#like the…let’s investigate why we’re doing that button

[nanamisfancysandwich]

on the one hand, everyone should make the art that they want! on the other hand…people who give nanami blue eyes…

[starysky1289]

Captian!Vanessa X Rookie!Reader. City Patrol

“ Alright, Alright. Settle down. Johanna, David, Andrew, you three will be driving through the eastern side of town. Mike, Steven, Henry, you’ll take the western side. Every one else is on active standby. Dismissed. “

Vanessas voice boomed through the meeting room, her gaze meet yours as you began to pack up for standby.

“ YN. Can I have a word? “

“ yes, Of course Captian. “

You waited for everyone to file out, and you approached Vanessa. You gave her a gentle smile, and she returned it.

“I was wondering if you’d like to accompany me on a patrol though the city. Write tickets, investigate sights, whatever the day gives us. “

“ oh! Captain I’d be honored! “

She smirked, heading towards the door.

“ get your gear, meet me by the car. “

“ yes captain. “

She nodded, and walked away. You hurried to your locker, grabbing your utilitys. Then you tossed on your jacket, the jacket she had given you.

You rushed to meet the by her car. She had an older model, but it still ran just as good as any other corvette.

“ ready rookie? “

“ yes captain. “

You both stepped into the car, buckling up. You watched Vanessa mess with some of the panel buttons, before watching her click off her body camera.

“ turn your body cam off yn, it messes with my radio. “

“ oh- yes captain. “

You clicked your camera off, and with that Vanessa drove off. The snow blew hard against the car, as Vanessa clicked the heat on.

“ tell me yn…why did you want to become a police officer. Pretty face like yours…could have been a model easy. Why waist away here. “

“ because I wanted to make a difference. To bring positive influence to my community. “

“ that’s what they all say…”

Vanessa muttered, her gaze focused ahead. You twiddled your thumbs, glancing away. Did you upset her? Was she in a bad mood.

“ here, let’s get a drink. “

When the two of you got to the city, Vanessa pull the car over. You looked up to see a Starbucks. Vanessa stepped out and walked over to open your door.

“ oh my, t-thank you captain. “

“ shh..so formal yn…you know you can just call me Vanessa~ “

“ w-well…thank you, Vanessa “

She smirked, as the two of you walked towards the door. Vanessa opened it for you and followed after you to the counter. She ordered first.

“ morning, I’ll have a venti signature dark roast. Yn what do you want, I’ll pay. “

“ oh no Vanessa i- “

“ cmon, I insist. “

You blushed, stepping closer to the counter.

“ I’ll have a venti dark roast aswell, but with 5 pumps of vanilla. “

“ oh, and two buttered croissants. “

“ Captian please that’s too much. “

She only smiled at you, swiping her card through the reader. The two of you shuffled to the pickup counter and waited. Vanessa was so sweet, when she talked her voice was heavy, but still soft. She made you feel so warm…so comforting. And this peace was perfect, until there was a crashing through the doors.

“ PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND EMPTY YOUR POCKETS. THIS IS A ROBBERY- “

The masked criminal froze when he saw the two of you. You tried your best to remain professional, but Vanessa burst out laughing.

“ did you not see the cop car outside?? Moron. Drop the gun, hands behind your back. “

“ Step closer pig! I’ll blow your brains! “

The criminal raised his gun to Vanessa’s face, and in a second you both pulled out your guns.

“ I can shoot faster than you can think. Drop the gun. Now. “

The criminal hesitated, before dropping the gun. You quickly rushed to him and put him in cuff, instantly reading Miranda rights out. Vanessa called for back up to take the guy away.

“ we’re gonna put this guy away, can you hold into our order? Thank you “

Vanessa tipped the barista, before carefully taking the gun from the ground, carrying it outside.

“ good one YN. Backup should be here to take him away any minute now. “

“ thank you captain. “

Vanessa nodded, and the two of you waited only a moment more, and the car pulled up. They took him and the gun away, leaving you two.

“ you get in the car, I’ll get our drinks. “

Vanessa walked back into the Starbucks, and you settled into the car. She came back a few moments later, sitting in the drivers seat and handing you your drink and croissant.

“ enjoy dear. Let’s go. “

Vanessa started the car, and drove off. The way the lights bounce off the snowy side walks looked like heaven, and the warm presence of Vanessa made everything seem…perfect.

Vanessa suddenly turned into a one way street. It was off the usual patrol route. You glanced around, your stomach fluttered but you trusted Vanessa. She backed down an ally, and parked the car, leaning back in her seat.

The two of you quietly drank and ate, before Vanessa finally broke the silence.

“ so…you’ve got a girl at home yn? “

“ huh- o-oh! No n-no I don’t….”

“ really? Thought the girls would be chasing you down…a smart, pretty, strong, gorgeous girl like you….id be Chasing you if i could~ “

You blushed, burying your face in your hands. You felt Vanessa’s hands gently pry them off your face. Her gentle eyes stared right into yours.

“ the cameras don’t affect the radio at all, do they~? “

“ not at all rookie, no they do not~ “

And with that she pulled you into a kiss, you gave in, pressing against her. Her tongue pressed against your lips, as if asking for entrance, and you happily let them in.

“ a-ah…Vanessa…what about the c-cars camera….”

“ i deactivated it. Im captain, I know how to work my car~ “

The two of you continued your make out sessions, Vanessa’s hands dragged across your body before she pulled back and chuckled.

“ go in the back, I wanna try something~ “

You giggled, quickly stepping out into the cold and back into the back. Vanessa sat down first, then pulled you onto her lap. The two of you continued your make out, Vanessa’s hands trailing up your back and cupping your clothed breasts.

“ fuck….i want you yn…i fucking want you- “

“Captian, come in. We’re having an issue with the system, can you come check it out? “

Vanessa’s radio on her chest buzzed, as she picked it yo and answered it snappily.

“ yeah yeah I’m coming. Give me a few…”

Vanessa turned off the radio, sighing and looking back to you.

“fucking morons….we have to go back, I need to teach them how to do there job “

“ but we were just having fun Vanessa…”

“ I know, I know. But…maybe I can take you on a date sometime soon? And we can make out some more then~ “

“ I-I’d love that Vanessa~! “

The two of you pressed your heads together, kissing one last time before stepping out of the car, and back into the front seats.

Vanessa started the car, and the two of you drove off. As she drove, your mind wandered. How muscular her build her, how strong she is…before you landed on another thought.

“ Vanessa…”

“ yeah baby? “

“ isn’t this…wrong. Us having a…relationship….”

Vanessa stiffened, like she had been avoiding the question. She sipped her coffee again before turning down the street.

“ yeah…it’s risky for both of us…but I..I don’t wanna ignore this YN…”

Vanessa placed a hand on your thigh, as you gently placed your hand ontop of hers.

“ I think,….we could try to make this work…and if it doesn’t then it doesn’t….but I want this…”

You smiled at her vulnerability. You picked up her hand and kissed it gently, interlacing your fingers in hers.

“ I think…I want this too…I wanna make this work. “

The two of you smiled, keeping hands held for the rest of the drive to the police station. As you pulled into the garage, Vanessa stepped out and opened the door for you again.

“ so polite Captain “

“ of course. Anything for you~ “

You chuckled, walking back into the station. Vanessa went the own way to help the others, and you turned to your locker to look at your phone quickly. You’ve never felt so…so seen. So wanted. You’d do anything and everything to make this work.

You…loved her.

[neonganymede]

[A scene from fyosiglai play until dawn, a hypothetical sequel to Bad Decisions

A link to the scene they're playing in Until Dawn. Warning for typical horror game violence! ]

“Well, that’s not an obvious death trap or anything,” Sigma muttered as he listened to the girl onscreen try to call out to the disembodied voice leading her the wrong way. “Just keep following Sam.”

Nikolai didn’t react at first, so Sigma glanced over to see if he’d dozed off. They’d been playing this game for a while, and he didn’t even want to think about what time it could be. Instead of snoozing, Nikolai wore a strange expression on his face, one that Sigma recognized as his I’m-about-to-do-Something-Stupid grin.

Immediately, Sigma’s stomach dropped.

“Nikolai, no.”

“Aw, but Sigma! What if that’s our friend down there? We have to investigate!” Nikolai insisted, his innocent tone completely at odds with the manic glee that brightened his eyes. He clicked on the decision to investigate the voice, and Ashley moved forward on the screen.

Sigma tried to stay calm as he watched Nikolai fearlessly march his character toward the voice, accompanied now by the jerking sound of someone or something pushing against a locked trap door. His heart lurched each time the wooden door did, frantic and violent, and Sigma’s attempt to swallow his nerves only ended up with the sour taste of anxiety clinging to his tongue. 

Nikolai paused in front of the door, taking a moment to snicker gleefully to himself. He turned his gaze toward Sigma, his smile mean and vicious, and Sigma had an immediate flashback to their playthrough of The Quarry, particularly the moment where Nikolai ‘convinced’ Fyodor to open the trap door even though it was the most obvious death flag in the game.

“It’s clearly a trap,” Sigma tried again, already resigned to poor Ashley’s fate. He was honestly surprised she had survived this long with Nikolai controlling her, but this seemed like it would be a particularly brutal way to go. “That’s not Jessica. You know that.”

Nikolai hummed to himself, rocking from side to side as he completely ignored Sigma’s plea to save Ashley from an unfortunate end. He clicked the button, and his character bent down in front of the trap door. “But it could be, Sigma! What if we’re killing poor Jessica by leaving her to die here?”

“It’s not Jessica!”

“It sounds like her!”

“You know these creatures can mimic human speech! It’s not her! Fedya, please tell him!” Sigma turned to Fyodor, expecting support from the least likely source.

Fyodor yawned, and Sigma could read clear boredom in his violet eyes. He seemed utterly impassive from within his blanket burrito, too tired for Nikolai’s nonsense or Sigma’s pleading. He likely didn’t care what happened here, likely hadn’t cared for a while, but maybe he would see reason and stop Nikolai’s antics before they got another one of their characters killed!

So when Fyodor leaned his head forward as though to listen to the voice and make a formal declaration, Sigma wasn’t sure why he was so surprised by the result.

“I think Nikolai’s reasoning makes perfect sense. That could be Jessica, or it could be a monster. We will never truly know unless we open the door… correct?” Fyodor’s eyes glittered with mischief, and his mouth curved into a devilish smile the moment Nikolai began cheering from the other side of the couch.

“Guess not! Let’s open the door!”

“Are you kidding me?!” Sigma grumbled, jostled back and forth by Nikolai’s incessant bouncing. He faced the screen again, his teeth caught between his lower lip as he watched Nikolai happily undo the latch to the trap door.

The door opened, and all went quiet. Then the creature burst through the opening, and Sigma yelped in time with Ashley. He watched in horror as the monster grabbed the girl by the face, but the screen cut away before he had to see her head ripped off. He still had to listen to the crunch, the thud, and he covered his eyes to keep from seeing her disembodied head falling into view.

“Oospie! Guess it was a trap!” Nikolai practically howled with laughter, and he kicked his feet out in unrestrained glee at the carnage he had caused.

“What do you mean, oopsie!? Of course it was a trap! Ugh! How is this game both better and worse than the other one?!” Sigma wailed, not looking at the screen again until he heard the trap door close with another resounding thud.

“Really? I thought The Quarry’s death scenes were so much better! More blood! More violence! And we got to chop somebody’s arm off!”

“I did like the werewolves better,” Sigma admitted as he hesitantly returned his attention to the screen.

The point of view had shifted to Chris now, so Nikolai happily handed the controller over to Fyodor, entirely oblivious to Sigma’s tired glare. Undeniably pleased with himself, he snuggled up to Sigma and began to cover the side of his face in a plethora of chaotic kisses.

“Aw, don’t worry, Sigma! I’m sure that won’t happen again!”

“It better not!”

“Listen to Kolya. Do you truly believe that this game would try to trick us with the same scenario when we just saw what happened to poor, sweet Ashley?” Fyodor teased as he followed the same path that Nikolai had.

To the same intersection. To the same pause, the same voice, the same decision—

Sigma sighed, defeated, as Fyodor’s click the option to investigate the voice. Nikolai’s feral giggles returned, and he leaned forward in anticipation of yet another gruesome decapitation.

And as Chris lumbered toward his own death, Sigma wondered why he’d agreed to play this after all the horrors he’d endured last time. Why had he expected this to be any different? Why hadn’t he learned his lesson?

“After all, what fool would make the same mistake twice?”

[cookies-over-yonder]

roll for panic attack

During a sleepover at Mordred Manor, Jawbone finds Riz curled up on the kitchen floor.

ao3

hello fh fandom!! i wrote this a week ago after catching up!

When Jawbone steps through the living room of Mordred Manor on his way to grab a glass of water, he expects to see every kid sleeping soundly.

What he doesn’t expect is an empty sleeping bag where Riz should be.

As he approaches the kitchen, the sound of staggered breathing becomes louder.

And when he steps inside, he sees the little investigator curled up into a ball on the floor, leaning against the fridge.

Jawbone isn’t sure this kid even has a set of pyjamas, considering he’s always wearing the same button up and hat even when he should be asleep.

“Riz?” he says quietly, so as not to startle him.

“ Gah! Hiss!” Riz whips his head up, baring his fangs, and has one hand on his gun immediately.

“It’s just me, kiddo,” Jawbone says, kneeling down in front of him.

Riz’s eyes widen, and he shrinks back a little. “Right—yeah—yes, sorry,” Riz stutters out, and now that his face is out from being pressed against his knees, his panting is a whole lot louder. “Am—am I in your way? I can—”

Riz scoots away from the fridge swiftly, only to hit his head on an open drawer and wince, back away, and fruitlessly wipe sweat off his forehead.

“It’s okay, kid,” Jawbone says, fully sitting across from him and closing the drawer. “Now, what’s going on?”

Riz averts his gaze, and Jawbone notices his trembling hands.

“Nothing is going on, Jawbone,” Riz says, continuing to wipe sweat off his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

“Looks to me like you’re having a bit of a panic attack.”

“What? No—I…” he bites his lip, searching for words. “I’m not—I don’t—I just couldn’t sleep,” he stutters out between small gasps, “I mean, I wasn’t going to anyway. Someone’s gotta keep watch, right?” he asks himself desperately, eyes wide and hands frantic. “Shit, I should probably get back over there—why did I even come to the kitchen? I—I—I’m so stupid—”

He lets out a squeak, and starts fully hyperventilating, unable to speak and clawing at the fabric of his shirt.

“Kid, hey, hey, can you hear me?”

Riz shuts his eyes, letting tears fall, and nods, curling further in on himself.

“You’re okay, Riz, we’re gonna do a breathing exercise, okay?”

Riz nods again, and he opens his mouth to speak, but all that comes out is a whine.

Jawbone does a fairly simple one with him, in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four. Square breathing seems to help the most with the kids he sees at Aguefort, he finds.

After a few rounds of that, Riz is breathing slightly easier. “I’m fine,” he says, voice hoarse and weak. “Good. I—I’m good. You can go… do whatever you came here to do.”

“Kiddo, do you get panic attacks often?” Jawbone asks, pointedly ignoring Riz’s request.

“It’s not…I’m fine,” Riz glares at him. “You don’t need to worry.”

“You didn’t answer my question. I’m only asking out of concern, you know.”

“Well I—” he starts, and then his face falls. “I don’t know?” he admits, gaze glued to the floor. “I’m good, though. A little bit of anxiety is good. It’s good. It keeps me working. Keeps people safe.”

“A little is good, but it seems to me like you’re working with a lot, Riz. You’re still shaking,” Jawbone adds, gesturing to his hands.

“I’m used to it. Besides, the more sleep I get, the less work I get done,” he says, and he says it so matter-of-factly, Jawbone’s concern increases tenfold.

“The more sleep you get, the better you’ll feel,” he says softly, “Has your anxiety been keeping you up at night?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s normal. Look, are we done talking about this? I’m good now.”

“Alright, do you want some water before you go back to your sleeping bag?”

“No,” Riz says, getting up and walking out of the room.

Jawbone makes a mental note to have a longer chat with him in the morning.

[melishade]

Attack on Prime New Age Anthology: Gabi Braun

Main Story

The Message

Investigation

Gabi Braun (Right Now)

Optimus Prime

Convincing

Aftermath

The Autobots find Gabi and Wheeljack. It's their perspective from this ask

"So 2,000 years ago some random human made a deal with the devil to gain power, which led to the creation of the power of the titans which has lasted for years," Smokescreen began as the Iron Will flew to the Autobot signal ahead.

"Yes," Historia answered as she tightened the straps around her legs.

"And 100 years ago, one of the kings decided to say 'screw it', abandon the world, create walls of Colossal Titans he never planned on using to destroy the world," Rafael added.

"Yeah, and now Eren is using the Colossal Titans to destroy all of mankind outside the Walls," Ymir declared.

"...Why does this feel like the plot of an anime?" Miko asked.

