#killing in self-defense

[theoneeyedgoldenwolf]

Special Operations Mission: Becoming Fierce

Wumptober 2024, number 31: Asking For Help, "I'm alive, I'm just not well."

Summary: During the Special Operations missions Time was fine following orders. He just didn’t see himself as a leader until he ended up proving himself as such to his own team leader…

CW: Blood, stab wound, stitches, killing in self-defense, cursing, panic attack (?), fear of needles

Notion: - Part of my Ranch Family AU, the Modern Linked Universe stories - Time has lost his right eye and has the scar over it but he does NOT have Fierce Deity’s markings. - I haven’t yet come up with names for Time’s teammates which is why I call them by the masks. ^^;; Sorry.

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Time had never considered himself as a leader. He was happy to follow and let others make the choices. Yet, one mission and at the end of it he was offered the Fierce Deity’s mask. He had never craved for it like everyone else. He had been happy to be Zora, or Z for short, for the missions. And yet, that mask with markings of red and blue had been handed to him out of mutual acceptance and decision. He had tried to turn it down but the trio was adamant and eventually he had accepted the given honor…

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Time had been playing cards with most of his boys when the call had come. He fished the phone out and bit shrugged at the unknown number. Yet, he answered it nonetheless: “Time.”

“Is this Sprite LonRan I’m speaking with?”

The one eyed male frowned a bit and just shrugged into the questioning looks of his boys. “Yes. Who’s asking?”

“Admiral John Lucas from the Special Operations.”

The ranch’s owner was quite startled and he unconsciously sat up straighter. “Sir! I… I’m sorry, Sir. Your number’s shown as unknown.” He nearly stammered.

“Understandable. Am I calling at bad time?”

“No, Sir, not at all. I…” Time started before bit chuckling and relaxing. “Playing cards with my boys here.” He explained while recalling how laidback the commanding officer of the Special Ops was. “Twi, could you be a sweetheart and go to check if there’s anything out of ordinary for the next few weeks?” He requested gently.

“What kind of games, if you don’t mind me asking.”

The one eyed male grinned a bit. “All possible. Twi’s doing his best to keep Wind from cheating.” He explained and grinned. “Though, I think I’m the biggest cheat in here.” He chuckled and shrugged.

“Oh is that so? Mind to give an example?”

Time laughed a bit and nodded to Twilight as he actually brought the whole calendar over as well as pen and paper. “Oh you know. Showing off my guards so calledly ‘accidentally’, catching others’ notion to specific situations and the like.” He told airily and heard the high ranked man chuckle. “So, I only got one appointment after couple of weeks from here. Should be plausible of re-schedule it for later time.” He checked the marked information on the calendar for him and his boys. “How long are we talking of?”

“Two weeks.”

The ranch’s keeper flinched and grimaced. “Shit. That’s long.” He half whispered while knowing the other three of the team had already been called. It usually was up to him whether or not the team he belonged to would be a go. After all, unlike the others, he had the boys to look after.

“Bad timing?”

Time sighed and shook his head. “No… Just not liking to be away so long.” He replied tad sorrowfully before bit smiling. “Yet, I know I can trust my boys. They’ll be perfectly fine without me for a while.” He told before grinning. “And I’m sure they’d love to have the whole place for themselves for the time being.” The five boys around the table were startled and looked at their guarding bit horrified. The one eyed male chuckled. “Oh you should’ve seen their faces by that line.” He mused mischievously before nearly laughing at the whines. “So, when and what to take along?”

“Tomorrow morning. Like before, you and the others will get everything needed from the HQ.”

The ranch’s owner nearly jerked at that answer. “That soon?” He half whispered uncertainly before sighing. “Okay, okay… Just…”He shook his head. “Alright. I’ll be ready.” Once having ended the call, he sighed heavily and slumped back on the sofa. “Shit…” He mumbled while running his fingers of both hands through his hair.

“You’re heading off to third mission?” Legend queried even though he was up for just pointing it out.

“Sadly, yeah.” Time answered while sitting up straighter. “Unless, of course, you guys are saying no. I’m not going if any of you says you don’t want me to head to there.”

“The people at there need your help.” Twilight half whispered.

“I and the trio aren’t the only team they have.” The one eyed male reminded firmly.

“But you four are the best.” Wind said while tilting his head a bit.

Time chuckled a bit and slightly blushed. “Best, huh… Wouldn’t know. Never get to hear out how the others do.” He countered with a mischievous grin.

“How much can you tell?” Four inquired while knowing of the confidentiality and all that binding his caretaker.

“Not much since I don’t know much yet.” The ranch’s owner replied with a shrug. “Two weeks is the estimation and they’ll be fetching me already tomorrow morning.”

“That’s fast.” Sky whispered bit sorrowfully.

Time sighed heavily and nodded. “Yeah…” He half mumbled before stretching and trying to change the mood. “Anyway, I got a call to make.” He told with a slight weak grin while already searching out the right piece of paper from the see-through pocket of the calendar for the re-scheduling the meeting.

“I’ll do that.” Twilight suddenly stated out while placing his hand over Time’s. “Just go and inform Wild of things. We’ll flock you for the rest of the day and through the night.” He promised with a grin.

