#maybe I’ll turn on altitude on the radio

[lenacopperleaf]

I miss the altitude team

[scuttle-buttle]

WC: 1973

Rated: E

Tags: technically unprotected smut, fluff, tiny bit of german

✈

“Have you checked the gauges?”

“Yes, Niki,” you huff at his question through your microphone. This was at least the third time he’d asked you to go over everything.

“What about fuel?”

You point to the little meter that showed the tank levels. “Still full.” Your husband turns to face you in the cockpit of the small plane. The look he gives you is one of false annoyance. You know he’s just doing this to be as safe as possible, to minimize risk. “Sorry, sorry,” you offer him a guilty grin. Your husband’s brow cocks before he turns back to the dashboard panel.

His little private jet only held capacity for maybe 8 people total, but today it was just you and your husband. He always said he would teach you how to fly but you never figured that you would be brave enough to follow through with learning. Now here you sit, engine purring under you, a pair of thick headphones over your ears. For the first time Niki was going to let you handle your flight - all of it. Of course, he still had the ability to use the controls on his side of the small cabin, but he made it clear that he would only do so in case of a serious emergency.

“Everything has been checked over and ready for flight,” you confirm.

He tilts his head to offer you a smile. “Gut. When you are ready, Liebling.”

Taking a deep breath, you open up the radio communication line with the air traffic control tower. You recite the technical jargon that Niki had taught you. “This is Lauda 1 requesting clearance for taxi and take off on runway B, north side, over.”

Static comes over the line for a second. “Lauda 1 you are cleared to taxi and take off from runway B, north side, over.”

You release the brakes before pushing the throttle the faintest amount. With one hand on the yoke and the other on the lever you slowly guide the plane towards the runway. It had taken a good six months of Niki being annoyed at you calling it a ‘steering wheel’ before you finally called it by its proper term.

You lined the nose of the plane up with the lines on the runway tarmac. Once you are satisfied with your positioning you pause to let the turbines rev and build up power. With a swallow you lean towards Niki. “You won’t let me fuck this up and kill us both, right?”

“Of course not. But you don’t need to worry about that, you will be fine, Liebe. I know it.” He’s relaxed next to you, as though he’s at home sitting on the couch reading one of his racing magazines.

“If you say so. I love my brother but I’ll be damned if James gets custody of the girls,” you snark with a laugh, all while releasing the brake and pushing the throttle again. Niki’s own snort can be heard over your radio headset.

The plane accelerates under your guidance. You maintain a firm but steady grip on the controls; finally you push the thrust lever all the way. The small aircraft wobbles with friction as it speeds down the track. Suddenly, the front lifts, giving a weightless calm as the nose begins to ascend into the air.

Once you have gotten far enough off the ground you flip the switch to raise the landing gear. Niki has been silent letting you work the last five minutes or so. Over the crackle of your headsets he instructs you “that was very good. Now get us to cruising altitude.”

“Yes, sir,” you acknowledge with a mock salute.

This is by no means the first time you have been in a plane, let alone flying a plane, with your husband. But it is the first time that it is you truly flying. As you travel you admire the view in front of you. It felt like you were seeing the clouds and the sunshine for the first time. The blue nearly overwhelmed you with its vibrancy. You couldn’t help but bite your lip to hold back the way your cheeks threatened to split with how hard you were beaming. Every so often you remember to check back on the gauges and meters to ensure that everything is working properly.

You don’t notice how your husband watches you from the seat beside yours. He admires your confidence at the new skill, completing the tasks with ease. He admires how bright your eyes are, lit by happiness and the light of the sky outside the windows. He admires the fact that even after close to fifteen years of marriage you still humor him and his passions.

When you finally break away from the view to look over at Niki he’s already got his eyes on you. His bottom lip is caught in his teeth. “What?” He raises his brows in question at you. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Can I not look at my meine schöne Frau?” he teases you. Even after so many years you still feel the heat rise in your cheeks when he calls you beautiful. “You look good flying my plane. You should do it more often.” Both of your hands remain on the yoke; his hand comes to rest on your thigh, giving you a little squeeze. He leaves it there the rest of the flight.

