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depressedacadamia · 4 years

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The Anatomy of the Sun- Chapter I

Edit- This is the first chap in a Percy Jackson/ Greys anatomy AU as well as my first fic! It’s going to follow the Grey’s anatomy plot behind the patients and the romances will be loosely based off it. I hope you do enjoy it! It was inpsired by @buoyantsaturn and their fic ‘Into you like a train’.

Summary: Dr Will Solace just transferred to the New York Presybetarian hospital to become their Head of Trauma. Dr Nico Di Angelo is a month fresh out of Med- school and is starting his internship at New York Presbytarian. Nico, excited to join his best friend and head of the neurology department- Percy Jackson, wants to prove that he is not just the legacy that his sister- Bianca Di Angelo, left. As the doctors battle to save lives, they also battle to save relationships- but some may say it's too late.

Chapter I- Work Work

Nico could feel his chest pounding as he drove. It wasn’t a good kind of pounding, not that there ever really is, but a -my heart is beating so damn fast - kind of pounding. Today was his first day at New York Presbytarian Hospital as an actual doctor. A surgeon. An intern.

He groaned as he remembered that he would basically be the servant of his bosses for the next year. He wished his sister was here- she’d tell him how awesome he’d be, all the cool parts of internship and how ‘the friends you make here are friends for life’. Nico wasn’t nervous about friends though- he had known the Head of Neuro, Percy Jackson, for almost his entire life. In fact, it had been Percy who inspired him to become a surgeon. Nico knew- As a surgeon, you either have what it takes to play or you don’t. Nico’s sister , Bianca, was one of the greats, Nico on the other hand was so screwed.

The first Nico noticed about the hospital was that it was very very bright. Maybe it wasn’t and Nico was panicking; it wouldn’t be so beyond him. He watched as several other cars pulled up with other newbies similar to himself. He noticed that some people had their own stethoscopes- would anybody notice that his was used? The stethoscope he wore had the initials B.D.A engraved into the side of the drum. Did it matter if someone noticed that his was old? He could easily afford a new one either way but he had wanted to wear his sister's one. He hoped it would bring him good luck because he had a good feeling that he was going to need it.

He walked into the Hospital where he was directed to a cleared Operating Room for the new interns who were having their introduction. He passed a group of attendings, all of whom he vaguely recognised but he noticed one in particular with curly blond hair. Of all the years he had tagged along with Percy to hang out at the hospital, he had never seen that dude- Why haven’t I seen him before?

“Every one of you comes here today hopeful, wanting in the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors- Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you- say hello to your competition. 8 of you will switch to an easier speciality. 5 of you will crack under the pressure, 2 of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line- This is your arena. How do you play? That's up to you,” A man with long brown hair and greying roots dramatically explained. Nico realised that this was the Chief of Surgery- Chiron! Nico was surprised to learn that he still worked here after all these years. He recalled Bianca talking about Chiron who had been her mentor.

Nico looked around at what was his competition- as he thought, he was so screwed.

As he made his way into the locker room, some faces became familiar. He recalled some of these faces- the people he had met at the mixer. Nico decided to focus on work and not making friends; if someone spoke to him, he’d reply but he was not initiating any conversations. He had diagnosed himself with the overall dislike of humanity. Just as he was contemplating wearing his white coat, ( he remembered Bianca telling him that everyone knows that the doctors with the cleanest coats are the newbies and he did not want people noticing) the girl to his left with cropped brown hair and a determined expression tapped him on the shoulder.

“You’re Nico right? Which resident have you got?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m Nico and I’ve got Chase. What about you?”

“ Same. And it’s Meg.”

A guy from across the room turned around, excited to have something in common with others. His hair was short and blond but not the same colour as the new attending that Nico had noticed earlier. This guy's hair was almost a platinum kind of blond whereas the attending had golden hair- Like the colour of sunrise.

“You’ve got her too? So did I- You’re Nico, Nico Di Angelo right? I’m Jason Grace- we met at the mixer. You made a bold impression; black, skinny ripped jeans, Ramone T-shirt and skull rings despite the fact it was obviously a work event… Okay I’ll stop talking,” The man rushed out all at once.

“Grace, Mccaffrey, Di Angelo and June!” A voice called out into the locker room. Nico looked at what were supposed to be his future friends. If he was supposed to feel some sort of magical bond with them- he sure as hell was not. The girl in front (who Nico could only assume was Dr June) was almost hopping - okay, she’s a happy person, Avoid her at all costs- he put in a mental reminder. Nico watched as she approached the Blonde woman at the desk. Nico almost face palmed- Her surname was Chase- this had to be Percy’s girlfriend that he had been telling him about over the phone a while ago. June started talking only to be cut off.

“I’m Juniper June but most people just call me-”

“I have 5 rules, memorise them. Rule number 1- don’t bother sucking up, I already hate you, that's not gonna change. Trauma protocol, phone list and pagers-” Annabeth pointed to the desk behind her. There lay 4 pagers which all the interns, including Nico, scrambled forward to grab.

“-Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run- you hear me? A run, Rule number 2- Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You’re interns, grunts, nobodies- bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop and don’t complain!” She called as she led them across the bridge and into the second section of the hospital. Nico, not being the tallest person, struggled slightly to keep up. They walked into a dark room that seemed to have bunk beds with thin mattresses and flimsy unmade covers.

“On call rooms- attendings hog them- sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to Rule number 3. If I’m sleeping, don’t wake me unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number 4- the dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only will you have killed a person, you would have woken me up for no good reason. We clear?”

Nico was clear but he also wasn’t. He doesn’t remember Bianca telling him any of these rules and he also didn’t recall hearing the 5th rule. Did she already say it when he wasn’t listening? He didn’t think so but he also didn’t want to look like an idiot. He decided to ask, if he was going to fail at this hospital, he might as well fail knowing everything there was to know.

“That's only 4 rules. You said there were 5.” Nico slid in between Meg and Dr Grace, his head only up to the bases of their necks. Just Nico said those words, he heard a beeping which he could only assume came from someone's pager. Annabeth immediately looked down, grabbing the pager she had tagged into her waist.

“Rule number 5- When I move, you move.”

Hour 1

Nico slipped on his gloves as he stood in the elevator with the other interns. The second he heard its ‘ping’ he rushed forward, eager to learn. The wind blasted into his eyes and immediately, Nico raised his hands to cover his face. His hair flopped about as the helicopter descended in front him. He raised his head slightly and saw the same golden haired attending that he had noticed earlier- Nico took a guess that he was the trauma surgeon. He followed Dr. Chase who ran forward and helped lift the stretcher out of the helicopter. Nico perked his ears up as he heard the trauma surgeon recite her history.

“Katie Bryce, 15 years old, female, new onset seizures- intermittent for the past week. IV lost en route- Started grand mal seizing as we descended,” He shouted over the loud roar of the engine. Crap, Grand mal seizures, really? God really thought lets give me a hard case. They rushed to get her inside and Nico was trying to not panic as he heard Dr. Chase command the staff like it was her own mini army.

“Put her on her side. 10 Milligrams of diazepam. No, the white lead is on the right. Righty whitey, smoke over fire. Give her a large bore IV, Don’t let the blood hemolyze.”

A different doctor walked in, his hair was black and cut short. His skin was a creamy white and Nico recognised the second language under ‘Doctor Zhang’ on his white coat to be chinese.

“Dr. Chase, what do we have?” He asked, flipping through her chart.

“Right now, nothing.”

“Okay, let's shotgun her.” He raised his hands and took a step backwards, allowing for the interns to continue their treatment.

“Okay, you heard the man. Shotgun means every test in the book- CT, CBC, Chem 7, Tox screen. Mccaffery- you’re running labs, Grace- patient work ups and Di Angelo- take her for a CT,” Dr. Chase ordered

“Um, Dr. Chase, I think you forgot me,” Juniper piped up meekly. Annabeth turned around and gave her a firm look before telling her,

“Honey, you’re doing rectal exams.”

Nico couldn’t tell if he should laugh at the poor intern or console her.

Each intern was busy. Extraordinarily busy. Nico did not expect the line for the CT machine to be so long. This was the best hospital in all of New York! You’d think they would be much faster but no, here Nico was with his patient who he had recently learnt, loved to talk… about herself.

“I’m missing my pageant,” Kaite whined.

“You’re missing your pageant?” Nico had to physically restrain himself from snorting. So that's what non- doctors and people with normal lives did. Things like going to pageants.

“Yeah! And I was super excited because the judges were getting to the talents for the pageant- Mine is rhythmic gymnastics. I sprained my ankle and fell when I was training but now I was soo ready but then...” she threw her arms up slightly signifying everything around them and Nico understood- she had a seizure which stopped her from competing.

“Katie Bryce’s labs came out clear, nothing in the results that would explain her seizures,” Meg informed Dr. Chase who was currently peeking her head out of a surgery. Dr. Chase nodded and was about to return to assisting on the procedure when Meg started talking again

“I heard that the attending picks the most promising intern on the first to perform a minor procedure.”

Dr. Chase looked anything but impressed.

“Go away,” she deadpanned as she closed the door in Meg’s face and returned to her surgery.

“It’s just what I heard!” Meg mumbled exasperatedly as she left the scrub room.

Hour 7

The cafeteria was full. One would think the hospital cafeteria would be stocked with healthy foods but in reality it was quite the opposite. It was stacked with a bunch of doctors telling you to eat healthy food as they stuffed their faces with pizza. The seating arrangements weren’t much different from a high school. You sit with who you know and avoid the ones in charge. Meg, Jason, Juniper and a group of other interns were all grouped together not too far away from the group of attendings and 3 residents.

“You know Nico is inbred.” Meg popped the fact onto the other interns.

“Like it’s uncommon to be related to a doctor, my sister is Dr Thalia Grace.”Jason pointed his thumb to the girl with jet back hair and array of ear piercings who was currently smiling wickedly.

“No like royally inbred, his sister is Bianca Di Angelo,” Meg insisted.

“Shut up! The Bianca Di Angelo?” Juniper joined in.

“Who is Bianca Di Angelo?” Jason, as clueless as ever, asked. The entire table exploded into whispers and gasps.

“Where do you live, under a rock? The angel method? Where do you think that came from?”

“She’s a living legend!”

“She’s won 2 harper Averies!”

“Talk about familial pressure.”

“Um, incoming Nico Di Angelo,” Jason tried to speak over the food in his mouth unsuccessfully. Luckily, the other interns looked in the direction of him and shut their mouths up in time. Nico, with his 3rd cup of coffee that day slumped into a chair and slammed his head onto the table.

“Katie Bryce is a pain in my ass. If I hadn’t taken the hippocratic oath, I’d kevorkian her with my bare hands,” Nico groaned. Juniper, eager to get his mind off an annoying patient chirped in,

“I heard Chase and Jackson were dating- A resident and an attending!”

“They are,” Nico confirmed as the interns stole glances at the attending and the resident together, surprised that Dr. Chase had the ability to laugh or smile.

“Who wants to go for an attending? Bet ya none of you can,” Meg poked fun at them.

“I bet ya I could do Solace, he’s new apparently,” Nico hummed as he peacefully sipped his coffee, closing his eyes to enjoy the smell that drifted into his nose.

“Meg, you wanna go for Valdez?” Juniper curiously poked.

“Nah, he’s only a resident and besides- He’s totally making eyes at Calypso. Letting a resident try to get into an attending pants is way more fun. I wanna see him fall into a hole.”

All of the interns stopped and turned to Meg, a slightly horrified look growing on their faces.

“Okay, now that Satan has stopped talking, who wants to put down their bets?” Jason beamed as Meg sneaked a quick punch to arm which had him cowering for a bit longer than necessary. The interns were all mucking about until a new voice joined the conversation.

“Hey! I just transferred to Chase’s service, I don’t really know anyon-”

“-Hazel?” Nico’s confused voice echoed and his eyes shot open at the recognition of the soft voice.

“Nico?” Hazel raised an eyebrow. They had both agreed to go to work in separate hospitals to limit family drama. Ever since they had found out they were related, the family tensions had been higher than ever. Nico had assumed Hazel would go to a different hospital and leave New York Presbyterian for him and it seems Hazel had assumed the same vice versa.

“You two know each other?” A voice, recognised as Meg, called out.

“I’m Doctor Hazel Levesque. Newest Surgical intern under Dr Chase.” She reached out and gave her hand to Meg who shook it firmly. She gave another hand shake to Jason and a nod to Nico- both of them had ignored Meg’s question.

“Final call, who’s going in?” Jason reminded them.

“Me- Solace is new, hot, probably clueless and he’s the new Head attending in trauma.” Nico slammed his hand onto the table, indicating he was all in. It was easy, right? Seduce him and then manipulate. It couldn’t be too hard.

Around 2 tables away from the interns, the attendings and residents were chatting away. Will, who had only recently joined the hospital, was still getting used to the way people behaved here. Everyone was so much more nice than he had expected. He remembered how people warned him about New York folks but in all honesty, Will would say that he was having a pretty good time, especially if the Di Angelo intern stayed in his eyeline-

“-Solace is eyeing the interns!” Percy’s excited voice cut into Will’s thoughts. Horrified, Will managed to sputter out,

“I am not eyeing the interns!”

“I like the newbie, she seems nice- better than the rest at least,”Frank mumbled about Hazel as he sipped at his hot tea. Piper to his left admitted,

“Blond one’s hot.”

“That blond one is my brother,” Thalia grunted.

“Why doesn’t anyone call me hot?” Leo pouted as he rolled up the other sleeve of his shirt calling the attention of Calypso’s eyes.

I’d totally call you hot , She thought.

She only glanced once.. Maybe twice… okay she was staring at him. But ever since Leo had become a resident, she kept on thinking they had to potential to become what.. Well, what Annabeth and Percy had become. Sure, she had rejected all his previous advances but she didn’t want to. She just didn’t think the timing was right- She was very aware that simply telling him the timing wasn’t right was a much more mature thing to do than acting bratty every time he spoke to her.

“Valdez, go make sure none of the pre-surgery kids aren’t sneaking pudding. There’s always bound to be one.” Dr Reyna Ramirez batted her hand towards her resident who gave her a mock salute before walking off. Calypso, unaware that everyone was watching, had her eyes glued to Leo.

“Calypso is totally checking out Valdez- Mother Hen Reyna watch out- Calypso is after your chicks,” Percy snickered making a joke to the fact that Leo was Reyna’s resident- before Piper smacked him on the back of the head indicating a Shut it, hypocrite.

“No I’m not!” Calypso insisted, whipping her head, that only moments ago was glued to Leo’s ass. She ducked her head and sided next to Piper and Will.

“Calypso eyeing Leo is old news, please make sure you keep yourself updated,” Annabeth proclaimed, her head resting against Percy while his arm was snaked around her waist.

“I will tell you what’s new then, Solace watching Nico like he’s fresh meat. That’s my bro that you’re checking out man.”

“I am NOT checking out Di Angelo!”

“Zhang, who are you picking for the procedure?” Annabeth curiously asked and also slightly eager to move away from the current topic. In all honesty, Annabeth expected Frank to choose Di Angelo- He was clearly the most promising and most experienced if one could even call an intern that. Annabeth knew that Percy and Nico had practically grown up together and besides he was a Di Angelo- Surely if his sister could cut, so could he.

“I’m gonna go with Grace.”

“He is not ready for that. Not to be a terrible sibling but he gets flustered a tad easily,” Thalia butted in, trying to protect her brother. She loved him but Jason was a tad sensitive and rustling his feathers was almost too easy.

“Torture one and the rest will fall in line,” Frank admitted half heartedly. He didn’t want to Pick on Jason- he seemed like a great kid, But he also didn’t want to have to have a bunch of misbehaving interns who had egos too big for the hospital because nobody ever put them in line.

“Are you sure about Grace though?” Annabeth pushed, her voice slightly uneasy. Percy, who noticed this, squeezed her waist gently as a gesture of comfort, affection even. Percy was watching Nico’s table. The interns seemed to be having fun, no one was picking on Nico which was the most important thing and he figured soon the interns would realise Nico’s infamy- of being a Di Angelo of course. What he totally didn’t expect however, was Nico to get out of his chair and casually stroll over towards the group of attendings and residents.

Nico honestly did not know what he was thinking. Was he being bold? Absolutely. Was he acting on impulse? Most obviously. Was he regretting every step towards them? Definitely.

He saw Percy’s eyes widen ever so slightly before his face rested into a comforting, genuine smile- something Nico truly appreciated. If Percy was acting nice, the rest of the group were bound to follow his lead, right? Nico shuffled past 2 of the attendings, reaching behind them to gain access to the coffee machine.

Will didn’t know how to react. Did interns normally come and hang out with attendings here? He had no idea. Percy looked as if he knew Nico all his life and he did tell him earlier; That's my bro you’re checking out man. Were they actually related? Or did they just know each other for a long time? By now, all the attendings were settled at their own tables and Piper had unfortunately been rushed off for emergency surgery on one of her patients, leaving Will to sit by himself at a table. That was until Nico was standing by one of the chairs.

Nico took a deep breath and stood by the chair at Will’s almost empty table. It had taken Will a couple of seconds to notice that there was someone even at his table before he almost jolted backwards, alarmed by the shadow that had appeared on his table. Immediately, out of politeness, he gestured towards a seat.

“Do you wanna take a seat?” He offered politely. He watched as the intern hesitated. He could see how nervous he seemed and for a minute he really pitied him- It was no doubt stressful to be the brother of a famous surgeon, especially a Di Angelo.

“Are you sure? I mean, aren't you an attending, ya know, my boss and-”

“-Calm down, it's just a seat,” Will cut off Nico’s rambling and offered the man a seat. Gingerly Nico took it and looked down at his coffee.

Nico did not think making Dr Solace treat him so nicely was going to be so easy. All he had to do was give a shy look away and blabber a bit and the next thing he knew, Dr. Solace had his hand on top of Nico’s and was shuffling his chair closer to his. Nico realised it was now or never- he had to start sending the right message.

“I’ve always found trauma interesting- ya know? Never knowing what's going to come into those doors. Percy used to tell me how much he hated it,” Nico laughed gently, making sure he accidentally brushed his leg against Dr Solace’s.

“Trauma? Really? Lucky for you, I just so happen to be the new attending on that.”

“I think I’m much more lucky than you think I am, if you catch my draft,” Nico mummuered, smirking slightly, his eyes dropping to Will's lips causing Will to finally get what he meant. Will, slightly flustered by Nico’s onset attitude, flushed pink slightly. He was flattered greatly that someone as good looking as Nico found him attractive but he didn’t want to cause commotion or draw so much attention to himself so early either. He wasn’t gonna lie, he totally was into Nico but Will knew that he could be putting Nico’s job at risk, not to mention his own. But it wasn’t as if Nico was using him- Nico seemed too innocent for that and besides- he was a Di Angelo, people respected him and the holy ground he walked on.

“If all goes well in your first surgery, feel free to send that draft out again.” Will winked as he got up and threw away the remains of his terrible lunch before heading to the table with the remaining attendings.

“Impress him with your loving, then impress him with your healing,” Will heard Percy whisper, which earned Percy a punch in the arm from Piper, a dirty look from Annabeth and snort from Frank. Will, slightly sick of Percy’s teasing, stormed off to the department at the entrance of the hospital which all the staff here called ‘The Pit’ for some reason. Percy, as clueless as ever was trying to remain a straight face and Frank was struggling to keep on being the mature one.

Hour 10

Nico was adequately proud of himself- he didn't flirt with people often ( mainly because normally it was people flirting with him) but he couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t slightly nervous when he was walking towards the room of Katie Bryce and saw a man and woman at the desk- Nico presumed they were married due to the wedding rings they wore.

“Katie Bryce, Room 3604?” Nico asked the couple. They nodded eagerly and the 3 adults had a quick conversation where Nico informed them that he wasn’t Katies actual doctor, but still was a doctor, and that he would go and find said doctor. Nico, who didn’t actually know who Katie’s doctor was now, had to verbally tell himself to not panic and he managed to figure out that he should ask Dr. Chase (he prayed she wasn’t sleeping). Luckily, Dr Chase was charting at the nurses station and when she heard his meek footsteps approaching, her head snapped up and she raised an eyebrow.

“Katie Bryce’s parents want to speak with the head on the case. Shall I page Dr. Zhang?”

“Dr Zhang? No, this patient belongs to Neuro now- Dr Jackson, he’s right around the corner.” Annabeth flicked her pen towards her boyfriend who was speaking to two other attendings- who Nico recognised to be Dr Mclean and Dr Ramirez. He waved over to Percy who smiled and dismissed the two doctors before making his way over to Nico and throwing his arm around Nico’s shoulders while ruffling his hair. Nico did not allow the gesture from anyone but felt comforted by it from Percy.

“Percy!” Nico almost squealed as Percy rubbed his knuckles into Nico’s head keeping him in a loose headlock.

