#left it vague so you can put it in whichever verse

[the-fxn-gang]

@cxnnasnaxlpie​

“This isn’t the dark world...” Ralsei muttered under his breath, looking around curiously as he wandered through the unfamiliar area.

[nightklok]

⛰🎭🎥🎢 for whichever fic you want!

@apineappleheart

Writing Asks

OH thank you! :O I’ll try and do an ask for each fic I felt fits best!!

⛰️-  What was the hardest part?

If this was meant for me, why does it hurt so much?

I had this fic around since...April so I was obviously unsure how to write it-I had written some of Abigail’s dialogue with Charles in advance, written her thoughts on water and the fear of it, but everything else i wasn’t sure about. It wasn’t until I decided to combine a plot of her having to go into the water as well with Nathan that really helped the story finall be finished-took 6 months to figure that out but A for effort!

🎭- What was the feeling or mood you were going for?

And It All Became Quiet

Definitely whatever It's All So Incredibly Loud by the Glass Animals makes you feel-it’s such a devastating song with a scenario that’s all to familiar! The song captures what I want to say in ways better than I ever could-

🎥- Were there any tv shows, books, or movies that influenced this verse, if any?

I thought you might have wanted my heart & throwing in this Chickles fic that was done for a prompt. I did include a sentence in there that kinda implies the verse/AU. It’s subtle but it’s near the end!

The concept of it is about starreading and using that to predict the future. It’s completely inspired by the novel Blood Red Road by Moira Young. It’s been years since I read it but I remember the main character’s father mentioned to have had an ability to read stars in a way that predicts the future. I never got around to finishing the series and the first novel kinda left it vague but it was something that made me fall in love with the concept of starreading/constellations to this day! I’ll probably still vaguely hint at the AU in future stories until I figure out where I put it-(Though the AU of Magnus, Charles and Abigail meeting as kids probably fits there pretty well-)

🎢- Were there any scenes you were nervous about? For audience reception or otherwise?

Don’t Let Me Drown Into This Silence

I think it was just everything if I have to be honest-It wasn’t the first fic I ever wrote for Metalocalypse but the first I had completed and posted to my AO3-I wasn’t sure how it would be received for a first time fic, and what was popular, if people liked certain characters portrayed a certain way, etc so I was stepping into something entirely different! If I can remember something I was really nervous about though, it was probably the beginning paragraphs and the scene when they got slightly intimate-Keep in mind that ever since i was 12 I had mainly written for children/teen demographic type of media so jumping from something like Victorious, Descendants, & Milo Murphy’s Law to Metalocalypse gave me whiplash but in a good way!-I’m glad i made the jump to finish the fic and publish it and I realize now how liberating it is to write fanfics that don’t need to be as heavily toned down!

And I realize now that my Chickles centered fics are my least popular but well guess I worried for nothing sdljkf

[lostinthewinterwood]

Yuletide Letter 2019

Dear Yuletide Writer,

well hello there! clearly you and I have some of the same interests.  I’ve never done this before; I’m afraid I don’t fully know what to say here, but here we go anyway.

General DNW:

Rape/non/dub-con; non-canonical major character death; smut/graphic sex scenes; heavy angst; hurt no comfort; graphic depictions of deliberate and methodical self-harm*; graphic depictions of suicide; heavy gender dysphoria; grimdark; complete downer endings; character bashing; incest; cringe comedy; a/b/o; mpreg.

*I don’t include things like, say, punching a wall in a fit of emotion under this. however, something like cutting would not be appreciated.

general other comments:

I like family/friendship stories, things that play with canon in interesting ways, honestly... a lot of things.  I don’t know. articulating things I like is hard.

I’d prefer gen over ship fics, and while I don’t mind sex being mentioned, for any actual scenes, a post-kissing, maybe, fade-to-black would be nice.  Overall I generally prefer ships to be background elements rather than a story’s focus, and definitely don’t think you have to write around canonical relationships on account of this.

(I don’t hate smut lmao, I’m just picky enough about it, in ways that are difficult enough for me to articulate, that I think it’d be better to not go there for Yuletide)

I like canon or near-canon settings, au settings that start from little divergences, that sort of thing.  I’d rather not have a full mundane, modern au (unless it makes sense with the canon in question? this mostly applies to The Numair Chronicles and The Dragon Prince.