After maybe an hour or two you have circled the jet back towards the airport. Calling in, you get clearance to land on the same runway you had departed from. Carefully you lower the plane’s altitude to prepare for landing. Flipping the switch, you can just hear the grind of the wheels as they lower.

“The trick here is-”

“You want to line the stripes on the runway next to the nose visually, otherwise it’ll be crooked and I’ll go off the tarmac,” you finish for him.

He chuckles. “See, I don’t even know why I’m here. You don’t need me.”

“Of course I need you, I always need you, Niki.”

He lets you focus as you pull back on the throttle and slow your speed, further lowering to the ground. You line up just as he taught you with the painted runway up ahead. Gently you touch down, the plane jolts as it makes contact. You brake the jet to an acceptable speed to taxi. Adrenaline courses through you. I just flew a plane! you cheer to yourself.

Once the vehicle is parked within the hangar you shut off the engine. Quickly you leave the cockpit to stretch your legs in the spacious passenger cabin. Turning to your husband, your jaw is dropped. “Is this what it feels like? Every time you drove the car? Christ, Niki, I feel like I could do anything! The absolute rush!” Niki has come up behind you, so you face him before bringing his lips to meet your own.

The kiss is full of passion and energy. It deepens as you stand there in the middle of the cabin. You push him away and down into a couch-like seat. He grunts in surprise when you forcibly yank his pants from his hips. When they are to his knees you give up in favor of pulling off your own. Niki wastes no time in tugging you back to him, his mismatched lips attaching themselves to the column of your throat. You, in turn, drag your heat along his hardening shaft. When he is ready you push his cock inside your throbbing core with a groan.

Breathily, you ask “why have we never done this before now?”

His mouth moves away from your jaw to meet your gaze. “Fucked on a plane? I didn’t know you wanted to,” he huffs in amusement.

You start to push and pull your hips at a dizzying pace above him. With each pump the ridge of his cock hits you perfectly. Niki tosses his head back in pleasure, a long moan tumbling out as your walls squeeze him. His hands help to guide your hips as you ride him. “They don’t call it joining the Mile High Club for nothing, love.”

“Not sure-” he grunts at a particularly hard snap of your pelvis “-this counts.”

You shove your fingers between his curls, a bit shorter and a few streaks of silver lining near his temples, and pull his head to rest against yours. “Are you complaining?” you breathe out along his lips. Never once does your pace falter. Instead of answering he gives you a bruising kiss.

It isn’t long before his thumb finds your center, rubbing harsh patterns against your aching clit. He knows exactly how to toss you into the abyss; exactly when you are near shattering. Within seconds you are shouting out his name, clenching around his still-pistoning cock. His own cries of bliss come shortly after.

Resting atop him, Niki rubs his fingers along your clothed back. You hum into his throat where your head lays. “You did so well today, Liebling. I’m very proud of you. Pretty soon you’ll be a better pilot than me.”

You smile into him. “Bullshit,” you laugh. “Me compared to the great Niki Lauda? Impossible.” You pinch the softness of his side.

He gives a laugh of his own, his chest rising with the action. “You never know, could surprise us all.”

You roll your head onto his shoulder to be able to look up at him better. “Mmm, but with you I’ve always known.”

Niki drops a sweet kiss to you. His expression is delicate as he peers down at where you sit atop him. He scrunches his nose as he tells you “I think I knew first. I know I did.”

You study his face for a moment. His tone is confident, like there’s no way he could possibly be wrong about when you first got together so many years ago. You know that the moment for you was pretty early, before you officially even went on your first date. Curiosity wins out. “Oh really?” You sit up on his lap. “And when was that, since you’re so sure?”

“I asked if you would rather go with Hunt than come see me at Ferrari. You nearly jumped out of your skin with how hard you cringed at the idea of him.”

You’re shocked by his confession. “Alright but he’s my brother,” you groan and laugh at the same time, “and…” you think back to that day, “wasn’t that maybe five minutes after we’d met?”

