#imagine the kids finding out about project kronos

[inamindfarfaraway]

A Series of Unfortunate Events crossover AU with The Incredibles where the Baudelaires are a family of supers. Bertrand and Beatrice used to be a superhero team, albeit with murky pasts. Syndrome, their former biggest fan, lures them to Nomanisan Island and kills them with the Omnidroid, then has it declared a tragic accident. Their three children are now orphans. Hiding their powers is more important than ever. People who know tend to be less sympathetic and more suspicious and the National Super Agency is inclined to put the quietness of their lives above the quality of them. Good thing that their totally legitimate relative Buddy Pine is around to foster them right away! He’s a brilliant inventor with a billion-dollar company! He even loves superheroes and offers to train the kids in his advanced facility! What could possibly go wrong?

Fourteen-year-old Violet can generate and control electricity. However, she’s inexperienced at doing so in visible, direct ways. Manipulating currents through materials and inside machines or even her own nervous system (stimulating her muscles to keep herself awake, focused or move with more energy, for example) is easier for her. She gets more comfortable producing raw electricity over time, especially when she needs to protect her siblings. She could control other people’s nervous systems, but doesn’t want to. All technology fascinates her. To complement her intuitive mastery of electronics, she has great skill in mechanical engineering and the resourcefulness to invent equipment out of whatever is available. Being a living battery only enhances what she can create. Since extended use of her power raises her hair with static electricity, she wears her hair securely braided and tied with a ribbon.

Twelve-year-old Klaus has extrasensory perception which, based on his highly verbal thought process as an avid bookworm, is attuned to words. He can hear people’s thoughts, but needs to concentrate to search for information below the surface, filter through the vast swathes of irrelevant information and interpret the nonverbal thoughts and emotions mixed in. So it’s often like reading an extremely dense book full of words you don’t know and unlabelled pictures. But he can figure many of those unknowns out through his keen reasoning. He can also mentally sense the presence of physical text nearby, read it even if he can’t see it and scan a space for specific words, for example to find a certain book in a library. Between this and his photographic memory, he’s a fantastic researcher. His eyes glow the harder he pushes his powers. His glasses help to disguise that on top of correcting his vision, refracting the light, so the quirk will only expose him if they’re lost or broken.

One-year-old Sunny has an invulnerable digestive system that can process anything with no ill effects. Glass, poison, fire. Her teeth are superhumanly durable and sharp. But while nothing along the tube from her jaw to her rear end will bleed, burn or break, the rest of her will, therefore she still needs to be careful how she ingests hazardous things. And just because she can eat and drink everything, doesn’t mean she likes every taste and texture. She actually has a refined palette and prodigious culinary talents.

[oh-three]

PJO S1E8:

Oooh, flashback to fighting Luke. That's poetry.

Percy over here having been in this world for like two weeks and already fighting one of the most dangerous Gods and foiling a plot meant to start a war.

The look on Ares's face as the wave came down 😂

Well, at least he gave up the helm. Maybe he really didn't know that Kronos was using him? Or was he on Kronos's side all along? Idr.

I fucking forgot about Alecto. Quite funny that she was after them for the helm and not the master bolt.

"Good luck on Olympus." See, maybe there is some honor in the monsters' side after all.

"I'm done running from monsters. This is too important. I have to try." / "You're gonna need all the luck you can get." 😭

And, it's back to New York.

Not Percy walking in like he owns the place. Good for him.

Luke over here instilling bad thoughts into Percy's mind thinking he can corrupt him.

Damnnnn, Olympus looks fucking amazing. 👀

There's something hilarious about the fact that Zeus looks absolutely nothing like his brothers.

POSEIDON!

Poseidon using Thalia's existence against Zeus in defense of Percy 👍

There is something hilarious about Percy and his father wearing shirts over such similar color.

"The sea does not like to be restrained." What a line.

"She taught me a lot of things." 😭

"Do you ever dream about Mom?" 😭

gets fucking dropped conveniently right next to where the other forbidden child rests Poseidon could have put him anywhere in the Camp, there's something very significant about this.

PERCY STARING AT LUKE AS HE REALIZES THAT HE IS THE TRAITOR.

Luke's first words not being of denial, but: "I didn't think you'd give them to Grover to wear" is actually kind of scary, especially in that almost-sad tone.

HIS SWORD JUST CUT REALITY OPEN

"I met your dad" being the line that provokes Luke is fucking perfect.

ANNABETH WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME, OH MY GOD. IMAGINE HOW SHE MUST FEEL RIGHT NOW. HOLY SHIT. HE WAS HER BEST FRIEND 😭😭

Chiron giving a heartfelt speech, with Dionysus coming up to fucking ruin the moment 😂

ANNABETH IS GOING BACK TO SEE HER DAD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LIKE FOUR YEARS 😭

"Just...be a kid." I wish someone had told me that when I was their age.

I love seeing how close these three has become. And the way Percy made them promise to come back to see each other again. Goddddd, I love them so much. The childhood nostalgia is real.

Percy, you forgot to close the door.

Back to what I said about some monsters having honor...Hades kept his word.

Fuck off, Kronos.

Percy went from "You're better at this than me" to "Well, it turns out I'm pretty good at this" and I am so happy for him. Our boy's gained some self-esteem.

I mean, he's not wrong about calling Kronos his grandfather, but man is that funny 😂

AYYY, SHE DIVORCED GABE.

THEY DID NOT FUCKING SEND MEDUSA'S HEAD BACK TO PERCY. The fact that Gabe was the one to find and open it in his spite is the best shit ever.

Wait. If the box got turned to stone because he was holding it, does that mean the head just turned itself to stone as well?

Okay, so. I was googling who Lance Reddick was because of the tribute at the end, and. It is truly so tragic that last year two actors died before the release of a project they would likely end up returning in. Looking back at everything he's been in, I'm honestly surprised I've never heard of him before. But, man, he and Ray Stevenson...I am actually so sad about this.

[s0l0b0d0r]

SOME random ninjago hc that is in the RTO au

i wrote a lot of hc that fit the RTO au, not necessarily associated with Future and so here we are 

it’s long so here’s a summary of the HCs, you’ll find them under the cut 

Timetwins childhoods 

 + Kronos HCs (as requested by @moonprincess101)

cyrus HC

Pixal HC

couple other than future in RTO 

EMs and elemental power in general 

Zane & the ICE EM reincarnation 

Morro & Ronin sibbling 

Nadakhan & Dilara 

AGE CHART 

Bonus : Pokemon AU (+ doodles !!)

WARNING : LOOOOONG 

Timetwins childhoods ( + Kronos HCs)  

“Acronix" and "krux" isn’t their birth names, Acronix came up with them when they were younger, as super heroes names after discovering their powers. Krux loved the idea and they kept referring each other as these names. Krux forgot what is original name was, but Acronix still remembers them. i’m guessing that they might use them again after getting back into society

They grew us in a country side village with their mother for a big part of their life, didn't socialized much til their mother passed.  Krux was always overprotective and nix, not having anything else to compare, thought krux directing him was normal. when joining the EMs when the serpentins wars happened, Nix easily became friend with some of the EMs, unlike krux . tho they really did not got along with wu and garmadon 

their elemental power was passed down to them by a Unknown Man whom they never met, as he left before their birth, Kronos :

- kronos was the previous user of the time element, he used it for good, preventing some disaster, saving people’s life, Wu knew him well. 