I like plotty fics! but like obviously that’s going to depend on the length you’re going for.  Whatever you think best.

For almost all canons I’ve consumed all the currently available material; fandom-specific notes below.

Also, I’m Elsin on AO3 and liryian on discord.

My fandoms!

(paired with prompts and/or vague suggestions, but, you know, anything goes except for my dnws.  most prompts have spoilers in them so watch out if you’re avoiding spoilers for one you didn’t match on.)

(also: the length of my prompts may vary between my requested fandoms, depending on a whole variety of factors. Don't worry - if I requested a fandom, I want it just as much as I want the other fandoms here, regardless of prompt length.)

Zombieland Saga | Hoshikawa Lily, Tatsumi Kotaro

This one can be Lily and/or Kotaro, though if you want to put them together that’s obviously great too!  I don’t mind other characters being brought in either.  I was thinking for Lily maybe something about family and/or deep friendship, maybe the relationships between her and her dad, or her and any of the other girls, or her and Kotaro... you get the picture.  Maybe something about her being trans?  If you go that route, dysphoria’s obviously a thing that’s there, but I’d rather the fic not wallow in it, if you know what I mean.  (basically: please no misery porn with gender dysphoria).

For Kotaro, I was thinking maybe something to do with his past, or maybe what the hell’s even going on with the zombie girls, or... well.  Whatever you think is best.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse | May Parker, Olivia Octavius

So for this one I was thinking maybe something about the relationship between May and “Liv” and I would really prefer this one to be gen.  Pre-movie (why does May call her Liv?), post-movie (what happens afterwards?), whatever you like.

Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019) | Shadowsan

Anything about him, really! Any time during canon--what does he do with VILE? what does he think of little Black Sheep?  Any time post-canon, or pre-canon, either, and I would love you forever if you explored his relationship with his brother--there’s so much potential there!

The Dragon Prince | Claudia, Soren

Any sibling fic, really, with these two!  I’m particularly interested in unforeseen consequences from Claudia healing Soren with dark magic, or maybe what-ifs--what if she didn’t do that? what if she did it differently?

I’ll probably have seen Season 3 by the time reveals happen, so feel free to incorporate new developments (but ignoring season 3 is just fine too).

The Numair Chronicles | Varice Kingsford, Ozorne Tasikhe, Arram Draper

Oh man the dramatic irony of this book is absolutely killing me.  I am deceased.  send help.

Okay, but seriously, I love these kids and I (kind-of-but-not-really) hate the fact that they are all in character here, as younger versions of the characters in Immortals, and we can see in them how it’s all going to fall apart, and we know it won’t last... well.  It hurts in the best way lmao.  Anything exploring their lives before they meet would be great (in this case I’d take any one of the three) or anything during their school years or, or, or...

If the fic is set after Numair has to leave, whichever character(s) are missing I’d like to still be some kind of present for some of it, even if only in the others’ interiority.

also!  We know from Immortals that by the time Numair’s in his 20s he can’t heal, yet he can heal in Tempests and Slaughter.  If you wanted to explore what the hell could happen to him to make him lose that skill I would love it.  I’d love most things.  Don’t stress out.

I don’t have strong opinions on any of the possible ships (though I ship Arram/Ozorne less than any other option) and my preference for gen extends to here; I’d rather not have a heavy focus on romance.  Canon-amount is nice.  If you want to write a fic that ends 20 years after Tempests and Slaughter I wouldn’t mind inclusion of Numair’s relationship with Daine.

(...or in a super super super alternative option, since I just reread the book and am now excited about everything I’d forgotten about, if you wanted to write about characters who aren’t in the tagset, I would not at all mind getting fic about Prince Stiloit or Faziy, especially in something like the leadup to their death or what-if-they-lived.)

(...although this last may be best left to treaters, since it’s somewhat removed from the original tagset...?  I don’t know, I’m sorry, I’m just now excited about everything instead of just the kids, who I’m still very excited about, so you go wild, you do you, you beautiful writer.)

(a side note: if you didn’t match with me on this one, and are interested in picking it up, then for the full dramatic irony experience I would recommend reading the Immortals quartet first, since this book sometimes plays off reader knowledge of what is to come.  On the other hand if you don’t want to do that, it’s probably not terrible to start with?  I think it works on its own, but I just wouldn’t know, as I didn’t start with it.)