“Yes, but I did not know that at the time. I thought, ‘hmm, an attractive woman that doesn’t want to sleep with that arschloch but instead visit me at the track? She’s someone special’. And I wasn’t wrong.” He brushes a thumb on the skin of your cheek.

“You know, you always tell me that you aren’t good at these things. Romance and the like.” You look up at him from under your lashes.

“And?”

“That was such a lie, Niki. You’re always so sweet to me.”

“Only you, Liebe.”

The two of you right yourselves to leave the airport for the day. The sky is clear as you walk to his car parked outside the hangar. Reaching out, you find your husband’s hand and hold it tight. “So, when can we do this again?”

He turns to face you from where he stands next to you. “That eager for more already?”

“It’s addicting, Lauda,” you shoot back playfully. So many times since you met he had described the drive or flying as addicting. To be faster, to be better, to go harder.

Niki stops suddenly, lips pursing. “Just to be clear, are you talking about flying or the sex?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” you wink.

Tag list: @ay0nha @apparrio @livvyshmiv @fictionlandslanddreams @vinylrosess @typical-bistander @ntlmundy @mymagicsuitcase @anteroom-of-death @somethingthatsaysbubbles @lieutenantn @multiversemarielle @trashbin2 @whatawildone @metalbreakfast @laura-naruto-fan1998 @greeneyedblondie44 @godidontevenknowwhat @marchingicenotes7 @mysticalexpertdaze

@loliissmut @fandom-princess-forevermore

[one-boring-person]

Hiya! I had a Top Gun request! Could you maybe right something where the reader barely makes it back from a dangerous mission, and immediately she’s comforted by Ice, Mac, Goose, kind of all the guys when she gets back? Thank you so much!

Thank you for requesting, and I hope you like it!💛💛💛❤

(I've given the reader the call sign Strike, but if you want me to change it, I'm more than happy to do so😊💛)

That Was One Close Call.

Top Gun characters x reader

(Maverick, Goose, Iceman, Slider)

Warnings: violence, in-flight combat

Masterlist

"Can anyone actually see these bogeys yet?" Slider questions through the mics, voice sounding bored, though there is a distinct undertone of confusion running through it.

One by one, the rest of us, Maverick, Goose, Iceman, Arrow (my RIO) and I, deny having seen any other jets in the area, all of us flying in formation as we head to the designated area, eyeing the clear expanse of sky suspiciously as we go, making sure to pick up on any movement at all. Currently, after a good twenty minutes of flying, we've had no sightings, picking nothing up on the radars, our RIOs not spitting anything amiss in the skies around us, our actions now cautious rather than confident. Nerves race through my veins, a feeling I haven't had in months, my fingers tightening minutely around the joystick in my grasp, the jet adjusting in the air accordingly as I accidentally steer it into a different path, sweat coating my brow thanks to the sweltering confines of the cockpit, my breaths short and fast in my mouthpiece.

Just as I go to talk again, a sharp beep interrupts me, my radar having finally picked up on something, a small green dot appearing on the screen, moving rapidly towards us.

"You guys seeing this?" Maverick inquires, having clearly seen the same thing I have.

"Yeah, we got a mig on our six, moving very quickly. They're nearly o-" I go to reply only to cut off abruptly when the controls in front of me start going off, signifying that I'm under missile lock, and in great danger, the jet having closed in on us much faster than we thought it would.

"Get us out of here, Strike! They're right behind us!" Arrow speaks up, voice shrill with fear as the hulking shapes of the enemy jets drop from the sky behind us: eight much faster, more manouverable aircrafts with a higher firepower than ours, putting us at a severe disadvantage.