Time was first bit surprised but he soon chuckled and nodded. “Thanks.” He half whispered before starting to usher the other boys towards the kitchen. Twilight just nodded while taking out his phone and starting to make the call.

As promised, the seven boys stayed around Time for the rest of the day. Each of them was very emotional with hugs since they knew they wouldn’t be seeing their caretaker for couple of weeks. It wasn’t fun but at least they knew they could call him whenever. That had pretty much become a thing for goodnight calls once they’d get the text from Time about things being calm for the night and just letting them know.

At the next day the boys woke up early too and stayed close to the one eyed male. Yet, they stayed at the doorway of the house while Time walked out of there and through the pathway into the field. He had done his best to assure the youngster of everything going to be fine and that he’d come back before they’d know it. Still, he hated the slight goodbyes even though he made it sure it wouldn’t be the last time they saw him. In fact, he never said goodbye but “Talk to you later.” or “See you after few days.” or such. Always with something positive with promise of meeting again.

The ranch’s owner glanced once behind him towards the road to the place he called home. He sighed a bit before taking a deep breath and bracing himself for the ride of two next weeks. After that he entered the car and gave a nod and a grin to the four waiting for him. “Always the last to pick up, huh, Z?” One of the trio on the passenger’s seats commented.

“They know I got boys there whom do not want to let me go, Goron.” Time replied while closing his eye and trying to relax. “If I were you guys, I’d take a nap. Everyone needs to be sharp when we reach the HQ.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re not the leader, Zora.” Another one snorted.

Time shrugged. “I’m not, Deku, but Fierce is already sleeping on the front seat. I suggest you two follow his example.” He chuckled when the duo whined. “Don’t blame me when you can’t stay awake during the briefing.” He told with a mischievous grin. “It won’t look good if I keep jolting you two awake.”

“Fine, fine. We’ll sleep.” Goron grumbled and tried to find a good position on the seat. “Damn it. How the fuck you can sleep in a car?” He growled.

“Always asking the same thing.” Deku huffed while shaking his head.

“You just do.” Time replied before giving sorrowful grin. “Try sleeping on rocky bank of a river underneath a bridge for a week. That’ll give you an ability to sleep anywhere.”

“You always say that.” Goron commented while cracking one eye open to look at surprisingly comfortable looking Time.

“Because I did that when I was ten.” The one eyed male shrugged. “I’ve slept in some really rough places for a year or so. You know all this already.” He reminded before sighing. “Fine.” He grumbled. “Come on, Deku, time to change places.” He stated out while opening the seatbelt. Luckily the road was straight and no-one was on the road with them.

Deku was shortest out of the four of them. He easily crawled to Time’s place to change seats with him. Goron was the bulkiest of them. Fierce was almost as tall as Time was. They all had their abilities too. Deku was the tech genius. Goron was the brute force and special weapons. Fierce was the leader and medic. Time, or Zora as the team called him, was the strategist. The nicknames came from the masks they would wear during the missions to conceal their identities.

Goron sighed as he leaned against Time and finally got a better position to sleep. Without thinking, Deku followed the idea and was soon asleep too. The one eyed male smiled fondly even though these guys weren’t exactly part of his family. Yet, the feeling they gave by leaning against him was way too familiar and comforting to ignore it.

“I did tell Deku to take the side seat.” Fierce said quietly.

“He never listens to that, Fierce.” Time answered with a shrug. “Yet, I think he just likes to make the change in a moving car and act like it bothers him. Hell, I think even Goron’s just fine sleeping in the car but…” He shrugged again with a slight chuckle.

“I guess you’re just comfortable pillow for them.” Fierce grinned.

Time tried to suppress his laughter. “The boys say the same back at the ranch.”

“How many you got now? Last count was five, if I recall correctly.” Fierce queried with a slight frown.

“Six.” Time answered fondly and chuckled when Fierce whistled.

“How many are you going to gather, Zora?” Fierce inquired bit baffled.

Time shrugged. “Dunno. Feels like this isn’t yet all of them.” He replied with a soft sigh. “I don’t know why but… Maybe it’s because of the empty rooms or then the full house back at the orphanage… I don’t know. I just… There might end up being seven by the time we get to next mission after this.”

Fierce chuckled and shook his head. “Shit, you’re crazy, Zora.” He mused with a grin. “How the hell do you manage with them? I wouldn’t be able to deal with one let alone six.”

Time sighed fondly while closing his eye. “They’re amazing boys. Troubled, yes, but full of love and caring.” He mused quietly and lovingly. “You just need to get through them. They’re there for me as I am there for them.”

Fierce nodded slowly before closing his eye too. “Well, the road’s still long. Sleep well.” He half whispered before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly to calm down.

“Sweet dreams.” Time replied quietly while letting his mind stay with his boys while drifting off to sleep. It wasn’t like he or the team with him needed the rest but each of them understood the importance of the sleep. Even though they wouldn’t reach the HQ at that day, they’d still have some preparations and such to do at the midway place.