"Miko, not now," Jack scolded her.

"Are there any solutions to stopping this 'Eren'?" Ultra Magnus demanded.

"I mean if Eren is still fifteen meters tall, then all we would need to do is target the nape of the neck," Onyankopon explained, "That should stop Eren and maybe the Rumbling."

"But I'm out of practice, and while Ymir's titan is fast, it's still small," Historia explained, "We need to find the others."

"Others?" Ratchet questioned.

"The Survey Corps," Historia answered, "Commander Hanji, Captain Levi, Erwin Smith, our friends. They're all much more skilled in taking out titans than I am."

"Let's hope that Arcee or Wheeljack is with them and they didn't get separated," Bulkhead said.

Ultra Magnus pulled the steering wheel back and landed the Iron Will on the ground. "Bulkhead, Bumblebee, with me. Ratchet, Smokescreen, be prepared to take off."

Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ultra Magnus stood on the platform before Ratchet pressed a button to lower said platform to the ground. Jack and Miko hopped onto the platform as it lowered to the ground. When it hit the ground, they all stared in horror at the sight of Wheeljack unconscious on the ground. Bulkhead gasped at the sight of the energon leaking from the wound on his side.

"Jackie!" Bulkhead cried out as he bolted towards Wheeljack's unconscious body. Ultra Magnus snapped out of his shock and immediately followed close behind.

"Oh shit," Jack swore at the sight.

"Wheeljack!" Miko cried out as she was prepared to run after the two titans but-!

“Don’t-! Don’t touch him!” a voice cried out. Jack and Miko's attention fell to a young girl, looking distressed and disheveled. She wore a black dress over a white long sleeved shirt. Her short hair was tied in a low ponytail. A flower was tucked behind her left ear and a Bluetooth in her right ear. Jack walked over to her and kneeled down.

“Hey, it’s okay, we’re here to help,” he reassured as she snapped her head towards him, “You okay? What’s your name? How did you find Wheeljack?”

Jack saw the girls' confusion contort into tears and she let out a cry of relief and sadness, startling everyone there.

Miko covered her ears in response to her screaming. “Wow she has pipes!”

“I tried!” she sobbed, “I-I tried! But I could do anything! I couldn’t save Wheeljack and I called Optimus like he told me but he didn’t answer! Why didn’t he answer?! He promised me!”

Jack snapped her head to Miko in shock while the Autobots looked at each other. She spoke about Optimus. Another eye witness spotted Optimus alive and well. How was that possible? Were was he now? How do they get him back so they could confirm that it was actually him?!

“Hey, listen, you wouldn’t happen to know where he is right now?” Jack demanded rather urgently.

“No!” she answered, “He told me to watch Wheeljack and went south! But I don’t know where he is! I don’t know if he’s dead! Did the Colossal Titans kill him?!”

Ultra Magnus nearly lost his composure at the girl's question. Optimus was in danger! They had to get to him and fast! The Commander quickly grabbed Wheeljack's body and hauled him over his shoulders. “I need a space bridge to my location! Wheeljack has been critically injured!”

“How much energon did he lose?!” Bumblebee asked as a spacebridge opened up.

“He left a trail!” Bulkhead gasped in horror as he noticed the blue trail of energon staining the grass.

"Bulkhead, get back on the ship and start piloting it!" Ultra Magnus ordered as he ran through the spacebridge.

“W-wait! What about the Rumbling?!” the begged, clinging to Jack's armor, “What about me?! Don’t leave me alone! I don’t want to be alone!”

The man had placed a hand on her shoulder. “We won’t leave you alone. We’re going to take care of you and make sure you’re safe.”

“Jack, I don’t think taking a human child with us is the best idea,” Bumblebee proclaimed.

“Worst case scenario, we drop her off at Earth.” Jack helped the girl to her feet, “You’re gonna be okay. I promise.”

The girl continued to cry as Jack picked her up and carried her in his arms. She continued to cry as he and Bulkhead ran over to the platform.

"Pull us up, we're going to ahead to the energy source!" Bumblebee told Smokescreen.

Smokescreen immediately pushed the button and they were all lifted up towards the ship. Jack immediately turned his attention to Onyankopon and ran over to him.

"Can you watch her?" Jack asked as he set her down.

"Sure-! Wait, aren't you the girl that stormed Wheeljack's ship?!" Onyankopon exclaimed.

The girl recoiled in fear. "I-!"

"Deal with it later; we have to find Optimus!" Ratchet declared as Bulkhead sat in the pilot seat. He pulled the steering wheel upright and the Iron Will levitated off the ground before flying away from the island.

"Guys, I just got Arcee's signal!" Rafael informed as Arcee's life signal was blinking on the screen.

"Okay, so we should go and get her!" Miko declared.

"Wait, if she's with the Survey Corps then they might get a little jumpy at the sight of the green swirling door way!" Ymir declared.

As if on cue, the girl yelped at the sight of the spacebridge opening up and Ultra Magnus stepping through.

"Bulkhead, step aside!" Ultra Magnus ordered. Bulkhead immediately got out of his seat and Ultra Magnus took the steering wheel.

"I can go first to help ease the tensions," Ymir offered, "But no titans."

"Looks like you two are up," Rafael addressed Miko and Jack, "I have to do numbers."

"Let's make a good first impression," Miko smirked.

"Um...guys?" Smokescreen called out as he looked out the window. All the other Autobots followed Smokescreen's gaze and saw the large clouds of steam rising up and obscuring their view. Ultra Magnus continued to fly, ignoring the sounds of thunder and dodging the strikes of lightning. When he reached the other side, they all gasped in horror at the sight of millions of skinless titans walking across the Earth, trampling everything underneath like it was nothing.

"What did we get ourselves into?" Bulkhead asked.

"Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, survey the situation on the ground!" Ultra Magnus ordered.

"And dodge all of that?!" Smokescreen pointed at the Colossal Titans.

"These titans are scrambling the sensors and we need to find out where Optimus is!" Ultra Magnus declared, "Jack, Miko, go with her to find her allies!"

"Somebody open up a bridge then!" Jack stated.

"Ratchet, get your equipment ready in the even Arcee or anyone else is injured!" Ultra Magnus told the medic.

"Understood!" Ratchet began setting up a small station in the back of the Iron Will.

Ymir at the sight of the spacebridge opening up directly in front of her, Jack, and Miko. Jack and Miko walked up behind her before Miko patted her shoulder.

"You gotta go first, shark lady," Miko informed.

Ymir groaned in frustration before taking a deep breath and running through the swirling green portal.

(Well there's not really much new. It's just from a different perspective.)

[walker-extended-universe]

We Go Down Together, Chapter 5

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4

Relationship(s); Cassie Perez & Cordell Walker

Tags/Warnings: Guilt, Trauma, Trauma Recovery, Making Up, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary: Cordell does some thinking and Cassie makes some progress

Written for @augustofwhump alt prompt 4: Guilt

Taglist: @theladywyn, @ihavepointysticks, @klaatu51, @itsjessiegirl1, @neptunium134

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

After that confrontation with Cassie, Cordell went home, sat in his home office, and did a lot of thinking.

He’d come up here intending to think about work, even had some files that James emailed him spread out on the desk. He wanted to dive right back in so he could put all this mess behind him and focus on the future.

But no matter how hard he stared at the papers in front of him, his mind kept circling back to Cassie. The dread in her eyes, the pain in her voice, the anger simmering underneath it all…. It wasn’t anything like the Cassie he knew. She was normally so happy, so energetic, so determined. Seeing her stripped bare like that was so unfamiliar. He hadn’t seen her like that since Rita had told them Miles was dead. She’d tried to hide it, but she’d been a zombie at work for days after that and only lightened up when they got that crypto-theft case to distract them.

Maybe that was why he’d assumed it would be the same this time. Sure, Gray Flag had knocked Cassie down but she would get back up again once she had a distraction. That was the way Cordell had always worked, hell it was the way almost every Ranger or soldier he ever knew worked.

But Cassie wasn’t like everyone else he’d ever known.

Suddenly, Micki popped into his mind. She and Cassie were wildly different, but they had similarities as well. Young, determined, a fire in their soul stoked by years of people underestimating them.

He remembered when she came back from investigating Serano. She’d tried to jump right back into work and fell right on her ass. Cordell had thought she’d just needed time then, that she’d get right back up and run by his side again.

Then she’d left in the middle of the night and her desk was cleared out by morning.

Micki had thought leaving the force was the right thing to do. Cordell didn't agree with it, but he’d let her go her own way. Whatever she was going through she needed that support and he was happy to give it to her.

Just like Cassie needed his support right now. Whatever her decision was.

He sighed and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. “Bang up job you did there, Walker,” he muttered to himself.

He pulled out his phone and pulled up Cassie’s number. He hesitated, berated himself for hesitating, and then still waited five whole seconds before pressing the call button.

It took three rings for the call to pick up. “Walker?”

“Cassie,” he breathed. “Thank god. I thought you would’ve blocked me after earlier….”

“Well, I did consider it.”

“I had a feeling.” Cordell took a deep breath. “I wanted to say I was sorry. Like, actually genuinely sorry. I… I was too caught up in my own stuff to really see what you were going through and…. I messed up. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.” She sniffed. “I should probably apologize too. I- I should’ve reached out sooner so you didn’t get the wrong idea….”

“Don’t apologize for that. I’m the idiot that assumed you handled trauma the same way I did. And I’m not sure you calling me and telling me about your nightmares would’ve changed anything. I probably would’ve just made a bigger idiot of myself if we’re being honest.”

She laughed. “Well, at least we can be honest.”

“Yeah….” Cordell cleared his throat. “I really need you to be honest with me, Cassie. I need you to tell me if I’m being a dick or if I’m not doing enough for you. Can you do that?”

She was quiet for a few moments. “I… I think I can. If I can’t, Ben definitely will.”

Cordell chuckled. “Yeah, he will.” He let the silence hang for a minute. “Are we okay?”

“... We will be.”

That was more than enough.

—------

Cassie woke up slowly. She woke up without an alarm, a habit she was going to have to break when she got back to work (and she would go back eventually, no matter how much Ben assured her she didn’t have to). She yawned and reached for her phone to see what time it was.

8:00 A.M.

Her eyes widened and she sat up straight, staring at the screen. The A.M. stubbornly refused to turn to P.M. no matter how many times she blinked. She got out of bed and pulled back the curtain on her window and pulled back when the sun hit her face.

She’d slept the whole night through. Without nightmares. That was the seventh night in a row.

This was progress. This was big progress.

She was on her way back to normal.

She turned on her heel and left her room, excitedly rushing to the kitchen. “Ben, Ben, Ben! I didn’t have a nightmare last night! And I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night or anything!”

Ben almost dropped the pan of bacon he was pulling out of the oven, but managed to save it just in time to leave it on the counter so he could take off his oven mitts. “Cassie, that’s great!” He hugged her tight. “I’m so proud of you.”

She squeezed him just as tight. “Thanks. For everything.”

“Hey, that’s what brothers are for.”

“I know, but still.” She slowly let go of him. “I need to tell Shannon. Oh, and Walker. He’ll wanna know…”

Ben rolled his eyes. “He’s just tired of being stuck on the desk without his partner.”

She slapped his arm. “He is not. Besides, he has too much paperwork to catch up on to go on another case.”

“That’s just what James tells you so you don’t feel bad.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone to update everyone.

She knew she wasn’t cured yet. She still had a ways to go. But it was progress, and that was worth celebrating.

[745voiceofthepeople]

Azula, Zuko, and Ty Lee all walk into the Avatar’s base in an obscure mountain top. Prepared for a… dialogue. Or a fight if nothing else. They were excited to finally be going on a mission.

Azula: Okay, let me do the talking, and whatever happens, happens to all of us.

Zuko: Okay!

Sokka (seeing the the three FN fighters walking up to their base): Heyyy! You guys know how To make whiskey on the rocks?

Azula and Zuko: *long suffering sigh

Ty Lee: You put ice in it! It’s pretty easy

Sokka: Really! Hey Katara want to do me a solid? Get it? Solid?

Azula: Oh for Fuck’s sake

Katara (yelling from the other side of the mountain base to team FN): Hey! What the hell do you think your doing?!

Ty Lee (yelling): We’re coming to investigate your base!

Azula (to Ty Lee): What don’t you understand about “let me do the talking”?!

Aang (yelling): Why did the girl with the braid put her tongue on our base before?

Azula (yelling back): It’s a long story!

Katara (yelling): We got nothing but time!

Sokka (yelling): Are you guys the test!

Azula (yelling): A what?!

Sokka (yelling in reply): A test! Were from the United Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom Alliance, and we’re waiting to find out what we’re here for.

Katara ( yelling): ex-alliance!

Katara (continued): We’re not really waiting for anything though, except maybe like a quick, merciful death.

Azula (yelling): Are you the leader?!

Katara (yelling): We don’t exactly have a chain of command anymore! I’m mostly in charge though, because I’m not a complete fucking waste of brain cells! My names Katara! And This (gestures to Sokka) is my brother Sokka and this (gestures to Aang) is our companion Aang.

Sokka and Aang (yelling): Hi!

Azula (yelling): *Azula points to herself* Azula!, (indicates with a gesture of her head) my brother Zuko, and our (indicated with head nod) compatriot Ty Lee! Soldiers of the Fire Nation.

Katara (yelling): Let me guess? You guys got dumped here.

Azula (yelling): Wha-I… How did you know?

Katara (yelling back): Body language!

Katara (continued) That and there’s no reason to come here. For anyone, like ever!

Azula (yelling) Good eye!

Katara (yelling back): Yeah, it’s a fun party trick. Got more of you want!

Azula (yelling): Really!

Katara (yelling back): There used to be a guy interested in you, it didn’t go anywhere since you’ve accepted the fact that you like the ladies!

Azula (yelling in consternation) Wha-! Hey! How did you-?!

Katara: Come on girl, it’s obvious.

Aang (whispering): Maybe you guys can date.

Katara (yelling): *gestures to Ty Lee* and that one got messed up somehow, but she has the most upbeat attitude, so net-net I guess.

Katara (continued) Here, we’ll come over, we can compare notes.

Azula (yelling) Okay!

Katara, Sokka, and Aang walk to the other side of the mountain to base. Coming face to face with Azula, Zuko, and Ty Lee.

———————————————————-—————

Katara: We were the worst soldier of our unit.

Azula: Ha! Us too.

Aang: Sokka here, he once detonated a base, trying to heat up a cup of coffee.

Sokka: Who puts the “Fire all the missiles button” right next to the microwave?

Katara: Pretty sure they were just expecting us to accidentally fall down a ravine or… blow up our base and save themselves the trouble of a coverup.

Sokka: Stone, cold, hearted, man.

Zuko (deadpan):Tell me about it.

Azula: Agni fucking damnit.

Azula (continued): Fuck my life, seriously. Our one chance at a real assignment and we meet you guys?

Katara: Oh you’re a real charmer, aren’t you?

Aang: Boss, I like her. *lowers voice* Seriously, are you gonna date?

Katara: The long and short of it is, we’re fuck ups. Like you! We’re all stranded here, we’ll all die here, and we’ll all be forgotten.

(Everyone): look down is despair

Zuko: Well, least we can do it together

Sokka: Hey, Yeah!

Ty Lee: Together!!!

Aang: Together!!!

Ty Lee: You Know, I think I just learned something. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the world wants to push you away, as long as you find friendship and-

Ty Lee (continued) Ice spider! *she starts to fire her assault rifle at the ground*

Ty Lee (continued) Oh Agni, it’s going- it’s going up your leg! *Ty Lee proceeds to shoot Aang in the leg*

Aang: Ow! She shot me!

Sokka: You bastards, I’ll kill you!

*Sokka begins firing at Ty Lee*

Zuko: Ty Lee, get under cover! *a bullet goes by Zuko’s head*

Zuko (continued): That’s not cool, man!

Zuko, Ty Lee, Sokka, and Aang proceed to begin a firefight between themselves. Katara and Azula stand in the middle of the chaos. Seemingly ignoring the fight and just staring into one another’s eyes. Blue on gold.

Azula and Katara (at the same time):*sigh deeply as their teammates exchange gunfire*

(Azula) Agni damn it.

(Katara) Tui damn it.

————————————————————————

Katara: This happen often?

Azula: Yeah, but not as often as- * a missile flies by* Never mind.

Katara: Man, I just wanted… I just wanted a chance, you know?

Katara (continued): To be given a mission. To be given a purpose.

Azula: You want a purpose?

Katara: Yeah... I really do.

Azula (laughs incredulously): Me too!

Azula and Katara proceed to gaze into each others eyes (again)

Azula: *Proceeds to raise her gun and shoot Katara in the foot*

Katara hunches over from the blow, her hands immediately going over to her foot. Fortunately, the armor appears to have absorbed most of the damage. That doesn’t make the small pond of red any less disconcerting though.

Katara: Ow, Shit! You shot me! The fuck did you do that for!