"I'm trying!" I bite back, annoyed that he didn't spot the bogeys on our tail sooner, having now put us in jeopardy. Gritting my teeth against the pressure forcing us into our seats, I sharply pull our jet around into a tight banking motion, inadvertently putting it into a dizzying barrel roll as I go, aiming to get out of range of their missiles, only to start in surprise and shock when gunfire suddenly pelts the side of plane. Instantly, the left engine starts smoking, the controls going crazy before me, Arrow panickedly contacting with the others, radioing for help from the carrier. Adrenaline starts to kick in, suppressing the terror and panic flooding my mind, prompting me to switch off the affected engine, knowing it will slow us down, but will also prevent us from blowing up too soon, swiftly dragging the hindered aircraft into a tight ascent, praying that I'll make it past them before they can react to me, though I know it's futile.

Yet more gunfire tears into the metal of the exterior of the jet, Arrow's only reaction now being to yell for help, helmet banging against the glass as he looks up to check the damage.

"They hit the canopy! We won't last much longer at this rate!" From my place ahead of him, I can tell he's shifting around very quickly, trying his best to gauge where the bogeys are, though he is struggling considerably, what with the migs flying at a mug faster speed, diving in and out of view, "Maverick, Iceman, where are you?!"

"They're keeping us away from you! We can't get any closer without being shot!" Goose calls back, clearly frustrated.

"Same here. Until we can get past, you're on your own." Iceman agrees grimly, the pilot sounding angry at this turn of events.

"I don't know how long we'll last like this!" I manage out as I drop the nose of the jet into a sudden dive, falling past a few of the attacking bogeys as I go, only to suddenly realise that the right engine has also been hit, the flames petering out. At this revelation, panic explodes within me, my hands instantly pulling at the joystick, trying to flick on the emergency engines to stop us from plummeting to our deaths.

Our speed continues to increase, the jet dropping faster and faster as the sea grows ever closer, Arrow screaming at me to pull up, the aircraft unwilling to shift into a more level track as the momentum carries us down. Unable to think of anything better, I slam on the air brakes, jerking the joystick around to the left, yelping as I'm thrown against the side of my seat. Responding to my actions, the aircraft rolls ungracefully into an untidy barrel roll, the world spinning before our eyes as we finally level out again, the right engine finally giving out completely as we continue to glide along the now ridiculously close ocean. Nausea rises up my throat, but it is overwhelmed by the brief sense of relief, my mood instantly dampened again as the emergency lights continue to blare loudly, notifying me of the imminent danger I'm in. The sound of Slider's voice over the mics cuts through suddenly, though I barely register what is being said due to my concentration being entirely in trying not to lose more altitude.

"We got one down, wait, no, two down!" The RIO informs us, grateful to be the bearer of good news.

Shaken, I don't manage a reply, my focus now completely on the fact that there is a bogey swiftly catching up to us, missiles ready to be released.

"We got our two down, too." Maverick reports, Goose assenting this seconds later.

"We need help!" Arrow finally speaks up, having noticed that I am apparently incapable of saying anything.

"We're on our way!" The others respond, only too happy to help.

Another, more shrill alarm starts ringing in my ears, the tone dreadfully familiar: we're running out of fuel.

"Guys, we're in serious trouble here, we've got to get back soon!" Arrow informs the others, having noticed the same thing as me, checking the gauge with apprehension.

My pulse pounds in my ears, creating a white noise I can barely hear over, dark spots starting to dance at the edge of my vision as I realise the gravity of the situation, tremors going up and down my body as it struggles to remain upright, fingers locked tightly around the joystick.

"...we got another two down, the rest are going home. We need to get back now!" A voice somewhere says, but I don't quite register it, only just managing to keep the jet above the sea line now.

It's only when Arrow places a hand on my shoulder that I snap out of my reverie, instinctually pulling the jet up again, using an uplifting air current to lift us a little higher, back into the safe zone. Wordlessly, I guide the aircraft back to the carrier, only just grazing the runway as I land it, the wires thankfully catching us as we threaten to hurtle over the edge again. I taxi the jet into a stationary position, hands still shaking as I try to unclasp the canopy, fingers fumbling with the security measures, the broken window sliding back as I finally manage it, my body heaving itself out of the cockpit and onto the runway. Once on solid ground (ish) I make it all of three steps, before I collapse to my knees, Arrow instantly at my side.

"Strike? Are you ok? (Y/n)?" The RIO interrogates me, crouching beside me, arm around my shoulders.

"What happened?! " Maverick's concerned voice is loud in my ears as he, Goose, Ice and Slider all rush over, the rest of them having noticed my residence on the floor. Immediately, the four of them are on the floor around me, helmets discarded on the concrete behind them as they start fussing over me. I feel my helmet being taken off, my body being pulled into a larger, more muscular one, the smell of peppermint and sweat clearly belonging to Iceman, a scent which had always made me feel safe, his arms cradling me against his chest as he strokes my back, trying to get a response out of me. When he pulls away, he looks me in the eye, at which point I finally lose it, tears flooding from the corners of my eyes, sobs wracking my body as I bury my face into my hands, barely noticing as Maverick moves closer, whispering sweet nothings as he rubs my back soothingly. Both Goose and Slider sit there a little awkwardly at first, before they swiftly move forwards to help, the former pushing my hair from my face as the latter takes my hand in his, neither of them saying anything, though they have ready smiles for me when I look up at them. When I catch sight of them, a small smile of my own pushes at my lips, the corners quirking up a little, the expression slowly growing as Goose grins at me in relief.

"There she is!" He comments, patting my knee appreciatively, eyes glittering happily.

"I'm gonna have to start calling you The Invincible One at this rate. That was one close call!" Slider jokes, trying to cheer me up with his usual brash humour.

"Suits you." Goose adds, nodding at me.

"No it doesn't." I manage to say, my voice hoarse and rough from my crying, still smiling at them.

"Are you joking? Of course it does!" Slider protests, grin broadening as I laugh. Maverick and Iceman exchange a glance over the top of my head, the former moving to stand up. Looking down at us, he offers me his hand with a smile of his own, easily pulling me up (even if it is with a bit of Iceman's help), steadying me against his chest.

"Come on, you'll feel better after a shower." He says to me, vending over to pick up our helmets from the floor, the others quickly moving to join us as we walk towards the changing rooms. As we walk, Slider wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his taller body a little, the sense of safety that accompanies this making me feel better about myself. By now, Arrow has already moved to the changing rooms, preferring to face difficulties alone, rather than with us, the RIO clearly trusting the others to do a good job of comforting me, which, of course, they have.

[brywrites]

Flight Risk VII

Summary: An answer to the age old CM question, “who’s flying the plane?” And the story of a pilot and a profiler. Part V: In which there are some distances that must be maintained and others that are simply begging to be crossed.

(Series Masterlist) ( Previous |  Next )

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Something is off. She can tell by the way Spencer sits alone, looking so focused on a book that it’s clear he’s not actually paying attention to it. He’s trying to give the impression he’s busy. He doesn’t want to be bothered. There is a tension he carries, and she notices that JJ carries it too. They wait on opposite ends of the hangar. When it’s time to board, she peeks out from the cockpit and notices they’re sitting on opposite ends of the plane. JJ is curled up in a blanket, staring blankly out the window. Spencer stares down at the book he’s clearly not reading.

Y/N wishes she could lighten the burden the same way a plane suddenly seems weightless at the moment of liftoff. This large thing speeding down a runway is propelled into the air and lift and thrust make physics feel like magic. There’s a strong bout of turbulence over the Great Plains, and she and Arthur have to focus on keeping Geff as steady as possible. In a smaller jet like this, an air pocket can feel so much rougher than it would on a commercial liner. One they navigate through it, it’s smooth sailing. The sun is setting behind them as they travel through time zones back to the east coast. The sky around them turns from orange to pink to violet. The stars begin to appear, blinking their salutations.

As they get closer to the airfield, she calls out over the radio. “This is niner-two-two Foxtrot Bravo, checking in, requesting clearance to land at Quantico base.”

“Foxtrot Bravo, enter the holding pattern at Quantico base, while runway is cleared maintain seven thousand feet,” replies a controller.