The Special Operations the different Mask Groups worked with weren’t exactly directly under the military’s orders. Each of the members of the teams were outsiders and just normal people whom quite well had no connection into military whatsoever. Yet, each of them had specific qualities, knowledge and skills that made the teams working and successful.

The missions were rare and each of them had the full rights to decline from them. So far Time had only declined from one mission. He was grateful that the trio didn’t blame him for missing the action and trip to somewhere around Hyrule. Yet, he had family to care for which most of the others didn’t have. And, no matter what, the one eyed male ALWAYS put his family first.

Time texted his boys at both evenings on their way to the HQ and got an instant call from Twilight while straight off telling he was on speaker so all six could talk with him. The team he was with just rolled their eyes as they listened to their comrade talk with his boys. Yet, each of them was smiling and doing their best to catch the full conversation… Until the one eyed male put the speaker on too with a grin.

The briefing at the next day went swiftly and by the evening the team of four was already on their way to their actual destination. Their mission was in an abandoned town at the border of Hyrule. They were up for checking one to couple of houses a day in search of answers to the simple question of what had happened in there. In the end it turned out that they only had five days to get things figured out before they’d get an extraction back to the HQ. It still would take couple of days to reach back to the safety of the HQ from their destination of the mission.

Each evening the one eyed male didn’t spend at home with his boys, he texted them and the boys called him straight off back. After all, the texts were a mark of everything being safe and sound at the moment. Still, he kept reminding that they could call him whenever they wished no matter where he was or how things were going. He would ALWAYS answer.

First two days went past without incidents. The town of about ten houses was eerie place with the silence and lack of people. The team of four was pretty much on edge as they went through the places. Yet, they calmed down quite a bit when the trio listened to their fourth member talk with his boys. Those youngster fully got him to relax, calm down, laugh and forget the place and the mission for a while. And that in turn aided the others to calm down too and regain the courage and strength to continue with the mission at the next day.

They took the biggest house of the area and separated into two teams. Time went with Fierce to the top floor while Deku and Goron stayed together while starting to go through the lowest floor. They’d, hopefully, meet at the middle of the building.

Things went well for couple of floors with each of them checking the opposite rooms and areas while staying close to their teammates. When Fierce found a room that seemed promising to their mission, Time went to check the rest of the floor. Things felt bit too quiet and he wasn’t too happy of that. Yet, orders were orders and the area seemed safe enough to move bit further away from each other. Plus, they were well trained for this kind of things.

Suddenly a scream was heard through the comms. “Fierce!” The Zora mask wearing male screamed out as he already turned around and dashed back to where he had last seen their leader. Deku and Goron were shouting out questions and requests for answers. Yet, he didn’t have those to give.

Time crashed into the room before screaming out his leader’s nickname and crashing to his knees on the guy’s side. “Shit, let me see.” He half snapped while noticing the blood coming out from his teammate’s side. Fierce growled while trying to get up from the floor. “What happened?” The one eyed male queried while forcing his commander back to the floor.

“I’m not sure. I got jumped.” Fierce answered before growling through gritted teeth as Time had managed to get some of the items off the way and just forced the jacket and shirt up. “Fuck. Can’t you be gentler?” He growled and shot a glare at the one eyed male.

“You want me to be gentler or actually work with this?” Time queried before tad flinching.

“Didn’t take you being squeamish of blood.” Fierce almost smirked.

“I’m not…” The Zora mask’s wielder replied while trying to stop trembling. “That…” He started and gulped once. “T-that needs s-stitches…” He mumbled before fumbling with the first aid kit.

“Zora? What’s wrong?” Fierce queried while getting worried of the situation. “How bad is it?”

“It’s not…” Time started and gulped few times but he wasn’t capable of getting the lump down. “Fuck…” He grumbled and gave a weak grin. “Is this a bad time to tell that I got fear of needles?” He queried bit sheepishly.

Fierce stared at his teammate before groaning and slumping back to the floor. “Fuck. Of course I get the luck of getting slashed while being with the only one whom is unable to fix this.”

Time huffed and shook his head. “Fuck you, F.” He growled and, with trembling hands but full determination in his gaze, began to work. “Just keep your fucking mouth shut. I’m doing this whether or not you like it. I’d do this for any of my boys no matter what. Twi’s a fighter so I doubt he’d get hurt like this. Ledge’s a fighter and he got really good style too. Rascal… Fuck. He’d get hurt. He can’t fight. I’ve tried as well as the others but he’s just not a fighter. Pirate. Oh yeah, he’d fight dirty if given the chance. Bird… No… He’ll fight if have to but he’d rather resort to much calmer ways. Mousekin. Yeah, he’ll definitely fight. He might overanalyze stuff but he’ll figure it out. So, shit, yeah, Rascal. He’d be in a situation like this. Defs. Fuck. Of course it’s the one I’d give my life to keep him safe and sound. Not that I’d let any of them get hurt but… Yeah… The others are fighters. Shit, shit, shit… Yeah, I know I’m rambling so just ignore that. Otherwise I’d freak the crap out of here. Fuck. No fun. Shit… I got this. I’d do this for any of my boys. I’d stay functioning through it all. For them. Always for them. I’m here for them. This is a way to protect them. To keep them safe and sound. Away from the horrors. Yeah, fine, all’s fine. I’m just fucking rambling. I’m just fucking panicking and I’m…. Fuck, no, I’m not thinking that. Just finish it, just finish it. Few more. Just think of them. The boys are fine. They’re safe. No-one’s gonna ever harm them as long as I got a word in it. And if someone does, fucking hell, they’ll deal with me. I’ll just freaking kill whomever touches my boys. You and the duo included. You’re part of my family. So, what the fuck ever touched you, I’ll take it down. One way or another. Yeah… I can do that. Just concentrate on that. You got a mission. You got stuff to do. You’ll figure this out…. And guess what…”

The one eyed male chuckled a bit while finishing the bandaging. “You’re fixed.” He half mumbled before almost retching. “Shit… Shitshitshit….!” He half growled, half shouted before scrambling to his feet and going closer to a corner. He ended up gagging and dry heaving. He managed to tear the mask off just moments before he actually threw up. He was breathing shakily, almost gasping for air, while trembling violently.

“Zora?” Fierce called while staring wide-eyed at the bit taller male. He had not waited for his teammate to actually manage with the stitching. And out of what he could feel, it had been done pretty perfectly. “Z, you okay?” He called again but Time didn’t react. “Shit… Z, you’re falling into panic and shock. You gotta calm down! Zora!” He half shouted but his words weren’t registering in the other male’s mind. He cursed while being unable to get up as of yet.

Suddenly something caught Fierce’s notion. A flash of light. “ZORA! LOOK OUT!” He screamed out in near terror when the realization hit him. The one whom had struck him, was now going to attack his helper.

Time jerked and turned towards the sound of running. He gave out a startled scream as the guy crashed onto him. It was pure instinct that got him to move and grab the hand that held the bloodied knife. “You son of a…!” He growled and screamed in rage. He wasn’t thinking. All he could see was his boys and how they had been hurt in their past. Especially Wild. And right now, even though the guy before him wasn’t one of those responsible for the past his boys had, he was a good enough substitute.

The one eyed male knew he wasn’t fully to his right mind. He knew he was on a mission with three teammates. He knew what he was seeing wasn’t real. He knew it wasn’t Wild whom had ended up stabbed by that knife. And yet, it was all he could think of.

Protect your family.

Time moved his legs and threw the guy over his head. He followed the movement like Wars had taught him so long ago. That action took his target off guard and he grabbed the man’s head before already slamming it hard against the floor several times. “YOU BASTARD! LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” He screamed while delivering couple of brutal punches. Before he even realized what he was doing, he snatched the knife and struck it into the guy’s throat.

Fierce stared in utter wide-eyed silence at the scene. “Zora…?” He called tentatively while having never seen this kind of side of the one eyed male. He knew the guy had very good strategic mind and could be ruthless if needed but he had never thought he could take a life like that.

Time jerked at the call before gasping in absolute shock at the scene before him. He scrambled away by several meters while staring wide-eyed at scene, with both eyes open. He breathed shallowly and fast while starting to tremble even more than what his phobia had caused. “I…. I-I…. I-I k-killed h-him…. I…..” He stammered while slowly turning his notion into his bit bloodied hands.

“Zora?” Fierce called again but he knew it was a bad idea to touch his teammate even if he’d get close to him. “Zora, you need to calm down.”

“I… I’ve never….” The one eyed male stammered quietly while wrapping his arms around himself and starting to rock to and forth. “I… I’ve never killed… I… I’ve seen dead body before but….. I…. I killed him…. Dear Goddesses…. I…. I’m a murderer…. H-how…. H-how can I….. T-the boys…. H-how can I…. H-how can I f-face them… A-anymore…” He whispered with broken voice.

“Fierce, what’s going on?”

“Zora’s in shock. He’s panicking.” Fierce replied into Deku’s query. “I need help in here. He just a moment ago patched me up and… That guy jumped him. It was self defense.” He explained while feeling bit like stammering. He was the leader of the group and yet he felt so out of his depth at the moment.

“Someone’s calling.”

The distinctive sound of a phone’s ringtone was heard through the comms. “I think it’s one of Zora’s boys…” Fierce whispered bit shocked.

Time jerked and pulled his arms free at the sound of a call. He swiftly checked the small screen of the info tablet in the size that was bit bigger than a watch. He sighed in relief and relaxed. “Oh, thank you Goddesses, for listening me…” He whispered before taking a deep breath and forcing himself to stop trembling. He knew his voice would betray him but he really needed this as he pressed to accept the call. “Hey, Four. How’s it going?”

“Time? You okay?”

Time gave a short, hollow chuckle. “I’m alive, I’m just not well.” He replied while having closed his eyes and leaned his head backwards.

“What’s happened? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

The one eyed male smiled bit sorrowfully. “I… I just….” He sighed heavily and tad slumped. “I don’t…” He stammered before growling. “Oh fuck the rules! I don’t know if this is considered classified but I just killed someone. I… It… I-I….” He explained before almost snapping his gaze open and, unintentionally, placing it into the dead body. He stared at the blood and lack of movement while starting to tremble and breathe shallowly while feeling sick.

“TIME!”

Time jerked and blinked few times in shock.

“Turn away from the body! Now!”

The ranch’s keeper blinked few times before following his boy’s command. He slowly and uncertainly turned his back to the scene.

“You’re gonna be okay, Time. I know you didn’t kill him without a reason. I’m getting the others too. We’ll be right here for you, Time.”

The one eyed male sighed and nodded even though he knew it wouldn’t be seen. He smiled a bit sorrowfully as he listened to his newest boy gathering the others together and giving the info of the situation out. Soon enough he was informed of being in the speaker so everyone would hear and could talk to him. “Hey, boys.” Time called bit weakly. Yet, his smile got bit stronger as each of the six replied. “How’s it going?” He queried before bit flinching at the worried queries of how he was doing and all. “Please, boys, just calm down. Right now I just need to listen to you six. Please?” He nearly begged while desperately needing to ground himself somehow.

The adopted sons of the ranch’s owner swiftly began talk, one at a time. They talked about their day and random stuff. Eventually Four had his turn as they had unconsciously began to explain stuff in order Time had brought them to Lon-Lon Ranch. “I saw the one you call Luck Bird. What do you think it means?”

Time relaxed the more the boys talked as he could know for certain that the six were safe and sound. “I don’t know, Four. Only you can figure it out. Is there anything you’ve been struggling with lately? A problem or just a persistent thought?”

“You.”

The one eyed male was bit taken off guard. “Me?” He half queried tad baffled. “Guys, I…” He stammered before chuckling. “I guess you boys are just worried.”

“Worried, yes, but I think there’s more to this.”

Time sighed a bit heavily and slumped. “Boys, my worries are—“

“Right. And you definitely accept that comment from us. Well, to a point, yes, but you’d still do anything to help us.”

The Zora masked male was rendered silent by that notion. He sighed again and nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. I’m having bit rough time here.”

“Talk to us, Time. You know we’ll keep our mouths shut about whatever you tell.”

Time hesitated and he looked at Fierce for guidance. To his full surprise, his team leader nodded firmly. The one eyed male frowned bit startled before smiling slightly and nodding back. “Okay… Okay, so…” He started and took a deep breath before explaining about the situation that had happened in the room. When his panic started to rise as he talked about stitching and the killing, the boys of his were swift to start to talk and calm him down while doing their best to assure him of having done the right thing.

It took a while but only a moment after the call, Deku and Goron came to them. Time had managed to snatch his mask back and put it on just before the duo came in. He didn’t really think as he straight off began to throw in commands. The moment he had said the needed words out, he jerked and turned his freaked out gaze into Fierce while slumping.

“Those sound about right.” Fierce simply told with a grin evident in his voice. The one eyed male sighed a bit and relaxed. “So, yeah, get me up from the floor and let’s get the fuck out of here.” Goron came over to him while Time and Deku secured the front and back as they returned to their hideout.

While the one eyed male was talking with his boys again and calming down more, the trio talked. Fierce told fully of what had happened and how Time had acted at there. About couple of hours later Zora mask’s wearer returned to his teammates.

“Here.” Fierce stated out and offered the mask. Time jerked in shock and raised his gaze from the mask into his leader.

“W-what…? N-no… No. I’m not a leader.” The one eyed male stammered while doing his best to decline from the honor.

“But you are.” The ex-Fierce stated out firmly. “I could feel the aura of leadership around you the day we met. You’re fine following but you’d do better as a leader. You got what it takes. Companionship and sternness in perfect balance. And you don’t freeze. Even with that phobia of yours, you patched me up perfectly. And when that guy was up for killing you, you did what you had to.”

“First kill is definitely not easy.” Deku pointed out. “We try to avoid it but sometimes we don’t have a choice in the matter. It was either him or us. And he had already struck our teammate down. You did what you had to.”

“I still feel sick about that.” Time admitted while leaning against the wall behind him. “Yet, the boys say the same. Self-defense.” He continued with a slight sorrowful smile.

“Please?” The ex-Fierce half begged before grinning. “I know the leadership will suit you. Besides, you’ve been my second-in-command whole this time already.” He chuckled and shook his head. “In all honesty, I think I’ve been just following you and putting your words into usage.”

Time was still uncertain but he took the Fierce Deity’s mask while giving the Zora mask in exchange. “You three sure about this?” He inquired and the trio nodded firmly. “You do realize I might go commanding some crazy ass stuff, right?” He continued with a grin. Yet, the trio nodded again. “Fine.” He half sighed before taking a deep breath and putting the mask on. “Then, here’s what we’ll be doing.” He stated out firmly while standing up straighter and grinning beneath his mask as the trio actually straightened up a bit while clearly fully listening to him. It was odd how he realized that the new Zora hadn’t actually had the duo’s absolute notion whenever he talked or commanded.

“Zora, you stay here. Deku, you’re in charge of his wellbeing. Goron, you and I will continue the mission.” The one eyed male stated out firmly while looking each of the guys one at a time as he put the commands out. “We still got couple of days to use and I’m going to find the answers and finish our mission one way or the other. Zora’s out of usage since I am NOT going to risk anyone’s life out there. Deku, while at here, try to get in contact with the satellites. Aerial information might give us bit more info of things. Zora, you found anything of worth in that room?”