(I’ve read all the Tortall works with the exception of some of the short stories.)

final notes

Thank you for writing me fic!  I’m sure it’ll be lovely. :D

[ssfoc]

lUcOzAdE: “it was me at my most unedited”

Anonymous said: Hello! I love reading your posts about song lyrics especially about our boys. I know you seem to focus mainly on Larry but I believe I saw a Zayn post so I wanted to see if you would do one of lUcOzAdE from his MoM album? Or rEaR vIeW? Also he has a song that didn't make it into the album called Golden. Whichever would be amazing! Thank you for your lovely and truly incredible posts! Much love 💛

lUcOzAdE was written by Kevin Rains, Zayn Malik, Cc Wells, James Griffin, Sl Waviest, J Emerson, copyright © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing, 2015.

I apologize in advance for not being able to interpret these lyrics in context, as I don’t really follow Zayn and I became a fan after he left One Direction. 

My references will be this video and these lyrics.

Here’s the excerpt about lUcOzAdE from Zayn’s autobiography. 

We learn from the excerpt that:

It was recorded in one take.

Lyrics were taken from Zayn’s lyric notebook, where he picked out “stuff [he] wanted to say”

The lyrics came before the melody.

The bottles of pink Lucozade triggered a remembrance so that he wanted to write the song.

We have seen members of One Direction holding Lucozade.

These photos were taken from early years, the frenetic days of endless recording sessions, promo interviews, gearing up for tour, polishing their PR images. 

lUcOzAdE, the song, starts with a pulsing synthesizer that recalls the sound one hears in a flashback scene on television, as the visual image blurs and swirls. Zayn’s opening vocals emphasize this blurriness. The music isn’t really music, at this point. It’s merely a sound and a rhythm, a heartbeat, a propulsive element. The prompt to a story. 

I'm sipping pink Lucozade We're blazing on that new found haze I'm seeing in the blacks and grays, I'm

The key words, the themes of the song, are all presented in the first two lines. 

Lucozade: more on this later.

Blazing: fame, success, glory.

Haze: both a physiologic state of being clouded, and the symbolic state of being in an artistic cloud. It’s a wonderful word, and not coincidentally anchors the first verse. We can see that it doesn’t exactly rhyme with Lucozade, but it captures the feeling of the song so beautifully. It synthesizes the musical structure of opening, with its ambiguous accompaniment (merely a synth bass that also functions as a kick drum). It captures the sickening feeling of not being well, not being quite awake (with the artificial caffeine-enhanced stimulation of Lucozade). It also captures the stream-of-consciousness, Rimbaudian “derangement of the senses” under which artists pull out their best selves. 

I should also add that this is a bravado way to start a song, very naked. There’s no harmony, no melody, just a voice and a synth bass. Only a dramatic, emotionally captivating voice can pull this off-- to put the listener within the story of the song from the first words. Zayn’s technique blends rap artists (with their captivating rhythm and rhymes) with torch singers (with their dramatic personae). The pop singers who have this effortlessly honest dramatic expression are few and far between: Adele, Ariana, Freddie Mercury, Leonard Cohen. Country singers are more practiced at it, but few come across as genuine-- most seem like they’re emoting in a practiced, clichéd way. 

In the first verse, the perspective shifts from first-person singular, I, to first-person plural, We, quickly (by the second line). The “we” might not necessarily be One Direction, but the stream-of-consciousness lyrics, as vague as they may be, are pointed. 

Seeing the pain side in this house of fear

The way he describes the basket swaying can also describe the way he hung out with friends-- bandmates, perhaps:

Left to right Sit and talk shit all night

And then he switches to the things he hears said to him:

You don't even wanna know about the things I hear Quick fix Headlines shine bright, you're the fuckin' deal

And then he switches, again, to speak to the person talking to him, realizing that the relentless stream of words being directed at him-- both the praise and the insults-- are meant to put him in a state of constant confusion and insecurity, leading to anxiety:

I'm just wishing its [sic] ambition that got You your position You'll be fishing for far too long You're the bad guy in this movie And I ain't wrong, I don't breathe the pollution And the only solution Is making shit confusing

They are given the lures of material success, Harry’s Rolex watch, for instance, or Louis’s Porsche, which he couldn’t yet pay for:

Wanna take days watching chains and gold rings I'm getting caught up in the feelings that they bring A lack of sanity, losing touch with reality

They were not taken care of emotionally, psychologically, nor physically. Lucozade, the drink and the symbol, is not medicine. It’s a physiologic stimulant, a counterbalance to the various ways they were scared and goaded, to the anxieties caused by the the expectations they faced, to comparing them to each other, to the real middle-of-the-night recording sessions that kept them from actually resting after a concert, to the stimulants the boys used to keep themselves awake, including smoking. 

