#i thought my team would be fine enough against a fire team but sheesh

[goldensunset]

finally oh my goodness mela of team star actually had me on the ropes that took forever

[datawyrms]

Expectations Fulfilled

Dannymay 2020 Day 18 : Horror (As a warning this is way too long? I don’t know how this happened. The answer is way too much setup.)

The last fight with Valerie had not gone well. Danny had hesitated a beat too long, seemingly frozen in indecision and took a nasty blow to the chest for it. That was their friend for you, get too worried about hurting the person trying to kill you and forget to dodge again. At least he’d dropped out of the sky over a wooded area, giving them a chance to pull him out of the fire yet again.

“Danny, you have to change back before she sees you!” Sam hissed at the glowing boy who was clutching his head. “Do you need us to carry you?” her eyes scanned the branches above, it didn’t look like he’d taken any down by slamming into them, but he could always just land badly.

“I will totally put you in this thermos over letting her drag you off to Vlad.” Tucker warned, listening for the tell tale hum of the ghost hunter’s jet board.

“I-I’m okay.” Danny finally responded, starting to get back to his feet. “Don’t soup me. Hate that,” he shook his head still rubbing at it with one hand. “I’m just a bit dizzy”.

“You’re not fooling anyone with that hero act anymore, you hear me?”

“Hurry up!”

The ghost gave a stiff nod, finally clear headed enough to switch back to human form. He stumbled, but the three of them had enough practice by now to get moving quickly. It wasn’t likely Valarie would connect the three of them with Phantom, but with their luck she’d assume a ghost was what had gotten Danny limping along.

“We really need a better plan for when she catches up to you, talking it out isn’t working.”

“What, I love being blamed for beating myself up.”

Sam scowled at her flippant friend. “I know you’re worried about hurting her, but she can probably take a few hits. Just so she’s a little more cautious about going after you so hard.”

“Probably wouldn’t take a fall from that high up very well though.” the half ghost grimaced as he watched the sky.

“Dude, you barely took that fall. Sam has a point.” Tucker handed over the backpack as his friend steadied, keeping close in case Danny was only acting like he was good to go again.

“I’ll think about it.” Which was basically Dannyanto for ‘no’, but there wasn’t much use in trying to convince him.

That is why it was so strange the next day in school. Tucker spotted Valerie running out of class with a flimsy excuse, but Danny hadn’t even made an attempt to leave. It could have been something that wasn’t ghost related, but spotting the large white and green serpent ghost slammed to the ground from the window confirmed it was indeed a ghost thing.

“Hey. Aren’t you gonna go out there?” he leaned over with a hiss, Lancer too distracted by the potential danger to his students to really be picky about talking in class.

“Huh?” Danny stared at him blankly.

“The ghost? That Val’s fighting?” he clarified, wondering if his friend had simply slept through his ghost sense.

Danny looked out the window, looking more bored than alarmed. “Nah. She has it.”

“Dude, are you okay?”

“You guys were the ones saying we needed a plan. So I’ll just let her deal with it,” he shrugged, slouching back in his chair.

That didn’t really seem like a plan he’d normally come up with. Sure, it was sensible, but that’s why it didn’t make any sense. Danny looked normal enough though, maybe he was just tired of getting yelled at by someone he was helping. “If you say so. It is just an animal ghost,”. He dropped the subject, taking several looks back as their teacher ushered them all off to a ‘safer area’. Valerie probably wouldn’t have any trouble alone, but his friend’s complete lack of interest was a little creepy.

Sam’s opener at lunch meant he wasn’t alone in that thought. “Aren’t you maybe a little too carefree about this?”

“No? If she gets beat up then it’s not my problem anymore,” he focused back on his sandwich, ignoring the twin looks of bafflement he was getting for a few minutes. When they continued he muttered “What? I’ll deal with it if it threatens you guys, you’re my friends”.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Your parents don’t have some weird ghost mood changer or something?”

“I’m fine Sam. I finally agree with you guys and now you’re surprised I’m not acting like a superhero, sheesh.” he rolled his eyes, irritation creasing his brow.

“You gotta admit it was pretty sudden. We know how stubborn you are,” Tucker crossed his arms, unable to shake the feeling that something was off.

“You said it enough that it made sense. She hates me and wants to waste me, so why keep bailing her out? See how she likes the ‘evil ghost’ not helping,”

“You’ll help if she gets in serious trouble though, right?” Tucker hesitated before asking.

“If I feel like it.”

Sam and Tucker shared a look, biting back any further questions. Whatever was up with Danny, they probably wouldn’t get out of the half ghost himself. They’d have to invite themselves over tonight and take a look around for anything new and dangerous.

“See? Totally fine.” Danny prompted them to look around, spotting the ghost hunter entering the lunchroom with a scowl.

“Uh Danny, she’s a little hurt. See her arm?”

He raised an eyebrow. “So? I take worse, you’ve taken worse. Why do you care?”

Sam really wanted to ask him why he didn’t care, but the elbow from Tucker had her reconsider. With the weird apathy, it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to get on his bad side.

Yet they couldn’t find any sort of weapon or tool that might have explained why their friend had flipped from being completely unwilling to aggressively defend himself against Valerie to ignoring ghost fights he had no interest in. Any questions or nudges to help were always met with reluctance, as if he resented the very idea of assisting. Sure, he’d go the second a ghost might threaten his family or friends, but otherwise he seemed to have set the rest of the town in a ‘not my problem’ box.

“Maybe he wants to focus on his studies. You know he can’t work for NASA if he keeps pulling his kind of grades.” Jazz was a little put off by his behaviour, but couldn’t deny that the increased amount of sleep and downtime was reversing her brother’s downward trend in school.

“Isn’t it weird though? It’s not like it was our idea for him to use his ghost powers to help people, he did that on his own,” Sam pointed out, frustrated that Jazz would just ignore all of that.

“You know I can totally hear you guys, right?” Danny called from upstairs, and they could swear the room had gotten colder.

“Yup! Eavesdropping is rude little bro”

“So is gossiping behind my back!”

Jazz gave a shrug, covering up a laugh from his irritated retort. “He’s not acting all that different guys, really.”

“Which I’ve been saying on repeat all week.” Danny groused, hands in his pockets as he slouched into the room. “I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not. So I stopped. Is it really that big of a deal?”

“You weren’t pretending, you were really helping people,” Sam pressed, earning another eye roll.

“Sure. That’s why everyone hates my guts. Or wants to poke around in them.”

“Well it’s up to you dude. Just let us know if anything feels off?”

“I’m fine! Sheesh!”

-

Phantom had been strange since their last fight. In some ways it had been nice, not needing to constantly chase the pest down only for him to get away yet again. She was pretty sure she’d caught more than the glowing terror had this week, mostly because the ghost barely showed up. Perhaps it had finally decided the weaker ghosts were beneath it, or didn’t get it enough attention. She didn’t miss the ghost, but she could admit she was running more ragged than usual for it.

“Get out of my way.” the ghost had the audacity to bark an order at her after flinging Ember to the ground, making her completely miss her shot.

“You’re the one in my way Phantom.” she growled back, getting some satisfaction as the ghost’s eyes snapped to her hands and the ectogun she held. “You can’t fool me, I know you’re just an evil ghost”

The green eyed ghost glared at her for that “Am I now?” he paused in midair, eyes flicking between Ember who was getting back up for another go, and the red clad ghost hunter in front of him. “Hey Ember!”

“What! I don’t need any of your awful puns, dipstick”

“How ‘bout a truce? First one to get the hunter grounded wins.” he ducked quickly to dodge the shot Valerie fired.

“‘Bout time you learned what fun is, kid. You’re on!” the ghostly musician regained her place in the air, apparently willing to forgive a punch to the ground if it meant ganging up on a ghost hunter.

“Hey Val? I suggest you run.” With that he fired on her, only managing to dodge the blow by having her board stop floating. She always knew the white haired boy was evil, but she never really expected him to team up with another ghost. Still, she was a better ghost hunter than most. She could take them.