Azula: Giving us all a reason to be out here, bitch.

Katara (incredulous): What are you, crazy?!

Azula (flippant): Eh, probably. But I’m done waiting on someone to give me a purpose. I’m making one for myself.

Zuko (yelling): Azula, come on! We have to get out of here!

Katara (narrowing her eyes): You’re going down, sweet-cheeks.

Azula: Aw, that’s the spirit! It’s a shame, though. You actually seem like my type.

*Azula walks away to the now FN side of the mountain base*

*Zuko and Ty Lee are still undergoing a firefight with Aang and Sokka as this goes on*

Azula: Come on guys, let’s roll out.

*firefight has now undergone a temporary pause*

Zuko (angrily): What? What did you do?

Azula (smugly): I just gave us a purpose for being here.

Zuko: Which is?

Azula: To keep an eye on those assholes *nods towards Katara, Sokka, and Aang*

Ty Lee: All I wanted to do was kill the Ice spider.

Zuko: But…! They just said that they aren’t doing anything!

Zuko (continued): Why do we need to watch them?!

Azula: That’s where your wrong Zhu Zhu.

Azula (continued):They are doing something now. They’re watching us. Because now we’ve shot two of them.

Zuko: Seriously? You’re saying that the only reason we need to be here is because they have a base over there, and the only reason they need a base is because we’re here?

Azula (giggles): Yes! We finally have a purpose in life. Isn’t glorious?

Katara (Yelling): You guys are a bunch of psychotic assholes!

Azula (yelling back): You’ll thank me later, fuckface!

Katara (yells back): You’re super uncool! You know that right?! You’re all losers!

Azula (to Zuko and Ty Lee): Yep. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. And that Water Tribe chick? She totally wants me.

Katara (yelling): Fuck you!

Azula: See? She even wants to fuck me. My seduction plan is in full effect!

Zuko: I don’t think that’s what she meant by “fuck you” Azula.

Azula: Don’t ruin the moment Zhu Zhu.

[voraciousvore]

Big Corp Inc. (42/43)

Chapter 42: Call in the Cavalry

When Mr. Hardon was done with Candy, he tossed her back inside the drawer and locked it, then returned the key to its hiding place. Candy retreated to her flimsy paper nest and sobbed. She felt disgusted, mortified, and violated. She missed Martin. She realized, with a sinking dread, that she might never see him again. There was no way Mr. Hardon would let her come into contact with her beloved, especially if he stole her away to his house. She was doomed. 

There was a knock on the door to Mr. Hardon’s office. “Come in,” he called. From inside the drawer, Candy heard the door creak open. “Oh, Martin. What can I do for you?” 

Candy’s pulse quickened. She slammed herself against the wood, projecting her voice as loudly as she could until her throat was hoarse. “Martin! Help me! I’m here! Martin!” 

Her words couldn’t reach him. “Here’s all those reports you asked for,” he stated in a dreary monotone. Candy could hear the defeat and exhaustion and despair eloquently expressed in his voice. He had given up. No. Not yet! She needed him more than ever! She pounded her fists on the inside of the drawer until they were red and raw. 

“Oh, thank you,” Mr. Hardon uttered with a saccharine smile. “Good timing, actually. I have more work for you right here. This big stack.” 

“Actually, sir… I’m not feeling well. I was going to ask you if you’d be okay with me leaving early. I just want to go home and lay down.” Martin sounded like he was about to collapse. 

“No! Don’t leave me!” Candy shouted, kicking the wood hard enough to hurt her toes. “Martin!” 

“Of course. You can use your sick time. Take the rest of the day if you need,” Mr. Hardon said smoothly, concealing his malicious glee at Martin’s obliviousness. With Martin absent, it would be easier for him to sneak Candy out at the end of the day. 

Candy’s legs buckled underneath her and she slumped into a heap. Any hope she had of rescue drained out of her. She was done for. Her fate was sealed, as Mr. Hardon’s prisoner—his little sex doll. She was overcome with a revolting combination of nausea and grief. Her stomach heaved and she vomited bile from pure revulsion. 

Martin turned to go and trudged to the elevator in a daze, massaging his temple. Before he could push the button, the elevator sprung open, and Martin was surprised to see two cops standing there. They stepped out and addressed him brusquely. 

“Is there a Richard Hardon that works here?” one of the cops asked. He was a shorter Giant with intense chocolate brown eyes behind a pair of glasses. 

Martin was taken aback but answered in the affirmative. “Uh… yes, sir. His office is right over there.” He pointed to the corner of the third floor that every employee generally avoided like the plague. The cop that spoke motioned stiffly to his larger associate, a burly Giant with a mustache, and the two officers marched down the hall with authority. The mood in the office was suddenly electric as nearby employees watched with curiosity. Martin exchanged glances with Bianca and they both followed the officers down the hall. Martin was too inquisitive to leave now, despite his fatigue and broken spirit. 

The cops stepped boldly into Mr. Hardon’s office without knocking or being invited in. “Are you Richard Hardon?” the cop with glasses asked, flashing his badge. 

“Yeah. Why?” Mr. Hardon responded defensively. He tried to maintain outward calm, but tension was creeping into his body. 

“We received an anonymous tip that you’ve been keeping one of your employees locked in your office,” the cop recited coolly. 

Mr. Hardon was starting to sweat, but he attempted a bluff. “Why, that’s ridiculous! Look around you, gentleman! There’s nobody here but us!” His face drained of color, ever so slightly. 

The cop cocked his eyebrow. “Nonetheless, we’re obligated to investigate. This is a very serious accusation, after all. If you could stand up and step outside for a moment, sir.” 

Mr. Hardon stared at the policeman, but the Giant didn’t waver. “You have no right to search me,” he uttered, trying to hold back his poisonous hostility. He squared his shoulders and crossed his arms in defiance.  

“Actually, we do,” the officer replied. “The call that reported you gives us sufficient cause.” Mr. Hardon didn’t want to appear suspicious, so he cooperated and left the room. The larger officer, who had yet to speak a word, stood next to him while the other officer started to search the room. The other Big Corp employees gawked at the spectacle, crowding into the hallways. Work was forgotten. Mr. Hardon’s mind was racing for a way out. 

Inevitably, the Giant officer began looking through the drawers of the desk, until he came across the locked drawer that Candy was trapped inside. He tried to open it, but it didn’t budge. “Do you have the key for this drawer, sir?” the officer asked. 

Mr. Hardon shrugged his shoulders shakily. “Nope,” he lied. “But why do you need to look in those drawers? A person couldn’t fit in there!” He laughed in a stilted way, that sounded artificial and unconvincing. He wiped his forehead anxiously and bit his lips. 

The Giant cop crouched and leaned near the drawer, turning his head so his ear was close to it. “I hear something.” He listened for a moment and his eyes widened. “There’s a person in there!” 

The collective gasp from the assembled crowd sucked the air out of the room. As the reality of the situation started to sink in, Martin balled up his fists with strong emotion. Bianca’s jaw dropped with horror. Mr. Hardon tried to slink away, but the muscular cop next to him grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. “Where’s the key?” he demanded. Mr. Hardon stayed stubbornly silent. The other cop listened to the drawer for a moment, as if gathering information, and began searching the top of the desk. The squeaky, muffled little voice inside had informed him that she had heard the metallic key scraping across the surface of the desk whenever Mr. Hardon locked the drawer. The Giant rifled through the items on the desk, not bothering to be careful with them, until he lifted the keyboard and discovered the key hidden underneath. 

The officer moved to unlock the drawer, his eyes burning with intensity. Martin’s legs propelled him into the room of their own will, without his conscious input. He found himself standing next to the officer, hardly daring to breathe from the suspense, as the drawer slid open to reveal, like a magnificent prize, his tiny girlfriend that had gone missing. 

“Candy!” Martin bellowed without reserve, scooping her up in his gigantic hands. Candy was momentarily startled and discombobulated, since she was dazzled by the light and didn’t know Martin was right outside. However, she immediately recognized those huge soft hands, his tender touch, his deep voice, his familiar scent. He pressed her against his Giant body in a hug and Candy burst into tears of joy. 

“Oh, Martin!” she cried. “I was so scared I’d never see you again!” She buried herself in his chest, bubbling with the greatest happiness she had ever felt in her life. They embraced for a long moment, sharing in each other’s love and warmth, forgetting the rest of the world around them. “I’m so sorry you had to suffer through Mr. Hardon’s terrible falsehoods! I never said any of those things!” 

“I should have known he was lying,” Martin lamented. “I should have saved you. I’m sorry, Candy.” He looked down at her, cuddled up against his chest. Her clothes, or what was left of them, clung to her frail body in shreds. Her eyes were hollow and haunted. Whatever hell she had endured, she had suffered greatly. Martin choked up. 

“How long was he doing... this... to you? Is this the real reason why you were so sad?” Martin asked her, his eyes overflowing. Candy nodded. “Goodness, Candy! Why didn’t you tell me? I could have stopped him!” Martin’s visage sparked with anger at Mr. Hardon’s egregious abuses. 

Candy cast her gaze down forlornly. “He threatened to take you away from me. To fire you and ruin your life. I couldn’t—I wouldn’t be able to survive without you. So I endured, until I couldn’t anymore. When I tried to leave...” Candy swallowed painfully at the memory. “He took me by force.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Martin murmured, massaging her back with his thumb. “That was a terrible and unfair burden for you to take all on your own. You should never hold things back like that from me. Whatever problems come our way, we will solve together, okay? Nothing is worth sacrificing your wellbeing. No more secrets. Promise me?” 

“I promise,” Candy answered, nurtured by his caring words and touch. She realized now that she had been in error. She shouldn’t have tried to bottle everything inside and take on the world alone. Martin was there for her, a loyal companion by her side until the end. She snuggled up against him and closed her eyes, finally at peace after being in turmoil for so long, as he cupped his hand around her in a loving embrace. 

While Martin and Candy shared their heartfelt reunion, the two cops cuffed and arrested Mr. Hardon, who was numb with shock. He never believed in a million years he’d get caught. “Who the hell called the police? Who found out?” he demanded to know, his eyes scouring all the employees. He was met by a sea of blank stares. All except for one, a single Giant hanging out in the back of the crowd with a grotesque sneer cracking his face open. His dark eyes gleamed with hateful spite. 

“Y-you!” Mr. Hardon spat with white-hot fury. “Damn you, Ronny!” The sea of faces turned to Ronny with genuine shock. Nobody expected Ronny, of all Giants, to save a human woman. Ronny’s grin faded with all the attention and he glowered at his coworkers. 

“You deserved it, you piece of shit,” he muttered to the boss and stomped off to the break room to avoid all the stares. 

“Damn it!” Mr. Hardon swore venomously as the bigger cop dragged him away. The other cop stayed behind to gather evidence and take witness statements, particularly from Ronny since he had been outed as the anonymous source that reported the incident. The victim would need to be interviewed as well, although not right away if she were in too much distress. The cop approached Martin and Candy cautiously and waited for a good opportunity to interject. 

He cleared his throat, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he stepped forward. “Excuse me, miss,” he stated. Candy flinched slightly, and Martin tightened his hold on her protectively in response. “When you feel up to it, we’ll need you to come to the police station and make a statement.” 

“O-okay,” Candy agreed, almost in a whisper. “Thank you. For saving me.” 

“Just doing my job,” the officer responded, and gave the couple some privacy as he left to rejoin the other cop and haul Mr. Hardon off to jail. 

Chapter 43 (final chapter)

Chapter 1

[thiefoflight68]

A snippet from my prior Baku/Deku. I love this cute scene at a cat cafe. I was just rereading and it made me giggle so I thought I’d share. I love the little Dekat.

I Will Always Love You

No tags except for Katsuki cussing…

“What time do we have to get to the arena tonight?” Sero called over to Izuku, he sat cross legged next to Yuga, a feather toy in his hand playing with a younger cat, a yellow tabby.

“In four hours, we have to be there by six-thirty, you go on at eight,” Izuku sat on a bean bag, a small gray tabby had come to investigate him. Sitting quietly, he’d been able to scratch the kitty under the chin, it started to purr loudly. “Hear him Kacchan?” Izuku turned to the blonde who was lying stretched out on the floor, perched on his elbows, a calico cat curled up on his stomach, they were both glaring at each other. Izuku pulled out his phone slowly and snapped a picture, he hit the video button.

“I saw that nerd,” Katsuki stared at the cat that had made him a bed. He’d sat down to watch Deku when the damn cat had jumped on him and instantly curled up. It was purring so hard he could feel the vibrations in his stomach, but if he moved or tried to push it off, it sunk its claws into his skin, green eyes glaring at him. “I think this cat is you Deku,” Katsuki peered closer at its eyes, the cat started to squeeze it’s claws rhythmically “Fuck! He gritted his teeth, “it’s definitely you Deku, little green eyes is killing me here.”

“She’s just making biscuits, Kacchan.”

“What the fuck are biscuits? And why is it happening on my stomach?” Katsuki growled as the cat lifted its chin, sniffing the air.

“When a cat is happy or likes you sometimes, they’ll knead you, it’s called making biscuits.”

“How long is it going to happen?” Katsuki sucked in his breath as one claw went a little deeper. “Damn cat.”

“Depends on the cat,” Izuku shrugged

“I can take her off for you if you want,” Pinky offered, leaning backwards over her beanbag.

“Don’t fucking touch her, you heard the nerd, she’s happy,” Katsuki clicked his tongue, watching as the cat kneaded his stomach again, he clenched his jaw.

“Okay!” Pinky laughed and went back to her own cat.

“We’re maxed out on time guys,” Shinso called out finally, “we only could stay forty minutes, they want to rotate new people in,” he stood up carefully trying not to scare his little black cat.

“Fuck,” Katsuki looked at the cat’s green eyes, “have we been here that long?”

“I guess so,” Izuku stood up slowly.

“I’m gonna need your help nerd,” Katsuki nodded to the cat, “just like you, she’s not letting go.”

“I’m not that clingy Kacchan,” Izuku huffed, he walked slowly to the blonde and squatted down. Reaching out his hand he stroked the cat slowly, the purring started again.

“I like clingy Deku, I’m not complaining,” Katsuki smiled at him as he petted the cat. She stood and stretched, slowly sauntering off his stomach. She yawned then leapt to a cat tree, kneading a small blanket, she settled back down. Standing up, they headed to the door, Deku retrieving his pillow.

“What did you think of the café? I liked it,” Izuku glanced back at the gray tabby.

“It was definitely filled with fucking cats,” Katsuki noticed the calico turning away as another person tried to pet her, he smiled. “I think I liked it too.”

[callmebrycelee]

9-1-1: LONE STAR REACTION

This reaction is for the season 4, fourth episode "Abandoned" which originally aired February 14, 2023. This episode was written by Jalysa Conway and Jamie Kessler and directed by Christine Khalafian. Spoilers ahead!

***LAST TIME ON 9-1-1: LONE STAR***Owen learns that Sgt. O'Brien's nephew joined up with the Honor Dogs before going missing. Iris is found alive in an abandoned house but when there's no trace of her captor, Carlos begins to doubt her story. TK begins to worry when Carlos starts pushing him away. Owen finds out that O'Brien is a founding member of the Honor Dogs. Carlos investigates a secret passageway underneath the abandoned home Iris was found in and gets knocked out by an unknown assailant. Now that we're all caught up, let's discuss episode four - ABANDONED!!!

Our episode begins with Carlos regaining consciousness after being knocked over the head with a shovel last episode. He wakes up in a pristine kitchen with sunlight pouring through an open window. Someone is singing "This Little Light of Mine" as he slowly comes to the realization that his ankles are bound and his wrists are zip-ted to a pipe underneath the sink. He sees an older woman (Bonita Friedericy) who looks like she walked right out of an episode of Leave it to Beaver. She asks him about TK and he tells her that TK is his fiance. She tells him that TK kept calling his phone so she pulverized it with a meat tenderizer. The woman offers Carlos a cookie and he reluctantly eats it. She then begins to ramble about the secret to making the perfect cookie and if Carlos didn't know she was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs before, he certainly does now. The woman opens a door to what looks like a closet and Carlos gets a glimpse of a dead woman inside. He asks her to untie him but she tells him that she can't. She says, "My boy will be coming home soon, and I just know that he'll want to meet you."

Title card!

We next see Owen holding a pair of underwear. Special Agent Rose Casey (Amanda Schull) tells him they're funderwear. She explains that there is a special compartment built into them where they can hide a transmitter. They will also replace one of the buttons on his shirt with a microphone. That way, if Sgt. O'Brien were to ask Owen to unbutton his shirt, they wouldn't see a transmitter. Owen jokingly asks what if O'Brien asks him to drop his pants and Casey does not look amused. I'm still not too keen on the FBI involving Owen in such a huge matter but our resident thrillseeker seems pretty gung ho. 