It breaks my heart to see this clip (0:32) (where Louis said, “Ungh, I hate this bit, trying to wake Zayn up”). Thus these lyrics about trying to heal oneself:

Time heals pain and promotes self-soothing When the scares [sic] are gone you can't see bruising

[How weird for Google to have “scares” in the official lyrics when Zayn actually sings “scars”-- sort of a Joycean-Freudian slip.]

To go back again to the title of the song, lUcOzAdE. Lucozade is not a drink we have in America, so I had to do a little reading. Although it’s marketed as a sports drink, Lucozade, like other energy drinks, is heavy on sugars and caffeine. At one time, it was used to treat hypoglycemia.

I am reminded of Zayn’s history of eating disorder associated with his anxiety while in the band. Lucozade symbolizes an artificial way to keep people going under these conditions, when they physically cannot tolerate real nutrition, but are drinking sugar and caffeine to function, to physiologically, if not emotionally and spiritually, be alive. It is an extended metaphor for life within the band, when real problems are covered up with pretty, sparkling, sugary, amped-up plasters. 

In his own words:

"Something I've never talked about in public before, but which I have come to terms with since leaving the band, is that I was suffering from an eating disorder," Malik writes in an excerpt obtained by The Sun. "I'd just go for days -- sometimes two or three days straight -- without eating anything at all. It got quite serious, although at the time I didn't recognize it for what it was."

Malik said that his eating disorder reached its height in November of 2014.

"When I look back at images of myself ... before the final tour, I can see how ill I was,' he wrote. "The workload and the pace of life on the road put together with the pressures and strains of everything going on within the band had badly affected my eating habits."

"Food was something I could control, so I did," he wrote.

I’ve read some fan accounts that accused the other band members of not recognizing Zayn’s eating disorder, even when he had become notably thin. 

Zayn’s own words suggest that being in the band, having the company of bandmates, actually helped him to cope better. 

When I was in One Direction, my anxiety issues were huge but, within the safety net of the band, they were at least manageable. As a solo performer, I felt much more exposed, and the psychological stress of performing had just gotten to be too much for me to handle—at that moment, at least. Rather than hiding away, sugar-coating it, I knew I had to put it all out there.

“Sugar-coating.” An ironic word with respect to this song.

I think the last verse is hard to interpret (about a relationship with a woman). I don’t know Zayn’s history well, and I’m not going to try to interpret it. It is a sort of epilogue. The music does not move anywhere-- it’s stuck in stasis, with the words hung on three notes, 3-2-1 on the scale, always ending on 2, part of the dominant, or V chord of the scale. This means that the song is never resolved, just like his song Still Got Time-- it never goes back to the tonic, or home key. It’s not a cohesive part of the song, and it seems to detract from the rest of the song, If I were Zayn’s co-writer, I would have advised that he cut this part off. 

The last thing I will say about lUcOzAdE is about the song’s climax-- thematically and muscially. It’s a very loosely structured song, as I said before, hovering on the dominant chord, more like a rumination than a typical pop song with its verse-chorus structure. The only time that the harmony modulates coincides with these lyrics:

I'm sad about shit that never happened No lies in my eyes Nothing but truth will lay in my mouth I'm tryna fuckin scream but the words won't come out Ooh ah Tryna fuckin' scream but the words won't come out

The highest point in the song, and one of the few times Zayn slides into a high falsetto, occurs on the words “Tryna fuckin’ scream” (the second and last time). I love this effective synthesis of words, music, and meaning. The fact that the line descends, and then transitions to the last, meandering verse, is sad, to me. It means that this moment of clarity, these moments of intense, intelligent knowing, merely lead to more mind games, more lies (”the elephant in the room”), and more confusion. 

The fuck is going on? I think I got it wrong When I told you I was over you or were you under me?

