Flight of the Bomble Bees Ch. 2: The White Wolves
Summary: Not all white dogs are good omens.
A/N: Warning for Tubbo getting triggered by fireworks. Thought I’d add a heads up. Guy’s an unhinged mad scientist, but he’s still a seventeen year old with a lot of unresolved emotional and physical trauma.
Chapters: 1, 2
Roman was telling the story of Thomas and “Nico”, Virgil interjecting to try and add in some embarrassing detail, as they headed back to the base. Ranboo making himself look less human, his horns growing out and a long tail with a fluffy ends trailing behind him, before he joined up with the group. He looked nervously at Tubbo who smiled at him and began showing his new superhero suit.
During this exchange, Patton let out a gasp, “Puppy!”
Logan looked over to see a dog, a smaller spaniel or at the largest some husky, but it wasn’t. The beast approaching them was a fully grown wolf.
Tommy and Tubbo looked over and froze as the wolf kept walking over. Several people just parting for the massive canine.
“Uhhh,” Tommy warned cautiously.
“Lea?” Ranboo asked in confusion as he walked over to Patton and the wolf. “What are you doing here?”
“I think he likes me,” Patton smiled as he let the wolf sniff his hands and arms.
“She . . .” Ranboo faltered nervously. He’d meant to speak more but the words caught in his throat.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Patton corrected himself before turning back to the wolf, his hands scratching and petting the wolf. “Who’s a pretty lady? You are! Yes, you are!”
“Is this your wolf?” Logan asked hesitantly as Tubbo picked himself into the sky to look around for someone.
“Yeah,” Ranboo asked before correcting, twisting his tail in his hands, “but no. She’s one of Techno’s wolves. He usually keeps them in southern Scotland on some property that he and Phil own.”
“Yeah, but what’s this one doin’[1] here?” Tommy demanded, the wolf turning from Patton to sniff at Logan for a little bit. Patton looked a bit put out when the wolf’s interest went somewhere other than him.
“She’s kinda[2] mine,” Ranboo explained.
“Yours?” Tommy scoffed, sounding hurt. As they spoke the wolf turned to Virgil who tried to keep his body as far away from sharp teeth and crushing jaws. So then she moved to Roman who gave the wolf a couple uncertain pats. “How the fuck is she yours? Those hounds are Techno’s.”
“Yeah,” Ranboo’s tail fluff suddenly the most interesting thing in the world to him. “You remember how I used to live with them? I used to help Techno take care of the wolves and he let me name one. He even gave it a purple collar to tell her apart.”
“What do you mean he gave you one?” Tommy spat in a jealous huff. “He barely let me touch ‘em[3]!”
Lea finally reached Thomas, who upon seeing Roman and Patton, and the other Sides being able to get close to it, reached out to give the wolf a pet. Before she snarled and sank her jaws into his arm, the only thing keeping it from being crushed was the lightly reinforced suit he was wearing.
Thomas screamed in pain.
Thankfully the wolf let go and began to back up and let out a long, piercing howl.
“Incoming!” Tubbo warned as he caught sight of who he was looking for.
“What do you see?” Logan put himself in between the wolf and Thomas, who was holding his arm. “Princey, get him up and out of the way.”
“Techno! Techno’s coming!” Tubbo warned, a terrified tremor to his voice.
People scrambled to get out of the way as Roman enchanted himself to fly and picked Thomas up to start flying him back to base.
Which took them out of the safety of the group.
There was a hiss in the air as something whistled through the air and hit Roman. The small rocket exploded like a bright firework.
Roman screamed in pain and crashed back to the ground with Thomas.
Tubbo screamed in panic, even though he was a safe distance from the explosion, trying to shield his eyes and face from the explosion. Ranboo caught him when he fell.
“Bee? Bee? It’s okay, I’ve got you.” Ranboo promised as he held Tubbo in his arms. Tubbo was shaking wildly in terror, curled up in his husband’s arms.
Virgil’s magic whipped into the air as the wall of wolf teeth hit them. His barrier holding protectively as Patton fretted over Roman who was quick to pick himself up.
“I’m fine,” Roman stood up and pulled out his sword, putting Thomas and the minors in the center of the group. Logan was already signally for backup. Trying to count the number of wolves. His brain got to thirty before it was hard to keep track of them and he wasn’t sure if there were more or he’d miscounted.”
Eventually they saw Techno himself, the tall and hulking figure with a boar mask over his face. Lea circled back around to him from her place in the pack and Techno gave her a quick scratch on the head.
“Finally,” Techno smiled, axe in hand. “After all this time.”
Logan braced with his stun batons, he knew Virgil’s shield would not protect them indefinitely. He watched Philza hanging back about fifty feet, bow and arrow in hand but not notched and raised at them.
“You’re part of Dream’s gang, aren’t you?” Logan probed, trying to get as much information from their attackers as possible.
“Ehh, Dream and I are just old friends,” Techno dismissed. “We’ve just been a couple rounds in a death pit.”
“I see,” Logan commented, watching Virgil’s magic begin to sputter, the force of maintaining a barrier getting to be too much.
“Techno,” Tommy greeted tensely.
“Tommy, back up, I’m not here to fight you,” Techno warned.
“You almost hit Tubbo,” Ranboo reminded.
“Yeah, didn’t see him,” Techno admitted. “Was more focused on trying to find the legate and his head popped up, so . . .”
Techno made a shooing motion with his hand towards the three kids. “. . . you three should get out of the way before I accidentally hit one of you.”
Logan took a glance at Ranboo who was still holding Tubbo. “When the barrier lowers, I want you to take him away from here.”
“I,” Tubbo seemed to regain his composure, his false eye glowing, a radioactive symbol visible from behind his fringe. “I’m up, let me at him.”
Jackie and Silver were speeding in, sending a message to Logan how Bing and Oliver were on standby.
“Absolutely not,” Logan told him. “This is foolhardy, we’ve already had a minor causality, and I will not allow another under my watch.”
“I got your back Bo,” Tommy promised.
That got Techno angry, “Tommy, stay out of the way, you’re in over your head again. And this time I’m not saving you. I don’t want to fight you guys, I want the legate.”
“Well, that’s gonna be a problem then, innit?” Tommy dared.
“Fine,” Techno spat, pulling out three vials of swirling magical cocotions. “You asked for it!”
Tubbo and Tommy were summoning weapons as the vials shattered on the ground and magic wafted up at Techno. Tubbo quickly pulled out a handful of potions and smashed them around their feet, magic filling the bubble. The Sides and the three minors felt charged with strength as Techno let out a shrill, high pitched whistle and the wolves all attacked at once.
Tubbo took to the sky again. Throwing down potions on top of Techno, spells trying to cancel each other out and Techno dodging. “See how you like some fuckin’[4] sparks, shitshow!”
Ranboo summoned a scythe as Phil notched an arrow and let it fly at Tubbo. The tall teen cutting his sword into the air and making the arrow shoot at the ground in front of them.
“Ehh!” Techno smiled. “Finally growing a spine kid?”
“Boo! Get out of here!” Tubbo ordered his husband.
“Not with out you!” Ranboo told him.
“Heh, gay,” Tubbo smiled.
“Come on, Bomble, work with me here,” Ranboo demanded in exasperation, trying to keep arrows off of Tubbo.
“Helping!” Tubbo dove down to slap a disk on Ranboo’s. Metal clipping and unfolding out with the aid of what Logan suspected was nanites. It made an almost all black suit with a visor that looked like bandages wrapped around his eyes.
Ranboo faltered and in that time an arrow nicked Tubbo’s ankle.
Jackie and Silver were trying to keep the tide of wolves at bay while Tommy tried to continuously rush for Techno, which was much harder because Roman and Logan were trying to keep him away and keep Techno off of Thomas.
Virgil’s spider legs sprouted as he tried to pull Thomas away, hissing and spitting at the warrior trying to hit them with an axe.
“Anxiety! Pass him!” Janus called over the chaos.
Some time in the chaos and din of battle, Janus had wormed his way in and held out a hand.
Hesitating for a bit, Virgil tried to figure out if this was an illusion or a trick before shoving Thomas towards Janus who was sprouting multiple arms and snakes poured out from him. A large one coiled around him, enough to grip but not to strangle, other snakes almost forming a protective cocoon around Thomas who was almost dizzy with everything going around him.
“Go! Go!” Janus ordered and began trying to roll the mass of snakes through the onslaught of wolves. Virgil screamed as a set of canine teeth chomped on one of his spider legs. Virgil ripped his leg away, the limb almost snapping off under the pressure but Janus and Virgil were starting to get away from the fight.
“Move!” Janus ordered Virgil as they tried to put distance between the fight and themselves.
“Where are you going?” Techno pulled out one of the green eye orbs and tossed it. The orb shattered and Techno appeared right behind the group, cutting through several of the snakes with his axe but Janus quickly began building them back up as Thomas was trying to backpedal from the guy trying to hit him with an axe.
Ranboo took the opportunity to grab both Tommy and Tubbo and opened up a small portal right on top of himself to get them back to the heroes’ base. Taking them from the battle and the wolves trying to snap at them. Much to Tubbo and Tommy’s immediate anger.
Janus summoned his staff and redirected the blow that would have hit Thomas right in the chest.
Thomas looked at Janus in surprise as the deceitful Side protectively coiled more snakes around him.
Techno immediately began swinging his axe to cut through the mass of snakes. The instant Thomas was in any danger of getting hit, Virgil used his spider web threads to tug Thomas out of the way long enough for Janus to build his serpentine shield back up.
“Come on! Fight me! This is what you’re good at!” Techno ordered as his axe came dangerously close to Thomas on each swing but Virgil and Janus kept him out of harm’s way each time.
“You want a fight, you’ll get it from us,” Janus hissed.
“He’s a lover, not a fighter!” Patton yelled out as he tried to get back into the fight before Phil shot him in the shoulder with an arrow.
In response, Thomas grabbed his arm right where Patton had been shot and let out a choked gasp.
“What do you mean he doesn’t fight‽” Techno demanded, sounding enraged and insulted in the same breath. “He’s a legate, that’s all they know.”
“I don’t,” Thomas whimpered, hiding behind Virgil and Janus. “I don’t know how.”
“All your arms can fight, how do you not know how to fight?” Techno snapped.
Thomas stayed defensively quiet, but Techno was the one who pulled away. He let out a frustrated scream. “What was the point?”
“Mate, yah[5] okay there?” Phil walked closer.
“I brought my dogs out for nothing, Phil,” Techno complained as Philza just smiled in amusement at him. “For nothing!”
“Least yeh[5] got some exercise, mate,” Phil chuckled. “We can head over to Arizona, there’s supposed to be a pit over there.”
“It’s not the same,” Techno complained. “This was going to be my fight.”
Techno huffed before looking over at Phil, “Fine.”
The combatant finally lowered his sword and stomped away, letting out a shrill whistle and all the wolves began to pull away from their fights to cloud around Techno and some of them began pushing around his hands.
“Yeh[5] freaks done?” Jackie demanded.
“Yeah, if Techno can’t get his fight, then he’s done,” Phil smiled. “He’s done, we just gotta[6] take the dogs back.”
“Those are wolves,” Logan reminded.
“Yeah, bred from hellhounds, mate,” Phil smiled. “Yeh[5] all lucked out that he couldn’t get his fight.”
Phil made his way carefully through the wolves to talk to a very upset Techno, while Thomas looked back at Janus and Virgil who were still braced for a fight, snakes still coiling around Thomas, spider silk everywhere.
“You,” Thomas looked up at them with shock, “you saved me.”
“Yeah well,” Virgil fumbled, kneeling down to Thomas’s level. “Supposed to be a hero, it’s what I do.”
Thomas leaned in and rested his head against Virgil’s arm. Virgil flinched and Thomas had one eye light up purple, and the other with a bright yellow. He leaned into Virgil who let out a gasp as one of his eyes lit up. Janus looked down at them.
“I think perhaps you two should go back to the base, while he’s still distracted,” Janus told Virgil.
The scene was briefly interrupted by Thomas letting out a gasp in pain, his eyes returning to their normal color and the group looked over to Patton, who was already receiving first aid for the arrow sticking out of his arm. The tip was still coursing with magic to ensure it would puncture through armour and shields alike.
“How bad is it?” Logan asked.
“I’m fine,” Patton gritted his teeth.
Thomas, almost robotically, got up and walked over to Patton. Logan was quick to come in-between Thomas and Patton, extending out one of his battens to keep Thomas away from Patton.
“He needs all the energy he can get right now,” Logan warned.
“You guys all give me energy, I should be able to give some to him, right?” Thomas suggested.
Patton shakily lowered Logan’s hand.
“Be careful,” Logan’s tone carried an unspoken threat in it.
Thomas nodded and set his hand on Patton’s injured arm, closing his eyes in concentration.
At first Patton felt the white hot pain grow hotter and chil the areas around him, before the pain started to melt away. Patton hummed in contentment, leaning into Thomas. The wound starting to knit itself back up as a huge bruise was secretly growing underneath the sleeve of Thomas’s arm.
Thomas pulled away, and Patton almost fell against him, blinking in blurry disorientation.
“Mmm, tired,” Patton complained.
“We’ll get you back to the base,” Logan picked Patton, cradling him gently against his chest. “Magic can only do so much.”
“I want marshmallows fer[7] pillows,” Patton mumbled, bringing a small smile to Logan’s face that was hidden by his visor. “I like marshmallows.”
“Go, I’ll make sure you aren’t followed,” Janus told Virgil.
“I get it, I get it,” Virgil grumbled as Logan and Roman led Thomas back to the base and Virgil brought up the rear.
Janus and Techno’s eyes met as the Core Sides retreated with Thomas. Janus followed the group from a distance. Jackie took Patton from Logan to speed the injured Side back to the base. It left Logan to break from the group and make his way back to where Silver was watching Philza and Techno.
“Morality alright?” Silver asked.
“He will be,” Logan said, “I want to keep my eye on things.”
“We’ll be gone soon enough,” Phil told him. “Don’t much like being next ta[8] Ent’s territory. Reeks ‘a[9] sad empath o’er[10] there.”
“You are Tommy’s guardian,” Logan reminded, getting a message that Jackie had helped speed both Patton and then Thomas to safety.
“He causin’[11] trouble?” Phil sighed.
“No, but he is seventeen,” Silver told him.
“He’s a spawnling, age is fuckin’[4] relative, mate,” Phil told them in a rather dismissive tone. “Fundy’s been fourteen fer[7] four years now. Bet Tommy’ll be seventeen fer[7] a while longer.”
“That still makes him a minor,” Logan spoke up.
“Look, mate, if I gotta[6] sign somethin’[12], I will,” Phil sighed as he leaned against the wall. “But I’m tellin’ yeh that it means shit an’ all. Tommy could go out an’ do whate’er he wanted an’ I wouldn’t stop him.”[13]
“For as much as you claim Tommy is an adult, he lacks the experience or the fully developed prefrontal cortex crucial for decision making,” Logan refuted. “We need your signature, how long will you be in town?”
“Long enough,” Phil evaded. “I know where yer[14] base is, I’ll head over there, then I’ll meet back up with you, Techno.”
Techno’s eyes glanced between the heroes, “If you’re sure.”
“Oh yeah, we’ll take a shortcut ta[8] the cabins,” Phil told Techno.
Techno let out a whistle and all the wolves gathered around him. “Yeah, yeah, got you.”
Techno began to walk away with his hounds.
Silver waited until Techno was far enough to wait before he asked, “How much do you spend on feeding all those animals?”
“Oh, we’ve got e’en more at the cabins, an’ we keep animals ta help feed ‘em, but it’s a lot, a lot a lot,”[15] Philza answered.
Philza did wind up heading to the base with the heroes to read through and sign some paperwork. He stayed outside as Tommy uneasily watched from the cameras, occasionally yelling obscenities at his father from a speaker and Philza was just shouting them back at him as Tubbo was laughing and eventually joined in.
The other heroes would have intervened to take the mic away from Tommy but it seemed to put Philza in a better mood and he left after the papers were done and he was given a copy.
Calmer, the winged demon left, Techno had been waiting for him and the two of them disappeared into the night. Leaving the heroes to lick their wounds and brace for the next attack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Accessibility Translations:
1. doing
2. kind of
3. them
4. fucking
5. you
6. have to
7. for
8. to
9. of
10. over
11. causing
12. something
13. But I’m telling you that it means shit and all. Tommy could go out and do whatever he wanted and I wouldn’t stop him.
14. your
15. Oh, we’ve got even more at the cabins, and we keep animals to help feed them, but it’s a lot, a lot a lot
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How Star Wars Can Finally Have a Marvel-Like Shared Universe
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Last December, Disney announced seven new Star Wars film and TV projects, giving us a look at what the next few years in the galaxy far, far away will look like both on Disney+ and in theaters. While the Rogue Squadron movie directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) was the absolute mic drop of the evening, equally impressive is Disney’s plan for the small screen: several new series that expand the stories of fan-favorite characters like Ahsoka Tano and Lando Calrissian. Most intriguing of all is that many of these shows are designed to connect and interact with each other. In other words, Disney is finally getting what it’s always wanted for Star Wars: a shared universe of screen projects meant to emulate the interconnectedness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Storytelling synergy has existed for a long time between Star Wars movies, books, comics, and games, but rarely in the Marvel way where one series or movie directly teases or leads into the next. Sure, Skywalker Saga films technically work that way, but those three trilogies are really one big story. But in Marvel’s case, it’s par for the course for a tonally unique series like WandaVision to still set the stage for the next Doctor Strange movie or Captain Marvel 2. The foundation of Star Wars wasn’t really built that way back in 1977 but as a contained trilogy of movies.
Then Disney+ changed everything with The Mandalorian season 2, which not only introduced beloved animated characters Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze to live-action but also ended with a teaser for the next Star Wars series, The Book of Boba Fett, which is out in December. And The Book of Boba Fett doesn’t just star the infamous bounty hunter; it’s also a showcase for Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec Shand, an assassin who first appeared in the first season of The Mandalorian.
Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!
Today, Marvel fans take this shared universe storytelling structure for granted, but this is still very new territory for Star Wars. Whether it works or not will likely depend on how many Mandalorian fans flock to Boba Fett later this year. But Disney is betting big on this approach.
The House of Mouse has already ordered two other series set during the same time period as The Mandalorian and Boba Fett, which take place five years after Return of the Jedi. The intriguing Rangers of the New Republic was reportedly conceived as a spinoff series for Mando associate Cara Dune before actor Gina Carano was fired from the franchise earlier this year, but I doubt that’s the only connection these series will have with each other. Meanwhile, Ahsoka will likely continue the hero’s search for Grand Admiral Thrawn right where it left off at the end of The Mandalorian season 2 episode “The Jedi.”
Disney isn’t just trying to cash in on the success of The Mandalorian with spinoffs for the show’s most popular characters, though. The company also confirmed in December that all of these shows will ultimately converge in a big story event. That sure sounds a lot like the end of a MCU phase. Are Mando, Ahsoka, Bo-Katan, Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, and friends eventually going team up against Grand Admiral Thrawn in an epic Avengers-like finale? It sure feels that way.
And the studio might not just be reserving its shared universe approach for the post-Jedi shows, either. Rogue One prequel Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi are both set many years after Revenge of the Sith but before the Original Trilogy, and there’s a good chance the Lando series will also be set at some point during this era, with Donald Glover returning as the charming scoundrel. (While Disney hasn’t confirmed any details about the latter project besides the fact that it’s happening, the studio has been trying to make a Lando spinoff with Glover for quite a few years.) The timelines won’t line up quite as cleanly, though. Obi-Wan Kenobi takes place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith in 9 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin), while the events of Andor will unfold in 5 BBY.
But one rumor suggests that Ewan McGregor will appear as Obi-Wan in Andor, too. Far from an official confirmation, it’s still an intriguing possibility if true. With both series set to premiere in 2022, Disney could make the Jedi Master the character that ties both (or all three) pre-A New Hope series together, just like Mando is the common denominator across all of the post-Jedi shows. And could this all lead to an eventual big event that will see Obi-Wan, Cassian Andor, and Lando set up for their roles in the Original Trilogy era?
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It’s true that The Mandalorian spinoffs present much more intriguing storytelling paths than a potential Obi-Wan, Andor, and Lando shared universe for the simple fact that we know where the heroes in the latter series are ultimately headed. Meanwhile, the future isn’t set for Din Djarin, Bo-Katan, Ahsoka, Boba Fett, and their friends. But if Disney is leaning into what’s worked with Marvel for the Mando shows, why wouldn’t it try the same with the others?
Marvel has shown that building towards big events across multiple stories can lead to massive payoffs (both in terms of storytelling and the box office). Why can’t the same work across all Star Wars screen projects, especially now that the franchise isn’t only reserved for movie theaters, where it has always been treated as more of a once-in-a-decade event than something more fluid like the MCU? Away from the big screen, Star Wars can shape a different future for itself that doesn’t have to fit into a trilogy or an epic saga about good vs. evil. In fact, The Mandalorian has already started that process with stories that feel much more intimate but that also flesh out the galaxy in a way the movies haven’t.
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And if Disney wanted to eventually connect the pre-Hope shows to the Mando ones for an even more interconnected universe on Disney+, it wouldn’t even need a specific event or series to bridge the two eras. The Original Trilogy is already there as the bridge. Assuming Obi-Wan, Andor, and Lando are set to introduce exciting new characters destined to earn fandoms of their own, they could jump from one era to the other just as easily as Bo-Katan and Ahsoka have. This is especially true for characters introduced in Andor, which takes place only about 14 years before The Mandalorian. That’s the tiniest of time gaps when it comes to Star Wars.
When the Skywalker Saga concluded in 2019, it really felt for the first time ever that the possibilities were endless for Star Wars on the big and small screens. Star Wars no longer needed to tie back to Luke Skywalker (The Mandalorian cameo notwithstanding) and his family drama. On Disney+, Star Wars has found new ways to explore the galaxy far, far away while introducing us to new characters and places to love. Now comes the next frontier: a shared universe, a first step into a larger world.
The post How Star Wars Can Finally Have a Marvel-Like Shared Universe appeared first on Den of Geek.
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