We learn that O'Brien has asked Owen to meet him at a secluded road in the middle of nowhere. Owen tells Casey and her partner, Special Agent Chuck Biondi (Rob Parks) he believes that O'Brien is on to him and that he suspects Owen is the one who called in the tip on all of the ammonium nitrate that was found at The Farm. Biondi calls the tip bogus and Owen assures him of what he saw. Casey asks him why he didn't take a photo of what he saw and I wanted Owen to scream at both of them that he is not an FBI agent. Owen asks them what they hope to gain from him meeting with O'Brien. Biondi thinks maybe O'Brien is having second thoughts about his involvement with a potential terrorist plot. Owen jokes that maybe he wants to meet up with him so he can kill him. Casey says that would be great because then they could use attempted murder as a means of bringing him over to their side. She assures Owen that if O'Brien tries anything, they will be there. 

Owen gets a call from TK. Before he answers the call, Casey tells him to make it quick. TK asks him if he's okay since Judd told him he was taking the day off. Owen lies and tells TK he's taking a spa day which, in all fairness, is a pretty good lie for someone like Owen. TK seeks advice from him on what to do about Carlos not answering his calls. TK asks if he should just go over to the hospital and talk to him. Owen tells him he should give Carlos space. Hearing this advice is triggering for TK considering when Owen and his mom gave each other space, it led to their divorce. Casey tells Owen to wrap up the call and Owen rushes TK off the phone but not before telling him to hang in there. I felt really bad for TK and for Owen as well because since the start of this show, we have watched their relationship slowly devolve. I hope these two get to sit down at some point and have a long conversation so they can hopefully get back to where they were.

Meanwhile, the woman's son, Darryl (Adam O'Byrne) comes home and he is angry to see Carlos being held captive in his kitchen. Darryl asks his mother how Carlos got in the house and she tells him he came through the floor and she hit him with a shovel. Darryl goes through Carlos' things and learns he is a cop after seeing his badge. He tells Carlos he saw him carry Iris out of the abandoned house the day before. He asks Carlos why he came back. Carlos tells him he was looking for him. Darryl says, "Well, you found me, but no one's gonna find you." He asks his mother to bring him "the kit". When she leaves the room, Carlos asks Darryl if the woman in the closet is Donna Burton. Donna Burton is the young woman Iris went looking for prior to being abducted. Carlos asks if there are more women. Darryl tells Carlos that no one will ever find out because he's going to seal up the tunnel linking the two houses with Carlos inside. Darryl further taunts Carlos by telling him no one is looking for him. Darryl's mother returns to the kit and we learn there's vials of morphine inside of it. He yells at his mother for using some of the supply when he realizes there isn't enough to kill Carlos. He does, however, have enough to knock Carlos out which will give him plenty of time to seal up the tunnel. Darryl injects Carlos in the neck with morphine. Is it bad that I'm glad this is happening to Carlos and not TK who is a recovering addict who has already lost his sobriety once in the history of this show?

Over at the 126, TK is on edge because he's trying to take his father's advice. Nancy tells him to call Carlos and he responds by telling her that he is the one who screwed up and he needs to give Carlos space. Poor TK - none of this is your fault. Carlos getting married to Iris due to his own insecurities with being gay and not telling you about it has zero to do with you and everything to do with him. Anywho, Paul tells TK that Carlos isn't going to end things just because there's a bump in the road. Mateo chimes in by saying that 'bump' is his wife which I thought was pretty funny. Marjan, thankfully, is the voice of reason and tells TK she thinks it's weird that Carlos is not answering his phone calls or texts. TK is worried about nagging Carlos so he begs Nancy to call the hospital and she gives in. Nancy speaks to someone at the hospital and they tell her that Iris is asleep in her room. She asks if Carlos is with her in her room and is told no one has been in Iris's room all night. TK is officially panicked.

Grace gets a personal call from TK during her shift at the dispatch. TK asks her if she can locate where Carlos' phone is at. Grace tells him Carlos' phone is disconnected which means either the battery has been removed or the phone has been destroyed. 

Darryl and his mother brainstorm ways of how to get rid of Carlos. Darryl proposes slitting his throat in a bathtub but his mother tells him it would be hard to clean up. She suggests strangulation because it would be 'fairly tidy'. Darryl tells her he needs to get rid of Carlos' car and then he will swing by the pharmacy to grab more drugs. His mother worries that someone will come through the tunnel while he's gone but he assures her that he's sealed up the end in the abandoned house. Darryl grabs his keys, puts his bike on the back of Carlos' car, and drives off while his mother puts on a record.

Owen to the location he and O'Brien discussed while the special agents listen in from a remote van. Owen gets a call from TK but ignores it when he sees O'Brien (Neal McDonough) ride up. O'Brien tells Owen he's surprised he showed up and tells him he's dumb. More bikers arrive at their rendezvous spot, including Red (Dan Sanders-Joyce). Red tells Owen they're going for a ride. 

TK goes to see his future in-laws - Gabriel and Andrea Reyes (Benito Martinez and Roxana Brusso). He asks them if they have seen or heard from Carlos. Gabriel tells him they have not. Andrea suggests that maybe Carlos is at work but TK tells her Carlos has the day off. He also tells them he's tried to reach out to Carlos numerous times and that Grace tried to track his phone but it's disabled. This sets off alarm bells for our resident Texas Ranger. He asks TK if he was driving his car. TK tells him yes. Gabriel says he can put a BOLO out on Carlos and his car. TK gets a call from Grace. Grace says the last call Carlos made was to TK the night before and the last call came from the abandoned house where Iris was found. Gabriel asks Grace to send him the address.

Owen and O'Brien arrive at a bar with the rest of the Honor Dogs. Red asks them to hand over their phones. Owen confronts O'Brien about being a founding member of the Honor Dogs. O'Brien admits he did start the Honor Dogs shortly after 9/11 but he quit when some of the members started getting radical. He says when he walked into the bar six weeks ago, no one there recognized him. The Honor Dogs is no longer the group he founded. Owen finds it strange that Andy, O'Brien's nephew, just so happened to join the same club he founded two decades earlier but O'Brien tells him that his nephew has wanted to be an underdog ever since he was seven. Owen thinks that maybe Andy isn't working for the FBI. O'Brien says that the Honor Dogs think they're working for the FBI. He tells Owen that The Farm was raided by the FBI. Owen tells him that all of the ammonium nitrate they found is missing. He tells O'Brien that he believes he took it. O'Brien denies moving the ammonium nitrate. Owen accuses him of luring him there and O'Brien tells him that he tried to warn him. When he said there was a 99/9% chance that Owen wouldn't show, apparently the 999 is code for officer down. Owen reminds him he's a firefighter and they don't have that type of code. O'Brien tells him to be cool and reminds him that the Honor Dogs don't have anything on them. Owen tells him that he's wearing a wire. O'Brien muses that they are screwed. 

TK and Gabriel, aka the duo I never thought I needed, arrive at the address of the abandoned house. Meanwhile, Carlos learns the older lady holding him captive is named Trudie. He attempts to get through to her. Gabriel and TK go into the room where Iris was held captive. Detective Meredith Grier (Blythe Howard) arrives at the scene. TK lashes out when the detective insinuates that Iris made up the entire thing. Gabriel tells him to calm down and TK leaves the room. He finds Donna Burton's ID in the fireplace. He calls for Gabriel and the detective and when they come into the room he shows them what he found. Detective Grier tells them that Donna Burton is the woman Iris says she was looking for. TK deduces that the person who took Iris is the same person who took Donna. Gabriel chastises the detective for not doing a thorough search of the premises but Detective Grier says they were only looking for Iris. Gabriel asks for her to call in reinforcements to canvas the neighborhood while TK decides to go next door to where Carlos is being held captive.

Trudie sees TK approach the house and she uses duct tape to gag Carlos. She also grabs a knife before she answers the door. TK asks if she's heard or seen anything unusual and Trudie tells him she hasn't. He then shows her a picture of he and Carlos and asks if she's seen him. Trudie comments on how handsome Carlos is and yes, we get it. Carlos is fine. Carlos has been fine for four seasons now. TK tells Trudie that Carlos is his fiance and she seems surprised by this information. She tells TK that she goes to bed early and that her son works the night shift. Carlos knocks something over in the kitchen and Trudie pretends her cat did it. She tells Trudie she has to "spank her cat" which ... writers, y'all nasty! LOL!!! Anywho, Carlos gives her Detective Grier's information and she heads back inside.

Perhaps the strangest part of the episode is when Trudie approaches Carlos in the kitchen and says, "I didn't know you were a gay. I love the gays. Sometimes I wish my Darryl was a gay. The ladies give him so much trouble." Carlos gives her the same look I'm sure all of us were giving and then the scene fades to black. 

At the Austin PD, Detective Grier informs Gabriel about the disappearances of several other women. The thing all of the women have in common is that they were either homeless or the residents of halfway houses. The detective suggests the women are being targeted because they are the most vulnerable. Poor TK is freaking out because he is confused why the two of them are preoccupied with women who have been missing for nearly five years instead of finding Carlos. Gabriel believes if they understand the connection between the women then that will lead them to Carlos. TK suggests they are looking for a serial killer and then it dawns on him that maybe Carlos is the next victim. Gabriel is such a good paternal figure for TK during this moment. TK wonders how he can remain so calm. Gabriel reminds him that he's not the only person who loves Carlos and that "If there are tears to weep, we do them when the time comes, not before. And right now, he needs us." Gabriel's words appear to soothe TK which is a relief because TK is on the edge at this point. Detective Grier tells them they have found Carlos' car. There was no blood and any fingerprints were wiped clean.

Meanwhile, Red confronts Owen and O'Brien. He tells them that after the two of them and Turner went shooting the day before, The Farm was raided by the FBI. He tells them that he believes they were looking for something but whatever that something is, they didn't find it. Red believes there is a rat in the Honor Dogs and when Owen suggests that the rat is Turner, Red tells him that Turner's too stupid to be a rat. Red is suspicious of Owen and wonders if he's working for the FBI. O'Brien interjects and says they're both with the FBI and because of their status as law enforcement, they're not going to disappear as easily as Andy did. O'Brien asks where Andy is and Red tells him that Andy is gone. O'Brien squares off against Red and Owen blurts out that he is the rat and he's wearing a microphone in his underwear. Both Owen and O'Brien are kicked out of the Honor Dogs and Agent Casey looks disappointed. 

Back at the Austin PD, TK, Gabriel, and Detective Grier try to figure out what all the women who are missing, including Donna, have in common. TK suggests they all have issues with mental health. He also sees that they all take medication for their mental illness. Detective Grier tells him that the women all went to different clinics and saw different doctors. TK notices the women all went to the same pharmacy. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. Darryl heads into the pharmacy he works at and steals a bunch of morphine. Now, I'm not a medical expert but I was under the impression that narcotics and opioids are heavily regulated. If Darryl's been taking these medications for his own personal use, I'm surprised he hasn't been caught by now. I don't care if he's a pharmacist or not. 

Back at Cloud Cuckooland, Trudie removes the duct tape from Carlos' mouth. She offers him hot cocoa but he declines. Trudie sees there are police officers canvassing the area and worries that Darryl will be upset when he returns home. Carlos asks if TK is with them but she tells him TK is long gone. Carlos begins screaming at the top of his lungs so Trudie turns the record player on to mask the noise that is surely going to alert the cops outside. Trudie rushes back into the room and puts a knife to Carlos' throat. Carlos promises he will stop screaming.

TK and Gabriel arrive at the pharmacy, and the pharmacist on duty tells them that the medications were all filled by the same person - Darryl Keyes. Gabriel asks if Darryl is there but the pharmacist tells him that he just left and that he was riding a bike which she found strange. Gabriel asks her to give him Darryl's address. 

We now see Darryl making his way back home on his bike while Carlos pleads with Trudie to let him go. Trudie gives us some backstory on how Darryl became the monster he is today. Apparently there was some sort of accident involving swimming pool chemicals and Darryl's hand got messed up. If I'm reading between the lines here, it sounds like Darryl was a total creeper from the very beginning and at the age of ten was already showing signs of being a serial killer due to his fascination with dissolving things in chemicals. The twisted part of the story is that after the accident, Darryl told the social worker that his mother was to blame just so he could go live with his father. Trudie tells us, and Carlos, that Darryl's father didn't want him but she did. She then says the line, "A mother's best friend is her son" which is the reverse of what Norman Bates says in the movie Psycho. Yikes!

Carlos tells Trudie that no matter how hard she tries, Darryl will never love her the way she loves him. In a borderline touching moment, Trudie asks if Carlos loves his mother. He tells her yes and she asks if TK loves his mother. Carlos tells her that no son loved his mother more than TK and that he lost his mother the previous year. Shout out to Gwyn! We miss you, girl! Trudie tells him that it will be sad not having her at the wedding but Carlos says she will be there. In perhaps the best line of the episode, Carlos says, "Sometimes I feel all the love she had for him, she's sending it through me. Otherwise, I don't know where all this love comes from". Cue me reaching for the tissue. Carlos, I just might forgive you after all this is over.

In a sudden change of heart, Trudie tells Carlos that she has to get him out of there. She cuts the zip-ties off of his wrist. When Carlos stands up, Darryl walks through the door and is angry. Carlos grabs a frying pan and hits him over the head with it. He and Darryl scuffle but because Carlos' legs are still bound, Darryl gains the upper hand. Trudie, who is back to being on Darryl's side, injects Carlos with more morphine which incapacitates him. Thankfully, at that very moment, Gabriel kicks the door in like the badass he is and while he keeps his gun trained on Darryl and Trudie, TK tends to his fiance. He tells Carlos to stay with him while he administers CPR. One of the backup officers arrives on the scene and hands TK some Narcan which revives Carlos.

Darryl and Trudie are arrested and poor Donna Burton's body is carried out of the house. While Carlos is loaded into an ambulance, TK calls his dad, again, and gets his voicemail. Owen Strand, I love you and no one defends you more than me, but you have been the worst dad ever in this episode. I get that you're off saving the world, or at least all of greater Austin, from a credible terrorist plot but family comes first! 

Speaking of Owen, our penultimate scene of the episode involves him and his new bestie, O'Brien, leaving the FBI headquarters. It seems like neither of their help is required anymore which hopefully means this is the end of this storyline. However, we learn that things are definitely not over because someone, presumably O'Brien's nephew, Andy, is building a bomb using the stolen ammonium nitrate. Dun, dun, dunnnnnn!!!

Whew, what a rollercoaster ride of an episode. This reaction is the longest I've ever written and that's due in part to this episode having so much in it. In hindsight, this episode should have been two separate episodes, each focusing on one of the two storylines. Now don't get me wrong, I like the whole Owen and O'Brien teaming up to save the day, but I felt their storyline detracted from the more important storyline which was Carlos' abduction. In fact, I'm not a television writer, but perhaps the terrorist storyline should have been saved for the end of the season and the beginning of this season could have been about Carlos and TK and the whole Iris situation. I get why the writers are choosing to focus on both stories at the same time. The show seems to want Owen as the main character of the series which I agree with since the whole premise of this show is Owen Strand coming to Austin to reboot the 126. However, there's the very vocal, very opinionated fandom who has been demanding more screen time for our beloved TK and Carlos. Well, the fandom got what they wanted but you know what they say about being careful what you wish for. 

A lot of folks are dissatisfied with the TK and Carlos storyline and I get it. The whole Carlos being married to a character we knew briefly in season one all while being engaged to TK seemingly came out of nowhere no matter how many times Tim Minera tries to tell us otherwise. I don't know why the writers of this show are so intent on subjecting our resident gay couple to trauma after trauma but perhaps this is there way of sticking it to a certain portion of the fandom who demands more screen time for these two characters even at the expense of other characters like Marjan and Paul not getting to shine. A part of me delights at the possibility that the writers and the creators of the show are trolling the fandom but I also worry that this could potentially sour the overall audience towards the show.

I hope going forward we take a step back from the Tarlos drama and the Owen saves the world plot so we can check in on Tommy and her new romance, Judd, Grace, and their family, and the other first responders at the 126. I also want to see Wyatt come back at some point because one thing this show has that the OG series does not is good representation when it comes to fathers and sons, i.e., Owen and TK and Carlos and Gabriel. I also want to get back to having two or three emergencies per episode. Someone pointed out on Reddit that no fires have been found thus far this season which is funny when you realize this is a show about firefighters. With all that said, it does look like we'll be focusing on Marjan in the next episode which looks promising. Until next time ...

[urobourosnull]

Global DEFCON 1

[Chapter Two]

RESIDENT EVIL

DEVASTATION

In the busy urban sprawl of a grand cityscape, skyscrapers stand and dance throughout the concrete jungle land. As vehicles dash to and fro in all directions, the morning sun casts its brilliant light throughout the skyline. One particular car is being driven by a man with long, straight, brown hair, wearing a dark blue buttoned shirt with a black elastic-denim coat, black slacks and black dress boots.

His phone rings. He picks it up without looking and brings it close to his steering wheel so he can view the caller ID: “Claire Redfield”, he answers the phone.

