#if teammates have to bunk then these three are put together and told not to cause property damage

[gophergal]

TFTober 7 - OFFENSE

[cozy-the-overlord]

Christmas Across the Stars

Summary: A backlogged mission on Jotunheim means Piper's going to miss Christmas with her family this year. At least she's not completely alone.

Written for @the-emo-asgardian's 'Tis The Season Writing Challenge on the prompt "snowed in and unable to get to family"

Word Count: 2,938

Pairing: Loki x OFC

A/N:  *wipes sweat off brow* whew! For a while I wasn't sure if I was going to get this done in time for Christmas. But here it is! I've been writing a lot of angst lately, so it was really nice to write something sweet and fluffy for a change. I did try to keep Piper somewhat vague as a character, but there's a lot of me/my family traditions in this story, so for that reason I decided to make it an OFC rather than a reader-insert. Hope you don't mind.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your families, and I hope you all have a healthy and fulfilling New Year! Thanks for reading! :)

Tags: @lucywrites02 @gaitwae

Read it on Ao3!

She had been staring at the stone ceiling for nearly three hours when Piper decided enough was enough. Abandoning the thick, itchy blankets and the naïve dream of getting some sleep tonight, she reached for her boots.

One of the annoying things about life on Jotunheim (and there were many) was the inability to do a damn thing without first putting on fifty layers. Her nylon jacket rustled as she pulled it over her arms, zipping up with an obnoxious squeak. Across the room, Olsen popped up in her bunk.

“Wuzgoinon?” she muttered, opening a bleary eye.

“Nothing,” Piper said quickly. “I’m just going for a walk. Go back to sleep.”

Olsen hummed, head dropping back to the pillow. Her other two companions didn’t stir. Piper sighed and grabbed her scarf and hat.

Her footsteps echoed against the rocky walls as she made her way to the bunker entrance. They weren’t supposed to go outside alone, what with being stationed on an unpredictable alien planet and all, but the blizzard that had been raging on for the past two weeks had finally seemed to pass and Piper could use a breath of fresh air.

The frozen hellscape greeted her with it’s usual chilly slap to the face. She coughed, bringing her scarf above her nose. When they had first arrived, the cragged mountain cliffs had hypnotized Piper. They stretched far above the horizon, their jagged silhouettes cutting through the paint-splattered sky like a crooked dagger. It was a severe kind of beauty, unlike anything Piper had ever seen before.

Now, it felt like the serrated ridges were laughing at her.

Piper sat down against the bunker door with a grunt, rubbing her hands through her mittens. What was she even doing out here? What had she expected to find? Despite her day-long daydreams, the bitter wishes she stored deep in her heart, her reality had not changed: she was a tiny ant of a person, trapped on this icy rock of a planet, sleepwalking her way through this drawn-out farce of a mission.

What a way to spend Christmas Eve.

When she had signed up for this job, it had been an adventure. Traveling across the stars to a world that until recently had only existed in myth, to test out technology that would allow for interplanetary travel? Move over, Captain Kirk. Piper Bassow was boldly going where no (human) man had gone before.

The mission had supposed to last for six months. They left at the beginning of February, wide-eyed and excited for the enterprise. They had planned to be home in August. Then something came up, some snag with the tech back on Earth, easily fixed but it disrupted the schedule. Their return date was moved to October. No problem, Piper thought. We’ll still be back for the holidays.

Then, a blizzard knocked out their antenna. Again, easily fixed, but they had to wait for the wind to die down before they could risk going out to fix it. Disrupted the schedule. Now their return date was end of November.

We’re still fine, she told herself. Thanksgiving is a shit holiday anyways. Who cares if you miss it?

The final communication from SHIELD was what did her in. The last three months of data had gotten corrupted. They needed to stay until February. Piper had been on radio duty when she got the message. Instead of replying, she dashed the receiver against the wall.

It was immature. She had signed up for this mission knowing full well that there was a high chance that things wouldn’t go as planned. In fact, she should’ve been thankful—out of all the things that could have gone wrong, this was pretty innocuous. Everyone was safe, everyone was healthy, they had enough rations to last over a year. There was no reason to be this upset.

But … the reality that she was going to miss Christmas with her family this year was tough to grapple with. Christmas was a big deal. Her siblings and her had all long since moved out, but they still all flocked back by December the 24th, where they’d stay up all night stuffing their faces with their mother’s butter cookies and arguing over which movie to watch as the piney scent of the Christmas tree wafted through the room. No matter where they were in the world, they found a way home.

But Piper supposed she wasn’t anywhere in that world anymore.

She huffed, pulling her hands closer against her chest as the wind whistled on. Christmas had been the one thing she had been working towards all year. Feeling homesick? You’ll be home with everybody for Christmas. Getting frustrated with one of her teammates? By Christmas you’ll have forgotten they exist. Blizzard outside wrecking her day? Just think of all the stories you’ll have to tell everyone over Christmas dinner.

And yet, here she was, Christmas Eve, freezing her ass outside on this godforsaken ice cube.

“What are you doing out here?”

Piper nearly jumped out of her skin. She whipped around to find their Jotun guide looming over her with a frown. Nearly a year of companionship with him had proved that Loki Laufeyson was hardly the malevolent villain the rest of her world believed him to be (SHIELD wouldn’t have put this mission in his hands if he was), but something about his presence still unsettled her. He said very little, choosing to skulk in the shadows and reappearing only when he deemed it absolutely necessary. It never failed to amaze her that a living creature could move so quietly—you never realized he was besides you until you turned around and he was there.

Piper tried to pull herself to her feet, but with all her extra padding she just rocked around on the ground. Her face burned.

Loki raised an eyebrow. “Do you need help?”

“I’m fine,” she huffed, crossing her arms and scowling up at him. I guess I’m staying here for a bit. Where had he even come from? She was leaning against the bunker door—it hadn’t opened since she’d been here. “What are you doing out here?” she asked accusingly.

Loki motioned his head towards the boulder pile behind the bunker. “We were getting some odd readings from the east. I thought I should check up on it.”

“Oh.” Piper peered through the ice, but she couldn’t make out the sensor that was supposed to track the movements of Jotunheim’s celestial satellites. “Is everything okay?”

He nodded, gaze unflinching. “I believe an animal disrupted the apparatus. I righted it.” Cocking his head, he frowned. “So is there a reason you’re sitting outside in the middle of the night in the dead of Jotun winter, or have you just finally gone mad?”

Piper let out a breathy laugh despite herself. She leaned her head against the stone door. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Ah.” He sounded neutral enough, but Piper was fairly certain he was judging her.

“It’s Christmas Eve,” she added quickly. Glancing at her watch, she added, “Or Christmas Day. I’m not sure.” There was another annoyance about Jotunheim—the time difference was catastrophic.

“Oh,” Loki nodded again. He didn’t move. She frowned. What was he waiting for? Perhaps he didn’t know what she was talking about.

“It’s a holiday,” she explained. “On Earth. It’s kind of a big deal.”

“Yes, I’m aware.” For a moment, the two of them were silent, Piper staring out into the snow, Loki staring down at Piper. She waited for him to walk away, but he didn’t budge.

She sighed. “Do you need something?”

“You are upset.” He said it so matter-of-factly, as if it were plain as day. Piper’s embarrassment came flooding back.

“No. It’s not—” she inhaled. He was right. She was far too upset. “I just—I thought I’d be home for it.” Her eyes were burning. Piper leaned her head back against the door in frustration. Was she seriously crying over this?

“Oh.” Surely he’d leave now, now that he knew that nothing was actually wrong. She shifted to move her weight from against the door so he would be able to return inside. But to Piper’s surprise, he didn’t leave. After a moment’s hesitation, Loki sat down next to her with a grunt.

“I’m afraid my knowledge of Midgardian tradition is rather lacking,” he said as he made himself comfortable against the door. “Christmas is a religious holiday, yes?”

Piper stared. It took her a moment for her to find her voice. “Oh, um, yeah—” she stuttered. “Technically. But not everyone who celebrates it is super religious. Like, I don’t think anyone in my family has gone to church in their life.”

“What is it you celebrate then?” He leaned forward, seeming genuinely interested

“I don’t know. Family. Giving. That’s what they call it, the season of giving.” Geez, she sounded like the star in a Hallmark movie. “My family always had a big get-together every year. Or, has—I guess they still are this year, I’m just… not there.” Her voice trailed off pitifully. Piper forced a smile, desperate to show him that she wasn’t completely pathetic. “But it’s fun. We have cookies and chocolates and everything and we decorate the tree and give each other presents—”

“Pardon me,” Loki interrupted, perking up. “What do you mean ‘decorate the tree’?”

“Oh, yeah.” Of course he wouldn’t know what she was talking about. “It’s a Christmas thing. You get a pine tree—some people have fake ones, my family always goes to a farm to get one—and you put it in your house, and you decorate it with lights and ornaments and stuff, and then you put the presents for everyone under the tree.”

That was another thing she missed this year. Usually, whoever was in town with her parents for Thanksgiving would drive out with them to the Christmas tree farm the next day to help pick out a tree. That was always an adventure—her mom would be scurrying between the lines of trees as the rest of them rushed to follow her, pine needles attacking them mercilessly from both sides. Piper’s mother was a perfectionist in every aspect of life and picking out a tree was no different. They’d spend hours circling the farm, listening to her as she found a flaw in each one they came across.

“The shape of this one is just too wide. Far too dry. Oh look, there’s a hole right in the middle! That one’s beautiful, but it’s so tall, I don’t think it would fit in our house—”

Eventually, she would find a tree that came close enough to her standards (“well, this one has a bare side, but we’ll put it up against the wall so no one will see it”) and Piper would crawl under the thing with the shitty saw they got at the front and go to work, her two sisters bouncing around like cheerleaders at a football game when the tree finally came crashing down.

Piper suddenly realized that she wasn’t going to get to see this year’s tree.

Besides her, Loki sounded lost in thought. “That sounds like Yule.”

She turned, frowning. “Yule?”

“An Asgardian holiday. We decorate pine trees as well.” He sighed, almost wistfully. Piper had never seen him this relaxed before. “It’s probably where the Midgardian custom comes from.”

“Oh, yeah.” She thought she had heard that once, that a lot of Christmas traditions had come from the Vikings, although she had never made the connection between that and Asgard. It made sense—wasn’t Loki straight out of Viking myth? “What do your tree decorations look like?”

Loki hummed. “We had special enchantments on the trees to create the illusion of glowing orbs of light within the branches. You couldn’t touch them—your hand would go right through.” He laughed. “It drove my brother mad when we were little. On more than one occasion he knocked down the whole damn tree trying to grab the light.”

Piper grinned. “That sounds like our cat! We have these little glass balls that are like, multicolored, and he’s always trying to bat them down. My mom wakes up to find ornaments all over the floor. One time he even managed to get the star” That cat’s a little shit and he knows it, she’d tell Piper on the phone. I can’t wait til you guys get home. He’s always on his best behavior for you.

Loki was staring at her quizzically. “The star?”

“Yeah. You put the star at the top of the tree, and it lights up. It’s like a topper ornament. I’m not sure where that comes from.” Piper sighed. “I hope they’re able to get it all set up this year. I’m usually the one who does the lights and the star and everything.”

“I’m sure they’ll manage.”

“Yeah.” Of course they would. The idea that they couldn’t manage without her was nothing but wishful thinking on Piper’s part, a tiny, selfish little part of her that wished they were as lonely and miserable as she was. “It’s just—” she inhaled. “I’ve never missed Christmas before.” Her fingers were going numb under her mittens. She rubbed them against each other.

She could feel Loki’s eyes on her, studying her as she blew into her hands. He didn’t say anything for the longest time, but the silence felt more analytical than judgmental.

“You should go inspide,” he finally said. “It’s far too cold out here for you to just be sitting still.”

He was right, but still Piper bristled. “I’m fine.”

“Please.” He stood in one fluid motion, holding his palm out to her. “If you freeze to death out here, SHIELD will find a way to blame me for it.”

“I—” Her pride screamed at her to keep protesting, but the biting wind was picking up, cutting under her coat and piercing her bones. She couldn’t help the shivers, even as Loki shot her a pointed look.

Piper sighed. “Alright.” She took his hand (how was he so warm?!) and allowed him to pull her to her feet and lead her inside.

…

“Bassow! Bassow, wake up!”

The shouts rattled her skull as she pulled herself from deep within the recesses of sleep. “Hng?”

She was face down in her bunk. When had she even gone back to bed last night? She had been talking to Loki …

It was Medoff who was yelling her name.

“Come on, you’ve got to see this!” her teammate shouted in her ear as she shook her arm.

Piper groaned, pulling herself from the warm cocoon of blankets she had wrapped around herself at some point in the night. Her head was pounding. What time is it?

“See what?” she muttered.

Medoff yanked her out of bed, seemingly trying to jerk her up. “You’ve just got to see it. You won’t believe it otherwise.”

It was too cold. Piper ripped her blanket from her mattress and followed Medoff through the bunker hallways with it wrapped around her shoulders like a cloak, head lost in a sleepy fog.

“Is this really that import—” she trailed off when they reached the common area. The table where they took their meals had been pushed into the corner, but that was hardly what rendered her speechless.

There was a tree. A great, big, beautiful evergreen tree, with needles of emerald green, more vibrant than any Piper had ever seen on Earth. Kaleidoscopic orbs floated amongst the branches, slowly shifting through the colors of the rainbow before her eyes, held to the tree by chains of silver light. And on the top … it was a star, but comparing it to the plastic things Piper would haphazardly wrestle to the top of her Midgardian Christmas trees felt like a crime. It was as if someone had plucked one of the celestial bodies from the night sky and just fixed it at the peak, sparkling so bright it was almost blinding.

For a moment, Piper just blinked. “What—how—”

“We don’t know!” Olsen laughed from the table, where she was sitting with Wynn, the final member of their team. “We just woke up a few minutes ago, and it was like this! Isn’t it insane?”

“I mean, it is Christmas Day,” Wynn said. “Back at home, I mean. I guess Santa made it to Jotunheim after all.”

“Yeah. Santa.” Coming to her senses, Piper glanced about the room. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the most enchanting Christmas tree in existence magically appeared in their bunker mere hours after that conversation. She found him lurking in the hallway, watching them all from afar. Loki met her gaze, and Piper suddenly realized his eyes were the same brilliant green as the tree.

The biting homesickness that had been festering in her heart was still there, but it was beginning to fade, as if someone had wrapped it in a warm blanket.  She smiled. As her colleagues continued to chatter over the tree, Piper made her way over to the Jotun prince.

“Thank you.”

He shrugged. “It was hardly an unpleasant task. I thought I might enjoy indulging nostalgia for a day as well.”

The changing lights from the tree cast a mystical glow to the desolate bunker, sparkling across the stone walls. It was like living within the Northern Lights. Hesitantly, Piper reached to put her hand on his forearm. “Merry Christmas, Loki.”

At first, he stiffened, but after a moment, he returned her warm smile. “Merry Christmas.”

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being best friends with Donna and Kory

Donna Troy/Kory Anders x reader

warnings:

a/n: sam!!!! sending love!!! 💖💖 do i remember anything about s2? unlikely but lets see how far i go 😌

prompt: @myriadimagines: “HEY LACEY do you mind if i request a titans headcanon for being best friends with donna and kory? thank you so much and i hope you have an amazing day!!”

you were a former titan, still an active vigilante tho!!

after the titans disbanded, you disappeared for a while to do your own thing

as time went on, you missed your teammates, so you gave donna a call

she was out of the hero-biz as of then but that didn’t mean she didn’t wanna see you!!

wasn’t long before you moved into her apartment, you two missed being roommates tbh

“pajama night?”

*gasp* “PAJAMA NIGHT!”

you changed up your game a bit, donna was like your P.I., giving you intel on whatever she may come across

you were the brawn of the operation, getting shit done where you could

it was surreal seeing dick again, but nevertheless, you were glad to see another familiar face

“wow, the gang is back together again”

doing some more vigilante work with donna and him, felt like the good old times

until you three had to haul ass to go intervene in some crazy, inter-dimensional bullshit

oh oh oh! this is where you meet kory!

she wasn’t very nice when you met her but she definitely made up for it later on

especially after she regained her memories

there wasn’t much time here to become all buddy-buddy, but after all the chaos and all that

“so, miss anders, care to join me and donna in our own little crusade?”

“it’d be my pleasure”

you, donna, and kory went on your own little missions and grew to absolutely adore kory

i mean, what was not to love about her? absolute badass but same amout of sweetheart

“guess what day it is!” -you

“tuesday?” -kory

*gasp* “TACO TUESDAY!!!” -donna

kory loved learning about the two of you

and you guys loved hearing any bit of information about kory’s past

donna and kory were legendary compared to yourself, but they always made sure you all felt like equals

i mean, seriously. kory is an alien, donna was trained on themyscira. you just put on a suit and ran around the city

“donna! kori! donna! kori!”

“yes, y/n?”

“you guys are the best”

casually leaning on each other after pulling all-night missions

“you tired?”

“what makes you say that?” *yawning*

“right...”

i sincerely think one of you starts humming a song while patrolling and the other starts tapping along and someone else starts singing and its just a beautiful experience

70s-era music is kory’s favorite, but you try to introduce her to a wider variety

telling old stories about yourselves and people you’ve encountered over the years

“listen, donna was wonder woman’s sidekick and i’ve gotta say: that is the coolest gig ever. i only met diana once but i froze, i couldn’t believe she was talking to me. i didn’t even freeze when i met batman! fuckin’ BATMAN! it just goes to show how cool wonder woman is”

“yeah, y/n didn’t even freeze when they met me”

“really, donna? nooo, i didn’t freeze because i loved you right away!!!”

“good save”

kory told stories of tamaran that always left you wanting more

“yeah, my sister was...not the greatest if im being honest”

“dude, if i ever meet her, i’ll fight her for you”

“i appreciate that but i’m pretty sure she’d kill you in an instant”

*sipping your can of pop and muttering* “im still gonna do it”

gettin’ shimmer and gettin’ tacos and gettin’ confuzzled bc kory vanished, but she called and let you know she’d be fine and back soon

going back to the ol’ titans tower

brought some bad memories with it tbh

“havent been here in a while”

“same”

being SURROUNDED BY CHILDREN

“oh my god. they’re everywhere”

donna and you bunking together 😌

“i miss kory”

“me too, y/n...me too”

midnight snacks

kory coming back!

“oh, thank god, kory!!! i missed you so much”

you jumped into her arms

“yeah, y/n wouldn’t shut up about you”

“aw, well i missed you guys, too”

supporting each other through these stressful times

there wasn’t much time to chillax but you tried

you’d “reserve” the living room for you and your lovely gals

but rachel was allowed to sit with you, anyone else and you’d kick them out

“we love rachel so she can stay”

(im definitely getting this timeline wrong bc im forgetting a lot of things and trying to read the fandom page and i cant remember shit????)

comforting donna after garth is brought up again

she really needed some hugs

deathstroke made his comeback and it was not cool at all not at all it actually sucked and then kory was comforting you

“hey, none of this is your fault, y/n. i’m here for you, we all are”

(forgetting every single plot point ah hah hah)

okay so everything was fine for a minute, people were saved, teammates were saved, villains were defeated...almost too good to be true

and then donna made her sacrifice to save dawn and you couldn’t even process it, it happened so fast

“donna, no!”

you fell next to her body and cried, rachel on one side and kory on the other

she didn’t deserve this and you would’ve given anything to save her

but the damage was done and you had to accept it

you kept kory close, she wouldn’t have it any other way

you decided to stick with the titans for a while, you didn’t want to go back to your shared apartment just yet

donna and kory would always be your best friends 🥺

taglist: @cullens-stuff // @lotsoffandomrecs //

[redmaneroster]

Our Home Away From Home, Away From Home

[1] [x] [3] [4-5] [6] [7] [8-9] [10]

PART 2 – Adhesion

It’s the second year at Beacon and the rest of the juniors are out by the cliffs watching freshmen start their initiation by being hurled into the woods at a speed that would break normal people’s necks.

Weiss wants to scope out the competition to see if they’ll have any favorable opponents for the Vytal festival. They’re competing this year again too and she aims to win.

Yang arrives a little later than the rest since she spent much of the night before unpacking.

On instinct she moves to sit next to Jaune but then he laughs at something Pyrrha says and she almost doesn’t. Almost. She plops down anyway and asks what’s up. Turns out, another student was launched screaming through the sky just like Jaune was.

He decides then to make an announcement. Then promptly shuts his mouth. He wants to keep it a surprise. Ruby bugs him to say it anyway but he holds his tongue.

Yang can tell Pyrrha already knows and its clear Ren has an inkling. (Nora’s poker face is so legendary that nothing can be read). It’s another thing Yang doesn’t know about Jaune.

-0-

Ruby has taken to decorating their room. She strings lights across the ceiling, sets table cloths on their nightstands, lays a carpet in the middle of the room, and smatters the walls with pictures of them and their adventures. It feels a little more like home and Weiss doesn’t fuss about how scattered it all looks.

Yang can’t help but fixate on one photo tucked into the corner of the room.

The two teams are huddled together, but on the far side is Jaune and Pyrrha. Cheeks pressed together and their hands – unseen in the photo – are clutched together behind them. They were in love then, she tells herself, even if the word love is so ambiguous at this point that it makes her irritable.

Maybe one day she’ll convince herself he’s okay and that he has nothing to hide. At least from her.

“Going for a walk,” she announces to the busyness of the room.

The clatter of Blake’s book follows after her as she plunges into the noise of the hallway.

Blake walks with her without a word because the halls are filled with so many voices behind the hundred closed doors and any one of them could be listening in. It still, somehow, feels uncomfortably quiet.

They sit at the garden just out by the dorm and Blake asks her what’s on her mind.

Yang says that it’s not worth mentioning. A petty, tiny thing that she’ll get over in a day and that it’s silly she’s even worrying about it.

Blake tells her that it can be silly if she’s worrying about it. Just because the world has bigger problems doesn’t mean she should feel ashamed for feeling what she feels. Some things – she says slowly, empathically – are beyond our control. Even in ourselves.

Blake’s smile isn’t real. Yang catches the self-defeat hiding in the too wide look in her eyes.

Not wanting to let Blake wallow in her own torments amidst the silence, Yang confesses that she’s gotten to really know Jaune for the better part of a month. She says she’s his friend but believes that she barely qualifies. She doesn’t really know the real Jaune Arc.

“What’s the first thing he does in the morning?” Blake asks.

“Uh… cook breakfast, water the cactus, play death metal at my door so I wake up to set the table.”

“He has a cactus?”

“Don’t ask me to explain. It’s a long story.”

Blake explains that despite her little courtship triangle with Sun and Ilia over the summer, she couldn’t answer the question herself. If anything, they know more about each other than she does them. When it was happening, she tried to memorize everything on the surface. Music tastes, favorite food, books they’ve read (they didn’t have many. They’re movie buffs), but one time the two of them were arguing and Ilia let slip that Sun was a virgin, and Sun returned fire by reminding her that so was she.

Blake didn’t know any of that, but they told each other in confidence somehow.

It was no surprise that they called things off a month before school started. She even overheard Sun setting Ilia up with a close friend of his, and Ilia’s been behind him and Pyrrha ever since.

Yang tells her that it doesn’t mean she didn’t get to know them or get closer.

Blake smiles, brightly with a ghost of a chuckle rumbling from her lips. “Yeah, that’s what I mean.” Blake may not have gotten to know them as well as they did with each other, but who can say who is closer to who. Does that kind of comparison even matter?

The bottom line is that they care about each other. It’ll take some time to get to know them but love isn’t a quantity set with knowing what someone says or does. Those are things that make it easier, but love of any kind has only one requirement: a willingness to give something selflessly.

Yang is surprised by that and admits, rather somberly, that she hasn’t done that yet.

“What are you talking about? You did.”

Blake explains that – for the most part – people give things to those they care about without really knowing it. You listen to them talk so you lend them your ear, you eat where they want to eat so you give them your time, you say something nice, you crack a joke, and sometimes, just sometimes, you sit there and be whatever they need. The sacrifice is often tiny, but you’re still giving for their benefit.

And sometimes these connections go at a different pace, she says. Like her with Sun and Ilia, them to each other, Yang with herself, and Yang with Jaune. That doesn’t mean they’re any more or less valuable.

So maybe it isn’t so bad that she’s still getting to know him, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t friends.

-0-

At lunch, everyone seats themselves around a blonde in a hoodie, snoozing with the hood pulled up. Minutes later, Jaune shows up and they all stare wide-eyed at the mysterious blonde they converged around. Jaune’s surprise, apparently, is that his twin sister, Joan, is attending Beacon with her team.

Yang realizes that Jaune hasn’t been wearing his hoodie.

Joan calls it the “elder hoodie,” because no one knows who was born first so they trade the hoodie depending on who the eldest is supposed to be at the time. Since he stole it for a year, she’s keeping it till they finish being sophomores. Everyone’s just going to have to get used to him without it for a while.

Nora says he should stop putting it on altogether cause his muscles are showing. Joan takes a quick look at her chest – undefined in the oversized cloth – and quickly takes it off and tries to give it back to him. They fight over it until Yang snatches it for herself.

The twins are momentarily embarrassed until she says, “Okay! I’m the eldest now.”

Joan decides that Yang makes a great big sister. No one tells her that Yang’s three months younger.

-0-

It’s Friday after class and Yang shouldn’t be surprised that Joan muscles into the apartment. She doesn’t take the couch either. Joan and Jaune shared a bed so often that she decided that bunking with him was evidently the logical conclusion.

Joan cooks soup for dinner. It has banana slices in it. It reminds them of home.

Yang wakes up on Saturday morning to find Jaune sat on the couch in a towel; shampoo still in his hair. Joan woke up grumpy (he doesn’t mention the teary-eyed look) and kicked him out of the bedroom so she could shower and change without him seeing. Yang doesn’t like this, but Jaune tells her not to get mad at her.

He explains that, even though he reconciled with his parents, it didn’t go so smoothly with his sisters. Joan especially. Had she known he was running away to Beacon, she’d have followed after him. He didn’t want to risk her future for the same shot in the dark as his.

Still, she’s upset cause she spent a year worrying about him and being petty for one morning is hardly the worst she could do.

“And what if she does this again?” she asks, arms crossed.

“She won’t,” he says swiftly, an affection to his eyes that tells her that he knows his twin sister as well as he does himself.

Joan is probably hating herself for kicking him out in the first place, and will come out apologizing for it. Cause she’s eighteen and things should have been okay now. No sense in dragging things along.

Yang offers her bathroom for him to finish. She resists innuendo. He catches it anyway. They laugh.

“I’ll get some soap from my closet real quick.”

“Dude, use mine. I don’t care.”