“Death! I haven’t seen you in ages! How has it been?” Percy smiled as he began walking them towards the hallway. Nico cringed slightly from the nickname. Death was not something you want to be called at a hospital, especially if you were a doctor.

“Oh you know, Chase is tough but she knows what she’s doing.”

“She better, she learnt from the best,” Percy said proudly, pointing towards himself. Nico took this as an opportunity to lower Percy’s ego and asked

“Chiron?”

“You smug little-” Percy was cut off by Nico’s shrieks and protests to stop as Percy tickled him. Was it evil of Percy to tickle Nico? Perhaps, especially since he knew that Nico was one of the most ticklish people to ever exist.

Hour 15

Interns filtered into the viewing box above the operating room- they were all excited to watch one of them perform the first surgery. Jason, however, was terrified. He was muttering the basics of the procedure again and again as the crowd filtered in above him. If he made one mistake, everyone would see it, everyone would know and he would become the intern who couldn’t cut.

“Open, identify, ligate, remove, irrigate, close. Open, identify, ligate, remove, irrigate, close,” he muttered continuously, his eyes scrunched shut in fear.

Meanwhile, in the overhead viewing box, interns started placing bets. Sure, everyone was excited that an intern was assisting but they were also bitter. It would be a lie to tell you that no one in that room had thought that they should be down there operating room instead of Dr Grace. As Nico came in, he was slightly surprised to hear people making bets- sure, Jason had taken the surgery from them but betting? Was that really necessary? Especially since they were betting on his demise rather than him succeeding.

“30 dollars if he can’t open the peritoneum.”

“35 if he faints, he seems like a fainter.”

“40 says he kills the guy.”

“50 says he pulls off the whole thing,” Nico, who was sick of hearing the interns bet, cut in, “That's one of us in there- where’s your loyalty?” Nico had grown up with a loyal best friend- Percy- so if he valued anything in a person it was loyalty. He watched as poor Jason moved his lips, mumbling the procedure. He really hoped Jason didn’t butcher this- he had kind of put his trust in him over here. Jason turned to the nurses as they performed the time- out- reciting the patient's name, sex and other vital information such as the actual surgery- an appendectomy .

“Scalpel,” Jason ordered his hand reaching towards the nurse. As soon as it made contact with Jason’s hand, the interns went wild. The interns were cheering, clapping and whistling. It was official, Jason was the first intern to pick up a scalpel on a live patient. Even Nico joined in on the cheering, leaning back slightly in his seat and clapping- that was until Dr Zhang turned towards the interns and mimicked silence. The interns understood- Dr Grace does not need distractions.

“That Zhang is trouble,” Hazel muttered, biting her lip gently. Nico, trying to resist a smirk, leaned over and whispered,

“Hazel’s got a crush.”

Hazel, as chill as ever (sarcasm intended), pinched Nico’s arm making him flinch, pout and then rub gently at his slightly reddened flesh. Jason was trying to concentrate- he had never thought that one would have to apply so much pressure to cut into human flesh so of course, he hesitated a bit. However, once he was through, he started to find it a bit easier.

“Pickups…. Clamps,” he ordered.

“Dammit, he got through the peritoneum, I’m out,” the intern who betted on Jason admitted defeat as Jason continued.

“Scalpel….. And Appendix is out!”

Despite Dr Zhang's previous warnings, the interns went wild. Jason did it, he actually did it. Nico could see all the interns freaking out and while he was truly happy for Jason, he knew that he hadn’t finished. He had to close and celebrating too early may jinx him. Dr Zhang, who didn’t mind the interns celebrating, began to instruct Jason on his remaining steps.

“Now all you have to is insert the stump into the cecum and simultaneously pull the up on the purse strings, but be careful not to-” Frank was cut of by the distinct sound of sutures snapping- a sound which caused the silence of everyone and echoed

“- Break them,” Frank finished his sentence, sighing. He wouldn’t lie and say that he didn’t expect this but he hoped that the intern would fix his mistake quickly. He watched as Jason struggled nervously. Jason himself didn’t even know what he had just done- all he could replay in his head was the snapping sound and the feeling of the suture breaking. The loss of tension in his hand as he accidently pulled too hard. Out of all the useful knowledge he had, it was that recent memory that just kept on replaying in Jason’s head.

“You’ve just ripped the cecum, you’ve got yourself a bleeder! What do you do now?” Dr Zhang tried to encourage him but it was no use. Nico watched as Jason froze.

Damn it Jason come on! Alas, Nico couldn’t help but think, Jason was like a deer in headlights- Bambi. Jason didn’t know how to react- what did he do now? He hadn’t considered the possibility if the sutures snapped.

“Think- You stop the suctions and start searching for those purse strings before he bleeds to death,” Dr Zhang instructed, his voice the only clear thing in the room other than the drastic beeping coming from the monitor. Nico could feel everybody in the room holding their breath- this moment was either going to make or break Jason.

“Give him a clamp,” Dr Zhang ordered.

“BP’s dropping,” a nurse warned. The interns watched with anxiety for their fellow intern- Jason was frozen, his hands stuck mid-air.

“BP is getting too low.”

Finally Dr Zhang had to make a decision and he held his hand out to the nurses,

“Move. Suction and Clamps.”

The interns all groaned, throwing their heads back or burying their heads between their hands. Money was passed around and Nico could only feel pity for the blond boy who looked like bambi in the operating room. As interns began to leave, people began to whisper.

“He’s a 007.”

“Yeah! Totally a 007.”

“What’s 007?” Juniper looked around, slightly confused. Nico, morbid as ever, kept his eyes trained on the surgeon operating as he told Juniper.

“License to kill.”

Hour 19

Jason sat in a wheelchair (that he most likely did not want to know where it had been) as he rolled the wheels back and forth complaining. He still couldn’t believe that he had frozen up like that. Not only that but he knew what the consequences of it was now.

“Everyone is calling me 007,” He complained, still embarrassed from his poor performance. Nico and Meg- both of whom were sick of his whining- answered at the same time.

“No one is calling you 007.”

“Really? A dude in the elevator whispered 007 and everyone started laughing!”

“007 is a state of mind,” Hazel called out as she waited by the old vending machine. It waited a bit too long for Hazel’s patience and thus she gave it a light kick to keep it going.

“Says the girl who finished first in her class at Stanford,” Jason retorted, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. Nico was enjoying this mindless banter, it was the first break he had in a while and it was relaxing to be able to not have to think critically for once. Of course, because fate hated Nico in particular, Nico’s pager beeped causing him to groan and accidentally bang his head as he pulled out his pager, causing his eyes to widen.

“Ah, fuck. Someone is paging me 911 on Katie Bryce, gotta go!”

Nico hopped off the spare stretcher he was on and practically ran towards the stairs desperate to get the patient's room. As Nico left, he let out a small snort of laughter for he heard Jason mumble,

“I should have gone into geriatrics- nobody minds when you kill an old person.”

Nico gasped for air as he walked into room 3604 and saw a perfectly healthy and fine Kate Bryce. What the hell? Did she lose the ability to talk? Because that wasn’t a 911, that was a thank the gods. He looked around for any crash cart or indicator that there was actually anything wrong with her.

“There’s nothing wrong with you?” He panted, feeling his anger bubble up. Katie simply shrugged, twirling her platinum blond hair that looked dyed.

“I’m bored.”

Nico gasped and face palmed- he just could not with this girl! Would giving her an early death count as breaking the hippocratic oath? Man, he really wanted to punch Hippocrates- making doctors swear a damn oath on Apollo!

“This is a hospital, people are dying, people who actually require a doctor's help! Go to sleep,” Nico explained, his voice raising slightly due to the interruption of his very calming break- he considered hearing Jason complain better than any sort of time spent with this patient. Katie, however, did not want to comply with what was being asked of her.

“I can’t sleep, my heads all full!” Katie whined slightly, throwing her head back softly against the propped up pillows.

“That's called thinking, go with it, maybe you’ll learn something new.”

Hour 21

Annabeth was happy right now. In this moment as she and Percy lay snuggled up against each other cuddling in the on call rooms, Annabeth was happy. She had to catch up on her sleep and Percy was a neurosurgeon- his surgeries were tiring and required him to be well rested (something that never happened either way) for him to perform at his best ability. She could hear Percy’s heart thumping under her ear as she lay with her head on his chest and one of her legs thrown on top of his. The sound and vibrations were comforting, relaxing, easing her to sleep- she was happy.

Juniper did not feel so happy right now. She was standing at the nurses station staring at the on - call room that she knew Dr Chase to be in. As she stood by the nurses station, a nurse leaning on the desk asked her what she wanted.

“Mr Anderson has chunky veins, he needs antibiotics and I should start a central line,” Juniper admitted, looking away. The nurse, not even glancing up from his chart simply told her,

“Then start one…”

Juniper's silence told him what he needed to know.

“...And you don’t know how to. You know what that means.” The nurse nodded his head towards the on call room where Dr Chase resided. Juniper had to physically restrain herself to stop herself from shivering. She was about to break Rule 3. She peeked her head into the dark on call room where she initially thought she was about to accidentally become scarred for life. However, what she saw surprised her. Dr Chase was soundfully asleep next to Dr Jackson. Their arms were intertwined with each other and Dr Jackson had one arm wrapped around Dr Chase’s waist. They looked so peaceful, Juniper was so tempted to walk out and just let Mr Anderson get a nice trip to the morgue but she didn’t want to end up being called something like 007. She took a deep breath.

“Dr chase, I don’t mean to bother you-”

“-Then don’t,” Annabeth snapped. She did not want to leave Percy, he was so warm and she wanted her damned sleep.

“It’s Mr Anderson,” Juniper started explaining.

“Is he dying?”

“No.”

“Then stop talking to me.” Annabeth rolled over so that her back was towards Juniper. Juniper cleared her throat slightly which caused Percy to jerk his arm. Annabeth huffed, clearly agitated.

“Next time you wake me, he better be so close to dead, there’s a tag on his toe.”

Hour 23

Nico was walking towards Katye Bryce’s room once again to check in on her. Hopefully, she had taken his advice and was soundly asleep by now. Yet, as Nico approached her room, he saw nurses running in and out of it- Nico picked up his pace until it was a run as he got into the room. Immediately, the nurses briefed him on what was going on.

“She’s having multiple Grand Mal seizures, now, how do you want to proceed? Dr Di Angelo, are you listening? We’ve given her diazepam, 2 milligrams of Lorazepam- we just gave a second dose- Dr Di Angelo, you need to tell us what you want us to do!”

Nico was frozen. What in the name of Hades had happened while he was gone? He began to filter his thoughts-find out what's in her system and proceed from there.

“You gave her lorazepam?” he asked.

“Yep, 4 milligrams.”

“You’ve paged Chase and Jackson?” He pushed.

“Lorazepam isn’t working!”

“Phenobarbital, 2 milligrams,” He blurted, remembering the drug from a chemistry quiz he had gotten completely correct due to Bianca’s old notes.

“Heart’s stopped!” a nurse called out. Nico’s brain called out Code Blue, Code Blue! But his mouth could not move. What was he doing? He normally acted on immediately in emergency situations- they were practically his reflexes. He had to focus. He closed his eyes for a second.

Focus Nico, focus- this girl is literally dead.

His eyes snapped open- he was still panicking but now that he had a second to think, he had a vague idea of what to do.

“Okay, start compressions- grab the crash cart. Charge the pads to 200.” Nico turned his head towards the nurse operating the charge value on the defibrillator.

“Clear!”

Katie Bryce’s jolted upwards, but her heart did not return to normal. The nurse opposite to Nico continued compressions on her body while the other nurse held an ambu bag to her face, squeezing it every 5 seconds to provide air for her lungs.

“Still V-Fib, no change,” the nurse commented.

“Charge to 300.”

“27 seconds since the heart stopped,” another Nurse informed.

“Charge to 360, C’mon Katie. Clear!” Nico waited to see if her heart would react.

“ Okay, restarting compressions,” He ordered as he tried to think of the next step in running a code.

“49 seconds since the heart stopped.”

“Charge again, Clear!”

Everyone in the room waited anxiously as the monitor returned to beeping normally.

“Sinus Rhythm.”

A collective sigh of relief was let out as people started filtering out.

at the hell happened?” Percy asked as he speed walked into the room. He couldn’t help feeling a bit useless as he found his patient that was dying only seconds ago, alive and well- only it wasn’t him who had saved her, it was Dr Di Angelo.

“She had a seizure and her heart stopped,” Nico explained, sighing gently now that Percy was here.

“You were supposed to be monitoring her.” Percy turned around to face Nico. Nico was not expecting the accusatory tone- sure he wasn’t expecting clap on the back either but a Oh hey for keeping her alive while I took ages to show up would have been nice. Nico had known Percy all his life but despite that, he had never seen such a cold, turned off side of him. Was this how doctors or surgeons did their jobs? Become cold to everyone around them? Nico tried to explain himself- the key word there being tried.

“I-”

“-Just go, I’ve got her now.” Dr Jackson batted his hand and Nico was dismissed. Nico felt dismissed. Was this the life of an intern? Being blamed for every small inconvenience so the attendings can feel less guilt on their backs? Nico didn’t do anything wrong- he followed protocol, just as he had been told. He ran the code and continually paged Dr Chase and Dr Jackson. Them not showing up was the issue here, not him. He had saved her life. Not them.

Nico’s mind felt dead. He was 23 hours into a 48 hour shift and already, he was feeling the pressure. Too much pressure- was there a point to this? Was there a point to any of this? Nico dragged his feet across the floor, trying to find the exit.

“When you get a 911, you page me immediately. If someone dies, it’s on my ass. You hear me? Di Angelo?” Dr Chase raised an eyebrow at the intern who practically ignored them as they walked to the exit door, ignoring everything around them. The interns, Jason and Hazel both noticed his abnormally pale face and dazed expression. Hazel, being the concerned sister she was, followed Nico as he started to gain speed towards the exit.

“Nico, are you okay?”She reached her arm out but Nico made no notice of her. He could feel his stomach become more and more uneasy. He leant against a pole with one hand and quickly threw up his lunch. He placed both of his hands on his thighs, remaining hunched over and trying to catch his breath. As he walked back towards the hospital, intending to go and wash his mouth out, he caught Hazel walking towards him with concern drawn all over her face.

“If you ever tell anyone…” Nico trailed off as he walked past her, entering the hospital again.

Hour 26

“You said it was a seizure disorder, now you’re saying it isn’t?” Mr Bryce, Katie’s father, asked with slight confusion. He stood by his wife's side, both his hands on his hips in a confrontive manner.

“I’m saying that I don’t know. For now, I don’t have an answer for you. Now that Katie is stable-” Dr Jackson started explaining only to be cut off by the father.

“-We came here because this hospital is supposed to be the best in New York. That's my kid in there and you have the audacity to stand here and say I don’t know. I want someone else , a doctor that knows what they’re doing. A doctor better than you!”

“Mr Bryce, I can assure you that I’m working hard on Katie’s case-” Dr Jackson tried to keep himself calm. He was working hard but sometimes the body did things that science couldn’t explain. He was a doctor, a surgeon, not god.

“- No, you’re not. If you were, you’d be able to give me some answers.”

Percy decided to leave the couple before he said something to them that he’d regret.

Dr Zhang was a calm, collected and highly skillful surgeon. He knew what he was doing as he explained the surgery to Mr Savitch.

“I put you on the bypass machine, which pumps blood for your heart, fix your ticker, take you off the machine- I’m done. Simple procedure.”

His wife -who was clutching her husband's hand so tightly her knuckles were turning white- asked Dr Zhang with a slightly relieved voice,

“So I have no reason to worry?”

“I’m very good at what I do but it’s still surgery- there are still some risks. I’ll see you in the Operating Room this afternoon Mr Savitch.” Frank waved his hand goodbye to the couple and left while Dr Grace stayed behind to reassure the patient.

“Dr Zhang is very good, you’ll be fine,” Jason confirmed.

“He’ll be fine right?” Mrs Savitch urged again, wanting a guarantee. Her eyes screamed Tell me my husband will live. Jason could not understand how she was feeling but he sympathised for her. He wanted to help her, he reminded him of his mother, a woman who worried often.

“Tony’s gonna sail through it- You have nothing to worry about Gloria - I promise.”

Hour 30

Nico had no idea why he was here- in fact, he had no idea why any of the interns were here. They had all been called to the briefing room for a conference yet at no point had he been informed what exactly it was about. He glanced to his right to see Hazel holding sutures with a banana laying on her lap.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m suturing a banana with the vain hope that it wakes up my brain,” Hazel drawled her hand raising up to tighten the perfectly spaced sutures together- something Nico too had the talent for. Their heads both shot up as Dr Jackson, with Dr Chase beside him, walked in. Dr Solace also walked in, catching Nico’s eye as he leaned with his back on the door frame.

“I’m gonna do something pretty rare for a surgeon. I’m gonna ask interns for help. Katie Bryce right now is a mystery- she isn't responding to medication. All the tests are clean but she’s having seizures, Grand mal seizures and we don’t know why. I need you to help me out,” all the interns sighed as Percy explained this.

“I know you’re tired, I know you’re busy which is why I’m gonna give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer rides with me. Katie needs surgery- you get to do what no intern does. You get to scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure. Annabeth- I mean- Dr Chase will hand out the chart- The clock is ticking people. Let’s save a life,” Percy weakly smiled as he saw the eager interns scrambling for the files and gave Nico a wink as he left the room. Nico had to look down at his shoes to not blush- his crush on Percy had subsided years ago but what are you meant to do when people wink at you?

Will decided to tag along to the intern conference being held by Dr Jackson- he’d get a chance to see the interns working under incredible amounts of pressure and have a look at potential residents to take under his wing as trauma residents. At least, that's what he told himself. In reality, he had wanted to see the Italian doctor who had the guts to flirt with him and then invite him to bed. Was Will offended? Of course! Did this intern think he was that easy? While Will told himself that wasn’t easy, a small part of his subconscious told him that him showing up to the intern conference for one gorgeous man proved otherwise.

As Nico left the conference room, Hazel jogged to catch up with him- though Nico didn’t know why she was jogging, she had much longer legs than him.

“Hey, I want in on Jackson’s surgery- you've been the intern on her case since the start- you want to work together? If we find the answer, we have a 50/50 chance of scrubbing in ,” She offered.

“Sure, but I want in on the surgery.” Nico shrugged.

“So do I.”

“May the best surgeon scrub in,” Nico held out his hand for Hazel to shake. The game was on.

The locker room was full of several other interns- all of whom were re-reading Katie’s chart as if their lives depended on it. Hazel and Nico were hunched together by their lockers- which were co-incidentally placed next to each other. There were 6 empty cups of coffee- 4 were Hazels and 2 were Nico’s. Rainbow sweet strips, Nico’s pick of course, were also present- Hazel had to beg Nico for a pack as he had 3 to himself. Nico was so used to staying up for unnecessarily long hours that he didn’t need as much caffeine to keep himself acting like a live human being, unlike his sister.

“So she doesn't have anoxia, chronic renal failure or acidosis. It’s not a tumor because the CT was clean,” Hazel confirmed.

“What about infection?” Nico suggested as he savagely bit into a rainbow gummy strip, ripping it away from his face causing sugar sprinkles to fly everywhere. Hazel shot him a look as she brushed them off her scrubs.

“No , there’s no white count, she has no C.T lesions, no fevers, nothing in her spinal tap.”

“What about an aneurysm?”

“No blood on the C.T, no headaches, no drug use, no pregnancy, no trauma. Nico, what if this girl dies?”

“This is gonna sound really bad but I really wanted that surgery,” Nico confessed before continuing, “Her pageant talent is rhythmic gymnastics. What even is rhythmic gymnastics? I can’t even say it properly, I don’t know what it is!”

“Oh come on, they have pageant talents?” Hazel started snorting with laughter with Nico joining only a mere matter of seconds later. Rhythmic gymnastics- a totally odd and dangerous pageant talent. Why not go with knitting, there’s a less chance of falling.

A less chance of falling.

Nico’s brain raced- something about that was relevant- vital even. Why did that sound so important?

Nico shot up, grabbing his sister by the arm. He thought he knew what was wrong with Katie.

“Get up, come on. Come on!” Nico whisper- shouted as he grabbed Hazel who asked him what the hell he was on about. He told her about Katie’s fall during practise for rhythmic gymnastics when she had sprained her ankle- the chance of a small aneurysm to form.

“The only thing that she would possibly need is an angiogram,” Hazel realised as they both rushed out to find Dr Jackson. They found him in the elevator ,alone, and just as the door started closing, Hazel stuck her hand in the way of the door. Immediately she started talking.

“She has no headaches, no neck pain, her C.T is clean- there’s no medical proof of an aneurysm but what if she has one anyway?”

“How?” Percy questioned, slightly confused.

“You see she twisted her ankle and fell. Just a bump on her head. It was so minor that her primary care doctor didn’t think to mention it in her history but there's a chance, right, Perce?” Nico almost begged, using the childhood nickname he used to call Percy, that he used to call his best friend. That is what he was doing at that moment- asking for his best friend to listen, not Dr Jackson.