- tho he was young when he married and didn't know how what would happen to his power after having kids. he took his power for granted and overused them even for simple task. to him , having powers was normal and sounded arrogant when speaking with other EMs or people in general 

.- during his wife pregnancy, he noticed his powers started fading and freaked out, he went to wu, asking for help and learn the truth about what would happen to his powers after his sons where born. he was never seen again afterward. 

when wu met krux and acronix, he knew they were related to kronos , but when asking them about their father , the twins would not reply and looks uncomfortable 

- his personality shifted rapidly afterward, without powers he went mad, more aggressive, salty, self centered 

Cyrus HC

- Cyrus grew up taking inspiration from DR. julien work to build his own tech, he never really expected to become so popular later in his life and sometime feels overwhelmed by it .

- Cyrus is a billionaire, and donate to charity all the time , ninjago doesn't seems to have any problems beside villains attacking time to time, you can expect rich people of the world to be actually helping RIGHT ?

- Cyrus isnt paralyzed, i imagine him more having weak legs motor control that dont support his body weight enough to let him stand, if he did, he would feel dizzy very fast, (this is heavly based on this HC )

it has some hint in the show, but you dont wanna mess with cyrus, he can be agressive toward people that bother him or his loved ones, he will not hesitate to fight the best way he can ! 

Pixal HC

- pixal was a project he worked on for YEARS, but she was only fully finished at the beginning of S3

- pixal was built to be gender neutral, until she told her father that she wanted to be seen as feminine , and he loves and support her

- pixal is very polite and usually call people by title, unless she knows them personally, she would never call cyrus by anything else than “father”

- when she first got in contact with people other than her father, she found them fascinating, and specially zane, knowing that he was a nindroïd like her.

- she used to have a crush on zane that for a while, felt mutual, until she got dismantled .. she was glad zane found a way to keep her around but as time passed, the lack of physical body, zane becoming colder with her afterward , and him getting closer to cole after the event of S4. made her loose interest, they were living as one but she missed being herself 

- ronin was the one who dismantled her, after he captured zane, pixal tried to defend her friend but got destroyed, ronin used part of her body to repair his own . his left arm being partially made from pixal Original body

- she took inspiration from nya’s samurai X mech to build herself a new body 

- in the process she developed feelings for nya. like zane earlier in her life, she felt like it was mutual but she isn’t sure the relation is working out, nya and her are spliting and getting back together every month or so

-she is an hopeless lover and tend to crush on anybody that express kindness to her 

Couple other than future in RTO

RTO mainly focus on future, but also : samurai, Glacier, Scruff  and A BIT of jaya , in general, the ninjas (minus lloyd) are pretty much all in open relationships with one another and it’s mostly just polyninja but main focus on samurai and glacier  

EMs and elemental power in general

- EM lives longer that other people , roughly 120~ years instead of 80 , and that even if they lost their powers

- being an EM can be either genetic or Given .. Powers can be passed down only two ways : a Em can have a kid and during pregnancy, the element will start fading until the baby is born, element will take time to developed in someone’s body , it roughly take 10-15 years for someone to discover their power. however this process inst guaranteed, and some EM’s kid can be born without powers, this is usually the case when only one of the parent is a EM, in case a EM have more kids than powers (eg. twins) the power will either splits up, or one of he kid will be born without powers 

- the second option is strong bound, if a EM is dying (or dead) without kids or non of their kids inherited their powers , they can choose a Vessel .. it can be human, creature or any sentient being. 

- taking someone’s power away by force CANNOT happen, it’s BULLSHIT.. wu and garmadon simply blocked krux and acronix powers, they are still considered EM and if they wish to, can pass down their powers to someone else , who WILL be able to control it (tho since the power Split up, nix can only pass down slow and forward power) after that, the time blade will lose their powers.

Zane & the ICE EM reincarnation

for his HC i’m going to call the previous ICE EM “simon”  i cant remembrer who named the Ice EM simon, if you know it please lemme know !  i love it tbh

-julien and simon knew each other very well, they were Close friends 

- simon knew that julien loved making machine and heard about a new project "zane" a robot that could protect people that could protect themselves, julien loved zane like his son . later in his life after the serpentine wars , simon feeling old, wanted to pass down his elemental power to someone before passing away, and thought julien was perfect, after all they knew each other, but he changed his mind and decided to pass it to zane instead. He touched zane heart and after that, he slowly lost his powers till he passed . neither zane nor julien knew about it, but by freezing his heart, it gave him a part of his soul ( 9 STYLE) ,  a unusual but strong power source to zane, the elemental power of ice and changed his behavior a bit 

Morro & Ronin sibbling HC

Morro and Ronin are brothers , morro is the oldest and inherited the wind power, unlike ronin. 

ronin loved to provoque people and overall was a little brat. one day with morro, he annoyed a citizen of Stiix, that will later be known as “soularcher” that decided to curse him and his brother 

Morro was terrified and fleed, he eventually decided to join wu’s monastery , who adopted him. morro was sure that becoming the green ninja of the prophecy would make him a hero and lift the curse on his soul. he was even more devastated to learn that wu was wrong

on his own ways ronin tried his best to fix his mistake growing up , without much success. falling into robbery, con artist, failed marriage and alcoholism 

when morro came back as a ghost, he felt guilty and wanted to fix his mistake but he finally had people like nya and dareth (whom he met at a bar and chatted with him when he was sad) that cared about him and decide to fight for good for once 

Ronin had a wife and a daughter a WHILE ago, but lost them . his daughter was roughly the same age as nya and she remind him of her 

Nadakhan & Dilara

Dilara and nya are related

Dilara and captain sotto knew each other (family related ;;; OR she was cheating on nadakhan idk but either way she cared about him too )  and she help sotto capture nadakhan and his crew but made a mistake and got killed in the process

Dilara was just there to use nadakhan for his powers but nadakhan wanted her for his infinite wishes so I GUESS THEYre a good pair ???

AGE CHART 

BONUS : Pokemon AU for no reason but i’m happy of them 

THERE IM DONE BYYYYYYYYE 

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: Teacher Teacher (ao3 link)

Fandom: Flash, Legends of Tomorrow Pairing: Barry Allen/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart Series: Flashwave Week 2018 (Destiny Series)

Summary: "I'm starting a school," Len says. "For magical creatures."

"So, like - Hogwarts?"

"No, not like Hogwarts, what do you think I am?"

"A nerd?"

A/N: @flashwaveweek - Flashwave Week: Supernatural AU

——————————————————————————————

"So I've decided to start something of a charity project," Len says.

"O-kay," Mick says slowly. "And?"

"Well, I'm going to need some help -"

"And I'm going to stop you right there. No."

"You don't even know what help I need."

"Boss," Mick says dryly. "I know you. I knew you when you were a kid. I knew you when you were a thief. I knew you when you were a supervillain. Do you really think that you've suddenly become a mystery just because you got magic powers and a book?"