Again, not knowing Zayn’s situation, it’s hard for me to connect the lyrics to what’s happening in his life, but the song clearly sets down a statement of ongoing, unresolved uneasiness and pain.

Sea

[dontcallmejoel]

Op: [Code: Final Will]: Hour Twenty-Three

[ Active Agent(s) ] : McCree [ Location ] : Watchpoint: Gibraltar, Blackwatch Division

He’d changed back into the serape and hat on the way back, it wouldn’t do to be seen entering a Petras-Neutral organization in the same disguise he used to rob a Petras-Active facility after all, but the mannerisms had yet to return in full. Technically, he had a day yet before Athena made good on reporting him, but as keyed up as he was he knew he wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. Carefully, he studies the following pages, looking for Gabe’s breadcrumbs that indicate how to break the code.

There are approximately forty additional pages filled in the prayerbook as Jesse remembered it, not the least of which is headed with one verse:

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

“Trouble in paradise,” Jesse mutters when he reads it. Though, maybe not. What is loosed on earth being loosed on heaven sounded suspiciously like a merger protocol. He lifts the page images onto his working screen, careful to keep it on a secured personal clone of Blackout. He opens a thread on the verse, a side thread to keep a note on any allusions of earth and heaven.

Three hours later, notes spidered out, from the pages, an imbricated halo of data points color-coded by relevance to the initial thread of code, spotted here and there by a dozen or so other repeating patterns and references. Jesse’s on his fifth cup of coffee, contemplating breaking out some of the old stims they saved for multi-day ops. The only reason he opts not to is his own anxiety: if he can’t tame this beast Reyes dreamt up on his own, how was he ever going to fill his boots?

A smart mind’s weakness is its ability to become overloaded. Being hyper aware of details meant pulling back to view the bigger picture tended to be that much more difficult. Too many perceived details meant the focus of the target blurred. The more variables, the more likely someone is going to fuck up. As is, There’s one obvious code, and two potential side codes, a mark that indicates he can use one smaller cipher to completely change one of the ciphers, and dozens of potential keys to do both.

It’s not that difficult. Gabe’s voice. Here more than ever, it feels like he’s at the back of the room, observing, commenting, correcting. You’re lost in the minutiae, focus on the problem. Focus on the motive.

Which was easy enough to say, and in general true. Gabe, however, was always the exception to his own rules. He had been the definition of difficult, and sly as a fox to boot. There was no way the first code Jesse can find is the actual code to unlock the system, Gabe would never leave something that important to face value. Undoubtedly, these random details would become a vital clue to determining the true key.

But what could it be? What clue was he missing? Motive. Focus, Jesse. Would Gabe have left a Blackwatch-specific set of keys? Towards the end nothing was certain regarding Gabe and his general opinion of the world, but even when Jesse left, the man still had an outsized respect for his own division.

People don’t think in terms of white spaces. They pay too much attention to what someone is, and miss what they’re not.

One of Gabe’s old mantras, something Jesse must’ve heard a thousand times. Focus on what it’s not. “Blackout, be a darling and up the contrast for me.”

The pages render, and immediately he picks out a pattern of double spaces, something like 34 in all- no. 42. “Take the words on the left and the right of the spaces and analyze for me, please.”

In less than a minute he knew what the next cipher was.

“Take the original code, run it through the heaven and earth cipher, then finish with the white space cipher.”

A monster, a beautiful, elaborate loop of cipher that looped on itself continually. And it probably only took his old boss an afternoon to knock it out, then a week or so to refine it. Jesse tries and fails to swallow back his rising anxiety. Some boots to fill indeed.

“Pull up Blackwatch internal servers.”

Nᴏᴛɪᴄᴇ: Bʟᴀᴄᴋᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ Iɴᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ Sᴇʀᴠᴇʀs Sᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ Uɴᴅᴇʀ Pᴏsᴛʜᴜᴍᴏᴜs Oʀᴅᴇʀs ᴏꜰ G Rᴇʏᴇs

“Override code.” A flashing block appears under the words, filling the screen as Jesse repeats the cipher. It fits the entry bar like a glove.

For a second, the screen goes black. Then, the Blackwatch logo lights up.

Wᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ. Bʟᴀᴄᴋᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ Iɴᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ Sᴇʀᴠᴇʀs Aᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ.