“Hey Claire,” the man says with pleasant surprise, “What’s up?”

“So Leon,” Claire coyly responds, “I hear you’re on babysitting duty?”

Leon chuckles at the remark, “Yeah, a team of babysitters for VIP Michael Enslin, even if they have me on standby.”

“Wait, you’re not on frontline detail?”

“No,” Leon says with a sigh, “They said they wanted to have enough backup just in case anything happens, but they don’t need everyone on deck. So for now, I’m just on the back burner.”

“Oh, but you’re still in the area?”

“Yeah, I’m headed there now. Why? Is something wrong?”

“Well, I do have some important information that I need to discuss with you. How would you like to meet up at the cafe around the corner?”

“How close is it to the administration center?”

“You’ll be close enough to keep an eye on your VIP, don’t worry, Leon,” Claire mocks before switching back to a more casual tone again, “Besides, we always meet up under some pretty hectic circumstances. It would be nice to catch up with you. Remember what you said? Next time we bump into each other, let’s hope it’s someplace a little more normal. Well, I’m reaching out now while things are still pretty normal. So let’s hang out!”

Leon laughs, “Alright, when did you want to meet up there?”

“Right now, I’m already waiting.”

“Wait, what?”

“See you soon!” Claire says cheerfully before hanging up. Leon glances at his phone and chuckles to himself, “What a gal.”

As Leon pulls up to the cafe, he sees the administration center within visual range, and shakes his head with a smirk, “It’s almost like she planned this,” and continues inside.

Walking in, Leon sees the cafe is full of random people, one of which is a young woman with red hair only slightly younger than him, wearing a red buttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled up, blue jeans, and motorcycle boots, all while she’s holding a binder of files. She looks up and notices Leon with a smile and asks, “How’s everything going?”

“Been better,” Leon sits down in front of her, “But at the same time, been worse. You already know, we can’t complain too much.”

“I get it. Surviving Raccoon City makes everything else a walk in the park!”

“Is that how *you* feel about it, Claire?”

“Yeah. I mean, for the most part…” Claire starts to trail off a little before slightly shaking her head, “But we’re not here for that.”

“Hmm?” Leon questions silently.

Claire opens her binder of files, “There’s been some activity and I want to see what you think about it.”

“Okay…?” Leon responds with his voice full of obvious confusion. This is one of the few times that he ever sees Claire outside of a life-or-death scenario, usually it’s after another apocalypse-type situation and never long enough to truly experience the “real” her.

“TerraSave has been conducting some of its own investigations into a few different matters,” Claire slowly begins while flipping through pages in her binder. After a while, she slips out what is clearly an aerial surveillance photograph of a larger man, taken at an angle, and shows it to Leon, “Does this guy look familiar to you at all?”

Leon examines the laminated image that Claire has slid over the table to his side. The man in the photo appears to be of Slavic descent of some sort. Nothing in particular stands out to him.

“Sorry,” Leon responds honestly, “Never seen him.”

Claire sighs in response but quickly spits out, “That’s okay, this is Igor Barkov. He’s supposed to be some big financier, but we don’t know much else. He was last seen a week ago having talks with known terrorist cells.”

“Sounds pretty deep, what connection lead you to him?”

Before Claire could answer, everyone hears two muffled pops that seemingly came from across the street. Everyone’s heads dash in different directions, wondering what the sound was and where it came from. Leon is focused on one particular window of the building across the street.

“Hold that thought,” Leon says before getting up to leave the cafe. Claire, still somewhat shocked and very confused, puts all of her files back in her binder and quietly mutters to herself, “What the hell is going on?”

Approaching the building, Leon noticed the entry door begins to spew out a group of what appear to be Russian soldiers wearing balaclavas and helmets with a dark grey pattern camo of uniform. They’re rushing out of the building and into a van that is parked as close to the building as possible. The scene causes Leon to mouth the words, “What the hell” to himself before ducking behind a car with his hand on his gun, keeping it holstered but ready for a fight. He peeks up again and takes a mental note of the license plate: 2O4-86E.

As the van speeds off, Leon moves over to stay out of its sight until he watches it turn away, but notices that it turned toward the administration center. Standing up and walking towards the building’s entrance, Leon speaks into a radio on his chest that is attached to his torso holster, “Condor One to Roost.”

“Go Condor One,” a friendly voice returns, “This is Roost.”

“Hunnigan, I’ve witnessed some suspicious activity. A van full of soldiers wearing dark grey just came piling out of a building. I’m going in to investigate, but they sped off and are headed towards the admin building, plate is Two-Oscar-Four-Eight-Six-Echo, how copy?”

“Full copy, I’ll notify patrols. Leon, please be careful.”

“Understood, Hunnigan, thanks. Try not to miss me. Leon out.”

Entering the doorway, Leon visually scans the area and even checks behind him back towards the street multiple times, trying to avoid getting any unwanted surprises, before pulling out his gun.

The gun itself is an all black handgun of compact size with a small engraving of a deer and the word “Blacktail” next to it on the front part of the slide, near the end of the barrel. Checking the chamber, Leon says to himself, “Let’s do this,” and goes further into the building.

Going through the hallways and checking the rooms, Leon keeps his handgun at the ready, confirming and trying to avoid potential sight lines. One room has its door already open, and when Leon begins to enter it, the smell of spent gunpowder invades his nostrils as he sees a group of bodies on the floor.

5 men in suits lay dead with one dead soldier in grey. As Leon enters the room, empty shell casings roll around from his dress boots. Leon can piece together what happened. The 5 men are all joint operatives from different agencies to protect VIP Michael Enslin.

“Hunnigan, come in,” Leon speaks into his radio, calmly defeated into sorrow, the mourning clear in his voice, “We’ve got casualties.”

“What happened?!”

“Looks like our boys were ambushed in this small room, the enemy lost one of their own in the fight, but our team bit the dust. Good men here. Lieutenant Townsend, Sergeant Kaufman, Staff Sergeant Mason, Commander Gillespie, Colonel Sullivan. These men had extensive careers in their respective branches…” Leon pauses before concern washes over him, “Actually, these are some pretty big names here. Hunnigan, what do they want with Mr. Enslin?”

“No idea, but I’ll try to look into it and I’ll let you know if I find anything. Keep me updated, Leon.”

“Will do.” As Leon examines the aftermath, he slowly looks up and notices that he can easily see the admin building from the window, and the van he’d seen earlier is barreling towards it still. Just below the window that he’s looking through, he sees a bomb attached to the wall. Panic overrides him as he dashes out of the room and back towards the entrance, grasping at his radio.

“HUNNIGAN, GET—“

An explosion rips apart the wall and sends clouds of debris all over the inside and outside of the building. Outside, Claire is shocked at the eruption and beckons for her friend. “Leon! Oh my God, Leon!” Running inside the partially destroyed building, she pulls out her handgun, a small CZ 83 chambered in .380 ACP, and readies it while calling out Leon’s name.

Following the destruction, Claire finds Leon, breathing and moving and thankfully alive and mostly uninjured, starting to get up from laying down into a sitting position, wiping some of the dust off of himself. “Leon! Are you okay?!”

Leon starts to cough a little bit before responding, “Guess I didn’t get the demo memo.”

“That was stupid,” Claire responds with a chuckle, “but I’m glad you’re alive. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah,” Leon grunts while getting up, speaking into his comms, and rolling up the sleeves of his jacket, “Hunnigan…”

“Leon!” Hunnigan excitedly shouts back, “What happened?!”

“Our guests left a bad review and blew up at me, but I’m fine. Listen, I need you to notify Birdhouse Alpha.”

“I’ve been trying since that explosion just now,” Hunnigan answers with a worried tone, “But I haven’t been able to connect to them. There’s no telling how long the connection’s been cut, I can’t even contact the CO!”

“The commanding officer’s been…?”

“I don’t know if anyone has been compromised or terminated, but since you’re still alive, I need you to go check it out while I try to contact reinforcements! Sorry to push all of this onto you, but you’re my eyes and ears right now!”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle it. I’m getting used to things going wrong.”

Claire springs up with determination, “I’ll help!”

Leon looks at her, their mutual escape from Raccoon City immediately blaring into his mind. He tends to give her credit for being the survivor because even though he survived the same incident with her, he has no idea what she went through during their time apart during that nightmare, and assumes she must have had it worse than him. It may have been their shared nightmare, but since she still counts as a civilian, the rookie cop part of Leon still wants to give her the praise for standing up to the plate when she shouldn’t have had to. He signed up for this, she didn’t. At least, that’s how Leon thought of it. She was just trying to find her brother, and even though she eventually did, he wasn’t in Raccoon City, which made Leon feel a bit sorry for her that she went to Raccoon City for her brother when he wasn’t even there, even if she did find out there and still eventually found him. The horrible atrocities that they witnessed, experienced, and escaped from were nothing short of hell itself.

Leon’s only response to Claire as she stood there steadfast in her decision, driven by her desire to help others, was a simple yet deeply meaningful, “I believe in you.”

With a smirk, she smacks his arm, “You’re not too bad yourself,” and they both head towards their vehicles to get to the admin center.

As they run, Claire asks, “So what exactly happened in there?”

“Clown car of soldiers in grey, killed some of our guys, now we have to stop them from killing Enslin.”

“Why do they want to kill him?”

“Don’t know yet, but I’m not sure I want to find out.”

With this, they slightly part ways so that Leon can get in his car while Claire gets on her motorcycle as they both speed off towards the admin center. While driving there, Leon acknowledges that he has no visual on the van and the concern in him grows even deeper. He pulls up to the admin center as Claire does, and both disembark and begin searching for VIP Enslin. As they search, Leon reaches for his mic, “Hunnigan, come in.”

Leon hears only static in response. Leon figures it out, “There must be something jamming the area…”

Looking around, Leon sees the VIP and his men up ahead and runs up the steps to speak with them. “Mr. Enslin,” Leon addresses the VIP as he walks up, but a nearby officer stops him Leon before he can say anything.

“What’s your business with Mr. Enslin?”

“It’s alright, Sebastian,” Mr. Enslin reassures the officer, “Mr. Leon Kennedy, this is Detective Sebastian Castellanos, both of you are officers so there’s no need for suspicion between you two.”

“Sir, there appears to be a major security problem going on.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Mr. Enslin responds, laying heavy on the sarcasm, “Our comms are down and you turn up looking like a hot mess, no wonder shit is fucked up.”

“Your comms aren’t down, sir,” Leon explains, “They’re being jammed. We need you to evacuate.”

Just as Leon says this, everyone hears a massive explosion down the street, near where Leon came from. Everyone’s heads turn towards the explosion. A small building begins to fall as a thick, slow, green mist fills the damaged area. Leon sees people trying to escape, and the ones that don’t make it are immediately slumped to the ground. His eyes stay focused on these bodies, praying that what he’s grown used to happening isn’t about to happen again. VIP Mike Enslin is being escorted inside the admin building by his security personnel, but none of them exist to Leon in this moment. As they scatter and hustle around him, fumbling to maintain themselves and keep their heads cool in this situation, Leon’s worst nightmares come true once again.

The first body begins to move on its own. First minor twitching, then it gathers itself in a deadly calm, and stands up like nothing had happened. The reanimated corpse looks over at the admin building, seeing the living flesh cowering in fear, and begins to shamble towards them. The thing’s body didn’t even look mangled or injured, the body itself seemingly died of asphyxiation as the skin has turned that deathly purple hue of a husk with no essence to fill its flesh any longer. This body is fresh, so fresh that it almost still looks like a living human. Mankind turned man-eater, while maintaining that visage.

Horrified as Leon was to see something like this again, he regains himself and snaps back into action, helping to escort VIP Mike Enslin inside. Whatever is happening, Mr. Enslin is still Leon’s top priority. He’s got a job to do, and his sense of duty will not allow him to falter, no matter the risks. This was the beginning of yet another nightmare.

Rushing up behind him, Claire grabs Leon’s back and says, “I’m here!” and as they get to the door being held open by Detective Castellanos, Leon confirms that Enslin is inside as well, lets Claire in past him, and takes one last look at the horrors outside, the army of the dead slowly approaching, before Sebastian slams the door with everyone inside.

[phantomrose96]

Buds After the Frost

This was supposed to be a short warm-up writing exercise yesterday and then it got... longer. Enjoy!!

...

The doors opened for Maddie Fenton with a pneumatic hiss. Pressurized nitrogen released, splitting open the vacuum seal on the door as its twin halves slid apart, slotting into the wall-mounted sleeves. The nitrogen misted out, cold and dry, air currents catching in swirls around Maddie Fenton’s lab coat. Her feet thocked against hollow metal, amplified by the coldness and the vastness of the containment room beyond.

She paused short of the specimen’s cell, mindful attention drawn to the panel of controls nested rightmost against the wall. The monitor read out stats, tracked metrics of the specimen’s heartrate and blood oxygenation and blood pressure. Dials beneath the screens offered her means of interaction, manipulating the cage’s environment without needing to tamper with it by hand. She ignored these, as she had been ignoring them the entire time, and paid mind only to the single switch which would seal shut the doors behind her.

She pressed it. Another pneumatic hiss followed, locking out the world behind her. Her breath curled, cold. She and the specimen were alone.

“No coffee this morning?” he asked.

Maddie sat down at the control panel, elbow leaning against the dashboard for support. She turned to the cage. “No. One of the interns broke the pot last night. New one should be delivered today.”

Phantom let out a huff of air. “You mean in this whole gigantic mega-hyper-futuristic government lab, there’s nothing that can stand in as a coffee pot?”

“I wouldn’t stay employed long if I tried using equipment to brew coffee.”

“Use one of the big ectoplasm beakers. Ectoplasm washes out with soap and water. Just suds it up and throw it in the coffee maker. I’m an expert about these things.”

“It’s more about protocol.”

Phantom waved her off. “’Protocol.’ Bureaucracy is standing between you and a delicious cup of ectoplasmic coffee, Dr. Fenton.”

Maddie looked forward now, taking him in. He’d hovered to the front of the cell, translucent reinforced glass separating him from the rest of the lab. Green eyes shined above a cheeky smile, a dusting of loose white hairs falling over his eyes, the rest of his bangs swept slightly to the side. His tailed flickered, his aura pulsed, his vital readings blipped out steady, normal, healthy.

“Phantom?”

“Yeah?”

Maddie paused.

“Why are you still here?”

The ghost boy let out a small guffaw. He motioned his arms around him, hands waving. “I dunno. Maybe the big ghost-proof box I’m in has something to do with it?”

“The shield is down, Phantom,” Maddie answered quietly. She set her eyes to Phantom, investigating. “…I put it down last night. It’s down now. You knew this.”

Phantom took just a moment too long to react, eyebrows arching up. “Oh, huh! Nope I didn’t notice. I mean it’s not like I’m constantly throwing myself at the barrier to electrocute myself so no I just didn’t try getting past it last night so I didn’t notice.”

“Phantom,” Maddie said again, voice measured, words stern. “You saw me crank down the dial that controls the shield.”

“Well I don’t know what all those buttons and dials do.”

“Yes you do. You’ve been observing me since day 1. You knew.”

Phantom kicked back in the air, floating a fraction back and higher. “Well maybe I thought it was a trap, I dunno. Or maybe I just like to get in your head, you know? What unpredictable thing will Phantom do next! Gotta write another 200 equations about ghost theory to figure that one out, Dr. Fenton.”

“Phantom.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you not want to leave?”

“Oh I wanna leave.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

“We’re having a conversation. That’d be rude.”

“Will you leave as soon as I exit the room?”

“Who knows?”

“Phantom.”

“Yeah?”

Maddie stood. She left her chair and the control panel behind. She walked up to the specimen cage instead. It was cubic, a skeleton of metal bar ribbings with a metal mesh that plastered the glass sides like a membrane. The top anchored to the ceiling, the bottom—raised by about a foot—anchored to a pedestal on the floor. Maddie stared through the mesh into Phantom’s eyes.

“Is there anyone who realizes you’re missing?” she asked.

Phantom chewed on the question. “Nah. Well um, trick question, actually. Probably not. Assuming I do this right, then no one has even realized I’m gone.”

“Do what ‘right’?”

“You know that thing about Clockwork I explained?”

“You said he’s the ghost that controls time and reality.”

“Yeah. SUPER powerful.”

“And you said you …were from one of those other realities.”

Phantom nodded. “Maybe I touched some things in Clockwork’s lair I wasn’t actually allowed to touch. Jury’s still out on whether I’m in trouble for that or not. I’ve been a little too ‘stuck in this reality’ to know if Clockwork is pissed. But yeah, I got um, bopped into your reality instead of mine. So technically my reality is lacking me right now, and yeah there’s people there who’d know I’m missing.”

Phantom flipped upside-down, as though laying on his back. He rested his palms beneath his head, elbows out, suspended in an invisible hammock, head tilted far back so that he still stared at Maddie. “Especially since it’s been, what, a month that I’ve been gone?”