As predicted, Joan comes out into the living room looking sheepish. She asks where Jaune is. Yang instead offers to talk.

With a hesitant step, she sits down with her.

Joan tells her about how things went down at home. She spent a lot of time defending Jaune, saying he’d come back soon. It was only a week before even she seriously doubted he’d come back safe. They feared the worst until Jaune called Saphron at the height of his guilt to explain that he’s fine and that he got accepted into Beacon. A week later, he calls again and tells them about his team.

When they heard they were both nice and competent, they left him alone until he was ready to come back.

They knew they had to trust him and their dad, Apolian, admitted that he should have tried to prepare him instead of pushing him to pursue medicine like a civilian.

Good things did come out of it though. Joan got training like she wanted and she got registered with a local team. It was too late to enroll for freshman year but their accolades qualified them as sophomores. She didn’t want to stay in the field though. She wanted the academy experience.

It’s thirty minutes later after an anecdote about one of her teammates, that they realize that Jaune’s already starting breakfast. (He still had some of his spare clothes in Yang’s closet. It did use to be his).

He’s happy they’re getting along.

Joan is sorry she was being petty.

He’s sorry he ran away without telling her.

Apologies go back and forth until it ends abruptly. Yang almost envies the speed in which they hash things out.

They spend the day together.

Joan took the same guitar lessons as Jaune. They’re both terrible at singing. So is Yang. The neighbors hate it. Then they make plans to buy amps.

The afternoon is a blur of stalls and dust shops. Sugar and music. Noises and laughter. Joan is still fresh into the city life and Yang feels like she could take her under her wing. She even has an interest in getting a bike.

Yang shows Joan the Club. Junior is amicable with there now being two Arcs who will keep her on the dance floor instead of the bar.

There’s a moment where Yang and Joan are talking between themselves. In that time, Jaune thinks to himself for a minute too long and he reaches for his flask to ease the torments swirling in his mind. Yang takes his hand. She noticed. With a smile small enough to be honest and pleading, she leads him out of the booth and into the dance floor.

Joan watches the way they look at each other.

“Huh.”

She snaps a picture.

-0-

So much happened the day before that Yang almost gets whiplash when it’s just her and Jaune again. It’s blistering hot outside so they decide to make milkshakes.

Yang goes on a tirade about why Jaune should just buy a bike instead of saving up for a car. Jaune insists on getting a Highway Aries his sister Sable vowed was safe and sturdy. They’re so distracted by the conversation that someone forgets to lid the blender.

The mishap is explosive, and they’re both covered in stray milk and sugar. They take a picture and laugh it off. It’s another memory – they decide – that would be timeless.

After getting changed, they get the idea to get a “before and after” shot. Since they couldn’t take a before shot, they take one now and pretend that it is since the kitchen’s all cleaned.

They try with the milkshakes again, remembering to have the lid closed, and after smothering each in whipped cream, they’re sat at the TV, streaming an old film they saw as kids.

Their scrolls buzz.

Everyone saw the photos.

Ren asks why their clothes are different in both shots.

Nora sends a winky face.

Joan rants about how she leaves them for one day and they’re already messing around.

Weiss rants about their lack of propriety.

Jaune is static as he stares at the continued outburst from the rest of their friends just because Ren had to question the logic and Nora had to take it that way. Before he types down an explanation, Yang stops him. She takes another photo, milkshakes in hand, and captions it.

“Come join us next time. Let’s make it a party.” Everyone who isn’t Weiss knows the party is genuine. Weiss struggles to even say “orgy” and, somehow, “preposterous.”

Jaune takes pity on her and asks Neptune to explain that it’s a joke. Somehow realizing she misread the whole thing makes Weiss feel even more embarrassed.

Yang is very satisfied with the outcome.

Sat quietly together, their movie drones on and they forget that milkshakes aren’t exactly coffee. Their drowsiness straps weights to their eyelids. Haphazard jokes that mean nothing and make no sense are the only attempt at staying awake.

Joan slips into the living room cause she forgot something. She finds Jaune cleaning glasses while Yang slumbers on the couch.

“No luck?” she asks.

“Didn’t even try,” he answers.

“Maybe you should.”

“Maybe I’ll screw up again.”

“Maybe you won’t.”

“Maybe it’s safer –” he pushes a tiny strongbox into her hands, “–that I don’t.”

Despite herself, Joan doesn’t pry. She hugs him instead and makes for the door. Before she leaves, she peeks through the crack in the door and sees Jaune staring at Yang. Temptation twitches at his fingers. He goes for his flask.

Joan gets an idea.

-0-

Joan skips class Monday morning. She sneaks into the apartment and waters down Jaune’s whiskey.

She doesn’t know if it’s wise. It might even end poorly, but it might turn out precisely how it should. Jaune already hardly notices the taste, and this won’t feel much different.

A week passes and nothing happens. That is until Joan is sitting with Ruby on Sunday. The weekend before, they went to the dock to indulge in the carnival.

Joan is, at first, not surprised to hear that Jaune and Yang disappeared somewhere towards the end.

Then, it turns out, Yang came back to the dorm really late with a bruised lip. She was also missing her jacket.

Jaune walks into the cafeteria with band aid on his neck. They already know he’s hiding a hickey.

Ruby makes a demand: as his best friend, she wants to know what he did with her sister. Her and Joan look up at him expectantly.

“Fine,” he groans, “but this stays between us.”

[csykora]

[A newspaper photo of Sergei (front, tits out) and other members of the Soviet national team running on an outdoor track around their training compound.]

[A newspaper photo of the players taking a quick break, skates and socks on. Tretiak is standing over them and Sergei is seated in the middle, smiling at someone out of frame.]

“Camp” was literal. For nine to eleven months of the year, the players lived in compound inside 12-foot wrought iron walls in the woods of Arkhangelskoye, which had once been the country getaway spot for Moscow elite.

Coach Tikhonov viewed physical development as the first, last, and only priority. He took notes on everyone’s progress, or failure, constantly, in little notebooks. For lack of any other mental stimulation, Igor started to take notes, too. While Coach catalogued them, Igor watched him.

On the first floor were Coach’s office and rooms for certain ‘staff’, who never did much of anything but went everywhere with the team. Everyone knew who was KGB. Upstairs, players bunked with a roommate. “Each room is big enough for the two beds, a night table, a lamp, and not much more.” Eighteen rooms per floor. “Toilets? Of course: two per floor. Telephones? A private one for the coaches and trainers, and two more—one per floor, at the end of the hall, for the 70 soccer and hockey players.” The phones were available for an hour a day--for everyone. One of the players’ phones would be out of order for the next nine years.

They woke up by 7:15 AM. At 7:30 they started a daily program of weights, carrying cement blocks or each other, and running, lap after lap in the bare grass and mud around the walled compound in the high summer sun or snow. Breakfast at 9. Then more weights and skating until they were released at 7PM for dinner, and then they were really free to race each other to the shared phone. Back to bed at 11PM. “Goodnight, Igor. Tomorrow you can do it all over again.”

[Krutov and Fetisov performing bodyweight sit-ups in the field outside CSKA's practice facility]

Sometimes they mixed it up. In the short summers they had less ice time, more weights, and more running. Before tournaments they ran less and skated more. “Variety,” Igor notes, “is the spice of life.” Depending on the season, you were supposed to be rationed a day off to drive home every ten days—as long as you were back by 7:30 the next morning. 

Unlike Americans and Canadians in the NHL, the Soviet players were all officially amateurs. That was how they were allowed to compete in the Olympics and World Championships when professional NHLers were banned. During the season they received the equivalent of $60 US a month as a stipend for food and housing, with a bonus of about $16 dollars if they won.

In the season Igor waffled since the initial offer, Tikhonov had almost changed his mind: he wanted to put Igor between his second line wingers, but those two turned out to play better apart. “That left him with a problem: he had me. Now what was he to do with me? Put me between Makarov and Krutov on the first line, or on another line he was in the process of forming?”

“There are still doubts,” Tikhonov told everyone, “about this Voskresensk boy.” 

The doubts weren’t about Igor’s play—at least according to Igor. Weirdly enough if you’ve got a Russian dictionary and you look up “balls-to-the-wall confidence,” it’s just a picture of Igor Larionov. It’s cross-indexed with “death wish.” The doubts were about Igor’s body, and Coach’s judgement drew attention. 

Always short, he admits he was almost skeletal, nothing like the other boys. He hated weight training, and when he arrived he rarely ate meat, afraid that bulking up at all would ruin his fine skating. Zhluktov poked and teased him about it, which only cemented Igor’s desire to crush him and beat everyone else to the top line.

“Partners! Partners! The boys who with their skill and character would compliment each other and me, to help me rise to full height. I needed partners like I needed oxygen.”

Before arriving in Arkhangel for training camp Igor had reassured himself, “I knew I had one friend waiting for me, one comrade-in-arms….I would need help, support in word and deed. Instinctively, I probably waited for his supportive shoulder.” But Vova had learned enough in the last year to be more cautious than Igor in drawing attention or changing the dynamics of the room. At first he “was warm, but nothing more.” 

Still, Igor reassured himself, “I knew—and I was not ever wrong—that when I truly needed him, he would be there.”

Sergei, an unfamiliar star, preoccupied Igor even more. Still charming in every photo from that time, his hair is perfect and he poses with arms Igor could only envy around his teammates. But Sergei struck Igor as if he was holding some things back. It had been only days since Kharlamov’s death, though Igor had no way of knowing how much that meant.

Lyosha was big and gentle, with easy advice. He treated Igor like a bit of “an ugly duckling,” unlikely to make the first line—unless he could listen, learn fast, and fit into Coach's plan. Coach had found Igor and the rest of them when no one else would, after all. 

Slava seemed to be watching him across the room. As Igor began to prove himself in practice, he had the feeling Slava’s expression changed, that maybe, Slava was silently rooting for him.  

At the end of the summer the three boys were given a try together. Igor, Sergei, and Vova were such similar skaters that they were able to pull into tight formation, a literal line, almost on top of each other, the two wingers escorting Igor so closely his legs were sometimes sliding between the others’ and he could bounce the puck up and down between the three of them. Then, all five. He and Slava were similar thinkers, staying out on the ice long after the others. Like music, he wrote that he didn’t have to look behind him because he wouldn’t ever mistake the rhythm of Vova’s skates for Sergei’s, Slava’s or Lyosha’s. Igor was finally issued a green practice sweater to match theirs.

"Our line could never be evaluated according to primative arithmetic addition: the innovation and steadfastness of Fetisov, plus the reliability and self-sacrifice of Kasatonov, plus the elegance and refinement of Makarov, plus the fearlessness and pressure of Krutov, plus the [center] position of Larionov.

No, no, as long as we were together and we had the same intentions, the line was transformed into a force far stronger that which you would get by adding up our merits and abilities.

It was a joyful, undeniable fact: the Greens were made for each other."

The five of them found they could play, or talk, for hours. But they never planned or replayed mistakes off the ice, and promised not to ever blame each other after. That was the only way they could take the risks they did. They fought sometimes, more and more like a little family: Slava and Lyosha always took each others’ side if one of the forwards fucked up a play in practice. The other two forwards would leap in on his side, but then one of them would forget which friend he was favoring and flop sides, so by the time practice was over every argument ended just as easily.

 Soon they were doing everything together, including pickup soccer and volleyball against the second-best unit of players from Dynamo. They won, because Igor was bad at soccer but liked winning everything all the time, and the others indulged him. 

[Sergei playing soccer in a field outside the barracks in his underwear. I’m not picking ones of Sergei on purpose, he’s just the one who has the most dedicated fan pages. You can see the rest of them topless in a minute.]

Only sleeping separated them. Igor was jealous of Sergei and Vova’s respective roommates. He wished the three of them could be like Slava and Lyosha, who got to room together, and talked long after lights out.

“As a nice girl dreams of a handsome fiancé, so do hockey players cherish the dream that at some time they will fall into the company of such fellows, with whom they will know how to forge together THE squad, a deserving squad, in which everyone on the line will blossom.”

[My artistic interpretation of what Igor just said. An old newsprint photo of him kneeling on the ice with Sergei and Vova on either side, with the text “ferda booooys” in very large pink font.]

In September 1981, the national team headed to Canada with its newest member and its silent escort to avenge Coach Tikhonov’s Olympic loss. The Soviets hadn’t cared too much about the first Canada Cup invitational tournament five years earlier, but after 1980, this one was a gift. When active NHLers didn’t play in the Olympics or World Championships, the idea of the Cup was to bring together all the very best players in the world--in Canada, of course. Alan Eagleson, then head of the NHLPA, masterminded the tournament (also a lot of fraud).

The Swedes landed in Canada feeling smug about their almost-entirely NHLer roster, and thought they were the favorites. The Americans had beaten the Soviets last year, and were sure they’d do it again. And of course Canada thought they could win it all with a “Dream Line” built around their own new weapon.

The Green Unit debuted on the international stage eight weeks after meeting each other, and they crushed it. 

The final was a showdown between Canada and the Soviets. Coach Scotty Bowman told his players, “We really are favorites in the final. Nobody in this country will tolerate a loss."

Coach Tikhonov told his, "Today you’ve got to play so well that the entire Canadian population will talk about you afterwards and remember you for a long time. Play so well that the Canadian fans, when they will leave the Forum, will wait for you when you get on the bus after the game and admire you."

This is the one time I’ll say Coach Tikhonov was right. I guess you can call him hockey’s biggest fan.

Main

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[chicgeekgirl89]

Mercy is Out of Your Reach: Chap. 4

Fandom: SEAL Team:

Characters: Sonny Quinn, Clay Spenser, Lisa Davis, Jason Hayes, and the rest of the team

Read Chapters 1-3 Here

                                      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“You need to take a break.”

Lisa ignored Mandy, clicking away as her eyes swept back and forth across the screen, desperately looking for clues. 

“Lisa!” 

Apparently Mandy wasn’t going to leave her alone. “I’m fine,” she said, rubbing a hand across her burning and blurry eyes.

“No, you’re not.” Mandy crossed her arms over her chest. “You haven’t slept in days. This isn’t helpful, it’s destructive to your health. You need to get something to eat and some sleep and try again in six hours.”

“I just had something to eat.”

“Sleep then. Lisa come on.”

She couldn’t. She wouldn’t leave them. Clay and Sonny were out there alone, probably being tortured as they spoke; or worse. She had to find them and bring them home.

A hand on her shoulder made her jerk so violently she felt her neck pop. “Whoa hey! It’s just me,” Ray said. “Come on.”

“I can’t—“

“Yes you can. Come on. Blackburn and Mandy are on it. You need a break.”

“Sonny and Clay aren’t getting a break!” She knew it was a ridiculous statement, but she was so exhausted and broken hearted and desperate and all she could think about was the horrible things that might be happening to them.

Ray looked at her and held out his hand. Defeated she took it, letting him pull her to her feet and walk her to the mess. “I just ate,” she said as he put a plate in front of her.

“A protein bar three hours ago doesn’t count as eating.” He nodded toward the food. “Go on now.”

She took a couple bites, her stomach in knots. “Why can’t I find them?” she finally asked.

“Davis this is not on you, all right? The whole team is working together on this—“

“Then why don’t we know where they are?” She could feel hot tears rising up and tried to blink them away. “Why haven’t we found a single shred of evidence that points us in their direction?”

“I don’t know. But we will find them. We’ve never left anyone behind before, we’re not doing it this time either.”

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to hold onto the thin, thread of hope he was offering. But without anything else to tie it to it was just that: a useless, dangling thread.

“Do you think—” She swallowed hard, struggling to get the words out, but needing to know the answer. “Are they—?“

“Sonny and Clay know what they’re doing. They’ll keep each other safe,” Ray said firmly.

Lisa bit back her automatic response which had to do with how every, single one of these stupid men thought they were invincible. They could all bleed and she’d seen it happen one too many times to believe they were going to find Sonny and Clay completely unscathed.

“Now, you need to go get some sleep. Six hours. If any of us see you back in there before then we’re going to send you right back to bed, understood?” Ray said.

She was tempted to ask what exactly made him think he could boss an officer around, but sitting here had made her realize just how exhausted she was. Her body felt heavy with fatigue, even though her mind wouldn’t stop spinning. As much as she wanted to stay and help, she needed to sleep.

Ray walked her to her door, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder before he left. Lisa didn’t even bother taking off her clothes, falling directly into her bunk where she curled up into a ball, finally letting the tears flow. All she wanted was Clay and Sonny home and safe. 

She rolled onto her side, wrapping her arms around her pillow as she tried to keep full on sobs from erupting. She knew she’d been distant lately, that she’d pulled back from the team. She’d told herself so many times that it was the only way for things to move forward. For her to move on from Sonny. But now…now she regretted every phone call she’d ignored, every time she’d spotted him at a distance and pretended not to. Why couldn’t she have just let things go back to the way they had been? Why had she spent so much time trying to prove to him that she didn’t need him? That she was better off without him?

All of this should have kept her wide awake, but between the physical exhaustion of having been up for too many hours and the emotional weight of fear and guilt, sleep claimed her quickly.

She was following someone through the streets. Someone small, a child. No, a teenager walking ahead of her. Lisa couldn’t see the teen’s face and she didn’t know where they were going, but she knew she had to keep following. It was important. It was important because…someone needed help. Someone needed her help and this teenager…this girl. It was a girl.

Lisa sat bolt upright, the last image of her dream still burned into her brain. A glance at the clock told her it had only been two hours, not the six Ray had demanded, but that didn’t matter.

“Davis, you’re supposed to be asleep,” Eric said when she burst through the door.

She didn’t bother reminding him that he hadn’t slept in about three days. She logged on and pulled up the surveillance footage the guys had stolen from the shop. She fast forwarded slowly, stopping and starting until…“There!”

She pointed a finger at the screen. Blackburn and Mandy both squinted. “What are we looking at?” Mandy asked.

“That girl,” Lisa said. “I have watched every second of footage on this tape. It’s about a week’s worth and she comes to the café every, single day around one o’clock.” She looked at her team members in desperation. “I just feel like she’s the key somehow.”

Mandy’s eyes went wide and she shuffled a stack of papers until she found the one she was looking for. “Farhad has a thing for tea. He has it flown in from all over the world. But a big part of the reason he’s here is because this café brews a particular blend that’s his favorite.”

“He’s sending an errand girl to get his daily Starbucks?” Blackburn asked. “How sure are you? I don’t want to tell the guys unless this is concrete.”

Mandy shrugged. “He’s used children for work in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s using one again.”

Blackburn looked unconvinced. They all wanted something, anything to go on, but it was definitely a reach. “It’s all we’ve got,” Lisa said finally.

He nodded. “Then I’ll call the team.”

                                XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They were following a little girl. Literally following a child, hoping that somehow, magically, she was the key to finding their teammates. “This is the dumbest thing we have ever done,” Jason growled to no one in particular.

“You don’t want to do it, we can head back,” Ray said. “You don’t think it’s worth our time…”

But it had been days and this was the only lead they had. And it showed how desperate they were that they were even entertaining the idea in the first place. Jason shook his head. “Let’s just try not to get caught.”

Only he and Ray had come out, opting to observe and follow quietly to cause less of a ruckus. Sure enough the girl had shown up at the café right at one o’clock, just like she had every day in the tape. Now they were following her through the village while she carried a paper sack in one hand. She wasn’t in a hurry, didn’t seem in a rush to get to her destination and it was driving Jason crazy.

“We’re wasting time,” Jason muttered as they turned around yet another corner on yet another street that looked exactly the same as all the rest.

“I’m only going to say this one more time, if you want to go back—“

“No. Let’s keep going. Better than sitting around doing nothing.”

“Well then stop whining about it like Sonny.”

The jab slammed hard in his gut. This might be a waste of time, but Ray was right; it was better than doing nothing. And if it got them closer to getting their boys back, it was worth it.

The girl took another turn but this time she headed out of town. Jason and Ray were relegated to sneaking along behind trees and boulders. If it had been anyone older or more seasoned they would have been caught, but luck was on their side today. 

Ray spotted the building first, catching Jason’s arm and pulling him behind an outcropping of rocks. “Anybody doing lookout duty’s gonna spot us,” he said quietly. “Let’s go up.”

They scaled the cliffside, staying low to the ground, doing their best to stay out of sight. They reached the top just in time to see the girl disappear inside. “Well at least we know where she’s going now,” Ray said, still slightly out of breath from their climb.

“Yeah but how the hell do we know if Sonny and Clay are inside?” Jason asked.

Ray pulled out his binoculars and took a good, long look. “I don’t know brother. No windows. No way to get eyes in there. It’s like a fortress.”

Jason worked his jaw. “Then we have to take the girl.”

Ray looked taken aback. “You’re not seriously suggesting we kidnap a child?”

“That is exactly what I’m suggesting.”

“Jason we cannot kidnap that girl.” Ray’s voice was low and dangerous.

Jason felt heat rising in his chest. He didn’t like it either. Hated the idea. But he’d done worse. And he would do a lot worse again to save his brothers. “You got another option? Sonny and Clay could be in there. They could be getting tortured, hell they could be dead. You really want to give them up because taking a kid makes everybody uncomfortable?” 

“Maybe we don’t have to take her. She’s just a kid. Maybe…maybe we can just talk to her.”

“Soon as we approach her she’s going to sound the alarm. Two men alone? She’s not going to come quietly.”

“Just…let me try.”

Jason stared at him, torn between trusting his number two and just barreling ahead as fast and hard as he could to get Sonny and Clay back. “You get one shot. If it doesn’t work, we’re taking her.”

An hour later they were tailing the girl back into town. “One try,” Jason reminded him as they reached the outskirts.

Ray nodded and touched his comm. “Okay, let’s roll.”

Cerberus came bounding out from between the buildings, running right up to the girl and dropping a ball in front of her, tail wagging like he was a common puppy rather than a deadly attack dog. The girl stopped short, startled at first and then, as Cerberus continued to nudge playfully at her skirt, she reached to pick up the ball. 

Jason and Ray watched as she gave it a short toss. Cerberus bounded away and then returned quickly, dropping it directly at her feet. “Good boy,” Jason breathed.

They let the scene play out a few minutes longer, letting the girl relax and grow more comfortable. Ray looked to Jason who nodded. “Bravo Five, you’re on.”

“Cerberus!” Brock came out from behind a building and gave a sharp whistle. The dog ran over dropping the now slimy ball at his handler’s feet. “There you are! What have I told you about running off?”

The girl had stepped back, cautious now at the appearance of a stranger. Brock flashed her a smile. For such a quiet guy he could be incredibly charming when he turned it on. “Hi. Thanks for finding my dog.”

“You’re American?” The girl’s English was accented but easily understandable.

“I am. My name’s Brock. What’s yours?”

“Amira.”

“Nice to meet you Amira. This is Cerberus. Do you like dogs?”

“I like all animals.”

“Me too!”

“Get to the point Brock,” Jason muttered as the pleasantries continued.

“He’ll do it,” Ray said. 

It was another ten agonizing minutes of Brock breaking down the girl’s defenses with conversation and kindness. “Hey, maybe you could help me,” he finally said. “I had some American friends come through here earlier this week but I haven’t heard from them. You haven’t seen them around have you?”

The girl’s face immediately grew wary. “No.”

“Are you sure? One’s real big. The other one has blond hair. I just want to make sure they’re okay.” Cerberus nudged the girl’s leg, letting her pet his head. “I—“

“You won’t be in trouble,” Brock said. “I promise. Here.”

He pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket, more money than the girl had probably seen in her entire life. “Please.”

She tentatively reached for the money. “I have seen them. The big one is very sick.”

Alive. They were alive. A mixture of worry and relief twisted inside Jason’s gut and he tried to force it away. The information didn’t mean anything if they couldn’t get to their friends.

“Where Amira? Where did you see them?”

Her voice was hardly more than a shaky whisper. “The bad man. He took them. Outside of town. I bring the bad man his tea. And he makes me take them food and water.”

“How many men Amira? How many are inside?”

“I don’t know. Many.”

Brock’s eyes were full of sympathy. “Do they hurt you?”

She quickly shook her head. “But they say they will. If I do not help them. Can you…can you make them leave?”

“I can try.”

She nodded. “I hope you find your friends.”

Brock clipped on Cerberus’ lead. “Me too.”

Jason and Ray waited only until Amira was out of sight before coming out of hiding and joining Brock. The group of them hustled back to the truck where Metal and Trent were waiting, already in full tactical gear. “It’s not a lot,” Ray said, pulling on his vest.

“It’s more than we had an hour ago,” Jason said.

“Good thing we brought the big guns,” Metal said, flicking off the safety.

For the first time in days Jason allowed himself a smile. “Good thing.”

[danurso]

A dragon in love if you so please.

(I was working on a sum up for jaune alter but then i remembered that i had the sum up for this story already done on discord, which saved me a lot of time and efford, here we go)

@ice-covered-water you also asked for it so come and take a look.

Title: A dragon in love

Pairing: Jaune x Yang (Dragonslayer)

Status: WIP

Chapters Wrote: 1

Total words so far: 2,500

Story:

In the world of remnant dragons are a real thing, they are very rare, most people never saw one in real life, some even doubt these creatures actually exist. But the reason you see so few dragons normally is because they're usually disguised as humans.

Yang one day comes in her dorm with a massive grin and ten times more brighter than usual, before any of her friends and her sister can ask what got her so happy she leaps in the air and a pair of golden scaled wings sprout from her back along with a golden tail and a pair of horns.

Weiss and blake rolls their eyes and ignore while yang flies around the small room before landing on her bed. When ruby questions about why she's so happy yang goes back to her usual persona and tells her that it's nothing.

Ruby knows far too well that "nothing" wouldn't trigger her transformation like that, it was only a partial transformation but it was a transformation nonetheless, raven always teaches her how to keep in control of her emotions so she wouldn't turn into full dragon mode if someone pissed her off, so to trigger her transformation it must've been something big.

She insists in questioning about what happened but she keeps saying that it was nothing in the most casual tone possible, ruby even points out that her tail was wagging like one of a puppy but she just reverted back to normal and acted like nothing happened.

After ruby keeps questioning about it for some time blake intervains and says "jaune asked you on a date didn't he?" She said that without even taking her eyes off her book, yang's face lit up red instantly, she hands on her bed but before she can ask how blake knew it she just points to her cat ears and remembers her that her earing is way better than from normal peoples.

Weiss is the next one to question asking if she was really going out with him, and after a nod from yang she asks if it would be okay to date someone from a family of dragon hunters.

(The arc family hunts dragons since the beginning of the times and they would stop only when the dragons were extinct or they were.)

Yang gives them a casual reminder that jaune doesn't know about her dragon heritage so there is no problem in going out with him.

Weiss then asks how she is going to hide that from him after they started dating, yang gets embarrassed again and says that they were just going out on a date and that there were no romantic feelings involved.

Her reply was received by three very sceptic gazes.

They all knew yang had a crush on jaune at this point, they were already on the second year of beacon and she's developing something from him ever since the vytal tournament.

Jaune wasn't any better, they didn't knew what happened between them at the vytal festival but both of them seemed to start to act a bit different around each other after it.

Ruby was probably the most surprised with the development, raven always teached her that humans in their vast majority can't be trusted, so she always avoided getting emotionally involved with other peoples, she acted like a party girl, went out with her friends, had fun but never allowed herself to get very attached to her friends, both because of raven's teachings and because of her fear of being rejected because of what she is

Beacon was probably the first place she got really attached to her friends, blake weiss and team JNPR were very close friends she didn't expected to make when she came here, but it happened so who is she to say anything about it, weiss and blake knew about her and ruby's secret and still accepted them independent of what they were. (After a lot of terrified screams of course)

For yang be willing to go out on a *date* with jaune, he must mean a lot to her, but then weiss decided to remind her about the complications.

She asked what if that date turned out to be more than just two friends hanging out, what if they become more than just friends, she can't keep that secret from him forever, and then she starts to question what she thinks is going to happen when HE eventually finds out, or what is he going to do when he finds out.

Yang knows he would never do anything against her, but they remind her, what about his family? What if he tells them about her and they come after her?

Yang still doesn't think he would do that, and before weiss or blake can keep on their speech ruby interveniens, she says that she agree with yang, she doesn't think jaune could ever put yang on harms way on purpose, but even if he and his family aren't a problem, what about their family? Both qrow and raven absolutely hate the arcs. Dragons don't really have much bonds and when one of their species dies they don't care that much, but with qrow and raven is different.

There are three ranks of dragons in remnant:

Betas, the more common ones.

Alphas, way more powerful than beats and very rare as well.

Omega, its the dragon king, the most powerful and imposing of all dragons.

Raven and qrow were raised and trained by the omega ever since they had nine until the day they left for beacon, he was like a surrogate father for them, he and his wife were the only family they ever had, but that was until the arcs killed both the omega and his six year old son, raven and qrow could never forgive something like that but the omega's wife made them promise not to after the arcs, she was just as angry as them, but going after all the arc family would not only result on their death but also in a war between humans and dragons.

Because of that they never went after the arcs, but if they found out that there is an arc on beacon, even more that he is dating yang, things would get bad very fast.

Ruby knew how much her sister liked jaune, ans she knew jaune lover her too, but this date would just end up hurting both of them, and so she asked yang to cancel the date before it was too late, before she regretted it.

Yang, very reluctantly, accepts to cancel the date, and goes after jaune, she's a nervous wreck, she has no idea on how she's going to cancel the date, and before her rushed mind can formulate anything she bumps on him on the corridor.

Jaune just apologizes with his usual goofy smile.

The only thing yang could think was: "how the hell am i going to cancel that date if he keeps smiling like that!?"

He tells her that his mind is a but busy planning everything for later, yang tries to gather strength to speak, but when she finally does gather strength he cuts her, he apologizes for taking so long to ask her out on a date, after all these last few months that they trained, studied or hanged out together, and even after what happened during the vytal festival, he was still nervous, he never really went on a date before, he never thought he was what you would call an example of "dating material" never once a girl got interested in him, the few dates that he got the girl never showed up and that hit him really hard, but if yang gave him a chance he would do his best to try and impress her.

And now yang has no idea how to dump him anymore. How the hell is she supposed to cancel their date after what he just said!?

Jaune then asked if she wanted to tell him something, and after a few moments of pure brainstorm she asked if they were to a fancy place? Cause she didn't really like fancy places, jaune just told her not to worry that he was going to take her to an nice place he knew, nothing too fancy that she might not like.

Yang after that leaved to her room and when her teammates asked she said she canceled the date, she told them she just needed to be alone for awhile and they agreed to give her some time. Weiss dragged ruby to the library to study while blake followed just so she could finish reading her book.

Once she was sure they were far enough so blake's ears would hear her, she hopped from her bunk and went to her drawer and started to pick up clothes to the date, she had a plan in mind, since she couldn't cancel the date, she would act like she didn't like it and by the end of it, she would just tell that it was nice but it wouldn't work out.

This way she wouldn't need to dump him but would still be able to avoid anything to happen between them.

After choosing which clothes she would wear she puts them in a bag and hides it on her locker, she then goes back to her dorm and acts gloomy for some time after her friends got back.

When the time to her date comes she gets up and starts to head out, when they question he she says that coco saw her being gloomy earlier about her date and invited her for a movie session she and velvet were going to make, they would stay up all night watching movies, so they shouldn't wait for her.

Swallowing her lie, she leaves and gets to the locker room, she changes her clothes and gets on the docks to meet jaune who was already waiting for her.

They were both lost for a moment staring at each other (i still dk what clothes they're going to be wearing) but after the stunned effect leaved their bodies jaune tells her how stunning she is, yang has a hard time trying not to get embarrassed, but soon enough she replied that he looks very good to, she even says she's surprised that he isn't wearing his hoodie for once, and after exchanging a few words and compliments they both leave to start their date.

And that's all i have for now.

Planned scenes: 1- By the end of the date, yang would realize that her plan failed miserably and that the date just made her fall even more in love with jaune, and by the end of it after a long dance they end up kissing, without realizing, she ends up losing the control of her emotions and ends up releasing some of her dragon traits like her tail the wings and the horns, when they break the kiss jaune's eyes go wide in shock to see her like that, yang realizes what happened and flies away ignoring jaune calling her name.

2- after the bad ending at the date she goes to the only person she knows that will help her to deal with her problem, so she flies as fast as she can during a long time until she reaches her home and knocks on the door, when the door finally opens a woman with red hair and silver eyes pops out and barely gets the chance to ask who it was before yang tackled her into a hug.

Yang says that she screwed up and summer pulls her face away and sees that she's been crying lately, she brings her in and both have a talk about what happened.

3- summer convinces yang to give jaune a chance and that maybe he doesn't think bad of her, it might just be a shocking experience for him, neither she or tai, both normal humans expected to fall in love with a pair of dragon twins but here they were, married to and living with them. So as scary as it is, she will never know actually if she doesn't try, yeah, he being an arc might complicate things but if he really loves her he isn't going to let his family harm her, yang thanks for the advice and goes away, not knowing that qrow was outside hearing everything.

4- yang and jaune finally get together before they talk a bit and jaune tells her he doesn't mind and even tells her that his family doesn't hunt dragons anymore, but before jaume can explain why, a pair of dark haired twins comes crushing the window with their sights set on jaune, yang gets ruby to help her and buy some time for she to take jaune away.

What follows is a pursuit of a very angry qrow and raven after jaune who was being carried by yang to a place he told her would stop this nonsense.

5- when they landed yang noticed it was a big house at a lake near the forest, jaune started banging on the door calling someone, and when the door opened came out a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes that kinda reminded yang of jaune, the girl was jeanne one of jaune's sisters and she instantly teased him asked if she was the girl jaune is always talking about, jaune blushes and says that there's no time for that, and asks where is- before the sentence could be completed qrow and raven landed, they noticed how there was another arc there and that made their blood boil ten times more. A fight started and it seemed that it was obvious who was going to win, neither qrow or raven harmed yang at any point but still, she couldn't hold both of them at the same time, and when raven got an opening she charged at jaune's sister, ready to stab her right on her chest, but before the blade could pierce her, a boy showed up and grabbed the blade, he seemed to be just as old as yang if not a bit older and seemed to be really angry, he faced raven and pushed her back, telling them that if they tried to harm jeanne he would kill both of them, qrow and raven turned into their full dragon forms and were ready to attack before the boy turned into a huge black dragon and roared at them, his appearance combined with his aura made it pretty obvious, the was an omega, not any omega but the son of their dead surrogate father.

After things calmed down, yang asked what was happening and jaune told that the boy was the supposed dead son of the omega, on the day the arcs killed the omega, his young son came for revenge but got gravely injured, jaune and jeanne found him nearly dead in the woods and nursed him back to health, and during the years he and jeanne fell in love and ended up having a relationship, both qrow and raven were incredulous with him, because he was basically dating the daughter of the man who killed his father, he explained that yes the arcs killed his father but it was all part of the plan of an old dragon to take out the original omega from his throne and he was already taking care of this, meanwhile he and the arc family made peace and the arcs learned that the dragons only want to live in peace among with the humans, and now they only hunted rogue dragons who hurt innocent people around the world, he himself never forgave the arc family and doesn't hide his distaste for them, but jaune is his best friend and jeanne is the girl he loves so he has to deal with them.

Qrow and Raven take in the new info and slowly calm down, he tells them to forget about the arcs and if they really want to avenge his father he can help them out, thanks to that yang and jaune are given a moment alone so they can talk a bit more and finally sort things out to start an real relationship.

6- a small epilogue showing adult jaune and yang taking care of their baby dragon at their home, just a small family moment to wrap things up.

Fun facts: 1- in this story, summer is still alive and raven never left home.

2- While raven is still married to tai, summer is married to qrow.

3- Ruby and Yang still treat each other like sisters since because they grew up on the same house and were raised together basically like sisters.

4- this is one of the few stories right now that i intend to finish and post some day.

5- this story could be ready if i wasn't so lazy, i literally have it wrote down to about a third and have the rest totally developed in my head but i'm too lazy to write it down.

[whump-me-baby-one-more-time]

Greater Good - Chapter Two

No idea if anyone remembers this little thing I started, but it was supposed to be a first in a longer story, and I finally managed to get around to write the next part. It’s not very whumpy, but I promise the next part will be. :D 

Jackson fucked up and he knows it. His teammates know it, at least the ones still alive, and he’s glad to have escaped into the infirmary where he doesn’t have to face them and their baleful glares.

The guys back at the compound know it, too. Jackson has had enough malicious teasing to last him for a lifetime since he returned to the base. Even the damn nurse has been throwing him dark looks, for god’s sake.

But worst of all, the boss knows it.

Jackson wishes he was wrong, but he’s fairly certain word of his failure reached the boss before it ever even made the rounds among his brothers-in-crime.

Not that there’s much brotherly love to be lost.

“You should be fine in a few weeks,” the burly nurse says coldly. “Just don’t tear your stitches.” Or if you do, at least have the decency to bleed out somewhere where I’m not responsible, his tone seems to add, but Jackson simply nods and keeps his mouth shut.

“If the pain gets too bad take another one.”

Jackson pockets the painkillers with silent relief.

“Thanks, doc.”

The nurse shoots him another look and Jackson’s attempt at a grin to lighten the mood fades from his face.

“I’m not a doctor, smartass. The real doc’s too busy trying to put back together another one of the guys you blew up, so get out of here before he has a reason to get you under the scalpel as well.”

Jackson doesn’t need another hint.

He hurries out of the infirmary with his good arm wrapped around a crutch and pain shooting up his leg whenever he has to take a step. But he doesn’t complain. At least he got away with his life.

He doesn’t even react to the troglodytes lurking outside in the hallway, calling after him as he makes his way down to his room.

“Hey, Boom Boom Jackson! You look like crap!”

“Yea, what happened? Blew up a house?”

It’s the laughter that gets to him the most. Three of his teammates are dead because of a stupid mistake and all they can think about is the glee of having found another victim to pick on.

“The boss’ gon’ have your ass, Jackson. You and Dante are dogfood!” one of them exclaims with malicious joy and it’s only the door slamming shut behind him that keeps Jackson from tossing aside the small amount of self-control he has left in favour of going after them with his crutch.

He hobbles angrily to his room, avoiding the eyes of anyone passing by. When he gets there, his heart sinks and he almost considers going back to the nurse to ask for a bed.

But Reggie catches sight of him before he can back out of the doorway.

“What the fuck, Jackson.”

Jackson squares his jaw.

“Listen, Reggie, I can explain-“

“You better. What’s that with Cory and Sanders dead? And people sayin’ it’s your fault? You better have a damn good explanation for this, for your sake.”

So Reggie hasn’t heard of Flannaghan dying on the surgeon’s table yet. Jackson’s heart sinks even further.

“It was an ambush, Reggie,” he says defensively, which is true, but not the reason for three people dead and still counting. For all he knows, they could have made it out of there in one piece; all of them.

“Yeah? That why they been calling you Boom Boom Jackson?”

Jackson’s face reddens at the name.

“It wasn’t my fault.” But it was.

“I couldn’t have known the charge would fry the entire circuitry, okay?” But I did. There had been a ten percent chance of the charge going wild, but I ignored it.

"It was Cory’s job to calculate the power needed, not mine.” Excuses excuses excuses.

Reggie seems to share this sentiment.

“Your charge blew up an entire warehouse, Jackson.”

Jackson sticks out his arm. It’s a miserable sight, bandages around his wrist and hand, stitches on his biceps trying to hold together the pieces of skin where he fell into a heap of shards; the rest that isn’t bandaged or stitched up is a nasty looking red, the burns starting to itch already. The stitches in his side smart painfully at the movement.

“I know. I was there,” he says, voice strained. “But Cory fucked up. It’s not on me.”

For a moment Reggie stares at him and Jackson doesn’t know what to do. He feels bad for pushing blame onto a dead man’s shoulders, but then again there’s not much harm that can still be done to Cory, as opposed to his own shoulders that are still very alive and very, very prone to harm if he doesn’t play his cards right.

Cory was always a chill guy. Jackson’s sure he’d understand.

“It was still your charge that killed them. Isn’t that right?”

“So what?” Jackson snaps. “What are you gonna do now, huh? If I’d known that charge was gonna blow do you really think I would have pressed the trigger? Do you?”

Reggie rushes forward at his hostile tone but Jackson doesn’t even flinch.

“Oh yeah, beat me up! Go ahead! And once you’ve beaten all the guilt out of me you can go back and save Cory and Sanders with it. That your plan? That your fucking plan?”

He’s right up in his face now, almost spitting with anger, and for a moment the two of them glare at each other, fractures away from adding to the body count.

In the end it’s Reggie that backs down. His shoulders sag.

“Fuck, man.”

He turns away from Jackson and kicks a stray boot under one of the bunk beds.

“Cory was good people.”

Coming from Reggie, this hurts more than if he’d broken down crying at Jackson’s feet.

“I’m sorry, Reggie,” he mutters. And he really is. So much more than he could ever say.  

Reggie collapses onto a mattress and looks down at his hands; a big scary hunk of a man reduced to a grieving pile of regret.

“I should've been there, man,” he says hoarsely. “Would’ve never had to blow the charge if I’d been there.”

Jackson shifts his weight from his aching leg with a grimace.

“Look,” he starts weakly, “there’s nothing you could have done. Gabriel would’ve ordered the charge blown either way. You know him. He likes to make sure. Chances are, you’d be dead, too.” And then, very quietly, “It was just really bad luck all around.”

“Word has it boss has it out for Dante now,” Reggie says, still not lifting his eyes. “You’re lucky he didn’t choose you to piss on, you know."

Lucky. That’s not exactly the word Jackson would use.

“Poor bastard.” Reggie sighs. “You’re not gonna get out of this one with a smack on the hands either, though. You got a plan?”

Now he is looking up, green eyes scrutinizing Jackson, who just really wants to lay down and take another painkiller before thinking any further about any of this.

“A plan?”

“Well, yeah. Boss won’t just let you get away with a bad charge.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Jackson starts, but Reggie lifts up his hand.

“Don’t try that with the boss. He doesn’t like excuses. That’s why you need a plan.”

Jackson runs his good hand through his hair. It comes away filthy with soot and dust and he cringes when he thinks about how long he’ll have to shower to get it all out.

“I don’t have the fucking head for a plan right now,” he says, limping over to his bed. He plots himself down with a stifled groan. Two broken ribs and a fractured femur, the nurse had said, but Jackson has had his fair share of broken bones and none of them ever hurt as much as the burns do whenever he moves and stretches.

“You don’t want to face the boss unprepared.”

Jackson flares his nostrils.

“He can’t be that bad.”

“You’ve never met him, then, have you?” Reggie says.

Jackson fiddles with the laces on his boots, pain shooting up his side as he leans forward.

“So what?”

Reggie makes a sound that’s somewhere between a laugh and a scoff and Jackson looks up to see him shaking his head in disbelief.

“You’re a damn grasshopper if you think he won’t try to have your hide for this.”

“I don’t even know what the hell that’s supposed to mean,” Jackson mutters. The first boot comes off and he wriggles his toes in the fresh air. “But fine. I’ll think it over.”

Reggie is about to say something when there’s a sharp knocking at the door and both men snap their heads around, Jackson wincing involuntarily at the pain. Gregor’s standing on the threshold, looking at them with wide eyes. The kid’s always one tail shy of a goddamn cat in terms of skittishness and right now he looks particularly startled, worrying his lip between his teeth.

“Boss wants to see you, Jackson.” A fidgety twitch of the shoulder. “Sorry.”

There’s a moment of silence as Jackson contemplates how much protesting would really achieve; Reggie’s casting him a meaningful look and it’s pretty clear he can’t expect much support from this front.

He drags the back of his hand over his eyes with a sigh.

“On my way.”

He slips his boot back on with much internal grumbling and limps out of the room. --------

Jackson doesn’t even know his real name.

Everyone just always calls him “Boss”, a single little word that’s enough to make an entire room full of hardened criminals behave like schoolchildren threatened with a visit to the principal’s office.

It’s one of his objectives to figure out the full identity and background of this mysterious figure, but instead of feeling elated at finally making it to a face to face meeting with the big man Jackson’s really, really pissed off at being left to stand in the middle of the room like a boy about to have his ass whupped for breaking mom’s favourite plate, while the boss sits comfortably in a cushiony high-backed chair behind his desk.

“Gabriel’s told me a lot about you.”

Jackson offers up a lopsided grin he doesn’t feel. “Only good things, I’m sure.”

The boss doesn’t smile. Dark blue eyes scrutinise Jackson and he suddenly feels very small behind his ragged clothes and filthy face, cursing his own luck at being summoned at a moment like this. He looks like a canal rat next to the boss’s white shirt.

“Sir,” he says out of a need to break the very uncomfortable silence. “I just want to say I'm really sorry for what happened today.”

“Sorry?”

Now he does smile, or at least that’s what Jackson suspects it to be, but it has more resemblence with a snarl as he pulls his lips back over a row of perfectly white teeth.

“Sorry isn’t going to bring back three of my men from the dead, Theodore.”

Jackson squirms at being addressed with his first name.

He knows it’s simply to establish dominance over him, like he’s still back in school and losing his head at the first sight of authority, but the man’s regarding him with such a detached demeanour that he can’t help but feel caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

The boss sighs.

“You’ve put me in a very difficult situation. Not only are we going to be five men short but you have to think about what message this will send to the others.”

“It’s only three men, sir, not five, and I’m sure-“

A thick, dark eyebrow cocks upwards with so much disbelief at Jackson’s naivety that the words get stuck in his throat.

“Are you implying that I don’t know what’s going on in my own enterprise?”

Enterprise. The word rings in Jackson’s ears as he’s once again reminded that no matter how high the body count might be, this is still first and foremost a business, and he’s standing right in front of its CEO. He swallows.

“No, sir, I’m just saying-“

“You,” the boss says calmly, interrupting him like you would a pouting child, “are partly responsible for me having to mark this day as a loss, Theodore. Do you know how much I hate to see my operations interrupted? We’ve lost an entire haul of goods that would have amounted to more than a normal person would make in a decade simply because of sloppy work.”

Jackson bristles.

“It was just bad luck. Everyone on the team acted within his best ability, there’s nothing we could have done to prevent this.”

“Is that so?”

The boss pushes himself out of his chair and circles around the desk. He’s got thick lush hair pulled back by a pair of pins that are barely visible in the halo emanating from the desk lamp. It glints in the light like polished ebony and Jackson can’t help but feel a sting of envy at the perfect jet black colour that looks exactly like what he wishes his own hair would look like instead of the unruly mess of vague brown that can’t quite commit itself to a specific shade he’s stuck with.

“What happened at the warehouse, Theodore?” He stands before Jackson, only an inch or two taller, but seeming to tower over the bedraggled ex CIA agent.

And how many operations has Jackson seen through? Almost ten years with the agency and still he’s writhing under the cold blue eyes like a rook on day one. He forces himself to get a grip.

“We ran into an ambush. The warehouse was supposed to be empty but we walked right into a trap. No one could have seen it coming.”

“Except for Dante.”

Dante. Jackson rubs his thumb against the cold metal of his crutch. He isn’t sure what to make of it, but the idea that the quirky accountant-turned-bankrobber decided to add “traitor” to his resume and risked facing the exact kind of trouble he’s facing now for no apparent reason strikes a wrong chord in Jackson.

“He was supposed to case the target beforehand, no?”

“Sir,” Jackson says, looking at the boss’s shoes because he knows if he meets his eyes the uncertainty will be written all over his face. “I don’t think Dante had a clue of what was waiting for us. He’s a good man.”

His voice steadies somewhat towards the end. Dante’s a good man, that he does believe.

“So you don’t think he turned on you and your team? Look at me when I speak, man.”

Jackson does as told, but the expression on his boss’s face makes him fidgety. It’s like he has only a mild interest in the case, his lips relaxed, eyes slightly lidded, one hand pushed into the pocket of his pants, but behind that Jackson feels a lethal determination to make an example of whoever’s responsible for the muck up.

The fact that at least half of it is his fault makes his mouth dry out.

“I… No. I don’t think he would do something like that. He’s no traitor.”

“Hmm.”

The boss runs a finger over the surface of his desk absentmindedly, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. The seconds tick by until Jackson’s sure he’s gonna have a cramp from the anticipation and he’s just about to open his mouth when the boss has mercy on him.

“Do you know why I am where I am? Why I’m the one calling the shots instead of having to weasle in front of a supervisor like you have to right now?”

Jackson’s jaw slacks. “Sir?” But the boss doesn’t react to his polite mortification.

“Power, Theodore. That’s all it is. Power and money, but of course,” he says with the hint of a grin, “money’s worthless if you don’t have the power to use it. And knowledge is power, isn’t that what they say?”

Jackson shifts nervously, flexing the fingers of his bad hand with pain.

“I guess.”

“No, Theodore. Not guessing. Knowing. That’s the key. That’s why I’m where I am and you are where you are. Because I know so much more than you can ever dream of.”

He brushes a small strand of stray hair out of his temple and Jackson notices a fleck of gray starting to gnaw at the very beginning of his hairline, but if anything it simply makes him look more distinguished. Jackson sags on the inside. He just can’t win.

“Yes, sir,” he mutters, fighting down a bout of anger. He may not have a plan but years of experience have taught him how to deal with people he has no chance of ever beating through brute force and this is one of those rare occasions where he has to employ the agonizing tactic of Boot Licking And Demure Agreeing.

“And of course, I know everything about you. I’ve read your file, your mission reports. All of them.” A glint of amusement steals into his eyes when Jackson stares at him and the implications dawn on his dusty little world. “Including the Cherub incident.”

Jackson swallows hard. CIA files are highly classified and he isn’t sure he could even get his own hands on all of the mission reports he’s been a part of, but something in the way the boss looks at him without any need to prove his claim makes him belief that he’s telling the truth.

He doesn’t dare to think about what this could mean for his own undercover operation.

“You remember the Cherub incident, then.”

“I was… It was a stupid accident, sir.”

“More of that famous bad luck?” the boss says dryly and Jackson withers on the inside. “Seems there’s a lot of that going around at the moment.”

He cocks his head. When he speaks again, the casual tone has been sliced from his voice with icy anger.

“I should have you whipped and thrown in solitary for using a bad charge, Theodore. You and Cory both, but unfortunately he’s managed to die before I could get my hands on him.”

“Sir,” Jackson says, face burning. “There was no way of knowing what was going to happen. Cory should have-“

“But he didn’t. And you didn’t care to check his work even though you knew perfectly well what can happen if you use faulty equipment. From personal experience, no less. Now, you see,” the boss says before Jackson has a chance at defending himself. “Cory has paid for his mistake dearly and I am left with a plucky ex agent that thinks he’s better than the rest of my crew even though he’s too goddamn stupid to double check a goddamn wire.”

It’s the first and only time he raises his voice; he’s got himself under control before Jackson’s done flinching at the volume.

He adjusts his cuffs with a deep breath before continuing.

“Tell me, what would you do in my place?”

It’s a question to which there is no right answer and it has Jackson grinding his teeth. If he says he would be showing mercy it would not only be a blatant lie but also a very obvious attempt at saving his own ass, but if he tells the truth then he’s done for.  For a moment he considers how high his chances are of ending up dead.

Fuck it, he decides.

“I would make an example of the man responsible, sir,” he finally says, jaw so tense he swears if anyone were to poke it right now he’d bust a muscle.

“Hmm.”

It’s a deep hum, the kind that doesn’t leave any room for uncertainty but instead seems to speak of a decision that has been made before he ever even stepped into the office, and only waited for confirmation out of mere diligence.

“Very well, then. You’re dismissed.”

Jackson’s still processing the words when the boss sits down at his desk with brisk finality. He pulls out a sheaf of papers and picks up a pen from his desk, but looks up just as he’s about to put the tip to the paper.

“That means you can go. Gabriel will notify you of any further steps.”

Finally, Jackson manages to gather enough of his wits about him to stop staring.

“Yes, sir.”

It’s not until he’s already at the door, leaning heavily on his crutch, that he turns around one more time.

“What about Dante?”

The man behind the desk stills his pen for a small moment.

“Don’t worry, Jackson. I’ll be sure to take your advice to heart.”

He bares his teeth in an absent smile and for a second Jackson gets a glimpse of the darkness lurking behind the impeccable appearance, like a poisonous thorn peeking out from between the petals.

He leaves with Dante’s death sentence hanging over him like a shroud.

[ramblingaboutthings]

Stardust [3] | Chris Beck

Pairing: Chris Beck x reader

Words: 1.5k

A/n: Finally!! Part four will be the last part and I know this is trash but I put all my effort just to finish it because I couldn't figure out how to end this chapter.

Also I was tired of cute stuff so prepare yourself for some angst on the next part.

Enjoyyyy

The Hermes had been really calm that day, a little too much for Y/n's liking.

Ever since the little awkward moment with Chris Beck, happened two days before, the Hermes went completely silent, as if someone was plotting something behind Y/n's back.

Every time she tried to confront her teammates about that, they'd just shrug their shoulders. Even commander Lewis and Vogel were acting strangely.

Beck, on the other hand, liked the silence that was now an excuse for some random stargazing activities and some rest after a difficult day.

The silence made all so easy. Chris was being extremely fast with his mansions that he had more free time than all of the crew put together.

But that didn't mean he didn't miss his lab partner. Y/n was acting distant, she'd work out all day with Johansen, it was like she was avoiding him.

"Excuse me doctor, could you help me with something?" Beck looked up from his notes, Johansen was smiling widely at him.

"Where's Y/n?" It was the first thing he thought about, she was usually with her and he trusted Beth enough to let her protect Y/n until he figured out what happened to her.

"Oh she's with Watney, now will you help me or not?" She replied nonchalantly.

A frown grew on Chris' face "yeah sure, what do you need?"

"Well Y/n said she wanted to talk to you then could you help me with my mansion?"

At the sound of her name Beck stood up from his chair and smiled.

"Is she okay?" He'd asked before following Beth's lead.

"She's perfectly fine Beck" she laughed lightly.

Y/n was in the common room chatting with Watney, when she heard light footsteps approaching them.

"Hey Y/n! Don't you have to tell Beck something?"

Y/n panicked, she'd promised she'd have told Chris why she was being so distant, but she wasn't ready yet.

"Could you leave me alone with her?" Beck asked politely as everyone left.

"So what do you need to tell me Stardust?" He smiled.

"I'm sorry for what happened the other day"

She muttered out

"It's okay if you think I'm good looking you know?" He laughed sitting down beside her.

Y/n felt her face heat up "are you sure?"

He nodded, the atmosphere went silent, an awesomely comfortable silence was now surrounding them.

"My mom called the other day" Beck began.

"She asked about you, she couldn't wait to meet you, and she wants to have a video call with all the crew"

Y/n laughed "your mom knows about me?"

"Oh yeah, you're my best friend Stardust, it's pretty obvious I told her about you" he chuckled

She cringed at "best friend", she knew they couldn't be more than that but somehow her hopes were still pretty high.

"What does she think about me?" She asked shyly while looking away awkwardly.

"All she knows is that you're beautiful and you take care of me when I'm too busy to do it myself" he answered, he kneeled down in front of her, his index finger touched Y/n's chin and made her look back to him.

"You told her I'm beautiful?" Y/n giggled even thought a strange feeling was now spreading inside her chest.

"Hey that you think I'm good looking doesn't mean I don't think the same about you" he laughed.

The door shot open.

Both Y/n and Beck jumped away from each other, their head turned toward where Beth was standing waiting for Chris to help her.

"Are you coming or not Beck?" She said

He nodded glancing over to Y/n smiling.

"Bye Stardust see you later" he said getting up.

"See 'ya later doc!" She yelled when he was already outside.

Y/s still sat there, on her bed, with a smile plastered on her face, she was staring at one random spot on the white wall trying to process everything.

She spent like ten minutes smiling at the wall when finally Mark decided to walk in and make fun of her.

"So... how's your relationship with your man going?" He asked more for him to know if Beth was winning than to listen to Y/n' s problem.

"It's getting better and better" she grinned.

Watney slapped himself mentally again for not winning that damn bet but smiled trying to seem as happy for her as he could.

"So has Beck finally found out you have a crush on him?" He asked sitting down on his bunk.

"No! Mark you know Hermes has cameras everywhere" Y/n panicked a little.

"Okay so today we'll have a movie night, we'll se what's gonna happen, also it's your turn to choose the movie" Mark shrugged and lied down.

"We're watching Captain America: the first avenger" Y/n clapped her hands happily, like a baby.

"Aw come on Y/n! That movie came out like twenty years ago!" Watney whined.

Y/n laughed.

"I'm gonna go do my tasks, see you later Mark" she ran out of the room, she waved at commander Lewis and approached her desk in the lab.

Beck was late, usually he'd arrive before Y/n, but he was helping Johansen, obviously.

A wave of jealousy hit her, but what could she do? It wasn't like her and Chris were dating, the only thing to do was shut up and work without thinking about him. Easy right?

Why did Chris have to be this perfect? That was the question that Y/n asked herself constantly and she couldn't give an answer.

She got distracted, and she didn't notice the solution she was working on spilled on some of the explosive powder.

She cursed but hoped nothing would happen but her Hope's immediately dropped then a big explosion threw her on the other side of the room.

Her ears started to hear a beep from the fire alarm.

She groaned and tried to stand back up but a sharp pain hit her.

Her head started pounding and her right wrist wouldn't move.

Her gaze shifted to the door hoping someone would walk in and luckily it happened.

Chris walked in, a worried look on his face as he examined the room to find something wrong, then he spotted her, Y/n was hurt.

"Shit Y/n! What's gotten into you?" He screamed panicking.

He was a doctor, he couldn't panic, he definitely couldn't panic.

But she was the girl he cared most about.

He rushed in front of her and scanned her body searching for injuries, her eyes were closed and her breath was slowing down, then he spotted her wrist, it was all purple and swollen.

"Hey Stardust can you hear me?" He asked.

Her eyes opened just slightly but enough for her to see him.

She nodded slowly but looked down for him to notice her wrist.

He tilted his head to the side amiling softly as he gently grabbed it.

Y/n winced in pain.

"C-chris ma-make it stop please" she cried.

"Hey it's okay, it's broken but it's nothing serious you just need to stay awake while I put a cast on it" Beck said before picking her up bridal style.

Y/n forced a smile as Chris laid her on the infirmary bed.

"Thank you" she whispered.

The silence filled the room, the only noise was coming from Beck preparing the cast.

Y/n's eyelids went heavy and she laid her head on Chris' chest.

"Hey resist okay? I'm almost done" Chris caressed her head and kissed her on the forehead.

It took ten minutes to finish, at that point he was holding her tight in his arms as he whispered "you scared me", that was the last thing she remembered before completely blacking out.

*-*-*-* time skip *-*-*-*

Y/n woke up to a knock on her door, then two and three.

She rubbed her eyes with her good hand and adjusted her eyes to the bright white room.

"Y/n how are you? Are you okay? Can we come in?" Watney asked

"Yeah. Yeah sure come in" Y/n answered now sitting on the bunk.

The door opened showing Watney and Martinez, they smiled seeing she was better.

"Movie night is almost starting, wanna come with us?" Martinez asked

She nodded slowly standing up and following them to the common room (I don't know if that's really the name so forgive me).

She scanned the room for a moment then her heart suddenly slipped some beats.

Beck's face was extremely near Johansen's and they were getting closer and closer.

Y/n looked away trying not to show her emotion but even Vogel noticed something was really wrong.

"Y/l/n are you okay?" He asked capturing everyone's attention.

"Y-yes" she stuttered

"Are you kidding me? You look like a ghost right now" Chris almost yelled.

Y/n looked away. "You know why? Because you were fucking almost kissing my best friend! oh and guess what?" She screamed

"We were not kissing for god sake she cut her cheek!"

"Like I'd believe you! You know the worst part? I'm fucking in love with you since we met for the fucking first time!"

Her head began to spin again, faster and faster before she passed out again.

[vecnawrites]

Joan, I dare you to put on seductive lingerie and confess your feelings for Pyrrha.

Joan blushed fiercely as she stood before Pyrrha wearing little more than a peephole bra, showing off her pink nipples, hard from the material of the bra and the fact that air were reaching them, and tiny thong underwear that barely covered what was necessary, almost slipping between her plump lips as she fidgeted.

Pyrrha stared with wide eyed and red cheeks, her breaths almost coming out in pants as her emerald eyes roamed over Joan's body. Her cock was hard already, practically tearing through the silk of her own panties, twitching and a droplet of pre formed at the tip. “J-Joan?” her voice did not squeak, and she would fight anyone who said otherwise.

“I...I love you, Pyrrha!” Joan squeaked, she knew she did, the pitch of her voice being just under glass breaking, at least in her opinion. She blinked as she saw Pyrrha swaying. “Pyrrha?” she asked, confused, before Pyrrha slumped over on the bed with a wide smile on her face, cock popping out of her panties, twitching and throbbing along to her heartbeat. “Pyrrha?!”

Team RWBY

Back in their dorm, Yang chuckled to herself, knowing that there was no way that Joan would do the dare, and she would get her homework for the month done free. “That was mean, Yang.” Blake admonished, narrowing her eyes at her.

But Yang was unrepentant. “Come on, what are the odds that she she'll do it? She and P-Money have been dancing around each other the entire school year. She needs to step up or step off.” she said, shaking her head. Weiss scoffed. “Pyrrha could do so much better than that dunce.” she said bitterly, rolling her eyes.

Ruby giggled. “You know you ruined any shot you had the first day.” she teased her friend, making the heiress look away with a pout. “Shut up, dolt!” the Schnee barked.

Joan And Pyrrha

Pyrrha woke blearily, joy and immense sorrow filling her heart. Joy, because Joan had come to her and told her that she was in love with her, dressed in some of the skimpiest lingerie she had ever seen as though begging to be taken, and sorrow, because something that good had to be a dream.

Opening her eyes, her cheeks blazed as she saw practically bare tits hanging inches above her eyes. Eyes darting upwards, they locked with cerulean blues, filled with concern and...love? “It wasn't a dream...” she whispered weakly, feeling her cock throb. Flushing, her hands flew down and covered the large shaft she had been blessed with as best she could...not that that did much.

Joan smiled. “No, it wasn't...I do love you, Pyrrha...I wore this,” Joan blushed as she looked at her 'outfit', “in the hope that you would want me back.” she looked away, nibbling on her lower lip, fighting anxiety. “I...I understand if you don't...I know I'm not much....and as Weiss says, you could do so much better...”

Fighting down her sudden flash of utter fury as what Weiss said reached her ears, Pyrrha shot up and pressed her lips to Joan's, softly at first, but quickly gaining more and more power as the seconds passed.

With a swift twist, Pyrrha twisted them so Joan was pressed against the bed, and she was on top, kissing her with everything she was. Eventually, though, the pair was forced to separate, as even with their Huntress stamina, they still needed air.

“Listen closely, Joan. I. Love. You. I've loved you for practically the entire school year...” she whispered against Joan's lips, her hard cock rubbing against the toned flesh of Joan's abdomen, leaking and smearing pre across her skin.

Joan whimpered, her head swimming as she felt the heat of Pyrrha's massive cock pressing against her belly. She forced herself to stay awake, not wanting to pass out now that she knew her feelings were returned, the dare that Yang heaped on her being the furthest thing from her mind right now as she felt her pussy soak her skimpy thong, the juice that wasn't absorbed into the almost useless material leaking down the curve of her bubbly rear.

Pushing herself up a bit, Pyrrha looked down Joan's body, cock twitching and slapping repeatedly against Joan's belly with wet noises. She swallowed the saliva that pooled in her mouth, hoping that this outfit meant what she thought it did. Reaching for the bra and panty, she spoke. “M...May I?” she whispered, her voice cracking.

Joan swallowed as well, nodding. “...yes...” she squeaked, her breath hitching as Pyrrha swiftly tugged, tearing the flimsy material off of her body and baring what little she couldn't see to her eyes. Emerald eyes roamed over creamy flesh, large breasts capped with hard little pink nipples, hourglass figure, toned belly, wide flared hips, thick thighs, long legs, and the most perfect pussy that Pyrrha had ever seen...and with how many female fans had sent her nude photos, she had seen plenty...including that of Weiss Schnee.

Shaking herself from those thoughts, Pyrrha grabbed her tank top and ripped it down the middle, not wanting to break her view for even a second, grabbing the elastic of her panties and tearing those off too, leaving her just as nude.

Devouring Joan's lips again, Pyrrha rubbed her cock against Joan's slick lips, pulling back just enough to give her a questioning look. A slow nod was her answer. A swift thrust of her hips led to a slick noise and squeaking moans from both of them.

Team RWBY

Yang tilted her head, wondering why a red faced and teary eyed Joan hadn't come back to Team RWBY's dorm room yet, ready to submit to being her homework 'helper' for the next month. “Where is she?” she groused, eye twitching as she fought with her impatience.

“You said it yourself that the sexual tension between them was sickening...maybe Joan did confess and they're being intimate right now.” Blake said calmly, not taking her eyes off of her book.

Weiss scoffed. “Please, never say something so sickening again, Blake.” she growled, trying to focus on her work, but couldn't now that the words were spoken. What if the dunce did confess, and they were being intimate? Her perfect teeth ground together at the thought of the two being intimate.

Ruby smiled. “I think it would be about time!” she chirped, getting a vicious glare from Weiss, although she said nothing, her ass burning with remembered pain that it had gone through the last time she had been too harsh and made the Rose cry.

Joan And Pyrrha

Unrepentant moans slipped from two different pairs of lips as Pyrrha thrust slowly into Joan's soaking core, her long and thick cock spreading her wonderfully and reaching her innermost depths. “Pyrrha...” Joan moaned, wrapping her arms around her partner, now in more ways than just combat.

“Feels so good, Joan! You feel so good!” Pyrrha chanted, rolling her hips in a controlled manner as she bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from losing control...but it was so hard! Joan felt so good, so hot, so wet, so responsive! It was everything she could do to keep from losing control and using more force! The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Joan...

Joan mewled as Pyrrha's shaft slammed into her over and over. This felt so good! But she knew that she could feel even better as well, she just had to...“Pyrrha...faster! I'm...not delicate!” she moaned. “Make it so I can't walk without a limp tomorrow!”

Pyrrha stiffened, eyes going wide and cock throbbing at Joan's words. A helpless moan spilled from her lips as her hips began to move on their own, picking up speed and force, the blanket shifting and falling off of their bodies, allowing the loud slap slap slap of flesh meeting flesh to echo through the room.

Their moans got louder and louder as their passions grew, Joan starting to thrust her hips up in time with Pyrrha's thrusts, only making their pleasure grow. The pair tumbled and twisted on the bed, their cries beginning to reach a pitch loud enough to be heard outside.

Team RWBY

Blake's ears twitched and she looked up, eyes widening a bit as she recognized what the noises were. “I believe you lost the bet, Yang, and that my prediction was accurate.” she said, lowering her book and standing, heading to the door.

Weiss scoffed once more. “There is no way that Pyrrha would be, be intimate that soon in a relationship!” she hissed, looking furiously at her faunus teammate.

Blake rolled her eyes and opened the dorm room door, allowing the three humans to hear Joan faintly, “Yes, Yes, Yes! Oh, harder, Pyrrha! HARDER!” making Ruby blush fiercely, Weiss flush in rage, her eyes nearly popping out of her skull, and Yang's face fall. “Aw, man! She actually did it?” she whined, not looking forward to the prospect of doing her own homework.

Blake closed the door with a chuckle. “Sounds like she and Pyrrha are having fun.” she mused, moving back over to her bunk and picking up her book again, ignoring the moping Yang, embarrassed Ruby, and frothing at the mouth Weiss.

However, the four couldn't truly ignore what they knew was happening, as Pyrrha and Joan were only seemingly getting louder, the cries and screams of passion entering their dorm through two closed doors. As the first, then second, then third, then fourth hour passed, Weiss, Blake, and Ruby all glared at Yang, regretting that they let her make Joan confess to Pyrrha for her bet.

Joan And Pyrra

Team JNPR's dorm room was a complete mess at this point. Both Pyrrha's and Joan's beds were utterly trashed, the sheets and bedding soaked in sweat and their combined fluids, hanging off the bed or on the floor. Their desks were trashed, papers and books on the floor, more cum staining the top of it, currently drying into a tacky film, and several of the walls looked cracked, showing where Pyrrha had pinned Joan to the wall and fucked her hard against it.

Currently, they were on Nora's bed (she could sleep with Ren tonight, it wasn't like the pair didn't know that they were fucking as well), Pyrrha fucking a sticky, cum covered Joan from behind, slamming into her slick cum filled pussy, relishing the moans that she was getting from her girlfriend. “Gonna cum again, Joan!” she yelled, fondling and slapping the ass before her as it rippled from her hip strikes.

Joan said nothing, having lost the real capability to string words together in the first half-hour of their lovemaking, but the way her hips moved back against her eagerly told Pyrrha that another load of cum was more than welcome.

Using the last of her strength and energy, Pyrrha slammed into her girlfriend's rear bumper, her sizable, but aching balls releasing what cum they had left into them into Joan's fertile depths, both screaming loudly as they came, before the pair slumped onto the bed, curling up next to one another.

Despite her lack of energy (who knew that sex was more exhausting than arena battling?), Pyrrha gathered the sticky Joan in her arms and pulled her flush against her, rubbing her protruding belly, swollen with her seed while pressing kisses against Joan's shoulder, cheeks, anyplace she could reach. “I love you.” she heard a croaky, rasping voice, and saw Joan looking at her with a teary smile on her face.

Pyrrha kissed Joan sweetly. “I love you too, Joan...so much...” she whispered, tucking her chin on the crown of Joan's head. “Sleep now, sweetie. We can talk in the morning...” Joan giggled sleepily in response. “And continue...” she mumbled drifting off next to her.

Pyrrha was awake for a little while longer, simply watching her sleeping lover, before she too, succumbed to the need for rest. There would be quite a lot to talk about tomorrow, but it was a Saturday, and they would have all day to do so...she was slightly embarrassed about how loud they had been, but the soundproofing on these dorms was pretty good, so there was no way anyone heard them, right?

Outside Team JNPR Dorm

The entirety of the first year floor of the dormitory was wide eyed and red faced, either from embarrassment, fury, or arousal at the sounds of sex that had been the soundtrack of the floor for the past several hours. Some were embarrassed to have heard such intimacy, others enraged that Pyrrha Nikos, or to a lesser extent, Joan Arc were off the market. Even others were aroused at the thought of the two together.

One thing was for sure, Beacon wasn't going to be the same ever again.

[nelvana]

In which the Gardevoir awakens

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which bad deeds are fixed Previous: In which two allies return from their journey together

    Nelvana was the first to start hurrying up the stairs, but if the sound of several other footsteps was any indication, the others were following closely behind her. They arrived at the second floor of the house to spot Gardevoir awake and standing up only a few feet away from Alex’s hammock where she had been resting before; now leaning on a wall with one of her arms. She lifted her head up to look over to where the stairs were when hearing that she wasn’t about to be alone anymore, and her eyes lit up as she spotted the cubone first.

    “Gardevoir! You’re up!” Nelvana called out, swiftly approaching her friend, but deciding not to hug right away judging by how Gardevoir appeared to be having trouble standing. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

    “Oh, I’m… I’m not sure. I think I’m alright; just pretty tried. I’m mostly confused as to how I got here; this is your base, right?” Gardevoir responded, managing a smile.

    Nelvana nodded, “yes, welcome to the base! It’s a bit of a long story, but Ge- Damien here and I managed to break the curse; that’s why you’re here,” she told her.

    At being mentioned, Damien nervously stepped forward, a bit shocked to actually be able to see and hear Gardevoir properly again. Though, it was less that he stepped forward, and more than Alex gave him a gentle shove over to the other two, and after that encouragement he made the rest of his way over.

    “You… you really did?” Gardevoir gasped, her wide-eyed gaze flitting over from Nelvana to Damien. “I’m sorry, I don’t even know what to say… thank you so much; I didn’t think I would ever get to be… here, alive, again,” she murmured, wiping away tears that were already forming at the edges of her eyes. “Especially for you, Damien. We haven’t even met before, and you went to… who knows how much trouble just to bring me back here. That’s incredibly noble of you.”

    Damien paled slightly at the comment; though fortunately for him, Gardevoir didn’t seem to notice, “oh, kekeh, yeah… no problem,” he replied, “I’m just glad to see you’re alright.”

    “Are you a new member of the team?” Gardevoir asked, deciding to slide down the wall and sit down to carry on with this conversation.

    “Ah, no, no I’m not. Just… in the area, y’know,” Damien answered, shrugging stiffly.

    “Well, that just makes it all the more chivalrous. Thank you, again.” Gardevoir smiled.

    “Would you like to get to finally meet some of my other teammates though?” Nelvana offered, sitting down beside Gardevoir.

    “Oh, yes, I’d love to!” Gardevoir replied, looking up towards the others, who had gathered at the top of the stairs together. “It’s amazing that I’ll finally get to know all of you!” she exclaimed.

    Taking this as permission to finally rush up to Gardevoir as well, Keahi bounced up in place before hurrying over to where the three had settled by the wall. Afterwards, the rest slowly shuffled after him.

    “Hello Gardevoir! It’s really good to get to see you again,” he greeted, smiling broadly and practically vibrating with excitement. “Do you remember me?”

    “Of course I remember you, Keahi,” Gardevoir giggled, “it’s good to see you again too; how have you been?”

    “I’ve been doing great! Especially now that Nel is back from that mission and you could come back too!” Keahi responded, “it was my birthday recently too, and that was fun!” he added.

    “Well, happy belated birthday then. Sorry I missed it,” Gardevoir hummed.

    Keahi laughed, “it’s alright! You’re here now.”

    Edgar, being just as excited as Keahi to get to know Gardevoir, floated right up next to the torchic in front of her to join in the conversation properly.

    “Hi! I’m Edgar!” Edgar exclaimed, “I remember you from when you helped us out; thank you for that!”

    “Oh, I believe that I remember you as well! It’s nice to put a name to a face; hello Edgar. You’re quite the observant one, aren’t you?” Gardevoir responded, “you noticed me both times I managed to visit from the spirit realm while you were with the team.”

    Edgar merely giggled at the question, “I guess I am!”

    “Well, unlike these two, I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Alex, it’s nice to meet you, Gardevoir,” Alex spoke up, crouching down beside Nelvana, trying not to crowd around Gardevoir too much.

    “Hm? But I believe we have met,” Gardevoir corrected.

    “Really? When was that?” Alex questioned, eyes widening in surprise.

    “When I was bringing you, Nel, and Ceebee back here. We spoke for a bit before I was able to properly return you to this plane,” Gardevoir explained.

    Alex sighed, “ah, I guess that would explain it. I’m afraid that none of us remember that, or anything during that time at all. Apologies for that.”

    “That’s alright!” Gardevoir assured him, “I’ll admit, my own memories of that event are a bit hazy, so it makes sense,” she said.

    “Well, in that case, I suppose I’ve got a mix of Edgar and Alex’s experiences when it comes to knowing you,” Ceebee giggled, “I’m Ceebee, though you may have already known that.”

    “Yes, I did, but it is good to meet you properly anyway, Ceebee,” Gardevoir replied, “I must admit, I have never met a legendary or mythical pokemon before,” she added.

    “Oh, please spare any formalities; no one has done that for a long time and it would just be awkward,” Ceebee told her hastily, waving her hands in front of her. “Just treat me as you would anyone else, alright?”

    Gardevoir seemed to hesitate, but then nodded, “very well, I’ll make sure to do that then, if that’s what you’d prefer.”

    Tsuki, being the only one without any previous ties to Gardevoir, hung back a bit at first from introducing herself. However, she wouldn’t be able to just sit back and wait for much longer, and would need to walk over and actually join the conversation.

    “G-Greetings,” Tsuki finally said, taking a hesitant step forward. “I am Tsuki.”

    “Oh, hello Tsuki! You may be one of the only ones here I haven’t actually met before yet!” Gardevoir commented with a chuckle, “it’s nice to meet you then, I know you know, but I’m Gardevoir.”

    “It’s nice to meet you too,” Tsuki replied softly, glancing down at her paws for a moment.

    While this was unusual behavior for the usually more serious and well-kept together absol, no one commented on this for now. They all individually hoped and assumed it was just nerves at meeting someone that everyone else was already friendly with.

    In reality, Tsuki was dealing with the unfamiliar feeling of her heart seeming to swell and her face heating up. She had never seen or spoken to Gardevoir before now, and she could only think about how she wished she had; she felt like she had missed out on so much already. The urge to get to know the newcomer was slowly but surely building up, but so was the fear that they wouldn’t be able to be good friends.

    “Anyway… Gardevoir, we all discussed this beforehand so don’t worry about if it’s okay, but if you need a place to stay, you can stay here if you’d like,” Alex announced, breaking though the silence that had started to build in the room after Tsuki’s introduction.

    Gardevoir blinked, “really…?” She paused, and then laughed. “Well, I suppose it would have made sense for you to decide that. You all must have realized I don’t currently have anywhere to go. Thank you, I’d love to stay here if you have the room.”

    “We built this place to have the room! Of course you can stay!” Keahi responded with a laugh of his own. “What kind of bed would you like? It might take a bit to order, but if you decide now we should be able to get it soon.”

    “Ah, well, I haven’t really thought of that before…” Gardevoir murmured, taking a moment to think. “I think a normal bed would do just fine; if you could get one of those.”

    “I’m sure the kecleon brothers can order one from somewhere! Or we can make one,” Keahi chirped.

    “Oh! Damien will be staying here too! What kind of bed do you want, Damien?” Edgar exclaimed, turning his attention back to the gengar.

    Damien stiffened, being caught off guard, “I, uh… I’m not sure. I think that I’ve gotten pretty well adjusted to nests at this point; that probably wouldn’t take up that much space anyway.”

    “But what would you prefer?” Nelvana interjected.

    “…probably a normal bed too. Yeah…” Damien mumbled.

    “We can order the two beds together! That would be easy!” Edgar hummed, floating closer over to Damien again. “And of course there will be enough room for both of the beds! Like Keahi said, this base was built to have room for more ‘mons!” he added.

    “We could put our beds beside each other!” Gardevoir offered cheerfully, “or bunk beds! I haven’t seen bunk beds in a long time; do you have them around here?”

    “I’m… not sure about that,” Damien responded.

    “Ah.” Gardevoir sounded slightly disappointed. “Well, that’s still alright, of course. Will you all be wanting to go, ah, order the beds now? Or can we keep talking?”

    “There’s no reason why we can’t do both,” Alex pointed out, “or, we could even split up a bit, some could go to the Kecleon Shop, and others could stick around here.”

    “We could show you around the area, Gardevoir,” Tsuki offered, standing up straighter. “That’s what the others did when I first arrived here, and then what we did for Ceebee and Edgar as well,” she continued, “if you feel up to it, of course.”

    “Oh, that’s a good idea!” Nelvana agreed, sitting up as well.

    Gardevoir smiled, “yes, I agree. I think… I could use some food and water in me first, but it would be good for me to stretch my legs a bit.”

    “Actually, I was wondering if I could take Gardevoir, just myself,” Tsuki blurted out.

    Keahi frowned slightly, tilting his head a bit to the side, “huh? How come?”

    “Well… I know Gardevoir the least out of all of us, s-so it would be a good opportunity for us to get to know each other a bit,” Tsuki stated, swallowing a breath after she had finished.

    “I think that may be a good idea! I would like to get to know you a bit more, Tsuki,” Gardevoir responded, much to Tsuki’s evident relief as she visibly relaxed.

    Keahi blinked, and then smiled as something seemed to click in his mind. Shuffling closer to Nelvana, he whispered something briefly to her, and then she nodded in understanding.

    “Alright, that does sound like a good idea. I think Damien and I could use some time to rest after our journey anyway, and the others can work on getting the beds. You can go ahead and give Gardevoir the grand tour,” Nelvana told Tsuki.

    “Great, thank you,” Tsuki purred, “I’ll get you something to eat first, and then we can head out if you’d like,” she told Gardevoir.

    “Oh! Well if the plan is to eat first, we should make something together!” Keahi blurted out standing back up, “this will be your first time eating in… years, right? It should be special,” he continued, shooting Tsuki an awkward smile.

    “I could help with that too, Keahi, if you’d like,” Tsuki volunteered politely.

    Gardevoir lifted a hand in front of herself, chuckling softly, “you’re all very sweet, but I don’t need anything special. I’m not even sure how much of an appetite I really have.”

    “It’s okay; I like cooking! At the very least, it can be a welcome back meal for Nel, and Damien!” Keahi responded, “come on, let’s head downstairs and Tsuki and I can make something for everyone!”

    Leading the way back down the stairs, Keahi headed straight over to the counter to see what he could make for a lunchtime meal for everyone. Sparing a glance at everyone else, Alex made the decision to swiftly follow next; Ceebee and Edgar following suit, as well as Damien after another moment looking back at Gardevoir. Tsuki lingered a bit longer, appearing antsy on her paws, but knowing that she had already volunteered to help Keahi with the food, she reluctantly turned and walked away as well.

    Nelvana stood back up, stretching out her tired muscles again as she did so. She looked down at Gardevoir, who slowly made her way back up to her own two feet as well.

    “You sure you’re alright there?” Nelvana asked.

    Gardevoir smiled, “yes, I am. A bit shaky to walk again, but I’m alright; I should be able to walk on my own at least,” she assured her.

    “Okay, just making sure…” Nelvana hummed, “I’m glad you’re feeling alright. It’s… really nice to actually have you here.”

    There was a pause, and Nelvana looked over at the stairs before turning back to Gardevoir. Before she could suggest that they should head down to the others soon, Gardevoir suddenly bent down and tightly hugged her friend.

    “Oh… I’m really glad to be here as well. I cannot even begin to describe how thankful I am,” Gardevoir gasped, “thank you, Nel.”

    It took a moment for Nelvana to process Gardevoir’s words and the action linked to them, but once she collected herself again, she wrapped her arms around Gardevoir as well; hugging her back. They stuck together like that for a few seconds, enjoying the moment of actually being together in person instead of in dreams, before finally letting go.

    Not wanting to worry everyone else, Nelvana gestured for Gardevoir to actually follow her downstairs to join the others. The pair quietly entered the kitchen, Nelvana sitting down on one of the stools while Gardevoir chose to lean on the counter; wanting to keep standing up more instead of sitting for now. Tsuki stared at them slightly longer than usual when they entered, but she then turned her attention back to helping Keahi with the food.

    With both Keahi and Tsuki working together to make a tasty, yet simple meal, getting the food out on the table for everyone didn’t take that long. Soon the group began chattering to each other, telling those who hadn’t been around for awhile about different stories, ranging from Keahi and Edgar cheerfully talking about the team’s adventures and the torchic’s recent birthday, to Nelvana and Damien once again having to retell their journey to bring back Gardevoir.

    Of course, the latter of those stories brought Gardevoir to remember Ninetales, and it occurred to everyone else that they hadn’t gotten the chance to mention the old ‘mon’s passing, but that they would have to soon.

    “Has Ninetales heard that you guys succeeded then? She’ll probably be so excited that I’m free from that curse!” Gardevoir exclaimed, unaware of the sadder answer to her question. “I guess it would be a bit challenging to get in contact with her now; I wonder if I can still walk through telepathy dreams same as before…?”

    Alex was the one to speak up about it, “Gardevoir. I… Look,” he exhaled, mulling over how to phrase this. “Ninetales died,” he finally said, deciding to be blunt about it.

    Gardevoir’s expression dropped, “she… she is?” she gasped, “but you just said you spoke to her before going to Murky Cave…?” she questioned in disbelief.

    “This was… very recent,” Nelvana murmured, scratching the back of her hand.

    “But how?” Gardevoir pleaded, pressing her hands down on the table and leaning over it.

    “We aren’t exactly sure,” Ceebee chimed in, “none of us were actually there when it happened. We only know that it did because Tsuki was able to sense it,” she explained.

    “None of you were there…?” Gardevoir repeated in a hushed tone. “But… does that mean she was alone then? I… She always spoke to me and helped me out, I should have been there for her.”

    “She wasn’t alone… probably. There was the, uh, judge. The same that spoke to Damien and me about breaking the curse. If she stayed in that room, then they would have been there too,” Nelvana told her.

    “Then… could we speak to them? Is there a way we can know if she… she at least went away, went away peacefully?” Gardevoir responded hesitantly, “telepathy. Ceebee, can your telepathy reach that far…?”

    Ceebee shook her head solemnly, “I’m sorry, but I cannot. I would have done that if I could, but…”

    “Then… I want to try; I need to try. Ninetales and I were connected, I should…” Gardevoir whispered, mostly to herself at this point.

    As she trailed off, Gardevoir exhaled and relaxed with purpose; focusing on her psychic abilities. Everyone was silent as they waited for her to finish, an unsaid anticipation hanging in the air.

    However, after a few moments Gardevoir furrowed her brows, almost with puzzlement, and turned to face Nelvana instead. Part of Nelvana expected to feel the familiar mental probing that she had associated with someone trying to connect with her through telepathy, but there was nothing.

    After some more time passed, Gardevoir let out a groan, slumping down and resting her head in her hands.

    “Are you alright?” Tsuki asked, speaking out the question that had immediately crossed everyone’s minds.

    “I-I… I can’t…” Gardevoir slowly lifted up her head again. “I can’t use my telepathy. I-It isn’t working. I can’t even… It feels like I was never able to do it in the first place.”

    “Is it possible for a psychic-type to lose their abilities?” Keahi asked, turning to Ceebee.

    Ceebee shook her head again, “no more possible than for any other type.”

    “You can lose proficiency with some moves without practice,” Alex pointed out.

    “Ah! That must be it!” Ceebee exclaimed, snapping her fingers. “You haven’t had to actually use any of your abilities for hundreds of years; you’re just out of practice. That, and having a new body must have some effect on it!” she continued, moving closer to Gardevoir as she spoke. “It’s alright though; I can train you! As a fellow psychic-type, I should be able to help you relearn your powers!” she offered.

    Gardevoir blinked, “you will?”

    “Of course! It’s no bother at all; in fact, it’ll be fun!” Ceebee responded cheerily, “I’m sure the others can handle some missions without me for a bit; after all, they did before I made it here and joined the team! It’ll be plenty alright.”

    Damien leaned back in his seat slightly, “y-yeah… it would give you something to do too, Gardevoir,” he said, slightly uneasily. “So you aren’t… uh, bored, when the others are working.”

    “Yes, that is a good idea… Thank you, Ceebee, I’d like that, the training,” Gardevoir murmured, nodding. “But Damien, now that you mention it, will you be bored if I train with Ceebee?” she asked.

    Damien hastily shook his head, “nah, I’ll be alright. I’m… used to not having much to do,” he told her.

    Ceebee chuckled, “you can always watch us train if you’d like. I’m sure you would have some suggestions too,” she said, a knowing look in her eyes.

    “Well, since we have finished eating now, would you be up for the tour now, Gardevoir?” Tsuki spoke up, shifting topics rather abruptly.

    “Oh, right! Yes, that sounds good,” Gardevoir answered, standing up straighter. “Best while the day is still bright and warm, after all!” she hummed, seeming to have cheered up slightly since the earlier stresses.

    “Wait!” Edgar blurted out, floating over to the departing pair. “Before you go, I wanted to ask something! Gardevoir, if you’d like, we could help you think of a name for yourself,” he suggested.

    Gardevoir turned to look at the smaller pokemon, smiling softly at him, “that’s very sweet of you to offer, but I’m quite fine as just Gardevoir,” she told him, “after all, it’s been what I’ve been called for so long; if I’m happy with it, why change it now?”

    “Oh! That’s alright! I’m glad you’re happy as you are,” Edgar replied, “have fun on the tour then!”

    Keahi chuckled, “yeah, have a good date!” he added.

    Tsuki didn’t comment on Keahi’s farewell, thought part of her wanted to. Her face burned again in embarrassment, but slowly allowed herself to relax again as she noticed that Gardevoir hadn’t reacted much to this.

    Determined to make sure everything went right, Tsuki decided to follow experience and take Gardevoir around the area the same way Nelvana, Keahi, and Alex had done for her when she had first arrived to Pokemon Square. She felt tense having to introduce Gardevoir to everyone; socializing had never been her strong suit. However, Gardevoir was polite and friendly, making all the interactions go by smoothly around town.

    Next, Tsuki made sure that her companion was up to checking out some dungeons. Gardevoir expressed some nervousness because she probably couldn’t use any of her moves anymore, but still seemed enthusiastic to explore some more, especially after explaining that she didn’t actually know much about mystery dungeons. Tsuki assured her that she would be able to handle the fighting, and with that she led the way to Tiny Woods first. She considered stopping to get some jobs to do on the way, but decided that it would be better to focus on the tour.

    Now knowing that Gardevoir didn’t have much experience in the dungeons though, Tsuki made it her next step to explain the basics of how these strange places worked. Gardevoir was a fast learner, understanding the concepts quickly for someone who had likely barely ever even heard of them before.

    With that, they were able to move on from Tsuki simply explaining things and actually get to know each other. Tsuki was hesitant; not knowing right where to start with this, as it wasn’t as linear as just speaking of facts to a location. However, once again Gardevoir showed her socialising side and managed to keep a conversation going long enough for Tsuki to get more confident in herself.

    Gardevoir was beautiful; Tsuki found that from the very beginning. But actually getting to know her for what was inside was even more astonishing. She was incredibly sweet and curious, eyes opened wide to this new world around her and these people she could meet; which were of course traits Tsuki had seen in others before, but Gardevoir almost seemed to put a whole new spin on it that just felt perfect. Tsuki learned that Gardevoir enjoyed long walks, as they reminded her of past adventures, and that she had always wanted to learn to dance. When she laughed, Tsuki felt her very soul lift up and prompt her to at least smile back.

    Tsuki was in love, she realized. The feelings were hard to pinpoint because of her lack of many past crushes, but once she considered the thought, she knew it had to be the truth.

    This realization though, came with many doubts and worries. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to do from here. She knew that she wanted to just tell Gardevoir, honesty was always good anyway, but nerves had also built up inside like a fluttering swarm of beedrills. Was it wrong to have fallen so hard so quickly?

    Regardless, by the time they were wandering through Thunderwave Cave, Tsuki couldn’t stop thinking that she had to at least say something related to the matter. She hated keeping secrets, especially ones that felt as large as these. Hiding that danger from Nelvana and Damien during that mission had already been bad enough, and she didn’t want to have to hide something important again; at least not for a long time. Her thoughts clawed at different ways to engage in such a topic.

    “Tsuki? Is something wrong?” Gardevoir asked hesitantly, shaking the distracted lesbian from her thoughts. “You’ve been quiet for awhile now.”

    Tsuki blinked and shook out her fur, “ah, apologies for that; I got distracted,” she replied briefly, feeling her face heat up again.

    Gardevoir nodded, smiling, “a coin for your thoughts?” she requested.

    “Pardon?” Tsuki questioned, “I’m afraid that I haven’t heard of that saying before.”

    “Oh, sorry! I guess it was a bit of a human saying I might have picked up,” Gardevoir admitted with a chuckle, “it’s just a way to ask what someone is thinking about.”

    Before Tsuki could have the chance to even consider how to respond, a nidoran burst out from around a corner, lunging at the pair. The blue pokemon missed her mark despite having the element of surprise, the lunge coming up short and having her land simply nearby instead. The nidoran arched her back, trying to display the poisonous spikes in an intimidating way, though not quite succeeding at that either.

    Tsuki narrowed her eyes at the smaller pokemon, swiping out with one paw and hitting the dungeon spawn. This being in one of the weaker dungeons, the absol’s even slight hit was enough to knock it out and cause the nidoran to disappear in a flash of light.

    Turning back to check on Gardevoir, Tsuki was met with another bright smile that made her legs feel like jelly. Tsuki knew she would have to speak up sooner or later.

    “When Nelvana, Keahi, and Alex were showing me around, they talked a lot about…” Tsuki coughed, nerves making her want to stop speaking, but she pushed on. “…about different genders and sexualities,” she finished, smiling back at Gardevoir now. “That was what I was thinking about; this was reminding me of that,” she added, biting back the full truth like poison from the nidoran she had just defeated.

    “Oh, yes! I’m familiar with that,” Gardevoir replied, following Tsuki down another corridor.

    “You are?” Tsuki blurted out, feeling her heart soar at the possibility. “Do you have anything in particular you identify as; if you don’t mind me asking?” she couldn’t help but ask.

    “I do, actually!” Gardevoir hummed, “I am aromantic and asexual. How about yourself?”

    Tsuki barely caught Gardevoir’s question as she felt nearly all of her earlier joy being crushed. She could recall exactly what being aromantic and asexual were from Keahi’s explanation weeks ago, and knowing that that meant that Gardevoir would never love Tsuki, or anyone, romantically, was more heartbreaking than she had expected or could possibly describe.

    “I am a lesbian,” Tsuki answered, though her own words sounded hollow in her ears now. “Again, if you don’t mind me asking… what is it like, to not experience romantic attraction?” she then asked, unsure of why she needed to ask the question and just that she did.

    “Well…” Gardevoir paused thoughtfully, staring over at one of the walls for a bit as she did so. “I’m not quite sure how to answer that,” she finally admitted, “I just don’t. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t love people; just not romantically or sexually. It’s always been just as simple as that for me, and it suits me fine.”

    “Do you ever wish that you could love someone romantically?” The words are out of her words before she could think about them, and Tsuki winces internally at hearing it back to her.

    Gardevoir frowned momentarily, but then giggled, “no, I don’t. As I said, this suits me quite fine!” she responded, “I suppose, to put it in perspective, do you ever wish that you loved males romantically?”

    Deciding to take a moment to ponder this question, Tsuki considered the possibility. For as long as she could consider the idea of having a mate, they were always female. Now that the thought was brought up though, she attempted to imagine the idea of being with a guy���

    “No, I do not,” Tsuki decided.

    “And do you ever think that you’re missing out?” Gardevoir continued.

    “No, I do not,” Tsuki repeated, letting out a sigh. “You do bring up a good point. I apologise if that was impolite to ask you.”

    “Don’t worry about it! I’m not offended,” Gardevoir assured her with another soft chuckle. “I may never take a mate, but I want to have many friends, and I want to pour out so much love to them. Nelvana was my first friend besides Ninetales for a long time, and I think that her bringing me back here and having me meet all of you was the best thing that has happened to me; at least for centuries. I love you all already, platonically, but it’s always still love. There are many ways to love someone.”

    “I understand.”

    Tsuki didn’t touch much upon the topic after that, letting it fade back away to conversation about getting to know each other otherwise. She did her best to hide her disappointment at being rejected; even though Gardevoir didn’t seem to realize what the actual feelings behind those questions in the first place. Tsuki didn’t want to hurt Gardevoir or ruin their friendship, so she knew it would be best to respect this outcome, even if it made her feel like she was twisting her heart apart.

    Eventually, they finished up Thunderwave Cave and Mt. Steel, and Tsuki teleported the both of them back to the base with her badge. Ceebee was the only one outside and around the base, and the smaller pokemon turned around to face the pair as they returned.

    “Ah! You’re back! How did things go?” Ceebee asked, fluttering close to speak to them properly.

    “It went great!” Gardevoir chirped, “it was amazing to get to explore all these places, and it was really nice to get to know Tsuki.”

    Tsuki nodded in agreement, but felt a bit too drained by the day’s events to give a proper response right away. She noticed Ceebee’s smile falter for a moment, clearly noticing something off with the absol, but the celebi went right back to her cheer to continue this conversation.

    “I’m glad to hear that!” Ceebee responded, “most of the others are speaking to the kecleons. Damien and Edgar are inside right now though; I believe that they’re trying to take measurements for the beds. Maybe you should join them, Gardevoir, I’m sure they could always use the extra help!” she suggested, “or maybe you’re a bit tired. We aren’t about to stop you from resting either!” she added.

    “Oh, those both sound like good ideas,” Gardevoir admitted, giggling, “I guess I’ll just head in and see what I can do from there.”

    “That’s alright! We’ll be out here if you need us?” Ceebee replied.

    “We?” Tsuki repeated, turning up to fully face Ceebee.

    Ceebee nodded, “yes! I actually wanted to talk to you for a moment, Tsuki. Unless you had something else to do…?”

    Tsuki sighed, “no, I did not. We may speak, if that’s what you’d like.”

    “Well, I’ll leave you two to that then. Thanks for showing me around, Tsuki!” Gardevoir said, waving as she turned to enter the rescue team base.

    Both of them waited and watched until Gardevoir had gone inside and close the door behind her before turning to each other again, Tsuki regarding Ceebee with an air of slight puzzlement. Ceebee merely smiled, before flying down to the grass and sitting down on it.

    “Join me! Your legs must be at least a little bit tired from all that walking and battling. I know my wings are a bit tired from flying around all day; you’d be surprised how much energy that can be,” Ceebee said, patting the grass beside her in invitation.

    Hesitantly, Tsuki obliged, sitting down beside Ceebee in the grass beside the base. Part of her had expected Ceebee to tell her to follow her somewhere else, so to have them both just sit down here was mildly surprising.

    “So, you didn’t answer my question earlier. How did the tour go?” Ceebee asked once Tsuki had settled down beside her.

    Tsuki shrugged, “it went alright. I’m glad I got the time to get to know Gardevoir, and she understood any of my explanations about dungeons quite quickly,” she told her.

    “But…?” Ceebee prompted, leaning forward knowingly.

    “There is no but; that was it,” Tsuki insisted firmly.

    “You know, even though you’re a dark-type, I can tell when you’re troubled,” Ceebee stated, “is it about your crush on her?” she asked, saving Tsuki of some fluster by quieting her voice as she asked the question.

    “…what gave it away?” Tsuki relented to the question, not willing to try lying to her friend.

    Ceebee giggled, “no offense, but I think nearly everyone picked up that you have a crush on Gardevoir right away. Maybe even everyone except Gardevoir. You weren’t exactly hiding it well,” she told her.

    Tsuki’s face burned again, “oh.”

    “Nothing wrong with that! It was actually pretty cute,” Ceebee added, “are you trying to think of how to maybe confess?”

    “No…” Tsuki sighed, “I… I ended up asking what her sexuality is, and she is aromantic and asexual.”

    “Oh…” Ceebee held onto the ‘o’ sound long in understanding and realization. “That is fine though, to be aromantic or asexual, you do know that, right?” she said.

    “I know that.”

    “But… you wish that she was also a lesbian, or maybe bi so that she could maybe love you back.”

    “…perhaps. That is selfish though, is it not?”

    Ceebee furrowed her brows, “a little bit, yes. But it’s also a very natural feeling. What really matters is where you go from here with that though.”

    “I still want to be her friend, at least,” Tsuki told her.

    “That’s good.” Ceebee nodded. “I’m guessing it still hurts though, hm?”

    Tsuki pawed at the grass underneath her, “yes. I’ve known her and had a crush on her for less than a day, but it still hurts terribly,” she murmured, “do… do you know how long it takes to heal from heartbreak like that?”

    “Well… let me tell you about one time that I fell in love,” Ceebee announced, laying back in the grass and staring up at the sky as she spoke. “It didn’t take that long for me to fall in love either. Like you, I hadn’t spoken to many others before that point and had chances to fall in love. So, I fell and I fell hard,” she began, chuckling at the last sentence.

    “But they didn’t love you back,” Tsuki predicted, earning her a slow nod of confirmation.

    “Right. But I still wanted to be his friend, like how you want to still be friends with Gardevoir. So, I had to push those feelings aside and respect his wishes to stay platonic,” Ceebee continued, “I still love him now, and he still doesn’t love me that way. It’s fine though. I’ve since accepted it at this point, and what matters is that he’s happy.”

    “So, it can still work out?” Tsuki asked.

    Ceebee nodded again, “it takes a long time to stop hurting, but you obviously care and like a lot of traits about them to fall in love, so if they’re willing to be friends, then be friends. It’ll work out, even as ‘just friends’. Just always make sure to respect them, and even if you can’t become mates, you can become great friends.”

    Tsuki exhaled, but then nodded as well, “very well. Thank you, Ceebee, for taking the time to tell me about that. I’ll keep it in mind.”

    “No problem,” Ceebee replied, and then paused. “Do you want to know who my crush is?”

    “Do I know him?” Tsuki asked, blinking in surprise. “I thought you would have known him from the dead timeline,” she added.

    “I do. It’s Alex.”

    “Alex?” Tsuki repeated, closing her jaw which she didn’t realize had fallen open from hearing that answer.

    “I hope that wouldn’t be that surprising!” Ceebee laughed, but then exhaled. “Yes, I love Alex; believe it or not. I won’t bore you with my reasons why; it’d be a little embarrassing how much I’d gush. But he has never loved me back, and I don’t expect him to at this point, honestly. That’s fine though. I’ve long accepted that,” she explained, “I confessed to him a few months after we had met, but he told me that he didn’t return the feeling. And either way, we all knew that for out plan to succeed, we would disappear, so… sometimes he felt reluctant to make long lasting relationships in fear of losing them. So, about a week ago actually, I brought it up again. He still doesn’t love me romantically. And, again, that’s fine. You can’t force feelings. And in some ways, it may be for the best that we stay at friends.”

    After all that, Tsuki wasn’t quite certain on how to respond, and the pair fell silent for a few moments until Ceebee exhaled again and fluttered up into the air.

    “Ah, sorry about rambling for a bit there! I don’t think that I’ve actually told anyone all that before,” Ceebee said with a small giggle, “I do hope that my experience may have helped you somehow.”

    Tsuki nodded hastily, “it’s alright. Thank you again for telling me that. I think… it definitely helps me, yes. Thank you,” she assured her.

    “That’s good to hear. I’d hate to have gushed all that out for nothing,” Ceebee responded, “anyway, I should go check on the others a bit, and maybe you should too. Or maybe we could get started on supper, since the evening is approaching us.”

    “I believe that I’d like to speak with some of the others a bit before preparing more food. I’ll admit I may have been so caught up in my own feelings that I didn’t properly catch up with Nelvana,” Tsuki decided, standing up and ready to follow the celebi.

    “Sounds good to me! Come on then, let’s go out to town again and see what we can do!” Ceebee replied.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which bad deeds are fixed Previous: In which two allies return from their journey together

[hcpeisms]

trigger warnings: suicide, war, violence, death, strong feelings about war in general, ptsd (if you squint), horrible things. long post!

This uniform.

That is the only thought running through his head. This uniform.

He wore this uniform for five years. The insignia on the sleeve is worn from the countless battles it had seen. The fabric is torn in places, faded with time, faded from the sun and the sand whipping around it when he dove for cover, when he crawled to help his friends, when he was trying to survive.

There are patches that he had stitched together, his fingers absentmindedly caressing the spot near his wrist, the left one, close to the old scar now covered by a tattoo. ‘Give ‘em Hell’ peeks from under the sleeve and Dane pulls it further to cover up the words. This uniform.

It still holds the heat from the battlefields, somehow pulling his conscious back to his time overseas. The sand itches, paranoia gives him an image of a scorpion crawling up his leg. He brushes the thoughts off, reminding himself where he is. The light yellow of the walls , the chatter that comes from the hall behind the curtains. The curtains; sleek and pristine, polar opposite of himself and his assemble. He doesn’t feel the heaviness of his rifle in his hands, but that weight had shifted onto his shoulders a long time ago. The tattoo threatens to peek from under his clothing again and he resolves to pull it more violently. Loose threads from the stitches catch his attention and his fidgets. This uniform. It’s falling apart. Serves it right, just like it served its wearer a long time ago.

Eight years ago he had worn the fatigues with pride. In some sense, he still did. When his eyes met the camouflage in the mirror, he swore his posture straightened and the confidence that had shone from his face withered away. This uniform. It was nothing but  bad memory now, the stitches, the tears, the faded texture, the stubborn bloodstains still clinging to it, the stains he tried so hard to wash away over and over and over again when he had been sent home. A bad memory. A reminder.

A loud voice snaps him back from his memories and a portly man approaches him from the small gap in the curtains. His fingers twitch to salute his superior, but he is no soldier anymore. A balled fist is what the man sees, and the disapproving glare that is sent his way could not be more obvious. “Second Lieutenant Moreno --” He begins and Dane wants to snap at him, hiss that he doesn’t use that title any longer. But his jaw is clenched shut and his lungs are burning for air as the General stares him down. Small, beady eyes. Looks like a rat, that’s what Dane knows for sure. The man with a condescending sneer, coals burning in his eyes as he tries not to talk down to the young LT.

“If your father---” The man begins and Dane growl. His brows crease and a wave of heat runs through his body, seizing up his muscles and throwing his stomach into a whirl. Bile rises to his mouth as he returns a warning glare at the superior officer, and he quiets down before making the biggest mistake of his life. A glare is held for a few moment more and Dane feels his jaw aching against the grit it is under. The General scoffs and pushes past Dane who in turn does nothing. Eyes set on the curtain. Inanimate. Pristine. His father would be disappointed in him, were he alive. The thoughts are overwhelming when they are brought up. His father. Dane shakes his head and tries to coax his muscles to relax -- pain is starting to set in and stars dance across his vision. And that fucking tattoo. Another yank at the sleeve covers it well enough.

His name is called.

 “Next up, give a big welcome to Second Lieutenant Daniel Patrick Moreno, a man known for --” the woman has a shrill voice and Dane steps through the curtain before she has time to continue. He doesn’t need his platoon called out, he doesn’t need her to tell them where he has been, for how long, or why. The microphone is quickly snatched from her hands and she reels, but joins the polite applause that fill the room, the noise that bounces off the walls. The noise slowly fades off into silence and Dane puts the mic back in its slot on the podium. The lights are bright enough for him to avoid seeing the eyes boring into him, the reporters impatiently clicking on their notepads, or his old friends that might’ve showed up.

The silence lasts, lasts, longer than he realizes. Anxiety isn’t something Dane experienced before, or had trouble with in the past. Not on the battlefield, not for months after he returned home. Bouts of nightmares weren’t unusual. Neither were the panicked gasps he sometimes noticed himself take when the war was on the news.

“You heard my name. I’m not going to repeat it.”

Strong start. Murmurs erupt in the hall, irritating his ears.

“You should ll know, I have not used my rank in eight years. I am not in charge of any platoons. I am not a soldier anymore.”

More murmurs, someone asks a confused ‘what’ somewhere to his left. Confusion. Perfect.