"I didn't get magic powers," Len grumbles. "I got the powers of Destiny of the Endless. And, yes, it came with a book, I'll grant you that - the Book, even. But it's a sight more impressive than magic powers."

"Whatever. You're scheming, Len. Just because you went blind doesn't mean I suddenly have."

Len flips him off, which Mick supposes is fair.

"Can't you just trust that it's scheming that you'd like?" Len tries, like Mick's newly become an idiot or something, and Mick gives Len a look signifying what he thinks of that suggestion.

Len might be blind, but he knows Mick well enough to know what Mick's doing.

"Fine," Len says, rolling his eyes. Mick's still not used to them glowing inhuman blue like that. "Won't you at least hear me out?"

"What, and let you have a chance to use that silvertongue of yours to convince me?"

"Mick."

"Oh, fine. Hit me."

"A school," Len says. "For magical creatures."

"So, like - Hogwarts?"

"No, not like Hogwarts, what do you think I am?"

"A nerd?"

Len rolls his eyes. "I wanna teach 'em how to handle the modern world."

Despite himself, Mick's interest is piqued. "Don't they already?"

"No, most of 'em retreated instead. Various places: to Faerieland, to Dreamland, to Hell, to other realms -"

"Hell? You serious?"

"Mick," Len says, very steadily. "By chance do you remember hooking up with some guy with wings and a piano fetish?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. That was back when I was Kronos. What about it?"

"That was Lucifer."

"Yeah, he said -"

"No, Mick. The real Lucifer. That's why the Time Masters looked so surprised when you came back out alive and sane."

"...Oh. Huh. Say -"

"No, he's taken, or as much as practicable."

"Damn."

"Literally, in this instance."

Mick sniggers.

Len smirks.

"Okay," Mick says. "So this school. What were you thinking?"

"How to handle things in the modern day," Len says, brightening. "Basic things: trains, cars, electricity, music, basic conversations, cultural expectations -"

"Why, though?"

"Because if they get a basic primer in modern day human life, they can come back. All of them: fairies and vampires and brownies and werewolves and spirits of anything you like."

"And we...want that?"

"Of course we want that! Think of how much more interesting everything will be!"

"Yeah, and dangerous. Some of those things eat humans, don't they?"

"Mick. The guy who helped the Legends unleash literal demons and dragons and shit does not get to bitch about a couple of household spirits and a few bumps in the night."

"...we're gonna put 'em back eventually."

"All of 'em?"

"Most of 'em!"

"Even the dragons?"

"...I like the dragons."

"But Mick," Len says, opening his blind eyes wide. "Don't they sometimes eat humans?"

"Oh, all right, no need to get fucking shirty about it," Mick says. "I'll give you that this school of yours ain't a half-bad idea. But why should I help out?"

He doesn't ask why Len asked him. It doesn't matter how well-fit or not he is for a given task, Len always asks him; he's as necessary to Len as Len's right hand.

He learned that the hard way, in a shatter of bloody ice and a shout in a hoarse, pained voice. He's not going to forget it anytime soon.

He's a little concerned about what's going to happen at the end of his life, which is - as far as he knows - still a mortal one, while Len has taken on the mantle of the Endless, which implies something a little less limited, but he feels pretty sure than Len has something in mind to take care of that issue.

Len usually does. Scheming bastard.

He probably even has a plan to hook Mick up with someone similarly immortal just to make sure Mick agreed to immortality himself.

"- even putting aside how awesome it's going to be," Len is saying, "you should help because it'll help lots of people -"

Mick snorts.

"- and because I'm calling in my favor from Tulsa."

"...fuck." Len's always calling in some imagined favor or another to get Mick to do something that Mick would probably do anyway just because he's a sucker for Len asking him for things and always has been, but Tulsa is an actual favor that Mick owes, so clearly Len's really invested in this little project of his.

And, well, what the hell. Mick's not about to let Len out of his sight again anytime soon; he might as well do something worthwhile with his time, and this school of Len's seems as worthwhile as anything else.

Len is looking all hopeful, though, like he thinks there's a chance Mick might say no, sorry, I'm not doing this, I'd rather go off and keep up with the Legends - or the fire - or whatever.

The man literally became Destiny itself and he's still fucking insecure.

Probably just to fuck with Mick. Mick wouldn’t put it past him.

"Fine," Mick grumbles. "But you've got to make sure I get laid."

He doesn’t actually mean it. Len’s ideas for people Mick should hook-up with are universally godawful.

Well, Mick usually sleeps with ‘em anyway, and it’s usually the best sex of his life, but it doesn’t last or anything; no one who sees how co-dependent he and Len are ever agrees to make it last no matter how many times Mick explains that he’s not ever going to fuck Len, both because Len is ace and doesn't want to and also because Mick has been the other half of Len's brain so damn long that he can't see the man as attractive. No one ever believes him, even though it's true.

"I promise," Len says earnestly, which means he’s already planning something. For someone as disinterested in romance and sex as Len, he sure as fuck was interested in meddling in other peoples' love/sex lives.

Mick officially gives up, gives in, and - just for kicks - gives Len a nudge on the shoulder to indicate as much.

"Great!" Len exclaims. "I'll tell your co-teacher and you can get started right away."

"Hold up," Mick says. "Co-teacher?"

"Didn't I mention..?"

"No. You didn't. And you know it."

"Oh, well," Len says, utterly unapologetic. "Too bad you've already agreed."

Mick'd say he is gonna kill the little fucker, but that threat rather lost taste after the Oculus.

Although now that he thinks about it...

"Say," he says as fake-casually as he can manage. "This whole 'Endless' thing means you're immortal, right? Does that mean -"

"You theoretically could shoot me and I'd survive," Len agrees, because as much as Mick knows Len, Len also knows Mick and figured out exactly where he was going with that. "But then I wouldn't tell you anything."

"You wouldn't tell me anything anyway."

"Yeah, you're right, I wouldn't."

"Boss, your usual assholery aside, you can't just introduce me to some random person as a co-teacher; it'll be awkward as fuck!"

"Good point," Len says thoughtfully. "Well, at least it's someone you know."

Mick's about to ask for more information, but Len promptly disappears.

Fucking asshole.

Mick goes to find the school - it's not hard to find anything in Len's gardens, because almost by definition every pathway leads to where you want to go, it being the Garden of Destiny and all that - and he's expecting just about anything in his co-teacher, from one of the Legends to one of their old criminal co-workers to the homeroom teach he had a crush on as a kid, but somehow Len still manages to surprise him.

"What are you doing here?" he exclaims.

Barry Allen, the Flash, blinks up at him from the table. "Um," he says. "Apparently I'm - co-teaching in a school? According to Snart?"

"Why are you here instead of superheroing?" Mick clarifies.

Barry rubs his eyes. "I, uh - there was a disaster. To save the world, I ran into it and disappeared, leaving Wally to be the Flash for - a while. A fair long while. It was this or sit around in the Speed Force the entire time, and, well, this seemed – less awful. Speed Force is kinda creepy."

“…fair enough,” Mick says. He’d say he’s surprised, but actually that sort of disaster sounds just right up the Flash’s alley. He’s traveled with Wally on the Waverider, though; the kid’ll do a good job.

At the very least, he thinks to himself, this mean that he doesn’t have to worry about this being one of Len’s ill-thought-out hookup attempts – after all, he was just at Allen’s wedding, and the man was besotted.

It means he goes into this whole school thing unsuspicious.

Mick really ought to have known better than that.

The teaching itself goes great – he and Barry stay up late a few days with a pack of beer that seriously affects neither of them and they hammer out a curriculum of stuff that people pretending to be normal people should know, like basic social skill rules (when they ask “what’s up” or “how are you”, the answer is “good” even if it really isn’t), rules of the road (stop at stop signs when driving, you let the people in the train get out before you get in, and don’t hog the whole damn sidewalk when you’re with a group), and miscellaneous stuff (don’t put dish detergent in your washing machine, always tip hotel people and waiters if you’re in America and check otherwise, ask before petting the dog and never if they have a sign indicating they’re working, etc.).

Actually teaching the class itself...that’s fun, too. Mick’s never been up-to-date on his mythology and folklore, but he gets a crash course in a whole bunch of different types of magical beasties and their myriad likes and dislikes, and also how to deal with deflecting attention about them in the modern day.

Burned by silver? Say you’re allergic, people will be sympathetic.

Carnivore species? Say you’re anemic and need to stock up your iron, and anyway you’ve always hated [insert vegetable here] ever since you were a kid.

Otherwise limited ability to eat various food? You’re on the new [make up name here] diet and you can’t eat any of this, sorry.

Unable to stand daylight? You’re a computer programmer who keeps weird hours.

Can’t conduct electricity sufficiently to use touchscreens? They make touchscreen-friendly gloves now; get a pair of those and bitch about your “unusually dry skin” the rest of the time.

You’re a persnickety fucking fairy that can’t sign off on anything without reading the fine print? Congrats, you’re a lawyer.

Unbearable desire to count things? You have OCD.

Can’t pass running water without being shipped in a box with earth? Take a potted plant with you and travel via a subway car; that’s box-like enough.

In other words, Mick likes it. He likes teaching, he likes the school, he likes the students - damnit, he likes it.

He even likes the idea of introducing all these magical creatures back into the world.

Sure, the students sometimes try to kill him and Barry, their nature being what it is, but really, that's just a good reminder to keep them on their toes.

And working with Barry, that’s fun, too. He’s more sharp-tongued and cynical than Mick remembered, and he’s clever and funny and he’s got a bone-deep optimism that’s been tempered but is still unshakeable. Honestly, all around, he’s just more mature than Mick recalls him being when they fought him or at the wedding or at the alien invasion – less prone to drama, more contemplative, and patient with problems.

Mick likes him.

He really likes him.

And he goes along thinking that it’s all well and good to have a crush on someone unavailable to keep him busy (what with Len’s proposed hook-up having yet to appear) right up until the moment when they’re working on grading late at night, laughing at some of the weirder answers (kitsune, man, they’re wild) and then suddenly Barry is reaching over and pulling Mick in and they’re kissing.

It’s very, very nice for the approximately fifteen seconds before Mick’s brain reboots.

Okay, yes, he still waits thirty seconds before breaking the kiss.

Mick’s never claimed to be a good man.

“Red,” he says gently.

“Did I misread this?” Barry asks. “I apologize if I had. I thought you were interested.”

“I am, you didn’t misread that. But for all the things I’ve done, I’m still not a home-wrecker.”

Barry frowns. “Beg pardon?”

“I don’t do infidelity,” Mick explains.

Barry just looks more confused. “Do you mean – I thought you and Len weren’t together?”

“We’re not!” Mick exclaims automatically.

“Then – who…?”

Mick frowns back at Barry. “Why do you think I’m talking about me? You’re the one who’s married. Iris West-Allen, remember? You only talk about her every ten minutes.”

“Only about as often as you talk about Len,” Barry points out, which is true but irrelevant.

“Well, yeah,” Mick says, “but unlike me and Len, I saw you marry her.”

“Well, yeah, and then divorce her.”

“What, seriously?!”

“Yeah,” Barry says, looking bemused. “Two years ago, now.”

“Two – you weren’t even married two years ago! You got married two months ago!”

More like seven months, but who was counting?

Unless...

“What year are you from?” they both demand at once.

Turns out Barry’s nearly nine years in Mick’s future.

No wonder he’s more mature.

He and Iris are still best friends, apparently; they’ve just fallen into more of a Mick-and-Len co-dependent dysfunctional assholes routine than a proper marriage, and anyway there’d been some complications with people coming back from the dead and Barry spending time in space and whatnot so they’d realized they’d be better friends when they weren’t married. After some heartbreak and routine-adjustment, Barry set out fully intent on dating again, but he's been running into the same problem as Mick: no one believes that he's not hung up on Iris because he still talks to her all the time, even though he really isn't.

For Barry’s part, he hasn’t seen Mick since Mick went off into the timeline.

And that means they’re potentially from the same timeline.

And, apparently, both single.

“Oh,” Mick says.

“Yeah,” Barry says.

“Huh,” Mick says.

“So...” Barry says.

“I’m going to kill Len,” Mick says conversationally.

“Why?”

“He set me up. He always sets me up. Except it never works!”

Barry frowns.

“Not you,” Mick assures him. “You work just fine.”

“Maybe he’s gotten better at it now that he’s, well, uh, Destiny of the Endless?”

“...maybe.”

“Definitely,” Len says, popping out from literally nowhere behind them. “You two could be great for each other. Even I can see it, and I’m blind!”

“Literally no one is ever going to buy that line from you ever again,” Mick says. “You have a giant glowing book containing everything ever.”

“Is this destined?” Barry asks. His eyes narrow. “Did you make sure it was?”

“No, of course not,” Len says briskly. “I believe in free will, I don’t read ahead for my friends – or enemies – because it’s no fun, and anyway, I’m the Reader of Destiny, not the maker of it. Your destiny is in your own hands. Lower case destiny, Mick, stop grabbing at me, I don’t care how good a pun it is.”

Mick sits back down.

Not his fault that some of Len’s awful sense of humor has stuck over the years.

“Besides, everyone in the school is betting on when you’ll hook up,” Len says unhelpfully.

“Including you, huh? Setting us up for a big payday?” Mick asks, mostly nostalgically. Len liked to do that sometimes when they were going somewhere new.

“No,” Len says, surprising him. Though all is explained when he adds, with a scowl, “None of ‘em will bet with me.”

“To be fair,” Barry says, barely hiding a smile. “Book, everything ever, kinda a gimme there.”

“Spoilsports, all of ‘em.”

“There, there,” Mick says unsympathetically. “You can always con the regular suckers.”

“Conning the regular suckers is boring.”

“Con the supervillains,” Barry suggests.

Len looks intrigued by that idea.

“Aren’t you not supposed to interfere or something?” Mick asks.

Len shrugs. “Destiny sometimes requires activity. Now, getting back to the more important part, kiss already.”

They both glance at each other, then glance at Len meaningfully.

“...what?”

“Go away, maybe?” Barry suggests.

“But you haven’t kissed yet.”

“Maybe we’re waiting for you to leave. Ever thought of that, genius?”

Len frowns. “But I put in all that work to get you two together! I deserve to see the payoff!”

“Boss. Go away.”

“But –”

“Boss. You promised me you’d get me laid. Stop getting in the way.”

Len departs, grumbling.

“You know he’s just going to read along, right?” Barry asks, his suppressed laughter bubbling through as he speaks.

“Yeah,” Mick says, “I know. But at least he’s not actually here while I do this.”

He pulls Barry in for another kiss, Barry smiling the whole while as he does.

Maybe this school thing wasn’t as bad an idea as all that.

“Professors, I have a question –” one of their ghost students asks, floating through the wall and freezing when they sees what’s going on. “Never mind! I’ll just go now!”

And then they turned tail and dashed out, shouting, “They’ve done it! It’s happened!”

“That,” Barry says, very steadily, “was Snart’s fault, wasn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Not via his new Destiny powers.”

“Nope, no need. Probably just tipped off a student on his way out of here.”

“Iris would’ve done the same thing,” Barry observes.

Mick thinks back to his interactions with her. “Yeah. Probably.”

They share a look of perfect understanding. Platonic soulmates, what can you do - can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

“Wanna move this somewhere a bit more private than our offices?” Mick asks.

The world spins, lit up by sudden lightning, and they’re in Barry’s bedroom.

Mick grins. “I take that as a yes...”

[xfilesnews]

FanWorks Wednesdays - Vickie Moseley

Gather round kids, we’re going to tell you a story from the X-Files Fandom days of old. For the “old timers” like me, join in and smile at the remembrances of EMXC, Gossamer, and the old alt.tv newsgroups. This week’s author was there for all of it. Vickie Moseley and her stories were a staple in the fandom for years. Her fantastic body of work will keep you occupied for ages, with 252 credits to her name on Gossamer alone. Vickie also contributed to the “Virtual Seasons” project that spun off to continue the stories of Mulder and Scully in a different direction when Season 8 took to the TV airwaves. If you’ve never explored their seasons, bookmark that page for when you’ve finished reading this interview and then dive in.

If you like family fic, “Flight Into Egypt”  is a long series I revisit frequently when I need to forget that Mulder and Scully didn’t get to raise their son. It soothes that pain quite nicely. Another favorite series is “By Her Side” which is told through Billy Scully Jr.’s eyes. Vickie does a wonderful job looking at Big Brother Bill as something other than a jerk and fandom’s favorite punching bag. In “Joy and Sorrow,” Maggie Scully guides us through the moments of Mulder’s rebirth in “Dead Alive.” It’s touching and sweet and will have you wishing they would have given us more screen time with Mom Scully in Season 8.

I could go on and on with recs but I’ll cut to the chase and get to the interview. We talked with Vickie about writing, inspiration, fandom, and of course The X-Files.

How long have you been a Phile?

I stumbled onto the fandom in March 1995.  I'd been a fan of the show since it first aired (actually, I was a fan once I read the TV Guide Fall Preview issue for Fall 1993 and saw the small blurb about the 'new science fiction show about aliens').  When my husband 'gave' me the internet for my birthday I immediately typed 'X-Files' into the yahoo search engine and after some sites dedicated to the actors and character bios, the old Rutgers Fan Fiction site came up.  From there, I was hooked.

What was your first episode?

The Pilot. I saw every episode as it aired up to Season 8. I watched “Within” and couldn't stand the changes so I resorted to reading about the episodes on Haven until David Duchovny reappeared. I am very much a Mulderist. I have only watched “Trust No 1” and “The Truth” from Season 9.

How long have you been writing fic?

September 1995 was my first posting -- “Aftermath.” You can read it, warts and all. I was attempting to write a fill in the blank for the summer after the season 2 finale “Anasazi.” Within a week of posting the story became 'alt.universe' because Chris Carter went in a totally different direction than I had taken.

What inspired you to start writing?

Guilt. Back then we were a small community. People were always begging for more stories (myself included) and since there weren't that many writers, everyone was encouraged to 'give back' by writing stories of their own. I got a lot of encouragement from the early writers and the brave souls who had fan fic sites. Later, with the Ohio State archives (this archive was the birth of what became Gossamer, check here for more information ) and the .alt.x-files.fanfiction newsgroup and EMXC (E-Mail X Creative) it was almost a requirement that if you wanted more stories, you better write some of them.

Who is your favorite XF character to write?              

My favorite character to write is Scully. I can get in her head. I can hear her voice as clear as a bell as I'm writing her.  She's not my favorite character, however. I think I see too much of myself. All the flaws and dark places that I would like to change in myself, I transpose onto Scully. Sometimes I just want to shake her!

Are there any XF characters you dislike or find too difficult to write?

Krycek was always a problem to write, even in the Virtual Seasons. And I can't write Doggett. I've tried but my annoyance with the character always shines through. Same is true of Diana Fowley. I once vowed to kill her off in a story and damned if she didn't slip the noose and come out alive. I was very happy Carter did the deed for me.

Is there a story you're most proud of or that's a favorite?

“Out of the Cold” is probably my favorite of the stories that I wrote solo. But the most fun was writing with a partner. I've had such wonderful partners and group writing exercises. I am also very proud of the work we did on the Virtual Season.

With so many archives to choose from these days, where is the best place to find your work?

Gossamer has almost all of my stuff and my own website has it too. Many thanks to Mimic for giving me a home: http://vickiemoseley.mimicsmusings.com/

You've been well known in the fandom for a long time, do you still write for XF or have your skills been focused elsewhere?

Lately, I've been involved in politics to the exclusion of other activities. I worked on a local race last fall and I've been advocating for healthcare since January. I'm also doing work on a grant project and I keep an eye on our legislature so all of that keeps me away from fan fiction.

If you do still write XF fic, where does your inspiration come from after many years?  If you're not, is there anything in particular that caused you to stop writing XF fic?

I haven't written much in the past few years. I could chalk it up to writer's block but it feels like more than that. I still love the fandom and I reread a lot of my favorites. I guess I was hoping for a real revival. I was excited by the prospect of a Season 10 with the original cast, but once it aired I found I really only liked two of the episodes and the way the relationship was presented between Mulder and Scully just left so very little room to play. It didn't mimic real life, it was sadder than real life. There seemed no way to 'rescue' them and that's the type of story I prefer to write. I'm not big on 'angst for angst sake' and it almost seemed on overdrive in S10, especially the season opener and finale. So I haven't been able to come up with anything by myself. I did help a little with the last Virtual Season story “Aveum” that was posted recently. Not to spoil too much, the story contains an infant and at the time it was being written I was helping my daughter and her new baby so it was almost too easy to write.

Have you written your own original characters outside of fandom?

Only as far as drawing up a few characters. One day I'll do something with them . . . maybe.

Anything you’d like to share about your writing process?

I tend to write the stories that play out in my mind. Most of the time I just start typing and 'the characters' take over and write the story. There have been times I read what I've written and think “wow, where did that come from?” But I write as therapy. I used to joke that fan fiction is much cheaper than Zoloft or a therapist. It was a way to escape after a particularly painful episode in my life and after it got me over the hump, I just kept going.

What do you find most difficult about writing?