She flew low, counting on the extra obstacles to throw off the ghosts aim. The side benefit of not having far to fall was a notable one as well as the larger soundwaves Ember could launch kept clipping the sides of the board, a little too wide to completely dodge. She rocked wildly but was able to keep her feet, using the time in between volleys to launch a few attacks of her own back. Judging by the grunts she’d hit one or the other a few times, but not directly. She urged the board to go faster, eyes scanning for a good place to turn the tables on the ghosts. It wasn’t a great spot, but the two buildings could provide cover once she got behind one. The board shrieked at the hard turn she demanded of it, but managed to get down the alley without clipping the sides.

“Who’s the rat now, huh?” Ember’s taunt was infuriating, but she forced herself to wait. She had to take at least one of them out. The first shot took the ghost by surprise as she rounded the corner, but the second was a little too far down.

“The thing about corners is you can’t really surprise me if I don’t come that way.”

She jerked in surprise, trying to face the ghost who had somehow gotten behind her-though the building of course how had she been so stupid-? Yet she couldn’t dodge the punch that threw her off the board and on to the ground, skidding to where the guitar wielding ghost was waiting.

“Well, that was fun. Should do it again sometime!” she gave the ghost hunter a kick before taking to the air, eyeing Phantom a little warily. “Didn’t think you had it in ya.”

“Surprise. Touch my friends and I’ll kill you again. Got it?” he started cheerfully enough, but the warning was nearly a snarl.

“Chill out dipstick. Weird little humans off limits, got it!”

Valerie tried to rise as flame-head fled, but was forced back down by Phantom’s boot. She managed not to grunt in pain, but she didn’t have too many options to remove the ghost’s foot from her chest at the moment.

“As for you, Valerie,” he ghost was still clearly furious, but seemed a little lost now that he’d actually knocked her down. 

“Danny?”

Valerie’s heart raced. Tucker? He was a bit of a dweeb, but she couldn’t let this ghost scum hurt him. She struggled, trying to unbalance the ghost while it was distracted, rolling free and dragging the ghost down with a grunt.

“What now?” Phantom seemed peevish, ignoring the ghost hunter completely after getting back up. As if she was so little threat he could just ignore her.

“I think you might be going a little far dude.” Tucker really shouldn’t be trying to reason with this monster, but it was giving her time to ready her weapon.

“Hey, she wanted evil!”

Tucker looked incredibly uncomfortable, eyes darting between the ghost and his disguised classmate. “How about no more fighting for today, okay?”

“You can’t be defending this monster! It can’t hide what it is!” she aimed her reclaimed weapon.

The ghost’s more relaxed air died the second she finished speaking, temperature plunging as he whirled to face her. It was strange how he seemed more fixed on her hand than the barrel of the gun, but that didn’t really matter all that much with the ghost’s hands and eyes glowing a furious green.

She stuck to her guns, ready to fire and distract the thing so Tucker could run Yet he didn’t run, instead pulling a Fenton thermos quickly out of his backpack, looking more worried about her than anything else.

“Yeah okay, you need a time out. Sorry.” The ghost didn’t even react to the words, though it blinked a few times once it realized the Fenton’s invention was pulling it away from its intended target. Otherwise it didn’t struggle, leaving Tucker to quickly cap the thermos. “Okaaay. I’m just gonna. Go now. Bye!” he sprinted away before she could demand he hand over the thermos so she could dispose of the ghost inside. Didn’t he see how dangerous it was?

-

Thinking simply hurt. Tucker and Sam were worried sick, babbling on and on about how he was acting weird, that he could have seriously hurt Valarie. As if hurting her mattered. Maybe it did? Urgh. He just wanted them all to stop talking and let him figure it out.

“Danny, this isn’t normal. We just want to help,”

“Why is any of this surprising? I’m always like this.” he insisted, only earning worried frowns again.

“No, you don’t usually decide to attack people for calling you evil. What’s gotten into you?” Sam was looking him in the eye. She did genuinely seem to be concerned, even though it didn’t make any sense.

“Nothing? I’ve been half ghost for a while,” he crossed his arms.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere. We need to ask Frostbite to check him or something.”

“There’s no way we can get to the Farfrozen if we start now, and we can’t trust him to go on his own right now.” Tucker frowned, punching plans into his PDA.

“I’m right here guys.”

Sam dragged her hand across her face. “Danny, you were going to waste Valerie, we get to question your judgement right now.”

“Of course I was. I’ll show her a monster,” her muttered, eyes flaring green in annoyance.

Tucker paled a little, still looking at the PDA. “Yeah that? That’s what we’re worried about.”

“I wouldn’t hurt you guys.”

“Danny, that’s not the problem here!”

The half ghost sighed, slumping on his bed. They still weren’t making sense, and everything was starting to itch horribly. He rubbed at his shoulder, but it only seemed to make the itching sensation worse. Something was in the way of what needed scratching, but he couldn’t quite reach it. Very annoying.

“Can you stop dropping the temperature? It’s like a meat locker in here.”

“I’m not doing anything.” he stared at the stickers on the ceiling, idly wondering if something had happened to the others to make all of them make zero sense. Or to make them forget that he was a half ghost. Of course it was cold. He kept scratching at his shoulder, nails desperately trying to find whatever it was that was making him feel so uncomfortable. Something tight and restrictive that itched furiously.

“We go Friday. There’s no way we can sneak away that long until then.”

“You’re overreacting guys.” That, and a trip to the ghost zone would be pretty boring.

“No, you’re under reacting. Just trust us, okay?”

Sam and Tucker remained weirdly on edge, watching him like he was some sort of bomb that might go off at any moment. Shouldn’t they be used to all this by now? So what if he found it a little fun that people were too scared to keep eye contact with him for very long? They were only unsettled, and the fear always gave a welcome kick of energy. It distracted from the itching.

He wanted to be a little more scary than just simply unsettling, but Sam and Tucker insisted the school was a hands off zone now. Maybe he should have picked different humans to be so attached too, as these ones were being incredibly boring all of a sudden. Didn’t they want to have a bit of fun? Simply being unsettling with his presence was all well and good, but it wasn’t the same as a proper scared-for their-lives affair. They didn’t even approve when he went after Skulker for daring to set foot in his territory! He’d been ‘too careless’ for dragging the ghost near some of the fleeing humans while they fought. Of course he had! What was the point of fighting if he wasn’t going to get some good back from it? He could do what he wanted with his food.

Really, it just made him want to tear his hair out. They were the ones who had changed, but they kept insisting it was the other way around.

Valerie was incredibly weird though. She kept talking to him as if they were friends. It always made the itching worse, trying to pretend he was glad she was at school and not a smear on the sidewalk. Humans were stupid. It wasn’t like he was hiding what he was. Though it was one of the times that she approached him that he finally solved the itching problem, nails finally tearing through the obnoxious, too tight skin.

She’d backed away with a gasp, as if the green stain on his hands should be some sort of surprise. “What happened to you? Don’t worry, I’ll get help!”

She seemed confused when he laughed at her nonsensical question. Flexing his freed claws was fun, but he really did need to get the rest of this restricting mess off. His right hand clawed at his arm, the ectoplasm that oozed from his self inflicted wounds was both freeing and soothing at once. Stop hiding, stop pretending. 

“Nothing happened to me.” He flexed his freed arms,  green black skin more like tar than anything else, giggling when the girl recoiled from the new green eyes that bubbled to the surface to watch her squirm. 

Maybe she was that oblivious. “Someone will help you Danny, just hold on!” she insisted before sprinting down the hall. He’d chase her, but there were so many people simply watching in mute horror that he couldn’t resist trying to get a few screams out of them. No killing, Tucker and Sam wouldn’t like that, but a few scratches wouldn’t hurt all that much. Dash ought to know how kind he’d been in not retaliating sooner, really. The disgusted sounds they made as he clawed at his face was entertaining, someone fainting as he flung the discarded skin away. Some of his hair remained black, but the white went nicer with his pointed teeth, in his opinion. He let out a snarl, relishing in how they fled from some twisted half human ghost. Tucker and Sam were wrong, he absolutely should have done this sooner. Well, he’d let them know that when they showed up. They usually did. It really was a bit of a shame to just let them all run away though. Oh well.

Maybe he should free his feet, but getting through his shoes might be a bit of a pain. It was easier to drag his claws against the lockers and listen for the sounds of running feet and muffled screams. They were so scared they didn’t even need to see him.

“Danny, do you recognize us?”

Oh, there they were! “Hi. I fixed the itching.” he clawed idly at his neck, feeling more flexible with every scratch. It was much easier to keep an eye on them with the arm eyes, freeing his head to glance around the rest of the hallway.

“We noticed. Uh. I think you left half of yourself on the floor.” Tucker looked ill, pointedly ignoring a red and green splatter on the wall next to him.

“Finally. So much scratching. You have no idea how annoying that was.” They didn’t seem happy for him though. More worried. Why? They knew he’d never hurt them. They were his humans, his favourite ones. No one got to hurt them.

“Can you...change back?” Sam asked, approaching cautiously.

“Change back to what?” his brow furrowed, fixing the blue eyes of his face to double check he was seeing correctly. Was she upset? Weird. This was a good thing. 

“Back into yourself. Human, like us? Remember?” Tucker had taken one of his hands, careful of the claws. They were still the same general shape, even if Tucker’s skin was thin and weak and warm.

“I’m not like you though. You were there.” he tilted his head, wondering if they’d forgotten that too somehow.

“You’re still human, Danny,” Sam stepped in as Tucker seemed distracted in wiping the green and black film off of his hands.

“Nope. Something in the middle.” he let out a hum, sure he’d heard something. “Being split like that was wrong. Like playing pretend all the time.” The beast stretched, the cracking of his lower back like gunshots in the abandoned hall. Two more steps. So there was a sneak around!

“This isn’t you, you know that. You don’t want to hurt or scare people.”

“Mmm? That’s what monsters do, isn’t it?” Why did Sam decide to hug him now? He couldn’t get at the rest of his torso like that.

Tucker was very confusing, rubbing at the water from his eyes. “Just let us try to help you fix this, okay? You aren’t a monster.” 

“Sure I am. What else could I be?”

“Who told you that? Why would you listen to them over us?” Sam was brave as usual, shaking him a little instead of backing away.

“I told you that too! Are you sure you guys aren’t the ones forgetting stuff?” he frowned at the two of them, ear twitching. More steps. The sneak was close, and he was pretty sure he knew who it was.

“It doesn’t matter who it was. Can you switch to ghost form?” Tucker sounded calm, but his face was still leaking. Sam had joined him, though she was more biting her lip than dripping like a faucet. 

“I’m both right now. I just said that!” They really weren’t listening very well. “I’m done hiding what I am, it was uncomfortable.” The confused muttering from the sneak was fun to overhear, but it would probably be more fun if Tucker and Sam were in on it. “They don’t know what I mean by that, you might have to explain it for em.”

“Explain what? To who? No one’s here Danny. It’s just us.”

“Us and the sneakkkkk.” he sprang forward, grabbing on to the corner with his claws, twisting his neck to look down at the sneak who backed away with a yelp. “Hiiii Val. You gonna run again?” he snickered when her fear morphed into anger, apparently recognizing him now.

“You sick creep! What did you do to Danny?”

“Valerie! Don’t make him mad!” Sam called out, the two of them sprinting over to join the  sneaky ghost hunter.

“No one listens! I’m Danny. I’ve always been Danny. You just didn’t notice! That’s okay, almost nobody did.” Oh she was very funny when she glared at him like that.

“You’re lying. Danny is nothing like you.”

“Danny is everything like me. Right Tuck? She doesn’t listen to ghosts. You sure I can’t just kill her?” he glanced back at his friends, disappointed to see the no already written on their faces.

“No! That would be bad, don’t do that!” Tucker stammered, unsure where to keep his eyes. He’d have an easier time if he had eyes on his arms like he did now. Maybe his friends could be half ghosts too. Hmm.

“Valarie, I know this doesn’t make any sense, just listen and don’t set him off.”

“Sam, this thing has done something awful to your friend and you’re worried about the ghost’s feelings? What��s wrong with you?” the ghost hunter stood her ground even without her fancy gear, glaring up at the perching mutated mess above her.

“All of that up there is Danny, okay? Something’s wrong, and we’ll explain it once he’s better, but you just need to trust us right now.”

“Mmmhmm. A monster just like you said.” he rocked back and forth a little, blue eyes fixed on Valerie’s clenched fist. “You’re lucky my friends won’t let me kill you Val. Even though I’m not hiding anymore.”

Tucker noticed how Danny’s blue eyes seemed fixed on the girl he was tormenting, elbowing Sam to point it out.

“None of you are making any sense. He’s just possessed or something, why are you acting like this is okay?”

“Annoying.” Danny growled, showing far too many fangs. “This is what you wanted! You say I’m not a hero so I stop.”

Tucker and Sam looked ill. “Valarie, what do you have on your hand?”

“Why does my jewelry matter now?” she didn’t look at them, too busy scowling at the monster on the wall. “I didn’t say anything like that to Danny.”

“Yes you did! You are awful at this. Phantom was Danny and vise versa. Keep up!” the hybrid snorted. “Both are me. Both are very, very tired of you and your orders.”

“It’s important! Where did you get it?” Sam had apparently decided she didn’t have time for Valarie to be confused, trying to grab at her hand and cursing when she saw it. “Nevermind, I don’t care, just smash it!”

“You still aren't’ making sense.” She was reaching for a blaster that wasn’t there, looking between all three now as possible threats.

“Then you say I’m evil. So I comply. Now I stop hiding and still you are complaining! Make up your mind! Or let me kill you, that’d be fun.” Plaster cracked beneath the creature’s claws as it leaned forward, uncomfortably close. The out of place blue eyes flicked from the red ring to her face and back again. “Isn’t this exactly what you wanted Val? Or should I call you master?”

(oh look a sort of continuation)

[zerolympiustrife]

Here's a bit of a toughie, Tsundere Yang x Jaune

That’s a toughie indeed.

————————————————————

Anonymous asks: How to Tame Your Dragon (RWBY)

————————————————————

*Outside Beacon*

Yang (walking by, crossing her arms): Hmph.

Student 1: Ugh, it’s her again.

Student 2: What’s her problem?

Student 3: Despite her age, she thinks she already mature enough to go out drinking and partying.

Student 4: That, and her semblance is so cliche. Anger making you powerful? Never heard that before.

Yang (frowning, internally): What the hell’s their problem? They don’t understand what I’ve been through…

Jaune (approaching): Hey, Yang.

Yang (deadpan): Oh. Hey, vomit boy.

Jaune (raising an eyebrow): …I was expecting you to that with a little more enthusiasm.

Yang (sarcastically): Oh, I’m sorry. Let me try again: *Takes a deep breath, then yells angrily* WHAT’S UP, VOMIT BOY?!?

*Everyone turns to look at the duo weirdly*

Jaune (concerned): …You didn’t have to shout…

Yang (rolling her eyes): Whatever. *Walks back into the school*

Jaune (internally): Hm…maybe I should keep my distance away from her until she…simmers down. *Silently giggles*

*3 hours pass as Teams RWBY and JNPR are killing Beowolves*

Ruby (dodging): Agh! There’s too many of ‘em!

Yang (punching some out): There’s no such thing as too many! *Get attacked and pushed away* Gah!

Ruby: Yang!

Jaune (running over to Yang): Lure the Grimm away! I’ll go heal your sis!

Ruby (doing so): Got it!

Yang (grunting): Agh…rgh…

Jaune (checking her wounds): Yang, are you alright?!

Yang (sarcastically): Yes. In fact…Ack!…I’ve never been better.

Jaune (sees a bleeding hole on her back): Nonsense. You need this bad. *Heals her*

Yang (gasping): Ah! Huh?

Jaune (finishes healing her): Oh, and one more thing… *Amplification!*

Yang (getting up, activating her semblance): HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Whoa! Rgh! Now this is quite the power boost, vomit boy! Thanks a bunch! *Runs off into the distance, killing Beowolf after Beowolf within a span of one punch and causing explosions* HAAAAAAAA!!!

Jaune (smiling): Heh, that girl…

*2 hours pass, Jaune is walking down the hallways, and sees Yang approaching him*

Yang: Hey, vomit boy. Thanks again for the help.

Jaune: No problem, anything for our fellow team.

Yang: Those Grimm thought they had the upper hand, up until RWBY’s secret weapon kicked in.

Jaune: Technically, I was the one who helped bring out the big guns. *Makes a bunch of finger gun gestures*

Yang: Shame you were too fire away to check out my one-hit KOs.

Jaune (shrugging): Shame Grimm can’t speak human languages, otherwise we couldn’t hear their flameous last words.

Yang: Is that all you got, vomit boy?

Jaune: If you and Weiss were to join a photographer’s club, would your new team attack be called “Freeze-Flame”? Or a Blaze-ard? Would a criminal who commits arson be flamed for murder? Is your favorite type of jewelry a Safire? Would you mind if we formed a match-ual relationship? Would it be a love-heat relationship?

Yang (sneeringly): Sheesh! I love making puns, but even this is making me cringe.

Jaune (happily): That must mean I’m succeeding!

Yang (taken aback): …You know what? …Screw you. *Runs off*

Jaune (shrugging): Aw…I didn’t even get to say “When, where, and how hard?”…

*The next day, at the cafeteria…*

*Jaune is eating soup, then feels somebody sitting close to him, he turns to look and it’s Yang*

Yang (nervously): …Erm…Hey.

Jaune: …Hi?

Yang (scooting over): Can…I…hold your hand while you eat?

Jaune (raising an eyebrow): What?

Yang (turning away): …You know what? Never mind. Forget what I said.

*Jaune shrugs, slowly lends his left hand out and places it next to Yang. She notices this, turns away in a arrogant manner, but slowly lends her hand out and places it above Jaune’s hand as she blushes*

Yang (internally): …Is he…not going to say anything about this…? *Slowly scoots over as she grabs Jaune’s hand with both of her hands* Hm…this feels so nice…hm…

Jaune (internally): Man, Yang’s been super close to me ever since she sat down next to me. Could it be that… *Feels a note in his hand* …Huh? *Checks the note and reads it* “Can you meet me outside my team’s room? ASAP. -Yang”.

*ASAP, Jaune runs over to Team RWBY’s room, seeing Yang*

Yang (beckoning Jaune): Ah, good. You’re here. Come in. *Opens the door, the duo enter, and they’re the only ones alone*

Jaune: You wanted to talk to me?

Yang: Yeah…um… *Slowly blushes* Hey…Jaune…do you…have a crush on someone?

Jaune: Not really, no.

Yang (happily): Aw, that’s awesome! *Realizes what she said* I mean… *Keeps a stern expression* Gee, that’s a shame.

Jaune (weirded out): What’s so awesome about me being single?

Yang (turns away): N-Nothing!

Jaune (walking towards her): Are you sure-

Yang (eyes turn red): EVERYTHING’S FINE!!!

Jaune (slightly terrified): Ah…

Yang (eyes turn lilac): Oh! Sorry…I didn’t mean to snap…what I meant to say is…”That’s a shame that you’re not seeing anyone, because…I know of an awesome gal who wants to…be with you. Be close you. Be…become an item with you.”

Jaune (surprised): Oh, really? That’s great! Who’s the girl? Is it you?

Yang: Yes! It’s- *Eyes widened* Wait, no! It’s not me!

Jaune (bummed out): Oh, so it’s not you?

Yang: No, of course it’s me, you dumb- *Realization again* Actually, no! No, it’s…okay, you know what? Screw it! *Grabs Jaune by his hoodie collar*

Jaune (gets pulled towards Yang): Screw wha- *Yang kisses him angrily*

*Jaune freaks out a bit, but slowly calms down. Yang attempts to break the kiss, still angrily, but Jaune pulls her towards him, making the kiss last a little longer. Yang gets surprised by this, but calms down as she softly rubs Jaune’s cheeks*

Ruby (walking in): Hey Yang, I was wonder- *Sees her sister and Jaune kissing each other* Agh! Eugh! Never mind! I didn’t know you had a thing for “vomit boy”! *Walks out, slamming the door*

Jaune (breaking the kiss): Do you love me?

Yang: Of course I love you!

Jaune: You could’ve just said so.

Yang (blushing): I was getting sick of myself not outright saying it. So…I felt like it would’ve been better to show, don’t tell.

Jaune (blushing): I…I see.

Yang (raising an eyebrow): That’s it? “I see” is all you have to say to me?

Jaune: Would you rather have me keep the kiss going on longer?

Yang: Well…I won’t say no… *Surprise kiss!* Mmph?!? Mm…

*Jaune presses her against a wall, and the duo continue their little kiss-capade*

Ruby (peeking from the door): Stupid lovey-dovey filth-induced idiots…

[wildfaeworld]

Okay how about "Take me Instead" with Keith! and with platonic Klance or Kidge. :3

Administrative stuff: this is for the @badthingshappenbingo, in the Voltron: Legendary Defender fandom.

For reference, red X has been done, blue circles requested. not that y’all couldn’t figure that out, sheesh

Alright, here goes!! “Take Me Instead”, with platonic Kidge (good one, I live for Kidge friendship) :D This monstrosity is about 1800 words, beware. It was just too much fun.

*PSST*: you can also read this on AO3

——————

“I don’t understand.” Keithscowled over Pidge’s shoulder at the device on the counter before them. “Whatdoes it do?”

Pidge, unwilling to let suchmundane things as purpose dim the stars in her eyes, dug out her pouch of GAC.“It’s a robot, Keith, it doesn’t needto do anything now, I’m gonna upgradeit! How much?”

“Three thousand GAC.” The way thealien shopkeeper’s assessing gaze roamed over Pidge gave Keith theheebie-jeebies. He stepped closer, looming behind her.

“Pidge. You don’t need this robot.”

“Keith.” Pidge did not look upfrom her wallet. “I need this robot.” Now she did look up at him, and somehowher eyes were bigger, wider, and her face was doing something that made it hardto remember why he had thought the robot was a stupid idea. Oh.

“Are you… using puppy-dog eyes onme?”

Her eyes got bigger (was thatpossible? Apparently so), and now he felt guilty for accusing her.

“Is it working? I’m short a couplehundred GAC.”

And just like that, whatever magicwas in the puppy eyes was gone. “We’re supposed to be looking for supplies forthe castle.”

“With your money! I brought myown. I just need a couple hundred, you know Coran gave you way more than we’llneed. Please, Keith, I need this robot. Look at it! It’s socute! How can you say no to such a cute-” “Pile of metal?” “Keeeiiiith,” she whined, whacking him inthe arm. “Pleeeeeeeaaase, Keith?”

Matt probably would have beenable to say no. Shiro too, maybe even Lance. They all had experience withyounger siblings. But no, they sent Keith, who had no idea how to handle hugeeyes and a face full of desperate need for something frankly trivial. He wasnot prepared for this at all.

Sometimes surrender was the onlyoption. Keith yanked out his wallet and began flipping out GAC. “I’m nothelping you fix it.”

“But Keith, you’re my best labassistant! C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Pidge tucked the robot lovingly under her armand turned a blindingly bright smile up at Keith.

Keith sighed and shook his head.He had a feeling that he was going to end up helping fix the robot. “C’mon, weneed to look for that component-thingy.”

“Flux modulator,” Pidge correctedabsently, engrossed in fiddling with the robot. Keith dropped a hand onto hershoulder to steer her through the teeming masses, scowling out from under hisbangs at the scurrying aliens who hurried this way, that, and always across thepath he was trying to steer Pidge through. Crowds had always been hard for him,but since bonding with Red his instincts tended to go haywire whenever he feltsurrounded or not in control.

“Woah,” Pidge muttered, peeringup over her glasses as Keith yanked her to a stop just before a horde of tinyorange aliens screeched across the end of the aisle. “Keith, you okay, man?”

“I’m fine,” Keith said tightly.Something was wrong; his instincts were screaming – he needed to fight, run,fly – anything to calm the fire burning down his spine. “Let’s just get the frackmandala” “Flux modulator-” “-and get back to the lions.”

“You got it.” Perhaps picking upon whatever had Keith’s senses firing, Pidge put the robot into her satchel andpeered around at the stalls. “Ooh, maybe over there.” She wriggled out from underhis hand and darted over to the corner stall.

Something was coming – he couldn’ttake it anymore. Keith drew his bayard, glad he had ignored Allura when she orderedthem to leave all paladin-identifying gear behind. Screw the flip-flop macerator,he was getting Pidge out of here. They could find it somewhere else.

“Pidge, let’s- PIDGE!” Keithpelted for the alley, heart in his throat. A large green arm had snaked out ofthe shadows and latched onto the littlest paladin, yanking her out of sightbefore she could so much as startle at the unexpected contact.

Keith activated his bayard, arrivingin a whirl of violence. Five huge aliens blocked his way, while a sixth hauleda struggling Pidge down the alley, heading for a pod parked at the other end. Ithad her tucked under its arm like a ragdoll, one three-clawed hand wrappedentirely around her head, and though Pidge was one of the fiercest people heknew, without her bayard the size disparity was simply too great for her to domore than annoy the hulking alien with her struggles. 

Keith charged, cutting down oneof the aliens with a swift slash across its throat before the rest swarmed him.He raised his blade to block an overhead strike, letting the angle of his sworddeflect his opponent’s blade down and off to one side, before whirling hissword about to parry the next attack. Shoving the blade off of his own, Keithyanked his knife out of its sheath at his back and stabbed blindly to his left,where he could feel a third alien approaching from behind. The alien gurgledand screamed, but kept coming, and the other two were swiftly recovering aswell. And all the while Pidge was being hauled toward the pod. Keithglanced about the narrow alley frantically. He needed some sort ofadvantage; between their size and their numbers, there was no way he was goingto take all three down on his own. 

A pile of crates stackedhaphazardly against the wall protruded from a mounded pile of discarded trash.Keith yelled and ducked under the rightmost alien’s scythe-like weapon andjumped up the mound. His footing was precarious at best, but his back wasagainst a wall now and he was nearly at eye level with his opponents. One swungat him with a heavy-handed overhead strike – really, again? Clearly these guyswere not used to actual opposition – and Keith blocked it easily, twisting theblade aside and lunging in to take out the alien’s eyes. Three down, two to go.

The one he had just blindedstaggered into one of his remaining opponents, keening loudly, and Keith tookthe opportunity to leap atop the other one, wrapping his thighs around its’ neckand stabbing downwards through the alien’s skull. He rode the enormous body tothe ground, cleaving the last alien from neck to navel on the way down. Thatleft only the blind one, staggering across the alley in futile search of itscomrades. Keith took a running start and leapt up its back, using his momentumto bring the disoriented alien crashing to the ground. Stunned, the alien frozeas it felt Keith’s blade against its’ neck, cold metal warring with hot bloodagainst its scaly flesh.

“Let her go!” Keith shouted, proudthat his voice projected only his anger and not the crippling fear underneath. Not Pidge, please not Pidge. “Let hergo, or you lose the last of your team!”

The alien halted, its reptilianeyes skittering over the carnage Keith had wrought. Over its clawed hand, Pidge’senormous brown eyes locked onto Keith’s.

“You have brought blood-debt uponyourself, stranger,” the alien snarled.

“Let her go, and I’ll give you achance to collect,” Keith retorted. Beneath him, the blinded alien shifted, andhe ground his heel harder into its spine until it stilled.

“This small one is a lawful prize,taken fairly. She will bring good price to me.” The alien shook Pidge slightly,and Keith’s gut twisted at the strangled whimper that emerged past the thickscaly claws wrapped around her head. “What have you to offer, stranger? Your blood-debtis already greater than you can pay.”

Everything was speeding up,unlike in battle when time seemed to slow; this was too fast, too much, and allKeith could think was not Pidge, notPidge in endless, frantic loop.

“Me,” he said, ignoring Pidge’ssudden muffled cy. “Take me.”

The alien snarled. “I havealready said your debt is greater than you can pay. I tire of this. Flee, whileyou still can, before the debt-hunters are given your scent.”

“I’m a paladin!” Keith blurted. “I’ma paladin of Voltron, heard of them?”

The alien’s sudden stillness wasanswer enough.

“Take me, and I’ll pay yourblood-debt. But you have to let her go.”

The alien watched him, reptilianeyes unblinking and hard as stone. Keith stepped off the blinded alien,shifting his sword back into bayard form and sheathing his knife. “Take me,” herepeated. “But let her go.”

“What is she to you?”

“No one,” Keith said quickly –too quickly, damnit. “A messenger,” he tried again, locking eyes with Pidge’s furioushoney-gold orbs and hoping that just this once he could communicate what he wanted.“She’s just a messenger. I hired her to carry my stuff while I shopped. She’s aninnocent.”

The alien lifted Pidge, eyeingher satchel dubiously. With a single claw, it ripped the satchel down thecenter, sending the robot and various other wires and connectors they had alreadypurchased clattering to the ground. It glanced back at Keith, gaze lingering onhis bayard. Keith thanked whatever gods held sway out here for its distinctivered-and-white coloring. Thanks to Coran’s Voltron shows, most of the galaxy nowrecognized the paladin colors and bayards. Beside him, the blinded alien rolledover, scrambling to its feet, and Keith stiffened, but kept his bayarddisarmed. “Take me,” he repeated. “But let her go.”

Slowly, the alien lowered Pidgeto the ground. “Go, child,” it said harshly. “Offer thanks at your hearth thisnight for the foolish ideals of this paladin.”

“Keith,” Pidge whisperedhoarsely. Bruising was already darkening her pale skin, crossing her face inmottled hues that didn’t belong.

“Go on,” Keith said, his mindstill circling madly, stuck in its loop ofnot Pidge, not Pidge. “You’ve got a job to get back to.”

“No, I-”

The alien shoved her towards theentrance to the alley when she stayed rooted to the spot. “Run, child. Deliveryour messages.”

The giant claws descended on him,then, wrapping around Keith’s torso and pinning his arms painfully to hissides. His bayard clattered on the ground, but the alien’s sinuous tail snakeddown to seize it as well.

“Get out of here!” Keith snarledas it began to drag him away. He couldn’t try to escape until Pidge was safelyaway. She couldn’t start tracking him until she was back at her lion, she wasn’tsafe until she was back with Green.

Finally, Pidge fled, dashingtears out of her eyes, and finally, Keith’s panic over her began to subside,even as his own spiked. But Pidge was safe. He could handle whatever came next,as long as it was him and not her.

[sherrybaby14]

The Distraction

This is for @aquivercactus who requested a Dark!Steve Rogers where the reader is innocent.  

A/N:  This can be read more like a prologue since making a good guy a bad guy without going totally OOC usually requires one for me.  Instead of writing one long story I’m splitting it in two.

Warnings: None/dark thoughts (Non-con Smut in the next chapter). 

Pairing: Steve X Reader 

Tags: @thecynicalnerd @marauderice @mac5323 @idonthavehusbandsihavelovers @negan--is--god @kellyn1604 @roschelesworld @taintedgenre @screeching-pterodactyl-fangirl @purplemuse89 @blondesouthsquad @buckyscrystalqueen @kawaiirepublic @captainemwinchester @xbergiex @bellaballanda @theariel85      

 Don’t move to New York.  It’s dirty.  When you arrived you bleached your tiny apartment from floor to ceiling and kept hand sanitizer on you at all times.  

Don’t move to New York. The people are mean. You weren’t outgoing anyway, it was easy to keep to yourself.  Who cares that you made no friends over the past year? You didn’t even keep in contact with the ones you had from back home.  Your monthly phone calls to your parents turned into monthly e-mails after your latest nephew was born those dwindled too.  They were busy with their newest grandson.  You were never their favorite child.  

Don’t move to New York. It’s dangerous. You tried a self-defense class, but it wasn’t for you.  The thought of hurting anyone, whether they deserved it or not, was almost foreign to you. Besides, you would never react in time. Instead, you never left your apartment after dark, avoided eye contact with strangers and kept to yourself.

Don’t move to New York. It’s expensive. There was no denying that fact. Outside of your main career, you worked side jobs on the weekend.  It was the easiest way to keep up with the rent and still have some money in savings.

For all the reasons not to live in the giant city, there were a few good ones. First of all, your main job was a great starting point, but soon after your arrival, you realized you were not stand out material.  You didn’t think your bosses knew your name, every time you finished a project someone else took credit for your work.  You had a feeling your bosses knew since they never fired you, but it also meant the odds of moving up were slim.  

The second reason was the sense of freedom.  You were the sixth of seven children in a strict household.  Growing up you followed all the rules, but your parents seemed to pay more attention to all of your siblings.  When you announced your decision to move outside of the four complaints above they just shrugged and waved you off.  Now the only rules you followed were the ones you imposed on yourself, but you were starting to feel like they were stricter than the ones your parents enforced.  Maybe the freedom was an illusion and you would have been better off moving back to the middle of nowhere.  Nobody missed you or wanted you back though.  You sighed and shook your head.  

 “Good morning Miss.”  The man pulled a bouquet of flowers out of one of the black buckets in front of you. “How much for this one?”

 “Thirty dollars.” You looked at the array of flowers, knowing the same bunch would cost five dollars top back in your hometown.

 “Sheesh. Back where I’m from this would have cost a nickel.” The man laughed.

 You looked up at him, sure the cheap paper the flowers were wrapped in would cost more than that. Your eyes locked with him for a split second and your heart felt like it was going to burst out of your chest.  You dropped your gaze, hoping he would not interpret your stare as rude.  It was Steve Rogers, Captain America himself.    You didn’t know how to respond.  The last few months you manned the flower stand inside the lobby of Stark Towers on the weekend.  Never once had you seen anyone famous, not that you paid attention to the people walking by, that would be rude.  

 “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”  He reached out and put a hand on your shoulder. “Are you alright?”  

                His hand felt like a burning weight.   You lurched backward and nodded your head.  

                “I’m fine.”  You kept your eyes on the ground. “I am sorry Sir, but I don’t set the prices.”

                “That’s alright.  I was only teasing.”  Steve reached into his back pocket he set two twenties on the counter in front of you. “Thank you, and keep the change.”  

                You gave a small nod and grabbed the cash. Without lifting your head, you went to the register and dropped both bills inside.  You thought you heard him let out a sigh as he turned away.  You pinched your eyes shut, certain you’d just embarrassed yourself beyond reproach with America’s favorite son.  

~~~  

               Steve cracked his jaw as he rode the elevator up.  He didn’t like the way she flinched when he touched her, but outside of that, he enjoyed everything about their interaction.   The way she kept her eyes down, how she was almost scared of him, and he particularly liked her use of the word Sir.   He licked his lips at the memory and felt his cock grow in his pants.  He shut his eyes and shook the memory away, having to save it for later.

                The doors opened with a ding and Steve was not surprised to see Nat waiting for him on the other side.  

                “You’re late.” She unfolded her arms and started walking.  “What’s with the flowers?  One of your fans corner you?”  

                “No.” That was the reaction Steve normally got, which is what made Y/N’s response so intriguing. “You want em?”

                “Come on, there has to be a special girl waiting at home for the Captain America to drop them off?” Nat glanced over her shoulder.

                Steve plopped the flowers in a trash can as they continued walking down the hall, knowing the action would be enough of a response for Nat.

                “Alright.” She looked forward. “I’ll stop asking.”  

                They arrived at the conference room and she pushed the doors open to show the rest of the team sitting around the table.  

                “Nice of you to join us.” Tony pointed towards the tech. “There’s only a terrorist at loose in the city we have to stop.”  

                “Why wasn’t I informed of this first?” Steve glared at Director Fury.

                “You’re the one who wanted more privacy.” Tony twisted the chair. “You move out of the Tower, you don’t get information as fast. Now let’s stop swinging our dicks and listen to the details so we can form a plan.”  

                Steve scowled.  Tony was right, but as Captain and the leader of the Avengers Steve should have been the first informed and already presenting his plan of attack. Once they had the situation under control he and Fury would be having a little chat.

~~~    

               “I TOLD YOU TO CUT LEFT!” Steve slammed his fist on the table. “Then like a showboat you have to move right.  You almost got people killed!”

                “But I didn’t.” Clint stood up from the table.  “We stopped the bad guy with zero casualties.”

                “No.” Steve shook his head. “We got lucky, running in there like a bunch of lone rangers!  There was no teamwork, nobody paid any attention to the plan. All of you went after the man like you were there by yourself. That is NOT how a team works.”

                Steve stood up straight and ran his hand over his head.  Tony, Nat, Clint, and Fury all staring at him.  

                “Have you all lost your minds?”  He looked around the room at the shocked faces. “Tony, you just ran into the man with your suit, what if he didn’t drop the detonator? The entire building would’ve blown!”

                “But it didn’t.” Tony shook his head. “This is a win for us Captain.”

                “Director Fury.” Steve went around the table. “You saw the footage.  Admit that I am right, we are not working as a team.”  

                “It was a little rusty, I will give you that.” Fury held up his hands. “But this isn’t wartime.  It’s peacetime.  Your first mission of this level in months, I’m putting it in the win category.”  

                “It’s always wartime.” Steve didn’t understand how nobody else could see that. “If we let our guard down if we’re not prepared another one will pop up.”  

                “And what do you think we’re doing?’ Tony laughed. “Was today not being prepared? Stopping that from happening?”

                Steve started to respond, but it was as if his voice caught in his throat.  He stood agasp, unsure how to respond.  

                “I need some air.”  Steve went straight to the balcony.  

                He leaned over the edge and tried to hide his disappointment at the team.  Not only did they perform poorly, but then they couldn’t take criticism.  What happened when a real threat hit?  One even more severe than today?  They would be crushed like ants.  

                “Hey.” Tony walked outside and leaned next to Steve.

                “If you’re going to tell me I’m wrong you can save it.” The anger was out of Steve’s voice. “I won’t change my mind.”  

                “I know you won’t.” Tony spun around so his back was against the railing. “I don’t expect you to.  But can I give you some advice?”  

                “I’m sure I’ve heard it before.”  Steve turned around with Tony. The sun was starting to set, and he wanted to avoid the glare.

                “See those people in there?” Tony pointed through the glass to Clint, Nat, and Fury.  “They are as much type A personalities as the two people out here. If Banner and Thor were here today, that would make two more type As.  Well, maybe not Thor, I’m not even sure what sort of personalities Asgard has.”

                “So?” Steve was well aware he was competitive, controlling, task-oriented, maybe even hostile from time to time.  Almost a textbook definition.  

                “So all of them have found ways to curb their less than pleasant personality traits.”  Tony pushed up his sunglasses. “Clint focuses on his family, coaches every little league sport possible and those kids play like machines.  Nat has a very active private life where she takes out her aggression on people who want to have it taken out.  Fury spends every waking second worrying about and building SHIELD like it’s a precious baby.  Banner focuses his energy on either finding a cure or helping starving children.  I can’t keep it straight anymore.

                “And I build shit in my spare time, which is every second I am not doing this.”  Tony pushed off the railing. “What do you do Cap?  The Avenger’s cannot be your only outlet or you will blow us up from the inside. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

                “You’re saying I need a hobby?”  Steve raised an eyebrow.  

                “Not a hobby.”  Tony started towards the door. “An obsession.  One that will let you work out some of those control issues, so you don’t keep busting in here ready to take over a split heads open whenever things don’t go your way.”  

                Steve glanced around the room and noticed the three inside were saying goodbye.  They all had other places to be and things to do.  All Steve had on schedule for the evening was getting in a workout and reviewing the tapes from today’s mission, studying them for errors.  He hated to admit it, but maybe Tony had a point.

                “Do you have any suggestions?” Steve kicked off the balcony and followed Tony.  

                “I’m not sure.” Tony shook his head. “But I don’t think a guitar is going to cut it.  You need something where you are in complete control, that requires a time commitment.”

                Steve wasn’t sure if the idea had always been there, buried in the back of his mind, and Tony’s words just brought it to the forefront or if it was a branch new concept.  He’d hoped for the later but was certain it was former.  Maybe it was time to embrace that part of himself, the piece he denied existed for so long.  

                Hearing the words complete control made his pants twinge and one face come to mind.  The girl who worked the flower stand.  

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #16

UPDATE 16: The Zeroes and the Non-Heroes

Ahahaha, what a lame title I made. Oh well.

Last time it had been the time to deliver the money to the boss, but it turns out two villains stole it and are now making a show out of a fight with the Undersiders. It’s likely to involve bombs. Let’s start that!

It’s strange to read there aren’t good bugs around here. I’d have imagined that bugs had a way to permeate pretty much any place in the city, but all there’s in the storage are cockroaches, spiders and moths – and I suppose there aren’t that many. Skitter is already at disadvantage. Hopefully that won’t be a problem. There isn’t much time to consider what to do because Uber charges in, with the power of raw talent!

I didn’t get a chance to dwell on it, because Über charged us.  I hurried to get out of his way.  Über’s power made him talented.  It didn’t matter if it was playing the harmonica, parkour stunts or Muay Thai, he could pull it off like he’d been working on it for hours a day for most of his life.  If he really focused on it, the way I understood it, he could be top notch.

Huh, that’s actually a pretty cool power! As I interpret it, it’s pretty much a parallel to Tattletale’s, just that instead of intel, Uber goes for practical application. Just that is enough to be decently impressive.

Grue is not afraid of some guy with a leotard and an antenna on his head, talent or not, he confronts him straight ahead with darkness. Uber does fall to the floor, but then he channels the power of fitness and stands up in one move. Huh. May I suggest incapacitating him, then? The less he’s able to move, the better.

Skitter manages to find a nest of wasps one minute away. That’s a problem! In one minute this fight could tip onto the foes’ side. I used to have a friend who played in this online forum game called Mercenaries, and he often told me that every time a skill made one of his fighters be a minute late or so to the battle costed him the victory many times. The Undersiders better be able to hold the fort for one minute, then!

Leet stepped in as Über circled around us.  Reaching behind his back, Leet retrieved what looked like an old school bomb; Round black iron casing with a lit fuse sticking out of it.  The way the light bounced off it made it look wrong, though. Like it was a picture of a bomb instead of a real one.

Did he make it out of pixels? That’s...far less impressive for me than Uber’s power. How did these two get together as a team, anyway?

The bomb is thrown and the Undersiders manage to run away from it with ease – well, not without Regent making Uber trip again and eat asphalt near the bomb, which makes him fly away. These two villains are outright pathetic, sheesh. It is such a bad challenge that Tattetale has the liberty to stand around and start dishing them a speech.

“I keep wondering when you guys are going to give up,” Tattletale grinned, “I mean, you fail more often than you succeed, you make more cash from your web show than you do from actual crimes, you’ve been arrested no less than three times. You’re probably going to wind up at the Birdcage the next time you flub it, aren’t you?”

Oh god. I can’t believe it. After the bank robbery, after fighting a whole team of Wards and two recognized heroes, the next fight is against two denizens of the YouTube comedy category. The difficulty curve took a sharp dive, didn’t it? Heck, Tattetale even says that the reason why people watch this is because they’re so lame it’s funny – and I can see what she means! Also, apparently the reason why they have a videogame motif is because their objective is “Spreading the word about the noble and underrated art form that is video games.“ Underrated? I don’t know, I think in this time and age videogames are anything but underrated.

The worst part here is that these two have enough potential they could be more or less respected, in my opinion. The possibility of being good at everything and someone who can invent anything, even if it’s just once. It could be a real challenge, yet here they are. Their actions so far include falling to the floor and rolling a weak bomb – bomb that Leet can’t make again, from the sounds of this, unless he invented a machine that dispenses these bombs.

Tattetale and Regent are doing an excellent job antagonizing them, Leet is getting riled up. He’s even more ashamed when Grue simply blasts him in the face with a cloud of darkness mid-speech. They have a lot of guts broadcasting their shenanigans to the Internet if this is how their escapades tend to be.

The reason why Uber is sticking with Leet is because they’re friends. There it is, the redeemable trait.

Pissing off Leet with constant taunts make him want to fight even harder, getting more bombs and throwing them, catching Skitter off-guard enough to blast her away.

The air and the fire that rolled over me wasn’t hot.  That was the most surprising thing.  That wasn’t to say it didn’t hurt, but it felt more like getting punched by a really big hand than what I would have thought an explosion would feel like.  I could remember Lung’s blasts of fire, Kid Win shattering the wall with his cannon. This felt… false.

...so this is pretty much a make-believe fight. Perhaps it isn’t meant to be a real fight. Perhaps it’s a distraction, keeping the Undersiders busy for a while. I don’t like this convenient timing. The money may not even be nearby anymore. I don’t think it’s impossible that this is all organized by a certain benefactor who’s getting away with scamming the Undersiders. I mean, this is pretty much a good excuse to not give them payment. The problem here is Tattletale, as usual, I’d expect she’d get an inkling of what’s going on once she has the time to think about it all. Maybe I just have overblown expectations of her power.

It’s a good thing these aren’t real bombs! Regent made Leet trip and fall near two of his bombs, which exploded and catapulted him away. That’d have been a very embarrassing way to die. Regent is pretty much kicking these two’s collective behind. I really underestimated how good his power could be during a fight.

I was about to wonder if Uber had just sat around and watch Leet get pummeled, but then I reread and found out Grue pulled him into darkness. I suppose Uber is done for.

Skitter’s bugs arrive and are a minor nuisance, while Regent continues making Leet trip, Skitter just approaches behind Leet and starts choking him with the baton. Thaaaat pretty much seals his own fate too. This whole fight lasted...what, one minute and half? And it was a humiliation show for Uber and Leet. So that’s why people like to watch their show! Nothing like public humiliation to gather the masses.

The viewers have a first-row seat to watch the Undersiders tie up these two minor villains, now it’s matter of waiting them to wake up to find out where Heckpuppy is. I shook my head, “No.  These guys have henchmen, don’t they?  They’ve probably got them watching over the money.  We’d likely find Bitch in the same place.” Do they? I’m no internet streaming professional, but I really don’t think that’d give them enough money to be able to pay for henchmen. Maybe Leet made a few solid holographic Koopas to carry the money away. Shouldn’t be hard to track down a few bipedal turtles lugging around a bag of money.

Right after Skitter says that, a third person comes by, wearing the same Bomberman costume these two were wearing. It’s a woman with a gas mask. The special guest they were about to introduce?

“Bakuda?” Well, crap. The return of this gang happened much quicker than I thought it would! Sure, Lung isn’t around – hopefully – but I thought Bakuda and Oni Lee would do their revenge much later in the story than this! After reading a bit more it doesn’t seem like Oni Lee is around here. Instead there are a couple dozen gang members, all of them prepared to fight. Now this is great! A challenge on the level of the bank robbery chapter. Looks like the focus of this arc has been found!

“Goes without saying, I’m still with the ABB,” Bakuda stated the obvious for us.  “In charge, matter of fact.  I think it’s fitting that I commemorate my new position by dealing with the people that brought down my predecessor, don’t you agree?” Man, if only you weren’t wearing the silly Bomberman costume. That kinda takes a lot off the intimidation department. Still, Bakuda is bound to be dangerous. Without Heckpuppy around, the Undersiders lack some raw force, this is going to need quick planning to overcome. This is going to be great! And in the next chapter, I’m going straight ahead to read that!

And theeeeeen my excitement deflates like a balloon when I see the next chapter is an interlude. Welp. Oh well, I can’t complain. In technical terms, the interlude is placed properly, there’s suspense about how the fight will go, and the other interludes have been interesting. This is no big deal, it’s likely I’ll like this. This interlude is about nobody I have read about, it’s a new character. Name: Kayden. She has a baby.

The baby isn’t the only minor in this apartment. There’s a teenager watching the TV. Curiously enough, although the narration had talked about the baby as her baby, this teenager isn’t referred at any point as her boy or as her son, even though she seems to be taking care of him. The teenager – Theo, from now on – is rather distant, and knows Kayden is a cape. Yeah, Theo isn’t her son, it’s someone else’s, someone Kayden loathes.

“It’s fine,” Theo said, just a touch too fast.  It wasn’t fine, apparently, but he would never admit it.  Could never admit it.  Kayden felt a flicker of hatred for the man who had eroded every ounce of personality and assertiveness from his son.  She would give her right hand for a smart-alec remark, rolled eyes or to be ignored in favor of a TV show.

Huh. Sounds like this Theo kid’s father isn’t the kind of father most people would approve of. Given the relatively dark themes of Worm, I’m already imagining many grim scenarios. Kayden holds back her frustration and steps out, getting to the roof to pose for the reader’s benefit before jumping off to fly away, thinking of her baby to give herself strength.

Her powers...hmm...flight is here; any other powers haven’t been revealed yet. Her hair and eyes turn bright white, making it hard to look at her directly. A tactical advantage, fantastic. It sounds like she’s a hero, and so far she’s looking far more sympathetic than Glory Girl and Panacea. Great!

A year ago, she had made the ABB a priority target. Well that’s convenient, given what’s happening right now! Now I’m fully expecting Kayden to appear during the arc. If so, pretty much the only reason why this is an intermission and not a chapter more of the arc is because Taylor is not the narrator. Oh well. Potato, potahto.

Kayden’s work has lasted a year so far, and it includes surgical strikes against that gang. Sometimes it’s effective, sometimes it isn’t...one time she was injured a lot by Lung, stopping her job for a while. But now Lung isn’t here. She should have free reign, but things can’t be simply when powers are involved. It had been the best chance she’d get, she thought, to clean up the ABB once and for all. Get that scum out of her city, while they were leaderless. But there’s Bakuda. That’s the problem here, isn’t it? Bakuda is the factor that has stopped Kayden from doing her best, right?

Bakuda isn’t mentioned anywhere because it doesn’t seem Kayden is aware of her. Bakuda’s influence is noted, though. The ABB was still active.  Even with their boss gone, they were more organized than they had been under Lung’s influence. So they’re being more effective under Bakuda than under Lung. Hmmm...maybe Bakuda isn’t in any hurry to get Lung out of the special jail, who knows...

Even broken arms and legs hadn’t hurt or scared the thugs enough to get them talking about what was going on. Welp, my sympathy for Kayden was nice while it lasted. I admit it’s not entirely gone, but breaking limbs isn’t exactly the most heroic move ever. Another reason why Kayden isn’t having much success is because her network of information and alliances isn’t working well right now. Max, Theo’s father, was to blame for that.  Just as she’d left his team a more broken person than she’d been when she joined, others had gone through the same experience. Okay, so, Max is a cape too. Given that Kayden was part of his team, I suppose that means Max is a hero. Hah! Another hero with less than heroic behaviors. You’re totally doing this on purpose, Mr. Wildbow! Golly, I’m glad the Wards were introduced and shown to be decent people – so far – or else I’d think Mr. Wildbow is making heroes be bad just to make the Undersiders look better despite the Undersiders’ own bad traits and behaviors. I mean, I’m aware that it’s completely normal for a good person to have traits and moments where they don’t seem like good people, but...I don’t know, there’s something about seeing it from someone with the label of ‘hero’ that makes it stand out much more than it would otherwise. You understand?

Since the ABB was out on a big job and Kayden has no idea what’s going on, she goes to the building where Max is at. Max takes her arrival calmly, as if this was something that happened everyday. Was this something Max planned, I wonder? Pressure Kayden’s allies so she’d have no more option than go see him? It wouldn’t be a surprise if that’s what happened. “And our daughter?” Aha, so that baby is Kayden and Max’s daughter. Not a good sign. Kayden herself knows this is a veiled threat, a reminder he can take the baby away whenever he wants.

Since Kayden can’t do anything about the ABB right now, she requests to reunite the old team, to which Max replies “Not interested” Charming. The reason why nobody is helping Kayden is because they’re afraid of Max and his reaction/influence, or at least that’s what it sounds like here. Max doesn’t state he’d help, but he says that Kayden returning to his team would be good, and that he’d give her a separate team. “You’d double check with me on anything you did, but other than that, you’d be completely autonomous.  Free to use your team as you see fit.” So...so Max would pretty much have control of that other team. This is a terrible bargain.

Max’s methods are no different than a villain’s. “You do it by putting drugs on the street, stealing, extorting.  I can’t agree with that.  I never did. It doesn’t make any sense, to improve things by making them worse.” Is the Protectorate unaware of this? Looks like these weren’t heroes after all. I mean, Max does state he wants to make things better and all, but there’s no way this all can be considered by anyone as the actions of a hero. It’s possible the public as a whole considers him a villain more, and by an extent, anyone who associates with him would be a villain as well.

And then Mr. Wildbow proceeds to throw dirt on Kayden.

“Of course,” he replied, and she didn’t miss the hint of condescension in his voice, “You left my team to go do good work, it’s just pure coincidence that it’s black, brown, or yellow criminals you target.” “And in the process, you’re doing little to shake the notion that you’re a part of Empire Eighty-Eight,” Max smiled, “It’s amusing to hear you try and justify your perspective, but you’re ignoring the elephant in the room.  Cut the B.S. and tell me you don’t feel something different when you look at a black face, compared to when you look at a white one.”

Is that so? Well...my sympathy really was nice while it lasted. Look at that, it’s gone now, gone with the wind as if it was never there.

What’s more, this Max guy seems to be the leader of Empire Eighty-Eight, and he pretty much states they – including Kayden -- aren’t superheroes. Yeah, I kinda understood that many paragraphs ago, Max. Subtlety isn’t anyone’s trait, that’s for sure. Max offers to leave the whole gang to Kayden if his methods and work aren’t useful at all, and she...she’s actually considering it. She’s not even thinking about rejecting it. So much for the righteous behavior from earlier!

The deal is done. Kayden is back into the gang, her alter ego is called Purity. Max follows her example in showing off his power, he can manipulate metal and make it sprout from any solid surface around him. Interesting power. They shake hands and Mr. Wildbow calls it a day, ending the intermission there.

Well that was kind of a curveball. I didn’t think this was how the thing with Kayden would go, it sure was a twist for me. These were no heroes; my former thought was wrong on that regard. There’s no room for discussion in that these two are full-fledged villains, even if they don’t seem to be in a hurry to think of themselves like that. So that’s the leader of the Empire Eighty-Eight gang...huh. The war between gangs continues.

I don’t think it’s likely anymore that Kayden or anyone will appear during the ABB’s fight with the Undersiders, but I suppose it isn’t impossible for Max to be aware of where the gang is right now and that Bakuda is commanding it. There’s a chance she’ll appear during that, so I’m not ruling it out. That aside, that fight is bound to be good to read! Unfortunately for me, the intermission managed to sap the remaining free time I had today to read, so I’ll have to leave the fight for next time.

Next update: five updates