He waits for them to quiet down. He hears his own breathing in his ears. The rush of blood.

“I was invited here because my father was ranking high in our army, and I’m the closest they could get to him. So I'm taking this opportunity to clear this mess out of my head, to clear this blood out of my lungs.” For how long had he kept quiet about those days, about the hell that he went through, what all of them went through? When it was all on his shoulders. Lieutenant... What a fucking joke.

“I need to dig holes to bury the dead.” A chuckle. Pained, silent, but it echoes in the large hall.

He thinks about Jefferson, Espinoza, Miller... Toby. He thinks of his dad. He thinks of the hundreds of faces he knows but doesn’t have a name for. He thinks of the men and women he has seen on the news. He thinks of those who returned home, and those who did not. He thinks of himself. Which one is he?

“Look at all of you here.” He straightens up. The memories are bad, simmering just beneath the surface of a man whose ego is barely intact. A man who shields, deflects with arrogance. “You haven’t seen battle.” Someone to his right murmurs about reporting from a crime scene once. He wants to scoff. Grab the murmurer by the throat and smash their head against the wall until there is nothing but a bloody mess left. No, enough blood. Enough.

“I'm so fuckin' sick of everyone's lack of honor,” The mic still catches his voice. The mumbling has stopped. No one is writing. His head swirls with everything he wants to yell at these people. The ones who put words to a paper, claiming to bring justice to the horrors their soldiers face abroad.

“I'm so sick of everyone's willingness to settle,” He knows his words are coming out choppy. Hurt. Anger mingling with fear and disbelief. They brought him here to praise the press. But they aren’t pulling him back.

“Tell me, why is no one prepared to die, for anything?”  His voice rises and he hears his own words round back to him, reaching every nook and crevice in the room, the frustration dripping into his every word. Jefferson. Damn idiot, fearless and dangerous, the king of the weaponry. He could talk for hours about the guns at their disposal, spend more hours cleaning them. He died trying to shield his teammates from the bomb intended to kill all of them. He saved his squad. He was buried a hero.

“Look at yourself in the mirror and tell me what a man is without pride,” His voice trembles and he can feel his hands shaking as he places them on the edge of the podium. Espinoza. She came from a family of soldiers, the only girl in the litter of eight brothers. Told she would never become anything akin to her siblings. Bashful grin on her face as she straightened her fatigues, pointing at the name tag. ‘They said I wouldn’t make it here’. She was twenty-three when she was gunned down, the first victim in an ambush no one saw coming. It was quick, painless, but the stains her blood left on Dane’s uniform never washed away.

“Do you know what fear does? Fear eats you alive,” Dane swallows. He can’t deny he was afraid, terrified when he landed in his destination, the desert air ripping through his lungs, the heat bearing down on him. He ground beneath him felt shaky then, the sand uneven. He was greeted by his superiors. He was eager. Afraid, but eager. Miller was always scared. He wasn’t cut out to be a soldier, but he came through as a medic. Miller, meek, silent Miller. ‘Mouse’ as they called him back then, with his big eyes and nest of hair. Dane squeezes the edge of the podium, the wood digging into the scars of his palms painfully. Remind him he’s not there anymore, that he made it back. The pain grounds some, and he always thought it to be bullshit. Now, it anchors him to the hall, keeps him from seeing every bad scene he went through. Miller. God, Miller wasn’t cut out to be in the field, but neither was he to be in the war zone, patching up soldiers. Missing limbs from bombs, gunshot founds severe enough to kill, death and misery all around him. Miller shot himself five months after arriving, leaving nothing but  sealed note to his mother behind.

“You forget those who give their whole lives to serve you, so you wouldn’t have to be afraid.” Toby. He doesn’t want to think about Toby, not really. Not about how he wasn’t shaken by the death, how he kept everyone in line when Dane forgot how to, when he sat on his bunk staring at the wall of the tent flapping in the winds that broke against it from the outside. A model soldier. The first time they met, they fought, two massive ego’s lashing on the field while others either egged them on or tried to pry them away from each other’s throats. A week later they found common ground. Toby had been the one. Every soldier has the one, someone they would go through fire for, someone whose life held a higher place than your own. Toby had been the one. And then he was injured, caught by a bomb rigged to blow at the lightest nudge of the door. ‘Back to America.’ That’s what they told him after a while. ‘They say he’s not gonna make it.’ was the last he heard about him.’I’m sorry kid’ they added.

“I lost everything in the war.” Friends. Trust. Innocence. He knew he didn’t come home with the affliction many acquired after seeing the bloodshed. Trauma was a part of a soldier, and that was it. Composed, even when every mistake you ever made plays like a movie behind your eyelids when you think about it too much.

“A war we waged. A war we send innocent men and women to fight while you and the big deciders here sit on your asses making decisions that affect everyone else but yourselves. When we put our life and limb on the line so you can write shit about us in the papers. We sacrifice to keep your country safe, but when we return home you cast us aside on the slightest notion that we might be unstable. You close the doors for us and wonder why no one wants to fight for you anymore. you throw us into the fire and ask us why we’re screaming when you burn away every part of us that held humanity.” He takes a breath of air. The hall is silent.

“And you smile when a soldier returns home sane, when his eyes are bright and he hugs his family. The next day the bodies are returned home, and you don’t even count them. You focus on the man who came home. You write your story about him and how his family is doing while there are hundreds of men waiting to be buried, while their mothers and fathers lay by their caskets and wail over their lost children. You glance at wives and husbands mourning their lovers, the mothers and fathers of their children. You skim over the children who are still wondering where their mommy or daddy is. And you focus on the man that sits on his porch and recites to you a story, The story, that you want to hear.”

He feels the silence surround him. No pens scraping. No mumbles, no hushed tones. Utter silence.

No one moves.

No one speaks.

And Dane smiles briefly, triumphantly, before he walks off the stage, thumb gracing over the tattoo on his wrist.

Toby grins as he revs the makeshift tattoo machine in the middle of their desert encampment. Toothy grin, scraped hands, no plan. It stings. Desert air trapped beneath his skin with the ink that settles there. Toby chuckles and claps him on the shoulder when it’s over. He pulls Dane into a choke hold, making fun, joking. Dane holds up the tattoo to see it properly. There, messy handwriting, yet somehow pleasing, all black ink.

Give ‘em Hell       -T.

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

AoS AU: Little Lie, Big Consequence

Gideon and her team prepare to make a move against Mirakuru and bringing in some super-powered support, but not everything is as it seems.  @incendiaglacies

Ao3

              Zee bobbed her head along to the rock music coming through her headphones. Her fingers tapped the sides of the laptop as she clicked on the next file. She first looked at the picture of the female SHIELD agent before looking at the name and reading through the rest of the file. Their skin tones were pretty close to matching, although Zee couldn’t rely on that alone. Although she did take a leave around the time Zee was born...

“Zee!” someone shouted behind her.

The hacker sucked in a breath as she whirled around and saw Gideon standing in the doorway of the bunk.

“I’ve been here for a while now,” the leader said as Zee removed the headphones. “You do know loud music can damage your hearing, right?”

“It wasn’t that loud,” she muttered, setting them to the side. “I was focusing on something else.”

Gideon stepped inside to get a better look at the screen. “I know her. Esther Kane. She was in charge of some missions that I ran with Rip. Why are you looking at her file?”

“Remember when you told me that you found my unredacted file at the Hub, about the woman who dropped me off at the group home being a SHIELD agent?” Zee told her, getting a nod in response. “I’ve been looking into the female agents who were active around the time I was born. There’s a lot to go through, but I made a program based on age and marital status to try and narrow it down. For all I know, one of these women could be my mother.”

“Zee,” Gideon said gently. “We don’t know that the woman who dropped you off there was your mother. All we know is that she was SHIELD. Even if she is an agent, then there’s still a lot to go through.”

“Or I could get through it quicker if you took the internet nanny off,” Zee suggested, holding up her wrist. “Please?”

“Not just yet. But I have asked Rip to help with our search. He did work in administration before joining the team.”

“I thought that we were keeping this between us,” Zee swallowed. It wasn’t that she was opposed to Rip’s help, but only now had they finally started to get on good terms. Besides, Gideon understood what she was going through with trying to find one of her parents.

“I trust Rip,” Gideon said. “He’ll keep this quiet. We’re not going to tell the whole team.”

“Thanks.”

Gideon nodded. “You can get back to this later, we’ve got a mission briefing that needs our attention. Plus, I don’t want to keep the Sunshine Twins waiting.”

“I can go get Rip and Nate from the cargo bay,” Zee offered as they left her room. “I think they were having some kind of alpha-male sparring thing.”

“No, you go on in and keep the twins occupied. I’ll get them.”

~

Rip couldn’t keep the satisfied smirk off of his face as Nate landed hard on the mat. He hadn’t originally planned to be down here, but he needed to blow off some steam. The previous night had let Calvert revisit his dreams, except Gideon was in Jonas’s place. She’d been getting more suspicious about Aruba lately and had come to him about it. So when Nate had asked to spar, he’d taken him up on the offer.

“Nice feint,” the specialist coughed out as he pushed himself upright.

“I’ve read your file,” Rip replied. “It listed your weak spots.”

“They have that in there?” Nate turned to him slowly. “Anything else I should know?”

“I’d assume you’ve at least seen your file,” Rip muttered as he grabbed a bottle of water. “But there was nothing new in there to me. Your family history, mission records, combat evaluations. People don’t recognize how intelligent you are until you prove it. And your medical record.”

Nate tensed. “Hunter…”

“I don’t have a problem with it, as long as it doesn’t compromise you. You’re valuable to this team.”

The tension eased away into a smile. “Thanks. Want to go for another round?”

“That’s going to have to wait,” Gideon’s voice called above. Rip gazed up to see her on the balcony above them. “Clean up quickly and get to the briefing room. We have a new assignment.”

              Nate nodded and grabbed a towel hanging from the staircase. Rip watched as Gideon left before going to get his own towel. He hoped this mission wouldn’t have Gideon questioning her resurrection again. If she continued searching, keeping her in the dark was going to become impossible.

~

              A federal prison had been broken into earlier that day. Three men had dropped through the ceiling and were out again with a prisoner in the span of two minutes. There was still a search for their identities, but a Mirakuru device was visible on at least one on them. It was a surprise to all of them since Mirakuru hadn’t been spotted since Hong Kong.

“They must have salvaged some research since a few people got away,” Ray murmured as he and Lily studied the screen. “And these guys aren’t combusting.”

“They must have used Hewitt’s platelets in it!” Lily clapped her hands together. “Because of his abilities, they were resistant to combustion! Now, it’s stable and they can create super-soldiers without them exploding.”

“I wouldn’t get so excited about that,” Zee told them. “Sure, yay, science, but this isn’t good.”

“Zee’s right,” Gideon agreed. “Mirakuru is still out there, and they could have more than three super-soldiers, along with their prisoner.”

“Who’d they take?” Nate asked.

Gideon swiped across the screen, bringing up a mug shot. “Ted Gaynor, former Army. He was a commanding officer in Afghanistan to a few units. After he came back from his tour of duty in 2009, Gaynor played bodyguard before going off the map. When he reappeared, the authorities had been tipped off by a man who worked with him and busted him in the middle of robbing an armored car. Gaynor shot the man before the authorities could apprehend them both.”

“Well, he sounds fun,” Zee muttered. “At least we’ve got his mugshot.”

“Exactly,” Gideon nodded. “We’ve been circulating it to try and put a location on him. From there, we can get one on Mirakuru’s new operations. SHIELD’s made this our top priority to bring in Gaynor and the soldiers who busted him out. Fortunately, we are getting back-up.”

Nate leaned forward. “What team did they send?”

“Not a team, but a person who can help us fight fire with fire,” Gideon slid up a new photo. “We all remember Rene Ramirez, right?”

~

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Rip asked her as Rene arrived at the hanger. “You remember what happened the last time we crossed paths with him?”

“Of course, I do,” Gideon said. “But he’s going to be an asset to us, just like Zee is.”

“We’ll see.”

“He will,” Gideon glanced up to make sure it was just them. “Also, I should mention that Zee’s trying to find out who dropped her at the group home. And I may have let it slip that you were working with us, so she might ask you for help. We agreed to find out the whole story before-”

“I’ll handle it,” Rip replied as their newest recruit came up the ramp towards them.

“Agent Rider, Agent Hunter,” Rene said. “It’s good to see you again.”

Rip gave a cool glare. “You threw me into a brick wall the last time we met.”

The super-soldier cringed a little. “Yeah, I wasn’t thinking clear. I didn’t get how much this all was then, but I get it now. This doesn’t just happen to anybody. Training and working with SHIELD is me trying to do better.”

“I’m pleased to hear that,” Gideon smiled. “I believe very firmly in second chances, Agent Ramirez, but I don’t believe in third ones. Are we clear?”

“I got it.”

“Excellent. We’ll take you to the others now.”

              As they made their way of the staircase, Rip slipped off to the cockpit. Gideon took Rene to the briefing room. She could hear the four younger teammates discussing the situation with their new member. The Sunshine Twins seemed hesitant, but Zee was adamant that Rene was a good guy. Nathaniel, however, sounded like he had already made up his mind.

“Are we really sure we can trust him?” he was saying as they drew closer. “When we last met him, he was a raging homicidal maniac that was tearing the place apart.”

“Someone I know?” Gideon asked, slipping past a rapidly paling Nate with Rene. “Mr. Ramirez, you remember Agent Nathaniel Heywood.”

“Yeah, the guy who shot me,” Rene said, eyeing Nate.

The other man composed himself. “Nice to see you again.”

Gideon continued with her introductions. “Dr. Raymond Palmer and Dr. Lily Stein developed the weapon he used on you. And I think you remember-”

“Zee,” Rene nodded. “You joined SHIELD too?”

The hacker smiled. “Yep. The suits aren’t so bad after all, or at least not these ones. It’s good to see you again. How’s everything?”

“Better than I was at the train station,” he told them. “If it had been another team there, I don’t think I’d be standing here right now. I owe all of you.”

All of them smiled save for Nate. Gideon eyed him warningly before turning to Zee. “Have you been able to locate Gaynor yet?”

“Unfortunately, no. All previous addresses and old contacts are coming up empty.”

“If we can’t find anything on the outside of the prison, then the inside gets examined next,” Gideon told her. “See if he was in contact with anyone or had any friends. Do we have anything on the Mirakuru soldiers?”

“One got a facial recognition hit,” Nate said. “Paul Knox. He’s also ex-military who fell off the map when he came home from his tour.”

“He’s got a younger sister at college at Ohio State,” Ray added. “She’s his only living relative.”

“And the one who has the best chance of finding out where Knox is now,” Gideon murmured. “I’ll tell Rip that we need to get to Columbus. Nathaniel, when we land, I want you with me to go talk to the sister. Zee, keep looking into Gaynor. Raymond, Lily, take Rene here to the lab and run some tests. I want to make sure we’ve all field ready if we have to go out.”

              All of them acknowledged the orders with a nod of their heads or affirmative statements. They started to disperse, but Nate caught her as he left. Gideon felt her stomach twist as she realized she was going to be working alone with him for the first time since Ireland. She still remembered how close they’d come to getting…intimate before she snapped to her senses.

Hopefully he would be an adult about it.

~

“Why are you taking my measurements again?”

“We’re trying to build you a diagnostic suit for the field that will let us monitor your vitals,” Ray explained as Lily pulled the measuring tape over Rene’s bicep. “Didn’t you already do that arm?”

“No, that was the other one, and the last measurement I had to take. Then I’ll upload the measurements.”

“Thanks,” he nodded, his eyes falling onto the Mirakuru device on Rene’s arm as Lily pulled the tape off. “So with material, how does a polymer blend with, uh, ten layers of composite material…”

“If you think it’ll hold up, go for it,” Rene said, turning his arm out towards Ray. “And you can just ask to see it.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare,” Ray apologized, studying the metal clinging to the inside of his arm. “It’s-”

“-fascinating,” Lily finished. “We’ve never gotten to see one up this close before.”

“Guess you’re lucky today. The Sci-Ops facility tried to take it off, but they couldn’t do it without killing me. It used to feel strange. Now it’s just a part of me.”

“Wow,” Lily grinned. “How did they stabilize the Mirakuru serum inside you?”

“None of the others we’ve encountered have stayed alive long enough,” Ray explained. “They’ve all exploded. What’d Sci-Ops use?”

Rene frowned. “Wait, they didn’t tell you?”

“Nope.”

“We haven’t heard a thing.”

“Sci-Ops didn’t stabilize me,” he revealed. “That was all you two. Your gun froze me just before I was about to explode. It got my body to absorb the serum and stabilize. I’m alive because of you two.”

The two scientists’ faces lit up with excitement.

“We just intended it to cause temporary paralysis,” Lily babbled.

Ray picked up immediately where she left off. “But it’s another way of stabilizing the serum.”

“Do you think there are other uses for it?”

“I don’t know, but now I’m curious to find out.”

“You two always talk like that?” Rene asked, staring between the two of them.

Ray chuckled. “It’s happened enough times that people always ask us that question.”

~

“You told me you needed me here,” Rip said from behind Zee.

The girl turned around. “Hey, Rip.”

He noticed a file for an agent on her laptop screen. She noticed his stare and closed it.

“Gideon told me you were helping out with the search for my parents,” Zee grinned briefly, fishing out a flash drive. “It means a lot that you’re helping me. I’ve done some investigating, and I have a short list of-”

“Have you forgotten that we’re on a mission, Zee?” Rip asked sternly. “Don’t tell me this is why you called me.”

Zee shook her head, pocketing the drive. “I was just working on it while I waited for you. I’ve actually found something new on Gaynor.”

“What is it?”

Zee lead him to the briefing room and pulled up a video of Gaynor and a woman in red speaking in a visitation area. “Gaynor kept to himself in prison, but he had one visitor. Cooper told us that the woman who paid him to hack SHIELD wore red. It’s a stretch, but this could be that same lady.”

“It’s possible,” Rip mused. “Can we hear what they’re talking about?”

“The video has no audio, but SHIELD has a lip-reading program since apparently you guys have all the cool toys. Anyways, I used it on the video. The woman never looked up at the camera, so we don’t know what she said. We did get something out of Gaynor.”

Zee pressed her finger on the table. On the screen, the program latched onto the movement of Gaynor’s lips before reciting, “The Clairvoyant does not like to be touched.”

“That couldn’t be any creepier,” Zee muttered. “I’ve got it written down for Gideon whenever she and Nate get back. But I’ve got no idea who this Clairvoyant is.”

“Me neither,” Rip shook his head. “Clearly, he’s someone to Gaynor and this woman.”

“Her name’s Valentina.”

Rip and Zee turned to see Rene entering the room. “She came and recruited me for Mirakuru. I remember she told me she could change my life.”

“She lived up to that promise,” Zee murmured, glancing back at the screen. “Odds are that if we find Gaynor, we find her too.”

~

              Gideon waited out in Lola while Nate spoke with Knox’s sister in front of the chemical engineering building. He was impersonating someone from the state gaming commission with the explanation that Paul Knox had won the lottery and they needed to get into contact with him to make sure he got his money. If the sister did know where he was, she’d tell them. However, if she didn’t, the business card Nate was to give her would be able to track her calls. When she called Knox to tell him people were looking for him, they’d still get his location.

“Are you sure this story is a good idea?” Nate asked as he returned to her. “Winning the lottery is hard to sell to someone.”

“Exactly why I told you to use it,” Gideon smiled. “If a handsome man comes up to you and tells you that your brother won the lottery, it’s cause for suspicion. Did you give her the card?”

“I did,” Nate grinned. “So…handsome, huh?”

Gideon shot him a look.

“Sorry, that was inappropriate,” he held up his hands. “Have the others found out anything new on Gaynor yet?”

“Zee and Rip called in while you were with Ms. Knox,” Gideon explained. “They found a woman visiting Gaynor in prison. Rene identified her. Her name is Valentina and she’s the one who got him into Mirakuru. We’re betting she’s their recruiter.”

“And Gaynor’s her next pick for the program?”

“Possibly, but whoever’s running this operation could another plan. Gaynor was a commander in Afghanistan. They might want him to oversee the super-soldiers, lead their attacks and whatnot.”

“Makes sense,” Nate nodded as he climbed into the car. “Anything else?”

“Apparently Gaynor referred to a clairvoyant during a video of a visitation Zee found,” Gideon added, starting the car.

Nate wrinkled his nose. “SHIELD has no records on psychics though, right?”

“As far as we know, they’re only a myth. I suspect it’s an alias for someone. Zee’s checking databases for it now to see if it comes up anywhere.”

Before Gideon could shift into drive, her tablet started to beep. She kept them in park to reach over and look at the tablet.

“She’s making the call,” Gideon showed the screen to him. “I told you it would work.”

The two watched the screen as the tracker linked to the phone and started to search for Knox’s location. After a minute, it pinpointed in on Oakland, California.

“There you have it,” she said. “We need to get there as fast as we can before he tries to move.”

~

Zee peeked her head into the interrogation room that Rene was set up in. “How’s everything going?”

“Pretty good,” the man nodded at her. “At least I’ve got a mattress.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get that when Gideon brought me in,” Zee chuckled. “I never got the chance to ask you how Zoe is?”

“She’s great. Her aunt’s taking care of her right now. She doesn’t know that I’m with SHIELD, just that I’ve got a job and I’m trying to save up money.”

Zee let out a slow breath. “That kinda stinks. Not being able to tell her the truth.”

“Well, maybe one day I might find a way to explain it,” Rene shrugged. “But we’re in touch. I call her almost every week. A few days ago, I got some hockey tickets sent out to her so she can finally go to some games.”

              A tiny pang of longing flared up in her chest. She had never really had a parental figure to look up to who stayed in her life long enough. There were still nights where she fell asleep wondering what it would like to have someone like that in her life. Someone who loved you with their whole heart. At least Zoe had a good father in Rene. Zee was happy the girl still had at least one of her parents.

“Are you guys really close?” she asked quietly.

“Definitely,” Rene nodded. “We always have been. We’re a team.”

Zee swallowed. “That must be…really nice. Zoe’s lucky to have her father.”

A shadow passed over Rene’s face. Before Zee could dwell on it, the door opened Gideon walked in, arms behind her back.

“Do you still want a shot at taking down Centipede?” she asked.

“Damn sure.”

Gideon drew her arms forward, a parcel of cloth in them. “Suit up then.”

~

              Knox’s cell phone was tracked out to an abandoned factory a few miles from the airfield. There was suspicion that it was another Mirakuru facility, given a new one always popped up when one was destroyed. Gideon, Rip, Nate, and Rene were all going out there to seek him out and bring him in. Zee, Ray, and Lily were to monitor the signal from Knox and Rene’s vitals in the suit the scientists had made for him. They wouldn’t be in the thick of it, but stationed in a van nearby.

              Gideon had paired up with Rene to enter through one end while Rip and Nate were going to come through the other side. Upon arrival, it wasn’t hard to notice how quiet things seemed. For a brief moment, all of the agents wondered if they had arrived too late. However, Zee was puzzled by the electrical signal in the building preventing her from getting a clear marker on Knox. That restored hope that somewhere in the place, there had been Mirakuru activity at one point.

“Raymond, would you mind dialing Knox’s cell phone?” Gideon asked as she and Rene came into a massive room with some old shipping containers lying about. “We figure out where he’s gone off to now.”

“Yes, ma’am. Give me a few seconds.”

A muffled ringtone of a Bon Jovi song started playing. It was coming from one of the shipping containers. They turned toward it before the doors flew off the one in front of them, revealing Paul Knox. Another container lost their doors to show a second Mirakuru soldier. On the other side of the room, Gideon’s head snapped over to see a third vaulting over a balcony to land on the floor. All this time, they had been waiting for them.

“Ma’am, we have three new heat signatures-”

“Yep, we see them,” Gideon cut Lily off. “Rip, Nathaniel, we’re going to need some back-up.”

“We’re coming your way now.”

              Knox suddenly pushed the heavy shipping container towards Gideon and Rene like it was nothing to him. Before it could flatten her, Rene ran forward, planted his feet, and slowed it to a stop before moving it out of the way. Across the room, Rip and Nate had arrived and were now engaging with the other two soldiers. Turning back to Knox, Gideon drew out her icer and fired a shot at the super-soldier. When he went sprawling down, she exhaled, partly on instinct of how Rip had taught her to shoot and partly out of relief.

As she crept closer towards him, Knox rocketed back up onto his feet. He shook his head, the blue dendrotoxin in his veins ebbing away.

“This usually takes one down,” she murmured, taking a step back.

“Yeah, I remember,” Rene replied before running at Knox to take him on.

              As the super-soldiers brawled, Gideon spared a glance over to Rip and Nate. They were holding up well on their own. Then Nate suddenly stepped in front of Rip as a punch sailed towards the pilot’s jaw. He stumbled back by Rip before snatching the gun from Rip’s side and firing at the super-soldier. Even from where she was, Gideon couldn’t miss the death glare Rip gave to Nate as he snatched up an old piece of rebar and fought the other opponent.

              Gideon turned back to her own battle as Knox’s foot collided with her chest. Across the room, someone shouted. She sailed backwards, hitting a shipping container. While she didn’t feel like anything had been broken, the wind had been knocked out of her. She heard Nate yell and turned to see him sliding down one of the shipping containers. Rip was climbing onto his feet, spitting out blood as he prepared for another round.

“You okay?” Rene asked, turning to her.

She was about to nod until she saw Knox stalking up towards him with his own piece of rebar. “Rene!”

Rene turned in time for the rebar to pierce into his side. His scream was bloodcurdling. Gideon couldn’t help but flinch when it was pulled out.

“Ma’am, you need to withdraw,” Ray told her.

“Rene’s systolic and diastolic pressures are going down, his heartrate is dropping,” Lily muttered frantically. “With the physical exertion and this wound, we can’t keep him out there.”

Zee chimed in at the end too. “Gideon, if you don’t get out now, he could die!”

“No,” Rene shook his head as he looked to Gideon. “I got this.”

Gideon finally sucked a breath in that didn’t hurt and climbed back onto her feet to aid him. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted rebar with concrete caked around part of it. It reminded her very much of a club. Dashing over to it, she hefted it up and swung it towards Rene. He caught it in his hand and struck Knox first at his feet, then at his chest, finally taking the man down.

As soon as Knox dropped, the soldiers who had been fighting Nate and Rip stopped attacking the agents and fled the scene as fast as they could.

Knox, however, seemed to have overexerted himself and was struggling to catch his breath.

Gideon stepped over to him with Rene at her side. His hand was clamped against the rebar wound.

“Who is behind Mirakuru?” she demanded to Knox. “Who’s responsible for this?”

“I won’t say anything,” he panted. “I swear.”