“2 weeks.”

“What? No way. I’ve been here absolutely forever it has to have been at least a month.”

“This is day 14 of your observation, Phantom.”

Phantom blew a strand of hair out of his face. “Anyway. Two weeks is still long enough to have a search party out on my butt. But whether or not that’s happened is up to – it’s kind of a Schrodinger thing. Because here’s my strategy. Assuming Clockwork hasn’t banned me from reality-hopping forever, I can just get him to send me back to my own reality at the precise moment in time I vanished. And then bam, no one ever knows I was gone. And it makes no difference whether I do that today, or next week, or next month. So assuming you eventually let me go, then I’m all set there.”

“You say that almost like you don’t care when it happens.”

“I dunno, more like I’m just not losing sleep over it. It’s not like I have a say in the matter. You do. I don’t.”

“Is the time you spend here just meaningless, to you?”

“I wouldn’t say meaningless. I’m still aging goddammit.”

“You’re a ghost.”

“I’m complex.” Phantom flipped right-side-up again. “If I start growing facial hair, send me back. I’m gonna have some awkward questions to answer if I show up again with a ghost beard suddenly.”

“…And what if I never send you back?” Maddie asked, careful with her words. “How does your plan work if you stay here forever? If I destroy you first?”

“Um. …It doesn’t, I guess.” Phantom set a hand to his chin, thinking. “Yeah um, please don’t do that. I don’t wanna worry my whole family like that.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“What part?”

“That you have a family.”

“I mean. I think that came up in Interrogation Session #3. Consult your notes.”

“I just have a hard time believing you.”

“Because I’m a ghost?”

“Yes.”

“I’m a complex ghost.”

“I know. You keep saying that.”

“It’s true.”

Silence filtered in between them.

“…What is your family like, Phantom?”

Phantom stiffened a fraction, his eyes finding Maddie’s and shifting away. “Oh, you know, family.”

“Do they exist here too?”

“Huh?”

“You’re from another reality, at least you’re claiming you are.”

“I gotta be. The me from this reality died 6 months ago, didn’t he?”

“The you from most realities is dead, Phantom. You’re a ghost.”

“A complex ghost.”

“The you from this reality was destroyed 6 months ago.”

“Which you validated with your own sciencey equipment, right? You said so! So you know I’m not lying. Unless you think I recombobulated myself from being a protoplasmic smear on the sidewalk.” Phantom caught himself, registering the flinch in Maddie’s body. He deflated a bit, eyes averted. “S-sorry. Inconsiderate phrasing.”

“Why?” Maddie asked, tone flat, blunt.

Phantom’s eyes shifted back. “Um. Just. You know. That accident was. There were um, you know—”

“Human causalities.”

Phantom squirmed. “We don’t have to talk about that, you know? No one wants to talk about that. Okay as a ghost I guess ‘talking about how I died’ is sort of a bit more normal, but this is weird yeah, ‘talking about how an alternate-me died permanently’? That’s morbid. No one wants to talk about that.”

“Okay then. You can go back to answering my previous question.”

“Um. I forget.”

“Does your family exist in this reality?”

“Um, well who really knows, you know? I had like a grand total of 20 minutes of freedom in this reality before you captured me, so, don’t ask me like I’m any kind of expert about your reality. What’s it matter?”

“I want to know if there’s anyone in this reality who’s mourning you.”

Phantom’s face schismed with surprise. His front dropped, and the first look of genuine emotion sank into his glowing eyes. “Woah… That’s um, weirdly nice, of you, I guess. Why do you… want to know?”

Maddie said nothing.

“I. Um. I think the answer is no? So don’t um. Worry about that. If you were worried? Which is weird. I’m the enemy, aren’t I? Evil spooky ghost to be studied?”

“I’m not so sure what you are…” Maddie answered. “I heard you got destroyed trying to save them.”

“The um… the human casualties?”

“Yes.”

“I said we don’t have to talk about that.”

“Phantom.”

“What?”

“Do you know who they were?”

“The… casualties?”

“Yes.”

“Come on we’re on a different topic now.”

“Do you know who they were?”

“I don’t—how’m I supposed to know? I don’t know how I died here, you know? You think I’ve got some kind of like… parallel-universe death vision?”

“So you don’t know?”

“N-no.”

“I have a different question, then.”

“Okay, good, because I haven’t been liking these previous ones.”

“Are you staying just to keep me company?”

Phantom faltered. He looked left, then right, hand scratching at his chin. “I’m staying because I’m in a ghost-proof box.”

“It’s not ghost-proof anymore. The shields are down.”

“I feel like you’re circling around some accusation I’m not smart enough to follow. This feels like entrapment.”

“Then I’ll be more direct.”

“Oh no there is an accusation.”

“I think you do know how you were destroyed in this universe, Phantom.” Maddie took a step forward, and she let her left hand touch the glass, eyes focused on her fingers. “I think you know what happened at the Nasty Burger.”

“That’s—um—the human food… consumption… location… that the local human adolescents meet at, yes?”

Maddie looked up, and she locked Phantom with her stare. He squirmed, and he relented.

“I um…” he continued. “I—yeah—yeah, okay? I know about the Nasty Burger accident. It was supposed to happen to me too in my reality but I—Clockwork—stopped it from happening in my reality.” Phantom glanced left, right, as if staring beyond the confines of his cage. “When I first got knocked into this reality, I went to go find the Fenton portal so I could try to refind Clockwork and fix this and… Well it wasn’t there. And I tried to find some people I know and… I checked out the library in case the Fentons just lived somewhere else and. I um. I found the articles.” His eyes focused on hers again. “They all say you were the only survivor, yeah…?”

“I was sick, that day. It was just a cold. My husband Jack went without me.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It took my daughter and my son too.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“And it destroyed you.”

Phantom opened his mouth, but no words followed.

Maddie looked up.

“You knew this. You’ve known this ever since I captured you.” Maddie let her hand slide away from the glass. “Did you let me capture you?”

“Why would I let you capture me?”

“Because you feel sorry for me.”

Phantom’s eyes flickered about, unwilling to meet hers. “…Nah. Nah. I don’t—come on ‘sorry’? I’m a ghost you know? Bane of humanity! We’re enemies. You were just too skilled a hunter and you captured me.”

“And yet you won’t leave.”

Phantom lapsed silent.

“I um… I wasn’t happy to read about—to know the, the thing at the Nasty Burger happened here, okay? That’s something that I kinda didn’t want to believe existed in any reality anymore, but I guess… And if you were still alive. I was… maybe just kind of happy to see you? That you were okay. And still hunting. That was kind of, like a small relief.” Phantom glanced away, back again. “I wasn’t evil, you know. In my reality or this one. I care about what happened to the Fentons…”

“You let me capture you. …And you did it because you thought it would be a nice thing for you to do for me.”

“I Just—I thought maybe, um… I mean when you phrase it like that. I mean what else could cheer up renowned ghost hunter Maddie Fenton quite like a ghost subject to study? Me, especially? The ghost boy or public enemy #1 or whatever. I’m fun, aren’t I?”

Silently, Maddie pushed away from Phantom’s cage. She moved to the control panel, stiff movements and numb fingers. She entered the release code into the console, and unslung the key from her neck to twist into the override, and she threw down each successive lever in the row of four lining the top of the mechanisms.

The scrape of glass sliding away sounded behind her. All four walls of Phantom’s enclosure dropped away, metal mesh sliding away piece-meal. Phantom stared at her, blinking, floating in place.

“You’re free to go, Phantom.”

“I—uh—well hang on, I don’t think the Guys In White would be too happy about that. You can’t just let me—”

“Go, Phantom.”

“They could like, fire you.”

“I don’t care about this job.”

“I—come on, you still wanna study me, don’t you? Chat with me? If you feel bad maybe just get me a couch and some video games for my cage then I’ll be—”

“Phantom.”

“What?”

“Go home to your family.”

The half-hearted smile dropped from Phantom’s face.

“Come on. You can’t just evict me on such short notice. I’m not ready for Clockwork to kick my ass so soon.”

“Go home.”

“I’m not in any rush! I like talking to you. Don’t you—don’t you like talking to me too? In like a scientific way?”

Maddie lowered herself into the chair by the control panel. She leaned forward, arms pooled in her lap, eyes to the floor. “You have a family to get back to, Phantom.”

“It’s—there’s time travel shenanigans! Like I said they don’t even know I’m gone.”

“Every single day, Phantom,” Maddie looked up, eyes stern, “…I wish every single day that my own family would just come back home. I won’t do the same to you. I won’t do the same to your family.”

Phantom said nothing. A somber acceptance sunk into his eyes.

“They’re… alive, you know. In my dimension.”

Maddie dropped her head, and she blinked away the wetness in her eyes.

“I actually… in my dimension I’m kind of closer to the Fentons than I think the, the Phantom in this dimension was. It’s… complex.”

Maddie said nothing. Silence built between them.

“Jazz is um… Jazz is applying for colleges, y-you know. She got in early-acceptance to Yale but um, we all—they all—visited Columbia last month and I think that’s what she wants the most. I can see Jazz in New York City. I think she’d rock it.”

Maddie blinked again. Tears plicked into her lap.

“…Should I stop?”

“Jack… Tell me about Jack.”

“Oh. Yeah he um… big and goofy as ever. He’s got some kind of eight-armed-octogun he’s working on. I know because I was his target practice, involuntarily by the way. He keeps trying to merge “Fenton” and “octopus” together with mixed results. We—Mo-addie—you… are still trying to talk him out of ‘Fentoctopus’.”

Maddie’s ribcage shuddered, a repressed sob, a repressed laugh.

“And Danny?”

“Danny… um… Danny is...” Phantom’s shoulders fell a little bit. He looked away, and then back at Maddie. “He loves you. I know that.”

Maddie blinked, and blinked again, and her eyes wouldn’t clear.

“And are they happy?”

“They’re happy.”

“Am I happy…?”

“You’re…” Phantom’s tail bounced. “You’re happy, I think. I like to think so. I think you’re very happy. You have a great family.”

Maddie nodded.

“Now go.”

“But I still—”

Maddie reached forward, and she grabbed the ecto-gun propped against the control panel. She lifted it into her shoulder, and flicked the safety, and the charge built along the rising whine.

“Go.”

Phantom balked. He blinked. He kicked away from his wall-less cage. “Not forever. I’ll be back. You won’t be alone here forever.”

He was gone.

And Maddie was alone again.

…

Clockwork surveyed the boy in front of him whose head was bowed nearly to the floor, white bangs trailing along cobblestone, hands clasped, apologies repeated, begging case made.

Clockwork ran a hand along his beard, which unfurled, drew back, undid itself with the shifting of his form to a simple child.

“So let’s see. You have the audacity to break my rules andbeg me to meddle on your behalf in the time stream, all in the same breath? Apologies don’t usually come with additional requests for favors.”

“I know,” Danny’s head dipped lower. “You can punish me however you want for touching the restricted timelines but you have to help it, or let me help this one timeline. Please, please just send me back to the Nasty Burger incident so I can save it.”

“It’s already been saved.”

Danny faltered. He looked up.

“You died at the Nasty Burger incident that night,” Clockwork elaborated, form shifting older. “There is no you to ruin that future. That timeline is safe. It’s a very lucky timeline.”

Danny blinked. “N-no. No that’s not what I mean. Save it like you saved my timeline.”

“That did happen. You’re describing your own timeline.”

“I mean do it to THAT one.”

“You are misunderstanding timelines.”

Danny lapsed silent. Worry bled into his eyes, and Clockwork sighed.

“There is no undoing timelines, Danny. There is only forking them by meddling in the stream. All futures and pasts you witness exist, and do exist, and continue to exist,” Clockwork paused, “with the exception of realities I needed to cull, to prevent utter catastrophe.” His gaze fixed on Danny. “The futures that your evil self destroyed, I did have to cull. And culling a reality is not to be done lightly.”

Clockwork motioned with his staff. “There were a handful of surviving realities that I was able to save. That room you meddled in without my permission—they contain the realities off the main track where, for one reason or another, something else succeeded at destroying your future self. …Your own deaths, in fact. In every one of those realities, Danny, you are dead.”

“I don’t…” Danny shook his head. “So then just tell me how to save that one I was in, okay?”

“Oh, that’s easy.”

“How?”

“You don’t.”

Danny said nothing. Clockwork shifted young.

“You can let it live on in that room, or you could ask me to cull it, Danny. You could ask me to cull every reality in that room, so that the main branch, the one you’re from, is the only reality in existence. So you never have to worry about any existence where your family is unhappy. And it will be that way until you, or I, or someone else, meddles with the timestreams again, and more splits occur.”

Still, Danny said nothing. Clockwork continued.

“Sometimes, a mass culling of realities is healthy for the tree of time, like pruning a plant down to its stalk to survive an unforgiving winter, or a terrible disease. But I did that, just recently, to save all of time from the blight of your future self. It would feel cruel to snip off the first buds that have come after the frost.”

Danny lowered himself to the floor.

“Okay…”

“Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay. Just. I have a different question then.” He looked up, a young devastation wet in his eyes. “Can I still go back and visit that reality, sometimes?”

“No. I cannot give you permission to do that.”

“Please!”

Clockwork spun his staff. A portal swirled into being in the space between him and Danny. Washes of color formed patterns, shapes, objects, images. Like a mirror, it reflected Clockwork’s lair beyond its shimmering surface.

“This is a portal back into your own reality. It is set to the location and the time that you vanished. Go there, and leave through the Fenton portal, and nothing will be amiss.”

“No. No no I won’t. Clockwork you have to let me—”

“I am doing you a favor, Danny, getting you home after you caused more trouble. Do not make further demands of me.” Clockwork curled forward, old, sallow skin sagging, and he turned his back to Danny.

“You have to give me permission—”

“I am the only one who has permission to meddle in realities, Danny. This is an absolute.” Clockwork glanced over his shoulder. “And because this is an absolute, I have no reason to have a lock on the room housing those budding other realities.”

Danny blinked.

“I wonder if anyone might break my rules anyway. I wonder if anyone might be nosy, and enter that room anyway, and water the plants in that greenhouse without my permission.” Clockwork stared forward again.

“Clockwork…”

“Luckily I am the master of all time. I would be able to see this coming. And maybe plan for it. If ever such a person would come into my lair, and meddle in my timelines, and try to spread a bit of his own kindness to the realities he couldn’t quite save, I would be fully prepared to stop him.” Clockwork spoke into the green abyss beyond him. “Unless, maybe, I were to accidentally have my back turned.”

Silence trailed after Clockwork’s words. He kept his back to Danny, staring into the abyss of swirling green ether beyond.

“…Thank you,” Danny answered, quietly. “I’ll be back.”

“I imagine you will. Those realities may get lonely without you.”

When Clockwork glanced back over his shoulder, both Danny and the portal were gone.

[starlitangels]

Charity Ball

Milo can shift again! I was so frickin’ happy that after listening to his audio I immediately DM’ed @romirola to see if she had any good ideas for a happy Milo one-shot and this was one of them. Thanks Romi! You’re amazing! 1.8k words

—

“Unempowered police forces do this too, Milo. Stop whining,” I said, fixing the last little bit of my outfit in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of our closet door.

Milo came back into the bedroom from where he’d been doing his best to get his hair to cooperate in the bathroom. He hated his hair gel with the fieriest of passions and never used it unless he absolutely had to—some distant cousin’s wedding in Oregon that he’d dragged me to when we’d barely moved in together coming to mind—and he was looking mad about it. “I just hate these damn monkey suits, sweetheart,” he said, yanking on his silver-grey tie’s slipknot to tighten it properly far more aggressively than necessary.

“I know.” I crossed and started to smooth out the lines of his white shirt’s shoulders. “But, if it makes you feel any better, you look so damn fine.” I kissed his jaw just below his ear. I felt him shiver—just a little.

“Well. Thank you, sweetheart,” he said, sounding a little embarrassed. He started fidgeting with his sleeve cuffs. I chuckled as he swore under his breath. “This is what I get for letting Ash help me pick this shirt out.” He stuck a fist out toward me. “Help, please?”

I put my cupped palm under his hand, letting him drop his cufflinks into my waiting hand. I snorted. “No,” I said, “you’re not wearing these.”

“What? Why not?” He sounded offended.

I gave him a look as I crossed to the box where he kept his fancy jewelry. The watch I’d given him for our third anniversary was still in its nice case to keep it safe from everything else in the box. Earrings he didn’t wear anymore since he forgot to wear any for so long that his holes closed back up, tie bars he never used, and a small velvet pouch of all his cufflinks. I extracted that and dumped it out until I found the pair I was looking for. Silver and moonstone—another gift from me when we were going to that wedding up in Oregon. I put all the other cufflinks back and closed the box.

“These,” I said, approaching him. He held his hands out so I could do them up. “They look the best with your eyes.” Once both links were fastened, I reached up a brushed a curl out of his eyes, putting it back in line with the rest of the gelled hair. Milo refused to meet my eyes. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“You take such good care-a me,” he said softly.