“You know there’s a one in a million chance of that, literally,” Percy sighed, shaking his head. The siblings hung their heads as the situations settled- their diagnosis was getting shut down or so they thought it was. The lift opened and there stood Percy smiling. He waved his hands, signalling them to follow him.

“Let's go find out if Katie is one in a million.”

Hazel and Nico were both silent as they waited in the cath lab- this was it for them. Either they become a pair of fools and Nico would tarnish the Di Angelo name or they get to be the first interns out of their year to assist on an advanced procedure. Percy stood with his arms folded, his black hair tousled and his jaw muscle ticking like crazy- Nico could also see that he was stressed although who for, Nico could not tell.

“I’ll be damned. It's minor but it’s there- a subarachnoid hemorrhage. She’s bleeding into her brain,” Percy gasped slightly as he pointed his pen to the small black blobs on the screen. As they left the Cath Lab, Hazel and Nico were ready. They wanted to know who was getting the surgery- sure, they had agreed that the best surgeon would win but secretly, they had both hoped that they’d both be able to scrub it.

“Uh, Dr Jackson, you said that the intern who brought the diagnosis would be able to scrub in,” Hazel gently reminded, her eyes hopeful and full of yearning.

“Unfortunately, I can’t have you both so Nico, you’re scrubbing in.”

Nico was over the moon- His first surgery was going to be with Percy and he was going to assist! However Hazel both looked and felt distraught. She knew she should feel more happy for her brother but she couldn’t help but feel a slight sliver of jealousy that he had only been chosen because Nico and Percy were childhood friends. As Nico turned around to apologise for her, he saw that she had already left without him.

Hour 34

Jason was in the scrub room waiting for Dr Zhang to finish up the surgery on Mr Savitch. Was he nervous? Of course, but he was also confident in Dr Zhang's skills as a surgeon. He was sipping a soda while charting, leaning with his back to the operating room- he didn’t want to get distracted by the surgery happening behind him. The door swung open with a Whack and Dr Zhang walked in, looking dejected.

“That was quick, wow!” Jason said admirably- he knew Dr Zhang was good, but he didn’t think he could complete a surgery like that so fast!

“He didn’t make it. His heart had too much damage to get him off bypass- I had to let him go. It’s rare but it happens. It’s the worst part of the game,” Frank confessed as he washed his hands and splashed water onto his face, making him feel slightly more alive. Unlike Jason who swore his extremities went numb.

This couldn’t be, right? Surely this was a prank- everyone would play a prank on him, he was the 007! He would walk into the operating room and see the nurses preparing to move him back to the ICU for post surgery care. Yes, yes that’s what this was- a whole prank. Dr Zhang was probably punishing him for almost killing a person in surgery and this was his equivalent of karma. Despite the idea, when Jason turned around, he regretted everything he saw. There was blood on the floor,the patient was still wide open, the heart monitor which was still attached to the patient showed no sign of cardiac activity. Jason could feel a lump in his throat, a lump that he just couldn’t swallow. Hos throat was dry and there were tears pricking at the corner of his eyes as he attempted to speak.

“B..but I told his wife Gloria that he would be fine- I promised her tha-”

“You what? The only person who can give a promise like that is God and I haven’t seen him holding a scalpel lately. You never promise a patient's family a good outcome!”Frank, in a rare moment of no self control, lashed out. Jason, who realised his mistake, decided to leave Dr Zhang to mourn what he considered his failure and inform the family of their greatest loss.

Frank slumped over the sink in the scrub room, rubbing at his head. He had never failed something so simple, how did he not foresee this? His fists clenched and relaxed as his mind went over the events of the surgery- he had never felt so much like a failure in his life as he did in this moment right now.

As Jason approached the family, he could see their cheerful, happy faces, completely unaware of the soul- crashing news that he was about to bring them. Gloria ,who noticed him on instinct, immediately smiled wider- she thought she was going to go see her husband now. His kids had no idea what was about to happen to their lives. Jason still had the lump in his throat that was only getting bigger. He had to swallow several times which was a struggle because of his dry throat.

“How is he?” Gloria rushed her words out and it seemed she seemed more excited than nervous. Jason swallowed heavily before starting.

“Gloria, there were complications regarding your husband's surgery. Tony’s heart had a lot of damage. We tried to take him off bypass but- there wasn’t anything we could have done.”

Jason’s hands wrung back and forth as he struggled to keep his eyes from watering. He could feel them stinging as he fought back the tears of his betrayal

Gloria’s face scrunched up before slowly falling. Jason could see how her face slowly morphed from one of pure happiness to one of panic and distraught but Jason could also see the hope in her eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Gloria’s voice broke slightly, her lip curling.

“Tony died. He’s dead… Gloria, I am so sorry.” Jason reached out to comfort her, his hand reaching to stroke her back only for Gloria to completely flinch away from his touch. Betrayal illustrated her face and Jason couldn’t bear to continue looking her in the eye.

“Please, go away.”

Jason had undergone a lot of tough, painful situations to become a doctor and yet, this is what broke him.

Hour 40

Percy was shaving Katie’s head, watching the blond tufts of hair fall off her face. Nico walked in, smirking as he leant against the door. On noticing Nico’s presence, he began to whisper,

“I promised to give her a cool haircut. Apparently it’s a scandal to be a bald beauty queen.”

“Ah, well, I would totally pull it off..” Nico reached towards his hair and pushed it back slightly. Percy laughed slightly and nodded in agreement before they fell into a comfortable silence- the only sound being the buzzing from the electric razor. Nico watched Percy with admiration in eyes and Percy would look up at him every once in a while with a genuine smile that made his eyes crease.

Will was watching Percy and Nico hanging out in room 3604, an odd feeling of spite towards Percy starting to form. He didn’t know why- Percy had always been a good friend to him, helping him earn the respect of his peers. He watched as Nico watched Percy and suddenly felt the urge to accept Nico’s offer.

“I do hope that you aren’t staring at Di Angelo,” Leo walking up behind him commented dryly.

“Lover boy, you can’t really talk. Last time I checked, you seemed to be physically unable to keep your eyes off Calypso,” Will muttered in response. Leo gasped in mock offense before laughing.

“Awww, are you two sharing ‘we are going to single forever’ moment?” Piper cooed. Will grunted slightly - while Piper defended Will in public she totally teased him when there weren’t as many people and as for her and Leo- well they had known each other since they were teenagers.

“I’d like to escape the single lot, thank you for the offer though, pipes,” Frank sighed as he joined the group of them. His mood was still down due to losing his patient- he couldn’t help feel overwhelming guilt for not saving a patient with such an easy procedure.

Percy came out of the room, chatting away with Nico before he spotted the group of attendings who were all staring at them. He raised an eyebrow at all of them, especially since they weren’t trying to be subtle in any way.

“Yall, get back to work.”

The operating room was a tad warm. Or maybe that was Nico sweating due to his nervous nature. He couldn’t afford to screw up here, he had made it so far in only a few hours and had worked hard. Dr Jackson walked in with his trident and sea print scrub cap on his head before he looked around the room.

“All right everybody. Are we ready? Okay, Scalpel,” He held his hand out as he ordered a scalpel into his hand. Nico who was on his tip- toes to see what was going on for he was not sure if he could come any closer- neurosurgeons were scary people sometimes. Percy, who was ecstatic and in a great mood, gestured for Nico to come closer.

“Nico, come take a look. Your sister would absolutely love this,” Percy gushed and for once, Nico completely agreed as he looked at a live human brain.

Hour 48

It was finally time to head out. Nico was relieved- his eyeliner ,which was perfectly done the morning he came in, needed re-applying and he wanted to put his heeled boots back on. He was sick of everyone being taller than him. He was in the locker room after finishing the surgery and quickly he changed. He felt much better once he was back in his own clothes. Black ripped jeans, fingerless gloves, Ramone t-shirt and his beloved heeled boots. He stood in the mirror finishing off his eyeliner as Hazel walked in.

“We don’t have to do the thing where I say something and then you do and then somebody cries and then there’s a moment-” she started

“Yuck,” Nico cut in. Hazel smiled ever so slightly but Nico noticed it, causing him to attempt to repress a smile. The key word there being attempt.

“Good.”

Nico was looking for Percy- he wanted to thank him for the amazing surgery and for picking him to scrub in. He was about to enter the on call room that he assumed Percy to be in when he accidentally walked into someone. That someone just so happened to be Dr Solace. Except he was shirtless.

Why the fuck was he shirtless? Is there someone in there with him? Oh my god, was I hitting on a straight dude?

“Ah, sorry about that. I was changing when I realised my clean clothes were in my locker,” Will confessed sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. But Nico wasn’t really paying attention to anything that came out his mouth but rather his lips. Wait, why was he shirtless again? Nico had an internal panic for about 2 seconds before he pulled himself together and remembered his objective around Dr Solace.

“If I’m correct Solace, that surgery went very well,” Nico smirked.

If your first surgery goes well, then feel free to send that draft out again.

Nice one Nico, you got this.

Will opened his mouth, slightly in shock that Nico had still remembered that by now- sure it was 41 hours ago but most interns just wanted to sleep by now. But This was a Di Angelo he was talking about- surgery ran in their blood.

“Well congratulations. I caught the draft. What are you going to do about it, Di Aneglo?” Will challenged quite confidently, Nico’s surname rolling off his tongue. Nico started walking towards him, backing him into the oncall room. The second they were both in there, Nico’s hand reached behind him and locked the door with a flick of his wrist.

“Copy me,” Nico told Will. He raised one of his arms and then the other, watching as Will copied, slightly confused by the random motion. He then put both his hands together above his head and the second Will copied, Nico pinned Will’s hands above his head with a single hand and smiled wickedly. Will, adequately impressed, leaned his head forward to kiss Nico who obliged.

Explosions.

That's what Nico felt. He wasn’t expecting Will to be such a good kisser. The kiss was soft at first, their breath dancing across each other's lips but became more heated as Will tried to shift his hands out of Nico’s reach. Nico, being stubborn as he was, refused. Will bit Nico’s lip gingerly, teasing him as he pulled his lip back slightly between his teeth- the second Nico groaned gently, Will used all the momentum he had to flip them and press Nico against the door, holding one of his wrists in his hand. He reached to grab the other and hold it above Nico’s head as their lips smashed. When Will finally pulled back for air, he started making light butterfly kisses onto Nico’s jawline, making his way down to Nico’s neck. He gently sank his teeth and lightly sucked on the flesh there, making Nico throw his head back and let out a light moan.

Nico decided that he could thank Percy for the surgery later.

Hazel was waiting for Nico. She was outside the hospital and was watching as all the other interns were leaving and finally he arrived. His clothes were a mess- crumpled, his t- shirt was completely inside out and there was a bruise on his neck. Hazel had no idea what had happened and honestly, she didn’t want to. Nico waved to her, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it.

“Finally! Gosh, we need to go if you want to get there on time!” Hazel fussed.

Annabeth and Percy were holding hands as they chatted away with Piper and Reyna- their faces all in an animated conversation despite being awake for 48 hours.

“And then I totally clipped that aneurysm,” Percy boasted, swinging Annabeth's hand up in the air with his.

Frank was meant to be paying attention to the conversation he was supposed to be having with Leo- who was excitedly talking about the life saving surgery that he did with Calypso as the Peds and OB department had to team up for that case. However, Frank was actually looking at Hazel as he started telling off Nico for the smoking near a hospital.

“It was a really cool case- the mother was teen in the third trimester which meant Peds had to work with OB. The baby had a tight nuchal cord so the delivery had to be performed by C- section so we could safely clamp and cut off the umbilical cord,” Leo ranted.

Thalia was rustling the blond hair of her younger brother as they got into a car, talking about their days.

“Who cares, 007 was totally badass!” Thalia told her brother as she started the car. Piper waved goodbye to Percy, Annabeth and Reyna, and leaned against one of stumps while she waited for Will. When Will finally arrived, his hair was an absolute mess and he had a few buttons of his shirt undone which gave view for a bruise blooming on his collarbone. Piper decided not to make much comment of it as they both started walking away. Will turned his head to see Nico one more time, only to see him laughing and kissing the head of a girl with dark skin and beautiful curly hair. Terror and unease immediately set within him.

Did I just help him cheat on his girlfriend?

Will decided to push the thought to the back of his mind as he left the hospital.

Nico was stalling. He knew it and so did Hazel. She had pulled up at the nursing home but he was still drumming his fingers on his lap as he sat in the car. After 10 minutes of pure silence, Nico got out of the car, the only sound made being the soft closing of the car door. He walked up the steps before entering the home. It was well lit, elegant and classy- he knew if Bianca was lucid that she’d love it here. He walked towards the window seat, knowing that she always loved to sit there. He took a gentle seat next to her, waiting for her to notice him nearby. When she finally acknowledged him, she looked at him and up and down, slightly confused.

“Are you the doctor?”Bianca asked, her eyes wide.

“No, I’m not your doctor but I am a doctor,” Nico attempted a smile but it failed with corners of his lips falling slightly. Biance wrung her hands back and forth, fidgeting with them subconsciously. The nails that used to be flawless were now chipped and bitten at.

“What's your name?”she turned her head towards him, tilting it slightly as she looked her brother in the eye.

“It’s me, sis. It’s Nico,” He said half heartedly, his voice cracking as his eyes followed hers, trying to somehow get to her lucid mind. He saw her eyes. He saw her how they looked at him, how she didn’t recognise him. Her eyes, they weren’t the same golden brown that gleamed, they were glossy- as if there were clouds covering the clear sky.

“I think I used to be a doctor,” Bianca mused as she continued to rub her hands aggressively. Nico reached out to stop her, hoping she wouldn't flinch or become aggressive. He held her hand in his, enveloping his hand over hers and she accepted the gesture. Just for a second, Nico could see his sister again.

“You were a doctor. You were a surgeon.”

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whats-rambled-rambled · 4 years

Text

Stuck in reverse - pt 3

Neil x Reader

Chapter 3: Bad guy

(<- see Chapter 2)

(<- see Chapter 1)

summary: you and Neil end up on an undercover mission together, but what should you do with all that free time?

warnings: alcohol consumption, blood mention, swearing

author’s note: this one surprisingly works as a standalone fic as well, I had fun writing playful banter and flirting, hope you enjoy it!

---

It was a chilly evening, but it wasn’t bothering you. You inhaled a cold air deep into your lungs.

That’s more like it.

You really enjoyed the thrill of being on a mission, when you could lock all the bullshit deep inside and just focus on a task ahead: quick undercover scout of the location, then stopping a local kingpin from acquiring some inverted materials. You could already feel all your senses sharpening, you were ready for the hunt.

You heard Neil’s footsteps behind you. You glanced over your shoulder and smirked.

“Aww, no tie?” you teased, trying not to laugh as you watched the hint of confusion on his face.

“What?”

“Nothing, you not wearing one on a..." – you cleared your throat - "...night out used to be a rare sight, that’s all.”

You didn’t mind though.

Neil blinked twice and crossed his arms. “Oh I’m sorry, should I go and change now?” He looked you up and down, a shade of smile tinted his lips. “I wouldn’t want to be under-dressed.”

“What, you don’t like my converse?” you huffed and mirrored his pose. “Hey, I enjoy a good pair of heels, just can’t save the day wearing them.”

“Fair enough,” he said and smiled, tilting his head and looking at you with those playful sparks in his eyes. “You look amazing.”

You raised one eyebrow and chuckled. “So do you. Now... shall we?”

The loud music hit you as soon as you entered the club, the bass blasting in your eardrums. While you were trying to mentally match the club’s layout from the brief to the actual location, Neil reached to his pocket for the phone. After few seconds he tapped you on a shoulder and showed you the screen with a message from Ives: “Uncle Bob is running late – looks like an hour, so have fun.”

You nodded and pointed at the bar. “Drinks?” you mouthed. No point in yelling, he couldn’t hear you anyway.

By the time you reached the counter, you already spotted eight security guards in various locations inside the hall, two of them trying to remain undercover in their civilian clothes.

Neil leaned against the bar.

“Nine,” he said, looking at you for confirmation.

You positioned yourself close to him so nobody could eavesdrop. The music was still annoyingly loud. You knew everyone entering the club was carefully examined at the entrance and that the club’s security was paying close attention to anyone behaving suspiciously, they weren’t willing to take any chances, especially that night. You were more than happy that Neil was your partner for that mission – you trusted him enough to just roll with anything the situation might require to remain unnoticed.

“Huh, I have eight, who did I miss?”

Neil gave you a half-smile.“The redhead at the end of the counter,” he said.

You didn’t even have to look at that direction, you knew exactly which one he meant. You smacked your lips, annoyed at your poor judgement.

“Damn, she’s hot,” - you nudged him lightly - “you sure she wasn’t just checking you out because of how incredibly handsome you are?”

“One hundred percent,” Neil laughed dryly.

“Nine then. Excuse me,” - you waved at the bartender to get their attention- “one gin&tonic and one vodka tonic.” You could hear Neil’s chuckle, so you shot a quick look at your partner. “Two can play that game, my dear.”

“Blimey.”

The smug expression on his face definitely made your heartbeat increase its pace. You shook your head and tried to stifle a giggle.

When your drinks arrived, you switched to a meaningless small talk, so no one would bother you while you were focused on locating things that might give you any advantage later on. There was still over half an hour of time left and you felt that you need to move to cover more ground, but you couldn’t just get up and walk around without drawing too much attention to yourself. Then you heard a familiar melody and gasped at that perfect excuse.

“Hey, wanna dance?” you grinned at Neil, your hips already swaying to the rhythm.

He pointed at his half-full drink. “Go ahead, I’ll join you in a bit.”

The dance floor was an excellent vantage point, you spotted two more guards hanging out at the back near the entrance to the VIP lounge. You let the music run through you, it almost felt like every part of your body was vibrating with that insane bass. You noticed Neil staring at you from across the room, but that only boosted your self-confidence. You knew you were good at this and it surely felt nice.

The song switched to something new, so you went back to the bar. You wanted to tease Neil about just sitting there instead of joining you but someone tapped your shoulder.

“Eyyy sexy, can I buy ya a drink?”

You turned your head and saw a guy smiling slyly from his seat. A quick look told you enough: a random stranger, pretty drunk, one of those business douches who considered themselves gods.

“No, thanks,” you replied, turning your back to him to strengthen the message.

“Come on, one drink!” he insisted. And then he grabbed your arm.

You could hear Neil’s glass clanking against a counter a bit too hard, but you were quicker. With one swift move you grabbed a toothpick from an abandoned drink next to you and pressed it against man’s thigh, hard enough for him to feel pain, but not hard enough to break the skin. He yelped and his eyes widened.

“Touch me one more time, I dare you,” your voice was dripping with sugar, but your eyes were deadly serious. “No means no, you twat, now piss off!”

The man squirmed and raised his hands in a defensive way. “Okay, okay,” he hissed and stood up. “Fucking bitch.”

You realized you were holding your breath the entire time, so you forced yourself to inhale and turned back to Neil. Your partner’s expression was a mixture of concern and amusement, so you let out a nervous laugh and ran the fingers though your hair.

“What’s wrong with those guys, I swear,” you shook your head, disgusted. You checked the time, 20 minutes.

Neil finished his drink and leaned your way. “Redhead and baldie over there have been watching the whole thing, come on,” - he said and reached out his hand - “I owe you a dance.”

You took Neil’s hand and followed him to the dance floor. You both knew you had to put on a bit of a show to keep the suspicion off your backs.

The rhythm of the song playing was a bit slower than before, the mood was heavier, made you think about a hot summer night. You could feel the bass pulsing in your veins, your heartbeat slowly getting in sync with it. Neil’s eyes found yours, you felt his gentle touch on your hand. You remembered he was a good dancer. He wasn’t a party beast, far from it, actually, but damn, seeing him move always made you swoon. That night was no different. Your bodies tuned to each other instantly, on one hand that was a familiar feeling, on the other- ...something changed, but you couldn’t put your finger on it yet, and to be honest, you didn’t really care in that moment. For the next few minutes nothing else mattered anymore, there was no mission, no past, no guilt. Only Neil and you, lost in the music, in each other’s closeness, in the rising warmth between the two of you.

Someone bumped into your back, making you lose your balance and fall into Neil’s arms.

“I've got you,” he said softly right into your ear.

His warm breath on your neck sent shivers down your spine and made you forget how to speak for a second. You pulled back to look at him and smiled, your heart singing in your chest.

With the corner of your eye you noticed a sudden change in the security’s behavior. Go time.

Neil must have seen the same thing, because he nodded and guided you back to the bar. The next few moments were crucial, but you already had a plan. You winked at Neil, took his hand and began to lightly stroke his long fingers. Then you got the bartender’s attention.

“Hey, settle this for us, we were wondering if you have any...” - you intertwined your fingers with Neil’s - “...tenets about PDA here,” you said, biting your lip at the sudden touch of Neil’s hand on your waist.