“You really might want to reconsider that,” she said sharply, stepping closer.

Knox’s expression morphed to panic. “No, no, no! Please don’t do it! Please don’t-”

There was a soft noise as Knox’s left eye became shrouded in smoke. His head flopped back and his chest stopped rising.

Even though Gideon had seen this happen before, it still made her feel sick to her stomach.

~

              Rip had to wait for a while after they came back to finally approach Nate. The last thing he wanted to do was make a big scene about what had gone down at the warehouse. Even now, a few hours later, he was still fuming about it. Nate had kept sliding in his path to take punches Rip should have gotten, as if he was trying to be heroic. Plus, he’d taken his gun so quickly in the thick of it all that he’d had no time to stop the other man.

Rip waited by the bar until Nate finally emerged from his room, rolling down his sleeve.

“Hey, Rip,” he greeted, going back behind to pull out a beer for himself. “Can I get you a scotch?”

“I’d rather an explanation.”

Nate’s face twisted in bafflement. “Huh?”

“Out on that op today,” the pilot continued. “I’m some helpless bloke who needs to be defended. I can hold up my own in a fight just as well as you can.”

“Hang on, what?”

“You took more than one punch for me out there,” Rip reminded him. “Then you took my gun to fight with. I don’t care if you got yours kicked away. But you. Do not. Take. Mine. I need a partner who has my back, not someone trying to be a big damn hero.”

Nate snapped the top off his beer slowly. “Rip, I think you misunderstood.”

“And how’s that?”

“I took that punch because you’ve got more experience than I do and know how to do more damage in a fight,” he explained. “And your gun, it was reflex to cover our ass when the guy was about to come at us again. I’m sorry that I took it, but I was trying to be tactical.”

Rip nodded slowly. He was still displeased with the gun, but the explanation made sense. “It appears I’ve made a mistake then.”

“It happens,” Nate muttered before meeting his eyes. “Look, Rip, not everyone in the world is out to get you. Some people just want to make sure you’re okay. When they do, and you respond with an accusation like that, you just make your reputation even colder.”

With that, he stalked off back to his bunk.

Rip clenched his hand into a fist. He hated the stinging truth in Nate’s words.

“That was harsh.”

Rip whirled around to see Zee standing behind him. “How long have you been there?”

“Just that last part,” she admitted.

“What are you even doing here?” Rip asked. “And don’t let it be because of that flash drive.”

She shook her head.

“Good,” Rip nodded. He couldn’t get involved in that mess after the drama with Nate.

“Sorry I ever tried to ask you for help with that,” he heard Zee snap as he turned to walk away. “And I get you’re dealing with crap with Nate, but I was told you were helping out with my search. Gideon suggested-”

“Gideon doesn’t want to tell you the truth,” Rip spun back around to her. “You know what that is Zee? It’s-”

He stopped himself before he could continue. The memories of what had been on that document came back to him. How those SHIELD agents had found Zee. They still didn’t know the whole story behind it but hearing how she was found would put so much guilt on the hacker.

“It’s that you have to decide why you’re here,” Rip continued. “I know Gideon’s already told you something like this before but let me make this clear. Right now, we have a mission to take down Mirakuru. Finding your parents is not a part of it, Zee. You have to put aside your personal attachments and focus on the assignment. If you can’t, then you need to leave.”

“I’m sorry I’m not the Cavalry,” Zee uttered.

The nickname brought back memories of Calvert in full force. “It’s not about being the bloody Cavalry! Gideon was in your same place once too. She waited until she was officially an agent before letting herself search for her mother, and even then, it wasn’t during a mission. Try and take a page out of her book there.”

              Frustrated, Rip turned away and headed back towards the cockpit. Once inside, he took a few breaths to calm himself down. Yelling at Zee had not been the best course of action. There was so much happening between Mirakuru and keeping Gideon in the dark and Nate that this new problem had made him lose his temper. But Zee had to hear that from someone before her search distracted her on an op and someone got hurt because of it. She’d never forgive herself if that happened.

~

              Gideon tapped her fingers on her desk, deep in thought. Mirakuru was no longer just a shadowy organization responsible for making super-soldiers. They were also the ones who created the prosthetic eye technology they’d seen on an early mission once Ray confirmed the x-rays of the agent they’d helped and Knox were the same design. All the soldiers who attacked them must have had it based on how the two had fled once it looked like they could be beaten. Knox, who hadn’t managed to catch up with them, had his kill switch flipped so he wouldn’t spill any secrets to them.

              This was a formidable threat now, one with technology that kept advancing rapidly. Icers no longer stopped them cold and the location of whoever was watching the eye-cam feed could no longer be traced. Clearly someone was funding this operation if they were able to set up and move so quickly while also improving their tech. Perhaps Lily was right that the Clairvoyant was providing the money, although the nickname was rubbish if that was the case. But unlike Zee’s claims, this person couldn’t be a psychic.

She already had sent the update on what had happened to SHIELD headquarters, along with another request for her file regarding her treatment after New York. Level 10 access her foot, it was her file.

“Rider?”

Gideon glanced up. “Rene. Please come in.”

The super-soldier walked in slowly, grimacing as he took a seat. “I don’t know how much good I’m gonna to be to you in the next few days.”

“Well, you did go above and beyond today in the warehouse even after getting stabbed,” she reminded him. “Without you, we would probably be in worse shape. I owe you a thank you for that.”

“It’s fine. Mirakuru’s still out there thoughh. I’ll help take them down in any way I can.”

Gideon glanced at the tablet where she’d just been reading his report. “I know. Your SO has said you’re a hard worker, and that you’ve been training around the clock.”

“Nothing wrong with trying to be as good as I can get.”

She nodded. “I understand. But I’ve also found out you haven’t left the training facility since your arrival there. That means you haven’t seen your daughter since the train station.”

Rene’s body language signified discomfort. “I talk to Zoe all the time on the phone. She’s great.”

“You haven’t gone to see her though.”

“The last time she saw me, I was tearing apart the lobby there,” Rene snapped suddenly, pausing before going on. “I was a monster, and Zoe saw that. She saw all of it.”

“I know she did, and it’s too late to change what happened there. But talking is only going to do so much. Not being there for her, it’s not going to make it much better. You’re the only parent she has left. If you stay away, she’s going to grow up wondering where you are now and why you left her. No child should have to go through that.”

Rene avoided her gaze. “Hurting Zoe is the last thing I want to do. Even though she’s my daughter, I can’t help but wonder sometimes if she’s better off without me.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” Gideon stood and took a seat in the chair beside his. “My mother left when I was a baby. Even though I knew this, I always wondered if it had been my fault that she didn’t stick around. I was lucky to have my father with me at least. Now he thinks I’m dead and I can’t tell him I’m not. I’ve lost that relationship, and it hurts me every day.”

Tears pricked her eyes, and Gideon quickly composed herself with a happy thought before continuing.

“But with you, Zoe knows you’re alive,” she smiled. “You have someone waiting for you to come home. Not a lot of us have that, and those who do don’t always come back alive. I understand you want to help, but I don’t want it to be at the cost of your relationship with your daughter.”

“What are you saying?”

“Just think over what you want for the future.”

Rene nodded and stood up. “I’ll try.”

~

              Mirakuru didn’t wait long before rearing their ugly head again. Rene’s call to Zoe to tell her that he was coming home had taken a dark turn. After Zoe mentioned someone wanted to talk to him, Valentina came on the line and revealed she had the girl in her clutches. Fortunately, Mirakuru was willing to give her back at a specified location and time. In return, they wanted Rene, most likely to see how he still had his abilities.

              Specific instructions were given to Rene about the exchange. No big SHIELD back-up, not even hostage-rescue unit. No electronics on those who were part of the exchange process. Only Gideon’s team was to come and she was to bring Rene over to them without anyone else. If they did anything wrong, Mirakuru would kill Zoe on the spot.

              It seemed like they were going to lose Rene until Ray revealed that he and Lily had been working on a non-electronic tracking method. She’d developed an odorless scent, while Ray built an instrument to track it. If they put it on Rene, they could follow after him and wait until he was back at full strength before breaking him away from Mirakuru. It’d be a long game, but they could win it.

When they arrived at the bridge where the exchange was to take place, Gideon glanced over at Rip’s frown. “I know that look.”

“Just let me bring Mr. Ramirez out for the exchange.”

“No. They ordered it to be me. I’m sorry, but I can’t risk anything happening to that little girl.”

Rip sighed.

Gideon unclipped her seatbelt. “Rip, listen to me. If anything goes off the rails on this, I need you to take point for the team.”

“You’ll be back. There’s no need to say that.”

“I’m just making sure. Nathaniel’s in position. Ready?”

Rip shook his head. “I don’t like this, Gideon.”

“Good. I’d be worried if you did.”

              She got out of the car and retrieved Rene, who was getting the scent on him from Lily. Ray was explaining how it was going to work, but Rene was more focused on getting his daughter back. Gideon didn’t blame him. If she had a child in this position, she’d do anything to get them back.

“Good luck,” Zee told them as they prepared to leave.

Gideon walked side by side with Rene, glancing over briefly at the building to her left, where Nate was hiding in the shadows with a sniper rifle. “We are going to get you back, Rene.”

“This wasn’t supposed to go down like this,” he said. “Whatever happens, I’ll make it right.”

              The bridge was currently getting repairs, so various construction vehicles were parked on the road. With the angle Nate was at, he probably didn’t have visibility of them. Without a clear view, he wouldn’t be able to line up a shot. Mirakuru had that advantage over them.

A brunette in red accompanied by a soldier was waiting for them in the middle of the bridge.

“Rene,” she greeted as they stopped before her. “It’s been quite a while. Zoe’s a sweet girl, but tough like her father.”

Gideon eyed the woman. Based on the accent, she guessed the woman had either grown up or spent an extensive time in Russia. “Valentina, I presume?”

“Indeed.” Valentina turned towards her. “You must be Gideon Rider.”

“That’s what my ID says.”

Valentina ignored her. “Thank you, Rene, for holding up your end of the deal.”

“So, let’s get it over with,” Gideon sighed. “Release Zoe into our custody, and Rene will go with you.”

Valentina’s smile grew colder. “Oh, that wasn’t the deal.”

“What do you mean, that wasn’t-” Gideon faltered, remembering what Rene had told her moments ago. “Rene?”

“I’m sorry,” he told her. “I’m really sorry.”

“We never wanted Rene in the exchange,” Valentina revealed. “We wanted you.”

Gideon frowned. “What?”

Rene lunged forward, grabbing Mirakuru’s recruiter by the throat. The soldier with her tried to intervene, but the woman held up a hand.

“I’m changing the terms of our agreement,” Rene snarled. “You let my daughter go, and I let you live.”

A choked laugh left Valentina. “My employer doesn’t care about my life. Or your daughter’s. If you kill me, Zoe will die too.”

“No one is dying,” Gideon stepped forward. “Let her go, Rene. I’ll go with her.”

Rene released Valentina. “I told them they could have me, but they only wanted you. Why?”

It was a good question. Gideon didn’t know the answer, but she had a feeling what it was.

“I don’t know,” Gideon lied. “But you’ll never see your daughter again if you kill this woman.”

“And never be able to stop thinking about how I betrayed you to get her back?”

Gideon forced a smile. “Don’t think of it as betrayal. Zoe was in danger and you did what any parent would. I don’t blame you for your actions. Now let’s finish this.”

Valentina motioned to a parked car. Another soldier stepped out and opened the backseat’s door. Zoe Ramirez was brought out and lead over to her father. Gideon watched the reunion with a heavy heart. If only she could tell her father that she was still alive. But at least Zoe and Rene were back together and now heading for the rest of the team.

Rip was going to be furious with her.

Something went into her arm. Gideon gasped out before the world tilted backwards.

~

“They’re taking Gideon!”

              Zee’s head snapped up as Nate’s call came over the radio. Ahead of her, Rene was running back to them with Zoe in tow. She could just barely see Gideon being dragged away by two super-soldiers and another woman walking alongside them. This was not the way the deal was supposed to play out.

              Rip was the first to get out of the car, radioing SHIELD headquarters for backup. Zee scrambled out with Lily and Ray to follow him. The science twins were already babbling to each other about what they had that could get Gideon back right now. Zee tuned them out, her attention divided between Rene and Zoe and Gideon.

“I have a shot lined up,” Nate radioed in.

“Do not engage, or they’ll kill Gideon,” Rip ordered before continuing his request for back-up.

Rene had arrived back and was stopping in front of Zee.

“Zoe, I have to make something right,” he told his daughter. “I need you to stay with Zee, okay? And remember that I love you.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

Rene’s smile lasted until he looked back at Zee.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I have to make something right,” Rene said as he turned and started running back towards Gideon. “Keep Zoe safe, Zee! Take care of her!”

Seconds later, when he was halfway across, the bridge was rocked by explosions that swallowed Rene in their flames.

“NO!” Zee screamed out, quickly pulling Zoe into a hug so she didn’t have to see the blaze where her father had been a moment before.

Ray was now rising with Lily from where he had pulled them to the ground. Both scientists were shaking, staring at the damage.

Rip had stopped right in his tracks, still as a statue.

There was no sign of Rene.

“No,” Zee whimpered, hugging Zoe. “Rene?”

This wasn’t fair to them. They thought everything was going to work out. Now, Rene was gone and they’d also lost-

“Where’s Gideon?”

As soon as Nate’s question came over, the car their leader had been led to exploded.

Zee screamed again. “Gideon!”

              For a terrible moment, she believed that the woman was dead. By the looks of it, the rest of the team did too. Rip looked shattered until they heard the blades of a helicopter whirring. Zee couldn’t see inside it through the smoke coming off the burning bridge, but she knew Gideon was inside. She had to be.

Looking back, Zee noticed Rip’s expression hardening into anger.

The helicopter flew by where Nate was staked out. Over the radio, they could hear the gunfire. Ray flinched at the sound of it before grabbing the radio from Rip.

“Nate?” he called. “Are you okay?”

Silence.

“I copy, but I’m down. Is Gideon-”

Zee stopped listening, watching the helicopter grow further away.

They were going to need a new plan.

~

              Gideon woke up to the sound of helicopter blades. She was strapped in beside Valentina, who didn’t seem to be startled by her waking up. Up front, she could pick out Ted Gaynor flying the helicopter with a super-solider. This had to be the worst company she could be trapped up in the air with.

“We land in half an hour,” Gaynor shouted to the back.

“Excellent,” Valentina yelled over the noise. “The sooner we can begin, the better.”

“What are you beginning?” Gideon asked. “Because I’ll tell you right now, whatever this is, whatever you’re doing, it’s not going to work.”

“Oh?”

Gideon nodded. “I’m not giving you what you want.”

“But you will,” Valentina sounded smug. “What we want is so simple.”

“Sure it is.”

“We want you to tell us about the day after you died.”

Gideon set her mouth.

Bollocks.

[lilized]

Have some Morreyeson fluffy comedy cause I needed a break from writing angst.

It started out innocently enough. Gabe had been suffering from insomnia since the war started. Technically, they were not supposed to wander around the base in the middle of the night, so he got used to wait until everyone fell asleep and sneak into the gym, trying to exhaust himself.

He didn’t set out to lie to his new roommate or anything, it just never came up.

John “call me Jack” Morrison, from Indiana, was unfairly, heart-stopping gorgeous. Still, the first time he saw him, Gabe had dismissed him. He looked like a boy-scout who would get chewed out by SEP in a week or two. As the months went by , though, it became clear that Jack was also smart, funny and constantly trying to steal the first position from him on the scoreboard. 

Gabriel liked him.

Later, he found out that Jack had volunteered when the Crisis started, that before that military life wasn’t remotely on his radar. He didn’t need the money for college and he wasn’t there because his parents were in the army, he just… genuinely wanted to help. Gabriel was torn between wanting to laugh at him and being really damned impressed. By the time Jack got transferred into Gabriel’s quarters they were good friends.

Well, so, maybe he liked him. Big deal. They were in a middle of a secret military program, it was most certainly not the time for romance. When they started hooking up, Gabriel tried really hard not read more into it that what was happening. His friendship with Jack was more important than anything. It could survive casual sex, but a committed relationship? Better not risk it. They never discussed it, but Gabriel got the memo. Several months of pretty fantastic sex went by. Then, the oddest thing happened. Gabriel was laying on his right side, his arm tuckered under his head, waiting for Jack to fall asleep so he could get up without bothering him. It was just a whisper, if Gabriel had been less than completely awake he could have easily missed it, or convinced himself he had dreamt it . “I love you.” Jack confessed with just a breath in the dark. That night Gabriel didn’t sleep at all. Jack never repeated the words when Gabriel was awake and bringing it up seemed like an invasion of privacy. Gabe knew Jack hadn’t meant for him to hear him and didn’t want to make him uncomfortable but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why Jack wouldn’t just say something when he could actually say it back. Was he ashamed? Was it not obvious that Gabriel felt the same? Everyone knew! The doctors, their superior officers, their teammates, his fricking abuela had figured it out from email correspondence and holocalls. It was driving Gabe absolutely crazy. Yet, if Jack didn’t feel ready to acknowledge his feelings in the sunlight then Gabriel knew it wasn’t his place to push him. He could wait. Jack’s night time confessions kept coming. “I love you” “If we survive this I want to take you to the farm.” “I’d marry you if you let me” Gabriel waited for Jack to sleep, then got out of bed, went to the gym and proceeded to hit the punching bag until he couldn’t feel his hands anymore. The program was almost over and Jack had never said anything. What if they split them up? What if Jack got killed halfway across the world and Gabriel hadn’t said anything? No. There was being patient and there was being ridiculous and Gabriel was officially proclaiming that line crossed.

“I have insomnia.” He announced barging into their room.

Jack didn’t bother to look up from his comic and hummed “That sucks, have you tried talking to the doctors? They did say the final rounds were the most delicate.”

Gabe climbed on Jack’s bunk and crawled between his legs “It’s not a new development.” Jack shot him an annoyed glare when he snatched the comic out of his hands “I had it since forever”

Jack looked adorably confused “Maybe it’s just a feeling because you don’t sleep very well, ‘cause Gabe you’re always out like a light as soon as we…” Gabe saw the realization and the implications of his own words dawn on Jack’s face.

He flushed red to the roots of his hair, his big blue eyes widening in horror

“I-I’m so sorry!” He stuttered.

Gabriel frowned and sat back on his heels “I’m missing something.”

He definitely was, Jack was hiding his face between his hands, his shoulders trembling, he looked mortified.

“What am I missing?”

Jack didn’t seem to hear him “I’m sorry, I obviously thought you weren’t listening…”

“Jack…”

“I know how you feel about us, you’ve been absolutely clear and I had–”

“Jack.”

“– no right, no right at all to put this kind of thing on you.”

“Jack!”

Gabe grabbed his hands, Jack bowed his head and looked away “I have no idea what you’re talking about. We’ll be deployed soon and I just wanted the chance to say…you know…” He tilted his head trying to catch Jack’s eye “I love you too.”

“WHAT?”

His poor ears.

“How is this a surprise?” Gabe groaned “Everyone knows, Jack, everyone!”

Jack gaped at him for a minute, bewildered “But…But…” He blinked. A lot. “You said our friendship was too important.”

He did?

“You said only an idiot would fall in love with a soldier when there is a war going on!”

“When was this?”

“When Taylor and Rodriguez got together.” Jack grumbled

“Oh, yeah, I remember now.”

“And!” Jack continued, his hands flailing maniacally around “You told me you never got serious with anyone without introducing them to your grandmother first, not after the 2036 debacle”

“Wait. Jack.” Gabriel covered his mouth with one hand “Did you think we were, what? Fuckbuddies?” The puzzle pieces all clicked into place, it made an horrific kind of sense. “Oh my god, you did. You thought we were just fucking around until the program was over.” “I know you’d rather not label it.”

Gabriel smacked his forehead “I am the worst boyfriend ever.” He whispered stunned.

It was time to make some things clear.

“Okay, for starters? Abuela knows all about you, I think she already named our first three kids so I hope you don’t mind spanish names, because good luck changing her mind, Jackie.” Gabe said “And yes, I didn’t plan…us, but it happened and it’s awesome, and I love you.”

Finally, Jack started to look less disbelieving and more hopeful, the corners of his mouth tugged in a smile “I can’t believe you pretended to sleep while I confessed my unrequited feelings”

Gabe kissed him, Jack nipped at his bottom lip and Gabriel smirked

“I can’t believe you thought they were unrequited.”

The next monday their CO called him into his office and offered Gabriel a position in an international task force called Overwatch.

“And he asked me to convince you to sign up too, cause as I said…” Gabriel licked the shell of Jack’s ear, relishing the sound of laughter bubbling out of him “Everyone knows I’m crazy about you.”

Months ago I read about this girl on the internet who confessed her feelings to his bf while he was sleeping and years later he confessed he had always suffered from insomnia and I thought it was just too cute not to be a fic. So now it is.

[markonasurface]

5/50 - “There’s blood on my/your hands.”

Fandom: All for the Game Characters/pairings: Neil, Andrew, Kevin, Wymack, Abby, Betsy/andreil, kevineil friendship Summary: The year after his 19th birthday, the other team decides to recreate the bloody locker scene complete with a ‘Happy Birthday, Jr.’ Instead of stuffing everything down, Neil has a complete freak out and sinks into a depression. A/N: I wrote this before I posted my first ever tfc fic.

Neil laughed at something Matt said and pulled open his locker. He felt a bit of resistance and heard a pop and was overwhelmed with the sense of deja vu.

Blood pooled around his feet and he immediately choked on the smell. The roaring in his ears made it hard for him to hear his teammates. He couldn’t hear Matt calling his name.

“No,” Neil uttered. Ice filled his chest. He grabbed his jersey just as someone grabbed his elbow. He managed to pull out of their grasp but slipped and fell to his knees. “No, no.”

He gagged and choked and tried to pull everything from his locker into his arms. He felt an arm around his chest and instinctually shoved an elbow back.

Everyone in the locker room heard the pop as Neil opened his locker. It was the loud gasp that drew their eyes toward him though.

Kevin, Nicky, Andrew, Aaron and Matt all waited a second to see how Neil would react. The three freshmen started shouting.

“What the hell?”

“Whose blood is it?”

“Neil?”

When Neil lurched forward, Matt reacted. He reached out to try to grab Neil’s arm much in the same way he did last year when this happened. Neil jerked and Matt lost his grip.

They watched as he desperately tried to grab what he could, a lost cause. He retched and Matt wrapped his arms around his chest to try to get him away from the mess but Neil’s elbow came back hitting his nose.

Last year, Neil had reacted similarly at first but was able to pull himself together to try to keep his secrets a little longer. Now that everything was all out in the open, he was giving into this panic attack.

“Go get Coach, Nicky,” Andrew said, already walking over to where Matt was struggling to keep a grip on Neil. “Let him go.”

Matt did as he was told and Neil immediately went back to his locker, repeating one word over and over until he was just gasping for breath. He fell onto his butt, holding his jersey and Andrew crouched next to him. He put a hand on the back of Neil’s neck and forced his head to his knees.

He kept gasping.

“Breathe, you idiot,” Andrew said and fell to his knees when Neil’s hands grasped at his, his jersey still clutched in one.

Wymack entered the locker room then and said, ”Get your things and wait outside the girls’ locker room.”

Andrew ignored him and told Neil again, “Fucking breathe, Neil.”

He let out a dry sob and Andrew repeated, “Breathe, dammit,” impatience leaking into his tone.

Finally, Neil gasped a shuddery breath. Each subsequent breath was less harsh and less ragged but sounded just as painful. He coughed once.

He tried to lift his head and Andrew let him. He kept both hands grasped around the one hand that had been on his neck.

Neil looked haunted as he said, “There’s blood on my hands.”

Andrew used two fingers to push Neil’s chin up so he would stop staring at his hands.

“Neil?” Wymack stepped closer.

He obediently looked up at his name. His eyes were wide and unblinking.

“Are you okay?”

Even if Wymack always worried about his Foxes, it was rare to see the concern worn so blatantly on his face. Neil shook his head. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

“I’ll call security. We’ll cancel the game. Both of you go shower. Kevin went to get clothes for you guys and Matt.”

Andrew waited for Wymack to leave before he pulled Neil up as he stood. He had to pry himself from Neil’s grip. He pushed him gently and Neil unsteadily put one foot in front of the other.

He stopped abruptly and Andrew stopped just in time to avoid banging into him from behind. He looked up at what he was staring at and kept his hands on Neil’s shoulders to guide him past the familiar “Happy birthday, Jr,” written in blood on the wall.

“It’s not my birthday,” Neil murmured absently.

Andrew turned the water on, then pulled Neil underneath. At first the water was deep red as it swirled around their feet and Neil couldn’t stop watching it.

“Stop it.” It was a demand and Neil was usually so good at following Andrew’s reasonable demands. Tonight, he just looked at Andrew, unable to wipe the wide-eyed shock from his features.

“Yes?” Andrew lifted the hem of Neil’s shirt and he nodded. He slowly helped him undress, waiting for consent every step of the way.

He ran a hand through Neil’s hair and used a thumb to rub at the blood on his forehead and the back of his neck. He used soap to wash his hair and his body. Then he repeated the process two more times, hoping that would be enough.

A knock on the stall door made Neil jump.

“It’s me.” Kevin’s voice was quiet but angry. He paused briefly then said, “I brought extra towels.”

Andrew put a hand on the side of Neil’s neck and told him, “I’m giving you to Kevin, okay?”

Neil couldn’t find his voice but he looked straight into Andrew’s eyes. The corners of Andrew’s mouth turned down when he noticed the shock had finally subsided to complete exhaustion. “Hand me a towel,” Andrew told Kevin and waited for him to drop it over the door. He wrapped it around Neil under his armpits and opened the door. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

Neil stood in front of Kevin. He seemed to look through him. Kevin held clothes out to Neil but he didn’t take it. His eyebrows raised slightly but he didn’t say anything. He draped a towel over the stall door, then guided him back toward the lockers and took him to a corner where he wouldn’t be able to see the blood.

Still, he glimpsed a flash of red and imagined he could smell it - metallic and smoke and burning - and gagged.

Using another towel, Kevin dried Neil’s shoulders and rubbed his hair. He slipped an extra baggy long sleeved shirt over Neil’s head and over the towel still wrapped around him.

He handed him boxers, sweatpants, socks and shoes. “I’ll help you if you want,” Kevin spoke to him in French and Neil’s eyes finally snapped into focus. Shock returned to his face but just as quickly his features melted back into dazed as he reminded himself that he wasn’t in the Ravens’ locker room; he was surrounded by orange. Jean wasn’t putting him back together; Kevin was helping him get dressed. He nodded.