“I thought so at first but we were checking a hotel. The papers weren’t of usage.” Zora replied sorrowfully.

Time nodded in understanding. “Well, it was a good try.” He shrugged before grimacing. “Can’t ask stuff from the guy that attacked us.” He shook his head while taking few deep breaths.

“Wasn’t your fault, Fierce.” Deku stated out firmly. “It was either you and new Zora or him.”

“Could’ve tried to capture him…” Time half whispered.

“I doubt the guy would’ve given much of info.” Zora pointed out.

“Well, bit hard to say now when the guy’s dead.” The one eyed male countered bit roughly before sighing heavily. “Sorry. I might be off balance for a while longer.” He apologized sorrowfully.

“It’s fine. You’re still functioning.” Zora noted firmly.

The ranch’s keeper chuckled shortly and shook his head. “It’s what I do for the boys…” He smiled a bit fondly and looked at the trio. “For my family. I’ll stay strong and do whatever it takes to keep my family safe and sound. And you three are part of it.”

“And that makes you a perfect leader, Fierce.” Goron told with a smile.

“Alright. Enough of chit-chat.” Time waved his hand dismissively before taking the mask off. “We all need rest. Goron, we’ll be leaving the moment of first light.” He commanded and the trio nodded. For safety reasons all four of them stayed at the one room even though there wasn’t any of shifts for guarding. Then again, besides that one attack, things were supposed to be safe and sound.

During the next two days Time and Goron made swift, thorough and precise work of checking the rest of the town. They came empty handed of the whole thing but there was something odd they had found. It had been just a feeling that forced the one eyed male to return to that room he had taken a life. Yet, they didn’t find the corpse from there and no-one in the team had taken the dead body for burial.

Goron actually found marks of blood that certainly hadn’t come from their earlier leader. Then again, Goron was great at tracking so he easily noticed the small things that gave out what to follow. The tracks led close to the town’s edge and into a forest. The two of them kept informing their teammates of the situation and their location just in case they’d end up into trouble. Yet, their tracks ended up into clear notion of car tracks.

Time wasn’t happy of the fact that they didn’t have enough of time to follow the car tracks. And yet, he felt like they wouldn’t find the answers from the town itself. Sadly, as they gave the swift information to the HQ, they weren’t allowed more time to finish the actual mission. Yet, another team was already being deployed to handle the tracking and searching through the forest.

Nonetheless, Goron and the one eyed male still used the remaining day to check through the last houses just in case. As the new leader had guessed, there wasn’t any of information of what had happened. Deku had done his best with the satellites but those went over the area way too rarely to be of usage.

Time inwardly cursed as he felt like they had failed the mission when they aided Zora to the car for the road back to the HQ. Yet, that was when Goron gave out the fact that he had actually snatched their enemy’s knife. Sure, it wasn’t much of certainty that it would provide a thing of information but at least it was something. Yet, the team of four wouldn’t hear the results until at the next mission.

By the time the Lon-Lon Ranch’s owner finally got back home, he felt exhausted both physically and mentally. He had talked with a shrink at that HQ about the killing but it was clear his boys had done far more by one call than the shrink ever could. And, more than that call, the group hug his boys engulfed him into the moment he was back inside, was far more healing than anything in his whole life. And, talking with the six had more meaning than the talk with the shrink. Plus, obviously, the hot chocolates, crepes and jams were greatly aiding his mood and ability of dealing with the traumatic situation. Not to mention the six youngster piling on him for the night to fend off the nightmares. Besides doing all this, the boys fully followed and stayed close to their caretaker for few weeks just to make sure he was all right and healing.

Time had no intentions whatsoever to deny the very fact of how much all these simple actions meant to him. If anything, it only made him love the six troubled youngsters even more. And he did all he could to fully prove how much he enjoyed and appreciated his boys’ actions of caring and love. They truly healed him as he did his best to aid them to heal.

[fanfictasia]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hunter & Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch) Characters: Clone Trooper Hunter (Star Wars), Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch) Additional Tags: Omega Needs a Hug (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Hunter Needs A Hug (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Missing Scene, Canon Compliant, Cinnamon Roll Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), the very screwed-up-ness of what happens when you’re a child-soldier, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Febuwhump, Febuwhump 2024, Prompt: Killing in Self-Defense

Summary:

Omega has been on missions before, but she's never hurt anyone. She has never killed anyone, until Bracca, when it was her brothers. It might not have been the ones who mattered most, but all the clones are still her brothers. Even the regs. Even the ones she shot.

Read on:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14325717/1/Febuwhump-Day-Ten-Killing-in-Self-Defense

https://www.wattpad.com/1421249613-the-bad-batch-one-shot-collection-febuwhump-day

[autobot2001]

Accidental Killing

Author: Autobot2001 Genre: Fanfiction Fandom: Transformers Rating: T Warnings: Dead body, blood Description: Sunstreaker discovers Lily has killed a soldier and she's in shock about it. @febuwhump Day 10; killing in self-defense

After the last attack, Sunstreaker got Lily a pocket knife and taught her places on the body to stab, but not to kill her targets. Both to keep her from getting in trouble and because he wants to torture the scumbags and kill them himself.

Lily walks down the hall, heading towards her room to grab her water bottle before meeting Sunstreaker when a soldier approaches her. Even with the attacks, Lily doesn’t assume that’s why a soldier would approach her. It has been fifty/ fifty. The soldier wastes no time trying to fight Lily. “Get lost!” Lily warns, “What are you going to do? Get your bodyguard?” Lily takes out her pocketknife.

Sunstreaker searches for Lily. She was supposed to meet him in their art room ten minutes ago. “Lily?!” Sunstreaker panics and runs toward her.

He sees the body on the ground. He looks at Lily sitting on the ground, staring. The pocket knife he gave her is on the floor and covered in blood. Sunstreaker: Ratchet, I have a situation. You’ll be dealing with a dead body and Lily. Sunstreaker knows the medics will suspect he did something. He’s more worried about Lily. “Lily?” Sunstreaker tries to get Lily’s attention. He doesn’t know if he should touch her or what’s going on that she is unaware he’s next to her.

The three medics rush down the hall, worried about what kind of situation they could be dealing with. All they know is there’s a dead body, and something is going on with Lily. They see the body and a pool of blood on the floor by the soldier’s abdomen. “What the frag happened?” Ratchet asks. “I don’t know. I found her sitting on the floor like this by the body. I know the soldier is dead,” Sunstreaker tells him. “He’s right,” Jolt confirms, “the soldier was also stabbed in the neck. He bled out.” “I never taught her where to target to kill,” Sunstreaker argues. “She’s in shock,” Jasmine tells the four mechs, “she never meant to kill the soldier.” “Get the Lorazepam ready,” Ratchet tells Jolt, “she might need that.”

It takes Ratchet a few minutes to get Lily’s attention. Lily panics, remembering what she did. The others know she’s experiencing symptoms of an anxiety attack. Sunstreaker sits next to Lily, moving her onto his lap, hating he knows many of the symptoms she’s experiencing but can’t help her. He knows the four can only wait for symptoms to pass. Sunstreaker tries soothing words though he’s still not used to gestures like this. “Take her to your room,” Ratchet instructs Sunstreaker once the anxiety attack passes, “go with them in case she still needs medical attention,” Ratchet instructs Jasmine. Jasmine puts the Lorazepam away and takes the medkit from Jolt as Sunstreaker stands up with Lily in his arms.

Sunstreaker sits on the couch, hugging Lily closer to him. Hoping she hears his heartbeat. Knowing how this has helped in the past. He worries about how she’ll be for a while and any potential lasting effects of the accidental killing. Hoping Rung can help her and help won’t take years.

How likely will she have nightmares? Sunstreaker worries as he watches Lily fall asleep. Sunstreaker is more worried about Lily’s mental health after what she did than the potential lasting out Lily’s family will do towards him.

A plot for another story….

[tomi4i]

" Self Defense "

[bixels]

vague-posting about this here cuz i don't feel comfortable yapping about my su takes on twitter, but after everything that's happened the most interesting thing about the su fandom to me is that so many are 100% there for applying the "everyone can change and deserves a second chance" message to everyone, even the diamonds. except for one ☝️ she doesn't count. cuz she's dead.

[mxtxfanatic]

One day this fandom will have a reckoning on how it likes to blame Jin Xixuan's death on Wei Wuxian—whether by maliciousness or a "loss of control"—while ignoring the fact that Jin Zixuan died because he lunged at Wei Wuxian with a drawn sword because he was angry that Wei Wuxian told him that he doesn't trust him after he refused to tell Wei Wuxian whether or not he was a part of the ambush his cousin set up after Wei Wuxian told him to keep his distance from him after he told Wei Wuxian to stop defending himself against an ambush that he showed up to and was plainly told was put together to kill Wei Wuxian after he had already been bodily pushing Wei Wuxian around to protect his cousin. But all of that is supposed to be forgiven and forgotten because the reason he wanted Wei Wuxian to ignore all logic and put his life in danger was for Jiang Yanli's temporary happiness? Lol. Lmao even.

[navree]

under the red hood is on occasion a desperately funny arc entirely because bruce, mere seconds after purposefully siccing a giant hyena on count vertigo to rip him to shreds, gets so mad at jason for objectively the most justified kill of his entire life. not only is it literally self defense because the person jason kills had not just previously tried to kill him but literally had hands around his throat attempting to kill him at that very moment, but the man actively murdering him that jason then kills in clear cut self defense is a straight up nazi!!! the least offensive "murder" anyone could ever do!!! and bruce decides then and there that this has gone on long enough and needs to be dealt with. because jason acted in cut and dry self defense and also took out a nazi while doing so. after bruce orchestrated a man getting mauled to death.

like, dc really went "ladies and gentlemen, our hero! he's angry someone killed a nazi who was in the middle of attempting to kill them, after he literally killed someone himself in a slightly more roundabout way! he's in the right in this situation, how dare you not dislike jason todd!"