The bartender rolled their eyes and slid a glass of water your way. You could see a shiny metal object under the glass.

“Not really, but I recommend avoiding the main lobby,” they laughed and turned to the next customer.

You exchanged a quick look with Neil. So they are switching the swap location. With his hand still on your waist, he pulled you a bit closer, raising the other hand and slowly tucking a part of your hair behind your ear. That gave you enough time to get the key and hide it in his pocket.

You made your way to the toilet area of the club, where the storage was supposed to be. You maneuvered around the guards playing a tipsy couple, giggling and leaning on each other, not so different from other party couples around you. There were less people next to the storage, thank the Universe, you couldn’t proceed with the mission without getting your stuff first. Neil took the key and opened the lock, he was about to press the handle when you spotted another guard coming your way. You grabbed Neil by the front of his shirt and pulled him your way, slamming your back against the wall painfully. Your eyes locked with his. You buried your face in the crook of his neck. Neil’s hand grazed your hip, the other one, holding the key, slid behind your back. You closed your eyes so you could focus on the sound of footsteps around you, trying to tune out the overwhelming scent of Neil’s cologne.

“I think we’re clear,” he said in a husky voice.

You decided not to comment on it, focusing on leveling your own breath.

Neil entered the storage and you followed him, quickly closing the door behind you. You found your gear hidden in one of the boxes at the back of the room: a lockbox with a laptop, a pair of pistols, silencers, ammo, walkies, a backpack and two bulletproof vests. You opened the computer and ran a program, connecting it to the club’s security system and allowing it to access all the cameras in the building. Meanwhile, Neil got final instructions from Ives and checked the guns. The meeting had already begun. You watched two men carefully examining the contents of a black suitcase. There. Some of the parts dropped back into their hands. What the hell did they need it for?

Neil tossed you your vest, already equipped with everything you needed. Then you had to trigger some silent alarms to smoke the bastards out of that place, but without scaring the civilians in the club. The less people outside, the better. You tapped few command lines into the software and watched the guards outside the transaction room jump at their places, one of them going inside to alert the bosses, the other one rushing to check for the intruders.

You packed all your things to the backpack and gave it to Neil. He pushed three boxes together so you could easily reach the small window near the ceiling, allowing you both to drop in the back alley.

Clear. You jumped down quietly and ran towards the back entrance, where you expected some company. Neil was right behind you, taking cover at the other side of the door. 3...2...1.

The door opened with a loud thud and you grabbed the first man that went through them. He didn’t put up much of a fight, bless his soul.

The next one was quite a different story.

Same as all the others after him.

Next thing you knew, you were ducking into cover behind some dumpster, shots being fired in your direction.

“Just like old times, huh?” Neil laughed as he joined you a moment later, hitting his back against the dumpster. There was a moment of silence and he wanted to get up, but you grabbed his arm and shook your head.

“Wait.”

Two more shots.

Why does nobody count?

“Now!”

You focused your fire at two remaining guards while your partner ran after a guy trying to escape with the inverted materials. Poor bastard didn’t have a chance. Neil shot him in the leg long before he could reach a car parked at the end of the alley.

You made sure none of the guards remained a threat and you joined Neil near the knocked-out man.

“Took you long enough,” you said, looking around for any witnesses. Luckily, the street was empty, thanks to late hour and the work of Ives and the rest of the team, of course.

“You told me to wait!” Neil scoffed, checking out the suitcase. Everything seemed to be in place.

“And you’re welcome.”

You wiped the sweat from your forehead and hissed from the sudden pain. You looked at your fingers. Blood.

Neil jumped on his feet, clearly worried.

“Y/N, your brow...” he raised his hand as if he wanted to examine your wound, but he hesitated. He placed it on your shoulder instead and looked into your eyes. “You okay?”

You put your hand on his chest and smiled reassuringly. “I’m fine Neil, what about you?”

Neil nodded and wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into a hug.

Oh.

You noticed your team’s car approaching from the distance.

(next Chapter ->)

#neil tenet #neil tenet x reader #neil x reader #tenet #robert pattinson #tenet fanfic #neil tenet fanfic #stuck in reverse

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sweet-taiyaki · 4 years

Text

His Sunflower (part 2) 🌻

Disclaimer: I didn’t really know where to go with part 2, but I hope you like it. And yes, there will be a third and final part.

Pairing: ProHero!Eijiro Kirishima x Fem!Reader (she/her)

Featuring: Katsuki Bakugo (Ground Zero), Denki Kaminari, Hanta Sero

Word Count: 3k

Synopsis: You saw Red Riot and Ground Zero live in action, but when you saw Ground Zero’s internal clock diminish, you got worried and wanted to save him. Kirishima admired your selflessness.

Quirk: Life Vision. Can view anyone’s internal clock by their wrist.

Warnings: Violence, some language, mentions of blood, little fluff

Taglist: @ chaeringpop

part 1 [2] 3

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

I bowed to my superior and ended my shift. Sushi making is really starting to take a toll on my hands. I grab my coat and leave the restaurant.

“There you are,” Kirishima said, “How was your shift?”

“It was okay. You know you don’t have to walk me home every day. I can defeat villains like you with my eyes closed,” I said punching him.

“Alright, alright. Ow--that’s enough. You’ve just been so kind to me and I feel so manly around you,” he said.

“So I’m weak,” I joked.

“No—uh---no, not at all. I didn’t mean for you to perceive it that way. You’re strong and full of light like a sunflower!” he apologized.

“You’re cheesy,” I laughed.

“Come here, I wanted a (Y/N) hug all day,” he said with his arms open. He pulled away briefly to give me a soft peck. His kisses were so sweet and soft. I smiled as soon as he pulled away and he smiled back.

There were explosions and screams at a distance. Kirishima looks at me. “I have to go, but don’t worry I’ll be at your place after,” he said running in the opposite direction. I’ve never seen Red Riot and Ground Zero in live action before. He disappeared before I ran closer to the scene.

Kirishima charged at the villain with a punch. “It’s about time you showed up, shitty hair,” Bakugo barked. “You should have called me instead of taking on villains yourself,” Kirishima yelled back.

“HOWITZER IMPACT!” Ground Zero flew through the air sending an explosion tornado to the villain. The villain seems to create portals to escape their attacks. “Where is he? Die, portal man!” He appears near Red Riot.

“RED GAUNTLET!” Kirishima punches him into the brick wall that sent him flying. He transports again, over Ground Zero. Portal smashed Ground Zero into the ground. When Ground Zero tried to attack, Portal created an infinite portal to cause Bakugo to explode himself.

“Ground Zero,” I cried. Kirishima heard me and got distracted as Portal punched him, but his hardening anticipated the punch and punched him back. “(Y/N), get out of here! It’s not safe,” he yelled.

“Ground Zero’s clock,” I yelled. I escaped the police tape to rescue him. I was hovering over Ground Zero, looking at his wrist. His pulse is stable, but his internal clock was slowing dropping faster than normal. Kirishima was still battling the villain when I was aiding to Ground Zero. The villain noticed and engulfed me in his portal. “No!” Kirishima yelled. I fell through the portal and he closed it before Kirishima jumped.

Your POV

I was surrounded in a zero-gravity space in complete darkness. A purple ring opening came out. I floated over, hoping to escape, but it was a turn for the worst. I was in Portal’s lair. There were portals everywhere around the world that he could pop in at. Portal came into his lair. “You,” he pointed at me, “You’re under my control.” I struggled to get loose of his grip, but it only made him grab me more. He strained me and gagged me. “You wanna-be heroes always ruin all the fun. I just wanted to see some pros die, but no you had to come in out of nowhere to save them. They can cover themselves, kid. They are pros and people like you are just pawns that can easily die. I have some inventions. How do you prefer to die? Combat robots? Lethal injection? Or a slow painful death with my portals that take you limb by limb?” My eyes widen at his inventions.

Third Person View

Meanwhile, Bakugo is in the hospital. Kirishima is in the chair next to him. “Hey man, how are you feeling,” Kirishima saw his eyes flutter. “I’m fine. Did we get him,” he coughed. Kirishima shook his head in anger.

“No, and he took (Y/N),” he said with his head low.

“What,” Bakugo sat up, “He’s gonna die for sure. Let’s get him,” Bakugo said pulling his IVs out.

“Bakugo, you need to recover,” Kirishima warned.

“No, Kirishima. You didn’t hesitate to save me when the League of Villains took me. Not only is she a civilian, but she means a lot to you and makes you happy, which is why I’m gonna kill him. So, you coming with me or not,” Bakugo yelled.

“I have your back, let’s go,” Kirishima said confidently. They both ran out of the hospital.

Your POV

I have deep cuts on my legs and arms. My blood is starting to seep on the concrete. Portal creates another portal with a knife so I cannot anticipate where he would stab me. “If you tense up, it will only make it worse,” he said. I look down at my wrist and my clock is dramatically going lower. I take a stab to my hip. I cry out in pain and undo my gag restraint. “You won’t win. I will never give up and I’ll fight for my life before I surrender to you,” I yelled.

Portal got close to my face. “Wanna-be heroes don’t live,” he created a portal to my back. He pokes me with his knife where my heart is. “Where are the pros now? Do you think they really care for a civilian like you? Your quirk is useless, might as well be quirkless. However, I have a syringe that can make you powerful. You can have an amazing quirk and fight the wanna-be heroes with me and take on the pros,” he said.

“Never,” I replied.

“Suit yourself,” he said. He then took a stab to my shoulder and twisted it before he pulled it out. Immediately after, there was an explosion.

“Die, Portal,” Ground Zero and Red Riot came into his lair. “Oh look, it’s bomb guy and rocky,” Portal says, “You didn’t merely come to save this woman, did you? I believe the job is already done.” Kirishima looks over to me and saw the blood dripping rapidly. “You will pay for what you did to her,” Kirishima yelled angrily. Ground Zero blasted himself in the air and charged at Portal. “AP SHOT!” His concentrated blast impaired Portal sending him into his combat robots. This inspired him to activate his robots. The robots turned on and charged towards Red Riot and Ground Zero.

The robots were kinda juvenile considering that they were prototypes, but it tired Red Riot and Ground Zero. Once the robots were defeated, Red Riot turned to Portal. “Now it’s your turn,” he said determined. Portal extended his portals to go behind Ground Zero. He pulled a blast right before Portal went through. “Red Riot!” Bakugo yelled. “RED RIOT UNBREAKABLE!” Red Riot slammed Portal into the ground Ground Zero also charged his blast at the ground for a double hit causing a lot of wind to even burst through the ceiling. Portal was paralyzed and knocked out. Kirishima undid my restraints and held me in his arms. “I’m sorry, (Y/N). I should have came sooner,” he said tearing up. Police and emergency sirens filled the air. I lightly cupped his face as I saw the light surround his face. “Eijiro, you’re my sunflower,” I said faintly. His eyes watered even harder and kissed me softly. “Get her to a hospital, now. She’s bleeding out,” Bakugo told the emergency services. Kirishima helped me on to the stretcher. He wanted to come with, but he was pushed away before I was taken away.

I woke up in the hospital with Kirishima over me. “You’re okay,” I said faintly. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Kirishima laughed holding my hand. Bakugo was in the doorway. Some nurses were flirting with him, until he saw me sit up. “How are you feeling, broad,” Bakugo said. “I should heal quickly. Just sore,” I smiled, “Thank you for---”

“No,” Bakugo interrupted, “Not only have you saved Kirishima’s life, but you have also saved mine as well with your clock quirk. Kirishima told recovery girl that you said my internal clock was narrowing. She found the internal bleeding quickly and stopped it before it got serious. Just--just leave the hero work to the pros, you got that,” his voice changed. He left, but smiled on his way out.

“He’s always explosive, but I think he likes you,” Kirishima laughed. I smiled. He pulled out some taiyakis for us to share. “Here, I know you like these,” he smiled.

“Do you think my quirk is useless,” I paused.

“No, why would you think that,” he said.

“Portal said I would be better off quirkless unless I join him. He said I could have a better quirk if I was a villain,” I said.

“He’s trying to mess with your head. Don’t believe anything he said to you,” he said. He climbed up next to me in the hospital bed and put his arm around me. “I don’t know if I can do this, but I’m willing to get yelled at just so I can be next to you. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“You’re my hero,” I said softly into his chest. He overheard me and looked down as I was dosing off in his chest. He laid his head on top of mine and kissed my forehead. “You missed,” I said half asleep. He cups my face and gives me a soft, sweet kiss. I couldn’t help but melt in his touch.

The next morning, I wake up with Kirishima lightly snoring. I kiss him to wake him up. “Good morning, babe. I didn’t realize that I stayed all night with you, but I’m glad I did,” he said hugging me, “You want some breakfast?”

“No, thanks. I need to make you breakfast one day,” I said.

“Is it sushi,” he joked. I hit his arm playfully. “Well I gotta go hit the gym with Bakugo, you sure you don’t need anything?”

“I’m good. I’ll let you know if I do,” I smiled. He winked at me before he left.

I was discharged from the hospital and landed back in my apartment. I was greeted by my cat. I cleaned her litter box, fed her, and gave her fresh water. “I’m sorry I was away, girly,” I said to her.

..................................................................................................

I return to another exhausting day at the sushi bar. My coworkers were concerned for me that I was bombarded with questions. ‘Are you alright?’ ‘How did it feel to be captured by a villain?’ ‘I bet you were so scared!’ I skated past the crowd to clock in. After this whole year of working here and now my coworkers actually want to get to know me since I was attacked by a villain.

I went through my shift, but then a familiar face walked in. “Bakugo,” I whispered. “How can I help—”

“Cut the crap,” he barked, “Why didn’t you tell us you were a pro-hero?”

The room stood still as everyone looked over to me. I pulled him aside to divide the attention, but then he dragged me out to the alleyway to find Kirishima. “(Y/N), are you a pro-hero,” Kirishima asked.

“Yes. In America, yes. I was instructed not to use my powers and license out of the States.”

“You think you’re better than me,” Bakugo yelled, “We need to battle, right here, right now, clock lady!” Kirishima held Bakugo back and slowly approached me. “Why would you keep that secret from me,” he said.

“I wanted to be normal. And I thought the best way to do it was to leave home and start new. But once I saw you dying, I knew I had to break boundaries. Please forgive me,” I said holding my face in my hands and collapsed to the ground.

Kirishima helped me back up and gave me a warm hug. “Your bravery is so manly,” he said. Bakugo was confused. “I’m still number one in the world, you got that,” he screamed. A couple of men passed the alleyway and saw Bakugo and Kirishima. “Hey guys, I know you,” a voice said coming towards them. Kirishima put me against the brick wall to say hi. I let them catch up as I slowly went back home.

“Bakugo! Kirishima! It’s been a while,” Kaminari and Sero said.

“What’s up, losers,” Bakugo bro hugged both of them.

“Sero! Kaminari! So good to see you,” Kirishima said.

“Yeah, bro. Great job with the Portal dude. He was a difficult villain. And looks like you’re still talking to the broad? I’m assuming was the girl you were with,” Kaminari pointed.

“Yeah, she’s—where did she go,” Kirishima concerned.

“Apparently, she is a pro in the states, but wasn’t allowed to use her power or license outside her home. My agency secretary researched her. She trained in jujitsu training along with her life vision. Not only does she save people, but she can also fight, which is why I have to battle her,” Bakugo barked.

“Classic Bakugo,” Sero said, “Hey, let’s have sushi together and catch up!” Kaminari, Sero, and Bakugo followed into the restaurant. Kirishima stood behind looking into the distance to see if he could find (Y/N), then followed his friends.

I was in my apartment doing some chores, talking to the cat, then I looked over to my sword. My hero sword had a white glow to it. The glow would only ignite with my quirk when I was in battle at full strength. Should I go back to the states or should I get my hero license here? There was a knock at my door.

“Kirishima,” I said opening the door.

“Hey, mind if I come in,” he asked. There was a silence between us. I offered some tea, he accepted. “I’m not mad at you,” he began, “You had to hold back because you were told to, but you had the bravery to help me and Bakugo defeat the villains. I admire your heart. You’re selfless, kind, and will come to anyone’s aid with your quirk. I just want to see you battle,” he hardened his arms.

“Wh—what?” I said.

“Don’t hold back. I’m pretty resilient,” he said. I aimed for his weak points in his body, specifically his legs to disorient him. I tried to go easy on him at first, but he noticed I was going for his weak points. So I stepped up a little. I created a distraction, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him through, attempting to break his arm. Next, the abdomen. There is a weak point in the abdomen near the leg. It is an artery that is crucial for blood flow to your legs as well as the inguinal canal, which is larger in men to hurt more. I hit that area and he flinched, but it wasn’t enough. I held him in a chloroform hold, then he became vulnerable. He tapped out and I let go of him, both of us out of breath. He laughed as he caught his breath. “Man, you know how to fight. If only Bakugo was here to watch.”

“Why did you want him to watch,” I laughed.

“I want you to train with us at our agency so you can have a Japan hero license,” he said. My breath was taken away.

“You—you want me to stay here,” I said.

“Well other than getting to know you more, I think you would be a good addition to our team. You’re great defensively and offensively—”

“Kirishima, I have a sword,” I hesitated.

“A sword? Like a battle weapon?” he asked. I grabbed my sword in its case and asked him to follow me. I brought Kirishima to my secret hideout. “I want to make sure that I was as strong as when I left to keep up my strength, so I come here, to this cage,” I said. I enter the cage and take my sword out of the scabbard. Kirishima follows behind me. “For your safety, I suggest staying out so I can show you my potential.” He closes the cage door behind him as he watches me. I concentrate to my full strength and the sword turns into a white glow. “TIME PERCEPTION,” I scream internally. I slash through the objects around me at lightening speed. Almost as if I did it in a blink. I breathe heavy for a little bit as I put away my sword and the top halves of the objects fall.

“Whoa,” Kirishima had his jaw dropped. “That’s amazing! So your sword can slash through things at high speed?”

“Not exactly. It pokes holes in quirks. Time is very fragile and one accidental, wrong move could lead to my advantage. That’s how I defeat villains. For example, if the villain has a fire quirk, my sword can diminish the oxygen in the flames before gets worse,” I said.

“I’m recruiting you whether you like it or not,” he said. I laughed and we both went back up to my apartment.

I started making some dinner. “Whatcha making,” Kirishima said. “I was going to make a stir-fry, unless you want something different.”

“No, sounds great,” he smiled. He watched me cook the meal for the both of us. I light some candles and he set the table. We exchanged smiles when the other looked away. I presented the stir-fry with some rice, proteins, and vegetables. “Thank you for dinner, this smells amazing,” he smiled. We filled our tummies as we laughed in conversation. I cleaned off the table, sat on the countertop, and closed my eyes. “Whatcha thinking about,” he asked.

“I want to save and protect people again,” I sighed.

“You will and I’ll be right by your side,” he smiled. He got in between my legs, cupped my face, and planted a sweet, soft kiss. We smile at each other, then Kirishima got a call.

“I gotta go to the agency. I think this would be the time to show Bakugo your sword,” he smirked.

#eijiro kirishima x reader #eijiro kirishima #kirishima x reader #kirishima imagine #bakugo katsuki #bhna #bhna imagine #kirishima fluff #mha imagines #sero hanta #kaminari denki

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365days365movies · 3 years

Text

May 6, 2021: The Martian (2015) (Recap: Part Two)

Man, this movie’s pretty great so far.

It’s holding up to what I remember from the book, which I also really enjoyed. I highly recommend the audiobook, by the way. 100% you should check that out.

Anyway, back to it! Here’s Part One for you!

Recap (2/2)

The airlock EXPLODES due to a hole and decompression. Not only is his suit kinda fucked, but the farm in the Hab is ruined. All of the crops die, cutting down his time to 606 days, long before a mission will reach them with supplies. Time is now far shorter than it should be. But despite this, NASA and JPL get together to get a probe to Mark sooner rather than later.

Mark manages to fix the Hab, but he’s now pretty fucked indeed. It’s also considerably expensive and dangerous to launch a new probe. But Teddy decides to forego safety inspections for it in order to expediate the process. Which is not a good idea, but still what they’re doing. And amidst all of that, we meet Rich Purnell (Donald Glover), an astrodynamicist that works at JPL, who comes up with a breakthrough. I’m sure we’ll get back to him later.

I hope it’s good, because the rocket launch goes QUITE poorly, as the probe, called Iris, explodes in mid-air, destroying hope for support to Mark. And this means, well...Mark’s done. He’s basically resigned himself to death on the desolate red planet. He writes a letter to Lewis about this, asking him to go to his parents after he dies, and give them a very heartfelt goodbye message. It’s heartbreaking.

Now, we go to China, where scientists for the China National Space Administration Zhu Tao (Chen Shu) and Guo Ming (Eddy Ko) secretly plot to get booster rockets to the Americans in order to help them make another probe in order to Mark.

Rich, meanwhile, makes his way to Kapoor and proposes a plan to save Mark: by getting the Hermes BACK to Mars. The Hermes is the pick-up ship that the Ares III crew is currently on, heading back to Mars. Rich suggests using Earth’s gravity to essentially slingshot the ship BACK to Mars to pick-up Mark. However, Teddy completely rejects the idea, as it poses considerable risk to the Ares III astronauts. And Mitch is PISSED. And right after, the instructions are somehow leaked to the crew, putting the decision in their hands. And they agree to do it, unanimously and without question, despite the technical mutiny as well as the extra time in space.

It’s pretty obvious that it’s Mitch who leaked the plans and caused this, leading to Teddy firing him AFTER this dangerous mission is completed. The plan set in motion, the two separate teams work on two separate planets in order to plan this maneuver successfully. The astronauts on Hermes tell their families of their extended stay in space, and the Iris is planned for launch and interception with the ship. And all of that is a rousing success. And now...now for the hard part.

After over a year on Mars, Mark’s been through a hell of a lot of shit. Now visibly thinner and sporting a beard, Watney gets into the Rover to make his way to the Schiaparelli crater, where he’ll use the Ares IV mission launcher to meet up with the Hermes in space. He notes that, as Mars is legally international waters and he’s stealing a ship outside of express legal orders, making him a space pirate. Which is badass, and I love it so much. Mark AKA Captain Blondebeard, takes the 90-day journey to the crater.

On Earth, we now face a different issue: how to get Mark onto the Hermes from Mars. The Hermes can’t enter Mars’ orbit and still get back home. Which means that Mark’s gonna have to meet them in the ship (called the MAV) above Mars’ orbit. However, to do that, they need to strip the MAV of parts to make it faster, and this includes the controls, and the entire front of the ship. Yeah. Terrible option, but the only one they have. And so, despite Mark’s understandable hesitation, they move forward with the plan to strip the ship and remove all of its parts.

The Hermes crew also prepares, as the plan is to essentially catch Watney in mid-orbit. And on Earth, the entire world is watching as the day arrives. It’s a big moment, and a scary one at that. Before the leaves, Watney shaves, and he boards the ship. As the MAV launches into orbit, with nothing between Watney and space but a canvas tarp, Watney begins to cry in fear and happiness for leaving the planet. But in the launch, the tarp flies off, and while the ship launches into space, Watney passes out in the process, due to the increased Gs. But the Hermes is too far away to grab him, leading to Commander Lewis to use boosters to get to the MAV, at some risk.

Intercept distance is fixed, but the speed is now a problem. Lewis now makes a MASSIVE risk: purposefully breach the ship to create enough explosive decompression to launch the ship in the right direction to get them better aligned and lessen the problem of velocity. This will also allow Beck to use a tether to grab Mark on the outside. Despite this being an ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE idea, Vogel makes a bomb to cause the decompression. As Beck sets it, Johanssen kisses his helmet, which is cute.

But it’s still not enough, and they won’t be close enough to grab Mark at this velocity. Lewis gets in her own suit, and replaces Beck so as not to lose another crew member. The bomb blows, an the propulsion of the escaping internal atmosphere pushes the ship to get to the right speed to get to Mark. Lewis is hooked up to a tether, and propels down towards the AV. But STILL, it isn’t close enough! So, Mark breaches his suit in his hands, and uses the escaping atmosphere to blast himself forward like Iron Man. And despite a near miss...

It works! IT FUCKING WORKS! And I knew it would, but GODDAMN!!! This is a beautiful reunion! I and the world celebrate Mark’s rescue, and it’s genuinely tearjerking for me. My God, this is fantastic. After 560 days...Mark is finally going home. And from there, on Earth five years later, a now-recovered Mark teaches astronaut candidates about how to survive in space, were they ever to wind up in the same situation that he’s in. And let’s be honest, he’s uniquely qualified for this position. The Ares V mission is about to launch, with Martinez on board. The Chinese scientists, also working with NASA officially now, watch on.

Lewis and Vogel watch on with their families; Johanssen and Beck watch as Johanssen gives birth to their first child together; Teddy, Vincent, Annie, and Mindy watch on from NASA, as Bruce and Rich (working with them now) also celebrate the successful launch at JPL. And Watney...Watney’s alive.

...This movie got snubbed, huh?

I’ll look into what it lost against...in the Review! See you there!

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teenage-inspiring-writer · 4 years

Text

Bakugo x Reader: Ghost of You

Author’s Note: This story is something I came up with on the spot, I’m too lazy to re-read it so if there’s typos I’m sorry. (Also Todoroki x Reader in the works😏😉)

Warnings: Brief Mentions of Suicide, Angst, Fluff, Cursing, Death.

Quirk: Blood: You can manipulate blood cells, downside is that it must be your blood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You both were still fairly early into your U.A years. It was the first semester of your second year, when it happened. The League of Villains had finally managed to over-throw U.A’s defenses. Leaving only the student to fight for their lives.

Class 2-A, You and Bakugo fought against several villains at once. Bakugo blasted the main villains with large explosions, accessing Midoriya and Todoroki. While you and the others concentrated on the smaller scale villains. Without realizing it, a villain grabbed a hold of you, stabbing a syringe deep into your neck. You’ve already lost a lot of blood using your own quirk trying to fight off the smaller scale villains. Before you can even detest the feeling of giving up, your body gives out. The world slowed as you began to collapse to the rough ground. You could hear Bakugo scream your name as you lose consciousness.

When you wake up, you expect to see the faces of your worn classmates. Though when you came too, all you saw was pitch black darkness. You panic. Screaming out for your boyfriend, anyone to come and save you from this eternal darkness. Then out of no where, a voice spoke. “Hi! You must be Y/n! Welcome.”you frantically look around for someone. “I’m down here” You quickly look down to see a little pixie starting at you. “Well are you going to let me up or not?” You quickly nod, lowering your hand down for her to step on. “Where are we?” “We’re in the border of this world and the next. You miss are on the brink of death.” I gasp shocked. “What-but I have to get back to bakug-“ The pixie interrupts me. “ Shh. I understand, trust me. Now I usually don’t do this but since you are so young, I will let you decide whether you want to move on to the afterlife or remain in the world of the living badly injured.” You’re about to respond until she places a small finger to your lips. “Aht before you answer, I will show you both outcomes. I know you once have thought about leaving this world, but that changed when you met the love of your life. Remember that he is affected by your choice.” You nod.

The pixie snaps her fingers and you are no longer in the darkness, instead in the U.A dorms. You notice Bakugo seated at the edge of the couch, hands lazily balanced on his knees in looks of defeat. You’re about to call out to him but again the pixie shh’s you. “He can not hear you. As I said this is an illusion, a possibility that could have if you so choose to leave this world.” You nod, watching the scene unfold. Kirishima and Kaminari walk-into the room from the kitchen, whispering to each other. “He’s been like this for days.” “Yeah Man I would say that it’s ridiculous but he loved her so much. She was his world.” Kaminari nodded with Kirishima. “She meant everything to him, she was his reason to live. The soft spot in his life, the person who was always there even when all he could do was yell. She understood him....they were soulmates.” The men glanced at Bakugo. “I know he’s suffering so much, but what are we to do? We can’t just tell him it’s going to be alright.” Kaminari pouted with a frown starring at Bakugo. “Shh Kirishima, look.” Kirishima turns his attention back to the slumped Bakugo. “DAMN IT ALL!” Is all he keeps shouting. This causes the rest of class 2-A to come out of their rooms. All of their faces fall when they see Bakugo screaming out his frustration. “WHY COULDN’T IT HAVE BEEN ME?! HMM WHY COULD SHE BE HERE WITH ME! WHY DID MY ANGEL LEAVE ME?! WHERE COULD I HAVE GONE WRONG HMM?” Bakugo starts to cry something he never did in front of everyone, but at this point he did care. He lost you. His angel sent from heaven. Midoriya and Iida come down the stairs in attempts to get bakugo to just calm down and rest. “Kacchan” is all Midoriya could say. He’s never seen his childhood friend so torn up. Bakugo contains himself and wipes his tears, then turns to face everyone in the class. “What do I do? Damn nerds what the heck am I supposed to do now? The women I love is gone. My future is gone. WHAT DO I DO NOW HUH?” All anyone can do is look sadly at him. It pains you to see him like this. So torn up and hurt just at the loss of you. You start to cry, choking back tears you ask the pixie to take you to the other illusion.

“As you wish.” She waves her hand, transporting you both to another place. This time the setting is in the hospital. You glance around, your eyes stumbling upon a figure in a hospital gown, IV’s shoved all into their arms. You float closer to see that this figure is you. Blood bags all around, some empty, some half full. Along side the blood bags was mountains of gifts, mostly get well soon cards and teddy bears, but one thing stood out to you. Dozens of bouquets of Y/f/f (your favorite flower). Little notes attached to them. The pixie begins to speak up. “If you choose to stay alive, you will be in a coma for a month, due to all of the blood transfusions you have received. You will survive, but physical therapy will be needed.” You nod. “Are these from Katsuki?” She nods. “He will drop on off everyday till you wake up. He misses you greatly, not a day goes by that you aren’t on his mind.” “Why are you telling me this? When most people die, they just move on to the other side.” She sighs. “Not always dear, some are trapped by what binds them to this world. My job is to help the souls move on, but sometimes I come across a youthful soul that just happened to get caught up in things that ended badly. You my dear or one of those people. I wanted you to know both outcomes, because that’s what most souls regret.” “Thank you, Miss Pixie. I made a decision. I choose to stay and live my like with Katsuki. I don’t care how much pain I’m in. If I get to see him again, it’s all worth it.” “Alright dear, off you go.” And with that you returned to the darkness with a feeling of hope instead of fear. You knew that this darkness would come to an end, and when you woke up, you’d see the man of your dreams.

Bonus:

After you wake up from your month long coma, and after doctors stabilized you, you were allowed visitors. The first one being Bakugo. He rushed into the room before the nurses could stop him. “Baby!” You’ve never seen him so expressive in public. He usually likes to keep your love to yourselves but times have changed. “Kat! I missed you so much.” “I missed you too dumbass. Don’t you ever scare me like that again, you hear me. Otherwise I’ll blow your ass to pieces, got me?” You simply nod, pulling him into a bone crushing hug, which he gladly accepts. You open your eyes to pull away from the embrace to see a blue glowing pixie, the same one from the darkness. She winks and smile then zooms off. ‘Thank you so much pixie for being me back to him.’

#bakugou fluff #bnha bakugo katsuki #bnha bakugou #katsuki bakugo x reader #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugō #mha x reader #mha bakugou #bnha katsuki x reader #bnha fluff #bnha angst #bnha x reader #mha imagines

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in-a-cave-with · 4 years

Note

So starved for Tony content I read that black widow books everyone keeps talking about, the five lines with Tony there are pretty good and very well characterized tho. Please, fo you have any fic recs with good Tony char

HAHAHAAHSJDFNVKJLSDJFD thats a mood....

i have a big comics tony fic rec list here, also some more comics fics ive found since making that post that i rlly like (also be sure to check out some of the other works by the authors here, i added the links to their profiles):

Hope of Morning by magicasen

Incursions. The Illuminati. Rogue planets and mindwipes, Dyson Spheres and Worldkillers. Ask Tony Stark to list all the wrongs he's ever committed, and he wouldn't even know where to begin.

But when the Watcher dies and the secrets of the entire universe come to light, Tony discovers his greatest sin is one he chose to forget.

(AU from Original Sin #2)

You Can Stay by FestiveFerret

Tony dumped the box on his coffee table, the lid now safely closed. "Thanks for the save," he muttered at it. The world had the softened edges that alcohol gave it, but it wasn't gentle this time, like it usually was, it was numb.

He couldn't even summon the pain to feel hurt about Justine. It wasn't like it was a surprise. No one ever wanted to be with him for himself. No one just stayed. That, apparently, was asking too much of the universe.

not gruesome, just human by isozyme

“I need to crash on someone’s couch for a while. Your couch. I need to crash on your couch,” Tony says.

Steve’s mouth opens. If he asks why Tony’s going to bolt, he can feel the certainty of it under his sternum. He doesn’t have a sternum anymore, just a tangle of metal under his skin. Too many things have punched through it to get to his heart. There hasn’t been enough bone left to reconstruct anything made of flesh in a long time.

“There’s borscht on the stove,” Steve says.

blood, love, and rhetoric by isozyme

Something’s wrong with causality. Beyond the academic.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Steve/Tony style.

in another life (you and i) by isozyme

It’s a man, half-clad in silver armor. His face is covered by an angular mask, eyes glowing blue slits. The suit is a sick frankenstein of Captain America and Iron Man. Tony raises his palms, readying a repulsor blast.

The man opposite him raises a red-gloved hand which, like a terrible mirror, bears an identical repulsor.

The Civil Warrior makes it to Earth-616 six months too late.

on the health benefits of dying young and beautiful by Welcoming_Disaster

PI Steve Rogers is hired to investigate the mysterious disappearance of fashion designer Antonio Stark.

Every Me Loves Every You by foldingcranes

Steve tries to picture it: himself, laying on the Capitol’s steps, bleeding over cold concrete, previously bound and on his way to his own trial. Himself, over this gaunt and somber Stark, who’s been sober for six years, ramming his shield on him until his armor breaks.

(Two lonely strangers from different dimensions meet.)

Without the rusty music of my machine by Missy_dee811

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." — Albert Camus

[Written for Lights On Park Ave - Round 11.]

Our Love Is a Ghost That the Others Can't See by Kiyaar

Post-Civil War, canon-divergent from Director of SHIELD.

In Tony’s dreams, he is back in the street, in a crater, the city on fire around him. Steve kneels over him and beats him to within an inch of his life.

It’s his favorite place to be, these days.

Satin in a Coffin by Crait

Careful. It's so heavy only I can lift it.

Time, it needs time, to win back your love again by lomku

“So what are we going to do about it?” “Now? Now I’m going to beat you bloody.”

Steve remembers, and he goes to Tony to confront him, but in the ensuing fight, a time loop is created, trapping Steve and Tony together. Will they be able to set their differences aside long enough to work on breaking the time loop?

When You're a Stranger by Sineala

Tony has made a mistake.

So Far Away From Me by Sineala

Captain America has a new hotline, and Tony is a frequent caller -- but for a very unusual reason.

Double Time by Sineala

Cassino, Italy, December 1943. Special Agent Tony Stark, former Marvels adventurer, is sent to investigate a Cosmic Cube found by the Invaders -- and it's the perfect opportunity for him to rekindle his secret romance with Steve Rogers. But when Hydra attempts to steal the Cube, an inadvertent wish for help leads to the appearance of a Tony from the future of another world: Director Stark of SHIELD. This Tony is a man with a lot on his mind. He refuses to tell them anything about the future, but he seems to know much more than he should about Captain America. And something's happened that's clearly killing him inside, but he's not talking. When Director Stark's failed attempt to return home leads to the unexpected appearance of another visitor from his universe, all the lies come undone. Now there are two wars to fight, and the second one could ruin all of them.

let none be content with me by Mizzy

After Detective Michael O'Brien learns Iron Man's real identity, Tony invites him to stay in the Avengers' mansion while he fixes the flaw in the Guardsman armor that led to Michael's brother's death, an incident that Tony still hasn't properly dealt with.

The Avengers take to Michael, and they might like him more than Iron Man, which Tony... isn't too surprised about. People should like Michael more than they like him. And when new threats and villains just start piling up, Tony has to seriously consider Iron Man's future. Or lack thereof.

through a passive landscape by Mizzy

The New York Times once described parking structures as "the grim afterthought of American design" and Steve couldn’t say he disagreed. The building they were searching was pretty damn ugly. But something uglier was about to happen inside.

#uhhhh satin in a coffin is p3 of a series so just read the whole series if you havent already #also i havent had much time to read fic lately so there are a lot of probably rlly good fic out there i havent read yet lmao pain

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ferociousqueak · 4 years

Note

Daffodil or Iris for Dess, pretty please?

So, this one is Iris, though I do plan to do one for Daffodil too. But I’ve thought a lot about how the Vallum Blast would affect Dess, being from Vallum herself. Thank you for the prompt and enjoy :D

You can also read it on AO3!

valor: (n) strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness: personal bravery

***

News of the Vallum Blast was on a constant loop on every station. Everywhere she looked, Dess found another reminder, another devastating image that left her cold and nauseated.

She hadn’t been home since . . . well, home was too strong a word, but Vallum had been her family’s hearth since the city’s founding, long before even the Unification War. She could’ve had her arm amputated and it would hurt less than seeing a crater of rubble and ruin in the place where she grew up, the place where her family . . .

Within hours of the news, Executor Chellick issued carte blanche leave to anyone in C-Sec with ties to Taetrus. To grieve. To search for loved ones. To fight.

A transport carrying volunteers would leave in two hours. With priority traffic clearance and a relay already on the edge of the Mactare system, Dess could be there inside a day.

“You’re going?” Han asked. Anyone else might’ve missed the strained note of panic kept in check in her voice, but for Dess it rang like an alarm bell.

Grabbing an old footlocker—dusty from disuse, kept all these years from nostalgia rather than out of some expected need—from the hall closet was a convenient excuse for Dess to avoid looking at Han. “I have to.”

“No, you don’t,” Han said, her voice hardening from panic to defiance. “The Hierarchy has plenty of soldiers they can throw into that meat grinder. You don’t have to be one of them.”

Dess moved into the bedroom and started gathering her clothes to fold compactly into her bag. A couple decades might have passed since she’d served, but old habits died hard. “It’s not like that,” she said. “As a volunteer, I’ll be behind the frontline most of the time and—”

“What frontline, Odessus!” Han wasn’t one to raise her voice, and the sound of it made Dess grow still. “They flew a goddamn spaceship at the whole fucking planet!”

“I know.” Dess’s heart pounded hard against her chest, but she kept her eyes on the task in front of her.

“People were already dead before the fucking thing even made impact!”

“I know.” Dad . . . Mom . . . Hadrian?

“They can do it again, and you wouldn’t even—”

“I know, Hannah!” Dess snapped, a high keen threatening in her throat. Finally, she turned her full attention on Han, anger and grief tearing at her voice. “I know they can do it again. Right now, it’s my family who’s gone, and tomorrow it could be someone else’s. I can’t just do nothing and let that happen. Again.”

“And if you go, I’ll lose my family!” Tears streamed from Han’s eyes, but she still held onto her defiance. “I can’t do that again. Not after Alli. Not you. I can’t—”

All the anger went out of Dess, and she reached for Han, pulling her close until Dess could press her brow to Han’s. “You’re not going to lose me. I promise. But I need to do this. My family, my parents, everyone, they’re—”

Her voice finally broke and her shoulders trembled under the weight of her grief. She could feel Han sob, something she hoped she’d never have to feel again after the news of . . . of Alchera had reached them.

Han put her arms around Dess. “I know,” she said, her voice watery. “But I’m going to hold you to that promise. If you die over there, I’ll kill you.”

Dess huffed a short laugh. Her subvocals vibrated all on their own, even without her prompting. I love you, too.

The impact crater—centered on where the Radiatum, the main parliamentary building, had stood—was five kilometers in diameter, but the devastation rippled so much farther. Evidence of the destruction saturated the landscape.

Turians of all ages were wrapped in bloodied gauze and hooked to IV cocktails to clot internal bleeding, fight infection, and replace fluids they’d lost—and they’d been the lucky ones on the outskirts of the city, hit by the shockwave rather than the blast itself.

The streets, or what was left of them, were lit by twisted, still-glowing metal rather than streetlamps.

What had been proud, tall buildings were now jagged, hollowed-out skeletons.

Vehicles lay on the street crumpled to a fraction of their original size.

A jaundiced, apocalyptic glow from the fallout hung over the city day and night.

The acrid malodor of burned flesh, drying blood, and still-living bodies turning sceptic was a constant companion, even with the protective equipment she lugged from one pile of rubble to the next.

Ash and wisps of curling smoke threatened to claw down her throat should she even consider removing her air filter.

She’d gotten straight to work when she arrived. From the moment her boots hit the tarmac of the landing pad, she’d had her assignment and her chain of command. Search and rescue. Lieutenant Araxus. Bunk 347, shift 2.

There’d been only enough time to kick her footlocker into place before she joined a squad of six to take on their section of the grid. After nine hours, they’d cleared two square kilometers and not a single living body. She’d had enough energy to wait for her bunkmate to rouse and vacate the cot before falling down, every muscle and tendon finally failing her.

As her eyes closed and she tried to ignore the instinct to reach for a soft, warm body beside her, the day’s work floated into her mind like sewage water from a blocked pipe. The unrecognizable bodies. The pieces of bodies. The places where bodies had clearly been but nothing salvageable remained. They’d taken genetic samples where they could—she wondered just how many people were too obliterated even for that—so their families could have some closure and might find rest in knowing what happened.

Ravaka didn’t.

After a week, the search and rescue operations were reclassified as search and recovery. If there had been any survivors, the chances of them still being alive were vanishingly slim. While a part of Ravaka was gutted to think there was no one left to help, another part of her whispered relief.

No more hope meant more no more disappointment.

No more ticking clock meant no more exhausting pace.

No more lives to save meant no more families to fail.

Finally free to turn off her emotions altogether, Ravaka spent her days picking through rubble, documenting the bodies she found in quiet numbness. She knew it would need to be addressed eventually, but for the moment at least, the levees holding back her own grief and trauma were tall and strong and doubly reinforced.

“You must have some kind of leave, right?” Dess could hear the strain in Han’s voice, however much she was clearly trying to suppress it. “You’re a volunteer, they can’t keep you forever.”

Dess scratched her mandible, considering how to respond. “I . . . don’t think we have the same understanding of volunteering. My job here isn’t done yet.”

Han let out a long sigh, cut short by an audible swallow and small hitch in her voice. “I know. I just worry. I miss you.”

When they disconnected, she lay back and scrubbed her hands over her face. Somewhere in the barracks, someone was taken by a coughing fit. Dess wondered idly how she would hide it from Han during their calls when she eventually began coughing too. It wasn’t an unexpected risk working in a disaster zone like this one. Even with the air filters and the decontamination chambers at the entrance of the prefab barracks, the particulates in the air were very fine and tenacious. Things would get worse for everyone for some time before they got better for anyone.

She closed her eyes, hoping to get some rest, possibly some shallow sleep before she would have to relinquish her bunk to one of its other occupants. Her mind had only begun to drift when a sudden uproar outside snapped her back to attention.

As others rose from their bunks around her, she knew she hadn’t imagined it. The sound swelled when someone opened the door to the outside. Grabbing her mask, Ravaka hurried toward the commotion.

The crowd seemed to swarm toward the camp’s medical center. As the sound turned to cheers, Ravaka’s heart thumped hard against her chest. Was it . . .

Her wrist buzzed with a priority message. A low orange glow lit the crowd around her as others checked the same alert.

BREAKING: Survivor of Vallum Blast recovered after 10 days beneath the rubble. This is a developing story. Check back for more details later.

A grainy, low-quality video showed a crew of turian volunteers in a chain pulling a juvenile, who couldn’t have been more than eight years old, from the debris field and placing her on the ground to check her vitals before transferring her to a gurney. She was clearly emaciated—her plates, still soft with youth, hung loose against her hide, her remaining down was matted and gray, and she didn’t have the strength to hold her mandibles against her jaws—but she was alive and responsive.

Despite the swirling ash and smoke, despite the air filled with death and despair, Dess felt herself breathe easy for the first time since she’d heard the news of the blast.

Things might still get worse, but they’d found someone. Alive. There was hope.

#hows about a meme thingy #Mass Effect #Odessus Ravaka #Hannah Shepard #my fic #and now i have basically a whole other long fic pretty much plotted #because that's exactly what i need #THANKS A LOT CLIO #i hope you liked it :D #ferocious replies #servantofclio

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zombiesbecrazy · 5 years

Text

look after their own

Summary: Five times Robin was pinned down.

AO3

Jason hit the ground hard, feeling the skin of his knees skid in a way that he knew was going to leave a trail of blood behind. Stupid Robin shorts. Who thought those were a good idea? Bruce said that Dick designed his own costume but why the hell would he and Alfred let him go out like this? It was just dumb, increased mobility be damned. He couldn’t wait for winter so he could break out the insulated pants that he knew were in the cave.

The more he thought about it, the more irritated he was. Why on earth was he using a second hand costume? Sure, Dick had given him this one which made it special, but Bruce was a kagillionaire. He could afford a suit with pants if he could afford to make all those batarangs.

He tried to get up, eager to get back into the thick of the fight, only then aware that there is a larger body pinning him down. He twisted around, ready to sock the would be attacker right in the kisser when he recognized the masked face above him and teal markings of another ridiculous costume.

Speak of the devil, the OG booty shorts Robin himself.

“What the heck?” Jason didn’t punch him, but slapped Dick’s arms a few times, not trying to hurt him, just maybe annoy him to the point of letting go.

“Stay down, Little Wing,” said Dick, tone serious. Not like it was when he fought with Bruce screaming at top volume, more like Bruce himself when he was teaching a new skill, when Jason needed to pay attention. Low, patient, but unyielding. “Wait for it.”

“Don’t call me that,” Jason automatically replied. That was the third time Dick had called him that, dangerously close to it becoming a thing and he absolutely didn’t want it to catch on. “Wait for what?”

“Three… two… one…” Nightwing pointed his finger like he was ticking off a checkbox and as if on cue a barrage of bullets shot out over their heads, just where Jason had been standing before Nightwing had swung around, tackling him to the ground. Jason flinched at the sound, both of the gun firing and the bullets hitting the wall behind them.

Jason would have been like Swiss Cheese his Dick hadn't shown up.

“How did you know that was going to happen?”

“It’s Penguin. It’s what he does.” Dick shrugged and rolled off Jason, sitting on the ground beside him instead “Did you see that little twirly thing he did with his umbrella? He always does that before going trigger happy. Always dive when you see him do that because you have about eight seconds. It’s not a lot of time, but it's enough.” Jason nodded. Bruce hadn’t said anything about that when they had been learning about Copplepot in training, but if Dick was telling him about it and based on what had just happened, it would have to be true.

“Now what?”

“He’s gotta reload before he does it again.” Dick peeked over the fence they were behind, taking a look at what they were up against. “So I think that now is the perfect time for Robin and Nightwing to swoop in and save the day before he gets a chance to do that.”

Jason spat on his knee, attempting to wipe up some of the blood and grinned when he saw Dick scrunch up his nose at that. “What about Batman?” he asked. He had been patrolling solo, but had called in the Penguin sighting before shit had hit the fan, so B should be close by now.

Dick shrugged a shoulder, not overly bothered about where Batman was or wasn’t at that particular moment. “Well sure he can help, I guess, if he shows up, but between the two of us we don’t need no stinking Batman.” They could hear Penguin calling out, taunting them, calling them out to face him and it just made Dick smile. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wondered what a penguin would look like hanging upside down from a lamp post. What do you say? Waddle try?” he asked before jumping to his feet and running, apparently starting whatever plan he had up his dumb looking sleeves.

Jason groaned and scrambled after Dick to chase him down. That was a terrible joke and he just couldn’t let that fly.

He opened the door and the strange ticking noise that he had been following got a lot louder, which he really knew wasn’t a good thing. His gut had been telling him that he was doing something stupid and he should probably call Batman in, but his curiosity got the better of him and he had kept following the lead on his own.

Big mistake. Big, big, big mistake.

Tim’s eyes grew wide when he saw the glowing red numbers, counting down in what he logically knew was by the second but they seemed to be going impossibly faster than that. Relays, switches, a mess of wires; there just wasn’t enough time to defuse it no matter how good he was. The warehouse was going to blow in eighteen seconds.

Batman wouldn’t be able to handle it if he got himself exploded. He had to run and hope that he got far enough away from the blast so that it didn’t kill him. He couldn’t do that to Bruce. He needed Tim. Especially now.

He was tackled around the waist and pressed hard into the ground just as the building behind him exploded. There was a rush of warmth as the flames engulfed the area, but he was just far enough away that the fire didn’t reach him, if only by a few feet. There was debris landing around him, he was safe and secure, somehow covered by the a larger body who had pushed him just far enough out of the way to not toasted.

The figure above him groaned and pushed himself off, crawling to his knees and Tim could hear him panting loudly through his helmet. His red helmet with the voice modulator.

Red Hood. Robin. Jason Todd.

Jason Todd had recently beaten Tim to a bloody pulp in Titans Tower. Recently enough that Tim still had bruised ribs from the attack.

Jason pulled his helmet off, red domino mask on, gasping in deep breaths, hands shaking and he completely ignored Tim beside him, instead staring off at the burning rubble of the warehouse instead, watching the flames flicker and slowly destroy the remains.

“Hood?” Tim sat up, hand to his head, running his hand through his hair that was quickly filling with ash. “Why…” his voice was choked and his words stumbled over themselves. “Thanks for…” Tim coughed, lungs trying to catch up to what had just happened. He didn’t know what to say to his strange rescuer, the man that had just saved his life, and finally settled on. “Jason, why?”

Jason pulled his knees towards him, trying to curl his large frame up into a very small ball, and stared off into the fire. “No one,” Jason finally said, voice hoarse with smoke and fire and maybe something else. Tim could see the fire flickering in the reflection of Jason’s mask lenses. “No one should go out like that.”

They both stared at the building for a few minutes, side by side, but by themselves. “I thought you wanted me dead,” whispered Tim

“Yeah, well. No one gets to kill you but me.” There had been a moment, a moment there between them where they understood each other. It was fleeting, and now it was gone, but it had been there. Jason had saved him. His Robin had saved him.

“Run along back to your big bad Bat, little Robin,” Jason said, still watching the fire with intensity, showing no sign of leaving any time soon.

And Tim ran, knowing the whole way that he wouldn’t mention a word of it to Bruce.

It was their little secret.

“So I should probably sweep the leg, like in the Karate Kid?” asked Stephanie as she circled him on the mat, trying to figure out what his stance was giving away to her. They had been working by themselves for a while, Steph determined to become stronger in her fighting skills and Tim looking to still somehow help even though he was no longer help. He could say to his dad that he was helping a friend with her homework and not technically be lying.

Except in the way that he totally was. He had only lasted three days before he was back in the Cave after school just like he always had, even just for a little while before he had to leave so his dad didn’t find out. Today though, today Ives was lying for him if his dad asked. Today he could even stay for dinner and the pre-patrol debrief before he had to hurry back home.

He missed being Robin so much and it had only been a week.

“Sure. Just no Crane kicks. Those are illegal.”

Stephanie burst out laughing, losing any sort seriousness that she had barely been clinging to through the session. “We dress up like vigilantes, fight crime in the shadows and have villains who can control plants, but sure, let’s not use illegal martial arts moves, Tim.”

“Look, I know that Johnny was a jerk, but Daniel should have been disqualified.”

“You are very hung up on this.” She stopped in front of him, smiling at his outrage. He knew that he had ranted about this to her before but it was something that bothered him a lot about the movie.

“There are rules and he didn’t follow them. Especially in an organized sporting event like tha...”

Stephanie kissed him, and Tim’s body froze, but his brain started running at top speed, mildly panicking. Did this mean she wanted to get back together? Should he kiss her back? He liked kissing her, and she tasted like strawberry lip balm which was his favourite but he wasn’t sure what this meant. It would be polite to kiss her back but they might be better off friends. He was about to pull away but before he could figure out what he was going to do, he was flat on his back, Steph pinning him down, counting loudly and smacking the mat with each second.

“I win!” She raised her arms up in the air and threw her head back, cackling loudly and then rolled off Tim, and laid down on the mat beside him, breathing hard as she laughed.

He rolled his head to look at her, pretending scowl and look put out for falling for her move. “You fight dirty.” They were sparring, not making out. There were rules . Why was he even a little surprised that she didn’t follow them?

He sort of liked that she didn’t.

“Hey, whatever works.” She chewed on her lip and had the sense to look a little nervous. “I’m sorry. That probably crossed a line.”

“Yeah, but it was nice.” Tim could feel his ears growing pink, embarrassed even though he didn’t really know why. It was far from the first time that they had kissed, even since they had broken up. “Sometimes I miss kissing you.”

“Yeah?” she asked softly, looking at his lips. “Only sometimes?”

“Maybe more than sometimes.” He could feel himself being drawn closer to her, like a magnet or gravitational pull. They probably should stop or walk away or go back to sparring. This was probably a bad idea.

Steph closed her eyes and leaned forward, whispering, “Me too.”

This definitely didn’t fall into helping a friend with her homework in any possible way and Tim was more than okay with that.

Sometimes bad ideas weren’t so bad. As long as they heard Bruce coming down the stairs in time.

“Robin!” Stephanie pinned him down, legs straddled over his waist but he was struggling against him and was just so damn squirmy. “Damn it, listen to me, you little brat.”

Damian’s eyes were panicked and he was doing everything that he could think of to throw her off, and while he was a better fighter than she was, he was down to three good limbs to her four and it was enough for her to have the advantage in this position. It didn’t stop him from arguing with her though. “We have to get to him, we have to help him, we have to get to Batman.”

He had been arguing with her for a while, and she had begun to realise that he was bordering on having a panic attack. He knew that she was there, and who she was, but nothing that she was saying was registering and he wasn’t even realizing how badly that he had been hurt. She had to stop him from moving, from making a severely bad break into something closer to a permanent injury.

This wasn’t him fighting because he needed to; it was fighting because he was scared and not thinking straight.

Stephanie ran out of options and slapped him in the face. Not hard, but enough to get his attention and derail his rambling for a second, hopefully long enough that she could get through to him. Damian eyes were wide but he stopped thrashing and he locked his gaze on Steph. She tried what she had been trying to tell him before again. Maybe the fourth time would be the charm. “Batman is fine. Oracle called in backup for him and Red Robin is there.” Damian was breathing hard through his nose, chest heaving with effort, but he was listening. He nodded at her, which was better than the other times had gone so Steph kept her voice calm and continued. “You on the other hand, are completely not fine, unless you normally have a bone sticking out of your boot?” Damian’s breath hitched at that, but he shook his head. “Didn’t think so. Compound fibula fracture, kiddo. You aren’t running off anywhere.”

“But…” he turned his head in the direction of the battle below, where Batman had redirected the fight after Robin went down, trying to draw the goons away. Stephanie gently pulled his chin back towards her. It wouldn’t help for him to think that he was needed elsewhere when he wouldn’t even be able to stand.

“Nope.” She climbed off of him and helped him sit up, careful with the injured leg, but he still hissed as he moved and saw the bone poking out. Steph took her cape off and covered Damian in it like a blanket so that he wouldn’t be tempted to keep looking at the leg. “Chill out with your favourite Batgirl for a while until the fights over and someone can pick us up.”

“You should leave and go help the others.”

“Nah. They’ve got it.” Steph could hear the fight going on through the comms and it honestly sounded sort of boring. If anything Damian would be mad later that his injury wasn’t caused by something more exciting instead of just a poorly placed kick and tumble. “I’d rather hang out with you. Can I make you a splint? I’ve been practicing.”

“I don’t want your third rate splint.”

“Excuse you, my splints are now second rate, because I’ve been practicing.” Damian glared at her with his stone cold expression. “Fine. No splint. Wait for B and he’ll do it if you want a perfect splint, your highness. Want to watch cat videos instead?”

“You brought your phone on patrol? Why?”

“To watch cat videos, obviously.” Damian said nothing so she pulled up YouTube and shoved the phone into his hands “Here. I found this great compilation of them pushing glasses off tables earlier. You’ll love it.”

Fifteen minutes later, Batman appeared on the roof only to find them sitting side by side, watching a baby elephant playing with a ball in the water, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he didn’t comment on her bringing her phone on patrol, instead setting to work on splinting Damian’s leg and with what she thought might possibly be a grunt of approval.

It was hard to breathe and it was the pressure on his chest was the thing that he thought had woken him up but he couldn’t be sure. Dick sluggishly blinked a few times and saw the familiar looking cave ceiling, fluorescent lights strung across. Medbay.

His foggy brain couldn’t remember how he had ended up there. Well, not specifically, anyway. He had been on patrol, he had been called in for back up for… something and that was about it. He must have been dragged back to the cave in the batmobile, but everything else was a blur of blackness and screaming and pain until there was nothing.

He tried to shift to get a little more comfortable but his entire body protested, partly due to bandages, whatever painkillers that Alfred must him pumped him with and the small dark haired body curled up beside him, head resting on Dick’s chest.

At least that explained the weight that had woken him up.

Dick slowly raised his hand and ran his hand through Damian’s hair, feeling his brother relax deeper into the touch, making Dick grin. If anyone outside the family ever knew that the small, angry Robin was such a big cuddler, he’d go on a rampage about it.

“He refused to leave your side,” said Bruce quietly, from his typical spot on the right hand side of the bed. He had his reading glasses on, the ones that he wore when he was exhausted but determined to stay awake, sketchpad in hand. Dick was just able to make out the lines of what looked like it might be him and Damian sleeping on the cot before Bruce flipped the book closed. Bruce always kept his 'doodles' private.

There was a cooled cup of coffee and abandoned tablet on the table next to the bed, as well as an empty plate, more signs of Bruce keeping watch. “Looks like he wasn’t the only one.”

Bruce hummed, and watched Dick adjust again who winced slightly as one of Damian’s elbows jabbed him in the stomach, probably over a bruise by the feel of it. Bruce frowned at the action, eyebrows pulling together. “Do you want me to take him upstairs?” He didn’t move though, probably guessing the answer. It was a fairly common tradition that only got passed over when the injuries were too severe for Damian to sleep with Dick when he was injured. He claimed that he was guarding him, but everyone knew better.

“Nah. We’re good.” Dick dropped his hand lower and rubbed circles on Damian’s back, who snored once and then snuggled in tighter. “Was I ever this small?” Dick asked quietly before he registered the words that came out of his mouth, and then huffed out a laugh, because yes, he knew objectively that he had been that small at some point, he had been a child after all, but he couldn’t quite fathom being this size at the manor.

“Smaller.” Bruce seemed to understand what he meant, taking off his glasses and tucking them into the neck of his shirt and watched his oldest and his youngest in silence as he thought about it more. “You were tiny. You would crawl into my bed after having a nightmare and I was afraid that I’d roll over in my sleep and crush you.”

Dick did remember doing that. Bruce’s size was part of the appeal of doing that; he could protect Dick from any monsters, dreams or memories that haunted him in the night. “Yeah, well, you are a behemoth who sleeps like the dead. It was probably a valid concern.” Bruce chuckled and then got up to check Dick’s vitals, both of them knowing that it was more out of something to do rather than necessity at this point.

“Do you want me to stay?”

“We always want you to stay, B.” smiled Dick, looking down at his brother. "But I don't think you need to. Robin's look after their own."

#whumptober2019 #no.16 #dick grayson #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #Stephanie Brown #damian wayne #bruce wayne #robin pile #minor tim/steph

244 notes · View notes

jumukus · 4 years

Text

A3! Event: Starring Party ‘Stories of ‘24′ 2′ Translation

Let’s watch the video messages from everyone! p.s. the words in italic mean they’re taken from the video.

Citron: Hello, I'm Citron~! I played Tennis Saionji in Spring Troupe's sixth play "Harugaoka Quartet".

Izumi: It's Enis Saionji!

Citron: Oops, I said it wrong.

Banri: We're going hard right from the start, huh.

Citron: So I'm the first one!

Kazunari: I compiled the videos in reverse order.

Citron: I had a lot of fun when my turn to be the lead actor finally came. After all, I was merely an extra in our first play. I thought I was being bullied!

Tsuzuru: That's because you couldn't even say your lines, duh!

Citron: I was really happy to be able to perform my favorite violin-themed play with my beloved troupe members.

It's all thanks to Tsuzuru. I appreciate it.

Tsuzuru: I didn't do anything special…

Citron: I'll have him rewrite "RomiJuli" script and make Friar Laurence the lead at this rate!

Tsuzuru: Hey, hold it right there!

Citron: In my "spring," I'm not alone. I'm with everyone. Let's keep traveling the world through various plays!

Chikage: I'm not sure whether to feel moved or to laugh.

Itaru: That's Citron for you.

Masumi: He's the same as ever.

Sakuya: Let's keep performing together, Citron-san!

Muku: Eh, um, ah, uhhh…!

Yuki: You're too nervous.

Misumi: Hang in there~!

Izumi: Muku-kun, calm down.

Muku: Y-Yes!

Uhh… I'm Muku Sakisaka. I played Florence in Summer Troupe's sixth play "Floral Prince".

This play is really, really precious to me, since I've got to play my dream role, a prince.

I didn't have any confidence at first. But thanks to everyone in the Summer Troupe who supported and encouraged me, my dream came true on the stage.

I could take on the lead role because I've been rehearsing together with them ever since I joined this troupe, not only in this play.

Kyu-chan has known about my dream since we were kids, and standing onstage with him as the semi-lead was reassuring. Thank you.

Kumon: Me too, thank you!

Muku: I'll continue to work hard to become an ideal prince. Please take care of me!

Misumi: I'm sure Muku can become all types of princes~!

Yuki: Anyway, your standard of an ideal prince seems to be high.

Kazunari: I think Mukkun is already princely enough~.

Tenma: Good luck.

Muku: Yup!

Juza: I'm Juza Hyodo, portraying Blood in Autumn Troupe's sixth play "Fallen Blood".

Since this play marked the first time I took on the lead role, it made me think about a lot of things, like my potential as an actor and my goal.

I still don't know how far I can go, and how I'm supposed to be as an actor now. I still can't decide on that.

But one thing for sure, I'll continue to live my life on the stage. I'll break my butt to tell the life of the characters entrusted to me.

In order to do that, I'll move forward to polish my acting. It doesn't matter whether I'm clumsy or slow. I'm going to do it.

The video Omi-san took at the time has become my precious treasure. Thanks.

Omi: Glad the video was helpful.

Juza: I'll re-watch the video over and over again whenever I hit a wallーー.

Except Settsu's part.

Banri: You bastard!

Taichi: Ahaha!

Sakyo: God, don't be sloppy.

Azami: But that's just so like Juza-san.

Hisoka: Hisoka Mikage, playing Liam in Winter Troupe's sixth play "Risky Game".

...What should I say?

Izumi: Anything is fine, like how you felt when you got chosen as the lead role or any memorable moments.

Hisoka: Lead role, huh… I've got so many lines.

Tasuku: Hey. After all that, and that's what you've got to say?

Tsumugi: That's just like Hisoka-kun.

Hisoka: But I've got to remember something precious because of this play. Thanks to everyone… I was able to meet someone important to me once again.

Homare: Good for you, Hisoka-kun.

Hisoka: I'll continue to live as actor Hisoka Mikage, together with them…

Azuma: Yeap. Let's keep working together.

Guy: I look forward to seeing Hisoka Mikage's acting in the future.

Itaru: I'm Itaru Chigasaki. I played Lancelot in Spring Troupe's fifth play "Knight of Round IV THE STAGE".

I think it'll take around an hour for me to talk about Kniroun. Is that okay?

Izumi: Please make it short!

Itaru: Got it.

Back then, I have never ever imagined becoming Lancelot from my favorite Kniroun game.

Even though I had issues with the gap between my ideal Lancelot and the reality during our rehearsals, I had fun.

After all, I've got to play the game with everyone… I had so much fun I wanted to tell my younger self about it.

A new installment is gonna be released soon, so I'll continue to devote myself to conquering the games.

Tsuzuru: Please devote yourself to our plays!

Masumi: He doesn't grow at all.

Citron: Itaru is Itaru!

Sakuya: Let's play together again!

Itaru: Speaking of which, senpai, how many hours is your total playtime?

Chikage: ...It's a secret.

Itaru: Come on, isn't it fine to spill it now?

Chikage: I have too many save files to count.

Itaru: Seriously?

Citron: What an admirable addict!

Kazunari: Heya, Kazunari Miyoshi here! I played Kiichi in Summer Troupe's fifth play "SHI★NO★BI Misadventuring".

Leading a play was not an easy task, but I had a lot of fun~. All six of us drew togetherーwe made so many memories.

I had a blast doing action scenes with Sumi!

Misumi: Me too~!

Kazunari: I've gotta admit there was pressure in becoming the starring actor, so I'm glad I learned how hard it is to be one.

Because of that, I've come to understand further how everyone feels when they're chosen to be the starring actors!

I'll continue to be your perfect support!

By the way, I've come to cherish my passion for both acting and art even more through this play.

I don't wanna give up either. I don't wanna settle on one. I'll succeed in both. With that said, please continue to take care of me!

Muku: Likewise!

Kumon: I'll be in your care too!

Yuki: I won't lose to you.

Tenma: I'll be stricter during our rehearsals.

Kazunari: Go easy on me on that one!

Misumi: Let's do action scenes together again!

Taichi: I'm Taichi Nanao, playing Chan in Autumn Troupe's fifth play "Fire Up, Mantou Fist!"

I felt complicated back when I was chosen to be the lead actor for this play. It sure made me happy, but I wasn't sure whether I was good enoughーー.

No, this isn't good. Lemme do it one more time! Please cut this part out!

Taichi: They didn't cut this out…!

Banri: They keep this one, huh.

Taichi: Umm, I was so happy and pumped up to be the starring actor. I might make mistakes in certain parts, but I had fun!

I'm so lucky I could lead a play as Autumn Troupe's Taichi Nanao.

I'll keep working hard so that I won't embarrass everyone in Autumn Troupe. I'll be an actor that can make everyone proud!

I'm aiming to be the star performer of Autumn Troupe!

Sakyo: What a thing to say.

Banri: Bring it on.

Juza: I won't lose.

Taichi: Ugh… I should've just settled with the fourth best actor, after all.

Azami: It's too early to give up.

Omi: Haha, let's do our best together.

Tasuku: I'm Tasuku Takato, playing Musashi Miyamoto in Winter Troupe's fifth play "Die by the Sword".

This wasn't my first time leading a play, but I've got to admit it felt kind of different when I did it as a member of MANKAI Company's Winter Troupe.

Through this play, I've got the chance to think about the reason why I'm in this troupe, and what kind of an actor I'm supposed to be.

I'll keep going as an actor of Winter Troupe, Takato Tasuku.

After all, performing with my fellow Winter Troupe members has become an important thing to me.

I don't know what will happen in the future, but I'm going to carefully determine what kind of an actor I'll be.

Azuma: Fufu, you're so stiff.

Guy: It was a very Takato-like message.

Homare: I've got to hand it to Tasuku-kun. He's strict with himself when it comes to acting.

Hisoka: Totally different from Arisu.

Homare: I don't want to hear that from you.

Tsumugi: Guess I need to think about how I should be as an actor too.

Chikage: I'm Chikage Utsuki. I portrayed Oz in Spring Troupe's fourth play "The Wonderful Charlatan of Oz".

My recollection of the play, huh… the only thing I remember is that I've caused troubles.

I've also given you so much trouble that time, director-san.

Izumi: No, it's okay.

Chikage: But well, I'm going to make up for it.

Izumi: It's alright. You don't have to.

Citron: Let's go eat Yakiniku! Chikage will treat us.

Tsuzuru: Sounds great.

Masumi: Let’s invite all troupe members.

Chikage: I got attacked right away, huh.

Chikage: Back when I just entered the troupe, I’ve never thought I’d stay this long.

Nor have I thought I’d spend my days with these feelings…

Since this troupe has become a place where I’ve got a precious family, I need to treasure it. I’ll be in your care.

Sakuya: The same goes for me!

Itaru: I look forward to the yakiniku.

Izumi: I’m fine with curry too!

Chikage: Alright, alright.

Kumon: I’m Kumon Hyodo, playing Souta Akiyama in Summer Troupe’s fourth play “First Crush Baseball”!

First Crush Baseball is the first play I ever performed and the first play I ever led. I was so clueless at first.

But because everyone taught and supported me, I was able to go on until our final performance.

The fact that I could stand on the stage without collapsing until the end made me so happy…

Thanks to this play, I've gained confidence from the fact I could accomplish something.

This is all thanks to everyone in Summer Troupe who accepted me. I’m glad I joined Summer Troupe. I love you all!

Misumi: I love Kumon too!

Kazunari: Me too, me too!

Yuki: But well, your current acting is better than that time.

Tenma: That’s right. You’ve greatly improved.

Kumon: Seriously!? Yeeaaay! I’ll work harder!

Muku: Let’s do our best together!

Azami: I’m Azami Izumida, portraying Abel in Autumn Troupe’s fourth play “DEAD/UNDEAD”.

Back when I ran away from home, I never would have thought I’d perform onstage. But well, I had a blast beating up shitty Sakyo on the stage.

Sakyo: ...Hey.

Azami: I got to do makeup to my heart’s content, and now I feel like I really could go on living with makeup for the rest of my life.

I’m glad I joined this theater troupe. There’s a lot of interesting people here, and I never run out of people to use as guinea pigs when I want to test my new makeup.

I’ll study makeup more and improve my acting.

Banri: Yo, good luck with that.

Juza: I expect a lot from you.

Omi: Ever since this play, our stage photos look nicer than before. It’s all thanks to you, Azami.

Taichi: I’ve become cooler thanks to your makeup too, A-chan!

Sakyo: Putting makeup aside, you still have a lot to learn in acting.

Azami: Shaddup.

Guy: My name is Guy. I played Phantom in Winter Troupe’s fourth play “Le Fantôme de l' Opéra”.

Back when I stood on the stage, I thought I was just going with the flow. But now that I think about it again, everything went as Citronia intended.

Citron: Of course it did.

Guy: I’ve got to know the things Citronia deemed precious after coming to this country and joining this theater troupe.

I myself was able to regain my precious memories and take off the armor that has restrained me for so long.

And as I spend my days here, I continue to discover new sides of myself.

Strangely enough, I don’t hate this. Rather, I want to keep enjoying these changes.

Tsumugi: You were an android at first, right.

Guy: Yes. That was what I believed.

Tasuku: Those days felt like an eternity ago.

Hisoka: ...You’ve changed.

Homare: Yes, and in a good way.

Azuma: You’ve become more human now. That’s great.

Citron: He’s still as hopeless as ever, though.

Guy: I’ll do my best.

Tsuzuru: I’m Tsuzuru Minagi, playing Luke in Spring Troupe’s third play “A Clockwork Heart”.

This play, which I led, was the most unforgettable play for me. Everything is etched deep in my heart, including my self-reflection.

Itaru: Dude, you spoke freaking smoothly in this one.

Masumi: Unbelievable.

Chikage: Were you reading notes?

Tsuzuru: Ughーー.

Izumi: They got you.

Tsuzuru: At the time, I looked back at the reason why I wanted to write scripts and do theater in the first place.

I’d like to keep doing my best in both script writing and acting without throwing away my beginner’s spirit.

And even though I got swayed a lot by my co-lead Citron, he saved me in an unexpected time and place. I appreciate it.

I can’t thank you enough. I look forward to continuing working with you all.

Citron: Same here!

Sakuya: You two are the best pair from Spring Troupe!

Misumi: Hello, I’m Misumi Ikaruga. I played Sky in Summer Troupe’s third play “Captain Sky Pirates”.

You see~ I found 54 triangles during this play~!

Tenma: You sure remember that kind of thing well, huh!

Yuki: What a waste of memorizing skill.

Misumi: Among the triangles I found that time, the one I like the most was the big triangle we saw in the night sky.

Ever since I joined this theater troupe, I found lots of precious triangles. I want to let grandpa know about it one day.

Kazunari: You still have more and more triangles to add to your collection.

Muku: Let’s collect so many triangles you can’t even count them!

Kumon: I’ll help you find them!

Misumi: Yup~! Let’s go find lots of triangles~!

Sakyo: I’m Sakyo Furuichi, portraying Ginji Kazama in Autumn Troupe’s third play “Tales of Chivalry: Ginji the Wanderer”.

I couldn’t stop thinking it was too late for me to be the lead actor, but I’ve gotta admit, I learned a lot at the time. Furthermore, I once again realized I’m still lacking experience.

I’m gonna keep on learning very seriously, shamelessly and move forward.

Banri: Oh shit, so scary, what a scary man.

Azami: So childish.

Sakyo: Age and experience don’t matter on the stage. This is a serious fight. Prepare yourself.

Juza: Bring it on.

Taichi: Somehow, that part just now sounded like a criminal declaration!

Omi: His statement sure is powerful.

Azuma: I’m Azuma Yukishiro, playing Reo Kuto in Winter Troupe’s third play “Nocturnality”.

I can't say I got especially attached to the play just because I played the lead role, but I felt the bond between Winter Troupe members got stronger at that time.

I could take a step forward thanks to Tasuku. I'm glad we performed this play.

Tasuku: I didn't do anything special… I just thought it was necessary for the play.

Homare: So it has something to do with the play in the end.

Hisoka: What a theater fool.

Azuma: But that's just how Tasuku really is.

Tsumugi: Yes, even his dishonest side.

Azuma: Compared to that time, with Guy joining us, the Winter Troupe is changing little by little.

I think this is a nice change, though. I feel at ease with you guys. Look forward to continuing working with you.

Tsumugi: Same here.

Guy: I'll be in your care.

Masumi: I'm Masumi Usui, playing Alice in Spring Troupe's second play "Boy Alice in Wonderland".

….

Izumi: Masumi-kun, the camera is over here! Look here!

Masumi: But I want to look at you…

Izumi: ...I'll move, then.

Masumi: Can I express my feelings for you?

Izumi: I rather have you express your feelings towards the play!

Masumi: ...Itaru was annoying.

Itaru: Heeey.

Masumi: We took a long time to finish rehearsing.

Tsuzuru: That was because you kept trying to impress the director and criticized us too much!

Masumi: Itaru was annoying.

Chikage: You must have been really annoying at that time.

Itaru: …

Masumi: But I think the play turned out great.

Izumi: Yes, I feel the same.

Sakuya: I think so too!

Masumi: My acting has gotten better since that time. I'll continue to improve so much you can't even take your eyes off me. Keep looking at me and me only.

Citron: He kept staring at the director the whole time!

Tsuzuru: That's Masumi for ya.

Yuki: I'm Yuki Rurikawa, portraying Shiro in Summer Troupe's second play "The Adventure for Sardines".

The thing I remember the most during this play was that I caused everyone's troubles, since I struggled to juggle between my position as the lead actor and the costume designer.

Kazunari helped me a lot.

Kazunari: It's no biggie~!

Yuki: But compared to that time, I've grown now.

I mean, it's thanks to the events at the time that I'm now able to balance acting and costume making well.

I only started acting because I wanted to get feedback for the costumes I made, but now I genuinely find acting fun.

I find it fun to stand onstage and produce a play together with everyone. It's a different kind of fun from making costumes.

I've learned a lot of things by doing both, so I won't settle on just one and continue doing them all.

Kumon: Let's continue working together~!

Muku: Let's do our best together!

Misumi: I love Yuki's costumes!

Tenma: Well, your acting has certainly gotten better since that time.

Yuki: You're still as arrogant as ever though.

Tenma: What!?

Omi: I'm Omi Fushimi. I played Wolf in Autumn Troupe's second play "Stranger".

It feels rather embarrassing to have someone shoot me when I've always been the one filming.

For me, this play means much more than just being the play that I led.

It's hard to put it into words, but…

This play made me, who's always been looking at the past, face forward and walk towards the future.

Now, I plan to chase the dream that my friend gave me for my own sake.

Taichi: Good for you, Omi-kun!

Omi: Thanks for your help that time.

Taichi: Your welcome!

Sakyo: Fushimi broke out of his shell during this play.

Banri: His acting changed a lot. I still remember it.

Juza: It was stimulating.

Omi: Haha. I hope I can grow further than that time.

Homare: I'm Homare Arisugawa. I played Tooru Sagishima in Winter Troupe's second play "The Master Likes a Mystery".

For me, the most unforgettable thing during this play was definitely my grandmother's watch.

I feel like this watch gave me the opportunity to be able to touch everyone's hearts little by little.

Especially Hisoka-kun. I never thought he'd do something for the sake of other people, and not just marshmallows.

Hisoka: It's because Arisu was hopeless.

Homare: You're right, I won't deny it. You helped me out back then.

Homare: This play turned out great because of Hisoka-kun and everyone.

Unlike poems, a play is something that you create with other people. It's too difficult for me alone, but that's what makes it very interesting.

No matter how many times I experienced it, I've never gotten tired of it. I think it's a wonderful thing.

Oh! I've found some poem inspiration. Ahemーー.

(video shuts down abruptly)

Guy: Oh, the video got cut.

Homare: Why did you cut off that part!?

Izumi: Huh? That's weird. There must be some technical issues…

Tasuku: He was going off topic, anyway. Perfect timing.

Homare: But that was part of my video message!

Tsumugi: Please let me hear it after this.

Azuma: I’d like to hear it too.

Homare: All right! I shall organize a recitation later, then.

< ‘Stories of 24′ 1 | Masterlist | ‘Stories of 24′ 3 >

#a3!#a3! translation #summer troupe #spring troupe #autumn troupe #winte

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Best Games to Play in 2021

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While 2020 was a landmark year for the gaming industry thanks to the release next-gen consoles and PC graphics cards, there are plenty of exciting new games coming in 2021. From highly-anticipated sequels like God of War: Ragnarok and Resident Evil Village to brand-new experiences such as Chorus and Deathloop, there’s plenty to look forward to this year.

We’ve curated a list of the 2021 games we’re most excited about, including big AAA blockbusters as well as imaginative indie titles. Keep in mind that we’ve only included games that at the very least have a vague “2021” release window attached, which is why we’re not including games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel, Elden Ring, or Final Fantasy XVI. We’ll of course update this article as new 2021 titles are announced.

Here’s what you have to look forward to this year:

The Ascent

TBA | Neon Games | XSX, XBO, PC

The Ascent was originally planned as an Xbox Series X launch title before it slipped into 2021. A twin stick shooter at its core, The Ascent features a cover system as well as the ability to target high and low points on enemies, all in a destructible, open world cyberpunk setting. You can also fully customize your character with a variety augments.

Though Neon Games is a small studio, Epic Games was so impressed with early work on the title, that Neon was awarded a grant to help cover development costs. We’re really looking forward to this smaller take on the cyberpunk genre.

Axiom Verge 2

TBA | Thomas Happ Games | Switch

Metroidvanias from indie developers are a dime a dozen nowadays, but the original Axiom Verge stood out thanks to its tight controls, varied weapons, and compelling story. Axiom Verge 2 looks to largely be more of the same, but with even better graphics and more complex enemy patterns. The game has been in development for the past four years, but should finally be out in early 2021.

Balan Wonderworld

March 26 | Balan Company and Arzest | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Switch

Balan Wonderworld is a modern take on classic platformers of the 32-bit era. You choose from one of two characters and explore a variety of worlds mixing reality and imagination, but the real hook is the 80 different costumes you can find that unlock new abilities for your characters.

The game was directed by Yuji Naka of Sonic the Hedgehog fame. Fans of the platformers of the early ’90s don’t want to miss this one.

Back 4 Blood

October 12 | Turtle Rock Studios | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Valve may not have been able to get its act together to make a new Left 4 Dead game, but the developer behind the best-selling franchise has a spiritual successor in the works. Just like in Left 4 Dead, you’ll team up with three other players to take on waves of the undead in missions that change every time you play. There will also be a competitive 4v4 mode with one team taking the role of the zombies.

We went hands-on with the Back 4 Blood alpha, and so far, it does play a lot like Left 4 Dead with updated graphics, which isn’t a bad thing at all if you miss the classic horde shooter. The card system, which bestows interesting perks (and buffs) to players and zombies, does add a bit of variety to the usual formula that make this one a sleeper hit in the streaming world.

Bravely Default II

February 26 | Claytechworks | Switch

The first two Bravely Default games released on the 3DS were typical fantasy RPGs bolstered by their unique risk-reward battle system. Players could use brave points to stack up attacks for big damage, or default to save them up and take less damage in a turn. It kept those games fresh, even if they sometimes dragged on for too long.

Bravely Default II brings the series’ unique combat exclusively to the Switch for the first time. And true to its Final Fantasy inspirations, the characters and story are completely original, so you don’t need any familiarity with the earlier games.

Chivalry 2

June 8 | Torn Banner Studios | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare was a huge multiplayer hit on the PC when it was released in 2012. Unfortunately, with lagging developer support, most of the community moved on to other games long ago.

Now, Torn Banner is hoping to bring players back with the sequel, which boasts next-gen graphics, improved combat, and massive 64-player battles. Needless to say, Chivalry 2 could be the next big thing in multiplayer. The game is currently in Closed Alpha, so you might be able to check it out before release if you sign up here.

Chorus

TBA | Fishlabs | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Stadia

There’s been a serious lack of good third-person space combat shooters in recent years, but Chorus looks to rectify that. In this single-player game, you’ll play as Nara and her sentient ship Forsaken as they work together to track down the cult that created them in what Fishlabs is calling a “dark new universe.” It kind of looks like Goth Star Fox.

Unfortunately, we haven’t really seen anything more from Chorus since it was announced last summer. Hopefully, the radio silence ends soon.

CrossfireX

TBA | Smilegate Entertainment and Remedy Entertainment | XSX, XBO

CrossFire is a hugely popular tactical first-person shooter in China and South Korea, even though it’s barely made a mark in the West. Fortunately, Microsoft is bringing an updated version of the shooter exclusively to its consoles in hopes that it’ll catch on. Expect lots of tense, objective-based multiplayer action, and though the series isn’t known for its single-player, we’re looking forward to what Remedy can do with this mode hot on the heels of the excellent Control.

Like several of the titles on this list, CrossfireX was planned as a launch title for the Series X, but was delayed into 2021 due to development issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait that much longer for this one.

Deathloop

May 21 | Arkane Studios | PS5, PC

What if you could combine the movie Groundhog Day with the Hitman series? It’s likely that no one had actually asked that question before Deathloop. You play as Colt, an assassin stuck in a time loop on an island in the midst of a party that resets every day. You have to eliminate eight targets before midnight and avoid dying yourself, or you’ll end up at the beginning of the loop again.

Deathloop also features a multiplayer component that allows players to jump into your game as an assassin named Julianna, who is tasked with taking Colt down before he can complete his mission. This PvP aspect should result in some very interesting playthroughs.

While Microsoft now owns Arkane as part of its purchase of ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks, don’t expect Deathloop on the Xbox any time soon. It’s still launching exclusively on the PS5 and PC.

Diablo 2: Resurrected

TBA | Vicarious Visions | XSX, PS5, XBO, PS4, PC, Switch

While Diablo III’s reputation has improved substantially since its controversial 2012 launch, there’s still a vocal group of gamers who prefer the second game in Blizzard’s genre-defining action RPG series. Knowing how much this game means to a lot of people, Vicarious Visions has said it’s not out to reinvent the wheel for Resurrected. The updated 3D graphics will display in 4K, but you can switch back to the original graphics at any point with the press of a button.

And while there will be some quality of life improvements like a shared item stash and automatic gold pickup, don’t expect any revolutionary changes that will spoil the original experience. This should be exactly what we need to tide us over until Diablo IV hits.

Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny

June 29 | Nippon Ichi Software | Switch

After a couple of well-received remakes, the first new Disgaea title in more than five years should be out in 2021. This time around, the offbeat story focuses on Zed, a zombie who attempts to use something called “super reincarnation” to stop the seemingly invincible God of Destruction who is slowly destroying all worlds.

While both the PlayStation 4 and Switch are dialed in for Japanese releases in January, so far only a Switch version has been announced for the West.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

June 22 | Tuque Games | XSX, PS5, XBO, PS4, PC

Baldur’s Gate isn’t the only Dungeons & Dragons video game series back from the dead. The cooperative action-adventure series Dark Alliance once again allows players to journey into the world of the Forgotten Realms with up to three other friends online. And unlike Baldur’s Gate 3, Dark Alliance is releasing in completed form, so you can expect a full campaign right out of the box.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood

June 1 | ZeniMax Online Studios | XSX, PS5, XBO, PS4, PC, Stadia

Last year’s Elder Scrolls Online expansion finally brought the world of Skyrim to the MMO, and ZeniMax is keeping the blasts from the past coming. This year’s expansion, Blackwood, brings back elements from Oblivion, with a whole new campaign that sees you face off against Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon 800 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls IV. It’s all part of the year’s big Gates of Oblivion storyline.

The expansion adds the Blackwood region to the game, which includes the Imperial city of Leyawiin from Oblivion, and also finally brings a Companion system to the game. Recruit an NPC to fight by your side and explore the land of Tamriel.

Evil Dead: The Game

TBA | Boss Team Games and Saber Interactive | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Switch

The Evil Dead movies are considered all-time horror classics, but success has always eluded the franchise in the world of video games. But that could be about to change. Announced at The Game Awards, Evil Dead: The Game sees Ash and friends taking on waves of Deadites on several maps, including the iconic cabin in the woods. Gameplay appears to be similar to Saber’s previous adaptation, World War Z, which was a solid title that never quite seemed to find an audience.

Far Cry 6

TBA | Ubisoft | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Stadia, Luna

By now we all know what to expect from Far Cry: hop into a tropical paradise, blow up a bunch of outposts, and methodically take back the land from the big bad guy. After a detour into the American wilderness with Far Cry 5, the next entry in the series heads to Yara, a fictional Caribbean country heavily based on Cuba. And with Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian fame playing the big bad El Presidente, you know we’re in for some especially awesome villainy.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

TBA | Square Enix | PS5, PS4, PC

After one of the worst MMORPG launches ever, it’s a miracle that Final Fantasy XIV is still around a decade later. Not only did Square Enix turn things around, this game is now regarded as one of the very best in the genre.

Endwalker, the game’s fourth major expansion pack will conclude the story of the warring gods Hydaelyn and Zodiark, which has been running since the game’s 2013 relaunch. This won’t be the end of the MMO, though. Square still says it has several years worth of stories to tell.

Along with the obligatory new zones and quests, Square has promised two new classes. The first one shown so far, the sage, is a healer who battles with floating swords.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

TBA | Steel Wool Studios | PS5, PS4, PC

The Five Nights at Freddy’s series has been terrorizing gamers for more than a half decade now, and Steel Wool Studio is looking to up the scares with the power of next-generation graphics. We don’t know how exactly the game will play yet, but the announcement video showcased a very cool looking shopping mall with an ‘80s motif. On the PS5 and PC, Security Breach will support real-time raytracing, so Freddy and the gang should look better than ever.

Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection

February 25 | Capcom | Switch

After a lengthy absence, the crushingly difficult Ghosts ‘n Goblins series has been revived. Resurrection, which is a whole new installment and not just a remake, features the series’ classic 2D gameplay, with the knight Arthur fighting his way through hordes of monsters and environmental hazards. And of course, the new graphics look much better than the old NES and SNES games. Best (worst?) of all, this modern take is just as punishing as its predecessors so be prepared to die A LOT.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

TBA | Tango Gameworks | PS5, PC

Tango Gameworks has only released two titles to date: The Evil Within and its sequel. Anyone who played those games can tell you, the developers know horror. With a variety of deformed enemies and a mind-bending plot, The Evil Within titles are two of the scariest games of the last decade.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a brand new IP that moves the action to the third-person. Instead of the typical firearms, you’ll be dispatching ghosts with psychic powers. Expect an exceedingly creepy experience regardless.

God of War: Ragnarok

TBA | SIE Santa Monica Studio | PS5

Sony has said almost nothing about the next God of War game except that it’s coming next year. One thing we do know is that Ragnarok is the mythical battle leading to the death of the Norse gods. With Kratos’ history of deicide, it only makes sense that he’ll be killing a whole lot of them in the next game. The previous title also hinted at a showdown with Thor, the god of thunder (no, not the Marvel guy), which should be pretty epic.

Guilty Gear Strive

June 11 | Arc System Works | PS5, PS4, PC

The latest in the long-running Guilty Gear franchise should be out early in 2021 with some interesting new fighters as well as exciting returning characters. There will be a dedicated dash button and a new feature will let opponents who are knocked into walls cling to them. If you can land enough attacks, you will break through the wall and initiate a stage transition.

Arc has promised “a completely new Guilty Gear” with Strive. We’re not sure about that, but the trailers showcasing the franchise’s trademark mix of 2D and 3D graphics look better than ever.

Halo Infinite

Fall | 343 Industries | XSX, XBO, PC

After a disappointing reveal last July, Halo Infinite was bumped from the Series X launch to Fall 2021. The game has been described as both a sequel and a “spiritual reboot” for the series, so it will be interesting to see how far 343 Industries handles Cortana’s heel turn after the fan backlash Halo 5: Guardians received.

Many fans weren’t happy to hear more microtransactions will be added to Infinite in the form of “coatings” (shaders) that can be purchased to customize Spartans in multiplayer. It doesn’t help that players have yet to even see any multiplayer gameplay from Infinite.

Hopefully, the delay will give 343 the time it needs to put out a game that lives up to the series’ reputation.

Hitman III

January 20 | IO Interactive | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Switch, Stadia

IO’s rebooted Hitman games are among the most underrated titles of the last few years, streamlining the series’ once finnicky systems and placing Agent 47 in huge sandbox levels with more ways than ever to eliminate his targets. If you own the previous two games, you can import maps and progress to take advantage of Hitman III’s improvements on any platform, but only the PS4 version will support the PSVR headset for the ultimate Hitman experience.

Horizon Forbidden West

TBA | Guerilla Games | PS5, PS4

Thanks to its unique post-post-apocalyptic setting and fluid gameplay, Horizon Zero Dawn was one of the best open world games of the previous generation. The sequel looks to out do the original with even more varied environments like deserts, beaches, and the ruins of San Francisco. And there will of course be more mechanized prehistoric beasts than ever before.

While Forbidden West is coming to the PS4 as well, the PS5’s DualSense controller should provide the definitive experience thanks to its haptic feedback. You should finally be able to feel what it’s like for Aloy to pull back on her iconic bow.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

July 16 | Nintendo | Switch

The Legend of Zelda series turned 35 this year and Nintendo is celebrating the milestone with an HD remaster of one of the most underrated installments in the long-running franchise. Skyward Sword takes things back all the way to the very beginning of the Zelda timeline, telling the story of how the mythical Master Sword was created. Along the way, players are in for a fun adventure including some interesting experiments with motion control.

While it’ll likely never be as beloved as the games before it or Breath of the Wild, this Wii installment is still worth experiencing, especially if you missed it back in 2011.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

TBA | Traveller’s Tales | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Switch

There have been plenty of Lego Star Wars games, including one that already adapted the “complete” saga, but this will be the first to feature the entire Sequel Trilogy. Even if you’ve played through those other games, The Skywalker Saga will feature never-before-seen levels and gameplay.

Traveller’s Tales promises an absolutely massive game, too. Each of the nine films features five levels, and the movies can be played through in any order. Nearly 500 playable characters are expected to be included in the final game. We’d love it if Mando and Grogu make the final cut, too.

Mario Golf: Super Rush

June 25 | Nintendo | Switch

It’s been a while since Nintendo dropped a new Mario Golf game, but it’s finally happening on the Switch. While Super Rush offers up much of the same Mario Golf action you know and love, it does have an interesting new mode called Speed Golf, which pits competitors against each other as they race down the course in real time to see who scores first. It should add a bit of pep to the chill vibes of the series.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

May 14 | BioWare | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Nearly a decade since its conclusion, the Mass Effect trilogy remains a favorite among many gamers. BioWare hasn’t commented too much about what to expect from this remaster, but we know the visuals will be upgraded to 4K, and all of the excellent post-launch DLC will be included. The developer has also promised other upgrades to bring the titles up to modern standards, so maybe we’ll see some changes to the first game’s finicky combat. And if Bioware is feeling particularly ambitious, we might even get a few hints as to what they have planned for the upcoming sequel.

The Medium

January 28 | Bloober Team | XSX, PC

Originally announced way back in 2012 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii U, The Medium was shelved for years due to technological constraints before finally resurfacing in 2020. Gameplay focuses on a medium who can instantaneously travel between the real world and the spirit realm to solve puzzles, something that just wasn’t possible until the current crop of consoles adopted solid state drives.

Bloober Team has quietly built a reputation for itself with excellent single-player horror games like Observer and Layers of Fear, and The Medium is their most ambitious game yet.

Monster Hunter Rise

March 26 | Capcom | Switch

The excellent Monster Hunter: World helped the series find a large audience in the West, although the game’s more demanding performance requirements kept it off the Switch. Fortunately, Rise is built specifically for Nintendo’s portable-console hybrid. And rather than a watered down port of World, Capcom this is a full-featured sequel with a new, more vertical map and all 14 weapon types from Monster Hunter: World and Monster Hunter Generations. If you’ve been waiting to jump on the Monster Hunter craze on the Switch, now is the time!

New Pokemon Snap

April 30 | Nintendo | Switch

Nintendo is unleashing peak late ’90s nostalgia with this revival of the Pokemon Snap series for the Switch. Wrapped in a modern package, New Pokemon Snap is more of the on-rails photography game you loved when you were a kid. The game features over 200 Pokemon to capture with your trusty camera, which you can upload online to share with other players. And true to the Instagram era, you can now touch up your pictures, adding blur and filters, adjusting the zoom, and more. This is a must-buy for Nintendo fans.

New World

August 31 | Amazon Games | PC

Amazon has had its sights set on the gaming world for quite some time, quietly pumping money into a number of projects, and New World could be its breakthrough hit. In this MMORPG set on an unnamed land in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1600s, you’ll wield bows, hammers, hatchets, magical staffs, musket rifles, spears, and swords against a variety of fantastical creatures. There will also be plenty of opportunities to gather resources, craft and build settlements. Best of all, there’s no monthly fee to play.

Launching a new IP is always difficult, and MMOs are a particularly difficult genre to break into, but if any company has the resources to succeed, it’s Amazon.

Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…

April 23 | Square Enix | PS4, XBO, PC

Before Nier: Automata was hailed as one of the best games of the last generation, there was simply Nier, a quirky, slightly janky action RPG that nevertheless found a devoted fanbase on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Square Enix has been cagey on exactly what improvements we’ll see in Replicant, an updated version of the original, saying only that it’s somewhere between a remaster and a full remake.

The screenshots we’ve seen so far look absolutely gorgeous, and the combat system will also be updated to more closely resemble Automata’s gameplay. Considering that Nier‘s graphics and combat were criticized at the time, Replicant could end up being the definitive version of the experience.

Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection

June 10 | Team Ninja | XBO, PS4, Switch, PC

Before there was Dark Souls, masochists flocked to the Ninja Gaiden series, which basically wrote the book on punishing action games. If you’ve been missing this franchise of late, Koei Tecmo is re-releasing three of the 3D installments in a sleek new collection for modern platforms. Included in the box are Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, plus most of the downloadable content released for these games.

No More Heroes III

August 27 | Grasshopper Manufacture | Switch

Another game that was bumped into 2021 at the last minute, we actually haven’t seen that much from this one, even though it should be out soon. Screenshots show Travis Touchdown wielding his trademark beam katana and performing pro wrestling moves on enemies. And everything looks much better on the Switch than the first two games originally released on the Wii.

As we’ve all come to expect from Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture by now, the story sounds absolutely bonkers, involving a weird parody of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and aliens posing as superheroes who Travis must now defeat to save the world. It doesn’t make a ton of sense, but No More Heroes fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Outlast Trials

TBA | Red Barrels | PC

While The Outlast Trials will be the third game in the Outlast series, it won’t follow the plot of the previous games and instead will focus on the subjects of some sort of Cold War experiment. Those earlier games didn’t feature any combat, instead forcing you to evade enemies to survive, and it’s a safe bet that The Outlast Trials will follow a similar gameplay structure. It’ll also feature four-player co-op, a first for the horror series. Knowing Red Barrels, you should expect something really scary.

Outriders

April 1 | People Can Fly | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Outriders combines the shooter and RPG genres in some unique and engaging ways. At the start of the game, you’ll pick from one of four classes: the time manipulating Trickster, fire-controlling Pyromancer, the seismic-powered Devastator, or the Technomancer, each of whom has a full-featured skill tree. Some have compared the title to live service games like Destiny and The Division, but Outriders also has a style of its own, presenting itself as a grittier alternative to those games.

Persona 5 Strikers

February 23 | Omega Force and P-Studio | PS4, PC, Switch

It’s a tradition at this point for Atlus to spin-off a Persona game into as many other titles as possible. We’ve already seen rhythm and dungeon crawler spin-offs of Persona 5 (and even a Super Smash Bros. cameo from Joker), but this is The Phantom Thieves’ first foray into the hack and slash genre. Gameplay is a mix of the usual Dynasty Warriors combo attacks, but there are also turn-based persona battles as well. And of course, expect plenty of Persona 5’s usual style and flare.

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis

TBA | Sega | XSX, XBO, PC

Wait, didn’t Phantasy Star Online 2 just come out? Well yes, but only in the West. Japan has been playing the game since 2012, which is why the MMORPG might feel a little dated. New Genesis is a half update-half sequel with updated combat, and for the first time in the series, open world areas. It’s more like the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn update instead of a whole new game. The best part is that you’ll be able to transfer over your character from PSO 2 to New Genesis, and like its predecessor, it will be completely free-to-play.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake

TBA | Ubisoft | PS4, XBO, PC

The Sands of Time was arguably the best game of the PS2 era, which is why a remake is long overdue. Fan reception regarding the new art style has been mixed, though it certainly does look better than the original 2003 release. But how this remake plays remains to be seen.

While lauded for its tight platforming and time-bending mechanics, The Sands of Time always suffered from lackluster combat. Let’s hope Ubisoft has ironed out all of the kinks with this remake, though.

Originally planned for a January release, Ubisoft recently pushed the game back to March 18, so we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for the return of the Prince.

Psychonauts 2

TBA | Double Fine | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Fans have been waiting for a Psychonauts sequel for 15 years now. Fortunately, it looks like Double Fine’s follow up will finally see the light of day in 2021. The first game was praised for its varied levels and puzzles, and Psychonauts 2 will again see Raz delving into the psyches of other characters, with hilarious and frightening results. Raz won’t be completely alone for this journey as Double Fine has announced that he will be joined by a new glowing companion voiced by Jack Black.

Rainbow Six Quarantine

TBA | Ubisoft | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Rainbow Six Siege is still one of the most popular multiplayer games on the market years after its release, which is why Ubisoft isn’t looking to get in the way of its own success with Quarantine. While Siege focuses on PvP combat, Quarantine takes its inspiration from that game’s popular limited time Outbreak mode. In this spin-off, teams of three work together to eliminate an alien threat controlled by the AI in dynamic missions. The game won’t be completely independent from Siege though, with at least some of its roster of operators also being playable in Quarantine.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

June 11 | Insomniac games | PS5

There hasn’t been a bad Ratchet & Clank game yet, and Rift Apart seems poisted to continue that trend. The basic gameplay will be similar to the excellent 2016 reboot, but Insomniac is taking advantage of the power of the PS5’s SSD to introduce instant travel between completely different worlds. From what we’ve seen in gameplay trailer so far, the mechanic is very impressive in action. Equally stunning are the game’s visuals, which will support real-time raytracing and full 4K resolution.

Resident Evil Village

May 7 | Capcom | XSX, PS5, PC

Resident Evil Village is a direct sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, but don’t call it Resident Evil 8, as Capcom is emphatic that the focus will be on the mysterious occurrences in a European village and not the larger Resi universe. From the one trailer we’ve seen, we know that Ethan Winters will be returning from the previous game, and this time around he’ll be joined by series regular Chris Redfield.

Gameplay will again be in first-person, so you should notice quite a few similarities with Resi 7, but with improved graphics and much shorter load times since this will be one of the first major next-gen releases that won’t have a PS4 or Xbox One version.

Scorn

TBA | Ebb Software | XSX, PC

Scorn looks like an absolute nightmare, but in the best possible way. It is, after all, directly inspired by the art of H.R. Giger of Alien fame and Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński. In Scorn, you play as a skinless humanoid searching for answers in a horrific techno-organic open world. At the very least, it promises to be the most disturbing title of the year.

Shin Megami Tensei V

2021 | Atlus | Switch

While the Persona spin-off series gets most of the attention nowadays, the original Shin Megami Tensei franchise is still going strong, and the latest title in the long-running series should be out worldwide next year.

This is the first Shin Megami Tensei developed using the Unreal Engine 4, so it should look fantastic, but expect similar gameplay to previous titles, including turn-based combat and lots of negotiating with demons to try to get them to join your party.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury on Switch

February 12 | Nintendo | Switch

When it was released in 2013, Super Mario 3D World was easily one of the best Mario games in years, effortlessly combining the 3D movement of newer games in the series with the level design and multiple characters of the original NES games. You could play as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, or Rosalina, and they could each don catsuits that opened up all sorts of new platforming opportunities. But maybe 10 people played it because no one bought the Wii U.

Fortunately, the game received the re-release it deserved this year. Plus you get a whole new campaign called Bowser’s Fury, an interesting twist on the usual Mario level structure that’s worth a playthrough.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

TBA | GSC Game World | XSX, PC

The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games were praised for their horrifying atmosphere, survival horror gameplay, and unique setting in the radioactive Chernobyl zone. Even now, almost 14 years after its release, Shadow of Chernobyl holds up pretty well, even if the graphics are dated.

At this point, we know more about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s troubled development than the game itself. The title was first announced in 2010, cancelled in 2012, and then revived in 2018. The trailer released in 2020 looks promising though, and Microsoft has announced that the game will be available via Game Pass on release day.

Valheim

February 2 | Iron Gate AB

Valheim came out of nowhere to become one of the big success stories of 2021, selling more than a million copies less than three weeks after its early access release. If you aren’t caught up on the latest Steam phenomenon, think of it as Minecraft mixed with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. You and up to nine other friends are dropped off in the middle of a Viking afterlife to survive, craft, and battle mythical creatures.

Iron Gate AB has been vague about what exactly to expect from future updates, but the studio has teased future customization options for homes and ships, and eventually even a new biome to explore.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

TBA | Fatshark | XSX, PC

Fatshark’s previous Warhammer Vermintide games were among the best co-op titles of the last generation, featuring heart-pumping four-player multiplayer action against hordes of rat men. The latest installment, Darktide, has a lot in common with previous Vermintide games, except that the setting has moved to the sci-fi-heavy Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players will control members of the Inquisition, who are sent on a mission to exterminate a heretical cult known as The Admonition. The game will feature the same visceral melee combat as its predecessors, but this time all that killing is done for the glory of the God Emperor.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin

TBA | KillPixel

First-person shooters have come a long way in the last couple of decades, but some times you just want to run and gun in a dark fantasy setting as quickly as possible. And remarkably few modern games provide that experience. Enter Wrath: Aeon of Ruin, a spiritual successor to Quake, Doom, and Hexen, built on the 25-year-old Quake Engine.

Wrath has been in Early Access since November 2019, and what’s been released so far is very promising, looking and sounding like a lost PC shooter from the late ‘90s. The full game should be out later this year.

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