I kissed him on the cheek again. “Well, I am dragging you to the Investigator’s Charity Ball so, y’know, it’s kinda my responsibility for the night to make sure we’re both dressed appropriately.”

Milo’s grey eyes swept me up and down. “Well, you definitely are,” he said. He swore under his breath again. “You look amazing.” He reached for the rest of his suit hanging off the closet’s other door. He slung the vest on first, buttoning it up and tucking his tie into it. The suit jacket followed. I was so glad he picked his grey suit for tonight. God, he looked incredible. He looked nice in his navy blue suit, but the grey was so much nicer on him.

“Tie bar?” I suggested.

He shrugged. “Nah,” he said. I raised an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes. “Fine. For you.”

I went back to the jewelry box and pulled out a simple silver tie bar and his nice watch. He put both on reluctantly, but I didn’t miss the way he didn’t even watch what he was doing, instead training his focus on me. So I showed off a little as I finished the last touches of my outfit. When I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye, he was biting his tongue between his teeth in the corner of his mouth. “Like what you see, Greer?” I teased.

He licked his lower lip and nodded. “Uh-huh.”

I chuckled. “Well, pulling off each other’s clothes will have to wait for later,” I said with a wink, bending to snatch up my shoes and leave the room.

Milo caught me and pinned me to the door frame, pressing a hungry kiss to my lips before trailing down my jaw and neck. He chuckled slightly as my muscles tensed up.

Then he was gone, moving deeper into our room. “Little promise for later, sweetheart,” he said.

I smirked. “Looking forward to it.”

—

“Okay, okay. I admit, this isn’t so bad,” Milo said.

“I think you’re just a show-off,” I replied playfully.

“Well, that is definitely true,” he admitted. “I like showing you off more than anythin’ else, sweetheart.”

“Good. Because the feeling is mutual.” I winked at him. He smirked lazily at me.

On the stage, the Chief Investigator of Dahlia’s Investigator team—my boss—tapped the back of a knife against her champagne glass. The crowd milling about all gathered closer to the stage, Milo and I hanging near the back, me on Milo’s arm when he offered it to me.

“First off,” Chief said, smiling, “congratulations on another fantastic year.” A small smattering of golf claps echoed around the crowd. “Most of you know me; but for those who don’t, my name is Chief Investigator Connie Montoya. I’d just like to thank everyone for coming tonight. This event is definitely something we on the Investigative team look forward to every year. The charity silent auction will begin in about thirty minutes. So, in the meantime, please enjoy the drinks and the refreshments. And, by popular request, the dance floor has been expanded this year.” She pointed to the large space taking up about a fourth of the room cordoned off by ropes. “Enjoy!”

She met my eyes, smiled wider, and headed off stage, taking her wife’s hand as she reached the edge of the stage so her wife could help her down the stairs. I mean, she was wearing borderline six-inch heels. I didn’t blame her for needing a hand.

Milo put a hand out for me. “Care to dance, sweetheart?” he asked.

I smiled and put my hand on top of his. He intertwined our fingers and led me to the dance floor by the hand.

Milo wrapped his arm across my entire back, pressing me close to him, his other hand holding mine tightly. He gave me that hungry, wolfish grin of his. Possessiveness wasn’t a uniquely shifter trait, but Milo had told me once it was more intense for them with their mates. Loyalty was deeply ingrained into them to help keep packs together but that loyalty went even a step beyond devotion for a wolf to their mate.

We started to dance.

I remembered when we were first dating and he’d refused to meet my eyes as he admitted that he liked dancing before asking if I’d like to go dancing with him on a date—like it was the 1940′s. I’d learned only a little dancing before I met him, but he was the one who taught me how. Usually we’d have “lessons” in our living room set to one of his many dance-themed Spotify playlists. He had a waltz playlist, a foxtrot, a tango, cha-cha, West Coast Swing, East Coast swing, and the list went on. And he taught me as best he could, but most of the time we ended up laughing, falling over onto the couch after Aggro got in the way and one of us ended up tripping and pulling the other down.

I was better at it now. Three years tended to do that.

The first year we were together, we’d barely been dating for a month when this ball came around. I’d wanted to take him, but he had a security gig so I went by myself. Last year, our second year together, I’d been caught up in a case and had to miss it. This was our first time at this ball together.

“Yo! Stealth!” I heard one of my Freelancer coworkers call to me. I turned with a brow raised expectantly.

“‘Sup?” I asked.

“Since when are you so fancy on your feet?” she teased, leaning against her husband’s hold. Fire Elemental, by the feel of him.

I nodded to Milo. “Since this one taught me.”

She beamed at Milo. “Good job. Never thought Two-Left-Feet over there could ever be taught to dance.”

Milo chuckled. “Wasn’t smooth sailin’,” he said.

My coworker laughed. “Maybe. But you got there.” She waved at us. Her husband spun her under his arm and they both danced off in another direction.

Milo chuckled. “Friend-a yours?” he asked.

“Coworker. Her desk is only a few over from mine. She’s friendly. Unobtrusive. But quick as a whip and sharp as a tack. I think I’ve revenge-pranked her the least. Dunno that I’d call her a friend though. Maybe a work friend.”

Milo nodded. “I getcha.”

I let him spin me under his arm before he wrapped me back up in his hold. He and I were both aware that the way his arm was around my back was improper for actually leading a dance, and I was tempted to give him lip about it—to banter and tease—but I decided not to. I liked the way he held me as close as I could possibly be to him.

“So, despite the monkey suit, are you glad you came with me tonight?” I asked.

He gave me a small grin full of his usual feisty attitude. “Sure. We can put it that way.”

“What?” I asked with a slow smile spreading up my face.

He leaned closer to me so his lips could brush my ear. “Don’t look now, sweetheart, but I’ve counted at least six-a your coworkers watching us with that little green monster-a envy rearin’ it’s head.” He pulled back a little so he was back to where he’d been.

I put my tongue between my teeth as my grin widened—

And I cloaked.

Milo snickered and rolled his eyes, spinning me slowly under his arm by feel.

I took in the people milled about and on the dance floor.

He was right.

I decloaked as his arm circled my waist again. “Well, what can I say? I’m taken, and I have the best boyfriend in Dahlia.”

Milo apparently decided to damn decorum and gave me a kiss. Long and slow, but nowhere near long enough. When he pulled back, pupils dilated and lips parted, he gave me the lovey-dovey expression he usually reserved for when we were home alone. “Damn I love you, sweetheart,” he whispered quietly. “Always too sweet to me.”

I smiled and kissed his cheek. “I love you too, Milo.”

Needless to say, our fancy outfits barely lasted a second after the front door to our apartment shut behind us. Milo chuckled something about being glad that I’d taught him to phase through his clothes so well before I dragged him into our bedroom.

[cookies-over-yonder]

did it hurt?

Taylor and Link get stuck in an elevator, and Link does not like small spaces.

Swiftli Week Day 5: Queerplatonic & Ride or Die

ao3

“I’m a little more used to these things now,” Taylor says, stepping inside the elevator with Link. “Makes my legs hurt less from stairs.”

“Yeah, makes sense.”

Another wave of thunder comes crashing from outside as the elevator doors shut, and Link flinches.

“You okay man?” Taylor asks, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been jumpy all day.”

“I just don’t see why we needed to go to D.A.D.D.I.E.S. today of all days. What if we get struck by lightning?”

“We’re indoors,” Taylor says, clicking the button for their destination. “And besides, the longer we put off packing things up, the less likely we are to do it. That’s what my mom always says.”

A particularly loud crash of thunder makes them both flinch this time, and Taylor feels the elevator start to shake. It’s probably the wind?

They both scream when it comes to a sudden bumpy halt, knocking them off their feet as the lights go dark. Taylor’s fall is broken by Link’s arms wrapped around his back and a hand on the back of his head at the last second. His head still hurts a little from the impact.

“Are you okay!?” Link asks, not moving at all, and Taylor finds it hard to respond from the weight on top of him.

His struggle seems to give Link the hint, and he sits up, his hand still under Taylor’s head.

“I’m okay, I—ah—” he sits up, probably too fast considering the dizziness and nausea that hits him like a wave. “Is your hand okay? Lemme see.”

“I—I can’t see anything.”

Taylor carefully lifts Link’s hand off the floor. He can see it fairly fine. He can see everything okay. It’s just all in black and white.

“Can you bend your wrist?”

Link does.

“Each of your fingers?”

He bends his thumb, then his index finger, then he stops.

“Can you bend your middle finger?”

“No.”

Shit.

“Okay, what about the other ones?”

The others seem fine. Okay. Good. That’s good.

“Okay, okay, okay, I—I think I have some tape in my go-bag…” Taylor reaches for the straps of his bag and finds nothing. “Shit, I took it off, I don’t have anything on me, I never take it off! Why the fuck did I take it off?”

Taylor feels Link’s hand start shaking, and he hears the rapid breaths before getting a look at his face, wide-eyed and paralyzed with fear.

“Link, hey, it’s okay, a broken finger isn’t that bad. I’ve been there. You—you’re right-handed, right? ‘Cause then you’re like, fine, and at least it’s not your foot—”

“Are we stuck in here?” Link asks.

“Uh…” Taylor glances over at the elevator buttons. He’s not close enough to reach them from over here on the floor. “Keep your finger straight,” he says, gently letting go of Link’s hand and getting up to investigate.

The lights on the buttons are completely shut off. Taylor presses the open button. Nothing happens. Just to be sure, he presses every single button, including accelerate, which, in hindsight, would have probably made things worse had it worked. The emergency button isn’t doing anything either. Well, maybe it’s alerting someone, but he’d have no way of knowing.

He pulls a switchblade from his pocket and tries to pry the doors open, but that results in the blade snapping and getting stuck between the doors.

“Yep. We’re stuck.”

Taylor hears Link start hyperventilating at that, and he rushes back to kneel in front of him, with a hand on his shoulder and the other holding his uninjured one.

“Link, breathe. We’re gonna be fine.”

“We never should have trusted these stupid things!”

“This is the first time they’ve failed us,” Taylor says, pulling out his phone and texting the group chat for help. No one responds at first, but maybe after a minute. If the message ever goes through.

“Yeah and everyone only dies a first time, Taylor!”

“We’re not gonna die,” Taylor says softly, moving his hand from Link’s shoulder to his cheek. “Just breathe. You trust me right?”

Link nods, taking a deep breath.

“Then you need to trust that we are not about to die. Because I say so.”

“Okay,” he whispers, breathing deeply. “Okay. I just. I don’t like small spaces.”

“It’s okay. Just, uh, close your eyes. Imagine we’re just hanging out… in your room.”

Link shuts his eyes and nods.

“And… um… we’re sitting on your hardwood floor,” he continues, studying Link’s face. It’s contorted and scrunched up in anxiety, but even that can’t take away from its beauty. Even without any colour, Taylor can still see his freckles spotting his nose, his cheeks, his chin. His eyelashes are long. Taylor’s always loved Link’s eyelashes.

“We… um… just finished playing video games, so now we’re taking a break by sitting on the floor, and, um…”

This situation is dire. And yet the only word that comes to Taylor’s mind is kissing .

“Have you ever kissed anyone?”

“What?” Link asks.

“I—I dunno, just, just trying to think of things to say… uh…”

“I have. No. I haven’t.”

“What?”

“I mean… do you remember that life simulation we were forced into?”

“Oh, right. You got married, didn’t you?”

“Mhm. I don’t know if those kisses were, uh, real. I try not to think about it.”

“Ah, sorry, okay, new topic.”

Maybe Taylor could talk about himself. But what is there to share that Link doesn’t already know?

“You know how I’m like... the most charming, flirty, romanceable guy alive?”

“Sure.”

“Truthfully, romance isn’t really my thing.”

“Not your thing?”

“Yeah. I… Like I’m not into it. I mean I still find people hot and stuff but like…”

Okay. Coming out was not the plan, but it’s not like it’ll hurt. Link has gay dads, after all.

“Are you aromantic?” Link asks, opening his eyes. His face is more relaxed.

Taylor swallows down his nerves so loudly he’s sure Link can hear it. “Yeah. Heh, it’s, uh, it’s a little known fact about Taylor Swift.”

Little known would be an understatement.

“That’s cool.”

“Well, I am cool. Uh… you feeling better?” Taylor asks, wincing at the way his voice shakes.

“Yeah, thanks,” Link says, smiling at him, making him feel more flushed than he already was. “Are you okay?”

Taylor takes his hand off Link’s cheek and rubs his face.

“No, yeah, I’m good, I’m good. Just, uh, I kinda went into autopilot there trying to think of things to say to distract you. Wasn’t really planning on. Um. Well it’s not that I wouldn’t tell you that, I just—”

Taylor takes his hand out from Link’s grasp to flap both of them, shaking out the nerves.

“That’s okay. Would you feel better if I told you a secret too?” Link asks, cupping Taylor’s face in his hands, before wincing and leaving only one on his cheek.

“Keep your finger straight!”

“I forgot!”

“Just be careful. And tell me your secret.”

“I’m asexual.”

“That’s cool, Taylor says, putting both hands on Link’s cheeks. “You’re cool.”

“You’re cool too.”

“I’ve never kissed anyone. I mean. Like. Like okay. I’m not into romance, per se, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be into any kind of relationship. Like I… I still get… like… well… crushes. Like, um, I had a crush on Hero… and now—”

Taylor bites his lip.

“So you think you’d enjoy kissing?” Link asks.

“I don’t know? I mean—I’ve kissed my body pillows. But not. Like. Lips. It’d have to be somebody I like. And trust. But I don’t know.”

“I’d kiss you. We’re married after all. It only seems fitting.”

Taylor’s cheeks burn .

“I’d like that. But, uh, maybe we should wait until you can actually see me?”

“Sure.”

Taylor doesn’t know when they ended up with their foreheads pressed together, but they’re pressed together now.

“I texted for help. I don’t think I told you.”

“Okay.”

“I feel like I have to say it now, before you kiss me, I do have a huge crush on you,” Taylor blurts out, scrunching up his face to avoid seeing Link’s reaction.

“Oh, wow,” Link says.

“Is that a good ‘oh wow’ or a bad ‘oh wow’?”

“It’s a surprised one? I dunno, I never really expected it.”

“ Really? Literally everyone in our friend group but you has been teasing me relentlessly for ages. I think even your dads know!”

“Well, the more I know, I guess.”

Taylor opens his eyes and bites down the question of whether its reciprocated.

Link is smiling.

“I think I feel the same way. I mean—I know you’re aro, so probably not the exact same way, but like, I like you. Romantically. I think? It’s a little confusing—”

“That’s okay. I think life is meant to be a little confusing.”

“Yeah.”

“Um… I don’t know if a dark elevator is the best place to do this… but do you, uh, do you wanna go out with me? Wow. Suddenly I’ve lost all my rizz.”

Link leans forward, and plants a kiss on Taylor’s forehead. “Yeah, I do. You said you weren’t into dating, right? So this would be…”

“Do you know what a QPR is?”

“Queerplatonic relationship?” Link asks

“Yeah,” Taylor says, replaying the tingly feeling of Link’s lips on his skin.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. That. Do you wanna… do that with me?” Taylor asks.

“I would like that.”

“Okay.”

Taylor draws his knees to his chest, wraps his arms around them, and buries his head in them, feeling nothing but his intense heartbeat.

“I’m keeping my finger straight,” Link says, just before wrapping both his arms around Taylor and resting his chin on the top of his head.

“Did it hurt?” Taylor asks, with a smirk Link can’t see.

“Not in the moment, but it does now.”

“No, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”

“What?”

“‘Cause you’re an angel!”

Taylor bursts out laughing, and Link chuckles a little, squeezing him tighter.

Right then, there's a whirring sound, and the lights flick back on, and the elevator is back in motion.

“We’re saved,” Link says.

“I don’t wanna move,” Taylor says. With all of the fear and excitement over, a wave of exhaustion hits him immediately.

“Get on my back.”

Taylor does, as he’s no stranger to piggyback rides with Link, and being in the dark for so long has definitely contributed to the sleepiness as well.

He shuts his eyes, burying his head in the crook of Link’s neck as he hears the elevator doors open and the voices of concerned friends and family.

“We’re okay,” Link says.

“He broke his finger,” Taylor mumbles, not letting Link get away with that.

And with that, the rest of the chatter fades away as Taylor drifts off to sleep on his partner’s shoulder.

[inkandpen22]

First Meeting

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader 

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1.6k

Summary: Y/N begins her 1st day as a member of the BAU and Spencer is immediately taken by her

A/N: I’m always adding new one shots for Reid so if you’d like to be tagged lmk!

Masterlist

Spencer

Garcia comes up beside me on my way to the meeting room, all excited and bouncy. "Did you hear we're getting a newbie today?" 

I stop in my tracks with a huff. "Wait, what? No! No one told me!" JJ walks by on her way to the briefing and I ask her. "Why doesn't anyone tell me anything?" 