Making it happen when it's not there. When it's there ('it' being the spark, the life force, whatever you want to call it -- the Muse), when the story is inside me sometimes I can't get to the computer fast enough, I can't type it fast enough (as my beta readers will attest). But when I sit and stare at a blank screen, even when I have an idea floating around in my head and it just won't happen -- then it just hurts.

Do you have a favorite author? (fanfic or published!)

My favorite authors published are Ray Bradbury, Issac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke (hardcore sci-fi -- no dragons, no elves). 

My favorite fan fic writers are too numerous to mention (go to the Authors Index at Gossamer and start with A). I love reading Dawn's “Blood Ties” series -- I read it every year at least once. I read Susan Proto's “Life Cycles” over and over again. I've read all of MalibuSunet's stories a dozen times. Same is true of Suzanne Bickerstaff's “The Magician” (the ONLY fantasy I'll admit to reading). Dee_Ayy's stories are my Mulder fix, especially “Short of Breath.” I'm right now rereading Kronos' “The Abyss Looks Back.” All of her stories just draw me in and won't let go.  I'm still mourning that she never finished “Ascent into Hell.”

Is there any advice you'd give to aspiring writers?

They say “write every day” and I would imagine that's good advice, but I would say simply “write.” Write even if you don't know where the story is going, or if you just have an idea for a character or just the setting or even just an outline of a plot. My youngest son is going to college for game design but all his life he's had ideas for games and stories. He tells me his stories in the car and I try to get him to write them down. My second to the youngest son actually has written a few stories -- now I just want him to finish them and get them published.

Anything else you'd like to share that I missed?

I have met so many dear friends in this fandom, particularly through fan fiction, writers and those who read. I love them all. I would like to thank everyone I partnered with: Susan Proto, Donna Honeycutt, Sally Bahnsen, Summer, Michelle, Starfleetofficer1, Martin, Theresa Jahn, Suzanne Bickerstaff, dtg, all the VS producers -- if I forget anyone chalk it up to my advanced years. Writing with someone is by far the most fun anyone could have.  I used to joke that it was like playing 'Barbie and Ken' in the backyard with my cousins.

Also, I would like to thank all the people over the years who have read my stories and sent me feedback. You have no idea how much those emails brightened my day! It is such a rush to know that someone somewhere (some pretty far away, even) read something I wrote and liked it enough to send me a note. The nearly instant gratification that comes with feedback is one of the reasons I wrote so much. I just loved hearing from people.

I've had other shows I loved, Star Trek (original and Next Gen), Battlestar Gallactica, Probe (if anyone remembers that one) but X-Files was the first time I got so engaged I wanted to be part of it. From that perspective, fanfiction kept the series alive for me and brought me into a wonderful community. Oh, there have been some all out wars (shipper v. noromos, Mulder v. Doggett, original pairings v. next gen, etc) but overall in fan fiction there really is room for everyone. If you like slash stories, or stories that center around Skinner or even stories around Kim, his assistant, fan fiction is the place. When Melissa Scully was killed off in the series, she lived on in fan fiction. When baby William was given up for adoption, he was reunited with his biological parents many times over in fan fiction. Some of the stories are so well done that you will swear you saw the episode (what season did Mulder's brother Grey show up? <wink>) If you have never picked up a fanfic and read it, I encourage you to do so now.  If you haven't read anything for a while, go to Gossamer and find something. It will be like the series never ended.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Heatwave for President

Fic: Heatwave for President (ao3 link)

Fandom: Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow Pairing: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart

Summary: Mick Rory will go down in history for being the first person to start his campaign for President of the United States by saying, "I really don't want to do this, but seriously, look at my opponent."

A/N: Birthday present for @oneiriad! Happy birthday!

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"Do you have any regrets about the process?" the reporter asks as they all stare at the giant television showing the projected results as the exit polls start trickling in from the states. "Anything you would change?"

"What kind of question is that?" Iris mutters under her breath.

Mick - to whom the question had been directed - hums for a moment. "I think - the time travel," he says. "That bit. Wouldn't do it."

The reporter frowns. "But wasn't it your association with the, quote, 'Legends of Tomorrow' that originally propelled you on your current path towards politics and, eventually, your present run for President?"

"Yeah," Mick says glumly. "Exactly."

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Technically, it's a bit more complicated than that.

First, of course, there was the Flash. Everything always starts there - oh, shut up with your stupid 'Green Arrow was first' bullcrap, no one cares that he was first because he was just some weird serial killing vigilante to start off with, and anyway barely anyone outside of Starling (Star City, whatever) knew about it - because it was by watching the Flash's epic battles with what have come, retrospectively, to be known as his "Rogues" that Mick first became famous. He even had his own action figure, which most people running for president could only imagine happening in relation to political satire.

Of course, back then they called him Heatwave.

Then Snart - that's Captain Cold to you, reporter - had the bright idea of hooking up with some time travelers for a lark. Mick hadn't thought much of the idea at the time, even tried to quit a few times - quit with prejudice, one might say, and there'd been that whole Kronos business that you're not finding out any more about, the news media already knows more than Mick would like on the subject - and it hadn't taken.

And then Snart died.

Yes, Mick is perfectly aware that Snart's back now, but for a while there he'd been absolutely and totally convinced that he was gone for good (he was dead - how was Mick supposed to know that it hadn't fully taken?!) and it'd been pretty shattering.

That was the period with the Legends. Saving history, fucking up history, all of that.

Yes, that's when he met Georgie Washington. Stop asking about it. Mick's already told you all he knows.

No, he refuses to go get him for the Inauguration, should it happen! The guy didn't even like politics towards the end of it! Leave Georgie alone!

Okay, maybe a dinosaur. Mick makes no promises.

Well, yeah. He guesses it would be pretty cool to ride to the White House on a dinosaur. You might have a point there.

Anyway, where was he? Oh, right, the Legends. Anyway, when the first alien attack came - the Dominators - Mick was there with the Legends. It was a state secret and all that at the time; that's when he got a pardon for everything he'd previously been involved with. Very hush-hush, though how the pres was planning on keeping the details of how a nation- or world-wide invasion was defeated a secret is anyone's guess. Sure, keep it a secret from the American media, that's one thing, but those British tabloids are vicious weasels that will stop at nothing.

Okay, yeah, Mick taking a selfie with a downed Dominator and posting it to Instagram - instantly making it one of the only good pictures anyone had of the damn things, which were resistant to being recorded on any type of media unless you did some special adjustments to the settings, like, say, the sort Gideon did automatically when upgrading their camera phones, and by sheer scarcity thereby became famous worldwide as the definitive Dominator photo - probably didn't help with the whole secrecy thing.

Hell yeah Mick's going to put a copy of that in the White House if he wins, you kidding? That picture won photo of the year, and that was the year of the solar eclipse, so it had some pretty stiff competition.

Anyway, yeah, that's how Mick's rep started shifting from supervillain to - you know what, let's just avoid any use of the terms 'superhero' (Mick is not) or 'hero' (also not).

Good guy?

Ugh. Fine. Out of lack of better options.

Anyhoo, that's when the buzz started, y'know? A couple of pranksters - whose names shall remain nameless but who know exactly who they are, Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon - uh, that last part's off the record - anyway, these fucking assholes decided to start up a fake Super PAC called 'Heatwave for President'.

Yeah, Mick knows it was just meant as a contrast to the current incumbent. Sort of a "if this idiot can become president, why not Heatwave the famous supervillain" sort of deal. Mick's cool with that. It was a funny joke and, yeah, the incumbent was worse than useless. You'd think getting the job when your predecessor was shot by aliens would give them the sympathy vote, at least for a bit, but wow did they blow it. Who the fuck tries to kill health care for kids as their first official push in action? Seriously, who?

Yeah, you can definitely write that down. “Mick Rory still ticked off about asshole move”. Honestly, just keep that handy for copy-paste purposes, it’s probably going to be relevant a lot in the future.

What? No, Mick hadn’t thought about running for office as far back as the whole joke Super PAC thing. Mick was traveling through space and time at that time. Keep your chronology straight. If Mick can do it – and, again, not to over-emphasize this, but do you know how hard it is to keep track of time on a time-traveling spaceship? – then you can do it when you've got your feet firmly set down on planet earth in a consistent timeline.

So yeah, things were going along that way, Mick with the Legends, going around, doing shit, messing shit up, fighting with people. The whole thing wasn't exactly all sunshine and roses, but they did well enough. Well, they managed to keep the timeline more or less intact, at least.

No, you wouldn’t know it if they’d failed. Time doesn’t work that way.

No, the current incumbent isn’t a result of a horrific failure by time travelers to prevent an evil catastrophe from –

Huh. You know what, Mick’s not going to give a definitive answer on that one. Just assume that if the Legends had failed, things would be even worse.

No comment on North Korea. Just – no comment. Ever.

Yes, ever.

The Legends are on it, okay?!

Not the point Mick was trying to get at here. More what he was trying to get at is – Len. Snart. Captain Cold.

Fuck it, Mick's just calling him Len for the rest of this interview -

Yes, thank you Len, your commentary that you are “always the point” is incredibly helpful here.

Fucking drama queens.

Anyway.

That's about when it turns out (or rather, when they all discover) that Len didn’t, in fact, die – or maybe he did, and it got reversed, or something like that – and he ended up in a different universe. Fighting Nazis.

Listen, if there’s one thing that Mick’s going to take a permanent never-gonna-change-it-no-matter-what-new-evidence-appears-no-matter-what position on, it’s gonna be Nazis. Mick fucking hates Nazis.

Yes, neo-Nazis count.

Yes, they have a First Amendment right to free speech, meaning no government oppression.

Yes, Mick realizes that means he’ll have to stop punching them all the time if he gets elected President. It’s okay. He’s sure that some fine, upstanding people will take up the slack and keep on the good work for him.

Listen, if Super PACs are “sufficiently unrelated” to a presidential campaign to raise money on behalf of some asshole – and yes, Mick’s counting himself here – then the Nazi-Punching Party which endorsed Mick and which he may or may not go to regular meetings of is “sufficiently unrelated” for the purposes of government oppression of free speech. You get me?

Fine, Mick will probably stop attending meetings.

Probably.

Len can still go, though, right?

See, Lenny, you can still go. Bring a goddamn camera.

Fuck, being President is going to be no fun at all. Why is he doing this again?

Oh, right, because the World’s Worst Caricature is running for office and the Legends and Gideon have all agreed that letting that guy get elected would literally mean the end of the world. That’s it, kaput, no more history, everyone’s all back to using sticks to write in the dirt again – what weird mutated creatures are left over anyway.

Ugh.

Trust Mick, you don't want to see the things Mick has seen. It's bad.

Mick would like it known that he does not approve of things going in a political drama-slash-mutated creature sort of way. Sci-fi was always more Len’s things. Mick prefers ninjas.

Yeah, that meeting with Tokyo’s Prime Minister went awesomely, why do you ask?

Shut up, Len. There was some discussion of policy; it wasn’t all about what classic ninja movie was the best. Though the last five hours were definitely all movie marathon. Not gonna lie.

Where was he?

Right, Len. Fighting Nazis. Terrible nearly world-ending invasion of the present Earth by the Nazi forces of that Earth, including the superhero and meta equivalents, repelled only by the combined forces of basically everybody.

Len and Mick teamed up to save the day, just like old times.

Okay, old times, they teamed up to steal things. Basically the same thing.

Listen, Nazis from another dimension invaded. That trumps everything.

For anyone other than the current incumbent, anyway. Fuckhead.

Yes, that’s on the record.

What? What the fuck is “Presidential decorum”? Listen, you, unlike you, Mick’s actually met George Washington, and if you think that every three words he uttered wasn’t some variation of ‘fuck’, ‘shit’, or ‘damn’, then that’s just because you’re reading the cleaned up history version. He was a soldier. And before he was a soldier, he was a surveyor, which as far as Mick can tell means “walked out into the forest with a compass and came back out hating bears”, and if that doesn’t make a man swear, then nothing will.

No comment on whether or not Mick hooked up with him.

Just give up. You’re never going to get a comment.

So while everybody else was being scared shitless at how the Nazis from another dimension – and yeah, Mick’s perfectly aware that the usual term is “another Earth”, but fuck it, “another dimension” sounds like a crappy 1950s sci-fi “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” and makes Len grin every time, so Mick’s sticking with it – were invading, especially when they got all the white supremacists on this Earth to join up with them, taking advantage of all those so-easy gun laws to arm up into an actual local army, the current incumbent decided to throw a temper tantrum because the attention wasn’t 100% focused on them for five fricking minutes.

Also, Mick’s pretty sure they’re actually not-so-secretly a Nazi supporter. All that talk of cooperating and seeing what they have to say and how they were “good people” – total fucking crap, obviously. That asshole was probably disappointed when Mick and Len had their Moment of Awesome sending them all back to where they came, right into the trap Len’d been setting up with the other resistance forces on that Earth.

Either way, as everyone knows, as soon as the Nazis were gone, the next thing the current incumbent decided to do was push a horrible law outlawing any metahumans – and they defined metahumans in the stupidest possible way, and all because they wanted it to cover people who actually didn’t have any powers like Len and Mick, which didn’t even make sense – and trying to make Earth-1 full on fascist.

Yeah, fascist. They put lots of fancy words and stuff – no, that’s not right, their speechwriters put fancy words and stuff around it, but that law was – is – fucking dystopia nightmare fuel right there, okay?

Listen, Mick literally has someone from 2042 going around and testifying to how awful that law makes literally everything. What more evidence do you fucking need?

So, yeah. Horrible future. World's Worst Caricature running for office, almost certain to pass it if they get in.

And that means -

Someone was gonna have to man up (woman up? non-gender up? human up? wait, is the last one specieist?) to stop it.

Now, you’d think the other party would do something about that, wouldn’t they? But noooo, they decide to shoot themselves in the foot by nominating some old geezer taking a hard line about how everything’s going to change now that everyone’s “together” – never mind the details, togetherness is what’s important, right guys? the movement's gonna fix everything! because it's a revolution! of feelings! Of all the dumbass hippie-dippie crap... – and coming up with increasingly more stupid ideas that wouldn't work. Doesn't matter, of course, Mick was all set to vote for the fucker anyway, along with everyone else, just to keep Worst Caricature outta office, but no. See, then, three fucking months before the election, the asshole gets found out to be corrupt as fuck! Except he won’t resign and let anyone else run! And his fanboys have made their way into the levers of power, so the party can’t kick him out, either! And all the goddamn ballots have already gone to the printers!

That’s how this whole thing really got started, you know. Three fucking months, and the only other person who’d been entered to run for President in all 50 states before the deadline passed is – you guessed – Heatwave for President.

Fucking hell.

At the time, the entire freaking organization was being run by the people who now make up Mick’s circle of advisors – Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen, Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow, and Iris West – because they’d all thought it was freaking funny or something, and everyone suddenly had to change gears real fast to try to make it into an actual thing.

Not that anyone thought it would work. You know, they just thought - might as well give it a try. Can't just roll over and give in; gotta go for the Hail Mary pass if that's all that's left to you.

No one actually thought it would work.

At least, no one thought it would work until the polls started changing. First time they polled it, Mick got, like, 5%.

Second time they polled it, he got 30%.

Now he’s somewhere near 50%.

Jesus.

If Mick wins, Mick’s taking a weekend to go sit quietly in a room and hyperventilate for, like, an hour.

Thanks for the hug, Len. Means a lot; Mick knows very well how much you hate public displays of affection. Or emotion. Or anything but drama, drama, drama.

Huh? Yeah, Len and Mick are partners. They’ve always been upfront and clear about that.

No – no – partners.

Yes, criminal partners. But also, you know, partner partners. If you get what Mick’s saying.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, they’re married. Len’s going to be the First Supervillain or whatever they call it when it’s a guy.

What do you mean, nobody…? It’s fucking legal and everything! Central City’s Hall of Records has a copy of the goddamn certificate!

…oh, okay, yeah. Fair point. Can’t even imagine the type of backlog you’d have to go through to get Central City bureaucracy to do anything, much less respond to a freaking FOIA request. They'll probably get around to responding to it sometime in the 2030s.

You mean people really didn’t know?

Huh.

Well, that’s gonna surprise a lot of people, then.

First ever non-straight resident of the White House? Don’t be ridiculous. Haven’t you met Lincoln?

Right. Not everyone time travels. Sorry, keep forgetting.

Yes, Mick’s met Lincoln.

No, Mick’s not going to comment on if he hooked up with him, either. Jesus. Stop asking.

Why hadn’t Mick mentioned meeting Lincoln before? Because it wasn’t important? It never came up!

It’s not like anyone asked for a listing of all the time eras he’s visited!

Of course the Legends never mentioned it; it wasn’t when Mick was with them. It was during his Kronos period. Listen, it’s a long story, okay? And they’re getting close to actually starting to yell out states, so maybe everyone should pay attention to that instead.

Yes, Mick is totally aware that he’s being weaselly. He’s a politician now. He’s allowed to be weaselly sometime.

What’s everyone got against weasels, anyway? Perfectly nice animals.

Mick has a pet rat, you know. If Mick wins – yes, he’s still using fucking “if”, nothing gets decided until we hit Ohio and Florida, Iris – does that make Ratigan the First Pet or something now?

Is there a First Pet position?

Wait, there is? Kickass.

Never been a rat before? So what? Mick’s got nothing against dogs, you know, but he doesn’t have a dog. He has a rat. People will just have to deal.

Heh. Not Mick’s fault you don’t know what part of this interview you should make the headline.

…thank you, Len, he’s not going to go with “Bisexual Rat-Owner Wins Presidency; Husband Approves”.

No, “President-Elect Uses ‘Fuck’ More Often In Last-Minute Interview Than Any Prior Candidate” isn’t a good choice either, Iris. Probably historically inaccurate, too; LBJ was real big on the whole swearing thing - no comment on the hook-ups! Jesus!

What? No, Ramon, no one is running a headline that goes “Time Traveler Confirms Academic Suspicions Regarding Lincoln’s Sexuality”. No one cares!

Fine, maybe the history journals care. But no one else. Not like it’s a big deal. People can sleep with whoever they want.

Oh, it’s still a big deal in some ways? That sucks. Okay, that’s going on the agenda of things to do to fix in the next four years.

Eight years?

No.

Yes, he means it! Why the hell would he run for office twice? How bad can the next option be?!

And Sara just ran into the room. Please say that you’re not here to tell everyone that some horrible thing has happened in the future that –

Actually, never mind. Please be here to tell everyone that some horrible thing has happened in the future and that you desperately need everyone here to go take care of it immediately.

No?

Damn.

Wait.

What do you mean, Mick won?

Oh fuck.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, what are you planning on doing now, Mr. President-Elect?” the reporter asks, beaming like a maniac, as the giant television shows the explosive celebrations occurring immediately outside – literally explosive, since Mick had insisted on bonfires and fireworks and at least four different pyrotechnics teams. “What’s your first move?”

"What kind of question is that?" Iris laughs as Barry swings her around. “We can worry about that tomorrow! Tonight we party!”

“The world is saved!” Cisco cheers.

“I’m doomed,” Mick says, his head rolling back. “They’re never gonna let me quit.”

“Probably not,” Len, who is perched right next to him, says to him, not without sympathy. “But it’s okay. I’ll do the work for you.”

“You’re the best, boss,” Mick says, not without feeling. “Why couldn’t you have been Vice President?”

“Because they can’t be in the same building for too long,” Len explains. "Meteorite strikes."

"Oh," Mick says glumly. "Right."

Len pats Mick’s arm comfortingly. “Don’t worry. There’s a long, storied precedent of First – uh, First Spouses – running the joint for their husbands.”

“Damn right there is,” Mick says, rubbing his face. “Thank god for Woodrow Wilson, that's all I'm saying - don't you even ask," he warns the reporter.

“Besides,” Len continues, sounding quite practical. “Sara makes a great Vice President. After all, if you die, who would you want to avenge your murder if not Sara?”

Mick nods.

“Um,” the reporter says, blinking at the two of them. “That’s…not what a Vice President does?”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“…moderately sure. I’ve been reporting on political matters for a long time now.”

“If it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure she’s gonna let Jax, Stein and Ray do most of her work,” Len offers. “Even after all that trouble we had to go to in order to get her declared alive again…”

“It…really doesn’t,” the reporter says. “But thanks for the update?”

“No problem,” Len says. “C’mon, Mick. Let’s go watch things burn.”

Mick brightens and climbs to his feet.

“Hey,” Len asks the reporter, “you’re the politico here. Do Presidential spouses get immunity from prosecution?”

The reporter frowns. “Why?”

“No stealing stuff, Snart,” Barry says.

“Oh, fine.”

“For four years.”

“Wait, what?!”

"You're a role model now!"

"No! I refuse!"

"Too late now," Iris cackles.

Mick starts laughing. “Well,” he says, looping an arm around Len’s waist and dragging him towards the flame, Len’s face still frozen in a rictus of horror. “At least I won’t be the only one suffering!”

“Look on the bright side!” the reporter shouts after them. “Politicians are basically just thieves on a much larger scale!”