Cʀɪᴛɪᴄᴀʟ Nᴏᴛɪᴄᴇ: Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ: Fɪɴᴀʟ Wɪʟʟ Aᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ꜰᴏʀ Rᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ.

Aᴄᴄᴇss Fɪɴᴀʟ Wɪʟʟ?

“Open it.”

“Reyes reporting.” The sound of Gabe’s voice sets his heart hammering. He strains, listening, trying to absorb the voice of a ghost. “You’ve activated my Code: Final Will, which is only possible if I’ve died in action without suppressing the Blackwatch Lockdown Protocol. So that leaves me with two possible futures, one where Overwatch is a shell operation for those weak-kneed fools in the UN, or has been disbanded entirely. And if you’re here, then I guess whichever option it is, it didn’t take.” A chuckle. “They think they don’t need us. Like they could’ve won the war without us. It’s amazing how high minded people can get over the state of the world when they refuse to shed a drop of blood to change it.”

“Narrative’s always important. I’ve told you this before at some point. The narrative they’re pressing is Blackwatch is the tarnish on Overwatch’s bright and shiny face. As if wiping us away will save Overwatch from itself rather than cripple an organization of immeasurable power and influence.”

“Here’s my narrative: Overwatch and Blackwatch may be night and day, but they’re all part of the same cycle. Light and shadow, framing and defining one another. But if Overwatch is the hand then Blackwatch is the brain. They’re not concerned with preserving the good name of Overwatch, they want to cut the intel vital to determining the outcomes of our missions off.”

“But they have the brush, and under it they tried to turn soldiers into paragons, and if you aren’t a paragon you’re a pariah. Well, I’ve seen what becoming a paragon does to you, and, though ol’ Jackie might find this offensive, I prefer the latter. At least then I wouldn’t have to internalize all the hard aspects to put on someone else’s face for the public.”

“I say it’s time we took the brush back, stop painting over one another, and hold up a fucking mirror. I designed this system so that the other codes would not only reactivate Blackwatch but automatically integrate the system with Athena. Every tacit approval of extreme force, every unanswered request for clarification or sharp order implying getting the information was more important than everything else, with a vague wave at morals and individual health. Overwatch? Blackwatch? One and the same.”

“At least, that was my intention, but you’re one of us. It’s likely you know the current situation better than an old recording does. So I leave the option up to you, integrate the system and reveal the full face of Overwatch to the public, or reactivate the shadows and put them to use saving the world. Good luck, Agent. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Cᴏᴍᴍᴀɴᴅ ᴛʀᴀɴsꜰᴇʀ ᴏᴘᴇɴᴇᴅ. Pʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴇɴᴛᴇʀ Aɢᴇɴᴛ Dᴇᴛᴀɪʟs.

“Blackout, if you’d do the honors.” His information processes.

Aᴄᴄᴇᴘᴛᴇᴅ.

Funny, how one word could feel like a death sentence.

Wᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ, Cᴏᴍᴍᴀɴᴅᴇʀ. Jesse feels a prickle over his left shoulder, like the ghost of Gabe Reyes had entered in his unawares and was hovering there. Rᴇɪɴsᴛᴀᴛᴇ Bʟᴀᴄᴋᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ?

Jesse hesitates. “Blackout, make a clone of the internal server. Keep the original locked as per Petras protocols, but begin to liquify the data.”

Oʀᴅᴇʀ ʀᴇᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ, ᴇsᴛɪᴍᴀᴛᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛɪᴏɴ: ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛᴇᴇɴ ᴅᴀʏs.

“Now, on that clone, keep the system set-up and protocol codes. Freeze all encryption codes and a access points. Save the assets. Talon has access to some of the reigns, we’re going to need to purge’em before we can think about going a step further.”

Wʜᴀᴛ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ Bʟᴀᴄᴋᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ?

Jesse pauses, eyes roaming over the lines of data that formed a picture of Blackwatch actions in the last five years. They were familiar, unsettlingly so.

“Blackwatch is dead, darling. It’s time to burn that old house and start anew.”

Across an ocean, in a dim room, a screen lights up.

Cᴏᴅᴇ: Fɪɴᴀʟ Wɪʟʟ, Aᴄᴄᴇᴘᴛᴇᴅ. Red eyes under a bone-white mask, hands becoming solid from inky smoke. Aᴡᴀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀs.