#i purely believe that prison should be rehabilitation.

[rainbowgothdisaster]

the thing that hard stances on "batman should kill villains" and "heros dont do that" misses is that

1) batman is presented with a trolley problem where the one person is actually driving the trolley and is choosing to hit ppl rather than not, and batmans choice then is to either let the trolley hit ppl (not an actual option) or try to stop the trolley nonlethally (& maybe fail and have to live with that) & be presented with this dilemma forever or blow up the trolley & wonder if you couldve had 0 deaths from the situation. and you can always look at a hypothetical trolley problem and make a decision but being in it is harder and whether you are plagued by indecision or actively choose to hurt the least amount of ppl you will come out wondering if there was another way.

1.5) batman knows some of the rogues personally from before and thats gotta be rough man. like we can all say kill the serial killer but would you do it if the serial killer was a friend? wouldnt that make you more inclined to pick the 2nd choice? wouldnt that make the 3rd choice hit harder?

2) sometimes its more beneficial and satisfying to victims and/or their families to see the perpetrator get their comeuppance than to get the chance to turn their life around & maybe hurt more ppl and that is something that needs to be considered (wow would you look at that, thats jason todd's story huh?)

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

"Murder is Werewolves" - Batman

I don't got the SPOONS to do this thought train justice, I have seriously been trying to write this thing for MONTHS so just, idk, have this half baked skeletal outline of the essay I guess:

I don't believe that Batman's no-kill rule is primarily about rehabilitation or second chances.

His refusal to believe that Cassandra could have killed someone when she was eight years old because "how could a killer understand my commitment not to kill" is absolute fucking MOON LOGIC from a rehabilitationist standpoint. No jury on the planet would think for even a second that she could reasonably be held accountable for her actions in that situation! Her past cannot condemn her to being incapable of valuing human life under a rehabilitation centering framework. However, Batman's reasoning makes perfect sense if he believes that killing is a spiritually/morally corrupting act which permanently and fundamentally changes a person, and that corruption can never be fully undone.

Dick Grayson killing the Joker is treated both narratively and by Batman as an unequivocally WIN for the Joker. The Joker won by turning Nightwing into a killer. Note that this is during a comic in which the Joker transforming people was a major theme! Batman didn't revive the Joker because the Joker deserved to live; he revived the Joker to lift the burden on Dick.

His appeal to Stephanie when she tried to kill her dad is that she shouldn't ruin her own life. He gives no defense of Cluemaster's actual life. Granted this is a rhetorical strategy moment and should be taken with a generous pinch of salt, but it fits in the pattern.

When Jason becomes a willful killer, he essentially disowns him, never treats him with full trust ever again, and... Well, we can stop here for Bruce's sake. Bottom line is that his actions towards Jason do not lead me to believe that he thinks Jason can become a better person without having his autonomy taken from him, either partially or fully.

The Joker is, for better or worse, the ultimate symbol and vessel of pure, irredeemable evil in DC comics now. He hasn't been just another crook in a long time. He will never get better, he will only get worse. If you take it to be true that the Joker will not or can not rehabilitate, then there's no rehabilitationist argument against killing him.

Batman does not seem to consider it a possibly that he'll rehabilitate. Batman at several points seems to think that the Joker dying in a manner no one could have prevented would be good. Yet Batman fully believes that if he killed the Joker, he himself would become irredeemable.

Batman's own form of justice (putting people into the hospital and then prison) is fucking brutal and clearly not rehabilitative. He disrespects the most basic human rights of all criminals on a regular basis. It is genuinely really, really weird from a rehabilitationist standpoint that his only uncrossable line is killing... But it makes perfect sense if he cares more about not corrupting himself with the act of killing than the actual ethical results of any individual decision to kill or not kill.

In the real world cops are all bastards because they are too violent to criminals, even when that violence doesn't lead to death. Prison is a wildly evil thing to do to another human being, and you don't use it to steal away massive portions of a person's life if your goal is to rehabilitate them. In the comic world, Batman is said to be necessary because the corrupt cops are too nice to criminals and keep letting them out of jail. I don't know how to write a connector sentence there so like I hope you can see why this bothers me so damn much! That's just not forgiveness vibes there Batman!!

I want to make special note here of the transformative aspect. You don't simply commit a single act when you kill, no, you become a killer, like you might become a werewolf.

The narrative supports this a lot!

Why did Supes go evil during Injustice? He killed the Joker. Why did Bruce become the Batman Who Laughs? Bruce killed the Joker. Why was Jason Todd close to becoming a new Joker during Three Jokers? Because he killed people, to include the Joker.

Even if these notions of redemption being impossible aren't the whole of his reasoning (people never have only one reason for doing what they do) it is a distinct through-line pattern in his actions and reasoning, and it is directly at odds with notions of rehabilitation, redemption, and second chances.

So why does he give so many killers second chances?

Firstly because this doesn't apply to all versions of Batman. Some writers explicitly incorporate rehabilitation and forgiveness into his actions. You will be able to provide me with examples of this other through-line pattern if you go looking for them. The nature of comics is to be inconsistent.

Secondly the existence of that other pattern does not negate the existence of this one. People and characters are complex, and perfectly capable of holding two patterns of belief within themselves, even when they conflict to this degree. You can absolutely synthesize these two ideas into a single messy Batman philosophical vibescape.

Finally and most importantly to this essay: he has mercy on killers the same way that werewolf hunters sometimes have mercy on someone who is clearly struggling against their monsterous nature, especially if they were turned in exceptional circumstances or against their will. They understand that they are sick, damned beasts, cursed to always be fighting against themselves and the evil they harbor within. It is vitally kind to help them fight themselves by curtailing their autonomy in helpful ways and providing them with chances to do some good to make up for their eternal moral deficiency.

I think in many comics Batman views killers as lost souls. Battered and tormented monsters who must be pitied and given mercy wherever possible. (The connections to mental health, addiction, and rampant, horrifying ableism towards people struggling with both is unavoidable, but addressing it is sadly outside of the scope of this essay.)

Above all, the greatest care possible must be taken to never, ever let yourself become one of them, because once you have transformed the beast will forever be within you growing stronger.

To Batman, it is the most noble burden, the highest mercy, the most important commandment: Thou shalt suffer the monsters to live.

[kingkatsuki]

We’ve been talking about prison AUs so much in the group chat lately, but I was thinking last night like imagine a Prison AU except it’s reversed. Cause we’re always writing Villain Bakugou locked away in Tartarus.

But imagine you’re the prisoner in maximum security. And maybe Dynamight is tasked with talking to you as part as a Pro-Hero program to try and rehabilitate you, or something like that. So he’s supposed to be finding out about your crimes or what you’ve done wrong.

Or imagine if you’re the reason that someone on his team (or Dynamight himself), got hurt while he was out on the field. And as part of his own healing/therapy process he’s told that he has to go and meet you. That it could be good for him, that it’ll help.

And not to mention that it’s the final thing standing between him and being allowed to return to work out on the field. Being on desk duty for the last four months has arguably been worse for him than the injuries sustained in battle with you, and he’s itching to get back out there and regain his position as the number two. Having to spend the months since the incident watching his rank continue to dip as he settles at the bottom of the top ten has been demoralising.

But he’s still filled with so much rage and hatred for you, that while you’re the one bound and shackled against the table, he’s the one that they should be worried about.

And he hates the way he finds himself easing into you, the smooth caramel to your voice has him practically melting as he finds himself drowning in it. He shouldn’t be enjoying his visit with you, he should be lunging over the table to cause you the same pain you’ve caused him.

You look so meek and innocent on the other side of the table, that he somehow can’t believe that you’re the one that caused so much destruction.

So when he leaves after your first visit together, he thinks that’s it. That somehow it’s all he needed to do and he’s cured, that he won’t have to come back or ever see your face again. And it’s all the boxes checked to allow him to go back to work and be back out in the field.

But he can’t stop thinking about you—

And it’s different now. The thoughts he once had immediately after the incident and in the following months had been so full of rage and hatred, picturing all the ways he could cause you the same pain that you’d caused him. Make you feel how he feels after you basically ruined his life, to take something from you in return. Vengeful thoughts that plagued him every hour of every day since you first tumbled into his life. The therapy not enough to quell the hatred that boils inside him whenever he thinks of you. But now all he can think about is what you’re doing, who you were before the incident, and what led you down this path.

Even when he’s signed off and now back on patrol, exactly what he’s wanted— he’s still thinking about you. But the thoughts aren’t purely innocent.

The scent of you (or your quirk) invades his senses as he tries to push you to the deepest depths of his mind, to focus on his life and his career. But he can’t. He’s damn near disgusted when he wraps a fist around his thick cock, stroking himself in the agency showers as water cascades around his broad shoulders. Leaning his forehead against his forearm as he watches the creamy droplets of his spend disappear down the drain as he pictured leaving the same stains against your skin.

And no one is more surprised than you are when you see a name appear on your visitation list, when not even your friends or family have come to visit you since you’d committed your crimes. No one had been on your side of the court during your trial, for your sentencing.

But the name is there in bold, black lettering.

Bakugou Katsuki.

[lavender-romancer]

Crosses on my body

Part Three Tommy Shelby x Reader

You were a nun in Dublin but when you decided to take action against those in powerful positions in the church you had to escape. When you turn up in Birmingham and begin a relationship with Tommy Shelby will he be able to protect you from your past?

”*°•.˜”*°•. ˜”*°•. ˜”*°••°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”˜

previous part

You studied Tommy's features as you both knelt opposite each other in the church, his eyes closed in some kind of silent meditation because you knew he didn't come here for God. For someone so plagued with sin he was so peaceful with himself or at least he seemed it. The two of you should be dead by now, learning more about his well deserved reputation. God should have smited the two of you. Why had he allowed you both to survive to meet another? Was there a higher purpose you were both meant for?

"Why do you come here with me? You don't believe in God." You asked quietly and Tommy opened his eyes.

"I think you know why." He placed a hand on yours.

"But how can you trust me like this? I expected you to lose interest in all this after maybe a few meetings or that you'd expect more. But you never do. Why is that?" Furrowing your brow you allowed yourself to enjoy his touch, so much more confident than yours.

"I enjoy being with you. Even if it's experiencing something I fundamentally disagree with, I'm in your presence and that's enough." The edges of his mouth curled into a slight smile and you nodded.

"I'm just too out of practice with all this so I can't tell what your expectations are at all." You rubbed your thumb over the back of his hand.

"I haven't got any. You expect respect from me and I respect the same back, there isn't anything else. I'm just allowing myself to experience something good for once." He placed his other hand on your cheek and your lips parted slightly, the heat rising into your stomach and up to your chest.

"Do you think anything could change that respect?" You asked timidly and he shook his head.

"I'd be surprised if anything could. I've also done awful things and when I reveal them to you it's likely you won't respect me anymore either. So we're both in a compromising position," he kept hold of your hand for the whole evening, sometimes kissing your knuckles and you could only watch and wish it could carry on forever.

But it was only a fantasy you could hope would carry on forever, the truth was that with you around be was always in danger and you couldn't cope with it.

"I need to tell you something. Something you can't tell anyone unless I ask you to," you paused and looked at Tommy. In the private room of the Garrison.

"We're alone and we hardly have to worry about snooping barmaids. What's your secret?" He asked with a cigarette dangling between his thumb and forefinger.

"I had to tell you, y-you said this was something good and I can't lie to you anymore. Well not lie, but edit the truth of it all," you hung your head.

"What's happened?" Tommy asked, still perplexed.

"I killed someone." You said simply, fidgeting with your fingers.

"Who?" He furrowed his brow.

"A man who deserved it. Regardless of my faith's views this man was pure evil. A true incarnation of Satan. He was cruel and disgusting and-"

"What did he do?" Tommy seemed even more confused at your outburst and you sat on the booth opposite him.

"Do you know about the… Magdalene laundries in Ireland?" You looked down at the table.

"Are they some Christian enterprise?" He asked, still not feeling the gravity of the situation.

"They're glorified prisons posed as reformation and rehabilitation centers. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I was sent there. For about 10 years I was in a Donegal convent. It was wonderful and full of hope but…" you paused.

"Then you were sent to that place?" Tommy took a sip of whisky and poured you a glass.

"I was. I was told I'd be teaching the orphaned children and that I wouldn't really interact with the women that were in recovery there. But it wasn't true and I saw everything. There's only so many hours you can spout Bible verses at children before you wonder where they'll get an education." Your eyes began to water. "I let it happen, I let them hurt people and I did nothing."

"You were trying to save yourself from it all I'm sure. But this killing," he looked at you and you wiped your eyes.

"Yes, Father Michael Thomas. He was one of the cruelest men I have ever met, he would beat the women a-and pick his 'favourite student' to be with him every night that week. He flouted his power within the church as if it was something to be proud of." You burst into tears and Tommy put his hand on top of yours.

"You killed the bastard, Y/n. How can it not be God's will for you to protect innocents like children?" Tommy gave you his handkerchief.

"Because it's a sin! It's why he's hidden to me now and I'm haunted by the fucking memory of it all. It's why I'm running because I took proof with me of all the unregistered deaths and diary pages from him." You wiped your eyes and cleared your throat, trying to compose yourself.

"It would be intensely embarrassing for the Catholic Church you can't deny that, release it to the press or something and it will get out." Tommy encouraged and you shook your head.

"They're everywhere, they're in England, Scotland, Wales, fucking international too. I heard that they're in America as well. How can one person bring all that down with some truth and some verbal recount of their time in that place?" You began to massage your temples, an awful headache coming on.

"Because it's what's right and I can help you get this out effectively. It would scrutinise the pope, Catholic leaders and every damn church in the world that used these places." Tommy took both of your hands in his and looked you in the eyes. "There is no forgiving yourself if you don't try."

That mantra played over in your head the next few days, you began writing to Theresa under her pseudonym she lived with now. Telling her about your plans for the future and the information, she encouraged you with promises of her support regardless of how it would take form. God might not forgive you for committing an act forbidden in the ten commandments; it was for the greater good of God's beautiful creation of earth.

The was no hope for Roman Catholicism if this behaviour carried on with no consequences for the evil forces involved with it. Women taken from their communities for being abused, children separated from their mother's, back breaking work with no pay but most of all…the violence. The violence some nuns used, it used to scare you to no end because you knew exactly when it was going to happen. Especially when Sister Cecilia would start yelling and pull out the ruler, no one could save the women from that. Each night you would awake from night terrors of your complacency and your guilt of leaving and not saving anyone but yourself but, you had to press on. If not for the victims sake for the possible survivors.

"What's going on with you and the nun, Thomas?" Polly asked.

"Ex nun, you mean." Tommy tried to act innocent while reading the newspaper in his office.

"Oh don't play that line with me. You know that I see through it all." Polly glared at him with her dark rimmed eyes that seemed to stare into his soul.

"What do you want to know then, Pol?" Thomas folded the top of his newspaper down.

"Why are you corrupting her?" She walked to the front of his desk and placed her hands on it.

"I think you'll find she's already corrupted enough on her own." Tommy almost smiled at the thought of how fucked up you both were put together.

"She's a woman of faith, Thomas. Real faith and commitment. That doesn't just go away on a wim." Polly looked like she wanted the ceiling to cave in and crush him underneath it.

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because she could be good for this business, all the shit we're in now. Offering a more moral point of view." Polly theorised walking away from the desk and around the room.

"I agree with that. But you don't know her. Her past is just as murky as ours." Tommy sat up in his chair.

"On what level?" She looked in smug disbelief that there could be anything to the contrary of pure morality in you.

"Cardinal sins." Tommy raised his eyebrows and Polly laughed.

"That could be anything, Thomas."

"Alright I'll bite. Death. By necessity but still death." He placed his hands together on his desk and leaned forward.

"You're joking." She looked at him with an almost pleading expression and he shrugged his shoulders. "Why in God's name do all the sinners of the world end up in this city?" She groaned in exasperation before walking out of his office, fuming.

Tommy could only smile, finding you couldn't have by chance. It was meant to be, even if only to get that reaction from Polly.

You woke the next day to some post posted under your door. After you honestly to Thomas you were feeling surprisingly optimistic about your new life. This bliss was undercut when you picked up this post and saw the return address. 69 Sean Macdermott Street Lower, Our Lady of Charity. You hands began to shake, the rest of your body feeling paralysed. You stayed like that for a while, scrunching up the letter in a seizure type trance before you let out an extremely long breath and began to sob, falling to yours knees. They had found you and you knew you didn't have long.

next part Peaky blinders taglist: @queenofkings1212 @severewobblerlightdragon @cl5369 @fairypitou @stressedandbandobessed7771 @shadow-of-wonder @hipsternoionlylikeunicorns @curled-hair-red-lips @lucystivinsky1315 Series taglist: @juicyj28 @alessioayla @fmo166

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Lend Me Your Ears," Vancouver Sun. September 15, 1934. Page 8. ---- By BOB BOUCHETTE ---- We Mawkish Sentimentalists The Vancouver Sun says editorially:

"Prisoners in the British Columbia Penitentiary have gone on strike to emphasize their demands for a dally wage and for convicts' committees to negotiate with prison authorities.

"It is a preposterous demand. And equally preposterous is the mawkish thinking of the sentimentalists who agree with them."

There follows a couple of hundred words argument for the theory that penitentiaries should be institutions of punishment, no more.

Reform I am one of the mawkish sympathizers who believe that a criminal has a better chance of being rehabilitated and made into a decent citizen by being granted certain rights inside the jail and being paid a small wage, which would be given to him on his release.

Perhaps I am prejudiced, but I don't think of myself as a mawkish sentimentalist.

I believe that my contention is grounded in reason and fact.

Purpose The Sun editor states that a penal sentence "is purely and simply an expedient to teach the criminal, through pain and discomfort, that he must obey society's rules. It is an expedient planned to show the whole community that society, that humanity in the mass must be protected."

This doesn't happen to be correct and if the editorial writer had taken the trouble to look up the penal code and penitentiary regulations he would know that it is not correct.

The purpose of imprisonment, according to our law, is to protect society and to reform the criminal. Specifically, it does not attempt to wreak vengeance on the wrong-doer. It endevors to teach a man that there is more to be gained in co-operating with his fellow-humans than setting himself up in opposition to their will.

The methods it employs are various. One of them is giving the prisoner instruction in a trade or craft.

And at no time is it stated that the prisoner should be taught "through pain and discomfort."

History There was a time when the authorities believed that the infliction of pain and discomfort was the best means of checking crime.

Not so very long ago they had public hangings in England. The death sentence was meted out for crimes which would now be expiated by the serving of a comparatively short jail sentence.

And conditions in prisons were not pleasant. The theory was that if you scared the prisoner enough and brutalized him enough, he would go and sin no more.

But they found out, in England, that this method did not check crime. They changed their system and as it changed, crime decreased.

Trend In 1878, prison conditions in the Old Country were almost as bad as they are in the United States today. There was a wave of reform. The federal authorities assumed control of all the prisons in the land. There were then 136 penitentiaries and jails.

Under the new system their number rapidly diminished, for there was no need of them. Today, there are between 30 and 40 prisons in England and Wales, and they are not crowded.

Was it mawkish thinking that brought about this reform? And if it was mawkish thinking and mawkish thinking reduced crime is mawkish thinking such a preposterous thing?

Figures With all due respect to The Sun editor, I submit that the tendency in prison government has been steadily more humanistic, It gets results.

Some ten years ago there were further reforms in English prisons. The offenders were segregated and classified. Incorrigibles were placed in institutions by themselves. First offenders were kept together.

So in ten years time the prison population of England has been halved. During the same period the prison population of Canada has doubled.

There is nothing particularly wrong with The Sun editorial. It is simply out-of-date. The editor should read a few books on this subject and keep up with the times.

[nesiacha]

More Information on Some Slave Revolts After the Battle of May 1802 in Guadeloupe, the Repression, and About Barse, Millet, and Barbet

I’ve found some information. Sensitive readers should refrain from reading as it discusses the horrors caused by the re-establishment of slavery, and there are horrific tortures that will be mentioned.

In the book Les Hommes célèbres de la Guadeloupe, here’s what I found about the three white men who led the slave revolt in Sainte-Anne, written by Oriol: “Melvil-Bloncourt, in the Histoire de la Guadeloupe, is particularly interested in Delgrès’ struggle against Richepanse and the terrible conflicts that tore the island apart during the early years of the Empire. He seeks precise information about the 1802 uprising in Sainte-Anne because he wishes to rehabilitate the memory of the three men condemned as leaders of the revolt . Melvil does not wish to accept the official version , which claims that the main authors of the Sainte-Anne massacre were Barsse, a Guadeloupe colonist, Millet de la Girardière, a Martinican colonist, and Barbet, a Gascon peasant.”

“Something tells me,” writes Melvil-Bloncourt, “that these men were horribly slandered. But what can be used to rehabilitate them, for I am eager to do so?… It seems to me that these two men were martyrs… It would be fitting for a victim of the massacres of May 1871 to avenge, after 76 years, the memory of the two martyrs of the brigands of 1802 in Guadeloupe.”

“This historical cause deserved to be supported, if it was just. Was it though? Melvil is convinced, but his strong belief is only based on hypotheses, or rather on a purely intuitive vision of the past, on this method of freely reconstructing historical truth that he claims for himself after criticizing it in Michelet and Renan. The only new fact he learned about the Sainte-Anne massacres is the existence of familial ties between Girardière and Joséphine de la Pagerie (here Josephine de Beauharnais).”

The problem, as he says, is that this theory is somewhat shaky. If there had truly been a family connection to Joséphine, I don’t think he would have been condemned to the torture of the cage. He would have, in my opinion, either been deported or executed in a "simpler" way (not out of compassion, but to avoid another scandal, if you follow me). The only thing historian Frédéric Régent noted is that Girardière was a colonist from Martinique expelled for his strong republican convictions.

Melvil-Bloncourt's hypothesis is strongly criticized by Oriol in these terms: “He is perfectly right to write: 'Our appreciation of Girardière is entirely personal, devoid of authentic evidence. Yet I believe it to be fair and true. However, since there is a lack of documents to support a judgment and assessment of Girardière, I will create my own Girardière — this is the historian's right — and I will make him a figure not real, but plausible and plausible. I will illustrate him.’ One sees the danger of the thesis: This 'right' of the historian is, in fact, that of the novelist. But do they have the same responsibilities? In history, more than anywhere else, 'the truth can, sometimes, not be plausible.' So one is not always justified in imagining one thing to replace another.”

Circumstances prevented Melvil-Bloncourt from continuing his historical work on Guadeloupe. He was preparing to return to France, as since the end of 1878, talk of amnesty for the political prisoners of the Commune had surfaced. Furthermore, the partial elections in Guadeloupe, for which he was solicited to run, forced him to abandon his work.

Nevertheless, this book presents a report that must be taken with caution, as it comes from the slaveholders' side, and Lacrosse’s report should not be expected to show much indulgence: On the night of October 6, 1802, 23 white people were killed in Sainte-Anne. Lacrosse ordered an investigation. “It was established that two whites: Barsse and Millet de la Girardière, the latter 69 years old, a former officer decorated with the Order of Saint Louis, both riddled with debt, led these 80 negroes... Their goal was to loot and steal." Barsse was broken on the wheel and burned alive in Place de la Victoire. Girardière was sentenced “to die in an iron cage, exposed naked, straddling a sharp blade in the same square.” To escape the torture, he hanged himself in his cell” (SAINTECROIX DE LA RONCIÈRE, Richepanse, pp. 188-189).

Here, contrary to what Joseph Elzéar Morenas claimed in the Précis historique de la traite des Noirs et de l’esclavage colonial (1828), Girardière escaped the torture reserved for him by committing suicide. More information is needed to determine which account is true.

Now, I turn to a well-sourced website that provides a solid line of bibliographical references on this period. Here is an excerpt from the site discussing, among other things, Barse, Millet, and Barbet, as well as the aftermath of the illegal re-establishment of slavery following the battles of May 1802: "Richepance had to, after these events, eliminate any inclination for uprisings among the blacks. He also had to carry out the task for which he had been sent: to make those responsible pay for the affront suffered by Lacrosse, the envoy of the Consulate, representative of the Metropolis and therefore of the supreme authority. To this end, he created a special tribunal on May 30, two days after the end of the fighting, before which all those who had participated or collaborated in the revolt were to be tried. The convicted defendants were hanged at the Republican Battery at Mont-Carmel in Basse-Terre. According to Richepance’s wishes, the bodies were to remain there for 24 hours. After that, they were to be permanently hanged further away, on Morne Constantin a few kilometers from the battery. Historian Boyer-Peyreleau estimates that 10,000 blacks and people of color were killed during the clashes, deported, hanged, or shot."

Yes, it is indeed time to expose the horrors committed in Guadeloupe and stop turning a blind eye (not on Tumblr, but elsewhere). What happened is inexcusable and shocked many. Nowadays, we don't talk about it much. People prefer to discuss the wrongs of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

"Richepance allowed, (...), the former colonists who had taken refuge on the English islands and who had wanted to hand over the island to the English, to recover their properties. Thus, in addition to the repression exercised by the special tribunal, there was also the repression by the masters (…)."

And here we see Bonaparte’s major flaw: not trusting Black soldiers, Black officers, former slaves like Flore Bois Gaillard, who fought the English to the very end and supported the French Revolution. These soldiers were not only battle-hardened but also brilliant, having won battles. Yet, instead of relying on them, Bonaparte chose to count on the colonists who were ready to sell the territory to the English. Yes, Bonaparte reinstated slavery partly because he feared the colonists' betrayal, but these people were utterly useless in being able to fight alongside him; they had already proven their willingness to betray. It’s no wonder that Guadeloupe would later fall into English hands. This truly illustrates that Bonaparte was thinking in the short term, not in the long term. There's no need to highlight what would happen to the slaves who had revolted against their masters once they were again facing those same masters.

Richepance gave permission to take up arms against those considered “maroons.” As for the Blacks who had fought for Richepance against other Blacks or former slaves (I say Blacks, but among them were at least two white men who fought for Delgrès until death, Kirwan and Monnereau), they were either deported or executed. As for Pélage, who was deported, I am currently checking biographies to understand why he betrayed. Because if it was an attempt to do like Dessalines — that is, to lull the adversary’s distrust, even if it meant sacrificing his own people to buy the necessary time to later defeat them and secure victory — then it’s not really treason (if you see what I mean). I’ve already explained this kind of tactic here [Tumblr link]. Maybe he simply didn’t have the time to implement the plan to attack Richepance, who quickly disarmed him. But for now, based on what I know about Pélage, it remains a simple act of treason, though I may find elements that will change my opinion. As for the other Blacks, perhaps they feared what would happen if the French army won and tried to avoid falling back into the horrors of slavery (after all, they had already experienced the racist humiliation imposed by Lacrosse).

Now, this excerpt of text shows the horrors suffered by the slaves, maroons, and Black people but which shows who still had revolts :

"In an effort to annihilate the bands of Blacks and maroons who occasionally looted plantations, Richepance, during the months of June and July 1802, took measures allowing them to be fought by 'volunteer troops' in each commune of Guadeloupe, on the islands of Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre only, where the events had taken place. Lacrosse was to continue this policy after Richepance's death (…). The 'wood runners,' a group of Black people on Grande-Terre, attempted to seize Fort Fleur d’Épée on September 28, 1802. To their great dismay, they were discovered and chased away." This clearly shows that by September 1802, there was already a revolt.

Lacrosse's arrival to take over from Richepance would lead to even more atrocities. Here is an excerpt from the same site I mentioned earlier:

"The authorities had raised a corps of 400 men (composed mainly of emigrants), the 'forest hunters.' Their mission was to pursue the Blacks in the forests of the southern part of the island of Basse-Terre. These hunters were ironically led by a man named Vermont, of sad memory, as he had, among other crimes, fought against the republican Victor Hugues when the latter came to reclaim the island of Guadeloupe from the English. Vermont was assisted by d'Estrélan, who was responsible for the Grande-Terre district. According to Lacour, some of these 'wood runners' were taken to the heights of Trou-au-Chien, a notorious place. There, a large silk-cotton tree stood where they were hanged."

In this context, the site provides new information about the October 1802 revolt and our three men: Barbet, Millet, and Barse.

"The Sainte-Anne revolt, according to some historians, was fomented by three white men: Barse, Millet, and Barbet. These men set out to put an end to the atrocious executions that followed the capture of the 'wood hunters' and to remove d'Estrélan because of his bloody conduct. The revolt began at the Vipart plantation in Sainte-Anne and gained momentum as it spread across the plantations of the region. The insurgents, described as extremely violent according to the Justificatory Memoir, slit the throats of and killed some masters, particularly the 'wood hunters.' Soon, these rebels were arrested by General Ménard’s men, the military commander of Guadeloupe. Lacrosse quickly arrived on the scene and had all the culprits arrested. He formed a special tribunal to judge the case. The leaders and those who accompanied them (about a hundred people) were all condemned; however, only Barse was broken on the wheel and burned alive. Millet, who had been sentenced to the iron cage torture, and Barbet, who was condemned to be broken on the wheel and burned alive, fortunately died in their cell. The iron cage torture was particularly abominable."

So, this site repeats Oriol’s thesis that Millet and Barbet escaped the torture by dying. But we also see another step backward: executions and tortures from the time of the monarchy were reinstated (just like the branding punishment or the torture used by Fouché’s police on the Jacobins, among others). Yet, this is further proof that we cannot use the excuse that “Bonaparte was a man of his time” to justify the reinstatement of slavery (not on Tumblr, but elsewhere on other sites). No, I will never say it enough: he reinstated something far worse, and this shocked many French people. Abbé Grégoire was of his time, as were Olympe de Gouges, Chaumette, and Marat, and they were against slavery. The list is long...

Moreover, the white men Monnereau and Kirwan gave their lives fighting the reinstatement of slavery. General Barada, a white man, was an early ally of Toussaint Louverture against Charles Leclerc; he was arrested and deported (I’ve only found a few lines about him so far), and now we have three more white men, Millet, Barbet, and Barse, who paid with their lives for leading a revolt against the slave-owning masters.

While Bonaparte was reinstating slavery and its atrocities, these men were fighting against it, and at least five out of the six lost their lives for it.

Otherwise, I found a book that might be interesting, but you’d have to buy it: 7e Génération. Abolition et restauration de l’esclavage by historian Frédéric Régent, which covers this topic.

Sources: Oriol Les Hommes Célèbres de la Guadeloupe Mazamba Tédie website: Histoire de la Guadeloupe

In this month of October 1802, a slave revolt was led, among others, by three white men against the reinstatement of slavery by Bonaparte in Guadeloupe

Sensitive souls should abstain when I speak about the fate of Millet ( one of the white men leader of the slave revolt). I have already talked about the revolt against the reinstatement of slavery led by Delgrès, Ignace, and Alexandre Kirwan in several posts here: Link 1, Link 2, and a mini-post on the forgotten French revolutionary Alexandre Kirwan, who played a key role in this revolt: Link 3.

Now, I am looking for more information on the October 1802 revolts. In fact, in Sainte-Anne, there was a rebellion of Black people led, among others, by three white men: Barse, Millet de la Guardière, and Jean Barbet.

Here is an excerpt from Frédéric Régent regarding these three men: “Ménard, who replaced Richepance after his death as Commander-in-Chief of the army, mentions here his expulsion from Guadeloupe by Lacrosse on April 18, 1803. October 6, 1802, refers to the revolt of Sainte-Anne, triggered by three white leaders: Barsse, Millet de la Girardière, and Jean Barbet. During the general freedom period, Barsse was a government commissioner and tenant of the Gassien estate, which belonged to the heirs of Vipart; Millet de la Girardière was a former French officer, a colonist from Martinique, who had been expelled from there due to his political ideas, which were likely republican; Jean Barbet, a native of Antenac in Gascony, was a farmer. Mulattoes Yves (without a last name), Louis Bureau, Jean Gautier, René Gayan, and Louison Bourk, as well as Black men Hippolyte, Édouard, and Jean (Barsse's servant), were part of the conspiracy. They traveled to twenty plantations, recruiting insurgents on each: their numbers swelled to eighty, with twenty on horseback. Twenty-three white people were killed by the insurgents. It is not specified whether they were returning emigrants. The revolt was suppressed by the National Guard. According to Ménard, there was a strong opposition between tenants and returning emigrants. In this regard, he said: ‘I considered Grande-Terre as the battleground of tenants and landlords.’”

According to a site, 23 settlers were killed by the rebels, and in four months, there were more than a hundred executions in retaliation.

Millet allegedly met a horrific fate (sensitive souls should abstain, I say again): he was sentenced to the iron cage punishment by a Guadeloupe tribunal. Here’s an excerpt: “A tribunal in Guadeloupe, by judgment of 11 Brumaire, Year XI (November 2, 1802), condemned Millet de la Girardière to be exposed in the square of Pointe-à-Pitre, in an iron cage, until death ensued. The cage used for this punishment is eight feet high. The victim is placed astride a sharp blade; his feet rest on stirrup-like supports, and he is forced to keep his legs tense to avoid being wounded by the blade. In front of him, on a table within his reach, food and drink are placed, but a guard watches day and night to prevent him from touching them. When the victim’s strength begins to wane, he collapses onto the sharp blade, which inflicts deep and cruel wounds. The unfortunate man, driven by pain, rises again, only to fall once more onto the sharp blade, which wounds him horribly. This torture lasts three or four days.” (Joseph Elzéar Morenas, Précis historique de la traite des Noirs et de l’esclavage colonial, 1828)

So, I would like more information about this rebellion and especially about another one. A very knowledgeable site, although it doesn’t cite its sources (unfortunately, since upon in-depth verification, the information is usually accurate), mentions Fourme, who had already participated in the resistance alongside Delgrès, Ignace, etc. Palème, who followed a similar path, managed to escape. From there, Fourme established a stronghold in which the fight against the reinstatement of slavery continued on Morne Moudongue, then in the heights of Capesterre, before being betrayed and handed over by settlers in November 1805 . So we have proof that the revolt against the reestablishment of slavery lasted even after May 1802. The Guadeloupeans may not have succeeded in winning militarily against Napoleon unlike Haiti (and even then it was difficult to beat them, Richepance half-admitted that he had totally underestimated them to the point of asking England for material aid) but they succeeded for many years at the cost of sacrifice and ordeals to finally succeed in having slavery definitively abolished (which is still less great than that of 1794, the former owners had the right in 1848 to have financial compensation for the loss of their slaves but the former slaves did not have the right to the slightest financial compensation upon their return). May they never be forgotten.

If you have more information on him, I would be very grateful :)

[assignmentimprobable]

Minority Report (2002) and The Deterrence State

Let me start with a disclaimer: These are 100% my personal impressions of the movie compared with the criminal system and my current understanding of it. That being said, you’re free to disagree! I’m not here to debate or make anyone feel bad, I’m just interested in blabbing and streamlining my thoughts during my watch. My framing device is the common law, not the model penal code, and my ramblings are long-winded. Be warned.

Analysis below the cut, for courtesy. 

General Deterrence: The idea that a particular consequence deters groups of people (here, murderers) from the comission of crimes. It’s utilitarian. Utilitarianism posits that no matter how egregious the wrongdoing, there should be no punishment unless they believe it will provide an overall social benefit, to protect society from dangerous people and to preserve or even increase social welfare. There are 2 questions utilitarians ask: 

 Should the behavior be considered criminal at all? Known as the cost-benefit analysis, and; 

Should this behavior be punished? Does it accomplish a goal and is the punishment effective? 

The behavior in Minority Report (2002) is murder, and it is criminal or we wouldn’t have a movie. PreCrime is a utilitarian framework, it advocates for the punishment of future murders solely for the greater social benefit of reducing epidemic homicide statistics. The consequence is full on incapacitation, getting put away.  It is legal to do all of this. The basis of legality is the need to give individuals fair warning or notice to conduct that subjects them to punishment. 

The citizens of DC have been warned, “We have this system that tracks premeditation and manslaughter. You will be arrested and put under for your presumptive crimes because we have unequivocal proof that it would have happened.” There is no statutory ambiguity to resolve because the entire litigation process has been bypassed by the system of Precrime. 

Symbolism plays an important role in both the restriction and deterrence contexts when choosing a proper criminal sentence. The society will also see that the defendant gets the type of punishment they deserve based upon the admitted crime. This passes across a very strong message that those who orchestrates this stuff  would be apprehended, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the Law. 

The justifications are simple:  If some element of punishment is embarrassing or incredibly messed up, that’s okay because other purposes are served.

The purposes being to create consequences so colossal that people fear them and are deterred from otherwise committing crimes. It’s totally okay to put people in the hole in the movie because the purpose of increasing social welfare is met.

Minority Report has removed rehabilitation from the table entirely. It’s just a non-factor, you go in the hole and you stay there until they dig you out. Total isolation. I find it interesting that the prisoners- all future murderers are shaved bald. There’s the aspect of uniformity to them. There’s no reason for it, really. You could say that the machinery involves that, but honestly, in a system that so easily sees the precogs as inhuman for its own benefit? It seems more like an intentional choice. It mirrors back to the way that the precogs themselves are shaved bald, pale and devoid of distinctive trait. It’s because of this that it is easy to do what John Anderton does; cease seeing them as human. You see their function, not their form. Not who, but what they are. 

To see them that way institutionally means that the state cannot commit to keeping them for as long as their resources will allow them to. 

The state’s approach is again; utilitarian in nature, the social benefit is pure control over a population through their marked exclusion. There is a layer of predictability to the group that they have marked as undesirable and valuable all at once. 

The point of erosion in one’s rights that would charge them with an active crime instead of an inchoate offense like “attempt” is definitely something to think about. The institution’s ability to recontextualize murder to include definitions of events that haven’t even happened yet. 

The eye is a recurring imagery in this story. Lenses, the precogs, the oracle allusion, the invasive advertising. Someone’s probably said this before, but it invokes the image of the panopticon- the theoretical model of the surveillance state posited by Jeremy Bentham, who was pretty much one of the foremost scholars in the construction of criminal law. 

How the panopticon works is that “From the tower, a guard can see every cell and inmate but the inmates can't see into the tower. Prisoners will never know whether or not they are being watched.” 

Because of this certain uncertainty, people are deterred from acting in either the heat of passion or premeditating. 

That is the function of PreCrime. You are being watched by the PreCogs, who as John says; see not what you intend to do, but what you will do. 

How you know you have theoretically done it is when the PreCrime division smashes through the skylight and arrests you for future murder. The hyper-personalized ads are the result of statewide surveillance that use eye-dents to identify and mark a person so that their location is accessible at any time. Tough on crime policies that reduce crime on their face because they’re locking you up, innocent or not. 

I’ve just got to say that the idea of the Precrime unit is so fascinating as a concept because its simultaneously compatible and incompatible with criminal law’s functions: ie. To punish as an overarching principle in both major schools of thought (utilitarianism + retributivism) vs not punishing people for crimes that they’ve only thought about committing (the retributivist concern of proportionality) but haven’t committed yet. You see this conflict play out in John. He’s the Chief of PreCrime and he lost his son. His aim is to make sure it never happens to anyone again, that’s what he is out to deter, unaware of the alternate futures of those he would go on to lock away. It’s an ancient question, do the ends justify the means? The movie seems to lean into no, but with its own caveats. It all sounds SO compelling, with that ever so tiny margin of error. But a margin is a margin, a border. It’s not making the cut, and how far a system like this goes depends on how long characters like John are willing to look away. 

TLDR: It’s like, a total erosion of what we know as our privacy rights- and yet it’s something extremely familiar to us from the examples above. It’s a lot to think about. This movie was the precursor of uh, a lot. A lesser example being the widespread use of unnaturally blue lighting in action films to follow for many years to come.

[novantinuum]

but yeah, i really, really dislike any sort of rhetoric that suggests certain people are “unable to be redeemed” or are “too far gone” or “this person is pure evil and can never put an ounce of good in the world” because they suggest a world where certain people (as arbitrarily decided by people who believe they are “the good ones”) are inherently evil and will inherently do bad things, and excuse their wrong-doing as something that they cannot intrinsically help but do.

this is wrong, and it is twisted. bad behaviors are learned by example. people LEARN to hurt others. they LEARN to abuse. they LEARN to take advantage of those who are vulnerable. it is not due to some inherent trait they bear. never excuse someone’s actions with “they’re just evil.” every single person who harms others consciously chooses to make that choice, and they have the full capacity to choose to do good, too.

bad behaviors are learned. but good behaviors are learned by example too. people LEARN to be generous. people LEARN to listen to diverse perspectives. people LEARN to be considerate friends. etc etc etc. which is exactly why the type of society we need to be gunning for is one that works from the ground up to TEACH and REHABILITATE, not punish and destroy. this should begin at the youngest age with parenting, and needs to extend all the way up the rungs. this does not mean excusing actions and absolving people of all consequences. oh, there will always be natural consequences-a-plenty, believe me. but when we as humans in turn abuse and hurt and take advantage of others like what happens in the current form of the prison industry, all we are doing is perpetuating the cycle. 

all we are doing is continuing to teach others how to abuse and hurt in return.

something needs to change.

[ray-moo]

Just because something isn't a punishment doesn't mean it's a reward. It could be a duty imposed on the rapist as a result of their actions. It could be a purely pragmatic move to not lose a contributing member of society. There are many reasons to rehabilitate even horrible criminals that are purely pragmatic and not due to the criminal deserving it.

Personally I think rapists, if the crime can be proven without a doubt, should just be castrated and then released. If only reasonably provable, they should work within society to some limited extent, probably with an implanted tracker and banned from living in the same community as the victim, with a portion of their income or time going towards restitution of the victim alongside compulsory rehabilitation programs if there's the budget for it. So I'm not against harsh punishments, I just prison is a waste of resources. Actually I don't believe in punishments since I don't think it's the government's job to distribute justice in interpersonal affairs, just to maintain order and a civil society where actual communities outside the purview of the state can pursue justice, whatever that means. I guess what I'm saying is that it's not the government's job to punish for crimes, it's the victim's.

But another reason why I'm against retributive justice is that I don't trust the state which enforces laws to have a monopoly on judgement and justice. Relying on those institutions is not feminism, it's just asking the patriarchy to be nicer to you. Like asking your abusive husband's father to lay down rules where you won't be hurt as much. Perhaps vengeance against rape should be handed over to the community of the victim instead.

I don't really care if rapists can be rehabilitated or not, they don't deserve to be.

[callmearcturus]

can we briefly talk about Daisy and Jon functioning as their own little Avatars Anonymous group back in S4 for a second?

now that the narrative is backing me up on “jfc Basira you fucked up this situation royally” I feel okay into diving into just how bad the situation in S4 was and how Daisy and Jon were the only lantern in the night against it.

Basira made a decision at the beginning of S4 to stop seeing the folks around her as people and to see them as tools. she decided “No one is allowed to have my trust, however, everyone needs to give me their trust bc I believe I’m the only person who can push back against our opponents.”

I’m not going to go into the sheer depth of how much that fucked up everything in S4, we’ve discussed that to death. But that’s the atmosphere that everyone lived in up until the end.

The problem is that, not to state the obvious, that’s Cop Rhetoric. And what was needed in S4 was support and rehabilitation.

(Oh god, Arc is talking about TMA and rehabilitation again, yeah yeah)

Daisy and Jon were in similar positions after her return. They were avatars. They had supernatural malicious desires overriding their humanity. They were under siege from the literal manifestation of depression and giving in to helplessness. Their “friends” were no longer there to be supportive, and many of them had (in Jon’s case) outright rejected him and essentially told him he should have stayed dead.

Basically: the only environment less conducive to Being Better would be the eventual Apocalypse.

This in of itself is a metaphor for, uh, reality. At least in America and I’m pretty sure a lot of the world, there is very little formal support for people who want to be better, to improve themselves in a meaningful way (as opposed to ways that overlap with the diet industry, THOSE are SUPER PREVALENT and well-funded of course!) and if you ever want to feel like dogshit, I rec looking into how many people we lose this way. How many people just need support coming out of a rehab clinic or out of prison, only to be fucking screwed at every corner, because our society is built on never helping people, ever. Your past mistakes snowball into an avalanche, and it’s not right.

So to me, I fixated heavily on Daisy and Jon’s relationship because they essentially became their own support group in this horrible environment. They were two people who understood each other’s struggle, and they helped each other with it.

To me, what’s so fucking sad I can barely stand it, is that the two of them... were it. They were the only ones. When Jon fucked up and hurt people bc (to be perfectly clear) his desire for human trauma that was instilled in him against his knowledge and will by Elias, Basira’s reaction was “okay if you do this again, we’ll just murder you.”

And I wanted to just scream because it’s so frustrating. [mulaney voice] of course that’s what you’d say, you stupid fuckign cop.

Anyway, to me, this all culminates at the end of the season with the hunters come to kill Jon, and in a moment of pure instinct, of pure panic, he doesn’t call Basira. He calls Daisy.

(And then Basira has the fucking gall to ask him why later. GEE BASIRA, I CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE.)

Anyway. My point is that rehabilitation is hard. It’s especially hard when the environment people live in is explicitly hostile to the idea of rehabilitation. And the tragedy of Daisy is that she fucking tried, and Jon was willing to be there with her and help her, but then Apocalypse fucked her out of her chance. And now she can’t make the decision to be better herself anymore, and that is a tragedy. But one based in reality.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

The trial begins; Roger Taylor x reader x oc male

*Author’s note*

Well it’s been a LOOOOOONG time since I did a Rock Angel update but I finally got the time to do it and finally finish the DARKEST chapter of the Rock Angel’s life. So everything from here on out will be either PURE FLUFF OR PURE ANGST. Now I did my best to research actual court trial procedures plus using my brief knowledge of the justice system from a couple classes I took back in college but if there’s anything I got wrong and you’re actually studying court system/law enforcement PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLLLEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSE LET. ME. KNOW.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@simonedk​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queensdivas​

@queendeakyy​

@geek-and-proud​

@wormzteef​

@queen-paladin​

@starswin​

@isabella-bby​

@5sos-wdw​

@bohemiansweede​

@onebigfangirlworld​

@ssa-sadboi​

@naturalswifty89​

@labessieisallama​

___________________________________________________________

Six months of physical rehab, a year of therapy, and 2 surgeries later, I was finally able to get back to some normalcy.  Of course the nightmares were frequent every night and of course the kids, especially Kelly, suffered a great deal of it as well.

During my rehabilitation in physical therapy, I had done a court case against James Woods for unprofessional hiring and neglect of care for his client’s safety and managed to sue his ass for over $275,000. Not only that but Hollywood Records fired his arse and once his name became public, no record company wanted to do business with him ever again.

But of course the main trail against Steve was still to come. Due to the restrictions of his uncle no longer able to help him out anymore, Steve’s bail money was set for $75,000.  And since no one could afford to bail him out, Steve remained in prison until the trial date set for March 19th.

I was currently sitting on a tire swing in the barn at mom’s and Misha’s place.  Since the news were running my story everywhere, Jack thought it best to keep us and the kids away from the city press so we went to his parent’s farm to hide away from the stress. The sky was cloudy and it was slightly chilly out today but I barely acknowledged it due to my nerves as the trial date was drawing near. I soon felt a jacket come around my shoulders and a soft voice said.

“Reminds me of when you rain out during that rainstorm when Prenter revealed your secret to us.”

“I’d feel a lot better if you didn’t mention that arsehole’s name right now dad.”

“You’re right I’m sorry. But hey be thankful this time you’re in a barn and not out in the pouring rain. After that day you got sick for 4 days.”

“Yeah. And you and Deacy were there to take care of me the entire time. Hell you skipped an entire rehearsal to take care of me.”

“You’re my daughter (n/n). I’ll always be there to take care of you. Even when you don’t want me to.” He said as he leaned up against the tire swing and swayed us from side to side.

Since being released from the hospital, while Deacy went home to tell Ronnie and the rest of the kids I was fine, and Brian had to go back for his solo tour, Roger elected to stay with me and the rest of the family to help take care of us.  

He called Dominque and his side chic of his decision to stay with me till the trail was over and the two women accepted his decision (which was a shocker on Debbie’s part. I knew Dominque understood).

“What’s going on in that head of yours lovey?” he asked me. He stopped the swaying and came in front of me, his hands holding onto the rope.

“I’m terrified dad.” I admitted.  “With the court date—I know I’m going to have to face him and it—fucking terrifies me. You know he’s gonna be looking at me the entire time. But I can’t just abandon the trial, otherwise he’ll walk free with hardly a sentence.” He sighed deeply.

“I know this isn’t easy for you. Hell if it were up to me, I would’ve never allowed it to come this far. I’m your father and I failed to protect you.”

“But you didn’t know dad. In truth it’s really my fault. I should’ve spoken up about this to you and the guys before it escalated it the way it did.”

“Hold it right there. Don’t go blaming yourself now (Y/n). This was in no way your fault.”

“Then it shouldn’t be yours.” He nodded.  “I just……what if I don’t have the strength to stay in the same room as him? Or what if the law gives him a slap on the wrist like they’ve done before?” Roger came around and wrapped an arm around my collar bone, his chin resting on my head as his other hand rubbed my left arm up and down.

“Because unlike before where they couldn’t prove he did those things, the news has proof of his attempted murder of you. Your lawyers have pulled up all the evidence of the additional charges that you and Jack want to charge him with, he can’t win this time. Your prosecutors won’t allow that to happen.”

“I just wish Freddie was here to help me with this.”

“So do I love. So do I. But do you know what he’d tell you right now?” I looked up at him and he looked right at me. “He’d tell you. ‘Buck up darling. You go to that courtroom, look that fucker in the eye. And show him he didn’t win. That he can’t win. For while he may be the Big Bad Wolf, you are the Lioness Queen.’”

Dad hugged me and I placed my hand on his arm that was still wrapped across my collar bone and leaned my head against his chest.

*March 19th, 1994. One hour till court hearing*

Back in New York City; Dad, Jack, and myself had just arrived at the New York airport. Waiting for us was my lawyer Mr. Barnes and the rest of the Prosecuting team.  And of course the media wanted a piece of me before the court hearing.  So Jack and Roger were sandwiching me out of the eyes of the media, while my lawyers were diverting the cameras away from me till we got to the car.

“Mrs. Kline do you have anything to say on behalf of this case!”

“Do you believe Steve Harrison should be given the death penalty?”

“Did you engage any intimate relationships with Mr. Harrison?”

“My client has no comments at this time!” Mr. Barnes stated firmly to the press as Jack quickly guided me inside the car.  Roger came in after him followed by Mr. Barnes and the others.

The driver immediately headed for the courthouse and Mr. Barnes told me.

“Alright so Mrs. Kline. Just to review you are still willingly to make your testimony on the stand, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Now I know you’ve been through a lot and his DA team will try to push your buttons but I must strictly advise you to keep your composure and your temper because if you bat an eye once or raise your voice for any reason, the DA will use that to their advantage.”

“I’ll do my best. Truthfully, I just want this whole mess over with so that I never have to see him again.” Jack took my hand in both of his giving it a comforting squeeze, while dad rubbed my shoulder.

“Understood ma’am.” The rest of the drive was pretty silent until we arrived at the courthouse.

As we entered inside not only were their lawyers, security guards, and various other people there for other trials, the rest of the NYC press was also there.

“THERE SHE IS!!! THE ROCK ANGEL!!!” A female reporter called out.  Once again we were horded by a swarm of cameras and microphones/tape recorders being shoved in our faces.

“My client refuses to speak or make any comments at this time! Now all of you please move back! Can we get security over here!” soon enough police and security made their way through the crowd and tried to back off the vultures.  But New York press people are as tough as they come, when they want something they’ll do anything to get it.

They proved themselves strong and determined to get a word out of me, but I just held my shades over my eyes and kept my head down to avoid any cameras getting a picture of my face.  Finally after what felt like forever, we arrived at the room where my trial was being held.

Already the room was packed with people, the media that was allowed to document this case had their cameras set up and their recorders ready to record what they needed.

My attorneys guided me towards the desk where we would be sitting at while Jack and my dad took their seats in the crowd just two rows behind us.  I sat down inbetween Mr. Barnes and Mr. Wilson, the leading Prosecutor and we all waited for the moment of truth for Steve to arrive.

About 20min. later, the DA team came in and walking in between a very large fat man and a thinner older man with white hair was Steve Harrison. In chains and in that infamous orange jumpsuit.  

When his eyes looked directly at me, I once again saw that empty look in his eyes.  There was just nothing there in those piercing brown eyes of his.  But spreading across his face was a smug grin. It was faint but I could see it clear as day as he kept staring me down.

“Don’t look at him. He’s trying to provoke you.” Mr. Wilson, the Head Prosecutor whispered to me. “Just look at the Judge and block him out.” As the courtroom continued to fill in with people as well as the 12 jurors, I felt my heart beating faster and my palms grew sweater by the second.

“He’s still looking over at me, I can feel it.”

“Again don’t let him get under your skin. I’m told you’re called Mama Lioness for a reason, now let me see that.” Mr. Wilson whispered to me again.  I took a deep breath and recomposed myself. “Atta girl.” He encouraged me.  As 9o’clock struck, the bailiff said.

“All rise for the Honorable Judge Mayweather.” We all stood up and soon coming in was a man around his 50’s, maybe even 60’s, wearing prescription glasses which emphasized his blue eyes.  He was a tall, lean man standing well over 6ft tall.  

“You may now be seated.” He said with a soft but commanding tone as he took his seat at the podium.  We all sat down and he opened the files. “The charges against the defendant Steve Harrison include attempted 1st degree murder, aggravated stalking, and 1st degree kidnapping. How does the defendant plea?”

“Not guilty your honor.” Steve’s obese lawyer proclaimed. Of course he’d plead not guilty.

“Very well. We shall began with the opening statements from each side. Prosecution, you have the floor.”

“Thank you your honor.” Mr. Barnes stated as he stood up. He paced around the front of the courtroom and made his opening statement, “Ladies and gentlemen of the court; Obsession is a dangerous thing. We all feel it. Whether it’s for the next best product, or for someone we want in our lives. And my client has been a victim of one man’s obsession for more than a year and a half. The defendant Steve Harrison not only put her through a living hell but also her entire family. Harassing, assaulting and even kidnapping my client’s eldest child. All for the sake of a delusion he had in his mind. But he had the conscious to know what he was doing was wrong. Mr. Harrison plotted, articulated and chose his methods on how to harm my client and her family and last June he almost achieved his goal when he put those two bullets in her before a live audience.”

“Thank you Mr. Barnes.” Judge Mayweather spoke.  Mr. Barnes came and sat down beside me as the judge continued, “Defense council, you may give your opening statement.” Steve’s lawyer stood up and stood before the court.

“Abuse, fear, and control. My client has dealt with these issues his entire life. His uncle manipulated him into pleasing his every demand for he was the only father-figure he had in his life. My client wanted to do everything to please his uncle’s every demand. But it was not also just his uncle, it was also the so called ‘Rock Angel’ that had seduced him into thinking she actually cared for him.”

Excuse me?! I almost wanted to raise my voice and call Steve’s lawyer out for his accusations but one stern look from Mr. Wilson told me to keep my mouth shut, less I risk making myself look bad before the jury and call this a mistrial.

“Not only that but also the threat’s from the Angel’s husband also caused my client great fear and anxiety. He felt like he needed to defend himself so as we begin this trial I ask you, the jurors to see that it was my client who was forced into committing these acts as a means of protection. Not out of his own desire, but for his own safety. Thank you.” He bowed his head before taking his seat.

“Right then. We shall now begin with the 1st charge of attempted murder. Prosecutor Wilson, do you have your first witness?”

“We do your honor. Prosecution calls Jack Kline to the stand.” Mr. Barnes stated.  Jack stood up from the audience and proceeded towards the stand.  Once he was there, Mr. Wilson held the Holy Bible and held it out to Jack, who then placed his right hand on top of it while raising his left hand in the air.  “Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?”

“I do.” Jack replied before taking his seat at the stand. It was then Mr. Barnes came up and proceeded with the direct examination.

“Mr. Kline can you tell us what happened prior to the concert shooting last June?”

“My wife (Y/n) was finishing up the last leg of her tour. On March 4th, 1992 we received a letter from Steve Harrison.”

“And what did the letter say?”

“It said a lot of things. About her about me but what really caught our eyes was he wrote and I quote. ‘I’ve had enough of this bullshit. If I can’t have you, no one can. So you better perform with one eye on the audience and one eye on the shadows. I’m going to kill you, you fucking bitch’.”

“And according to you and your cousin Jensen, who was acting as her head security. He tried to harm her, is that true?” Mr. Barnes asked.

“Yes. At her show in Atlanta he snuck in through the screen room and tried to kidnap her.” Mr. Barnes nodded and said to the jury.

“After his arrest in Atlanta, police reports said they found zip-ties, a bottle of chloroform and a 6in steel blade hunting knife. He was detained for only 8 weeks when his bail was made by an anonymous payer.” He turned back to Jack. “What happened the day of the concert at Madison Square Garden?”

At that point I saw Jack tense up.  He shifted uncomfortably before he said.

“My wife was up on stage performing her favorite Queen song, which she made a cover of per Freddie’s request, and just before she ended the song. Steve, in police uniform, came up behind my wife and shot her in the back. As she lay there on the floor he shot her again in the stomach. Then I—” he trailed off as he glared towards Steve who looked at him blankly.

His eyes were just soulless as they stared up at Jack.  While Jack’s eyes were full of hatred.

“I then watched him take her wedding ring right off her finger before smirking at me. Like he was proud that he took my wife’s life and the symbol of her being my wife, my equal.”

“Thank you, nothing further your honor.” Mr. Barnes walked back to his seat.  Now it was Steve’s lawyer’s time to cross examine my husband’s statement.

“You said that Steve wrote you a letter. Directed to both you and your wife is that correct?”

“Yes. Yes he did.”

“Said some crude stuff about you and your wife, correct?”

“Yes. Called her some stuff I’d really rather not stay and do things that no other man should do to her.”

“Objection!” Mr. Barnes exclaimed.

“Overruled.” Judge Mayweather said.

“Ladies and gentlemen I have here in my hand a copy of the letter written by my client. It is a hefty one I give you that but let me direct your attention to page 3, 4th paragraph. My client has written in detail. ‘On Halloween night of 1992, your husband physically beat me and then with no reason at all, sicked your dogs on me. I had to get 25 stitches on my leg and 30 on my right arm.’ Did you order your dogs to attack my client?���

“Only because he broke into my house after he assaulted me first!”

“Ladies and gentlemen I also have here in my hands the police report of that night. Let the record show that my client in no shape or form, physically break into the Rock Angel’s home . The door was wide open, there were no security cameras. So who’s to say that the dogs didn’t attack my client outside of the house?” I looked to the jury and some of them were actually believing what the Defense was saying. “Now Mr. Kline you do realize that dog attacks are a serious offense. Especially according to California law, right?”

“Objection your honor! Steve Harrison still entered the premise illegally by accounts to his restraining order!” Mr. Wilson stated as he stood up.

“That is true. Defense counselor best you alternate your question on that remark.” Take that you son of a bitch.  Steve’s lawyer turned back to Jack and he said.

“But you still confirm that you allowed your dogs to attack my client?”

“Yes. Because your client was about to attack my 6 year old daughter and 2 year old twin sons.”

“Nothing further your honor.” Steve’s lawyer said.  Jack was then allowed to go back to sit beside Roger.

The court continued on and after briefing for a half hour recess, the trial continued and finally I was allowed to take the stand. I swore under oath and my lawyer questioned me.

“Now Mrs. Kline what can you tell us about Steve Harrison when your first met him? Did you at all have anything to do with hiring him?”

“No. His uncle hired him as a favor for his sister, to ensure that Steve finally got himself a job.” I took a pause there thinking back to the day I first met Steve. “At first he seemed like a nice guy. He seemed to know what he was doing so it wasn’t like he was unqualified. He got me to my appointments on time, kept my schedule in check. And remained professional for the first year and a half of being hired.”

“Now you said he remained professional after a year and a half. Care to elaborate on what changed between you two?”

“It was 2 months after the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, the start of summer 1992. I was recording my last album ‘Fly High Mercury’. I barely slept in a week; Steve was there helping me out. We talked about the album, then it transitioned into family talk. As we were talking he started to get a little too close to me, actually even pining me up against the wall of the studio. Next thing I knew, his lips were on mine. He was kissing me without my consent.”

“And as you claim, everything went downhill from there?”

“Yes. The gifts, the constant phone calls, the harassment in the studio. Going off on delusions telling me things like why did I marry Jack Kline? That our kids should’ve been from his sperm. Telling me how in the music industry singers are always cheating on their spouses and I’m no different. That we could have a separate life together while I continue to rise to the top.”

“Which meant you sleeping with him while he helped make your name bigger?”

“Yes. But I refused. Because I’m not like those women who will sleep around to get what she wants. I’ll get it my way through my resources and strengths.” Mr. Barnes nodded at me with a slight grin at the corner of his face.

“Nothing further your honor.”  Now it was the defense attorney’s turn.

“You’ll get through the music industry through your own resources and your own strengths.” He asked in more of a questioning tone as he came up towards me.

“Along with the support and love of my family.” I added.

“Interesting. Mrs. Kline isn’t it true that you first began your career with the help of Queen’s help?”

“Objection your honor! How is this relevant to this case?” Mr. Wilson proclaimed.

“I’ll be getting to that your honor but Mrs. Kline must answer my question.” The greasy, obese man stated as he leaned closer towards my podium.  I could just smell the disgusting cigar breath off his lips.

“Mrs. Kline, please answer the question.” The judge told me to do.

“They—helped me with my confidence in getting in front of an audience. But at the time I had no idea until hours before the show that’s what they were going to be doing.”

“And then afterwards you continued to use Queen’s resources to help you gain the fame you got in just under a year when most artists especially female singers can hardly get to that degree of fame on their own?”

“Objection your honor! He’s badgering the victim!” Mr. Wilson tried to suade the judge but judge Mayweather overruled it.

“I—we did have the same manager. But how is that different in the case when John Reid was managing both Queen and Elton John over 20 years ago?”

“Mr. Russell, I do hope you’re going somewhere with this because at this point you’re starting to try my patience.”

“Your honor this woman claims to use resources and her own strength, when, in fact, she manipulates men into getting what she wants in life. You said that you hadn’t slept in a week when recording the album? As we all know lack of sleep causes delusions and false memories of events. What if you merely imagined that my client tried to kiss you that night in the studio? And then afterwards had become so paranoid that you antagonized my client to be the villain in this court case!”

“I know what happened as clear as day that night in the studio. And I wasn’t imagining what I saw!” I snapped furiously at him.

“Mrs. Kline control your temper or I will have you placed under contempt of court!” Judge Mayweather warned me.

“Nothing further your honor.” Steve’s lawyer spoke before returning to his chair.  I was then called off back to my chair and I brushed my fingers through my hair anxiously.

“Just breathe. Don’t let the jury think they might’ve seen a false allegation in this case.” Mr. Barnes whispered to me.  I took a few deep breaths before recomposing myself.

Finally it was Steve’s turn to take the stand.

His defense team started off by asking pretty much the same questions Mr. Barnes asked me.  How he got the job, what was it like working for me.  And of course Steve tried to paint himself as the victim and I’ll admit he was a damn good actor.  Some of the jury was actually swayed by his performance.

I was petrified that even here in the Supreme Court of New York, Steve Harrison was gonna walk away with a slap on the wrist like he has been for the past 2 years.

For five days the trail continued on the same way, people taking their turn on the stands, each side providing their evidence to the jury with each charge we were doing against Steve.  

On the 6th day it was time for the final claims as well as closing statements.

“Mrs. Kline, can you describe to us the day when your daughter disappeared from school?” Mr. Barnes asked me.

“Well….” I adjusted the microphone in front of me and said. “I was busy planning my next upcoming tour and Jack had to work overtime at the car dealers. But we had asked my cousin in law Jared go pick her up. The school requires a full on sign-in sheet of additional guardians who are allowed to pick up the students in case the parents can’t pick up their students.”

“And you had Mr. Ackles name to that list correct?”

“Yes. Along with his wife, brother, sister in law and my in-laws as well as the remaining members of Queen.”

“And how did you know that Kelly had been taken my Steve?”

“Jared had called me from the school and told me that Kelly had already been picked up by someone and after an hour and a half, that’s when I got the call from Steve himself. Telling me to meet him at Bull Creek.”

“And did at any time did you give Steve Harrison full permission to pick up your daughter?”

“No. None of my Rock Angel team had authorization to go to Kelly’s school.” He then pulled out a file of Steve’s forged note with my signature on it that gave him clearance to pick Kelly up.

“Now as you can see here, I hold in my hand the actual documented note of Mr. Harrison’s forged letter of Pick-Up for one Kelly Kline. Her school codes states, that if there isn’t any documentation of said people to pick up the child in question, they must provide a note signed by the parent themselves in order to pick up the child.”

“Objection!” Steve’s DA proclaimed.

“Overruled.” Judge Mayweather stated.

“Knowing this; Mr. Harrison printed out the letter of documented proof that he had access to pick up Kelly Kline. He then forged Mrs. Kline’s signature as you’ll see up close here.” On the overhead projector he had both my real signature and Steve’s forged signature with my name on it. “Now as you can see it’s practically identical. But if you look very closely there is a difference.” He then put a magnifying glass up to my last name.  “You’ll notice how she writes the K with a curved slant at the top right line for the K itself. While on Mr. Harrison’s forged signature the corner line is completely straight.”

“Objection your honor! Everyone writes their signatures slightly different every time. This shows no proof that my client forged her signature.” Steve’s DA proclaimed.

“If I may your honor before I was interrupted by my assistant council, I have more proof on why this letter was not signed by my client.”

“Proceed.” The judge granted him.  He then removed the two comparisons and pulled up a paper where I was forced to give my signature ten times.  

“As you can see here this is my client’s handwritten signature. Now look at the K’s.” he pulled the magnifying glass up to the top corner line to show each one had that exact same curve.  “Each one of her top corners has that slight curve to them. Ten. Times my client has written her name. And all ten times each K had that curve on the top corner. Not once does she alternate how she curves it, or accidentally do a straight slant. Each. Top. Corner. Is curved.” The jurors all looked at each other, some of them nodding.  “So it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mr. Harrison forged my client’s signature to gain access to her daughter, kidnapping her in order to gain my client’s attention. Forcing her to a remote area where god knows what he could’ve had in mind. But my client isn’t some damsel in distress.” Mr. Barnes turned to look up at me.

“Mrs. Kline you may return to the Prosecutor’s table.” As I stood up and walked down Judge Mayweather called for closing statements. Steve’s DA came up and the fat man stated.

“We all have our obsessions; we all make mistakes. But my client is not insane. He gave Mrs. Kline everything she ever wanted, he kept things professional and it was all due to the paranoia of a celebrity that my client Steve Harrison was bullied, manipulated and forced to take drastic measures to defend himself from the public eye. He is not the villain in this story, he is a victim. And it is up to you, the jury, on who you wish to believe. The money of a celebrity, or the desperate plea of a victim corrupted by the music industry.”

My eyes narrowed at the obese man but I turned my head away as my Prosecutor Mr. Wilson stood up.  The middle aged African American paced the courtroom as he said.

“Celebrities aren’t just about the money. It’s not as easy as we may think it is to get as big as they are. They go through struggles financially, mentally and sometimes physically. Now my client did have help but she had her fair share of struggles. As a young woman in an all-male industry they wanted to change her image, to make her follow the typical female artist crowd of showing too much skin, exploiting themselves. But the Rock Angel refused to let that be her image. And she kept that image strong, but there’s also another risk of being a woman in the spotlight. She’s more likely to attacks. Not because she asks for it because she doesn’t. Steve Harrison saw (Y/n) Kline not as she was trying to be but who she was. A famous person whom he believed belonged to him. He used his uncle’s position as her manager to get close to her, and meticulously planned to worm his way into her life. But when she refused to accept his dominance, he snapped. He stalked, harassed, kidnapped her daughter, and finally attempted to murder him. All because she said the one thing men don’t like a woman to say. No. No she wasn’t going to fall for him, No she wasn’t going to leave her adoring husband and kids for him, No she wouldn’t be his. And Steve Harrison took offense to that. And if he goes free, then what’s to stop other men like him going free that don’t know what the word ‘no’ means?”

Mr. Wilson came back and sat down beside me.  I placed my hand on top of his and he gave me a soft smirk and nod.

“Alright, jurors the decision is all up to you. We’ll reconvene once the jury has reached their verdict.” Soon the 12 jurors left the courtroom as did the rest of us.

Jack, Roger, myself and my legal team were in the court cafeteria drinking some coffee as we waited for the verdict to come in.  Jack and I sat close to each other while Roger sat across from us.  He was currently reading some magazine meanwhile my stomach was tossing and turning.

“Six days and it all comes down to this. God I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”

“Don’t give up just yet baby. With the forged signature and the note they found at his apartment of his plan to shoot you, there’s no way he’s gonna walk scot-free.” He kissed the corner of my lips as we continued to wait.

20 long minutes later and Mr. Barnes’ cellphone rings. He reached in his coat pocket and picks it up.

“Yes?” he straightens himself up. “Yeah. Uh-huh. Alright we’ll be there Sam.” He snaps at us.  “It’s in.” my heart stops as the three of us look at each other and quickly stand up.

Back at the courtroom, everyone is silent as the jurors come back into the room.  The leading female juror, an Asian woman around her mid-40’s held the paper in her hands and handed it to the bailiff.  He walked over to the judge who signed it before giving it back to him. The bailiff walked back to the Asian woman and Judge Mayweather asked.

“What say you?” I held onto Mr. Barnes’ and Mr. Wilson’s hands as tight as I could, my legs were shaking under the desk as I looked at the jury. She looked down at the paper and read out loud.

“In the matter of Steve Harrison vs. New York. We the jury find on the account of attempted 1st degree murder—guilty.” I let out a choked gasp. “On the count of aggravated stalking, we find the defendant……guilty.” At this point tears were pooling under my lashes. “On the count of kidnapping in the 1st degree. Guilty.”

Thank God! He was guilty on all charges! Some people in the crowd even cheered at Steve’s conviction.  On his end, his face dropped entirely as he lowered his head in shame. His DA’s shook their heads in defeat, his lawyer patted his shoulders and whispered to him.

“Then by the state of New York, I hereby sentence Mr. Harrison to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Court is adjourned.” Judge Mayweather stated before banging his gavel once and left the podium.

I hugged Mr. Wilson and thanked him repeatedly.  He embraced me back and congratulated me.  I then turned to Mr. Barnes and embraced him and he gladly embraced me back.  I turned towards Jack and Rog and they were elated with victory.  I went over to Jack and the first thing we did was kiss.

He picked me up and spun me around, our lips still connected with each other’s as Steve was being taken away.  We separated and I made sure to lock my eyes on him and he turned to look at me.  I narrowed my eyes at him and lifted my chin up high, showing him that I wasn’t weak, that he lost and he’d never hurt or even see me or my family ever again.

Soon he disappeared from the room to be transported to the New York penitentiary for attempted murder, aggravated stalking and kidnapping in the 1st degree.

As we left the courtroom, my lawyer James Barnes said to the media that Steve Harrison had been found guilty.

“Mrs. Kline, anything you’d like to say?” before Mr. Barnes could say anything, I placed my hand on his arm and stood before the cameras.

“What happened to me, happens to everyone around the world. Most of the victims are women and some are men. They feel like they’re alone when this happens to them, but they don’t have to be. So this is my message to those who are victims of stalking, assault, or abuse. You are not alone. There are thousands of others like you out there, but if you don’t speak up, you’ll end up one of the millions of unlucky ones that end up dead. Which is why I’m starting up my own organization. ANGELS AGAINST STALKING. To help victims, like me and you, to get the proper care and help you need to protect yourselves. Even when the law can’t do that.”

I walked down the steps of the courthouse with reporters coming after me with follow up questions about my new organization and more on Steve.

But all I did was get into the car and made a phone call to a special friend.  The phone rang a couple times before he answered.

‘Hello?’

“Miami. I need a favor.”

In the next couple of month thanks to some investors that Miami knew, I had set up ANGELS AGAINST STALKING in 3 locations.  One in West London, one in New York, and the other in Tokyo, Japan.  The media was spreading the news of my organization far and wide and I personally saw to it that the Officers who would work there were not only a part of the city’s police, but took the stalking cases seriously.

They were solemnly swore that if a person calls in regularly for someone stalking or threatening them, they need to take it seriously.  If verbal threats were told or they violated a restraining order, they were to take immediate action and give the victim protection.  

A profiler was also assigned to ensure that no one took advantage of this system so that no money needed to be wasted on a false story and an innocent person didn’t have to suffer.  

People who had been stalked in the past were brought in and coached in how to become therapists because no one but a victim would understand what a true victim is going through.

Soon enough by the start of the summer 1994, ANGELS AGAINST STALKING was up and running and phone calls were coming in and donations from any of my concerts would go to this organization to help keep it running and maybe one day the laws would change against stalking and law enforcement would take it seriously instead of brushing it off or accepting bribes from the assailants family.

If there’s anything that this hellish experience has taught me, it’s that you can’t let your attacker, abuser or stalker show them you have lost the battle.  You need to keep fighting, by any means necessary.  Even if law enforcement can’t protect you, find a way to protect yourself.

Surround yourself with loved ones, take self-defense classes, keep those you love closest to you.  Then when the time comes, document what happens and finally show everyone in law enforcement that you were right.

[maggyme13]

The last Mission (11/11)

AN: HERE WE ARE AGAIN for the last time of this story.

First I own you a reason for the long wait: just after the last chapter, both my sister and best friend became pregnant. Call me crazy, but I feared to jinx it if I continued this story. So I waited until both babies were born and a few months old.

So here we are and I hope you like it.

Wordcount: around 1800

Warnings: mention of misscarriage, asshole general, cursing

Masterlist

TLM-Masterlist

Part 10

Plumbs.

It all started with plumbs and a trip to the market. It ended with them sitting in some prison-cell- interrogation-room- thing.

Obviously it was quickly prepared to keep him and if they would get enough energy they would be able to get out easily.

That much they knew.

What they did not know was what had happened to you. With the last time they had seen you was when Bucky had returned from the market and found Captain America in their hideout.

It was then that the soldier had taken over who tried to lead him away from you to later return to in safety.

Unfortunately it would not come to that: after an hours long chase they were caught and locked away.

Then, two days ago they had been moved and were now locked away in Berlin, Germany. If he was able to trust his knowledge and memories.

At one point well armed men had entered the room that held his glass-cell to give him food and water using a tube for him to drink the soup out.

They were treated better than the soldier had ever been by Hydra when he had been locked away. Apart from the occasional food they were left alone with no word ever spoken to them.

It was irritating and antagonizing.

Just like the rest of the time, they were musing about what might have happened to the two of you, when five well armed men entered. He recognized the patches to belong to the German police special force GSG9. They were followed by a General of the United States and some spec ops guarding him.

“Mr Barnes. This Gentleman wants to ask you a few questions.”, one of the police officers spoke and they nodded in understanding.

Doesn´t look like they like the General much.

“Well, you probably wonder why you are here. Well, we arrested you for the attack on the UN that resulted in a few important people deaths; but unfortunately you have an Alibi. Even though I am not trusting the words of your little whore much. But the Germans do-”

Anger started to burn in their veins. His opponent was speaking about you, that meant he must have met you; spoken to you. And they did not like it one bit.

“- Because of that they are thinking about releasing you. I say it is because they feel guilty. Who wouldn´t after not being able to save a baby.”

A Baby? Their eyebrows rose- First in shock, then confusion.

“Well, I would not in this case. The child of a monster can only turn out as one as well. And it is not like anyone would be loving it, right? You are unable to feel positive things and she will only treat it out of fear.”

Until that moment, Bucky and the Soldier had been coexisting inside the body and mind ; now Bucky stepped back on his own and handed his half of the reigns over to the soldier.

With their combined anger the soldier was able to break out of his restrains within seconds. Much to the surprise of the General and his guards.

Just as quick as the soldier had freed himself, his fist connected with the Generals nose breaking it and the surrounding bones upon impact. His security detail regained their bearings to late and were knocked out quicker than they were able to reach for their guns.

With his new goal in the back of his mind, the soldier made his way over the bodies of the detail (stealing their guns on the way) and dragging the generals body behind him. Now he had to find you and become sure about your condition.

Using one of the stolen guns, he shot the lock to his cell open and stepped outside with the general as his shield.

Outside, he was greeted by the German police officers with their guns drawn and pointing at them.

“Drop him and your weapon!”, the leader ordered once. Twice. Three times in total until he did as he was told. With a loud crack the head of the hostage connected with the floor, cutting the tension for a second.

He knew, unlike their American counterparts, German police officers were taught to shoot as a last resort and as long as he wouldn´t shoot at them, they would not do so as well. So he kept his weapon aimed at them.

“Why don´t we calm down and lower our weapons? If you do that we can arrange for you to speak to Ms (y/n). That is what you want, right? But first you need to lower your weapon and let us take you into custody-”

“SHUT UP!”, the soldier growled, “What did he mean you were not able to save a baby?”

He underlined his question with a kick to the knock out general´s gut.

“Sir, we can talk about-”

“Answer my question.”, he demanded again adjusting his weapon. The soldier knew he was skilled enough to kill or injure at least two of the officers before they would be able to kill him. And he hoped they knew so as well and would disregard their training and answer his demands.

“Due to an incredible unfortunate accident Ms (y/n) had a miscarriage. I am deeply sorry.”

Acting on pure instinct and anger, he was about to take the shot, when the sound of naked feet on tiles caught his attention. And there you were. Out of the corners of his eyes he saw you running towards him. Your hair dripping wet and only a towel around your body.

“I was just taking a shower.”, you told him and a short gush of relieve float down his spine. Taking your appearance as a distraction, the police changed their positions, catching the soldiers attention.

Not wanting to lose you as well, he skillfully moved you behind his body to shield you from any bullet that might come their way.

“Sir, please lower you weapon.”, the leader called out again, “Sir, we have proof that you are innocent of the crime they say you committed. Lower your weapon and we can talk about it. No harm will come to you or Ms (y/n).”

“Soldier.”, you hummed, “They treated me well. Made sure I had food and medical care. Can we take their offer? I am getting cold with only the towel and my wet hair… please?”

Slowly he lowered his weapon and swirled it around so he was griping the muzzle before placing it on the floor and kicking it towards the police.

“If you lie. I will kill every single one of you.”, he promised.

“We know. We will lower our weapons now as well. Ms, do you know the way back to the room you were in first?”

You nodded a yes.

“Then please lead the way, we will be following you. Helmholz has already organized a change of clean clothing for you.”

“Come.”, you whispered and did as told, the soldier hesitantly doing so as well.

Back in ´your´ room, you quickly got changed in the offered clothing and took a seat on the bench again while the soldier was pacing the room like a caged lion.

“I am sorry,”, you finally hummed, stopping him dead in his tracks.

“No. We should be sorry. We failed in protecting you. We caused this. We-”

“To be honest, the General you knocked out caused this whole dilemma.”, Tony Stark piped up from the door, “Easy Iron fist, I am here to offer a peace-treaty. You see. We have evidences that you are in fact innocent of placing that bomb. And that you were controlled by Hydra. We believe you know a lot about them and their plans and so on, and on and on. Because of that I want to offer you a deal: the two of you return with me to the USA and stay at the Avengers-compound where you will get treated for any injuries , be it mentally or physically, and be rehabilitated as much as possible. And with the two of you, I don´t mean Mr Split Personality here, but the two people staring at me right now.”

“Thank you but no thank you. I would rather end up in Jail than to live in the same house as the two people who got me into this situation in the first place.”, you growled, having no desire to have to see Captain spangled latex and the black bitch more than needed.

“Understandable. I am sure we can find a solution to that problem. But can I say that at Steven felt horrible and was trying to find you ever since?”

“Doesn´t change the fact that they made me go to that heli-carrier and didn´t allow me to get my ass out of there once they had what they wanted.”

The billionaire had nothing to answer to that.

“She decides.”, the soldier rumbled and you sighted.

“The compound is huge, I am sure I can find an area suiting your demands. FRIDAY, can you check for me?”

“There three apartments that are at the far east and north of the compound that have their own entrances and can be locked off the rest of the compound.”

“Thank you. FRIDAY.”

“My pleasure Boss.”

“Your call Ms. I will personally make sure that neither of the two will bother you. I will even make sure you have a job. You were a secretary before right? I know someone who could need a new one.”

“Fine.”- Back into lock- down I guess. Not that I am already used to it by now. And it really would be best for Bucky, and the soldier as well. Why did I had to take that damn job in the first place. Screw you benefits!

“Awesome. I will get everything ready and we will depart as soon as possible. Why don´t you order food on my tab.” And with that he was gone.

______

Three month had gone by since then and you had started to feel comfortable in the apartment you were living in now. There had been a small , very small funeral for your dead boy, where only the Soldier/ Bucky had been present and Wanda, who turned out to become a wonderful friend of yours.

Once you crossed path with the Black widow and to the surprise of the two of you, you broke her nose with a punch to the face. Both of you were shocked, but you could not see her reaction, because as soon as your fist had connected with her nose, the soldier had taken over control, thrown you over his shoulder and walked away into a different direction than you first had been on. Captain America was different, Wanda had shown you proof that he had really been trying, with an endless number  of sleepless nights to find you, and so you had had decided to at least give him a chance.

Now only time would tell your future and what it brought for you. One thing you new though. I would not be boring.

AN 2.0: 

Thank you all for reading :)

~MaggY

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[acti-veg]

If you are anti prisons do you think cops should be arrested?

I have been asked this exact question three times now... I could be wrong here, but I suspect it is a leading question being asked of a lot of people who are critical of prisons and the police, out of some attempt to draw out some perceived hypocrisy. I am going to try to answer this a little differently this time, to try and make my position absolutely clear.

I am anti-prison system, but I would not describe myself as a pure prison abolitionist. I think that even in a fair society where crime would be drastically reduced since citizens are no longer desperate or disenfranchised, there would still be a need to keep a small minority of violent individuals away from the general population, for their protection and ours. I believe this would be far more community-based than prisons are now, in fact, I don’t think it would look or function anything like how a prison does. It would be about rehabilitation and reintegration, not profit or deterrent, and I don’t think that it would even be thought of on the same terms as a prison.

However, even if I were a complete prison abolitionist, it would not be hypocritical to argue that police officers who murder citizens should be arrested. Even in a perfect socialist society there would be rogue elements - if a member of a people’s militia were to murder a citizen, for example, they would need to be detained. The key thing to remember is that we don’t live in a post-prison society. In a society where prisons exist and citizens are thrown in them for offences which do not need to carry custodial senses, of course the officers who prop up at that system should be subject to the same laws and treatment as the people who they themselves lock up.

It is not all hypocritical to both call for the criminal justice system to be overhauled or abolished, and to expect that those who currently oversee the current criminal justice system should be subject to it’s systems so long as they themselves exist within said system, even while arguing that those systems need to be radically reformed or abolished entirely.

[loopy777]

Hm. Lately I’ve been feeling conflicted. I would usually say that even if Azula did become good, she would still need to be punished for the horrible things she had done (being in prison is a punishment for sure). But then I would think about how that should be applied to Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee. Like yeah, they did decided to be good (arguable “good” with Mai & Ty Lee) in the end, but it didn’t really erase the terrible actions that they had done. (1/2)

But I’m attached to these characters. I understood why they did they things they did, why they acted like they did, and how they become who they are. And I don’t want them to be in harms way after knowing about their past, trauma, and issues that they had to worked through. But then I’m being a hypocrite since I wasn’t the same with Azula. And if Azula got punished for her past wrongs, I suppose the others should too? I don’t know... Should they have been punished? (2/2)

This gets into the purpose of punishment in general, which turns out to be a very personal thing.

I, coming from a Catholic Christian background, don’t see any purpose to punishment beyond an attempt (and we’ll touch on this word again later) to correct bad behavior. I used to be a fairly angry little kid (Raphael was my favorite Ninja Turtle for a reason) and I liked to wish misfortune (usually destruction of property, like a car dying) on the people I was mad at. So my mom used to quote me the famous bit from St Paul’s letter to the Romans: “’Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” So I was always taught that trying to pay people back for their evil deeds, purely as an act of justice, is cosmically wrong. On the other hand, I was given time-outs when my behavior was bad and also told I did not have to subject myself to the company of bullies, so clearly the lesson isn’t just to let people be bad and not worry about it.

There are people and cultures, though, that demand retaliation. This is just their worldview, and leaving bad things unaddressed would be an active injustice.

Pragmatically speaking, a punishment’s value to society at large is to discourage bad behavior. You do a bad thing, you get an appropriate punishment, and so you decide you don’t want to do the bad thing again in order to avoid future punishments. Ideally, the very threat of punishment is a preventative. Punishments are scaled to the crime to prevent inflation; if every bad act merited the death penalty, then you might as well commit premeditated murder against someone you dislike instead of just calling them a rude name.

However, as I alluded to above, punishments are an attempt to prevent or correct bad behavior, but are not necessarily effective. Rewards are the opposite side of the coin, a system of encouraging good behavior. There’s all kinds of studies on these things, how effective they are, whether and how they can be mixed, the effectiveness of certain types of punishments and rewards, etc. So I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty of all that here. This is just foundation for answering your question.

So, with my background in mind, I don’t see any reason why Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee should be punishment because they have already done the following things:

Admitted they were wrong.

Suffered for their bad behavior.

Attempted to redress or mitigate the consequences of their actions.

Changed themselves so that they are now, based on the recognition of the badness of their previous selves, forces for good.

Again, to bring up my Catholicism, this is exactly the process by which forgiveness of Sin is achieved (maybe minus the suffering depending on how old-school or hardcore the Catholicism is, but narratively the suffering usually makes for a better story), so as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need for punishment or hell for Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee. Some people, though, might not see their experiences and changes as enough; they might want the victims to judge Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee and pronounce some form of punishment or restitution. Arguably, though, this kind of already happened, with the Kyoshi Warriors accepting Ty Lee and Aang accepting Zuko as his Firebending teacher and Suki accepting Mai as a Pai Sho opponent (hey, they can’t all be dramatized on-screen). But some people might want a formal process.

Azula, on the other hand, is keeping up her bad behavior. Now, “redemption” is another one of those words that can mean different things to different people and cultures. Going by my own definition above, Azula has not admitted that her behavior was wrong- last we saw her, she was still trying to teach Zuko that fear is more powerful than love, and she’s still delighting in petty cruelties. She has suffered, but as I noted, this part is optional and not terribly important, anyway. She has not tried to fix the harm she’s caused other people. And she has certainly not even attempted to change herself to become better- just more effective at living up to her old standards.

So, arguably, Azula thus deserves a punishment as part of her path to Redemption.

However, let’s get back to discussing the effectiveness of punishment. As I noted, Azula has suffered. What punishment is going to be worse than her experiences in the finale, being left behind by her father to stew in her paranoia until she is defeated by her enemies and loses all self-control? Is throwing her in jail going to make her better? Is scarring her going to have more of an impact than what she’s already been through?

(Of course, if she doesn’t change, then jail is certainly appropriate to keep her from harming others, which she keeps actively attempting.)

This now gets into the modern debates about crime and punishment, and that our modern criminal justice system is not particularly effective at rehabilitation. Again, there’s stuff out there to learn from, but I’m going to focus on Azula’s narrative. She can certainly experience a story where she is not actively punished but nevertheless transforms into a better person through experiences that truly teach the rewards of being a good person. Azula might more effectively and believably embrace the power of love through rehabilitative experiences instead of punishments.

But would her story be as rewarding if there’s no transformational suffering? Would we feel her Redemption has been earned?

Like I said, this gets personal. I don’t think there are solid answers, hence why my own focus for telling stories about Azula isn’t “redemption.” I think there’s interesting stories to tell about her coming into mental and emotional balance, and that’s what I focus my narratives and themes on supporting. The end result might be a Redemption Fic, but I reached it through character work rather than judgement and justice. As Gandalf once said, “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” This seems to most directly address the idea of capital punishment, but I think it speaks to the inherent lack of ‘justice’ in life. There’s no undoing bad things or crimes, so no true justice can be done. What remains is simply how we ourselves react to it all.

So I don’t know if made my philosophical case, but I at least hope I explained why Azula is currently in a different class than Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee.

I am, of course, completely ignoring that the AtLA comics consistently portray Zuko as someone who tries to murder his friends whenever he disagrees with him. Because that Zuko totally needs a time-out.

[the-devil-herself]

Never Enough - Chapter 2

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 2 DESCRIPTION: Certain mates of Jotuns receive soulmate marks on their bodies. What happens when Loki’s mark is found on a girl with immense power? RATING: M NOTES/WARNINGS: Also available on AO3! The link is here as requested.  Please give me some feedback if you can, I love the inspiration it gives me. Also let me know if you want to be tagged! I’m going to post the first 22 chapters of this story over the next few days, and, hopefully, I will find my muse to write more.

TAGGED: @kneel-before-queen-loki

Present Day

Bang! Bang!

I let out a frustrated groan. I knew who it was. "I'll be out in a minute!" I yelled back. The banging only stopped for a minute before it began again.

Tony had been trying to get me out of my room all morning. He started this obnoxious banging since 5 am, and there was no way in hell I was actually waking up that early. The only thing I was told was that there was a "family meeting" happening soon. A lot of the Avengers would be back from missions so we needed to be prepared to start as soon as they returned. They still hadn't shown up, but I could tell they would be here soon.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

Tony's knocks were getting louder. I quickly put on a pair of pants and opened the door to a very agitated billionaire. "What the hell Tony?" I exclaimed, walking right past him. I checked the clock in the kitchen and saw it was 7 am. "Tony," I groaned as I started making myself breakfast, "it is a weekend, and I had perfectly relaxing plans for sleeping all morning. What is so damn important?"

Tony crossed his arms over his chest and simply stood there. He maintained an annoyed and frustrated glare at me as I pulled out the bowls and spoons. I finally stopped what I was doing and stared back, but he wasn't moving. I threw my arms up. "Alright!" I gave up. "What is it?"

"Thank you for finally crawling out of your cave to join us, Dana," he snarked back. I ignored him, though, and focused on my cereal.

However, when I turned around and looked at the living room behind the kitchen counter, I saw why he was so pissed. All the Avengers were sitting on the couches, looking straight at me. I couldn't tell if they had been waiting for a while, but I prayed it wasn't long. Thor was seated by himself in one of Tony's comfortable chairs, grinning at me like always. No one else looked amused.

"Dana! We've been waiting for you," Thor greeted me. He was oblivious to the annoyance of the other members at my tardiness and came up to me for a huge hug. I held him tight, having missed him for all these years.

"What are you doing here?" I inquired incredulously.

Thor laughed and walked me over to the couches where the rest of the team sat. Everyone seemed to relax a bit more at seeing my reunion with Thor. "I'm here to see old friends, of course!"

I didn't believe him. "But I haven't seen you since..," I drifted off, knowing mentions of that day were probably still too raw for him,"..since New York."

Thor's eyes clouded for a moment. Regret, pain, mourning, and anger all passed through his face in a matter of seconds, but I still saw it. He caught himself and returned to his usual friendly smile. He responded, "It indeed has been way too long, but now it seems there are things we need to discuss. All of us."

I turned to the others, but they too seemed confused about what he was talking about. All except Tony. He just continued looking pissed, and I had a reason to suspect it wasn't just because of my stubborn behavior earlier. He refused to sit down, choosing to stand by the couch were Natasha and Steve sat quietly. He had been uncharacteristically silent during the whole interaction as well, which was always a cause for concern.

Bruce was the first to break the silence. "Thor, what's going on here?" he asked the question on all our minds.

Thor sighed and smiled at me one more time before beginning. "My... brother," he started, causing everyone to tense up, "has spent years in Asgardian prison."

"Where he belongs," Clint piped up. He was sitting on the floor at Nat's feet, exhausted from having just returned from a mission.

I shot Clint a glance warning him to be nice. Yes, Loki destroyed half of the city, but Thor still cared for him deeply.

Truth be told, I wasn't around when the battle was fought. I was tucked up with my family in a completely different state. We watched it all happen on TV like most others did, staying up all through the night to make sure the enemies were defeated. However, I did experience something weird then. Days before the battle, my secret mark began to burn again. Gradually, but enough to gain my attention. Then, when I saw Loki on the TV, my wrist began to burn again like it had in New Mexico. I had to excuse myself and place my arm in cold water for half an hour before it faded.

My mark hasn't burned like that since.

Thor gulped, dragging our attention back to him. "Yes, I understand, but it seems my mother has pleaded with the Allfather for these past years to give Loki a chance to... rehabilitate." Multiple scoffs were given from around the room. "Odin has agreed."

"You can't be serious?" Steve demanded. "He killed hundreds, destroyed half the city, and brought about an alien invasion that we're still cleaning up after!"

"Steve," Thor said quietly. "I know. But I cannot defy an order from Odin." Steve backed down. It had been clear since we met him that Thor's father was a king that was not to be disobeyed. With Thor's former banishing, we knew he meant business. "And he is also my brother. He got sucked in to evils beyond our understanding, but I can get him back. I can bring him back again."

"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Nat questioned.

All eyes were on Thor.

He couldn't look at us back. Instead he gazed at the carpet. "Thor?" I pushed. "Where is Loki?"

Thor eyes turned soft when they found mine again. I could see that same sadness in him that I saw seven years ago. His life was completely different to what he had planned, and his family was torn apart. Finding out your parents lied to you about your brother's heritage for your whole life along with realizing that same brother wanted to kill you was probably taxing.

"It has been requested that he is sent here."

That's when the screaming started. Clint started shouting about how Loki should be dead for his crimes. Steve and Tony argued about whether this was even a plausible idea. Nat tried to calm Bruce down before he had an anxiety attack. Thor stayed silent.

As did I. I continued to sit there and look at Thor. He looked so resigned. His eyes were shut, not wanting to witness the scene before him. The stress had taken a toll on him, and he had no support left. I grabbed his hand and held it between mine, but he didn't move.

"He's a murderer!"

"He'll be dead the minute he steps foot on Earth anyways..."

"... Fury would never agree..."

The fights weren't stopping.

"Tony," I spoke firmly. Everyone stopped to peer at me. "Tony, we have to help Thor."

No response.

"Guys, we can't leave this for Thor to handle alone. The Avengers have a responsibility to protect this world, and maybe, giving Loki a chance to redeem himself is a way of protection. I mean look at what he did in New York. It took six of you to defeat him! He's powerful, he's clever, he has allies and enemies across the galaxy. We don't really want another attack coming from him, do we?"

Thor finally cracked a smile again, silently thanking me by holding my hand a bit tighter. He had needed help all these years, but he never asked. He was always helping us, but now it was time to help him.

Tony considered what I had said for a moment. Although, Clint did not budge. "Dana, you don't know this guy. He's pure evil. I killed friends because of him!"

I released Thor's hand and stood up from my seat. "Do not dare to assume I don't know this man," I snarled, "because you would be wrong. I have met him- in New Mexico. And I saw it all. He's a powerful being, and, guys, we need him as our ally now more than ever. We've been experiencing increases in alien attacks and supernatural occurrences ever since. We could use a magic-wielder like Loki on our team."

Clint and Nat still thought it was all nonsense, but it appeared that I had gotten through to Tony and Steve. Bruce was still cautious.

"She's right," Steve spoke up. "We need more help. Each day new alien tech is invented, and people are now getting access to advanced weapons that we can't outgun."

The whole team silently agreed with what he was saying, but Clint still looked furious. It was expected though, since Clint was the only team member to have been made to kill other agents by Loki's scepter. He had moved on and recovered, but we all knew how hard it was for him to even think about that day and what he did.

"Clint, my dear friend," Thor uttered. "Would you believe me if I said that you were not the only victim of manipulation that day?"

This was news to us. Clint's eyes softened a bit, but his muscles were still tense.

Thor continued, "Loki has admitted to us that he was not in control that day... that a mad Titan had tortured and exploited him for about a year before New York. The monster, Thanos, found him when he fell from the Bifrost."

I sat back down next to Thor, processing all this new information. Everybody was taught that Loki was a bad guy and nothing more, but now... this changes everything. He was being used.

Before anyone could respond, Thor muttered, "I've seen the scars.... He tells the truth."

Scars. I could only imagine what kind of physical and mental pain Loki must have been through to have been convinced to invade Earth. Especially when Loki was no mortal man, but a god who had been raised to endure massive amounts of pain.

"It's decided then," Steve said, getting a supportive nod from Tony. "He may come here."

"But!" Tony interrupted. "He gets one chance, Big Guy. He does something, says something, even thinks of something that harms or jeopardizes others, he is gone."

I could see Thor let out a big sigh of relief. A big portion of his tension and stress rolled off his body now that he finally had help in supporting his brother. No one else looked very happy about it, but we could all see it was what needed to be done. And that was that.

Loki was coming.

[that-yandere-life]

Hey! First time asking anything of a fan fiction writer, but are you able to do multi yandere hcs, your choice of yanderes, with a super villain target? Please don't burn yourself out over it, I don't have a preference over time! I love your writing a lot, take as much time as you need

Peter Parker-

It took him awhile to figure out that you were actually his arch nemesis as you wore a mask over your face.

That explained why sometimes when he was near you his spider senses went off like crazy.

So the next time you guys got into a fight he managed to knock you out.

Peeling back the mask confirming his suspicions much to his dismay.

Since he had you already he decided to help you change your ways and become a better person.

After all who better to make you rethink your choices than the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

Sure he had his doubts on whether you would accept his help, but in the end he realized that over time you had no choice but to.

His love could be what gives you a change of heart, and instead of fighting him you could learn to love him in return.

Maybe it was a little delusional of him but he didn’t see it going any other way.

Locking you up in a room making sure that you couldn’t use any abilities that you had with a device Tony had built to secure prisoners in rooms.

When you woke up you immediately noticed that your mask was missing, and now you were in a pair of guys sweatpants, and a t-shirt that did not belong to you.

Peter walked into the room and started talking to you like you already knew who he was.

As you expressed your confusion he used his web shooter to drag himself up to the ceiling instantly showing off his identity.

Of course you tried to convince him to set you free but that was in vain as he had no plans to.

Explaining your reason’s for doing what you did, didn’t help either.

In return he explained how he only wanted the best for you, and that meant that you couldn’t hurt anyone anymore.

Fighting against the restraints he had placed on you only infuriated you more by the minute.

“It’s okay we can be together now.”

“I don’t even know you besides fighting you!”

Understanding your plight he tried to make you feel better, even showing you how much he cared.

Laying down next to you holding you as you attempted to struggle away.

That didn’t matter to him, he was going to hold you until you gave in whether you realized it or not.

Stroking your hair and telling you how much you meant to him over and over again attempting to sway your opinion of him.

Eventually you couldn’t help but start to listen to him, actually surprised that someone truly cared about you for once.

Giving you his life story over the course of the next few days, you opened up with your own which was a tragic tale to say the least.

How could you say no for long to this adorable brown eyed boy who only showed you love, something you had never really felt in your entire life.

Clint Barton-

[Warning: Slight Mention of Suicide]

It was when he was assigned to take you out that he fell in love with you.

Seeing how you interacted with everyone outside of your villainy he could tell you really had a good heart inside.

That you didn’t really want to hurt anyone, but you felt forced into it because it is what your parents had done.

Almost like a family business gone wrong sort of deal.

While they were proud, you hated yourself every single time you went out in your costume tormenting someone or another.

Never did you kill however, that was the one thing you couldn’t bring yourself to do in the end.

Instead you just caused mass panic and mental anguish for anyone you encountered.

Cornering you one night he had his arrow trained right at your head.

But what really surprised him was you begging him to fire and put a stop to your actions for good.

There was no way he was going to allow that to happen even though that was his original goal.

“Come with me, you don’t have to do this anymore. I can take care of you, keep you safe.”

Part of you wanted to run at him to force his hand, but the other part desperately wanted to believe his intentions were pure and real.

Nodding you dropped your weapons walking towards him with your arms in the air showing that you surrendered and were now unarmed.

Clint would take you with him to his farm that only Fury knew about, but wouldn’t suspect he was holding you there.

Contacting HQ letting them know that the job was done, he secured your freedom as a trusted member of the organization.

There he taught you how to just be a person, that you didn’t have to fight anymore.

Although he did teach you archery, which you actually got pretty good at much to his surprise.

That was when after you asked him, he began truly training you how to be a hero instead of a villain.

Someone who could help people instead of hurting them should the occasion arise.

Forever would he be by your side to keep you safe and feeling loved.

Life would never be the same for either of you.

Steven Rogers-

During a big fight between you and The Avenger’s he managed to knock your mask off with his shield.

Seeing your face he couldn’t believe how breathtaking you were despite being sweaty and panting from the heat of the battle.

That didn’t stop you from continuing to antagonize them and terrorize the civilians running from you.

Quickly he announced his plan to capture you instead of kill you over the comms making everyone think he was crazy.

However he was the Captain and therefore whatever he said went.

Dodging every attack they made upon you, it was hard to focus on everyone at once when they all rushed you.

Taking an unexpected shield to the back of the head you were knocked onto your knees harshly.

Trying to get back up you felt a foot kick you all the way down the ground face first, hitting your head on a piece of concrete you had destroyed as part of a building earlier.

Bleeding heavily you reached up and touched it wincing as you again tried to get to your feet.

Steve took that opportunity to pounce on top of you effectively pinning you to the ground.

There you felt the prick of a dart in your neck as your world started to turn black.

Waking up you felt your head throbbing almost unable to focus on your surroundings, just shocked that you were still alive.

Steve entered the room being notified by FRIDAY that you were now conscious.

“Why didn’t you kill me?”

“I didn’t want to, that’s not what we try to do here if we can avoid it.”

Calling him out on his lie having heard their change of plans with your advanced hearing.

That was when he went into a speech about how you can change, how you don’t have to do what you are doing.

When you tell him you like it, you like feeling powerful he laughs at you.

Nothing feels more powerful than when taking down someone like you.

Sitting down next to you on the cot you had been laid upon he touched your shoulder softly.

Looking into his eyes you couldn’t help but see a spark there, what it was you didn’t understand yet.

But you would, oh you would.

He never had any intentions on letting you leave, his true intentions were to make you his.

Tony Stark-

How Tony found out that you were anything other than a normal human was a little unethical.

Hacking into your communications on your cellphone he found out that you were planning something catastrophic.

Something that he needed to stop before it was too late and you became a cold blooded killer with a thirst for blood.

So he planned on taking you out for a night of fun, you were friends after all.

Now how you got it past him was unknown, he never felt anything off about you.

Plus you were friends with a real life superhero, how could you possibly think what you were planning was okay?

Slipping some sleeping medication into your wine when you went out for drinks he knew it was only a matter of time before he could keep you safe from yourself.

When you told him you were starting to feel drowsy he offered to take you home, having no real intentions of actually taking you there.

Falling asleep in his fancy sports car, he drove you to the tower having a special room connected to his own to house you in.

Laying you down on the bed, he activated the special power deactivator he had invented for Loki once upon a time but had repurposed for you.

Of course he had no idea if you had abilities or not but he wasn’t going to take the chance of you busting out of there and fighting him.

Honestly he didn’t know if he could fight you or not if it came down to it.

He had been in love with you for a long time, and he couldn’t set aside his feelings to harm you.

Upon waking up you felt yourself start to panic and bang on the huge metal door blocking your exit.

Tony entered crossing his arms over his chest, and you knew in that moment that he figured out what you were and what you were planning.

Looking down at the floor you didn’t want to face him or answer his questions.

He didn’t really give you a chance not to as he bombarded you with one after another demanding you respond.

All you could do was apologize, you knew what you had planned was wrong but you wanted his attention even if it was for a bad reason.

Unable to believe the words that came out of your mouth he made you meet his gaze by tipping your chin up.

“You’ve always had my attention, you needed only to ask.”

Sobbing you cried into his chest as he held you, reassuring you that you weren’t inherently bad you were just about to make a bad choice.

With him by your side you could work on rehabilitating, and turn your misfortune into something good.

And he was never going to leave your side again.

[Okay I went off a little and did way too much, but we all should have realized by now that I have the too extra gene hahaha! Thank you so much for your request and your compliments! I really hope that you like it, and that it was what you were wanting!