[small-spark-of-light]

so i came up with a wekiddy au recently!!! Wekiddy Slasher Au!!! perfect for october too :DD

the premise is that: El cool p gets extremely jealous of the rest of the cast because of the attention they get. He starts murdering them so he can have it all to himself

[batboopp]

guy with big brown innocent doe eyes spotted 27 dead 9 injured 5 missing

[newvegays]

Got fo4 working again, so here's my new girly, Assistron! A heavily modified Assaultron re-programmed to provide emotional and medical support to the wasteland.

[dykedvonte]

I think a big misunderstanding is the power people give Curly to actually change things about the way the pony express operates or could’ve done things on the Tulpar.

We are talking about a company that docks pay for bad synergy despite mandated psych evals that should tell which staff members would work well together, only allots for 5 hours of sleep despite having literally no other tasks to truly do and locks all resources behind the access of one person. The last one is likely to manage resources and make it easier to justify collective punishment and blaming one person for it; someone needs something in “excess” or the captain gives in? It’s all on them your pay is docked. Instant resentment.

It’s insidious how the company works, it’s by design to distract you from coming after them, to force tensions to line their own pockets. With all the restrictions and forced interactions, altercations are bound to happen. 5 hours of sleep a day, limited sources of entertainment, no real tasks… the monotony alone would cause bad cabin fever, mix that with just only one absolute mediator and you get the exact environment that allows shit like in the game to happen.

The idea he could just complain and try to throw his weight around to get them to dig into their pocket for the crews comfort is laughable and misses the predatory and dehumanizing aspect of capitalism the Pony Express represents. Curly was and is still just another asset to them. Being a top show pony doesn’t mean he’s anywhere close to the actual top. He is the top of the working ladder, not whoever’s in corporate, he wouldn’t even be on the bottom step unlike what Jimmy perceives. The resounding recommendations he would get are almost mocking as they throw him out like nothing just like the rest. Being a shitty fucking company, how much do you bet they’d mean anything anyways, especially since he wanted to leave the field all together.

He made a fuss and they didn’t listen, he says he should’ve done more but you can tell he knows it wouldn’t have changed anything. Jobs like this are willing to make a sacrifice if it means even a penny more. Curly makes a bigger fuss they likely would’ve just found an “unrelated” reason to fire him, hired a more pliable guy or, terrifyingly, promoted Jimmy. The company was failing, going to shut down whether anything happened on the ship or not. But knowing that they were shutting down and that everyone, including him, would be out of a job with this being their last paycheck, he had to factor in not destroying the last bit of their financial stabilities combined with every other issue on the vessel and his own. He gets another cryopod or locks and then he has to break to them that they are not only fired but there will be substantial cuts to their paychecks due to the “upgrades” (things that already should’ve been in place on their part) on top of anything else that could be docked along the way.

You can blame him for saying it so early into the trip but then again, if he mentioned it later who’s to say it wouldn’t have been worse? On the capitalism side alone how would people in a galaxy away from home, out of a job and already stir crazy react? Don’t get me started on how Jimmy would have reacted if he realized he only had two days left to fix what would be a very hard to miss “problem” in his head…

I can’t even consider explaining this as devils advocate because it’s just facts of the world we and they live in and factors that heavily affected the situation. People are just so quick to make claims on the ease of the choices when P.E literally makes it hard to choose to do anything but suck it up.

[3liza]

i was joking about something to my mom when she was here recently and i quoted Jesus' "i bring you not peace, but a sword" and she sort of scoffed politely and said something to the effect of "jesus did not fucking say that" and i was like mom (who was raised catholic and made to go to a lot more church stuff as a kid) it's literally in Matthew. not even one of the gnostic gospels for real jesus freaks, but just right there in the headliners lmao. they cut "lift a rock and you will find me/split a piece of wood and i am there" but not the sword, despite "lift a rock" really sounding a lot more like Jesus, because the second one (gnostic gospel of thomas) is blatantly an anti-church message. the only reason i even know about the sword quote and remember it is because it's part of the list of Weird Things Jesus Said/Did in Part II of the Cartoon History of the Universe (i mean it's not that weird, he just meant that struggles between believers and nonbelievers would inevitably cause strife following his recognition as the messiah, but it SOUNDS very badass)

[beepborpdoodledorp]

fnaf fans will look at security breach in the most black and white sense imaginable it’s almost incomprehensible ‘the Glamrocks are soulless AI and Gregory is a poor defenseless child’ ‘Gregory is an irredeemable monster who kills the poor Glamrocks without remorse’ have you considered it’s possible for both sides to be victims. that they can also be a little fucked up too. have you

[welcome-to-the-shit-library]

iwwv party scene becomes way funnier and also somewhat sadder if you remember that Oliver and Meredith are having sex while James undergoes the Single Worse Night Of His Life . like obviously Oliver had some internal stuff going on but like I cant stop imagining the smash cuts between the hookup and James experiencing the Horrors

[zeb-z]

POV: you’re philza minecraft

[news4dzhozhar]

This is for those people who try to pretend that October 7th was the start of it all (or that the events of that day exist in a vacuum). People need to be reminded of the history.