve the Rhys dagger. Liam grabbed a firm hold around Celeste’s neck. The sweat dripping from burned her wounds. She looked at her mother, who was crying watching her daughter's assault, helpless. “This is your fault you fucking cunt.” Celeste whispered, as she gasped for breath at her mother. “Now Riley.” Liam removed his hands from Celeste’s neck, Riley immediately replaced his hands with the dagger. Riley watched her husband’s face twist and contort as he reached his climax. Riley pushed the knife deep across Celeste’s jugular vein. Blood sprayed over Liam as he released himself deep within Celeste. Her body jerked as more blood poured from neck. Liam slowly pulled himself out of Celeste, wincing in pain. They stood both covered in Celeste’s blood. Neither making eye contact with each other. 

Regina sobbed at the sight of her daughter's life leaving her body. Celeste became who she was her fault. The twisted monster before her, Liam, she knew was her fault. All of it was her fault. “Liam if this is what you need to lead our country, so be it.” Regina whispered through hushed sobs. 

“Our country? MY COUNTRY.” Liam thundered. “It is your fault. Celeste, my father EVERYTHING WAS YOUR FAULT. A child I can’t love like mine and Riley’s children.” A fresh anger coursed through his veins. A rage he needed satiate one last time for himself. He snatched the dagger from Riley’s hand and marched to stand directly in front of Regina. “Look at me.” He commanded Regina. “Liam..” “Your Majesty. You will call me your majesty. I am your King. You tried so hard to remove me from my rightful place. You destroyed my brother, you took everything from me. But I took it back. I have MY Queen. My family. And MY COUNTRY. And you will die here in a foreign country, and forgotten in your own.” Liam plunged the dagger into Regina’s heart. “Today I’m taking back MY power, not for me. But for her and my children. All of them.” Regina whispered, “I’m sorry.” Liam pulled the dagger out of her heart. He plunged it back in again. “DO.” The squish of flesh beneath the dagger was the only sound in the room between Liam’s cries. “NOT” “APOLOGIZE.” Liam had tears running down his blood spattered face. Riley ran over and placed her hand on his, “she’s gone, baby.” She wrapped her arms around him to hold him. He sobbed into Riley’s shoulder. 

“I’m so sorry Riley, I love you so much.” “Shh shh.. it’s okay, I love you too.” Riley comforted him. 

Drake and Olivia sat in a stunned silence at the scene that just played out in front of them. They could sense a flood of relief flow in the room. The room was covered in blood, two women lay deceased on the floor.. but somehow they sensed a peace. Evil had been exterminated and replaced with a light. 

A dim light, is still a light nevertheless. 

[tragedy-for-sale]

An Old Friend

The Bad Batch spent a lot of time around 99 growing up, following his death, the four retreat to Kamino to help cleanup and say goodbye.

◈ ━━━━━━ ◆ ━━━━━━ ◈

"If he had been with us he would be alive" Crosshair spoke, leaning against the wall. Upon learning of the attack on Kamino and the death of 99, the Bad Batch had retreated to Kamino. His body was going to be 'recycled' to make more clones, but the Kamionions granted them a moment to say goodbye.

"No he wouldn't" Hunter spoke, looking up from the shiny white floor, "We would've screamed at him to come back to us, but there's a reason we're so damn stubborn" Hunter explained. Crosshair rolled his eyes, Hunter was right. But he didn't care.

Wrecker came out of the room wiping his eyes, "Tech still needs a minute" he cried as he went to stand by Crosshair. The two gave him a nod as the door closed. Hunter and Crosshair had already said their final goodbyes to him. "Are we leaving after this?" Wrecker asked, looking around the bright hall.

Crosshair let out a small 'tsk' and turned to Hunter, he hadn't explained shit lately. They were all sleeping soundly when Hunter wakes them up saying Kamino's under attack. Tech and Crosshair had immediately gotten the ship en route. But when they finally arrived the battle was over and they learned the news.

"Figured they could use us for clean-up" Hunter mumbled as he turned to face the two, "We might take some joy in being home" he said with a shrug as the door opened and Tech emerged.

"We won't" he mumbled, clearing his throat, "Let's just hurry up so we can leave" Tech shook his head as he begun walking down the hall without another word. The other three followed their younger brother without question. They didn't blame him for not wanting to stay, truth be told, Hunter didn't want to stay, but he knew their skill could get this place in decent shape quickly.

Several clones had been buried in the rubble. Tech was using a scanner looking for life forms, when he did, Wrecker picked up whatever heavy thing they were under, then Hunter and Crosshair pulled them out. It was a grim day. Most brothers were critically injured or already dead. When Tech scanned a life form, there was always the tiniest bit of fear they'd find a cadet under the rubbish. When they did, the day became darker.

"General Shaak Ti said the 501st is departing, 212th is scheduled to leave in a few hours. Which means the city is almost cleaned up" Hunter explained. He'd gotten a com and after it had ended he'd filled in his brothers, "We're almost done here boys" Hunter sighed, resting on the rubble. The three turned to him, all going to him and taking a break.

"Now that 99 is dead," Tech thought allowed, "The defects won't have anyone to look up to, no one to tell them they're just as good as any normal clone" he continued.

"W- what about us?" Wrecker asked, "Can't we be roll models, cause we're out fighting all the time." They were strong and did a lot of cool stuff. If Wrecker was a cadet again, he'd look up to an older him.

"They shouldn't look up us" Crosshair inturrupted, "We're not kind, 99 wanted us to be nice to the other clones, we all know we ain't he stated bitterly.

"Help!" A voice called. They all jumped to their feet. Tech pulled out his scanner immediately. "I can't breath!" They called again. Wrecker started lifting the remains of debris.

"Here!" Tech called, pointing to a mess of metal. It had fallen through the platform, whoever was buried, was buried in the dark supports. "Hang on! We're getting you out!" Tech called as Wrecker started cleaning off the metal. Crosshair turned in a flashlight as he hooked a cable to his belt and descended into the mess.

"Please hurry!" The voice cried again. Crosshair cursed this, attacking Kamino. The only thing here are the long necks and a bunch of kids, who's cruel enough to attack kids?

"The Separatists" he hissed to himself as he scanned the dark cave of metal. "Hey kid!" He called loudly. He narrowed his eyes, Crosshair thought he could see someone's head, but he wasn't sure. So he turned up the light of his flashlight.

"I'm here!" The shadow turned, their pupils reflecting on Crosshair's light. He let out a sigh as he pulled out his com.

"Hey Sarge, found the kid, going to get him now" Crosshair reported before looking to see how he'd get to him. "I'm coming!" Crosshair called as he begun to slip through the metal and coming closer to the cadet.

"Please hurry! I can't feel my leg!" The boy cried as he reached out desperately to his brother. When Crosshair reached the cadet he informed Hunter again. He then took off his helmet so the flashlight lit up the space better.

Crosshair had begun to evaluate the situation he hadn't noticed the boy had gone silent until he pulled out a saw. "If you feel the saw, scream so I know to stop" he explained, he then turned to the kid, "What-?" He stopped as he studied the boy's face. One eye sparkled brown, the other, a cloudy grey. 'Heterochromia' he let out a small chuckle; "I'm Crosshair,"

"Mar," the boy spoke, "My name is Mar" Mar said in a shaky voice. Crosshair nodded as he looked back to the metal tube trapping his younger brother.

"Alright Mar, how's about we getcha outta here and back to your brothers?" Crosshair asked, handing his helmet to Mar. "Hold the light on the metal for me, kid"

Mar took Crosshair's helmet in silent bewildered. He couldn't wait to have his own helmet. "Okay." Mar spoke before Crosshair turned on the saw and started to cut away at the pipe. The cut was smooth and came off with ease. Crosshair then pulled out Mar and let Hunter know they were heading out.

"Okay, I'm gonna need my bucket back, my brothers are gonna start pulling us out so move fast to avoid hittin' your head on something" Crosshair explained as Mar handed him his helmet and held on to Crosshair, keeping his head close to his chest.

"Am I gonna be able to walk after this?" Mar asked as they started moving. Crosshair kept his head up, moving to avoid the sharp metal.

"For sure, Mar, you'll be just fine" he said. Crosshair has been known to lie, but that was truth. Mar would be okay. There was not a single doubt. When they reached the surface, Hunter grabbed Mar as Wrecker grabbed Crosshair.

Tech then began to wrap Mar's leg. In the light of the day, they all saw their little brother, different colored eyes weren't the only thing that made him different. "Hey, you're a little messed up, aren't ya?" Hunter chuckled, crossing his arms.

Mar looked down in shame, "Y- yeah, I am." He admitted woefully. Crosshair punched Hunter's arm. "Hey, kid," Hunter spoke again, kneeling down. Mar turned to look to him, "It ain't bad too bad being different, look at us, we're a little messed up too." He spoke.

Mar looked down for a moment before looking at the four oddities. Tech took off his helmet and smiled, "We turned out just fine, there's hope for you yet cadet" he said as he nodded to Wrecker, who picked him up and put him on his shoulders.

"Yeah!" Wrecker said loudly, "It's not criminal to be an individual!" He screamed as Mar let out a laugh. He had been in shock when Wrecker picked him up, but who doesn't love a piggy back ride? Mar laughed, he'd been crying for so long, trying to accept he'd die at five years old. But he was alive and laughing.

"Wrecker, let's get Mar back to his brothers" Crosshair rolled his eyes, the faintest of smiles on his face. Wrecker nodded and started towards the entrance. Mar held on to Wrecker as he took in the view. He was so tall. Mar turned to look at the other three. They were all so different. They didn't even look like clones.

But that didn't matter. When Mar reached the medical bay, the four said their goodbyes, all promising the young boy he'd turn out alright. That night the young cadet went to bed with four new heroes.

The Bad Batch.

[linkysmommy]

The Time That Came Between

PART I

Part II link here

Fandom: It Lives in the Woods

Pairing: Noah Marshall x fem MC

Words: 3,057

Summary: What happened to Noah after Jazmyn Park sacrificed herself and he fled Westchester?

Warnings: Some minor swearing, topics of drug use and addiction

Author’s note: This is basically my imagination of what happened to Noah after he left Westchester and before he realized that MC was still somewhat cognizant as the shadow monster. I definitely have some creative liberties and my own thoughts on the dark path Noah went on after everything went down. It shouldn’t be too long, but I’m splitting it into parts. It’ll probably be between 5-6 parts when all is finished.

The first thing he noticed was the overwhelming stench of sour, rotting garbage.

Then came the God-awful pain.

It felt like there was a bonfire burning in Noah’s back. The muscles in his body screamed and throbbed, and his body shook violently. He weakly opened his eyes, and could barely see because they were so watery. It was like this every morning when he woke up. But somehow, that didn’t make it any better.

He managed to push himself into a sitting position as he tried to put together where the hell he was. He rubbed the film away from his eyes and glanced around himself. He was sitting in an apartment parking lot, his back pushed up against a huge dumpster bin. A trail of gooey water dripped from the trash can and trickled down the cement pavement. The morning sun shone in colorful rays through the filth, and he could hear the morning hum of cars and commuters as the responsible population began their days. A street cat hissed and rustled through the trash, and one of the windows in the building across from him burst open as yells from the people inside drifted out into the morning.

Noah sighed and leaned his head against the metal trash bin. He didn’t even care that his shirt was soaked with trash water, or that the side of his face was still covered with gravel from the ground. All he could focus on was the pain and discomfort. His burning back, his aching muscles, his runny nose, the wave of nausea that crashed over him.

He should get up, go to his apartment, take a shower, get dressed. He should get to work on time and save some money so he’d be able to go far away and leave forever. But no. Instead, he woke up in front of a dumpster and the first thing he did was reach for his phone. He hated everything about himself as he turned on the screen and dialed the person he simultaneously hated most and needed most in this entire world.

But he was too weak. So he called Reynold anyway.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Terror seized through him and his hand began to shake uncontrollably. What if Reynold didn’t pick up? What if—

Before Noah could think much, a very unhappy voice on the other line answered.

“The hell you want? It’s 7:00 in the morning.”

“I need some,” Noah said. “Where can I meet you?”

The voice on the other end scoffed. “Are you serious? You already blew through what I sold you two days ago?”

“It’s been… a rough couple of days.”

Reynold fell silent, which pissed Noah off. He was the one funding this guy, yet Reynold acted like he was the nuisance. Finally, Reynold let out a long sigh. “I’m busy today Malcolm. I don’t have time to—”

“I’ll pay you double. Hell, I’ll pay you triple. Just tell me where to meet you and when.”

Reynold grumbled something under his breath, but then he agreed. Soon, Noah had the place and information typed into his old, cracked phone. Now all he had to do was survive six more hours until they met up. Even that long seemed like more torture than he could stand.

Noah didn’t know how long he sat there, feeling like complete and utter shit. It could’ve been minutes, or it could’ve been hours. All he knew was that when two middle school girls crossed in front of him to head to their bus stop, chattering excitedly about some TV show, the expression on their faces when they saw him was enough to make him want to kill himself.

There was fear in their faces. Fear that the dirty, grimy man sitting by the dumpster would hurt them. Noah lowered his gaze and they hurried past. And he wished, for what must have been the thousandth time in the past twenty-four hours, that his life had never been so goddamn awful that he felt the only way he could survive was through losing himself to heroin. 

He wished that it had been him who took Redfield’s place, and not Jaz.

Never Jaz.

***

The bell jingled as Noah stepped into the gas station where he worked. A handful of customers browsed the shelves, and crouched in one of the aisles was his supervisor, Russ, probably doing inventory.

The door clattered shut behind Noah and he tried to sneak past Russ. But, like some freaking bloodhound, he looked up the moment Noah took a step. Russ’s eyes narrowed and his face flushed with anger. He stood, the item scanner hanging loosely from one hand.

“You’re late again, Johnson.” Russ glanced pointedly at the clock, then back at Noah. “Twenty-two minutes late, to be exact.”

“I’m aware of that,.” Noah said, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “I ran into some… stuff.”

Russ did roll his eyes. “That’s not an excuse. Not when it happens every day.”

“Yeah, well. I’m here now so let me get to work.” Noah shouldered past Russ to the employees only area. It wasn’t much, but there was a wall with hooks where he could hang his jacket, and shelves and shelves full of supplies. 

Noah hung his jacket and took a deep, calming breath. He hated this job. He hated how Russ thought he was worse than dirt, and he hated how much he resented that. After what he’d done, he didn’t deserve to be treated well by anyone. He deserved every ounce of hatred every single person had to spare.

He brushed his fingers over the scarred skin on the inside of his elbow. It was rough, and still tingled with his most recent dose. He was a coward for trying to find something to ease the pain, to make him forget. It was only fair that the drug no longer made him feel anything other than normal. Where it once had left him feeling powerful and nearly happy, now all it did was make him need it when he wasn’t using, and when he was using he just felt normal.

And normal… wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

The one good thing about Jaz sacrificing herself for him was that at least she didn’t have to live to see him like this. This pathetic shell of a man she thought was worth enough that she decided to die for him.

Noah squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hand into his forehead. Forget about this. Don’t think. Just get out and do your job, go home, shoot up, go to sleep, repeat. Keep going. Just survive. 

He took one last calming breath, took a moment to steel himself… and then stepped back into the front.

As he approached the counter to take his position for the day., the girl standing behind it glared at him.

“Finally. You made me stay late, you jerk. I’ve been here since 12 AM!”

“Yeah… sorry Diane,” Noah said sheepishly, fumbling awkwardly with the edge of his beanie. “I’m here now though, so you can leave.”

Diane peered up at him from behind the counter and her scowl melted away into a grin. “I’m just teasing, Malcolm! No need to be so serious. Of course I’m not mad at you.”

“Oh! Right. Of course.” Noah forced a laugh and sidled behind the counter. 

Ever since the cops found Jaz’s broken body last September and Noah had become the prime suspect, he’d been on the run, never staying anywhere for too long. He spent time in Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. He never finished high school, and instead took to getting himself fake IDs and socials just to find work wherever he could get it. But now, he was back in Oregon, a mere three hours away from where it all started: Westchester.

Noah had only been working at this convenience store for two months, but no one in any of his other jobs paid attention to him like Diane did. She knew nothing real about him—she thought his name was Malcolm Johnson and that he moved from Missouri to live with his aunt—but she always invited him out, always found ways to tease him, always tried to make him smile.

And she was cute and pretty and sweet, but she was no Jaz. No one could ever even begin to compare to Jazmyn Park.

“Well now that somebody’s here, I’m gonna go get changed and get the hell out of here,” Diane said with a smirk, nudging Noah as she sashayed out from behind the counter.

“I said I was sorry,” Noah called after her. She just waved and disappeared into the employee area.

Noah let out a sigh and leaned his elbows against the countertop. The store wasn’t very busy right now, so he’d just get to stand there for hours, doing nothing. Doing nothing was hard because when you were doing nothing, there wasn’t anything to distract you from the terrible things you didn’t want to think about. He much preferred busy days to slow days.

The door jingled and Noah heard footsteps as people entered the store. He couldn’t see the door from where he stood. He hoped it was a munchy druggy or a parent with kids. Those people always bought the most stuff, which meant more time to be occupied.

“…Been a whole year now,” a familiar voice drifted over to where Noah stood. “And nobody knows where he is.”

Noah’s eyebrows shot up and he glanced furtively around the store. The newcomers to the store stepped out from behind a row of shelves and then, standing across the room with his back to Noah was a man with a flannel shirt and shoulder-length blond hair. A man Noah recognized all to well. Connor Green.

“Shit,” Noah muttered. His heart pounded in his chest and his mouth felt dry. “Shit shit shit sh—” 

Connor started turning, so Noah did the only thing he could think of. He dropped to his hands and knees behind the desk, disappearing from view.  Diane exited out of the employees-only area just as he did, and he saw confusion flit across her face.

“I miss Jaz,” Connor said. “She was really… somethin’ else. I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

A very unjustified but burning hatred for that man flared up inside Noah. He remembered being at the hardware store, shopping for supplies to go up against Mr. Red—Jane. He remembered how Connor flirted with Jaz and how she flirted right back. And he remembered the day Andy asked them if they wanted to go to homecoming. Noah had said, “Seems kinda pointless to go without a date. And I’m… not really in a good place for that. Dating, I mean.” Then he asked Jaz who she wanted to go with and she turned around and went straight to Connor.

He knew he had no right to be angry about it. He’d told Jaz that he wasn’t in a place for dating, and he probably would’ve said no if she’d asked him. But when she decided to ask Connor and Noah responded with “Good luck,” he really had just wanted to clock Connor in the face.

“Do you think they’ll ever catch Noah?” another voice—a woman this time—asked. Noah’s heart nearly froze at the mention of his own name and he frantically tried to place the voice. Then he realized—it was Stacy Green, of course.

Another pair of hands and knees fell onto the ground beside Noah and he started, jumping back and nearly slamming against the back wall.

Diane watched him with an amused expression. Her short black pixie cut was messily styled and her dark makeup made her features stand out against pale skin. “What’re we doing down here, Johnson?” she asked.

“Uh…” His mind raced frantically, trying to come up with some sort of explanation. Some sort of truth and lie mixture that could get him out of this mess. “I know those people from high school. And, uh, they were snobby assholes who hated me. So, I just don’t  want them to know I work here, okay?”

The amusement faded from Diane’s eyes and she nodded solemnly. “I understand. I know I already clocked out, but… I can cover for you until they leave.”

“Really?” Noah couldn’t hide the relieved smile that stole onto his face. 

“Oh yeah,” Diane said. “But you owe me.”

“Okay yeah, that’s fair. What do you want? I can cover your hours or—“

“A date,” Diane said with a smug smile, and before he could protest she bounced to her feet and pasted a winning smile onto her face.

“Hiiii,” she greeted. Noah wondered if she was talking to Connor and Stacy. All he could see was the gross tile, front counter, and Diane’s legs. “Can I help you with something?”

“Hey,” Connor’s voice said. “Cute shirt, by the way.”

Noah wanted to barf. Flirting with random strangers was so Connor.

“We just wanted to buy a few things and ask a few questions, if that’s all right?” Stacy said. Noah could practically hear the smile in her voice.

“Okay, shoot!” Diane said.

Noah heard the sound of items being dropped on the counter, and then the register creaking like it did whenever anyone leaned on it. He could imagine Connor leaning against it now, looking at Diane with the stupid flirtatious smirk he always used on Jaz.

“We were wondering—” it was Connor again “—have you heard of anyone… suspicious running through these parts?”

Diane let out a sharp laugh. “Is that all you’ve got to go off of? I’m sorry, sweetie, but if I told you all the suspicious people I’ve seen around here I’d be listing names ‘til midnight.”

Noah snorted silently. Leave it to Diane to handle a situation like this so perfectly.

He heard Stacy sign in aggravation. “Connor, maybe I should handle this.” There were shuffling footsteps, rustling of the contents of a purse, and something being slapped onto the countertop. “Have you seen anyone who looks like this man? About this tall, almost always wears a beanie? His name is Noah but he probably goes by something else?”

All traces of a smile evaporated from Noah’s face. His heart started to race with panic. He chanced a look up at Diane’s face, and her eyes were narrowed, her mouth tugged into a frown.

Silence. No sound besides a ticking clock and Russ shuffling around the aisles. Diane stared at the counter, at what Noah was sure was a picture of him. He held his breath, waiting for her to jump aside and say, “Oh you’re looking for this guy? Here he is, take him!”

But instead, she shook her head. Her voice was tight. “Nope, never heard of a ‘Noah.’ Also never seen this guy. Sorry.”

Relief flooded through Noah, almost as satisfying a feeling as a heroin high. Diane wasn’t giving him up. At least not yet.

Connor sighed loudly. “Do you have any idea who might know something? This is important. We got a tip that he moved to this area recently but so far, we’ve found nothing.”

“I don’t know,” Diane said. “Why’re you looking for him? Maybe if I knew I could point you to the right people.” 

Noah frantically grabbed her foot, trying to somehow signal to her to not ask these questions. But she shook him off and kept staring straight forward.

“It’s kind of… a personal thing,” Stacy said.

“Well I can’t help if you don’t tell me anything,” Diane countered.

“Look,” Connor interceded. “The police are after him for something he actually didn’t do. We think we might be able to help him, but he’s dodging us.”

Diane glanced down at Noah for a fraction of a second. Then she shrugged. “A person on the run? I’d look for them in Lensgate Park. Or maybe check out the baseball field on eleventh. Tons of shady people hang out there. They might know something.”

“Lensgate Park…” Stacy repeated slowly, probably entering it into her phone. “Okay. And you said eleventh?”

“Yup,” Diane said dryly. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Nope,” Connor said. “You’ve been great. I hope you have a great shift.”

Finally, finally, the footsteps sounded once again, the bell rang as it was opened, and then the door slammed shut. Noah barely had time to reorient himself before Diane reached down and pulled him roughly to his feet.

“Malcolm, what the hell was that about? Who were those people? They weren’t high school bullies, this was something else entirely. And Noah? The cops? What. The. HELL.”

“Diane, Diane,” Noah said, grabbing her by the arms. “Look, those people are from where I grew up, and they… they can’t be trusted.” His mind scrambled to come up with some sort of excuse, but all he could see was Jaz, over and over again. Her terror when she realized he tricked them, her body, broken in his arms… “Um, they, want to frame me—”

Diane scoffed and glared into his honey brown eyes. “Do you expect me to believe that? Are you just one big lie?”

Noah fell back a step, the color draining from his face. “I—”

“Save it, Malcolm. If that’s even your real name.” Diane skirted around the counter and headed for the door. “I backed you up because I liked you, but whatever you’re involved in, I don’t want any part in it. You can forget about the date.”

Noah’s eyebrows knit together as he watched her head out the front door, never looking back. Russ came out from one of the aisles, glancing between Noah and Diane.

“What happened with you two?” Russ asked.

Noah skirted around the counter, removing the name badge he wore on his shirt. “Sorry, Russ, but consider this my resignation.”

He dropped the badge on the counter and shouldered past a shocked Russ.

“Wh—what?” Russ sputtered, chasing after Noah. “Johnson, if you leave it’s just me and Tom. I need the coverage, at least wait until tomorrow—”

“Stuff came up,” Noah said, pushing the glass door open with his shoulder. “I’ll see you around, Russ.”

Russ watched helplessly from the sidewalk as Noah slid into his old beat-up car. He turned the radio on high as he backed out of the parking lot.

He was going to Lensgate Park, or maybe the baseball field on Eleventh.

He was going to figure out what Stacy and Connor knew.

***

Post-note: I wrote this a while ago and wasn’t going to finish but that fic by @isometimesplaychoices inspired me to continue and finish this fic, ily friend!! 

[thanksjro]

Spotlight: Hoist - This One’s About the Guy I Keep Mistaking for Hound.

It’s time to focus on the straight man. Not, like, straight as in hetero. Don’t get it twisted, Hoist is queer by default just like every Cybertronian in IDW, not that that’s been established in-canon just yet. No, Hoist is the straight man because he’s the grounding line in this issue.

Hoist, as established during Spotlight: Trailcutter, is off the Lost Light currently on a mission. At this exact moment, he’s running from something.

Well, it was nice knowing you, Hoist!

No, he manages to escape Tarn’s grasp by doing some sweet grappling hook drifting using his tow line, and books it for the crashed shuttle that all his fellow mission-goers are hiding out in. Missionaries, if you will. Looks like Swerve left right after Trailcutter hung up on him, so it’s probably for the best that he didn’t get that forcefield around his voice box. Can’t imagine it working at that long a range. Sunstreaker’s here, along with his pet, Bob. Sunstreaker’s feeling a little salty right now, probably because he’s supposed to be the handsome one, and instead he’s got some sort of face thing going on in this issue.

Yeah, nobody looks quite right in Spotlight: Hoist. Then again, maybe I just don’t get Cybertronian beauty standards.

On that note, let’s take a real quick look at our interior artist for this issue, Agustin Padilla. Padilla doesn’t have a ton of work within the Transformers franchise, but he’s worked on some iconic pieces- specifically, MTMTE #16, The Gloaming. 

Yeah, THAT one. We’ll get more into his work when we hit that issue, I promise.

Back to the story at hand: Hoist puts on the cloaking device for the ship, hiding them from Tarn, then gripes to Swerve about the scanner scope being a huge friggin’ liar, because it said that there wasn’t a gotdang thing out there, because there clearly is. Swerve is less than thrilled by the prospect of having Tarn in the general vicinity, to the point that he forgets how to talk for a solid .5 seconds. Swerve’s seen the DJD in action, and it’s not pretty.

They’ve got six hours before the cloaking shields drain the power, then it’s goodbye Safetytown, hello Murderville. So, what better way to spend their final hours than by sniping at one another over things like fault and who’s gotten the shortest end of the stick here?

Looks like Perceptor has a pretty strong lead on all the other guys, seeing as his legs have become one with the ship. Hoist’s busy trying to get in touch with the Lost Light, though no one’s picking up. Gee, wonder why.

Swerve is really in a needling mood, as he asks Sunstreaker where his apology is, seeing as he was the one piloting the ship when they crashed. Sunstreaker blows a gasket for a second over the fact that all he seems to do these days is apologize. Hoist manages to calm the situation and change the topic pretty smoothly, as he fiddles around with the internals of the shuttle to try and get the Lost Light’s attention.

Good at multitasking, Hoist is.

We get the backstory on Bob, who Sunstreaker found after Metroplex woke up and decimated the local Insecticon population on Cybertron, almost certainly upsetting the balance of the ecosystem and traumatizing poor Bob. Yes, even our dog stand-ins have trauma in MTMTE. Sunstreaker, in true pet-owner fashion, baby-talks Bob, saying that he’ll bite that big, nasty Tarn if he gets near them, won’t he? Oh yes he will! Yes he will! What a good boy, yes you are!

Swerve isn’t so optimistic.

Well, that’s certainly a sentence I just read with my own two eyes. Really hoping this is a bit of hyperbole, because I’d hate to think just what sort of life Swerve’s led that resulted in him watching a guy triple his size give himself an enema.

Sunstreaker, who knows that Swerve is kind of a massive baby, isn’t terribly impressed with how scared the DJD made Swerve, accidentally strokes the guy’s ego for a moment.

Swerve, completely on the defensive now, lists off the five things he’s afraid of. Hoist butts in to point out the implausibility of Swerve’s fears.

Smash cut to four hours later, and Swerve hasn’t slowed down a bit, having talked to the point that he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it anymore. Sunstreaker’s about had it with this marathon bashing he’s receiving, and suggests that Swerve pick on Hoist for a change. Swerve declines, saying that there just isn’t enough material to work with, because Hoist is boring.

Fun fact, this is his character quote for his introductory paragraph on the Wiki article. He had so little characterization up to this point, this is what they went with. Such is the fate of many of the Transformers who didn’t enter the original 80s cartoon until the second season. Roberts decided to run with it and take the rare opportunity to NOT give someone mental illness so severe and unchecked it’s simultaneously sad and hilarious. Hoist is probably the only dude in the entirety of the IDW run to just be a regular person.

After Swerve confirms that he does in fact know his colors, we blow past another hour, to find Hoist hard at work cutting Perceptor off of the ceiling/floor- Hoist, like most everyone on the Lost Light, is a doctor- as Sunstreaker and Swerve discuss previous scrapes they’ve gotten through. Apparently Sunstreaker fell off a bridge forever ago that was named after a biblical reference, because it doesn’t matter how little you believe in a higher power, you CANNOT escape the pull of the 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜.

Swerve asks Hoist if he has anything to contribute to the discussion, and while Hoist does have experience in near-death situations, he’d really rather not talk about it. Swerve respects his privacy.

Well, he tries.

Hoist indulges our little red and white idiot, because it’ll get everyone the Swerve-equivalent of peace and quiet, and begins his tale.

Long story short, it looks like another hotshot pilot had the same idea as Hoist’s, and things got a little crashy-explodey-everyone’s-deady. Hoist was the only survivor, and had to walk his sorry butt back to civilization. Then the exhaustion set in, and he was forced to sit there, fully convinced that he would die alone in the middle of nowhere.

Once he’s finished with his story, Hoist makes the horrific discovery that Swerve’s been bleeding to death over the last five hours, and failed to mention it.

No, Sunstreaker, he’s honestly just like that all the time.

Swerve’s spark casing has ruptured, which I can only imagine is somewhat similar to having a hole poked in your heart. A problem, to put it lightly. Sunstreaker and Hoist decide that, to keep Swerve from biting it, they’ll take the fight to the DJD, in an attempt to get some sort of transport back to the Lost Light and all the tasty medical equipment on board.

Man, it really is unfortunate that Rung’s still not got a head at this point in the timeline, because Swerve is like a jelly donut filled with self-loathing. God just took a jumbo-sized bakery syringe and jammed it right in there.

Hoist and Sunstreaker ignore Swerve’s protests/pained screaming, and gear up for a fight with what they can find. Hoist manages to make two working crossbows and a butt-ton of arrows, not to mention a couple bowie knives in about five minutes, and they head out to kick some tushie.

The lads split up, keeping in touch via communicators, and Sunstreaker manages to get found by Tarn. He gets his ass kicked, because of course he does- the DJD aren’t famous for their macramé and pies, they’re famous for super-murder and being horny for the Decepticause. As Sunstreaker has the realization that he’s leaving his beloved Bob behind, Hoist finds him. Sunstreaker’s in quite the pickle, because he’s had his chest blown in, and Tarn’s been replaced by Shockwave, Megatron, Sixshot, and Overlord.

This just gets better and better doesn’t it?

Then this happens:

Welp.

Swerve’s theory may hold some water, but we can’t worry about that right now, because Hoist is going to try and fight this bastard. Good luck with that, Hoist.

Yeah, that went about as well as it could have.

Hoist is about to get stomped like a bug, when the Con-biner suddenly phases out of existence. Weird.

Hoist runs back to the shuttle, I guess just leaving Sunstreaker in the middle of that clearing, even though he literally is a tow truck. He returns to find that Swerve’s passed out from blood loss, but Perceptor’s still awake, which is good, because there’s some grade-A bullshit going on on this planet, and we need the smart guy to info-dump for the sake of the plot.

Man, this is such a cool plot device, and I’m so mad it never comes up again after this Spotlight.

So, Tarn and all the big bads that Hoist ran into weren’t real, but projections of his and his team’s worst fears. It was feeding off of Swerve, but now that he’s down for the count, it’ll probably go for either Hoist or Perceptor next.

Then there’s what feels like an earthquake, one so powerful it finally removes Perceptor from the ceiling, letting what’s left of his body fall. Hoist runs outside to see just what the hell’s happening now, only to find Metroplex outside and closing in.

The phobia shields work on sub-sentient creatures too? Good lord, this thing just never stops, does it?

Thinking quickly, Hoist scoops up Swerve and the upper half of Perceptor and bolts for the edge of the cliff their ship is sitting next to. He must have been training for the Robot Olympics or something, because he makes the leap by a large margin, even when weighed down by two limp bodies.

Then he punches Perceptor in the face, knocking him out cold.

Then he commits an act of animal abuse as he knocks Bob out with his tow hook.

Our hero, folks! Let’s give him a hand!

As Metroplex fades out of existence, Hoist remembers that he is not immune to trauma, as he’s forced to sit there, completely alone, until help arrives.

No wonder he got that massive Rodimus Star. What a trooper.

Thus ends Spotlight: Hoist, as well as the Spotlight series as a whole.

So, Swerve may not have much of a read on Hoist, but I figure I can try and take a stab at it. Hoist is… helpful. The entire issue, he’s the one who never stops doing things. If he’s not trying to repair the shuttle, he’s cutting Perceptor out of the floor, or he’s patrolling the perimeter, or trying to defuse the tension between his crewmates, or building weaponry, or punching people in the face for the greater good.

The folks he’s surrounded with for his Spotlight accent the characteristics he lacks- he’s not insanely smart like Perceptor, or strikingly handsome like Sunstreaker is intended to be, or capable of holding a conversation like Swerve. He blends into the background, always has and always will, both within canon and as a character.

He’s just a guy. He’s the guy,  a jack of all trades, master of none. And that’s okay.

[hopelessromanticspoonie]

Helping Hands - Chapter 2

Series Masterlist here

Chapter Summary: Loki shows Haley a bit more of the world she hadn’t had the opportunity to discover. Tony and Bruce begin testing and a painful truth comes to light.

Chapter Warnings: Needles, Implications of neglect, light descriptions of injury

A/N: I was absolutely stunned by the response for the first chapter! It definitely motivated me to get this next bit out to you! Thank you again to @vodka-and-some-sass for Betaing for me!

“Um, FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Haley?”

It was odd to address a room like it was a person, even after Tony had explained in the simplest terms possible the AI that lived in every fiber of the tower that would be her new home. She hadn’t left her room yet, choosing to stare out of the tinted windows at the bustling city below. It was awe-inspiring, to know that so many people existed, going about their lives without any knowledge of the horrors behind her eyelids. Now the city sparkled with glowing lights darting around beneath her, chasing away the darkness from the overcast sky. Did anyone sleep?

Odder still was to be given a name for her own. A moniker not meant to harm her, insult her, or one based solely on the powers that were both a blessing and a curse. Maybe the introduction of a name could be a new start for her. Perhaps a chance to become more than just what she could do for others?

“There isn’t any food in here, and I’m starving. What do they do for food?” she asked, closing her hands over her almost concave stomach as it rumbled loudly as if seconding the meekly asked question.

“In the common area there is a communal kitchen used by all Avengers living on-site. During business hours, various restaurants and the cafeteria are operational for faculty, staff, and visitors on campus,” the pleasant female voice responded, sounding from somewhere over her head.

Haley ran a hand over her spiky short hair, staring at the door as if it would bite her. “And is it business hours?”

“Unfortunately not. But if you follow the map currently on your television screen, it can get you to the kitchen.”

It wasn’t like she had any money, anyway. Didn’t you need money to buy something from a business? Tony had said that whatever she wanted, all she needed was ask, but she doubted that extended to the entire tower. Glancing once at the screen that flickered to life against the wall, she committed it to memory before slipping her socked feet into a brand new pair of sneakers that Pepper had dropped off a few hours ago - along with enough clothing and toiletries to last her an eternity.

Using the hand scanner to leave her room, she hovered in the doorway of her temporary sanctuary, staring out at the shadowed black hallway. Soft light illuminated one end of it, trickling in from the same direction FRIDAY had indicated for the kitchen. She steeled her nerves and anxieties with a deep breath before slowly making her way in that direction, ears perked for any sound that would send her scurrying back to her room. Her body had known hunger before, and it could wait.

A high-pitched whistling sounded from the kitchen when she stepped into a large room which appeared to be solely for relaxing. Various couches and plush armchairs were scattered about in loose formations, some facing bookshelves stacked high with more books than she knew existed, others televisions bigger than her wildest imaginings. She froze, her heart leaping into her throat, large eyes darting to the source of the sound.

Soft footsteps sounded on the shining marble floor, interrupted by the clanking of dishware and a heavy sigh. Her stomach chose that moment to growl loudly at an enticing aroma that drifted her way through the air conditioning, and she cursed softly under her breath when the domestic sounds ceased for a split second.

“I will not harm you, little one.”

She was almost positive that voice belonged to Loki, the more outspoken of the group with the intelligent eyes. He hadn’t given her any reason to fear him - yet. Balling her hands up into fists at the shiver of anxiety that coursed down her spine, she stood up as tall as she could manage and followed the sounds and smells into the warmly lit kitchen.

Her assumption had been correct. Loki stood in the middle of the room, swirling a spoon in a steaming cup that clinked quietly with each minute movement. He had exchanged his daunting leather outfit for something much more comfortable. The black, soft-looking pajama bottoms hung low on his hips to reveal a sliver of pale skin just below his fitted white t-shirt. It was startling to see such a change in the intimidating man, who peered at her with a quirked brow.

“Anyone with ears would be able to hear your stomach complaining, and your cheekbones are so sunken it appears painful,” he commented, a hint of sadness lingering on his velvet voice. It wrapped around her, a caress to her frazzled nerves that lowered her hackles just a bit. “What do you like to eat?”

What did she like to eat? Any food she had been given was meager and tasteless, the scraps leftover from Mr. Shaw’s meals or unwanted food to be tossed to the dogs. Food wasn’t meant to be enjoyed, but for fueling her body, keeping her strong enough to heal her owner. Embarrassment flushed down her face and neck as her thoughts came up empty, and her hands twisted together unseen in the confines of her sweatshirt.

If he was bothered by her lack of an answer, he didn’t show it. She got the sense that he didn’t reveal much behind his finely sculpted features. Indifference suited the straight line of his nose and the press of his thin lips. It was… nice to watch the straight line of his back as he bustled about the kitchen, gathering various foods on a plate and pouring a second cup of his steaming beverage. He said nothing, merely tilted his head in her direction before setting the spoils on a vast table with enough seats to fit all of the faces she’d seen earlier on the Quinjet.

She sat at the seat in front of the food at the wave of his hand, shoving her hands beneath her thighs as she watched him take the seat opposite her. He pulled a book from thin air, and she gasped, shrinking back into the wooden chair as if it would swallow her whole. Had he…?

“My apologies,” he purred, the words a warm caress to the fear that had her heart thudding against her ribcage. “Simply a bit of magic, pulling my belongings to me should I need them. Eat.”

She hesitated, her hand hovering over the selection of brightly colored fruits and thick, buttered bread, waiting for him to take the plate from her and laugh at the gall she had to hope for fair treatment. He reached over and plucked a glistening green grape from the bunch on the plate, popping it into his mouth and chewing slowly before cracking open the book to peruse the pages.

Magic? He mentioned it so casually, as if it was an understood fact about him. But with how little she knew of the world, it could very well be so. She could take the injuries from others, and that certainly didn’t seem natural. Quickly, she picked several grapes and pushed them into her mouth, resisting the urge to moan at the delicious sweetness that exploded across her tongue. Before she knew it she had the plate held to her chest protectively and she couldn’t eat fast enough. Never had she been given such a veritable feast of such exquisite flavors.

Only when the plate was empty did she look up. Loki acted as if she hadn’t just devoured her meal like a wild animal, regarding his book with quiet curiosity lighting on the furrow of his brow. Her slightly shaking hands gripped her own impossibly delicate cup, warm to the touch from the fragrant beverage within, and she sipped it delicately, afraid of getting burned. The warmth flooded her body, reaching the tips of her toes and unfurling within her with a comfort she was wholly unused to from something as simple as a drink.

“Earl Grey,” he supplied, looking up at her briefly over his book. “The tea. You enjoy it.”

Enjoy. She never got to enjoy anything. But this tea - Earl Grey - and the filling fruit and bread he’d gathered for her, she’d thoroughly enjoyed that. She enjoyed the foreign feeling of fullness in her belly and the layered aroma wafting up from her cradled cup. 

She could even see herself enjoying Loki’s presence, stoic and calm and wholly unbothered by her existence as he allowed her to sit in his shadow. He radiated a strength that she longed to glean for herself.

“I do.” She hummed quietly after taking another warming sip. “Thank you.”

~

“We just want to draw a bit of blood and give you a routine physical. There will be a needle for the blood bit, and then I’ll take your heartbeat with this,” Tony held up a device hanging around his neck, “and check your overall health by just taking a good look at your body. At the end, I’d like to hook up a few monitors and have you do a bit of healing, but only if you’re up for it. How’s that sound?”

Haley shifted uneasily on the cold metal table, casting a quick glance at Loki, who stood still as a statue against the far wall, watching Tony and Bruce with narrowed eyes. He had quietly inserted himself into her presence whenever she had left her room, and it felt right to trust the mysterious man. Loki gave her a quick nod before watching the two men in front of her again, his face lowered so that his long, raven hair framed his face and cast a shadow over the planes of his cheekbones.

“Okay.”

The two men were respectful as they worked around and on her, asking permission before Tony touched the cold metal disc to her chest or Bruce gently squeezed her leg with what looked to be a set of pliers. None of it hurt, and she didn’t even blink when Tony drew several vials of blood from a needle he slid into her arm. Were these men doctors? They didn’t look the part, with Tony’s perfectly styled hair and trimmed goatee, and Bruce’s threadbare button-up shirt that hung on his frame.

A monitor beeped out the drum of her anxious heartbeat for all to hear from sticky pads connected to her chest. Tony had also attached a few to her scalp, all while muttering to himself, “At least she doesn’t have a lot of hair to get in the way.” All of the eyes in the room settled on her, and it took everything she had not to curl up from the weight of their gazes on her bony shoulders.

Bruce stepped in front of her, rolling up his shirt sleeve to reveal a small, raised red line across his forearm. He offered her a smile that begged her to relax. “I burnt myself on the oven the other day. Should’ve known better than to try to cook,” he gave a self-deprecating laugh full to the brim with warmth. “Can you heal this?”

Of course she could. But burns were her least favorite to handle. They weren’t any harder for her to heal than any other injury, but the raw, itchy skin was her least favorite. Still, these men had offered their home to her, given her food and clothing and medicine and a place of her very own without demanding entrance to it. This small burn that hadn’t even blistered wouldn’t take long to dispatch at all. A small price to pay.

“I’m going to touch you. Okay?” she asked quietly, mimicking the permission that they had asked of her for the entire time she’d interacted with them. Everyone she interacted with had taken to asking her before doing anything, a luxury and kindness she wasn’t accustomed to. How long would that last after they saw the extent of her abilities? Just until one of them got injured beyond what they were willing to deal with. That was how it worked.

“Bruce.” Loki’s warning came from over her shoulder, thick with veiled threats that she wasn’t certain she wanted to know how he would uphold. Even as he had chipped away at the protective shielding around her heart, she still felt the danger that he posed, carried in his confident stride and unhurried movement. So averse to the showy bravado she was accustomed to, guns waved around and threats growled over hands clutching the collar of her shirt. He didn’t need that. His reputation was enough, it seemed.

Bruce nodded and offered her his arm. His breath quickened beneath his shirt when her thin fingers slanted over his skin, and his pulse practically matched her own ringing in her ears. It was all too easy to direct the rush of electricity beneath her skin through her fingertips in the golden glow she’d come to dread for the pain it promised. Sure enough, she bit her bottom lip between her teeth at the stinging sensation that scratched at her forearm where Bruce’s burn once was, hidden by the thick sleeves of her new favorite sweatshirt.

“Incredible,” Bruce breathed, rubbing his hand over the freshly healed skin as if it were some parlor trick. A common reaction when she first healed someone, before they got greedy and jaded to her powers.

Tony pulled out a pair of yellow-tinted glasses and leaned over a computer, typing away furiously as his eyes darted over all the data he could consume.

“Leave us,” Loki commanded, and the heat of him practically pulsed at her back.

“But, I, this is my lab!” Tony stammered, chest puffing out as he stood up and pulled his glasses off to glare at the man whose breath fanned over the top of her head.

“Come on, Tony, we can have FRIDAY send the data to the other lab.” Bruce dragged the other man out with a hand on his arm, closing the door behind them to leave a deafening silence in their wake.

Loki stalked around the metal table until the front of his thighs almost brushed her knees, staring down at her with too many emotions warring on his face to name. He moved slowly, his hand reaching out to encircle her wrist and seize the fabric tucked beneath her clenched fingers into her palm. His fingertips were calloused, rasping against her skin with the heat of his touch as he slowly pulled up the baggy sleeve despite her pulling away in protest.

“Don’t-”

He flipped her now bare arm over to reveal the burn that had etched itself into her skin, dragging his finger just beside it to make the shiny skin catch the light. “You do not heal them. You take their wounds for your own.”

There wasn’t any use denying it with the evidence grasped in his careful touch. “I do.”

A growl ripped from his throat, feral and animalistic and so terrifying that she pulled her knees up to her chest and held them with one arm wrapped around her shins. He released her from his hold, allowing her to cradle her arm to her body against the conflicting singing of her skin from his touch and painful burn she’d brought upon herself.

“Unacceptable.”

And then he stormed away, leaving her curled in on herself on the table, staring at the door with the intoxicating masculine musk of his cologne still teasing at her nose and the incessant beeping of the monitor betraying her conflicting emotions she couldn’t even begin to place.

~~~

Series taglist: @kneel-before-queen-loki @alexakeyloveloki @from-hel-i-with-love @cleocc @cateyes315 @coldbookworm @rjohnson1280

Little Bit o’ Loki taglist: @myownviperroom @grahoundart @darealbellabelleoftheball @boubouinscarlet @iamverity @rt8815 @lots-of-loki @otakumultimuseoc @ms-cellanies @rosierossette @thathedonistgirl

Whole Shebang taglist: @just-the-hiddles​ @yespolkadotkitty​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @vodka-and-some-sass​ @he-is-chaotic-she-is-psychotic​ @myoxisbroken​ @blah666 @brokenthelovely​ @myworddump @polireader​ @wiczer​ @littleredstarfish​ @the-broken-angel-13​ @arch-venus25​ @xxloki81xx​ @jessiejunebug​ @tinchentitri​ @sllooney​ @devilbat​ @vikkleinpaul​ @bouquet-o-undercaffeinated-roses​ @angelus80 @wolfsmom1 @kthemarsian​ @toozmanykids​ @princerowanwhitethorngalathynius​ @sabine-leo​ @lovesmesomehiddles​ @peterman-spideyparker​ @wegingerangelica​ @bluefrenchfries604​ @catsladen @silverswordthekilljoy​

[howtodisassembleyourdeviant]

Overlooked Flowers pt.3 (Good end)

If you asked me to tag you, I'm not ignoring you, I just don't know what I'm doing yet and have to do all this from my phone.

Please enjoy!

Something wasn't right. It kept eating at him. You may have been reclusive lately, but you would always answer immediately, a minute at the most. However, It's been twenty since he asked you to 'hang out'. He missed you. He didn't like that you were pushing him away.

He stood up from his couch and headed towards the door.

"You're going to see her, aren't you?" Chloe's voice called from behind him. She had been spending more and more nights at his apartment. When things were good, he didn't mind, but things rarely stayed merry for long and when that happened, he felt like an intruder in his own home. During these times, he wished you would let him come over. He was comfortable around you, able to be himself. Unlike now, where he is contemplating telling Chloe that he got a call from the DPD, from Hank, or Markus, just to avoid the argument that telling the truth was sure to spawn. In the end, his preconstructions informed him of his low success rate, deciding it really didn't matter. He only gave a moment's pause before slipping his boots on.

"I have to. I think something's wrong."

"If you leave, I won't be here when you come back, " her voice had a dangerous edge to it. This was not the first time he had put you above her. They had many arguments about it, but it was about to be the last.

He looked over his shoulder before opening the door.

"I'm sorry."

And with that, he left.

Climbing into his car, Connor was surprised how easy it was to cut ties with Chloe. They had been in a relationship for two months now, and he did care for her. Surely this should affect him on some emotional level, but all that he could feel is dread. You still haven't answered him, even as he sent several more messages and tried calling you. It was making him frantic, pushing him to switch to manual steering, speeding around corners and intersections.

He managed to get to your house in record time. A knock and a call of your name only prompted your cat to start mewling loudly, but he knew you were home. He banged on your door before finally giving up on formalities and trying the handle. He was surprised to find it unlocked, panic surging through his artificial veins. It all came to a stop when he found you on the floor, reaching for your phone with blood-soaked fingers.

"Y/n!"

Wasting no time, he called for an ambulance as he bolted to your side. You were surrounded by flower petals stained a deep red. A quick scan confirmed his suspicions.

Hanahaki disease.

The roots were so entangled within that his scanner was having trouble differentiating between the roots and your arteries. He could see how they twisted around your inner workings, each it's own form of agony, and he could see where several had punctured through your lungs, slowly flooding your airways.

Carefully, he scooped you up and cradled you to his chest. The movement set off another fit, but it was weak, you being too tired to fight against it anymore.

"Help is on the way, just hang on, " his voice was strained, forcing the words out in an effort to calm you when you both knew they wouldn't be able to help. The accursed plant was too large now and unless it perished it would cause just as much damage to try and remove it.

Your glossy eyes fought to focus on him, mouthing his name but unable to say it, only a gurgled cough escaped along with more flower petals. The sound crushed his heart. He didn't know what to do. At this point, he wishes you had been assaulted by a burglar. At least then he would be able to attend to your wounds. How can he stop a flower from growing? Who could you love so much that you would die for them?

"Why? Why didn't you tell me?" His eyes welled up with tears, dripping down his face and onto your cheeks. He wants to find the person responsible. To break them to match how broken you are. Only an idiot could deny the chance to be with you.

Unable to speak, you reached your hand up, cupping his face, thumb rubbing against his cheek, wiping away his tears. He could feel a warm wetness from your palm, knowing it was likely your blood, but he didn't care. He leaned into your touch, placing one of his hands over yours.

Your lips moved, mouthing the words that made him realize that he was the idiot. A sob escaped him, watching as you slipped in and out of consciousness. Your hand went limp against his cheek.

"Please... Don't go... Don't leave me, " he sobbed, pulling you closer, "I... I love you. I love you so much." How could he be so stupid? You gave him everything he asked so freely, and he had mistaken the feelings that had bloomed as friendship rather than something more, something deeper. He can't lose you. "I love you, " he whispered against your ear as he held you closer against his chest.

You sharply gasped, eyes wide before you began a fresh wave of coughing, this one far more violent. It was in this moment that the paramedics burst through the door, shoving the android out of the way and rushing you to the back of the ambulance. He didn't even have a chance to say goodbye. All you left behind was a single, dead petal. He picked it up and clutched it to his chest.

You were in surgery for 17 hours as android and human alike worked together to repair the damage and remove the now dead, shriveled plant from within your inner workings. 17 hours with no news as Connor paced the entire time, still clutching the withered petal against him. Seeing it, feeling its course surface, he is reminded there is a chance. That, with it dead, you could be saved.

Hank stopped by during the tenth hour, after hearing what happened when Connor didn't show up for his shift. Hank had known you were sick, caught you coughing into a black handkerchief, the color likely hiding the blood. Anytime he asked you about it, you brushed him off, eventually snapping at him to leave you alone. He had no idea what it was, or that it was this bad. Had he had known, he wouldn't have been so quick to back off. Of course, being what it is, you likely would have continued on your self-destructive path, unwilling to lose your emotions. Can't really blame ya. As much as he wished to stop feeling after Cole, he couldn't imagine life without them, like a machine.

"Connor, sit your ass down, she's gonna be fine," Hank groused. he wasn't very confident about his declaration, he's seen what hanahaki can do to a person, but he'd say anything if it would calm his partner down, make him get rid of that broken look on his face. Connor acknowledged him, sat for all of five minutes, clutching something in his hand, before standing back up and returning to pacing back and forth.

Where the hell was Chloe? Wait, scratch that. Connor, looking like a stiff breeze could blow him over, over another woman, a woman even Hank thought he was gonna get serious with, and, to top it off, the woman is only dying because of him... yeah, if he were Chloe, he wouldn't be here either. probably would've dumped his ass.

"Wearin' a path into the floor ain't gonna make them work any faster. Just calm down." Connor looked over at him, the sight breaking the old man's heart.

"I can't."

That was all he could get out of the devastated android. He stood, grabbing Connor by the shoulder and pulling him into a tight embrace. The RK800 stood frozen for a moment before a sob escaped his throat, hands gripping tightly at the lieutenant's coat. Hank held him, feeling him quake with every hushed cry.

"She'll be alright, she'll pull through," he consoled, a few tears escaping his own eyes as his heart ached for his boy. After a long while, Connor had finally calmed down, releasing his death grip on Hank's jacket and pulling back, giving the man a brief, wry smile.

"Thanks, Hank, " he breathed, letting it out while wiping at his face. Glancing at his, now empty, hands, Connor looked to the ground, searching urgently for something. Before Hank could question it, he seemed to have found what he was looking for, watching him pick up what looked like a small, old leaf.

"Whatcha got there?" Connor hesitantly held it out for him to see, as if Hank would snag it away like he had done with so many of his quarters.

"She had coughed it up right when the paramedics showed up, " he pulled it back to his chest.

"So it died?" Hank sounded incredulous, eyeing the android.

"I... I told her I love her..."

The grizzled lieutenant merely nodded. The plant could only die if genuine feelings are expressed. He had to bite his tongue against saying 'bout damn time', knowing that would only worsen the poor kid's pain. He had no idea, and you were willing to die rather than voice your feelings, claiming to want Connor to 'find his own way'. Hank knew better. You were scared. Once you were better, Hank was gonna give you an earful for letting fear and pride blind you and damn near kill you.

Hank was there for another three hours before Fowler called him. He was adamant about staying, but Connor urged him to go, only agreeing under the condition that he is informed the second you were out of surgery.

………..

The head surgeon came out, informing him of the damage he already knew of and all the work needed to pull you back from the brink. You weren't out of the woods, but you were stable. He was thankful that you had listed him as your emergency contact, as when they tried to explain you were still in bad shape and resting, he went to your room anyway. He had to see you, no matter what state you are in.

You had so many machines hooked to you, and your frail form seemed more so against the stark white bed. Connor sat in the chair beside you, taking one of your fragile hands between his own, the petal he had clung to this entire time, now resting in his breast pocket. He watched as your chest gently rose and fell, but it felt so artificial, being forced in by the tube down your throat. A scan of your body revealed all the work that had gone in to save you, and the devastation the plant had wreaked. He watched your heart, beating at a languid pace, matching the slow beeps of the monitor. It was weak, but it was there.

Your face was so pale, and you looked so worn. How long had you been battling against the manifestation of your lament? Why couldn't you have just told him? So many nights spent lying tangled together... why didn't you ask him to stay? Had he understood human emotions more, understood his own better...

There was no going back, now.

he stayed by your side, unmoving even as the nurses would try to tell him that you needed your rest, to come back during visitor hours. Knowing of your condition deterred them from doing much else. He only moved when the nurses needed to care for you, returning to your side the second they were done. He asked Hank to care for your cat. Connor felt terrible for leaving the feline alone after it had witnessed such a tragic event, but he couldn't leave you, not again. Whatever happens now, he will be here, by your side.

Two days passed with no change. Hank stopped by a couple of times, but he didn't stay for long, feeling like he was intruding. He would ask if Connor wanted anything and if he thought of something, just let him know. A couple of your friends had stopped by as well, the few that still cared for you even as you pushed them away. Once they learned what happened, they realized what you were doing, what you had done to hide your illness. They left little gifts, as flowers felt a little inappropriate, considering the situation, wishing you well. One brought a fleece blanket, knowing how much you loved the soft material and how you hated feeling cold. How ironic it was that your favorite season was Winter. Most ignored his existence, though two glared at him. How could he blame them, sitting here, going over memory after memory. It was there, your feelings written in everything you did. how he did not see was beyond him.

A jarring sound broke him from his thoughts. A sustained beep resonating from your monitor. Panicked, he scanned your chest to find your heart still, lifeless. A few nurses burst in, paging for a doctor while trying to resuscitate you. They knocked him out of the way, and he watched in horror as they fought to bring you back.

"Don't go," he whimpered, seeing them bring out the paddles. Your body jumped when they pressed them down to your chest, the monitor hiccuping before flatlining once more. He couldn't handle it. His chest aching in a way he had never experienced before, making him want to rip his own thirium pump out to make it stop.

"DON'T GO!!!" he cried out despairingly. One of the nurses looked to him in annoyance.

"Get him out of here." Two large men came up, attempting to grab him. He struggled and fought, trying to remain with you. One of them punched him in the temple...

He jolted in his seat, unaware of his surroundings for a second. He was still in your hospital room. You remained in bed, unaware of the outside world.

At some point, he had slipped into stasis, the stress bleeding into his dreamscape, resulting in the horrible nightmare that left him trembling. You had not gone into cardiac arrest. You had not left him. A diagnostic told him he had entered low power mode for 7 hours. He couldn't believe so much time had passed and he didn't notice. Still, he picked up your hand and held your wrist against his ear, listening to the steady pulse. It was enough for now.

The soothing thumps kept lulling the emotionally drained android in and out of stasis. Though, with the added reassurance, it was a dreamless slumber, his body merely processing background information and attempting to maintain, if not lower, his elevated stress level by shutting down as many systems as it could without causing issues. The hours passed by in what felt like minutes.

The following day, they decided to remove your artificial breathing. The doctor observed as the android nurse removed the tube from your throat. Connor watched with bated breath, fear striking him like lightning each second your chest remained still. Finally, you sucked in a harsh breath, gasping a few times before your breathing stabilized, slow and uneven and very much alive. A tear escaped his eye as relief washed over him.

On day nine, a tug at his hands and the loss of your warmth against his face brought him out of stasis once more.

Your eyes were fluttering open, hands going into the blanket, balling the material up in your fists.

"Ahh," you gasped, eyes wide as tears began to form. Your monitor began beeping faster, heart racing as you struggled to figure out what was happening. Your rapid breathing irritated your damaged throat, triggering a coughing fit, making it worse. You pulled at the iv in your arm, panic rising. Connor quickly pulled your hand away before you could get it out, then paged a nurse. He put his hand on your cheek, trying to get your attention.

"Y/n, it's alright, you're at the hospital," he was unsure if his words were registering in your pain-laced mind, "I've got you... I've got you."

Your coughing eased as your breathing started to slow, but the tears continued to fall. There was some blood on your lips, prompting Connor to scan you. Luckily, there was minimum damage, nothing that would require you to go back into surgery. The nurse finally showed up. Seeing the situation, she promptly left again, grabbing a needle and injecting your IV with liquid relief. Your hand gripped his free hand tightly before you were out once more. It was an intense interaction, but you had awakened. He planted a small kiss on your brow, wiping your tears away and dabbing away the blood, promptly returning to his previous position, feeling more hopeful than before. He didn't let go of your hand.

You were improving, and soon he would be able to tell you how he feels, without fear and despair enveloping everything. When you are better, he might even scold you a bit for keeping such a huge secret from your "best friend". He wondered what will they be now? "Dating", as he had classified him and Chloe? Or, perhaps, "girlfriend and boyfriend" as Chloe had labeled them? Than again, considering all that the two of you have done in the past, would it be the title of " lovers"? He supposes he'll leave those titles for you to decide, as long as he can label you "mine" and you do the same in return.

It would be two more days before you would regain consciousness again. Hank had brought him spare clothes the previous day, as when you had woken up, something within himself woke up as well. He felt more alive than the previous days, more himself.

With it, he noticed how disheveled he was, pointing out that he was still wearing the clothes from the night he had found you, the blood long dried and beyond smelling like copper to a rancid scent that could not be healthy. In his trance, he had not noticed, but now, he was certain you would not appreciate the foul air once you woke up again. Most of the blood on his cheek had been washed away by his tears, but some still remained, sticking to his face unpleasantly. He borrowed the bathroom that was adjacent to your bed, washing his face and hands before switching clothes. He wanted to look presentable for when you awoke again.

He had also requested for an extra sweater, which he draped over you. In one of his memories, he had forgotten his sweater at your house. When he went to retrieve it, he found that you were sleeping, the sweater held close to your chest. At the time, he thought you were cold, as the blanket was kicked off of you, so he carefully took his sweater from your arms and pulled the blanket up. Seeing it now, he cringed, having realized that was probably the worst conclusion and action he could have come up with.

When you awoke, it was not nearly as dramatic as the last time. Your eyes were slow to focus, and you kept trying to look around, confused. Eventually, your eyes found him, beginning to fill with tears. You tried to say something, but with your dry, damaged throat, all that came out was a breathy wheeze.

"Don't speak. You could further injure yourself." You nodded slightly, placing your hand over his. He picked it up and brought it to his lips. You smiled, one he matched with his own. With your free hand, you gestured, asking for some water.

"They don't want you drinking too much while your throat is swollen, but I'll see if you can have some ice." He tries to stand, but you tighten your grip on his hand, distressed.

"I'll be right back, " he bent down, gently placing a kiss on your lips, " and I'm not going anywhere."

"I…l…ve…ou, " your voice was barely there, but it was enough to make Connor's heart swell.

"I love you, too." It felt like a great weight had been lifted off his chest, watching your smile widen as you gently tugged on his tie to bring him back to your lips. He was sure he looked goofy, unable to keep himself from grinning.

……..

Hank came by a few hours later. He found Connor lying across your lap, his lower half propped up on a chair. One of your hands was tangled in his hair, your thumb caressing his crown. Your other hand was being held by his, breaking contact only when you needed to pop an ice cube into your mouth. You were both watching the tv across from your bed, some crime show, acting as if you were both simply at home and not in a hospital room after you almost kicked the bucket. You both had your own suspects, Connor using the evidence to explain his. Hank had no idea what you were saying. You would tap on Connor's head to get his attention so he could read your lips. Based on the scrap of paper by your bed, you both had been at this for a while, one check by your name, three by Connor's and five under both. Neither of you even noticed him until he cleared is throat. You seemed happy to see him, giving him a wave and a smile.

"Hello, Hank." Connor regarded him. If he didn't know better, he never would have guessed this was the same android that was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown not even two weeks ago and who had been sitting here since, the poster-child for depression.

"Don't you fuckin' 'hi Hank' me!" Hank barked, and instinctively you shrunk down into the sheets, avoiding eye contact. Connor sat up, sitting on the edge of the bed with his feet in the chair, "you two just gonna pretend nothing happened? You've been on the verge of killin' yerself, and now yer just chillin'? And you! You treat your friends like shit, quit yer job, almost kill yerself, and now yer sitting here, watching tv like it's any other regular day at home? Fuck you!"

"I-sor-ak! I-d-n't-an-" your words were incomprehensible, and Connor tried to tell you to stop, but it wasn't until you started coughing that you ceased. Connor glared at him.

"She can't even speak right now, what good would it do to chastise her?" When your fit ended, he held the cup of ice for you, taking one and slipping it into your mouth, "Besides, I've found, from personal experience, that near death experiences carry their own lesson."

"I'd believe that if you ever learned to listen to me, " Hank groused, hands crossed over his chest. Perhaps now was not the best time for this, but its hard not to get pissed off when the people who've you been scared shitless for are just laying about without a care in the world.

You tapped Connor, pointing to your lips and than to Hank. Catching on, he nodded and waited for you to start.

"I'm sorry, Hank, " Connor began, relaying your message by reading your lips, "I didn't want you to worry. I figured if everyone hated me it would hurt less when I was gone."

"Bullshit. Ya should've just told Connor, you fuckin' idiot!"

You scoffed, smiling at the lieutenant.

"Yep." You leaned forward and kissed Connor before settling back into the pillows, Connor following suit, laying back on your lap and taking your hand back in his.

"There's another chair over there, " Connor gestured to the far wall, "you're welcome to join us."

Hank shook his head before scoffing himself. Everything ended alright, might as well not dwell on what could have happened. He dragged the chair to the other side of your bed, jostling your hair before sitting down. You quickly fixed it before adding Hank to the roster, smiling at the makeshift family. To think you could have lost this. You really were an idiot, but you were an idiot in love, and it feels so much better when its reciprocated.

[starscheme]

Only You

Chapter Three: The Sleeping Gem

Hours had gone by and even with Garnet, Peridot, his mother’s fountain water, and his healing ability; they had come no closer to helping Spinel. The pigtailed Gem had been moved to Steven’s bed, breathing heavily as her Gems light flickered, seemingly struggling to retain its pink color over the black that threatened to consume it.

“Isn’t there anything more we can do?!” Pearl asked in a hushed panic.

“…I am not sure…” sighed Garnet. “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

Peridot had hooked a few wires to Spinel’s Gem, doing her best to figure out what was going on, but so far had no answers. Garnet had tried looking into the future many times, but because this was something they had never dealt with before, it was impossible to see anything.

“We’ve ruled out corruption and everything else. Her Gem isn’t cracked in the slightest,” Peridot thought aloud. “My scanners can’t find anything. There was a weird blip at first, but I think that’s all it was.”

“She’s still burning up,” added Amethyst. “It’s like…a human fever. …is that even possible?”

“Of course not,” Peridot insisted confidently at first, but that confidence dwindled some as she thought on it, “but then again…Spinel has proven to be a strange Gem from the start. You told me how her Gem changed its position and how her appearance was altered without being able to change back. I’ve certainly never heard of that happening to a Gem before either.”

“So…what, she caught some sort of…human virus? That’s ridiculous. We’ve been here for thousands of years. If she were susceptible to such a thing, it would have happened ages ago.” Pearl sighed miserably. “The last time she went through her change, it didn’t seem to hurt her like this. This time, she’s in pain…and the color of her Gem...it’s changing. What if…”

“Pearl…” Amethyst began, patting her friends shoulder to stop her, glancing at Steven to remind Pearl they weren’t alone.

Steven had been kneeling by Spinel’s bedside the entire time, gripping her hand gently in between both of his own, unable to take his eyes off her, worried that something awful would happen if he looked away. He knew the others were trying to be considerate of him. In all this time, the other Gems had been whispering or choosing their words carefully so as not to worry him any further, but it’s not like he didn’t already know how hopeless this seemed. “…she needs more ice…” Steven mumbled. “Can one of you…”

“I got it,” Garnet cut in, stepping to the side of the bed and placing her hand on Spinel’s forehead, her icy touch soothing the Gem a bit.

“So…what should we do now?” Amethyst asked as everyone fell silent. “Just…wait and see?”

“I can go back to Homeworld,” Pearl began, “I’ve never heard of this before, but I’m not that old. Maybe the Diamonds have seen this happen in their lifespan.”

“What good would it do to ask them,” asked Peridot. “If any other Gem went through something like this before Era 3, they wouldn’t have tried to help them; the Diamonds would have had the Gem disposed of.”

Pearl wiped her eyes of the impending tears. She knew Peridot was right, but what else could they do? “…perhaps…we can…” her voice trailed off; trying to think of something else to suggest.  

“We will have to wait and see what happens,” Garnet stated.

The entire room had become silent once again. No one wanted to admit they had no other choices left to them. “…You guys can go. I’ll look after her,” Steven said quietly, breaking the awkward silence.

“Hey,” Amethyst began in a huff, “just because she’s your girlfriend now, doesn’t mean you’re the only one that cares about her.” The short soldier sat herself down next to Steven with a small smile. “Spinel is my friend. So I’m not going anywhere.”

“Of course, I feel the same,” added Pearl as she sat down at the edge of the bed on the other side of Steven. “I’ve been with Spinel since she formed. I’m staying too.”

“Clearly, I’m going to stay too,” Garnet chimed in.

“Well I may not have known Spinel that long, but she is a lot like my student,” Peridot insisted, setting herself at the end of the bed. “She would clearly be lost without me.”

“You know that I was the one in charge of teaching Spinel, right?” Pearl sighed irately.

Steven laughed lightly, tearing up as he held tight to Spinel’s hand. Since they became a couple, Steven felt like they had to handle things on their own. Mostly because it seemed like everyone was against them somehow. However, he was once again reminded that even if he and Spinel were a couple, they were still part of this family as well. The Gems all cared about Spinel too. “…Thanks guys…” he mumbled tearfully.

Though Steven tried his best, he couldn’t stay up the entire night, but was comforted by the fact that even if he did fall asleep, the others were there with Spinel. When he opened his eyes the next morning, he awoke with a start, quickly sitting up to check on Spinel.

“Her fever is gone, but she hasn’t woken up yet,” Garnet explained when she saw Steven look Spinel over in a panic. “However, the biggest change is this,” she added, reaching over and pulling down the blanket to reveal Spinel’s Gem that had become completely black in color.

Steven’s heart sank like a stone when he caught glimpse of the black Gem over Spinel’s chest. “…what…does that mean?” he breathed, completely frozen in place.

“I don’t know,” answered Garnet honestly. “Pearl left for Homeworld when it happened. I couldn’t talk her out of it.”

Steven wasn’t sure what to say. In truth, his mind was completely blank. The girl he loved was lying in front of him and she needed help, but he was useless. This was the second time she really needed him and he wasn’t able to do a single thing. “Garnet…please tell me what to do…” Steven pleaded with tear filled eyes. “You always know what to do. …just…tell me how to fix this. There has to be something…anything I can do…”

Garnet was quiet for a moment before gently tapping her visor, revealing her sympathetic expression. “Don’t give up hope, Steven,” she began, placing her hand atop his head. “We’re doing everything we can. No one is going to stop until Spinel is back.”  

Unfortunately for Steven and the other Gems, the rest of the day had gone no better. Pearl returned from Homeworld with no answers and none of Peridot’s equipment was offering any results. They had even resorted to asking a human doctor, Connie’s mother, for help. Yet there seemed to be little she could come up with as well. They all had their responsibilities in Little Homeworld, but leaving Spinel like this was difficult for them all. It wasn’t just Spinel they worried about either. Steven had remained at her bedside all day and refused the food that was offered to him. His Father had come by to sit with his son, but he couldn’t seem to convince the boy to take a break. Connie was the last visitor of the day, stopping by just after her violin lesson.

“I’m sorry my mom wasn’t able to help,” Connie began as she entered the room.

“It was a long shot anyway…” Steven sighed in reply.

Connie made her way to Spinel’s bedside and looked down at the black Gem on her chest. “Have you tried…connecting with her Gem?”

“Garnet says I shouldn’t…since we don’t know what made it change color like this, but I’ve been thinking about it. The others keep coming in to check on her though, so I haven’t had the chance to try without them stopping me.”

Connie looked around, “Well, I’m the only one here now,” she pointed out in a hushed voice. “If anyone comes by, I can just pretend you’re sleeping.”

“Yeah? …Okay, I’ll give it a shot. Keep an eye on my Gem for me. If it starts to turn black or something, wake me up if you can.” Steven instructed as he leaned his back against the frame of his bed, preparing to force himself asleep so he could attempt a connection with Spinel.

“You just be careful and bring Spinel back,” Connie insisted, kneeling down beside him to clasp his hand. “Jam buds.”

“Jam buds,” Steven repeated with a smile before closing his eyes.

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: This isn’t a rom-com 6/?

Wordcount: 3156

Warnings: lots of fluff! someone is still oblivious, the other not so much.

Previous Chapters:

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5

It might be a cliché, but Keanu hadn’t felt like this over a person in years. He cared about everyone he ever dated of course. However, thinking about them constantly, wondering what they were doing, feeling this urge to see them and talk to them every day? That didn’t happen all that often anymore and it was both wonderful and terrifying.

And it was so stupid because he and Lilah weren’t even dating. They were friends. Just friends. And Keanu was ok with that. As a matter of fact, it was probably for the best that they were just friends.

For one, Keanu would have to go back to Los Angeles when John Wick’s principal photography ended in a couple of months. New York was Lilah’s home. Besides, no matter how much he enjoyed her company, the age difference between the two of them would give the press a field day.

So it would probably be for the best if he took a step back from this, avoid getting even more involved. Except Keanu didn’t seem to have full control of his own mouth anymore whenever he was around Lilah, because he always ended finding ways to see her again. Now here he was, after shooting fight scenes all night and a considerable part of the day, getting ready to go meet her.

Keanu was exhausted, sore and stiff from exertion and he knew that Lilah wouldn’t really mind if he scheduled, but Keanu couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was almost as if he was addicted to her and couldn’t go long periods of time without seeing or speaking to her, especially not now that they were talking on the phone every day.

Most of the time, it wasn’t even anything important. Just silly stories of their routine or comments on Scanner Darkly. But whenever his phone beeped with a new message his heart did a flip on his chest and Keanu hurried to pick up and call back.

Keanu popped two painkillers as he changed into a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt, startling a little when his phone rang. Once again, his heart sped up, but it wasn’t Lilah. It was his sister Kim.

“Hey, I’m heading out. Can I call you tomorrow?” he asked as he put on his coat.

“Sure. Where are you going?” Kim asked, tone curious.

“Just meeting a friend,” he replied after a moment of hesitation.

Keanu had very deliberately kept this entire thing with Lilah from his family and the rest of his friends with the exception of Chad. They were always ended getting way too excited whenever he was dating again. Not that he was dating Lilah. But still…

“What was that?” she asked, and he could almost hear her smirk. “That pause? Who are you meeting?”

“You don’t know them.” Keanu tried to be as vague as possible, but it was Kim and she knew him way too well.

“Are you going on a date? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”

“It’s not a date. We’re just friends and I really gotta go,” Keanu said, walking towards his bike.

“Ok, but I wanna hear all about it when you get back,” Kim declared, voice giddy. “I don’t care how late it is. Call me!”

She didn’t wait for his reply, just hung up before he could tell her no and Keanu sighed, slipping his phone on his pocket. He knew there was no escaping now. Kim would prod until he told her everything. Maybe that could be a good thing. He needed a second opinion about this entire thing. But that was something to think about at another moment.

Right now, he was standing outside her door, heart pounding on his chest as he knocked. A moment later, Lilah pulled it open, flashing him a wide smile, as she talked on the phone in a different language.

She stepped aside so he could walk in and silently asked for a second before she disappeared inside her bedroom. Keanu closed the door behind himself, took off his shoes and hung his coat, before settling on the couch, rolling his shoulders to try to loosen the muscles, grimacing at the sharp pain that shot through his back. Maybe he might be getting too old for this kind of work schedule.

“Are you ok?” her voice startled him, making his eyes snap open and he didn’t even realize he had closed them. “You look dead on your feet.”

“Gee, thanks,” he shot back with a mock glare and Lilah chuckled as she joined him on the couch.

“That’s not what I mean. You look good, of course. You always look good…” she trailed off with an embarrassed wince and Keanu grinned. He loved when she did that.

“Likewise,” Keanu said, sneaking a quick once over.

She had on an oversized sweater and a pair of denim shorts, her hair pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head, exposing her long neck. Lilah flashed him a smile, a hint of color tinting her cheeks.

“Thanks. I just meant that you look tired.”

“It was a long day, but I’m fine.”

“You’re sure?” she asked, catching her bottom lip between her teeth and Keanu couldn’t help but watch her mouth. “I understand if you wanna head home…”

“I really am fine, Lilah,” Keanu assured taking her hand, squeezing lightly.

She still hesitated, watching him with narrowed eyes and Keanu could see the hint of worry in her frown. It made him smile. Even if he was exhausted, there was nowhere he would rather be right now.

“So, what are we watching tonight?”

“Right, so…” Lilah started with a sheepish expression. “I totally understand if you don’t wanna watch this one. I should’ve checked before I invited you.”

“Why wouldn’t I…” Keanu trailed off when she showed him the cover. “This is for your research, you say?”

“Yeah, I'm reviewing 25 rom coms with biggest box office in the last twenty years to analyze what kind of behavioral rules they establish for women. Something's Gotta Give is number 18 in my list.”

Keanu wasn’t really surprised that her research involved movies, Lilah seemed to love everything that had anything to do with storytelling.

He took a moment to consider since he didn’t rewatch his movies all that often. If they were on, depending on what it was, Keanu might stop and watch it, take a trip on memory lane. This wasn’t the case and he felt a little self-conscious to do with Lilah, but he still hadn’t really learned how to say no to her.

“Then I don’t mind watching it. Can’t get in the way of science, after all,” Keanu replied and Lilah grinned wide, jumping to her feet to set it up. He took a moment to examine the DVD case, noticing the absence of a rental logo. It made him smirk. “I thought you hated rom-coms?”

“I do,” Lilah replied distractedly.

“So this belongs to one of your friends?” he asked with an arched eyebrow. Lilah flushed bright red as she sat next to him again, taking back the DVD case.

“No. It’s, uh, mine,” she confessed in a low voice, avoiding his gaze. “I might own a few of your movies. Is that weird?”

“That you like my movies? No, it’s fine… I mean, unless you have posters of me and other shit in your bedroom. Then I might have to leave…” he joked with a goofy grin, making like he was about to stand up and Lilah pulled him back, chuckling.

“No posters. I promise.”

Keanu chuckled too, enjoying the way she kept her arm hooked around his even after he sat back next to her. She started the movie, shifting a little, searching for a comfortable position. After about a minute of that, he gave her a pointed look.

“Sorry, I’m just used to stretching my legs over the couch.”

“Go ahead, I don’t mind,” he replied with a shrug and after a minute of hesitation, Lilah leaned back on the couch’s arm, resting her legs over his.

And maybe Keanu should’ve thought this through because now he had her bare calves over his thighs, her skin looking silky soft and tempting him into running his fingers up her knees and thighs and into her shorts…

He cleared his throat and looked back at the screen, feeling too warm, his jeans a little tighter than before. He prayed that Lilah hadn’t noticed it and fought to keep his focus on the movie. but his gaze kept traveling back to Lilah, watching as she chewed on her pen, eyes on the screen with a cute little frown of concentration. Every once in awhile, she would press pause, to make a notation.

It was only because Keanu was watching her instead of the movie that he noticed the shift on her expression, her knitted brow relaxing and her expression changing into a wide smile. When he glanced back at the movie, he saw a twelve years younger version of himself on the screen.

“Ok, how come you haven’t aged a day?” Lilah asked with a teasing grin. “I mean, with the exception of growing a beard, you look exactly the same.”

“Trust me, I don’t,” Keanu replied with an uncomfortable snort. His aching muscles told him exactly how things had changed.

“It makes you wonder…” Lilah continued as she sat up, pulling her legs away from his lap. “If the internet might be right.”

“About?” Keanu asked with an arched eyebrow.

“You being immortal.”

There was a mischievous glint in her eyes and there was the only reason Keanu wasn’t annoyed about it. He really hated all the comments of how young he looked for his age as if it was some kind of special merit.

“So, how’s the movie so far?” Keanu asked as a way of shifting the conversation.

“Well, it technically passes the Bechdel's test, which is a good start,” Lilah explained. “The protagonist is over forty, with a stablished career that she doesn’t give up on at the end, also good. And the age gap between the main couple isn’t too big,”

“What would be a too big age gap?” Keanu asked, feeling a knot in his throat.

“Anything over 10 years would already be a bit problematic,” Lilah replied, glancing over her shoulder. “I made hot chocolate. Want some?”

“Yeah.” He had to force his voice to work, his mind flashing to the fact that he was 20 years older than Lilah.

“Why?” Keanu asked because apparently, he was a masochist.

“Why is it problematic?” Lilah questioned, returning to the couch and offering him a mug. “Well, for one it tells women that they only attractive and desirable while young.”

“Not all relationships are about looks” He knew he should stop and keep his mouth shut but he couldn’t help himself.

“You still have a guy that’s already stable on his job, probably have been through a previous marriage, against a woman who’s figuring herself out, probably really insecure… There’s just a bigger chance for power imbalance in the relationship…”

“So, you’re saying an older man’s gonna try to control a younger woman? Every time? Isn’t that a little dark? Jaded?” Keanu asked with a frown. If she really thought that then it was no wonder she couldn’t see him as anything more than a friend.

“I’m not saying he would do it on purpose,” she said, maybe picking something on his expression because she was frowning too. “But yeah… Bigger chance of him being paternalist too.” Lilah paused for a moment, chewing on her lip. “Can we just go back to the movie, please?”

Keanu just nodded, turning his focus to the screen but the uncomfortable tension lingered as they avoided looking at each other and any point of physical contact that existed only moments ago was gone.

“The fact that the male protagonist is a womanizer that needs to be reformed is pretty bad,” Lilah said breaking the awkward silence.

Keanu looked her way, catching her hesitant but sort of hopeful look. It almost as if she was silently asking him if they could move on from this.

“Why is that?” He relented with a sigh.

“Because it suggests women are required to fix their significant others in the name of love. That not only sends a terrible message, but it’s also lazy writing!”

Her voice went a little squeaky with her irritation and despite the turmoil of thoughts going through his head, he couldn’t help but smile at that. It was cute.

“Also, if you’re trying to convince me they fell in love for each other after a weekend, give me something better than damn pancakes and beach stones!” Lilah rolled her eyes with a snort of derision.

“You know, you’d probably make a great screenwriter,” Keanu commented.

“Thanks,” she replied, ducking her head to hide her shy smile. “I thought about it when I was seventeen. Going to film school, I mean.”

“Why didn’t you?” he asked turning to face Lilah with a curious look. Keanu was always interested in learning a little more about her.

“Because I needed something that could actually pay the bills,” Lilah declared with the kind of certainty that only came from a rehearsed speech. Those were words she repeated quite often even if she didn’t really believe them. “Just something my dad used to say.”

“It pays my bills just fine,” Keanu pointed out and Lilah snorted.

“That’s because you’re very good.”

There was a different kind of certainty in her tone this time. It was almost matter-of-factly. Almost as if to her, that statement was as obvious as something like the sky was blue.

“A lot of people wouldn’t agree with you.”

“Because they’re morons!” Lilah declared with an eye-roll. “I mean, you can go from airhead with heart of gold like Ted, to emotionally stunted jerk like Constantine to complete sweetheart like Julian. That’s a lot of range, ok? And sure, you’ve made some sketchy choices throughout the years with some weird indie movies that I couldn’t bring myself to watch, but overall your movies are awesome, you’re very talented and anyone who says otherwise deserves to be punched in the face.”  

For a moment, Keanu didn’t know what to say or do. He knew despite the bad reviews he received, a lot of people enjoyed his work. But he never had the chance of hearing such passionate speech about himself. It was humbling and heartwarming and he could feel himself blushing with a mix of pleasure and embarrassment.

Not to mention he caught that same glint of excitement in Lilah’s eyes, the one that always appeared whenever she talked about something she loved.  

“Sorry. Too much?” she asked.

“No… it’s…” he stuttered, glancing at her with a hesitant smile. “Thank you.”

“I mean every word. Even before you were my friend,” she said, bumping her shoulder against his and Keanu sighed, trying not to let his disappointment show. There it was again. that damn word. “And anyway, I like psychology just fine. Film school was just a stupid teenage dream.”

“Doesn’t have to be,” he said because Lilah was like an open book sometimes. He could see right through her attempt of a brave face.

“It’s too late, Keanu. I’m not gonna throw away ten years of work for some pipe dream,” Lilah declared with a sigh, avoiding his gaze.

“Is that another thing you father says?” The words escaped his lips before Keanu could contain them and Lilah’s expression quickly shifted into a scowl of irritation.

“You don’t know anything about my father or my family, ok? You don’t get to talk about them.” She grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. “Maybe you should go.”

“Lilah…” Keanu started, wanting to kick himself. “I’m sorry.”

“Whatever,” she breathed out, sounding a little like a petulant child.

“Please look at me,” he asked and after a moment, Lilah reluctantly shifted her gaze to him. Keanu took her hand in his. “That was a shitty thing to say. I had no right. I’m sorry.”

“I know…” she sighed, shoulders dropping, turning her hand up so she could entwine their fingers together. “It’s just a touchy subject.”

“I really am sorry,” he repeated because the thought of Lilah being upset with him made something in his chest hurt.

“I know. You’re forgiven.” Lilah flashed him a small smile.

Keanu nodded, relief washing over him and in an impulse, he brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles and her smile grew, her fingers coming to his cheek, caressing his jaw and he sighed in pleasure, leaning against her touch and all he wanted was to kiss her.

“I should go…” he whispered and Lilah grimaced.

“I didn’t really mean that… we can finish the movie.” she urged,

And Keanu wanted to say yes and stay with her for as long as Lilah wanted him, but he couldn’t. Not when he could feel the words on the tip of his tongue. The longer he stayed, the harder would it be to keep them at bay. The second they were out Keanu knew it would ruin everything. And he was already too far in love with her to handle not having her in his life. Even if only as a friend.

“I guess I’m a lot more tired than I first thought.” He smiled at the way she pouted at him. “But we can do something this weekend, how about that?”

“Yeah, ok.” Lilah grinned and strangely this time it made his heart settle in his chest instead of speeding up. Almost as if making her happy relaxed him.

Lilah walked him to the door and waited as Keanu put on his coat and shoes. As he bent down to kiss her goodnight, Lilah got up on her tiptoes to do the same and they ended up bumping noses and giggling.

Keanu held her chin and met her gaze for a moment, before he brushed his lips against her cheek, way too close to the corner of her mouth.

“Bye, Lilah,” Keanu said almost reluctantly before walking away from her.

When Keanu arrived at home, he knew he should head to bed. He had been awake for over sixteen hours and needed to be on set 6:30, but instead, he took his laptop and did a quick search on screenwriting programs.

He found a master's program that seemed very good at the New York Film Academy. They were still taking applications for the first term of 2014 on both campuses: New York and Los Angeles.

He texted Lilah the link with a quick message, before lying back on his bed. And if Keanu tried hard enough, he could pretend he didn’t send that one with a secret hope that Lilah would choose the LA campus.

(tbc)

go to part 7

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[lazella]

Papa Tony

Been really looking forward to finishing and posting this. We all know that Tony adopts pretty much anyone so let the dad instincts commence!

Tony read over the scans on his monitor. He had hooked up Yugi to every medical scanner he had as soon as he found out that the Soul Stone seemed to have fused with his body. The Soul Stone was the most mysterious of all the stones so who knew what the effects on Yugi were.

“Is all this necessary?” Yugi asked from where he laid on the table.

“You’ve got a rock that contains cosmic power potentially in your brain so yes…” Tony said as he switched to viewing brain scans, “I’m pretty sure you want it out.”

Yugi just let a hum and just relaxed as Tony continued his examination. He was about to switch screens when he noticed something. One of Yugi’s brainwaves was very active, the one that indicated speaking. But Yugi was silent. Tony was about to chuck it up to internal thought only for a second wave to show up. The two waves took turns being active, as if in conversation.

“Yugi?”

“Yes?”

“Are you talking to someone right now?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because according to what I see, you are talking to someone right now. So depending on your answer I should consider this normal or I will get very concerned.”

“Oh…” Yugi looked a little comfortable and fell silent. The scans indicated that he was back in his internal conversation before he spoke out loud again, “Do you believe in magic Tony-san?”

“I have a few wizards on speed dial and friends with a god so yes…I do believe in magic.”

“Okay…” This seemed like a relief to Yugi, “I’ve got another me who shares my body.”

“Another personality?”

“Not quite like that…he’s got not memory of his past or his name, so he shares mine. The only clue we have was that he was in Egyptian Pharaoh in life.”

“So you’ve got a dead guy in your head? How did he get there?!”

“It happened when I completed this Puzzle,” Yugi sat up and held up his large gold pendant for Tony to see. He had wondered why Yugi wore something that was so bulky.

“So magical artifact had a guy sealed in it…no other curses or anything?” Tony asked.

“None that I know of.”

“So I’m going to file this under normal for you…” Tony said as he closed down the screens.

“It’s normal as Yugi and I can get.”

Tony had to do a double take. Yugi’s voice changed only slightly. His posture was slightly different and there was something off about his eyes.

“Apologies I figured that I introduce myself since you are now aware of me.”

“Nearly gave me a heart attack that’s what…” Tony sighed, “You neglected to mention that you can switch out like that.”

“Most people don’t notice…Then again they don’t know what to look for.” The not-Yugi said.

“Just as long as you two get along Your Majesty I don’t think any of us will take issue…”

The not-Yugi arched an eyebrow, “Your Majesty?”

“Yugi said you were a Pharaoh and I’m not going to call you ‘Yugi’…that will just get confusing…” Tony said, “Now then…I’m sure there are few people I can call to see if we can resolve this memory loss problem.”

This seemed to surprise the not-Yugi, “You’ll do that?”

“Kid…there’s no way in good conscious let you walk around with no identity. I’m sure it has caused a few problems.”

“It has…a few life or death situations actually.”

The coffee cup Tony was holding shattered on the floor, “HOW?!”

“A few people have taken issue that I’m…still here.” Not-Yugi admitted.

“No…no no…no no NO!” Tony grabbed Not-Yugi’s arm and started drag him off, “Come on!”

“Where are we going.”

“We are going to see someone about your memory issue then getting you equipment so that people don’t stick you two into life or death situations!”

“I usually win though…”

“THAT IS NOT THE POINT!”

…………………………………..

Tony munched on popcorn has he watched Natasha and Judai spar. Curiosity was sparking in his head as he wondered how a seventeen-year-old boy was keeping up with a trained assassin but Judai seemed to dodge any sort of inquiry. So for now, it was observation time.

Judai dodged another punch from Natasha and went to kick her legs out from under her. She saw this coming and stepped back far enough to through him off balance. Natasha then grabbed Judai’s wrist and twisted it behind his head.

Judai had a quite a visible wince on his face trying to get out of Natasha’s grip as she got his other hand. Tony reached for his other bag of popcorn getting a feeling that things were about to get interesting.

Something snapped in Judai, his eyes flashing orange and green and claws growing sharp. Natasha was shocked at the change causing her to lose her grip a bit. Judai took his chance and flipped Natasha over his head and pinned her down with a foot on her chest.

“Nice one kid!” Tony clapped, “Never seen anyone throw Natasha like that and…” He trailed off, noticing the look on Judai’s face. It like he was frozen in a moment of panic eyes still glowing green and orange.

“Judai….hey Judai! Snap out of it!”

Judai blinked back to alertness, eyes returning to their normal brown, “Ah! Sorry! So sorry about that!” He got off Natasha and offered a hand, “Instincts took over…”

“It’s fine…” Natasha said as she accepted the help up. “I’ve been through worse.”

“But this was supposed to be a friendly spar…” Judai said, “And I…” He trailed off.

“And I what?” Natasha prodded.

“I…I…” Judai looked at the ground in shame, “I acted like it was the real deal…”

“So.” Was the causal response from Natasha.

This caught Judai off guard, “I could have killed you! My instincts just takes over and then…”

“Kid we nearly kill each other every day.” Tony shrugged munching on more popcorn, “Just ask Bruce how many times he threw us through walls when he had gone Hulk.”

“B-but…” Judai stuttered in shock, “You all…”

“We just learn each other’s quirks and adapt.” Tony said, “Some of our allies were people who tried to kill us so it’s really not a detracting factor. In fact, crazy dark backstories just makes you fit in even more.”

Judai blink, frowned, then laughed a bit, “I never…though of it like that.”

“Welcome to the world of superheroes…” Tony laughed, “Now that I think about it, you should already know about that since I do know that deck of your IS superhero themed.”

Now Judai was laughing even harder, “Your right! I should know that!”

“Atta boy…now let’s see what you can really do against Natasha.” Tony said as he sat back down with his popcorn.

“Are you sure…I mean…” Judai was still somewhat unsure.

“Would you rather go against Hulk?” Natasha proposed.

“This is fine…”

……………………………………

“I have to admit Mr. Stark, the technology and construction you’ve done in your suits is amazing.”

Tony sure liked Yusei. The kid was brilliant. Any sort of engineering or physics problem was second nature to the kid. Finally he had someone who could keep up with his nerd talk.

“You still owe me an explanation about your motorcycle.” Tony said, “You did say you built it yourself from scrap.”

Yusei chuckled a bit, “I sure did…” He turned to the bike that was parked in the corner of the lab. “I’ve replaced parts of the engine with better quality materials over the years but the frame is the same.”

“Quite the impressive work…I can’t believe your self taught,” Tony said as he tapped the metal casing of the D-Wheel. “Mind if I take a peek?”

“Go right ahead,” Yusei opened the engine compartment.

Tony whistled. When Yusei said that his bike didn’t run on gasoline he just had to figure out what the alternative fuel that he used. The circuitry was like artwork linking all the parts together. The main engine hub was impressive. It seemed to be spinning round and round and…

Why did Tony feel like he had read theories about this before?

“Yusei…am I looking at a perpetual energy machine?”

“Not quite…This a smaller version of the main Momentum reactor that acts as our main power source,” Yusei explained, “After many years of operation we found a flaw that caused it to build up too much power internally which has a risk of causing a catastrophic explosion. I helped develop a counter generator called Fortune to absorb the excess energy and feed it back into the system.”

Tony now had a notepad in his hand making calculations, “So a perpetual energy machine in two parts…now how to combine them into one…”

Yusei raised an eyebrow, “Mr. Stark…what are you doing?”

“Making improvements…you wouldn’t happen to have blueprints of those two reactors on you?”

“I…do actually….” Yusei ejected a flash drive from his bike, “My father was the one who developed the original Momentum.”

Tony could recognize the expression on Yusei’s face, it was one he had quite often.

“He died when you were young…didn’t he?”

“I was just a baby…” Yusei sighed, “His work was sabotaged, and his last act was to get me to safety.”

“Sounds like he was a good man…” Tony patted Yusei on the back, “Now let’s review those blueprints and see what we can do…”

……………………….

New York Central park was a popular destination for both locals and tourists to visit. Many fun sights to see and take photos off. Though those who were celebrity followers were surprised to find millionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark sitting on a park bench with ice cream in his hand sitting next to a boy with duel colored hair, also with ice cream in hand.

Tony paid no mind to the gawkers. “So Yuma…thoughts on the ice cream?”

“It’s good but…” Yuma frowned, “Still confused as to why you suddenly dragged me out of the tower just for ice cream? We passed at least four other places on the way here.”

“Because I can tell you were going nuts being cooped up inside all day.” Tony pointed out, “Making a fortress out of cardboard and bits of my suits then trying to jump over it in one go was the tipping point.”

Yuma blushed in embarrassment.

“And there’s the fact you’re talking to yourself…”

“That part is not true.” Yuma pouted, “I told you several times about Astral.”

“So invisible friend?”

“He’s not invisible…just visible to some people.” Yuma pointed out.

“That still counts as invisible.” Tony responded.

Yuma stuck his tongue out, “Thor can see him.”

“Well lucky him…he get’s all the cool stuff.” Tony took another lick of ice cream, “I have to build my cool stuff.”

“Then why don’t you invent something so that you can see Astral?”

Tony paused, Yuma had a very good point. He was a genius after all. He wasn’t going to let something like being chosen with magical powers stop from doing anything.

“Fair point…I concede victory to you Yuma.” Tony said, “I need you to hang around to give good ideas more often.”

Yuma smiled, “Thanks for the ice cream by the way.”

“Anytime kid.” Tony smiled back, “Just say the word and we’ll do it again.”

……………………..

“You got me a what?”

“She’s called a therapist Yuya. She won’t bite you, her job is to talk to you and figure out your own head.”

“Um…no offence Tony…” Yuya scratched the back of his head, “I don’t think she’s going to believe what I have to say.”

“She’s the Avenger’s personal therapist. She’s heard everything past the sun. A patient with four people in his head will not be a new thing for her.”

Yuya was still unconvinced, “I don’t know about the others though…especially Yuri.”

“Which is more of a reason to start now. Listen kid…” Tony started rustling Yuya’s hair, “I can tell you’ve been bottling up a lot of things which is not healthy for a kid…or kids…that are only fourteen years old. You haven’t slipped much but it doesn’t take much to figure out that you still need help.”

“I DON’T NEED HELP!!!” Yuya suddenly shouted then shrunk back on himself, “….sorry.”

“I guess that was Yuri.”

“Yeah…he doesn’t talk to any of us about his past….I mean he talks about current stuff but the moment we start sharing childhood stories he clams up. What makes you think he’s going to open up to a complete stranger?”

“You never know until you try…” Tony admitted, “Just ask Pepper how many times she had to drag my butt to a therapist, she didn’t give up on me for sure. How about you just try once and see how you feel?”

“Okay…” Yuya slowly nodded, “What if I don’t like it?”

“Then we’ll try something else.”

That seemed to be the reassurance Yuya needed to enter the room out of his own free will. Out of courtesy and patient confidentiality, Tony waited outside. A good hour later, Yuya came out though based on the way he was walking it wasn’t Yuya in control.

“So…which one….” Tony said trying to figure out which one he was talking too.

“Yugo sir…the others are in a deep conversation. I didn’t have as much to get off my chest so I took the reins.”

“So I take it that the therapist help?”

“I don’t know why Yuya didn’t go to one sooner…then again I don’t know if we even have them back home.”

“Sounds like that’s a problem we need to fix.” Tony muttered, “So…while the other three are in their talk…what to come to my lab and tinker with a few things?”

“Do I?!” Yugo was bouncing on his feet.

“Then lets go!” With a cackle they ran down to the lab.

………………………………..

Tony was fiddling with his latest project with Bruce in his lab. Yusaku was quietly working on a nearby computer giving a death glare to anyone who came close. Tony just left him be. Programing seemed to be more of Yusaku’s forte rather than engineering. He just needed to focus on this new reactor to see if he can give it more juice.

“You sure it’s okay to work on this with the kid in the lab?” Bruce asked.

“We have enough safety precautions in place and he’s far away enough.” Tony reassured him, “Now pass me that soldering iron and let’s hook this baby up.”

Bruce complied and took a few steps back. Tony a look in his eye that spelt trouble, trouble Bruce really didn’t want to be in, but a responsible adult had to be in the room. Tony finished the connection and removed his googles, “Time to light this baby up!” Like a giddy child, he started the power core. The reactor light up as expected but then started sparking.

“Tony…” Bruce began warning him.

“It should die down…” Tony was about to explain himself only for the reactor to start sparking more.

“Turn it off!!!” Bruce yelled.

“Trying!” Tony yelled back as he hurried to cut the power taking a quick glance at Yusaku. The boy was fully aware of what was going on but had not left his corner.

“Kid run!!!” Tony yelled at Yusaku which seemed to snap the boy to attention. He began to creep his way around the edge of the lab being very cautious of the flying sparks.  Electric sparks continued to fly turning into streams as the reactor started to critical. Tony was fumbling at this point trying to find the wires and disconnect them as the switch was now effectively dead. Feeling the plug in his hand he yelled out…

“Hit the deck!!!”

He broke the connection. The reactor let out one last flash of sparks then fell silent. With the danger passed, Tony and Bruce shakily got up from the floor.

“Well there goes today’s work…” Tony muttered.

Bruce didn’t comment instead looked around the room, “Where did the kid go?”

Tony looked around as well, there was no sign of Yusaku. “Hey kid? You okay? Where’d you go?”

“TONY!!!”

Tony ran around the table to where Bruce was crouched down. Yusaku was on the floor twitching. Tony started cursing under his breath. Did Yusaku get struck by the electricity?

“Hey!” Tony lightly shook Yusaku’s shoulder, “Speak to me.”

Yusaku didn’t answer but was mumbling. Tony only caught bits that sounded like ‘sorry’ and ‘I’ll keep trying’.

“Aw man don’t do this now!!!”

Tony and Bruce looked at Yusaku’s wrist device where the AI was poking out of.

“Snap out of it already!”

“What’s going on?” Tony asked.

“He’s stuck in another episode…” The AI said, “The electricity must have triggered him.”

Tony felt his heart drop, was Yusaku suffering from a PTSD episode? With great care, he rolled Yusaku over and tried to stabilize his trembles.

“Hey Yusaku…look at me.”

Yusaku blinked a few times but he seemed to be focusing on Tony now.

“Can you tell me where you are?”

“I-I’m….” Yusaku stuttered a bit, “In a lab…”

“Who’s lab?”

“Y-yours…”

“That’s right…come on…” Tony helped the shaking boy up, “Fresh air will do us all good.”

Bruce helped Tony walk Yusaku out of the lab and towards one of the sitting areas by a balcony. Easing Yusaku into a chair, Tony took the seat next to him while Bruce went to get drinks.

“So…feeling better?” Tony asked.

“I’m better….” Yusaku sighed, “I apologize…I haven’t had an episode like that in a while.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“No…it was years ago anyway and I’ve got closure…” Yusaku said.

“If you say so…” Tony said as he downed the scotch that Bruce brought back, “Sorry about the scare though.”

“Perhaps I should not work while you are playing with dangerous equipment.” Yusaku said as he took some lemonade.

“How about I set you up with your own laptop?” Tony proposed, “That way you can work wherever you want.”

Yusaku actually smiled, “I would like that.”

[goldstonegolem64]

there was some problem with my laptop and it wouldn’t save my drafted so I had to copy pasted so of it and I did a lot of editing but there are something I couldn't fix and I'm sorry about that now have fun reading this chapter it’s a long one  book one chapter 26  Haven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYLLvLneU2k&t=17s

In the Galra command center Empire Zarkon sat on his throne hearing the damage report and the casualty list  from  when votron attacked with Prorok kneeling before him.

“ We have lost over 25 battleship, 32 warships ,19 destroyers, 6 dreadnaughts ,over 6 hundred fights, over 1 thousand sentries “Thace sighed heavily  as he look at the ever growing list of fallen soldier” Three hundred soldiers and counting”

“ it is sad to hear that. But do we know how the princess escaped?” ZArkon asked not really caring about this news

“it seem like one of are sentries were hack. then lead her to a ship that had slipped in to one of our hangers during the battle with the lions ant Valkyrie  sir” Thace said

“Have you found out who lower barrier and let voltron escape ?” Prorok asked hopping that with the culprit found that Zarkon’s wraith will fall upon them instead of him

“  You don’t have to worry about that Prorok I think I'm about to save months of investigating if I remove the one who has been chipping away at my victory. The one who sent his fleet to capture voltron with out my permission“  Zarkon said starring at the kneeling Prorok  as two guards walked up behind him and grabbed him and started to drag him away

“ No my lord your making a mistake. Your making the galra weaker. THIS IS MISTAKE. YOU OLD FOOL YOU HAVE DOOMED US ALL YOU HAVE DOOMED US ALL” Prorok yelled as he was dragged to Haggars lab.

“lieutenant Thace take you place before me” Zarkon said calmly 

“ Yes my lord” thace said

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYLLvLneU2k&t=17s

“You have now been promoted to fleet commander and will now let the investigation do not fail me” Zarkon said

“I will not my lord “ thace said 

“Jay was started to wake up from the crash because of this planets sun  light shining in through vas eyes . this was the second time he had passed out and crashed after he when though a wormhole He thought to himself. His entire body was sore as he was getting up from the floor and sat back down in his chair. “Hey val you alive” He asked there was no response from his partner.Then a loud groaning sound rang through out the mechanical dragon.”good to see your up and running my friend. now where are we ?”  

“ it seem like were currently on a planet made up of nothing but swamp lands from what my scanners say also there seems to be a settlement about three hundred miles from here. An are long range comms are down and we can’t fly for a days ” She replied as she was getting getting up from the bog she was half submerged in

“Alright let head to that settlement and lets hope they let us use their comms tower if they have one and if they don’t then well just wait out your repairs”Jay said as he removed his helmet and lend back in his chair as vals started running towards the settlement

the planet they were on was full of colorful creatures that ran from val as she ran a cross the muddy land scape.some of the beasts that didn’t run from here were huge like the massive birds or the massive spiders that hde under the muddy and tried to fight Val only to loss a leg or any eye or the mountain sized turtles that walked in a hoard they has trunks like any elephant that helped them pull out the spiders from there hole or to drink water.the Flore here was very much like a jungle he saw massive tree that block out the sun or the giant man eating planet that just clamped down on a monkey like creature. This place was beautiful and he couldn’t wait to show the other the pictures he was take.

in the empty streets of the colony as the sun was starting to set  two kids were sneaking around an abandon restaurant looking for food

  “HEY Bastion I found more food” the smaller of the two kids yelled as he waved a can of food from behind a counter to his older brother

“Usamu keep your voice down” Bastion quickly moved from the kitchen to his little brother and grabbed the can from his brother’s hand and placed it in a bag with other cans of food 

Why the monsters are asleep right” Usamu asked in a hushed voiced

“yes but some of them wake up earlier then other or you could tell  bandit where we ar” Bastion freeze and pulled usamu under the counter and put his hand or his little brother mouth. As the sounds of people moving through the kitchen

”I swore that I heard someone in here” man1 said in a hushed tone

“Yeah sure you did are you sure the stress isn’t getting to you Ban “man 2 said  

“Shut up your going to wake that thing up” Ban said still in his hushed tone and pointed toward a red mound that was rhythmical breathing 

“why are you so worried it’s just a drone . They’re easy to kill and are heavy sleepers” man 2 said as he fired his blaster into the air once to prove a point and looked to the still sleeping drone 

Bastion held onto his little brother who was breathing rapidly  after the shots were fired. this wasn’t good  and bastion know that .He had noticed  his little brother eye were going from a calm kind blue to a dark purple meaning Usamu was starting to lose control  

“what the hell are you doing do you want to die”  Ban yelled completely forgetting about the red mound  

“see ban  nothing to worry abogghhgghh.” the second man looked down at his chest and saw a sickle like claw jutting out covered in his own green blood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiWV2KseKeo

He turned his head to see a humanoid insectoid being with . It towered over the one man shaking to raise his rifle . it was about seven feet tall with a lanky and smooth body with a dark red color carapace that within the dark kitchen made it even more intimidating then it already was. with its lack of eyes and it’s hand still imbedded into the other mans. a line appeared going down it’s face where the jaw would be as it let out a loud vicious buzzing screech causing the jaw to spilt in to four pieces each having rows of teeth. it throw the body of the man it impaled and charged the other man with it’s four sickled arms.Bastion and usamu listened to blaster fire and a louder screech and a body hitting the metal floor.

”goddess be dammed Reve you had one job and you blow it. You big moron. it’s almost sundown better get back to the hide out” Ban said 

“ Us are you ok?” Bastion Asked in calm voice .trying to keep his brother from losing control and lobotomizing everything in a two mile radius

“ I’m scarred”  he said .Holding onto his brother trying to keep his cool as the darkness started to takeover his visons 

“ I know I know.” Bastion said trying to keep it together himself  “ok lets move quickly and quietly “

“Alright” Usamu said grabbing the bag of food they had collected  

the door to the restaurant opened letting out chime. Causing the brothers to freeze up. A Silence fell upon the restaurant only being broken by heavy foot falls and a low deep buzzing. Followed by two smaller sets of foot step.  the Ban looked into the dinning room and  saw two more bugs accompanied by a hulking beast. it was taller then the two next to it .the only thing it had in common with them was it’s dark red carapace,the number of arms and it’s lack of eye. what made it differenced was instead of bladed it’s four arms were much thicker arms that ended in polydactyl claws. it’s body was covered in small spikes and a single horn jutting out of it’s head. Ban starred at three beasts just standing there just moving their heads around listening  for the source of the noise. Ban starred to move backwards slowly going to the back door he and Reve had come in from. Bastion and Usamu were still hiding under the counter when the sound of pots hitting the ground followed by a loud screeching  the sound of people running , things being crushed and a door being opened then it being smashed opened . The two brothers sat there for a few minutes then they heard a screech from out side then the sound of a blaster being fired. a few more minutes passed, 

“ Ok I think the coast is clear let me check” Bastion said as he moved from their hiding place from under the counter. As he peeked over the counter he saw that the dinning room was empty”  ok the coast is cle-” Bastion froze when a drone that had stayed behind to collected the bodies that  had walked out of the kitchen with the two bodies hooked on it’s claws.

“ Hey Bastion what is wro-” Usamu said as he peeked out from under the counter.Then he froze up as well when he saw the drone stand there looking at him with it’s blank slat of a face

the drone started walking toward the noise with the bodies still hooked to it. Usamu tried to leave the small space he was hiding in only to be face to face with the Bug’s open razor tooth maw .His heart was beating fast his breathing was becoming more an more  sporadic as the bug got closer to him. He felt his horns start to grow again. This was bad he didn’t want to lost control again he didn’t want to hurt people again he didn’t want to go back to the dark place. He closed his eyes and put his hands on his head trying to keep control. Then he heard the bug let out a screech of pain then heard a screech of pain from bastion and a table being knocked to the ground.

Usamu jetted out from under the counter and saw that the bug had a dagger in it's back. He also saw bastion slumped against a table and a bleeding shoulder

“ Run!!!” Bastion yelled as the drone started to wake toward him. this was it.This is how it all ended .But at least his little brother got away safely. He watched as the bug walked towards him. Then a wave of purple aura expanded throughout the restaurant and caused the bug to freeze . he looked passed the bug to see his brother floating there. His eye’s were no longer the light kind blue they were now a dark purple

“ Stop breathing” 

An hour Earlier  

Jay and Val had made to the settlements .

“ So Val have you been able to contacted anyone in there ?” Jay asked starring at the gate

“No one seem to beat the control at the time. But something doesn't fell right about this place if I being honest” She said looking for a new way into the settlement

“ Why is that?” He asked

“ there seems to be a low number of  life signs for a settlement this big”

“ So maybe there was a plague or a purge or there is a monster that is killing poelpe or the galra showed up and killed a lot of people here” Jay said as he was knocking on the door trying to find a weakpoint” Hey Val can you pry the door open for me please “

“ Alright then” Val stabbed her wings into the door and pried the door open. giving Jay an opening to he could slip though 

The door slammed behind with a loud echoing boom .Jay looked around  the area for a control panel for the door only to find that it was smashed.” Sorry Val I can’t get you in right now sorry” 

“alright I will find another way in. Just stay safe in there your my only pilot” She said as she started waking towards a huge number of life sign she just detected

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIlGeT6N6Xs&t=53s

“ Alright then” jay said as he found himself in a residential district which looked similar to the one he grow up but this one was completely empty . It was weird this place should be brimming with life but no. So Jay turned on his helmet’s scanner to see if anyone was in here that he couldn’t see and Started walking around the distract for a few minutes only to find that this district  was truly void of life.He found this unnerved by this fact. So he turned  his comms to a open channel so if anyone was still out there could reveal themselves to him and then he started looking for away out of here

A few minutes after he opened his comms it let out a huge crackle of static before a voice of an elderly women came out yelling “Hello Hello can you hear me”

“ Yes I can hear you . uh who are?” he asked

“Sorry how rude of me. I’m  Isara leader of Queen slayers and the new lead of haven. Now who are you newcomer?” She asked with a imitating tone to her voice.  .

Jay felt imitated by this women “ I’m Joseph I'm a paladin of voltron.”

“ Voltron Ay So where’s your lion then Joseph ?” She asked 

“ Well I don’t pilot one of the lions I pilot a metal dragon called the Valkyrie. Also I prefer to be called Jay if you don’t mind” he said as he made it to a door that was blocking his way

“ Alright Jay what bring you here to this Hell hole of ours and where is your huge metal dragon then?” 

“ Well She is looking for away in and were here to help. Also Val need a place that wasn’t a swamp or crawling with giant trap door spider monsters . Also again what seems to be the problem here and can you open this door?”

“ Well it started about a four mouth ago. When they were expanding are boarders because of a population boom When they stumbled upon a nest of a sleep  red queen causing Seventy eight percent of this colony member to either be eaten or flee the planet. leaving a small few to there fate.Then me and my husband showed up to kill the queen before it woke up” She said 

“ Ok What is a red queen and why haven't the empire or the rebels come to help yet “ He asked

“ well a Red Queen is a invasion species that launch their young into space on a meteor. So they can made a hive for themselves on some other world. They also adapt to there surrounding after they go through a hibernation like state for a few month then when it wakes up there ready to start making there hive and using any life on the planet their on  to strengthen there hives. the reason no one has come to back this place up is because me and my crew were the back up.”  She hit a few buttons in the control room she was in and the door in front of Jay.

“Ok if your the back up why haven’t you  killed it yet” Jay asked as he walked into the next districted which was a industrial area which was yet again unnervingly quiet 

“Well  this one seemly kill one of those mountain turtle things when it impacted with the planet and it was eating it for a few years before going to sleep in it’s shell.  Causing it to Grow twice the size a normal one would. “ She said 

“Twice the normal size. How big do these thing normal get may I ask?” Jay asked now dual wielding  revolver and Bayard just a little panic by what she just said 

“Normally Queens grow to be about thirty to forty feet . But this one is about a hundred fe-” Jay was concerned when suddenly she stopped taking. But then he hear the voice of a very distort man with what sounded like a deep Russian like Accented. Jay couldn’t quite heard what he was saying but three words he did  heard were Huge Metal Dragon.

“  Hey Val Where you at ?” Asked With a smile on his face

“  I’m at the north west gate where the biggest sign of life is. But the man I was talking to yelled at me to leave. Then he went somewhere to talk to someone named Isara” She said a little insulted by how rube the man was to her 

 “ Hey I think your friend is here and I need to leave you to calm the civilian down before a mass panic attack hit them. But I will give you a way point to Haven then we can talk and get here quickly before sunset”  Isara said as she left a new way point appear on his heads up display

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKvqLZg3IQQ

Jay started picking up the pace as it would take him sometime to run seven before sunset. As he was running through the empty streets when a blip appear on his motion tracker. Then the sound of something being ripped a part followed by a weird honking could be heard from a building he was running pass.Then several more blips appear causing Jay to stop in place as a cacophony of the weird honking erupted around jay  

{what the hell is that} Jay though to himself as the sound of something being torn apart coming from a near by ally. Jay went to investigated the sound. As he turned to look in the ally what he was scared him. it was a ten foot tall hulking pink skinned humanoid bugs with four thick clawed arms was emerging from a red cocoon. it’  s head was jerking around unnaturally causing cracking sounds as a red spikey carapace was growing out of the pink shin then  long sharp horn started jutting out of it’s forehead. Jay started to move back slowly from the allay and bumped into something. Jay turned to see another bug but this one was smaller then the one in the allay but it still towered  over him by about a foot.

It turned to face jay it let out a huge screech into jay’s face and brought it’s four bladed arms up about to attack this foe. Jay put he’s Bayard into it mouth and fire it causing the bugs head to explode sending chunks of meat and blueish yellow blood flying everywhere. then the body hit the ground  with a wet slapping sound . He starred at the body for a few second before a loud screech came from the allay Then the sound of heavy foot fall . Jay turned to see the hulking beast charging towards him with it’s arms covering most of it’s unarmored stomach and chested . Jay turned both his guns toward the creature and fired several time most of the shoots went into it’s arms but a few of his shots hit its shoulder, underbelly and one shot took off the horn. But it kept on changing toward him. Jay had to jump to the side to avoid being trampled. He hit the grounded and watch as the bug slammed into an abandon vehicles casing the alarm to go off

The loud alarm caused the a huge scream to erupted from the hulking beast. It placed it’ s hands onto it’s head and it started violently lashing out at the air swinging it’s massive arms in random derations as it tried to locate the sound. Jay watched this display as I was just swing then some of the smaller one started to come out of building ,allay do the the car alarm blasting and the screams big one was letting out . But the moment they walked out of there hiding places they started to scream in pain as well. Jay found this really useful because he started getting back to his feet and start to run but stopped in his tracks when the sound of metal being crashed, the alarm and the screaming stopped. Jay turned to see what was going on and a fear creeped up his spine. me out of building                                                        

Jay had three real fears in life the first was the empire finding his home, the second was losing his other arm. his third and finally fear was bugs. He hated bug there weird body the odd numbers of legs the way they fly and their eye. This thing  had wings, the lower body of a hornet the upper body of a mantis with  scythe hands and unlike the drones which had no horns or the soldier which had one this thing had two horn pultruding from the back of it’s head they curved around his head and stopped near it’s mouth making it look like tusk and unlike the other this one had eyes. it then eye meet jays and let out a low hiss then the other bugs turned to look at him and all the bugs started to walk toward him ready to rip him apart. Jay holstered his revolver ,closed his helmet and ready himself to fight with both guns drawn. But then they stopped and started to fall back . Then Jay hear a clacking sound then a voice 

“ What are you you you” A raspy emotionless said from behind him” You aren't like the others others others.” Click  clack click clack.

Jay turned to see a Tall lanky being the long razor sharp clawed hands. it walked om six spider like legs on a scorpion’s body with a tail swing back a forth and on it’s head it had three bug eye’s and three horn in the form of a crown.

“ What the fuck are you” jay replied 

’What the fuck are you you you” it mimicked in his voice while it’s head was turn

“I’m jay” he replied

“Jay Jay Jay” it mimicked him again “Are you alone lone lone? “ it mimicked in a different voice

Jay could guess what would happen if he said yes or no so “here a better question can you die?” he asked as he fired his Bayard twice times at it. then started to run after he shot another vehicle causing all the drones and the lone soldier to start screaming in pain again  

The first shot was blocked by it’s tail. But the second one hit the beasts in the side blasting a huge chunk of causing a loud scream of pain. the king fell to the floor holding it’s side the it yelled in Isara voice” Kill it before it gets away “

Jay was following the way point to Haven which lead him into a new distract . As he was running he hear a buzzing  coming from behind him. he looked over his shoulder to see the mantis hornet thing was flying toward him at break neck speeds . Jay looked back to see what was in front of him and saw a restaurant that had two drones and a soldier going inside of it . the bug came down to tackled jay to the ground. But as it was coming down jay fire his Bayard blindly. it tried to dodge bolts but  one of the hit it’s right wing causing it  to hit the ground .

Jay kept on running to the way point only to stop when the way point stopped at a sewer grate. Jay started to pull the grate up only to be knock away by a scythe like hand. his head hit curb and his helmet flow off after that. The world was spinning around as his ears were ringing. Then the bug got right on top of him and tried to stink it’s mandibles into jays neck only to be met by a metal hand punching it in the eye it recoil from the punch and stumbled backward a few feet it blinked a few time before it turned back to it’s pray only to see a  helmet on the ground. it walked over to the helmet on the ground it looked at it curiously .it pick up the helmet in it’s claw it moved it around before a burning sensation in it’s chest then it’s sight started to blur it then when dark .

The bug hit the ground with a smoking hole in it’s chest. jay stood there breathing heavily for a few seconds before slumping onto a near by car holding is head in his metal hand. As he held his head the sound of march and buzzing start to be heard in the distains . Jay looked to the sky and saw dozen of the bugs in the sky and dozens of them crawling and running toward this location and then he saw the big one the front no longer holding it’s side and when it saw him it started to charge toward him with the hoard following behind it . Jay got up on his feet then stumbled an felt to his knee has the world started spinning again

.” yeah that a concussion.” Jay said then got back on his feet and started walking  to the grate and started to pull at the grate and lifted the grate up.But Then he heard a child scream coming from a restaurant to his left followed by a  screeching then jay turned to see  the biggest one charging toward him with it’s tail ready to strike and jay dropped the grate and pulled out his Bayard .But before either one could strike the other a purple wave erupted from the restaurant causing both of them to freeze up and in the back of jay’s mind he hear a Childs voice say { stop breathing}

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr16jZsBEjQ

Jay felt the air leave his lungs  then he unfreeze to grabbed his throat . His lungs were on fire everything was on fire.jay looked a round the aera for his helmet through blur eyes  and found it by the vehicle he sat on earlier . Jay tried to walk towards his helmet only to fall to the ground everthing was starting to fade into darkness and he started to crawl toward his helmet with his metal hand but then his body stop working as it start to go numb so as a last resort. He stretched what was left of his left arm as far as it could using his nature ability to shape shift and the energy chair he stole from sendak .Pushing both to there limits and grabbed his helmet an pulled back towards only for a clawed hand to grab it .

Jay turned to see the biggest bug trying to pull the helmet toward it’s self as it was also chocking as well along with every other bug in the area. How he didn’t noticed that before didn’t matter this was his helmet his only chance to survivor maybe and no bug is going to stop him so he yanked the helmet from the bug and watched as it struggled to grabbed the helmet again. the moment the helmet got to him he tried to put it on but that was hard to do with one hand and the fact that everything was going dark and his body was fully numb .But with his last ounces of strength  slammed his head into his helmet.

The moment his helmet was place onto his head the weird purple wave effect stopped. he could breath again he looked toward the hoard and saw them all laying on the ground dead or dying. Jay lay there unable to move for a few minutes do to his body start to regain feeling. {thank god my half altea that could have ended badly for me} he thought to himself as he got to his feet As the  wave disappeared. He started walking to the restaurant the door opened automatic.

The first thing he saw was a drone on the dead on the floor with a dagger in it’s back and two body hook on to it’s bottom two bladed arms. one body  was another drone and the second body was of a golden scaled fish man with a beck for a mouth. Then he saw a Boy with red skin gray hair and goat like horns growing out of his scalp. He ran to the kid and lifted the kid . Jay’s helmet scanned the kid an showed his vital signs. He was alive but had a fever of a hundred and five. This was bad he need medical attention state. Jay was about to get up when he hear the sound a blaster charging behind him. then he turned to see another kid with gray skin blue hair,amber eye and with a gashes in his shoulder  holding a blaster he guess belong to the dead man

“ Get away from him” the boy say while shacking there 

“ He needs to go to a hospital he has a fever of a hundred and five he needs help” Jay said slowly trying to calm the boy down

Bastion looked at the masked man who was hold his brother. He starred at usamu who was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Then his eye’s opened and had returned to normal. Then he spoke

“ Bastion your ok “ Usamu said with a faint smile on his face before his eye closed again.

Bastion dropped the blasters and  started to cry ” Please save him. Please make my little brother better”  he said through the tears 

“I will I promise now get ready to move because more of those thing are coming” Jay said has he looked a his motion trackers and saw several blips running around the area.

The two moved quickly and quietly to the grate. Jay handed Usamu to the bastion to start pulling the grate .Bastion looked around an saw all the dead bugs on the ground then to his brother still unconscious and wonder how this stranger survived this but he would ask that when they were safe.

Jay had finally removed the grate fully and saw a latter “ ok Bastion hand me your brother and start climbing down then” he said. 

Bastion handed usamu back to the stranger and started to climb down the latter. Then he watched the stranger  with Usamu under his arm climbed down. then he handed back Usamu and climb back up the latter to grab the grate and pulled it back into place then climb back down Bastion hand his brother back to the stranger then hoped on to his back because he couldn’t run with how bad his shoulder was.

“  uh mister Where are going and who are you?” Bastion asked as he

“ oh sorry I forgot I’m jay by the way and were going to a place called Haven a safe place for the people here. wait your not from there?”Jay asked as he started running towards the way point 

“No me and Usamu were living in an abandoned radio tower a few block from the restaurant you found us in. I guess that where that lady , the huge winged man and all those other people who were killing the bugs came from” Bastion said

“ ok but why were you two live in a tower don’  t you have pera-” Jay stopped mid sentients realizing that they both might have lost there family when the queen wake up

“ I never had them. I was raised in the orphanage here. But Usamu’s dead when he was small do to his power” Bastion said as he looked a his brother still breath heavily

“ Let me guess his power is to stop people from breathing”   Jay said now just a little scared of the kid he was hold

“Yes he has something called psycokin something another. Some big word I don’t understand”

“Wait this kid has psychokinesis so strong that it can kill dozens of bug at once and he was in a normal orphanage with normal kids.” Jay said now worried about his own safety.

“ No they were going to give him to the Galra empire when they found out about his power. But I ran away with him the moment I heard that”  Bastion said 

“WHY?!?!”

“Because I was scared of being alone..because No one ever picked me and all my friend were gone and I was lifted alone for years.Then Usamu came along and he became the family I never had. Then when they were going to take him away I didn’t want to be alone again so I took him before the empire could and we’ve been on are own for the passed two years”  Bastion said

“ How old are you two?”  

“ I’m Nine and He’s Seven” Bastion replied 

Jay started having thoughts about taking them to matt and the rebel to keep them safe. But then he thought about Keep them with him so Fitz had brother to play with Along side the gain Shiro and Adam were having. He really need to tell them about that before it was born so they didn’t kill him maybe. But then he remember about the Gain he had panted before the mission to save Allura and though about how Allura would start telling him off on how bring kids on the castle would be stupid an dangerous. But leaving these  two here would leave a bad tasted in his mouth. He would bring it up with her when they came to get him. “Wow your quite brave for two kid your age” 

“Thank you” Usamu said weakly 

“Sorry for waking you brother” Bastion said 

“ No problem I've been awake the whole time. I'm just lazy and tired “ He said sheepishly 

“Good to know” Jay said as he follow the way point to a corner and saw two armed men guarding a latter 

“You there holt. State your names and purpose here ?“ A tall lizard man with bronze skin asked 

“ this two are bastion an Usamu And i’m Jay. Isara sent me a way point here and I need to get Unamu to a hospital quickly he’s running a high fever and it’s getting high” Jay said trying to convince the two men to let him into 

the two men looked at each then back to the three of them”So your the man the boss told use about be on your way then” the other man said pointing to the latter

“Thank you both “ Bastion said smile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSjBh71Im-M

Jay climbed up the latter and found himself in a bustling town made out of the shop district . the three looked in aw a the scene rounded them it was a nice change of pace compared to the empty bug infested streets they were just in  it did take them a while to find the hospital  but when Jay did he check in immediately giving the boys to the doctors there and follow into a room where they stitched up Bastions shoulder and gave Usamu medicine to lower his fever and they gave him a few meds to help with the concussion . Jay sat down in the chair that was in room and stayed the night to keep watch over them. He told Val he was here and not worry about the concussion he would be fine and asked about her repair. She was able to fly again but her long range comms were still down  and there was a lot of mud in her system .But the people here were help her and she was using there long range comms to contacted the other with no real luck at the but she would keep him post if she found them. So decide to get some rest. He sleep for a few hours until the door to their room was slammed open and a galra women wearing what Jay could only  describe as Ana default skin from overwatch with pointed back ear and a blue bandana on her head said

“ My name is isara and your going to help me kill a queen Joseph”  with a huge smile across her face

[matmarrash]

My First Roll of Kodak Gold 200 in Medium Format

Late last month Kodak announced the return of Kodak Gold, a budget favorite in the world of medium speed color film, in medium format aka 120 film. A few days following that announcement, a special package arrived from Kodak with my name on it. Inside there was a pair of test rolls, and I was excited to take some out into the field for an early morning shoot. And to share the love, I gave one roll to my buddy Tariq Tarey so Gold 200 could have the proper studio treatment.

Now I’ve been shooting medium format film for 12 years at this point, the hardest part about this whole test was trying to figure out what camera to shoot! The first option would be to go with the camera that started my whole film photography journey, the Hasselblad 500C. That camera helped me re-ignite this very blog with The 52 Project, and had me running through enough film that I eventually met-up with Mike and “the gang” over at The Film Photography Podcast. Another potential option would have been a roll-film back hooked up to a 4x5” large format camera. That would keep the pace closer to my typical large format experience, and give me the versatility of choosing a different medium format aspect ratio. In the middle of trying to decide what I was going to shoot, I headed over to Midwest Photo to see if they’d be willing to develop and scan the new Gold 200 on their Fujifilm Frontier medium format film scanner. And that’s when I saw her sitting there at the used equipment counter:

The lovely thing about 120 film is the versatility of medium format cameras. There are modern, AF enabled, interchangeable lens bodies that expose 15 shots per roll all the way to giant boxes that expose nearly all the film in one go. Somewhere on the “box camera” end of that spectrum lies the Fujifilm G617. At first glance it looks like a rangefinder camera, but the Fujifilm G617 doesn’t feature a rangefinder patch. It uses a helicoid focus ring in front of its large format style 105mm f/8 lens, and has a fixed wide angle view finder to help with composition. Even more impressive than the wide field of view, the G617 captures 2.83:1 panoramic aspect ratio photograph, using 6cm x 17cm worth of real estate. The cost? Each roll of 120 film only gives you FOUR exposures! In the gamble of shooting with film, 6x17 medium format is like betting at the $10 blackjack table. High risk aside, I just had to take the G617 for a spin.

With an almost-large-format camera in hand, what better place to take it than one of my old haunts, Old Man’s Cave down in the Hocking Hills. Many of the waterfalls you’ll find in the Hocking Hills region require a downward hike through rocks carved by glaciers thousands of years ago. The valleys surrounding the sights give photographers a few extra minutes at sunrise and sunset to get the shot just right. Sunrise was scheduled for 6:30AM, and for a mid-April morning it was surprisingly chilly (I’m pretty sure it was snowing in Northern Ohio that morning!). By the time I parked the car, loaded up the camera, filmed a little b-roll, and made the trek down to the Middle Falls it was a few minutes before 7AM. The first exposure on the roll was a composition similar to one I’d made back in 2014, but this time a bit wider and IN COLOR! To get all those lovely shadow details on the rocks, my Reveni Labs Spotmeter indicated 6 seconds at f/16.

One of the first things I noticed about the “look” of Gold 200 is how well it handles the mixed, reflected light throughout the Middle Falls of Old Man’s Cave. There’s a hint of warmth is the backlit sunrise peaking in through the upper middle part of the frame, with the rest of the cold, blue-green light bouncing off of the mossy rocks and trees. There’s some added vibrance to the green and aqua of the rocks, but nowhere near as much as I’d expect to see with Ektar 100 or Portra 400. As for grain, forget about it; these negatives would need to be enlarged 20x or more to start to see grain.

With the first frame down and the sun coming up, I needed to make the call whether I would venture towards the Lower Falls or go against the grain and check out the Devil’s Bathtub and Upper Falls. Both trails have their merits, but early in the morning I find it best to head further down into the cave. Following the water down through Old Man’s Cave, I arrived at another very familiar scene, one that I’ve photographed at least a dozen times (even a few in color!). Surely a new film would offer it’s own unique rendition. Out the corner of my eye I saw the sun start to graze the tops of the staircase to the upper left of the frame, so I needed to hurry. The added light reduced my exposure by nearly two stops, but also increased contrast. With Kodak Gold 200 being a negative film (C-41 process), it didn’t bat an eye at the overexposure, leaving me with readable highlights and delicate, low grain shadows.

This shot of Middle Falls was my favorite from the morning. It wasn’t too warm or too punchy, but it did a great job rendering the subtle tonal shifts as direct sun started to overtake the cold, reflected morning light. A piece of advice I’d received over a decade ago from a photographer working in panoramic formats came in handy here,

”If you place interesting subject matter along the edges of your frame, the rest of the picture will take care of itself.” - John Powers, Photographer

At the half-way point on the roll of Kodak Gold and one major location left, it was time to take the stairs down to the Lower Falls. The sun had been up for an hour at this point and I was starting to hear the sounds of other folks on the trail. Being the last waterfall stop at Old Man’s Cave, Lower Falls tends to have a higher rate of flow as well as a bit to wade through when setting up the camera. I don’t recall ever having made it this far on the trail with color film, but I was excited to see how Gold 200 would render the contrasting cool and warm tones on the rocks underneath the falls.

This is first photograph of Lower Falls is a great example of where I’d love to have access to some “rise”. In large format (sometimes other formats), rise and fall are movements that allow the photographer to shift the lens plane and/or film plane. This has the ability to change the perspective and shift the vanishing point in the photograph; an incredibly useful tool in landscape photography, especially with wide fields of view. In my opinion, a few millimeters of rise on the 105mm lens would have really elevated this composition.

Three photographs down, one to go. With this last frame I wanted to take another stab at the Lower Falls, hoping to find more leading lines for the panoramic frame. Fortunately a hundred meters or so away there was a downed tree that was calling my name. It took some stepping over flat rocks and fording ice cold water, but I found my frame and started to lower the tripod to accentuate the lines of the tree. Somewhere between all of that tripod shifting and the two second exposure I must have bumped the film door of the Fujifilm G617. Were it not for that little light streak, this would have been my favorite shot of the day.

Overall I’m really happy with how my first roll of Kodak Gold in 120 developed. These results are making want to grab a few more rolls and keep experimenting with color. The next time I’m out with some Gold 200, I’d like to try it with more creative filters and some different light. But will the next time take place with a 6x17? Probably not; I loved the panoramic look, but I need to give the Hasselblad 500C a workout with some portraits.

Big thanks to Tim and the team at Kodak Alaris for sending over the rolls of Kodak Gold 200 for me to test, and Midwest Photo for facilitating the rental camera and processing. Gold 200 is available now, and later this year we’ve got Cinestill 400D (35mm, 120, AND 4x5!) and Fugufilm 400 (35mm slide film!) coming. So far 2022 is shaping up to be a great one for film photography!

[pastel-uruha]

Dulce - Prologue

YES. I AM FINALLY DONE. 

Now, this is just the intro! The rest will be posted to my ao3! :D This is a really long intro but I think it gets the job done lmao

@smokiiing-area @cancerianwastelandcat @deme-lu @rock-n-alice

I hope this makes sense! Who knows when I will update again lmao :D hopefully soon

+++++++++++++++

Years of painstaking work, both in classrooms and out in a searing hot sun and freezing cold rain. Finally, it all led up to this moment. Kouyou Takashima, certified Archaeologist, and researcher of volcanic activity. It has been a whole seven years after high school but that was okay with him. Seven years was plenty of time.

The diploma from The University of Tokyo hanging in his apartment was more than enough pressure to do a good job considering he still worked there in the labs. Funny how much more freedom he had now that he was no longer considered a normal student but now an employee.  He would make sure to not abuse this power and bring pride to his department.

The large and imposing yet dormant volcano ahead of him was indeed a sight to see, especially past all the normal “NO ENTRY” signs off the beaten path for normal civilians. Past the cement walkways and carefully placed guardrails was a new place that he was more than eager to explore. And Takashima Kouyou was no normal citizen, far from it. It took a long time, but he could finally count himself as belonging to an elite group of researchers and archeologists here in Japan and was finally high up enough in the ranks to do solo excavations.

The first place he wanted to go, naturally, was a place that had called out to him for so many years now since he was a child barely learning how the world around him worked. The Illustrious and sacred place known as MT. Fuji, a huge volcano that was famous all around the world for its breathtaking scenery and lovely atmosphere. It took him almost four months to get clearance to come here, but he knew it would all be worth it.

He had no idea why this place was so important to him, but for as long as he could remember he had been coming here, restricted only by the damn law and a fabricated guardrail. Now, however, all of that was just a memory. A memory that would soon be behind him.

There were reports from local people that the surrounding areas were rife with small tremors here and there, therefore disrupting the peace and scaring off tourists. So they needed a solid piece of assurance as to why it was happening. The volcano has long been dormant so there had to be a scientific explanation for all this right?

That was where Kouyou came into the fray. He traveled 2 hours to get here, and though it was nothing compared to other places he has been, he also had so much expensive equipment as well. There were two officials waiting for him at the top of the volcano to let him past the guard rails and to the top of the mountain. His body was by now used to such altitudes after many trips here with higher-ups and colleagues, albeit only within the normal civilian limits. It would be kind of weird going alone, but it was a good kind of weird.

So with the sun at his back and a large metal case full of important tools and sensors he finally makes his way to the top. It was still early April, meaning it was not quite warm enough to wear thin clothing, so all he had right now was a thick padded jacket, black turtleneck, and his favorite jeans. It was somewhat chilly and windy, the wind turning his cheeks a soft pink color from the stinging sensations.

He wanted to wear his favorite boots too, but he was aware that, as a scientist, sometimes mobility in a forest was more important than looking good. So the sort of ugly sneakers he wore was a necessary evil in case he needed to run, for whatever reason. He even had a fancy ID lanyard hanging from his neck with all his important ID cards. There was also a backpack strapped to his back with water and necessary things to keep him hydrated while he was here. Good thing there was a small tourist shop at the bottom of the hill.

Finding the agents at the top wasn’t too difficult, they were wearing expensive and stifling looking suits that made him feel hot despite the low temperature. They wore sunglasses and stood in an obviously far off part of the pathway. There was a big metal gate that wasn’t visibly apparent to normal people unless you strayed from the path, but it was there and he knew where it was.

“Good evening gentlemen,” he greets them, earning himself only nods and curt grunts in reply. “I hope I haven’t you waiting for me too long.”

“Of course not,” one of them says in a plain and disinterested tone. “We have only been here an hour. Not too long at all. We were given instructions to allow you past the fence, but from there on you are on your own. You have a means of contacting the facility yes?”

Kouyou nods, holding up his cell phone. He had to triple check to make sure it was fully charged and even then, there was a spare power bank in his back pocket. Could never be too careful, right?

“Yes, no need to worry about me. I will be in and out before it gets dark, I just have to take some soil samples and set up a perimeter of-”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” the other one says to cut him off. “We get it, you just gotta do your thing and we will head on out. The emergency number is on a sidewalk sign near here, just call if you need anything. We'll leave these with you to return to the park manager.”

The large gate has a padlock that needed two keys apparently, from the way that they expertly unlock it one after the other before leaving him with said keys and disappearing into the trees. He was all alone, and honestly, it was much better this way.

He stared into the dense trees beyond the gate and felt his heart start to beat wildly with excitement. His first solo excavation and in his long sought after location. Today was going to be good, he could feel it.

“Well, I may as well get started.”

The walk into the trees was very nerve wracking, as he had taken out a sensor device from his case and switched it on. It scanned deep into the earth, bouncing off anomalous objects that would prove useful to look at. It also acted as a soil deposit scanner, sifting through the chemical trails in the ground beneath his feet for signs of anything abnormal. His walk to the summit proves unfruitful though, as things seemed to be normal.

He would be nearing the top soon, and it was a good thing this thing has been dormant for a long time. Otherwise, this place would be seriously off limits.

After nearly an hour of walking with nothing to show on his scanners, he finally makes it to the place he wanted to be. Right at the top. There was even a small white flag placed with his name on it from the park officials. It was clear that they had a set perimeter for him to sift through. Similar looking flags were placed in a wide circle around a specific area of the volcano rim, about five hundred feet or so if he was being meticulous.

The crater was too large for just him to thoroughly explore, and it made sense, so a quick glance at the outer rim would be best for now until he could assemble his own team. But it really was beautiful up here. The sky seemed to stretch out forever, he couldn't even see the city or any form of human inhabitants past the trees and dark ashy earth of a long-dead volcano.

This crater was huge, easily a thousand or more feet across, but barren of anything besides soil and hundreds of years old ash. There was a pleasantly acrid smell of burned earth and new foliage up here, and it was probably harmless as normal air. But he brought a small face mask just in case he breathed in any contaminants.

“Now is a good time to set up,” he muttered and drops the case to open it up. There were an array of neat things the main scientists allowed him to bring. A small table for his equipment, two LCD monitors, a set of small marker flags, some soil sampling tubes and a small but powerful scanner that could see through the ground in a hundred foot circumference. Even if he didn't find anything, it was exciting for him to finally be able to use. Not without gloves of course. Can't have this expensive stuff so marked up with fingerprints.

He works diligently, setting up a perimeter with his orange flags and using the monitors hooked up to the scanner to look carefully for anything out of the ordinary. He even sits on the case and watches the clouds go by as nothing seems to happen. A single soil tube is used, holding up to three millimeters of dark patchy soil with many pebbles and pieces of grass. All the while, the temperature stayed at around fifty to fifty five degrees Fahrenheit. A bit chilly but manageable, at least to him. It never went higher than fifty seven so that was a good sign.

An hour goes by. Still nothing. It seemed like an easy job but he still had more than six hours to go before he had to leave for the day. Hopefully, he could come back soon, maybe tomorrow. The time was two pm.

A yawn slips from his mouth as a third hour rolls by and he still sees nothing, even after the third time setting up the scanner in a different spot entirely. Maybe the tremors the locals talked about were just small meaningless ones? It happened sometimes.

Kouyou looked at his phone for the time and sighed. Five pm. Two more hours to go… Maybe it wouldn't hurt to just have one quick session on the edges of his perimeter? It would be quicker to dismiss anything coming from the volcano and put more work behind him. Five hundred feet was not a whole lot with such a powerful tool. Plus… He hadn't even gone into the actual crater yet. Perhaps that would be worth something.

Kouyou looked around himself one last time in case he was being watched before packing up his equipment and going to the nearest edge which was coincidentally just a few feet from where he started. Funny how such a small rule can mean so much. He looks down into the wide crater, swallowing a sudden lump in his throat. Why was he so nervous? It wasn't like anything could happen. All he would find was more rocks and dirt. To put into simpler terms anyway. There was probably a higher concentration of acrid earth and ash but he digressed.

The slope was easy to slide down, at the expense of getting pebbles in his shoes but that was not an issue. It would probably be a little bit hard to crawl back up though. He huffed and turned his attention to His scanner. The monitor was small so he would have to go back and watch the recorded footage in case he missed anything...

Immediately he began to notice a difference in temperature down here. It was a bit… hotter? Strange. He shrugged it off though and continued to scan the crater. Since it sloped inwards there was only a small area to go, maybe a hundred feet. No problem. It was just like a big bowl just dug into the side of the volcano, a dirty and dusty one at that. He hurriedly puts on the mask before padding silently to the center of the crater. With each step, however, he felt the temperature start to slightly bother him. Was it getting hotter? That wasn’t right…

“Damn,” he huffed and wiped a sudden bead of sweat from his forehead. “Is this even normal?”

Once he reached the very center of the pit, he had to take off the jacket and suck in a lungful of hot air. Air that was not supposed to be hot. Something was definitely up. Hurriedly he set down the machine and didn’t bother to properly check the temperature, he just needed something.

Almost right away, the sensors began to show a strange reading. Instead of a normal base of fifty degrees, the readings were showing spikes up to seventy and seventy five degrees. This place should have been cold as everywhere else. Kouyou wiped away more sweat and pressed the scanner button. Then he saw it. An abnormal reading only a few feet beneath his shoes. Something was beneath him, but what, he had no idea. He squints, trying to look closer, when all of a sudden a tremor began to rumble through the crater, knocking rocks and pebbles around to send them tumbling everywhere. A tremor rocked the equipment back and forth until the small machine falls from its tripod into the ashy dirt with a pathetic thud. He has to drop to his knees to prevent from falling on his face. His heart was beating even louder now, but now with an unknown fear of something bad happening.

The tremors were awful and deafening, a loud noise that made his head throb from the intensity.

“Shit!” he cursed, his ears popping from the awful noise. The equipment up top would be helpless to anything this traumatic. If anything broke the university would have his head! But he had to keep going, this was important! He could be on to something here! Hurriedly he crawled towards his scanner to manually look for the aberration in the ground. It was somewhat large, maybe the size of a full grown person. But… it couldn’t really be a person right? It had to just be a suspicious looking heat signal or a pocket or warm air, or something. It had to be.

But he has to wait. He can’t do anything right now except mark the spot and wait for the tremors to subside. More sweat drips down his foreheads and he has to remind himself that he had no water down here and dehydration was a serious problem considering how fast he was losing moisture.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the tremors subsided enough for him to manage to get to his feet and stare at the areas around himself and make sure he had everything before scrambling out of the crater.

The sight that meets him is one that makes him furrow his eyebrows. There was… A huge tremor just now, but… All his equipment was fine? Nothing was knocked over, everything was exactly where he left it. That wasn’t right, was it?

A sudden creature began to skitter across the ground, making him jump slightly.

“What the…”

It stopped long enough for him to get a good look at it, and he had to laugh at himself a little bit. It was a snake and a pretty small one at that. It looked like a garter snake meaning it was harmless. But the color threw him off. All black, right down to the tongue that flicked out to sense the air. The only way he could tell that it was a garter snake was the lack of hissing or aggressive teeth baring. It just kind of… sat there. And it watched him with its beady little black eyes.

“Go away,” he hissed after a moment, making shooing gestures. “Shoo, go find a mouse or something.”

Nothing. It didn’t seem to be listening to him, but instead, it craned it’s neck closer. As if to study him closer. And it was freaking him out. Were animals usually this smart? Animals were not his strong suit, that was more Yutaka’s thing. He should have been here damn it.

Well anyway, he would have to pack up his things for the night. It was getting dark and he was sure it was nearing his time limit here.

Kouyou turned around only to find himself face to face with a person. His heart jumps to his throat and he made a squawk of surprise and leapt backward.

“You scared me!” he cried out, clutching his chest and trying to slow his heart. “Where did you come from? This place is supposed to be off limits!”

He tries to come off as authoritative. However, the other guy wasn’t having it.

“You really shouldn’t be here.”

The guy was only a little shorter than him and dressed simply. Plain jeans and an all black sweater. His hair was all the way to his neck and completely black. A pair of dark sunglasses hung on his nose, obscuring his eyes. But… Why was he barefooted? And growling like Kouyou just offended all his ancestors?

“I should ask the same,” Kouyou answered back just as dismissively. “This place is off limits while I am doing my work. And you are interrupting me.”

Yet his tone does not budge the man, instead, it makes him scoff and his lips curl into a sneer.

“You need to leave. I can’t be responsible for what happens to you if you stay here.”

Kouyou feels his heart give another uneasy thump and he narrowed his eyes to hide it.

“Are you threatening me?” he says with a deep tone, hoping to whatever god was listening that it sounded intimidating. The stranger snorts, a sound that made his legs shake and goosebumps raise on his arms. It was cold and unassuming.

“No,” comes the unexpected answer. “Merely I am stating the truth. You’re in danger here and if you don’t go soon, bad things will happen.”

Kouyou noticed the stranger seemed to be on edge for some reason. Surely not just because of him?

“And why am I in danger? Is there a monster up here? Something that will come out of the trees and eat me?”

He wanted that to sound like a mocking joke, but he could not deny the slight tremor in his words as he spoke.

“Clearly you don’t value your life as much as you should,” the man huffed, his tone much softer but no less as dangerous. “What a pity.”

Then to Kouyou’s utter surprise, he began to walk away, away into the now grey colored woods as the sun traveled even lower down the horizon.

“H-hey! Wait! Where are you going!”

He wanted to run after him, but the stranger spoke again, this time in a voice so soft he almost didn't hear it. But he heard it. Loud and clear.

“The Fire.”

And then he was gone. Like he had never been there in the first place. And along with him, the snake too had disappeared.

Uruha shivered, but not from the cold. There was no empty warning in that man’s words. Not a chance. No. He had to know what was going on. No longer just as a scientist looking for answers. But for himself.

The minutes spent packing up his equipment were tense and filled only by the howling of wind through the trees. The walk down the mountain was even more so the same way. His lips were almost blue by the time he reached his car after licking the gate. And it took longer than he would have liked to get the heater going to stop his shakes. But he couldn't stop his thoughts from racing a million miles a minute.

Who was that man? And why was he so intent on scaring him away? Kouyou didn't know. But one thing was for sure. He was definitely coming back.

There was something here, and he was going to find it.

TBC

[polymetis-23]

Diary Entry Sept. 19th, 2021

Day 1 - Battery troubles

    Okay, so this may not be the most elegant solution, but for now I have hooked up a system which allows me to carry around one of the store bought battery packs connected to my goggles through a wire while the pack rests around my waist. Sure this may not be the best plan in the long run as the wire could be caught on things, but I need to get out soon and see what all the red lights were. 

    I also started working on my costume today. Every hero has to have one right? So anyway mine was inspired by the steampunk style. I just think those people have such cool looking ideas and they are always building and inventing, like me! Of course I have to have my hair out of my face so it'll be pulled back into a high ponytail. Staying simple I'm planning on using a bandana to hide the lower half of my face, can't be giving y'all my identity, it's a secret afterall ;-). I have one of those cream colored blouses with long sleeves that gather at the wrists, a brown leather corset and some leather wrist guards I'm hoping to use in conjunction with my crossbow (yes, I haven't forgotten about them, the goggles have just taken priority). I'll be rocking some light brown leggings with some dark combat boots and to top it all off one of those classic steampunk skirts that are longer in the back than in the front, and have ruffles!! 

    I have been dreaming of this costume for so long, and the goggles just complete the look. I can't wait until I go out on patrol.

Day 2 - Red laser source

    Batteries and goggles charged, roomates asleep, it was the perfect time for my excursion. Originally I had just wanted to test the range of my scanner and get used to moving around in my costume/learn the streets, I was in for a bit more of an eventful night however. All plans went out the window when over the police radio, I heard "focused red light beams at 5th and main." Immediately I knew that it must be the same source as the lights from Saturday, afterall 'focused red light beams' aren't all too common. Though I could only see them with my goggles, maybe the police had IR tech? That would make my goggles less special :-( .

    When the message went out, I was only a few blocks over, only taking four minutes to arrive at the intersection. Four minutes too long it seemed as no one but the police were there, oh and some guy tied up, but he didn't seem to be the source of the red light as the police were still looking around for someone. Although I'm sure I will be an amazing hero someday, I saw no point in revealing myself before my planned grand entrance so I turned around and headed back to Saheem. I still had classes the next morning and sadly couldn't spend the whole night hunting.

Day 3 - Uh Oh, I'm not alone

    Today was simultaneously the best and worst day of my life. The best because I found out that I'm not alone, there are other heroes/vigilantes running around the city, maybe one of them can help me program the connection between the radios and my computer! The worst because … well let me walk you through the night:

    I got back to my dorm after classes, finished some outside of class work and geared up. The sky was cloudless with a bright moon illuminating the streets and alleyways clearly, not that it was super needed with all the light pollution, the perfect night for a patrol. (maybe Red Light would be out)

    Static crackled to life next to my ear: "Purse snatching at the coffee shop on First."

    A purse snatching, that sounded like a great first crime to stop, I was already on First, a few blocks from the coffee shop. I arrived on the scene of a middle aged woman playing tug of war with a man in a mask. He was much bigger than her.

    "That's not your purse." Nothing, he pretended he didn't even hear me! (or was I quiet?…) Regardless I had to do something, so I charged in to apprehend him (brave I know). He heard my approach, turned and … stars danced across my vision. The next thing I remember was some woman dressed in black standing over me. A faint red glow surrounded her hand as she reached out to check on me. As soon as she saw I was moving she turned as if to leave.

    "Wait…" I croaked, but she was already gone, the purse snatcher knocked out on the ground and the purse owner nowhere in sight. 

    So yeah, that's what happened, I got my butt kicked (guess I gotta work on my ranged weapons) and some unknown individual brought the mugger to justice. 

Day 4 - I got nothing.

    Okay, it's the middle of the week, however I am tired and had a full day of classes and PE, plus the last minute classwork I forgot to do last night so there isn't a huge update for you guys today, sorry about that. Hope you're having a better time than me.

Day 5 - Wristbow

Second busy day of classes, the usual. Sketched some possible designs to improve my ranged weapons during class though, more to come on that soon. (I hope)

Day 6 - The Eye

    TGIF am I right? Classes finished today and I couldn't wait to get out again. An hour into patrol and I saw the red lights across the river again, this time I had to make it to the source. I ran across the bridge, eyes focused on the lights. I nearly collided with a couple people on the way, don't they know to move out of the way of someone on a mission? 

    Once across the bridge I climbed on top of one of the buildings, always a better view there. The lights disappeared and I redoubled my efforts to make it to where I last saw them, running from one roof to the next, all thankfully close enough that I would almost call them one building. I was making good time but my skirt kept getting caught on the apparatuses sticking up through the roofs. It may look cool, but I quickly realized it must go, the rest of my outfit was steampunk enough. What is the point of a hero who gets stuck on the roof because of a skirt? (okay the skirt does look amazing so I'll have to find a way to work it back into the design, but what I currently have isn't working)

There was a quick flash to my right and I stopped, through the window I could see a black figure moving about the room and putting stuff in a bag. They made a full circle around the room before pulling something (spray paint?) out of the bag. They walked with purpose to the picture wall, roughly discarded the photos and drew an eye. Although that wasn't what caught my attention; their hands were glowing red. The same red I saw when I regained consciousness after the mugging. This was the person who saved me and it turns out I am alone. They aren't a good guy, they're a low level thief who probably wanted to steal that purse themselves but ran once they saw I was waking up. I guess they didn't want to get caught cause that's definitely what would've happened if they stayed around.

 The eye on the wall confused me for a bit before I realized, that was their calling card. This wasn't going to be a one time thing. 

Day 7 - Preparing for the hunt

So yesterday was eventful in it's own way. I didn't get any action, but I have my first target. I have a few to-dos first:

Remove costume skirt

Add utility belt to costume

Earpiece for radio

Wristbow

    Unfortunately classes are actually a thing cause it's only week two and I'm already spending my entire Sunday working on classwork. Seriously, aren't classes supposed to teach us everything in class? Why am I learning more by doing my problem sets than when the lecturer is lecturing? Anyway, that's all that happened today unfortunately, I'm gonna have to find a better way to balance hunting down The Eye (does anyone have a better name?) and my classwork. I still need to pass, if only that, and I'm hoping some of my later classes will actually be helpful in designing my gadgets. Plus I'm still lost in code land, why can't my variables have spaces?! Seriously, it is so much easier to read 'start time' than 'startTime'. I don't even like camels.

    I'll be working on updating my wardrobe/weaponry this coming week so be on the lookout for that.

[reformedkingsmanagent]

could you do an imagine where maybe instead of Eggsy in the opening scene of Kingsman the golden circle it's the reader?? Like, Charlie and the reader have had a past or something? Don't worry If you can't! :)

A/N: I am not sure if I like how this turned out, as I am not the best at writing action, but I hope it’s okay. I really did try! I wasn’t sure how much of it I could change and get away with it, so it’s really very minor what I did. (Though I didn’t mind rewatching the scene multiple times…at all) I hope this is acceptable, I really did want to do SOMETHING for this as I think it’s one of my favorite fight scenes ever!

Prompt: You’re alive?

Pairing: Loose Charlie x reader

Word Count: 2025

It had been a while since you’d spent an entire day at HQ. Normally you’d check in here and there, but tonight was a rare exception. Despite doing paperwork all day for Merlin instead of hunting people down, you were just as exhausted. You couldn’t wait to get home and fall into bed.

“Excuse me,” the distorted voice met your ears and you turned, continuing down the steps to stop in front of the hooded figure. “Mind if I share your cab?” The hood was pushed off and your eyes widened. The glasses confirmed what you already knew to be true.

No.

“Charlie?!” He was dead, everyone insisted he was dead. He had been given one of the chips, they had all been detonated. You’d watched the footage with everyone else, doing your best to hide the pain you felt as the screen filled with bright colors. Everyone else cheered around you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to join in. Not with Charlie being one of the victims.

He drew a golden-toned gun from the pocket at the front of his hoodie, fingers tightening on it. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? Here you are, a Kingsman agent, while I’m out here skulking around.” There was no emotion in his eyes, no indication that he remembered you or the time you two had spent together during training.

He motioned to the black Kingsman cab beside you. “If I was you, I’d unlock your cab.” You were still dealing with the idea that he could have survived somehow. You didn’t have a second to think about how different he looked or how your heart still reacted to him. What was he doing here?

You noticed him glance over his shoulder and a few golden SUVs pulled up into view, waiting a little further down the street. He hadn’t come alone then. You knew you were in no position to fight him, not here at least. You’d get shot down before you landed your first punch.

He stepped closer, grabbing your shoulder roughly as he steered you over to the door of the cab. You breathed deeply as you put your hand under the scanner. He seemed bigger than you remembered.

You had seconds, actually even less time than that, to do something. He could just shoot you the second you opened the door. He wanted access to something inside. He didn’t need you once that door was open. Would he really do that?

You steeled your nerves as the door opened and you quickly grabbed a hold of him, pulling him in front of you and shoving him into the back seat. You joined him, forcing him down into the leather seat while yelling at the driver to move.

You kept your weight on him as the cab lurched forward, but he was strong. You were forced against the door as he recovered and fired off a couple of shots in the small enclosed space. Your ears were ringing. You didn’t want to hurt him, you just wanted to find out how on earth he had survived. It didn’t seem like you’d get the chance. Your training kicked in and you ended up punching him into the glass divider, hearing the glass crack with the force. One more should-

A hand on your neck forced you down into the console, and music began playing. You were dazed.

You sat up, eyes settling on the gun in his hand. Out of desperation you kick his arm back into the divider which shatters the glass. He fires off a shot through the window but you manage to discharge the next bullet in the chamber. You feel relief for a moment as the bullet flies through the air. Now maybe you could restrain him a bit easier, get him to talk-

His fist connects with your jaw and your vision takes a moment to clear. He grabs your collar and forces you back into the seat. You receive another punch and you wonder for a moment if you’re going to make it out of this. If you could just talk to him, find out what happened, how he had survived…You had to stun him somehow. The ring might be too strong, but it should work.

You touch the contact on the back of the signet ring and press it into his neck. He just watches you, dark amusement in his eyes. “Don’t think that shit’s gonna work this time,” he taunted. You recall that he was shocked shortly before the implants were detonated…was that how he survived? Why was he impervious to it now? “You’re way out of your depth.” Maybe you were.

You brought a leg up and got it around his neck, squeezing hard. You pulled him down against the seat. If you could hold this, maybe you’d be able to knock him out. “Charlie, please,” you begged. “You don’t have to do this.” He got free and made no move to stop.

You opened the door and shoved him towards it. You thought you might have been successful for a moment, but he reached out with a hand to steady himself on the asphalt. Was he crazy? His skin would be shredded in seconds at this speed.

There was a great shrieking sound, and you saw sparks. The glove he had been wearing was torn off and it revealed a metal hand. So he hadn’t simply survived. He’d lost some things in the process.

After a few seconds he reached up for the side of the door with the metal fingers, trying to pull himself back up and into the cab. You reach over and slam your hand against a panel which produces a pistol of your own. You aim for his other arm, hoping to simply wound him, but he blocks the shots with the metal hand, grabbing onto the gun and twisting it around until you can no longer hold on.

The gun falls to the floor and before you can react he grabs you with the metal hand, throwing you around the small space. You get the wind knocked out of you but you know you can’t stop to recover. You never thought you’d ever be fighting him like this. And at this point, you never really thought you’d ever see him again, either. Your chest hurt both from the physical pain and the emotional stress of seeing him alive again. And not on good terms.

He presses you into the floorboards, your head dangling perilously out of the side of the taxi. Through all of this, his expression hasn’t changed. Unrestrained fury. At what, you could only guess.

“Charlie, stop it!” you shout, wishing the two of you were alone, wishing you could just have a conversation. He tries forcing you out and you bring up a leg, pressing your foot against the metal device on his throat. You manage to catch his neck between your foot and the top of the doorway. He reaches up and grabs at your shoe but is unable to move your foot away.

You hook your other foot around the back of his knee, pulling it towards you so he falls into a crouch. You mentally apologize for this as you punch him in the groin, hard. He falls back into the cab, pain clear on his face. Before you can try to do anything else to restrain him, you see a golden shape coming up alongside the taxi, too close for comfort. It’s going to ram the cab-

You can vaguely make out Charlie yelling, though it surprisingly isn’t directed at you. You’re forced out of the open door which you thankfully grab on to. Before you have time to recover, you see a car coming straight for you, not aware of the danger right before it. You manage to vault yourself up and onto the top of the taxi, the sign digging into the middle of your back as you try to stay as flat as possible.

The car hits the door, knocking it halfway off its hinges. Up here you’re far from safe, but you’re out of Charlie’s grasp. You look to the golden SUVs, wondering if they were going to begin firing at you. Most likely not since they’d probably hit Charlie by accident with the cab swerving like this.

There’s a loud thunk and a section of the panel beneath you gets pushed into your flank, hard, forcing you up into the air. You don’t have time to panic about falling off before the metal fist grabs your shirt, pulling you upside down and back into the cab. Your legs get caught on the crooked door and you dangle there, swaying as the door moves.

You reach beside you and pick up a heavy decanter, smashing it against the side of his head. He isn’t as affected by it as you hoped. He kicks you, and you manage to see his eyes widen as the door falls away, taking you with it. You can feel his foot where it pressed into your stomach. The door shudders underneath you as it scrapes against the road. You start losing the cab and you reach out desperately with your limbs, finally managing to grab hold of the underside of the bumper. You feel sick as you realize that one of the SUVs is right behind you.

You manage to get the trunk open and roll inside it before the impact. The door makes loud noises as it scrapes the underside of the SUV. That would’ve been you. “The fuck?!” you hear Charlie yell. You quietly kick your heels together and bring up your foot to slice through the seat. The sliver of light falls over your face, but you can’t see anything. What did he want with the cab in the first place?

You push your head through and see that he’s trying to gain access to the Kingsman files through the console. What on earth did he need them for? In your confusion you don’t notice him spot you until his hand is at your collar, pulling you through the seat and into the back again, where you started.

He couldn’t get those files. You couldn’t let him. “Charlie, please just tell me what’s going on!”

“You wouldn’t understand!” he roared, reaching for you again. Your reflexes caused you to bring up your foot, the blade narrowly missing his throat. You really hadn’t meant to. He grabbed your foot, using the metal hand to snap off the blade and send it flying into the side of the driver’s neck. The cab starts drifting, but your hands are at his neck, pulling at his jacket.

“Tell me how you’re alive, what you’re doing here! Where have you been?!” His hands touch yours and for once he isn’t filled with rage. You look past him and notice the barriers the car is headed straight towards. He turns to look.

“Get down!” Charlie shouts, hands forcing you onto the floor. You realized too late that he wasn’t protecting himself. He pressed you down with his left hand as he reached up with the metal one to grab onto the handle on the side of the roof. He offered you a smile before the impact wrenched him out of the car and through the windshield behind the driver. His arm was left dangling above you.

Everything went quiet. You sat up, instantly seeking him out. He was on the ground in front of the car, the headlights highlighting his long frame. You needed him to be okay. That moment told you everything. He certainly did remember.

He pushed off of the ground, bringing himself up on his feet slowly. He looked past you, through you at the SUVs waiting around the cab. “No, don’t!” he called out, reaching up with his lone arm to signal for the others to stop. They didn’t listen. He looked to you. “Get out of here!” You moved up over the divider and into the driver’s seat. You stole one last glimpse of him before you were gone.

You’d find him again.