"Hotch is bringing her up now," JJ grins over her shoulder. 

"Her?" I repeat, following her into the room. 

"Yeah, he's going to introduce her during the UnSub briefing," Morgan adds as he takes his usual set. 

"Did everyone know about this before me?" I sigh, plopping down in my chair. 

"Apparently," Morgan pokes fun. 

"Morning everyone," Hotch greets as he marches into the room. 

"Morning," everyone else greets as I set my stuff down. 

"Good-" My words disappear as I lift my attention away from my files toward the door and that's when I see her. 

"This is Agent Y/N Y/L/N," Hotch introduces. "She is of the most recent Quantico graduating class and will be joining our team." 

"Nice to meet you, Y/N," JJ offers Y/N her hand. 

The girl shakes her hand with a warm smile. "You too! Thank you guys for letting me sit in," she announces to the group. 

I swallow hard. She's so young, she's like me. 

"How old are you anyway?" Morgan questions, leaning back in his chair. 

"Twenty-two," she answers. I knew it. "I graduated undergrad early." 

"Aw like Spence," Prentiss gushes. 

I don't even react to Prentiss petting my hair. Usually, I would swat her hand away. All I can do is stare at Y/N. I've lost all function like a robot missing a piece. 

"Spencer?" JJ says my name with a hint of worry. It sounds like background noise, so faint. 

Morgan chuckles. "I think Reid's head just exploded." 

"Earth to Spencer," Prentiss waves her hand in front of my face. 

I snap out of my daze and swat her hand away. "Stop it," I mumble. 

A blush forms on my cheeks, I can feel it. I clear my throat nervously and try to act normal as I open up my file. Y/N takes the empty chair across the table from me. She offers me a smile. I feel this weird feeling in my stomach like I've had too much coffee and am all jittery. 

JJ redirects everyone's attention to the screen. "Okay guys, let's begin. We've been receiving a series of calls from several police stations in Atlanta. There's been a series of livestock killings ranging from pigs to more commonly lambs. Each stabbed and hearts removed. Then, symbols painting on her foreheads and stomachs." 

"Go back please," Y/N requests, surprising everyone. 

JJ's brows scrunch together. "Do you see something, Y/N?" 

"The locals think it's a cult?" She asks. 

JJ looks over her papers and nods. "Yes actually." 

"It's not," Y/N states with the utmost certainty. 

My brows scrunch together as I begin to analyze the image myself. I wasn't paying attention before. I hate to admit it, but I was distracted. She's right, this isn't the work of a cult. 

"How can you tell?" Hotch questions with narrowed eyes. 

"The pentagram is wrong," I answer. My eyes meet Y/N's and she smiles. 

"We're more likely dealing with teens or college students, outcasts, trying to scare the community," she adds. "Is that a college nearby?" 

JJ skims her research and pulls out a sheet. "Yes, two." 

"Does one of a greater population of local students?" I ask. 

"Um..." JJ reads. "Yes." 

"I think we should start there," Y/N concludes. 

Hotch nods, rising from his chair. "Okay, wheels up in an hour everyone. Prepare," he instructs before heading to the door. "Good work, Y/N." 

"Thank you, Sir," she grins, evidently proud of herself. 

"Now there's two of him," Morgan chuckles as he gathers his things. 

Y/N laughs. "What?" 

"He's referring to me," I assure her. "The way you noticed the unfinished pentagram and narrowed down the profile, usually, I do that." 

"Oh, sorry!" She's quick to apologize. 

"No, no!" I wave my hands in a panic. "It's nice having someone else around who notices details like that. Makes me feel less annoying and a know-it-all." 

______________________________________

Y/N

Hotchner, Reid, and I stand on the other side of the one-way mirror as our next interviewee gets settled in by the police. He's a student at the local university and fits the M.O. A complete outsider, impressionable, a history of emotional disorders and animal abuse, it's a perfect match. 

"Sir, do you think Spencer and I could go in?" I request. 

Hotchner raises a brow. "Do you think you're ready?" 

"Yes, and just in case that's why I ask to have Spencer with me." 

"Spencer, what do you think?" The leader questions, watching as the cops release Brian from his handcuffs and depart the room. 

Spencer glances past Hotchner over to me. He nods. "I think she's ready, Sir." 

I suppress a smile and redirect my attention to our potential UnSub. 

"Very well, go ahead," Hotchner approves. 

"Thank you, Sir," I say as I head toward the door. 

Spencer holds the door for me and we step out into the hall. 

Before we enter the interview room, I had my file over to Spencer. 

"Here, could you hold this for a second?" 

He takes the stack nervously. "What... What are you doing?" 

"I have an idea." I remove my scrunchie from my hair and toss it around a bit. Spencer watches as I slip my scrunchie onto my wrist and begin to unbotton the top to buttons of my blouse. I readjust my boobs a little and pull down my blouse. I take the waist of my skirt and pull it up a little. "How do I look?" I ask the boy when I'm done. 

"I... uh... I..." He stammers. 

"Perfect!" I smile, taking back my things. 

I enter the room first, Spencer following close behind. "Hi Brian, I'm Agent Y/L/N and this is Agent Dr. Reid," I introduce as we take our seats across the table. 

"You two look like you could go to my school," Brian laughs. "How old are you guys anyway?" 

 I smile and ignore his question and stick to the topic. "We're just going to ask you a few questions." 

Brian smirks. "Well, can I ask you something first?" 

"Of course," I assure him. 

"Can I have your number?" He asks boldly. 

"I um..." I'm at a loss for words. 

"I don't think that's very appropriate." Spencer defends with a stern tone. 

"What? Are you her boyfriend or something?" Brian mocks. 

"Uh no, but this isn't a personal conversation this is an investigation, so let's stick to only necessary questions," 

Brian complies and I continue my interview. He gets off track here and there, but Spencer steps in. I'm thankful that Spencer is quiet for the most part, only when to redirect Brian back to the purpose of our interview. I feel calmer with Spencer next to me. For some reason, his presence makes me feel safe even though we may have a serial animal abuser and cult member across the table from us. When I conclude our interview, Spencer and I rise from our chairs. I tell Brian that authorities will be in soon to take more of his information. 

"So how's about a date?" He asks again for a third time within the last thirty minutes. 

I ignore him as Spencer opens the door for me. 

"What? I'm not your type?" The kid chuckles. 

I stop and spin on my heels to face Brian. I press my palms against the table and lean closer to the boy, startling him. "Frankly no, you're not. I'm into older guys and... well..." I eye him up and down and giggle. "You're nothing but a kid." 

He swallows hard, shifting in his chair uncomfortably. I smirk and step outside into the hall. Spencer joins me and shuts the door behind us. He wears a bewildered expression. I begin to tie my hair up again and button up my shirt. 

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that," he voices as we head toward the door to the watch room.  

I shrug. "Eh it's okay, he's just a kid. Plus, I'm used to it." 

When we enter, Morgan and Hotchner are still observing Brian's behavior. Morgan steps closer to Hotchner, making room for Spencer and me. I catch a glimpse of Brian through the mirror and his head is in his hands. 

"Good work," Hotchner compliments us. 

"Interesting approaching," Morgan nods. "Seems to be working." 

"Thank you," I grin, bringing my arms crossed over my chest. "I figured it was worth a shot. 

A comfortable silence remains in the room as the four of us watch Brian slowly crumble. 

Spencer leans closer to me and I extend my neck out to him. "Is it true, what you said about being into older guys?" He questions quietly between us. 

I turn my head to look at him and his face is full of curiosity. "How old are you?" I ask. 

His brows scrunch together. "Twenty-seven." 

I smile, turning my attention back to Brian as he continues to fidget. "Yes, it's true." I back up to step outside and fetch a coffee. I suspect this will be a long night. 

Spencer

Right as Y/N steps out, Morgan sighs. "Aw Reid, you're in trouble man," he laughs. 

Hotch chuckles from beside him. 

I frown. "What do you mean?" 

"Seriously?" Morgan raises a brow as he turns his body to face me. "She just told you she's into you." 

"No, she didn't, she just asked me how old I am and told me-" I pause, reviewing our interaction just seconds prior and I begin to piece it all together. My eyes grow wide. "Holy crap, she's into me!" 

"You better jump on that, Big Guy!" Morgan pats me on the shoulder. 

Hotch wears a sly grin, pretending to be focused on Brian, but it's evident he's amused by us. 

__________________________________

Masterlist

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[hmslusitania]

Paint it Black

@evanbucxley @arrenemris you guys wanted petty, jealous Eddie stuck in an elevator with Taylor during the blackout, right?

Eddie Diaz has been involved in his share of awkward dinners.

This one takes the cake though. It starts with him showing up at Buck’s loft by himself, and Buck opening the door with that stupid puppy-dog confused tilt to his head that makes Eddie want to do something drastic.

“Where’s Ana?” he asks.

“We broke up,” Eddie says. “Figured it would be weird to invite her to dinner after that.”

“Oh, I didn’t know,” Buck says, which yeah, Eddie knows because Eddie hadn’t told him yet. “I’m sorry, man.”

Which makes…one of them.

The night gets worse when Taylor shows up with her latest story of her investigation into – Eddie misses the details, but he’s discovered that Taylor’s voice somehow is at the exact right pitch that he can’t quite hear it most of the time. Weird how that works.

Buck, bless his fucking heart, feels none of the tension in the loft. Or if he does, he doesn’t react to it. He stays chipper and upbeat and positive and doesn’t comment when Eddie and Taylor trip over each other to help him with making dinner or pouring drinks or to sit beside him on the couch while the food cooks.

But, like, the spot on the couch beside Buck is Eddie’s spot, and if it’s not Eddie’s it’s Christopher’s.

And Eddie…loses the fight.

Taylor’s tiny, and for just half a second, he entertains the utterly absurd idea of just picking her up and moving her, but it flits out of his head almost as soon as it arrives. It’s quickly followed by an unfortunate realisation that it must be easy as anything for Buck to just pick her up and move her when – which is then immediately erased by the second-hand memory he acquired from Captain Mehta that Buck had been able to just pick Eddie up and toss him into the engine like he was a sack of potatoes – which –

He’s saved when dinner is ready, but he feels Taylor’s eyes on him the whole way through the meal.

Annoyingly, they end up leaving at the same time. Buck and Eddie have a shift in the morning, and Taylor has a story to cut before some deadline or other. Eddie would rather not walk out with her, would rather not share the elevator with her – he briefly considers legging it for the stairs but they’re at the other end of Buck’s floor and the elevator is right there and it would be absolutely blatant what he was doing – but if the alternative is knowing she’s staying the night at Buck’s, he’ll deal with the elevator.

They’re both quiet while the doors slide open, the soft whisper of the brushed stainless-steel brushing against the dust guards the only sound besides the simmering mutual animosity between them. They step into the elevator, which smells vaguely of Pinesol, and Taylor presses the button for the ground floor with a shiny lacquered red nail.

The doors close again and the shimmering, irritable silence fills the space. No elevator music in Buck’s building, which is probably for the best.

“So,” Taylor says as the world’s slowest elevator descends. “Is it personal or are you just jealous?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Eddie says. The elevator has faux wood panelling, not mirrors, so he can’t tell if she’s looking at him or if she’s staring straight ahead like he is.

“You either hate me on a personal level, because I’m me or something,” she says. “Or you hate me because you’re in love with Buck.”

Eddie gets as far as a spluttered, indignant, “I am not in love with—”

And then the elevator lurches. Stops. The lights flicker and then die. The emergency lights do not kick on.

“Well that’s comforting,” Taylor says, dry.

Eddie pulls out his phone. Usually, it’s still connected to Buck’s wifi by the elevator, and the connection’s gone. So it isn’t just the elevator.

“There’s a button in here that calls the fire department, right?” Taylor asks, pulling out her own phone and shining it at the elevator panel. She presses the button that should connect them directly to the department, and nothing happens.

“Depending on how wide the power outage is, it might have knocked out dispatch,” Eddie says.

“Great,” Taylor says. “You’re a firefighter, you can get the doors open, right?”

“With a Halligan and a fully functional shoulder?” Eddie asks. “Sure.”

She huffs. “Do you think it’s just this building or wider?”

“How would I know?” Eddie asks.

“So helpful, thank you.”

“What do you want me to do, Taylor? Use my magical powers of divination to figure out if we’re in a building-wide, block-wide, city-wide, county-wide blackout?” Eddie snaps.

He can’t see her face in the shitty half-light of their respective phone screens, but he hears her roll her eyes.

“It’s because you’re in love with him, right?” she asks.

“For fuck’s sake, Taylor, I’m not in love with—”

“Because he’s in love with you,” she interrupts as though he hasn’t spoken. Eddie’s heart stops. “It’s weird, I’ve never really had to vie for someone’s affections before. I can’t say I’m a fan, but, see, he thinks you aren’t an option.”

“He told you this?” Eddie asks and hopes to God his voice sounds normal because it does not feel like it.

Taylor snorts. “He didn’t have to. Do you guys have any idea what you’re like when you’re around each other? It’s obvious to anyone who even meets you in passing, and I know both of you and have a journalism degree. It’s not difficult math.”

“Then why are you dating him?” Eddie asks, swallowing back the lump that’s just jumped into his throat that feels suspiciously like his heart.

“Because I like him,” Taylor says. “And because I like a challenge.”

Before Eddie can say anything rude about Buck being worth more than a challenge to someone, she sighs.

“I’d say you’re going to have to fight me for him, but it’s not going to be much of a competition,” she says.

“You really think my chances are that bad?” Eddie asks and he hates how sad he sounds, even to his own ears.

Taylor doesn’t get a chance to answer before Eddie’s phone lights up with a picture of Buck and Chris together and Buck’s name in bright letters. In the sudden illumination, he sees the annoyed, resigned expression on her face.

“That answer your question?” she replies, and Eddie answers the phone.

“Hey, did you make it out or are you stuck in the elevator?” Buck asks.

“We’re stuck in the elevator,” Eddie says. “No idea what floor. Maybe three?”

“Cool, don’t go anywhere,” Buck replies and hangs up before Eddie can ask where, exactly, they might go.

An awkward silence hangs in the elevator in the wake of the phone call.

Until, finally, Taylor says, “For what it’s worth, if I had to lose to someone, at least you’re as pretty as I am.”

Eddie is still searching for some kind of response to that – coming up absolutely blank – when the elevator doors slide open. Buck, illuminated by a headlamp, waves at them and pockets his keys.

“You have an elevator key?” Taylor asks while Buck pulls her out.

“Fire marshals and captains get ’em,” Buck says. “They’re standard across production lines.”

“Fire marshals have to give them back,” Eddie points out.

“Eh, when I was a probie, we got an elevator rescue and Bobby told me to go open the doors, and so I stood there trying to pry them open for like five minutes before he walked up to the elevator panel and unlocked them with his key,” Buck says. “Chim and Hen laughed at me for about a month every time we got near an elevator. So when I did my turn as fire marshal, I may have made a copy.”

“Of course you did,” Eddie says. He rolls his eyes and is grateful for the darkness so Buck can’t see exactly how fond he must look.

Taylor catches him, though, and for a tense second, Eddie thinks she’s going to say something about it. But Taylor Kelly is a lot of things, but “quitter” isn’t one of them. It might not be a fair fight, and the outcome might be rigged in Eddie’s favour, but he understands then that she’s going to make him fight for it. Fight for Buck.

No worthier fight, really.

“We should check in, see if they want us on shift early,” Buck says, already pulling his phone out to text or call Bobby.

“And I should go investigate,” Taylor says. “I’m sure my station is missing me.”

“Okay,” Buck says. “Do you want my headlamp for the stairs?”

“I’ve got it, but, thank you,” Taylor says. She stretches on her toes to kiss him goodbye – much more thoroughly than she had when they left Buck’s apartment. She arches an eyebrow at Eddie once she’s let go of Buck and Eddie narrows his eyes right back. “See you boys later.”

She flips on the flashlight on her phone and waltzes off to the stairs.

“We should tell all my neighbours to stay inside,” Buck says.

“Sounds like a plan,” Eddie says, shooting a text to his abuela and Chris to ask them to do the same. He doesn’t know yet if the blackout’s reached their neighbourhood, but it’s a better policy.

“So what did you and Taylor talk about while you were in the elevator together?” Buck asks in between knocking on his neighbours’ doors to announce LAFD please remain inside your homes.

“We, uh, came to an understanding,” Eddie says.

“Oh! Good,” Buck says. He pauses. “What about?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eddie recommends. He nudges Buck with his shoulder and gets a grin in response. “Let’s check in with Bobby and see if they need us or if they recommend we just stay inside and stay safe, too.”

“No one I’d rather weather a lockdown with,” Buck replies, as if the second she stepped into the stairwell, Taylor also disappeared from his head. “Well, except maybe Christopher.”

Eddie laughs, and thinks in Taylor’s direction, may the best person win.