Kevin was gentle but firm and first he pulled Neil’s boxers over his feet, then got him to stand to pull them up the rest of the way. Only then did he pull the towel off from under Neil’s shirt.

Andrew came around the corner fully dressed and watched Kevin put on Neil’s socks and shoes. Without turning he said, “The team is playing tonight.”

He stood up and faced Andrew. “Coach checked the surveillance tapes and it was definitely Breckenridge players. We’re going to beat them, then we’re going to call security and have them make an official report. You two go home.”

“But -” Neil choked out.

Kevin looked at him expectantly. When he didn’t continue he said, “If you want to go out there, I won’t stop you tonight. But you and I both know you’re not in the right state to play.”

He waited for Neil to at least protest Andrew leaving but he didn’t. “I’ll see you guys at home.”

Andrew pressed his back against the wall. He wouldn’t get much sleep sharing a bed with Neil but he would stay as long as Neil needed him to.

The first day, it was noon when there was a knock on their door. Andrew listened and heard Kevin putting his headphones on the desk before answering the door.

The voices were too muffled for him to understand what they were saying but not even a minute later the door closed again. A couple of hours passed and he heard Kevin answer the door again. The conversation lasted a little longer this time until eventually there was a soft knock on the bedroom door before it was pushed open.

Andrew sat up as Matt, Dan, Renee and Allison came into the room. The blinds were drawn but gray light still made its way into the room. They could see Neil staring blankly at nothing.

The upperclassmen had brought balloons and a cake which was set on a dresser. Dan got onto her knees and spoke quietly. “Hey, Neil.” She pushed his hair off of his forehead. Her touch was soft and light. “Happy birthday. We know you have Andrew but we wanted to remind you that the rest of us are here if you need us.”

She met Andrew’s eyes and held his gaze for a moment. She stood and the other three followed her out.

Kevin answered the door three more times that day but only allowed one other person in to see Neil.

Coach Wymack sat on the edge of Kevin’s bed and sighed. “We won 8-5. While the game was going on security took a look at the locker room and got fingerprints. The Jackals have been disqualified.”

They spent all of Saturday and Sunday unmoving. Monday came and Neil still didn’t get out of bed. Kevin, Aaron and Nicky had to ride in the back of Matt’s truck to morning practice.

“One of you needs to shower, Andrew.”

Kevin waited til he heard the shower turn on before coming to stand next to the bunk bed. He leaned down and asked, “What’s going on?”

Neil stared back at him, dark circles under his eyes.

“What do you need?”

Kevin sighed. He waited for Neil to answer. “Neil.” He waited a few more minutes. He sat with his back to the bed.

“I want to die.” Neil’s voice was hoarse from disuse.

The room suddenly felt too cold. His blood ran cold. Kevin’s eyebrows furrowed and he said, “Get up. You’re coming to the court tonight.”

He stood and pulled Neil’s blankets off of him as the bathroom door opened and Andrew reentered the room. “Get up.”

Kevin turned to their goalie. “He needs this, Andrew.”

It might’ve been his tone or the look in his eyes or just the knowledge that he was right but Andrew didn’t argue. He grabbed Neil’s arm and sat him up. “Let’s go.”

Jack was outside the room and he looked more surprised than annoyed when he saw Neil and Andrew with Kevin. “You can’t come tonight,” Kevin told him.

“You guys said I can come to Monday night practices,” Jack argued.

“Not this one,” Kevin stated, not unkindly but without any remorse or sympathy. He walked past Jack and headed to the stairwell.

In the car, Kevin handed them both water bottles. “Drink,” he commanded. “You’re both probably dehydrated.”

He stopped them in the lounge and they all sat. Kevin dug out a bag and gave each of them individually wrapped sandwiches. “Eat.”

Andrew peeled off the saran wrap and lifted his eyes to give Kevin a look. The sandwich was cut in a grid, twenty-five bite-sized pieces.

Kevin crossed his arms over his chest and stared for five minutes before Neil finally took a bite. He only took two more bites after that but Kevin deemed it enough and allowed them to continue to the locker room to change out.

“Where’re the fags?” Jack questioned when Aaron, Nicky and Kevin arrived with the upperclassmen again the next morning.

“Hey,” Wymack said.

“They came to the court last night with Kevin,” Jack’s tone was accusatory.

Kevin shrugged and Nicky answered, “They didn’t want to see your homophobic ass. We barely made it here ourselves; the thought of seeing your ugly face made us want to light ourselves on fire.”

“I thought practices were mandatory,” Sheena complained.

“They are,” Wymack said. “Minyard will be at afternoon practice today.”

“What about -”

Wymack held a hand up. “Attendance is between me and each of you individually. Stay out of it. Mind your own business.”

The freshmen shut their mouths at that and he said, “Hurry up and change out. Stop wasting my time. Last person to the court is being signed up for a marathon. Kevin.”

They waited until everyone else had filed out before Wymack told Kevin, “Dan’s worried. She didn’t like the look in Neil’s eyes and I don’t disagree with her. What do you think?”

Kevin studied his face and considered. He pursed his lips looking conflicted, then admitted, “I don’t understand it. Ten years fighting to stay alive and last night he tells me he wants to die.” 

“But he came to court with you?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“It took him awhile to get into it. He was weak. Andrew put in no effort and Neil still didn’t score on him.”

Wymack allowed himself a minute to think. “Have they been eating?”

“No. I made them both drink water and eat something before we began but Neil only took a few bites.”

He was silent, thinking over the new information. “Okay, then. You remind Neil that Andrew needs to eat and I’ll call Betsy.”

“I thought you said the psychotic midget would be here,” Jack couldn’t leave things alone.

Wymack glared. “What did I say? Mind your own damn business. Go run some laps until I tell you guys to stop.”

After what Kevin had told him, Wymack decided it was better if Neil wasn’t left alone. Better safe than sorry. He had called both Betsy and Abby and made arrangements for Neil so that at least Andrew would be able to start coming to practice and going to classes by Thursday.

When Wednesday Neil and Andrew skipped both morning and afternoon practices again, Wymack came to see them. “You have an appointment with Betsy tomorrow at six. Andrew can drop you off on his way to morning practice. If you don’t go, she’s coming here. You can spend the day in her office or go to class. It’s up to you. Abby will be by at three.” He stood up to leave and said, “Eat something, would ya both?”

Kevin’s alarm woke them up as it did every morning. He didn’t look at their bed as he pulled a shirt over his head and started putting on his shoes with his eyes closed.

He walked out of the bedroom and they could hear the suite’s door open.

Andrew crawled over Neil and started putting on his socks when footsteps started down the hall again. Kevin stuck his head into the room. “Coming?”

Andrew fixed him with a bored look as he tugged on his shoes. He looked down at his feet before he stood up. “No.”

“Coach said -”

“Leave already.”

Kevin walked away and slammed the suite door behind him.

When Andrew was satisfied he wasn’t coming back, he dragged the covers off of Neil and tossed his shoes onto the floor beside his bed. He went over and yanked Neil into a sitting position and stared until he put his feet in his shoes.

He followed Andrew out and down the stairs to the parking lot. They didn’t speak as Andrew drove him to Reddin. Neil hadn’t spoken to anyone, even Andrew in the past week.

He pulled up to the curb and looked at Neil. After a couple minutes he got out and went around to open the passenger side door and pull Neil to his feet. He walked him in and past the check in desk, down the hall to where Betsy’s door was open.

Betsy smiled. “Andrew, Neil, hello. I’m glad you’re here. Are you staying?”

“No. I’ll be back after practice though,” Andrew said.

“Hot cocoa?” Betsy offered both of them.

“Later,” Andrew said. He turned to look at Neil and tugged his coat off of his arms. He pushed him to sit on the couch and dropped his coat by his feet. He left without another word.

“Cocoa?” she offered Neil again. He didn’t respond. All he did was stare at the ground by Betsy’s feet.

He startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Betsy, confused. “Go ahead and lie down,” she encouraged. “You were about to tip forward.”

Neil could tell Betsy was put off by his face. She wasn’t used to him without a fake smile or guarded expression. He couldn’t find the energy to try.

“It’s quite early,” she smiled. “Perhaps we can talk later. My schedule is all cleared today.” He curled up on the couch and let Betsy place a blanket over him.

He drifted in and out of consciousness until Betsy’s office door slammed open. Neil didn’t bother to look at who was there.

“Hi, Kevin,” Betsy looked and sounded surprised.

Kevin stood in front of Neil and he recognized the furious and frustrated look on his face. “You don’t want to get up for yourself?” He glared. “Fine. But your boyfriend refused to leave your side for the past week. He hasn’t eaten, he’s barely drank water, and he hasn’t gotten much sleep either.

“Sheena scored on him at practice today. She’s a backliner!” Kevin hissed. “Then he passed out in the middle of our scrimmage.”

Neil heard Betsy make a sound but he only furrowed his brows in confusion. He knew he should feel something and he did, but it was muted.

“Is he okay?” Betsy asked.

Kevin’s eyes didn’t leave Neil. “Don’t you want to know?”

“Kevin, please, tell us,” Betsy said quietly.

He made a disgusted sound and finally turned to look at their therapist. “He’ll be fine. He’s hooked up to an IV right now. He needs to start taking care of himself or he’ll make himself sick.”

He spun on his heel and closed the door harder than necessary on his way out.

Neil closed his eyes and took an unsteady breath. He frowned when it felt like no air had gotten to his lungs. He tried again and again, clutching at the pillow in his arms.

“Neil?”

Betsy hurried over and forced him into a sitting position. She pried the pillow out of his arms and he grasped one of her hands too hard.

She put a hand on his back and pushed until he leaned forward, his head resting on his knees. “Breathe, Neil. Come on. I know you can do it.”

He couldn’t. His vision was already spotting and his lungs burned.

He didn’t hear the knock on the door or Betsy’s panicked, “We’re busy!” or the gruff, “It’s me.”

He did feel the hard thump on his back and the first harsh woosh of air to his lungs and the sharp tingling sensation in his throat as his breathing slowed. Finally, he could hear over the thudding of his heart and hands pulled him so he was leaning back against the couch cushion.

“Jesus, you’re blue,” Wymack said.

Neil closed his eyes, exhausted.

“You still with us?”

Neil opened his eyes to slits and closed them again.

“I saw Kevin running away from here so I assume he told you about Andrew?”

“He did,” Betsy responded.

Wymack walked around the couch to look at Neil. “You both need to start taking care of yourselves, Neil.”

Neil kept his eyes closed. Tears leaked out the corners.

“Abby will be by later.” He patted Neil’s knee before leaving.

Abby gently prodded Neil awake and led him to her car. Although the drive to Fox Tower was short, she had to wake him again when she parked.

He was unsteady on his feet and Abby grabbed his arm to make sure he didn’t slip on ice. She didn’t let go until they were inside his suite and he was sitting on a beanbag chair.

“Do you want to watch something?” There was a forced normalcy to her voice.

Neil closed his eyes. He heard Abby sink into the other beanbag chair and sigh.

“Will you order food for Andrew?” It hurt his throat. Speaking after a week of silence.

He knew without looking Abby was stunned. She tripped over her words in her excitement, “Yes, of course.”

With that he drifted back into unconsciousness.

Andrew and Kevin came home a bit after eight.

“Will you be able to play tomorrow?”

“I don’t know,” Andrew responded, bored. “Maybe they’ll just let me study for eight hours instead of practicing again.”

Kevin stopped and took in the scene before him. Abby had set up their take out containers in front of the beanbags. She had already made herself and Neil plates and had set two empty plates across from them.

“Hi, guys.” She waved. “Join us?”

Neither of them said anything but they sat down across from Neil and Abby. She asked them a few questions while they sorted the food onto their plates. Abby had only put rice and plain chicken on Neil’s plate, explaining that hopefully the bland food wouldn’t upset his stomach but let Andrew grab whatever he wanted.

They sat in silence as Abby and Kevin ate. It took Neil awhile to realize Andrew was waiting for him to start eating before doing so himself. He forced a bite of rice into his mouth and chewed slowly, resisting the urge to spit it out and go to bed. Only when he swallowed did Andrew start tearing his food into messy pieces.

There was a loud knock on the door and Abby immediately put her plate aside to go answer it. Allison strode in and put her hands on her hips.

“I’m not driving the rest of the monsters to practice anymore,” she said. “Either you can bring them since you’re coming to practice now, or they can sit in the snow in Matt’s truck bed.”

“Hm,” Andrew replied and Allison glared before leaving them.

He piled more food on his plate and pulled it to pieces before stuffing it in his mouth.

“Slow down,” Kevin warned him.

“First you want me to eat and now you want me to stop. Make up your mind, Kevin.”

“You’re impossible.”

Andrew stared Kevin down as he finished his second plate, daring him to say something else. Neil continued pushing his food around, taking the occasional bite whenever he noticed either of them giving him an expectant look.

Abby left an hour later. When Kevin grabbed his keys and headed for the door, Andrew and Neil followed. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

They only made it down the stairs before Andrew hastily pushed open the door and dinner made a reappearance on the sidewalk. He straightened and wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve, then continued to his car, refusing to acknowledge Kevin’s condescending look that screamed, ‘I told you so.’

Outside of the Foxes’ Exy stadium, Kevin and Neil watched him vomit again.

“Don’t puke on the court,” Kevin said.

Andrew went straight to the bathroom so Kevin and Neil changed out and started their night practice without him.

The next morning when Kevin’s alarm went off, Andrew climbed over Neil and pulled on his socks, shoes and coat before forcing Neil out of bed. They followed Kevin into the hallway and Andrew locked the door behind them.

“Neil?” Dan stepped toward them looking a bit relieved.

That got the others’ attention and they all turned to look at him. Andrew grabbed the back of his coat and he didn’t know whether it was to stop him from going back inside or to make sure he didn’t fall on his unsteady feet.

“You look like shit,” someone said. “Ow.”

Matt retracted his elbow from someone’s ribs and smiled tiredly at Neil. “Good to see you.”

Aaron rolled his eyes and walked past everyone to the stairwell. Kevin, Nicky, and Andrew pushing Neil, followed without another word. The others realized they should go, too, and the sound of fifteen pairs of feet echoed on the stairs.

“Ugh,” Aaron stopped walking and the others bumped into each other. He had stepped in a mess of regurgitated noodles and meat.

Andrew said nothing and guided Neil around Aaron while the others voiced their disgust. Kevin was close behind.

Andrew only waited for Aaron to finish cleaning his shoe off in the snow before starting his car, forcing Nicky and Aaron to run if they didn’t want to be left behind. “Are you guys playing tonight?” Nicky asked and Kevin flicked him an irritated look.

Neil pretended to doze until they got to Reddin. Andrew left the car running as he escorted Neil to Betsy’s office.

There was a genuine smile on her face when she saw Andrew. “You look like you’re doing better.”

He didn’t acknowledge her comment and spoke as if she hadn’t said anything at all. “I’ll be back after practice.”

Neil sat down.

“Would you like to talk today?” Betsy asked.

He reclined back and Betsy said, “Hm.”

She got up and placed a blanket over him.

When they joined the others on the court, Wymack fixed them with a disgusted look. “If you’re puking, go to sleep. Don’t come practice for an extra two or three hours.”

“Wasn’t me,” Kevin shrugged it off.

“You guys told me to eat,” Andrew twirled his racquet.

“I told you to slow down,” Kevin reminded him.

This time Andrew shrugged and went to join the others in their laps.

“Start running,” Wymack directed at Nicky and Aaron. He waited for them to leave. He kept his eyes on Andrew but asked Kevin, “What do you think about him playing tonight?”

“He’ll be fine. Only let him play the first quarter. Maybe the last quarter, too.”

Wymack didn’t ask but Kevin told him anyway, “Neil can still barely stand without help. Throwing a ball leaves him breathless.”

He pursed his lips. “Abby said he asked her to order food for Andrew yesterday.” It wasn’t quite a statement but it wasn’t a question either.

“He ate some rice and chicken. Andrew ate two and a half plates of everything else.”

“I saw.”

Kevin left him and started jogging around the court. The others had already finished their laps and were stretching.

After practice, Andrew picked Neil up from Reddin and drove him to Abby’s house. Wymack was waiting with her on the porch.

Abby looped an arm through Neil’s and guided him to the dining room table. He heard Wymack stop Andrew from leaving and they all sat down to eat breakfast together.

Toast and oatmeal.

Andrew lifted his spoon and watched the mush drop back into his bowl. He covered the top with sugar then started eating.

“Eat.” Wymack commanded and Neil nibbled at his toast.

He drained a cup of coffee before telling them, “I talked to your professors. You both have the next week to catch up on the work you missed. That means extra hours with tutors this week. Andrew can’t miss any classes. Tell me you hear me.”

Andrew looked up momentarily from tearing his toast to shreds. “Can’t miss any classes.”

“I got your work from last week and this week from your professors.” He turned to Neil. “I’ll give you the rest of the weekend but starting Monday you need to start getting back into things. There’re only so many exceptions that can be made. I made schedules for both of you and you need to follow them to get back on track.”

Andrew glanced at his, then crumpled it up. He probably already had it memorized.

Wymack glanced at his watch and took another gulp of coffee. “I have to get back to campus. Andrew, meet the rest of the team at the usual time. You’ll play the first quarter. Then I’ll decide if you get anymore playing time.”

Because I saw this post and all I could think of was tfc/aftg.

http://maelerie.tumblr.com/post/135803922052/send-me-two-characters-or-more-and-a-prompt-and

[chicgeekgirl89]

Mercy is Out of Your Reach: Chap. 2

Fandom: SEAL Team

Characters: Sonny Quinn, Clay Spenser, Jason Hayes, Lisa Davis, and the rest of the team

Read Chapter 1 Here

                                        XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“I want to know where they are now,” Jason demanded, hands on his hips as he paced the room in agitation. 

“We lost ISR because the drone hit a bird,” Davis said, fingers flying over her keyboard. “I’m contacting our allies to see if anybody eyes in the sky that we can take a look at.”

“Well do it faster,” Jason snapped.

“Jay.” Ray was leaning against the wall, calm as ever and it just pissed Jason off more.

“Don’t!” he said, holding up a hand in warning. “They were right there and we didn’t get to them in time and now they’re gone.”

“We’re all doing everything we can,” Ray said. “It doesn’t help anything to go flying off the handle.”

“Well it makes me feel better.” He ran a hand over his face. “I want to know why they were taken.”

“Might not be connected to the op,” Blackburn said. “Maybe they saw two Americans and thought it would be a good ransom grab.”

Jason fixed him with a look. “You really believe that?”

“I’m just trying to cover all our bases Jason.”

Things had gone to hell so unbelievably fast. One second they were listening in on a conversation, the next there had been screaming and banging and by the time Jason, Trent, and Brock had gotten into the café it had been emptied out. Clay and Sonny’s comms had both gone offline immediately and Sonny’s button cam shorted out shortly thereafter. They’d circled the whole town for nearly two hours, searching for any sign of their brothers before Blackburn had called them back to base.

It felt like they’d abandoned Clay and Sonny and it was eating at Jason’s gut. You didn’t leave your brothers behind. Not for anything. “You all should take a break,” Blackburn said.

God damn the man and his indefatigable calm in times like these. All Jason wanted to do was rip a room apart, while guys like Blackburn and Ray could just stand around like it was any other day; like having teammates in mortal danger was no big deal. “No. We’re not leaving until we find them,” he said.

“Nobody’s putting you on a plane home Jason. You all need a break,” Mandy said. “Go. We’ll call you when we find something.”

Not if; when. Leave it to Mandy to be so sure. But Jason knew that finding them was only half the battle. For all they knew their boys were already dead. And every moment they stayed missing would only make that more likely.

“C’mon Jay,” Ray said as the other guys moved slowly out of the room.

The team settled at a table in the makeshift mess, everybody eating out of duty rather than actual hunger. “You gotta eat Jason,” Trent said quietly as Jason stared moodily at his dinner.

“Yeah well they’re probably not eating.” Jason’s leg was jumping under the table and he ran a hand up and down his thigh, anxiety crawling inside him. There were two of them, they could support each other. Unless they weren’t together. And either way, with Sonny sick…

“Which is all the more reason you should,” Ray said. “Need to be on top of our game if we’re going to get them back.”

They were right so he swallowed something down, but his mind was still in overdrive. “Let’s go over it again.”

“We’ve been over it Jason, nothing’s going to change,” Full Metal said.

“We’re going over it again,” Jason ground out.

They all shot looks at one another but nobody protested further so he pushed ahead. “Ray and Full Metal were on overwatch. What did you see?”

Ray sighed. “Everything was going according to plan. We went high, rooftop across the street. View of the front of the café. I got on the scope, Metal was there with back up.”

“Clay and Sonny entered the café. Thirty-two minutes later some of Farhad’s guys entered. At forty-three minutes there was a bang and we saw smoke coming out of the front of the café,” Metal continued. “Nobody came out the front but civilians. The targets did not reappear and neither did Clay or Sonny.”

“And we were down the block in the van,” Brock said. “Eyes on the back door the whole time. Nobody came out there either.”

“Then how the hell did they get out of there?” Jason asked. “If they’d been taken on foot we would’ve caught up with them. Why didn’t we see them get thrown in a truck or a van?”

“Could have been an alley door,” Trent said. “Space between the buildings is so narrow, Davis said they couldn’t get a good look on ISR.”

“You’re telling me they took out two Tier One operators and managed to drag them down an alley?”

“They weren’t heavily armed,” Brock said. “Sonny was off his game. If they surprised them and there were enough guys…”

Jason worked his jaw. “We need another look at that café.”

He stood, intent on heading out immediately but Blackburn appeared as if he sensed his team leader about to fly off the handle. “Not tonight you’re not. Nobody outside the wire.”

“They don’t have—“

“Time. I realize that,” Eric said. “But you can’t go back in the dead of the night and start snooping around. If anybody sees you they could tip off the captors and then we’ll never find them. Not to mention it could compromise the op we came here for in the first place. Let us work the problem overnight and you can head back out in the morning.” He looked at the rest of the team. “Get some sleep. All of you. You’re going to need it.”

Jason felt the team watching him, waiting for the okay. He gave a short nod. “Go.”

His eyes stayed on Blackburn. “I want an answer Eric.”

“We all do,” Blackburn assured him. “Get some sleep. If we find anything I’ll come get you myself.”

Jason took his time heading back to their temporary bunk room, unable to stop his mind from turning over and over. All of this for some chatter that might not even be anything. They’d come here to find out when Farhad Mahmoudi was planning to arrive and who else might be meeting with him. Instead they’d ended up down two brothers.

The tightness in his chest was creeping back in and he took a few deep breaths trying to keep it at bay. He couldn’t lose it. Not now. Not with Sonny and Clay’s lives on the line.

Everyone was up before sunrise and when Blackburn saw them coming through the door he didn’t seem surprised. Davis and Mandy were both still there, Mandy looking at a map of the area while Davis had her ear glued to the phone.

“Anything?” Jason asked.

“We would have gotten you if there was,” Blackburn said. 

Judging from the many empty coffee cups littering the table none of the support staff had slept. Jason felt a rush of gratitude toward them and also a smidge of guilt. Yes, Bravo needed sleep to be ready for a rescue op, but it stung to leave the work up to the rest of the group. 

Davis hung up the phone, defeat all over her face. “I’ve called everyone I can think of. No one else had eyes on this area during the time Clay and Sonny were taken. France has a team in country, they said they’ll help if we need a rescue op, and everyone has promised to let us know if they hear chatter, but we have no additional visuals.”

It was clear from the silence of the group that they were disheartened. Hours of work and they were no closer to finding their brothers. Jason looked to Eric. “We good to go take another look?”

“I’ll authorize it,” Blackburn said. “But I don’t need to remind you to keep things quiet.”

“It’ll be like we’re not even there,” Jason told him, already halfway to the door.

They all piled into a trucks, choosing to leave Cerberus behind rather than attract attention with a domesticated dog on a leash. “Ray and Brock are going into the café,” Jason said as they drove. “Metal, Trent and I will scout the outside. Be on the alert. They took our boys once, let’s not give them anybody else.”

Ray met his eyes. “We’re going to find something.”

Jason nodded. They had to. There was no other choice.

Ray and Brock headed inside cafe while Trent, Metal, and Jason began casually scanning the street. Jason immediately walked to the back of the café and then around the side. Sure enough there was an alley. It was narrow, but just big enough for a man to walk through. Further inspection in the dirt showed him drag marks, making his chest feel tight all over again. 

“Jase!”

He looked up to find Metal and Trent beckoning him further down the alley. “There’s a door here,” Metal said, nodding toward it.

“The drag marks go right up to it,” Trent said. “If they took them into this building and came out further down the block or around the corner, could explain why we didn’t see anything.”

Jason nodded. “Let’s take a walk.”

They left the alley and continued their walk up the street. Crisscrossing tire tracks covered the road making it impossible to tell which might have belonged to a vehicle carrying two Navy SEALs. He was just about to suggest they move on when a shop on the other side of the street caught his eye. “Hey,” he nodded toward it.

“That a camera?” Metal asked.

“Looks like.” Jason thought for a moment. “Let’s get Ray and Brock over here.”

It didn’t take long for Bravo Two and Bravo Five to rejoin them. “Anything?” Jason asked.

“Lot of the same faces we saw yesterday,” Ray said. “Definitely a spot for locals. D’you find something?”

“There’s a shop across the street that looks like it might have a camera,” Trent said. “If we could get a look at that footage…”

One hastily constructed plan later, Ray and Brock wandered into the store, making sure to go as far from the door as possible before Brock “accidentally” smashed something very expensive looking. Jason snuck in the front door and slipped behind the counter unnoticed as the owner went back to yell at the two tourists who were destroying his merchandise. He felt a wave of relief when he immediately found the connections for the camera and an even more relief when it turned out to be an extremely old model with a tape. Hopefully the owner wouldn’t notice it was missing for a while. He pulled it and hustled back the truck, waiting anxiously for Ray and Brock to settle up and head on back.

“Did you get it?” Brock asked when he and Ray slid into the back. 

Jason nodded as Metal floored it and took them back to base.

God bless Davis who had somehow managed to procure an appropriate player for the tape by the time they returned. “What did you have to do to get this so fast?” Ray asked as she inserted the tape.

She smiled. “A magician never reveals her secrets.”

“Listen, it’s going to take time for us to go through this,” Mandy said. “And it doesn’t help to have you breathing down our necks. Go take a break. We’ll get back to you.”

“We’re not leaving,” Jason said. Why did everyone keep trying to kick them out of this?

“Mandy’s right,” Lisa said. “Having all of ya’ll standing around watching isn’t going to help. Get outta here.” She locked eyes with Jason. “You’ll be my first call.”

He nodded. He didn’t like it. But he trusted Lisa and Mandy. If anybody was going to find their boys, it would be them.