“Foxtrot Bravo, roger, hold at Quantico. Maintain seven thousand feet,” she echoes back. Together she and Arthur adjust the instruments, setting the proper altitude and speed, and reset the Chronometer. There’s a few planes in the queue ahead of them, and they enter the holding pattern, circling slowly around the sky. So close to home.

She asks, “Do you think something’s wrong?”

“At the base?” Arthur asks. He begins to initiate their first left turn. “Holding patterns are quite standard.”

“No, I mean with the team,” she says. “I don’t know something just seems… off. It’s unusual.”

“Y/L/N. It’s not our job.” They’re not profilers. Their concerns are with the navigation instruments and smooth landings and weather conditions. Not the behavior of people around them. “I need you present when we’re flying. Not worrying about whatever horrors they’ve seen on a case.”

She nods. “Sorry, sir.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I know you care. And I know you’ve found friends with them. But I’ve told you before – they don’t let people in. And it’s best if we try not to get involved.”

The controller cuts in before she can reply. “Foxtrot Bravo, cleared to land, runway Romeo seven.”

“Cleared to land, runway Romeo seven, Foxtrot Bravo,” she says. She can be present. She can be here, in this seat, doing what she loves. And that can be enough, can’t it? She can ignore the text from Penelope Garcia inviting her to join her and the female agents for a drink this weekend. She can stop finding reasons to spend more time with Spencer than she needs to. She can be objective.

Arthur addresses the agents they’re supposed to stay away from. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We’ve just been cleared to land at Quantico base. Please make sure your seat belts are securely fastened and all personal items are stowed away.” His voice reaching to another part of the plane, another world.

On final approach, they guide Geff back down to the ground, a beautifully smooth landing.

“Welcome back to Quantico, Virginia,” Arthur says into the speaker. “Local time is 7:15 PM and the temperature is thirty-nine degrees Fahrenheit. Please wait until we have parked at the gate to move about the cabin. And as always, please use caution when opening the overhead bins, as items may have shifted during the flight.”

She and Arthur sit in the cockpit, the sound of agents shuffling out down the stairs muffled behind them. “You know,” he says, “Malik wants to have a dinner party soon. Maybe next weekend you and Martin could come over. He could bring Theresa and the baby. It might be nice, to spend some time altogether.” Their little misfit crew of pilots.

She’s not sure if it’s his way of apologizing for earlier, or perhaps a way to remind her of her own team and duties, but she says, “I’d like that. Thank you.”

They collect their own go-bags and descend the stairs. When the door has been closed once more and they turn the corner to leave, she’s startled by the familiar figure waiting by the hangar lockers. He’s busying himself with staring at the walls around him, but when he hears them, he lifts his head and looks right at her. As if asking permission.

Y/N glances at Arthur, who just sighs and shakes his head. “Go on then,” he says. “I think it’s too late when it comes to this one.”

With his blessing, she walks over to Spencer. “Hey,” she says. “Is everything okay?” Though if it were, he wouldn’t be standing here.

“Um… not – not really. I’m sorry, I know it’s late. But would you mind giving me a ride home? I’ll order us takeout to make up for it. I uh, ­– I was hoping that maybe we could talk. If that’s okay?” He adjusts the strap of his messenger bag. “I just need someone to talk to right now, and I really want it to be you.”

How can she say no to that? “I’ll grab my car from the lot. Should I meet you outside of the Bureau building?”

“Yeah. That’d be great. There’s something I have to finish first.”

Soon enough she’s parked under the awning of the Academy entrance, waiting for him. She starts the engine up when she spots him coming out of the double doors, pulling his coat a little tighter against the chill of the winter air. His eyes trail curiously over her car before he opens the door to get in. It occurs to her that he’s never seen her car before.

“What?” she asks. “Is this not what you were expecting?”

“I guess after your conversation with Garcia I was expecting your taste to be… more flashy?”

Y/N laughs. Her blue Prius is far from flashy. “Well, as much as I’d love to drive a Plymouth Fury or a vintage Ferrari, I thought I should get something that’s a bit more kind to the environment if I’m burning jet fuel all day, and a Prius is a decent hybrid. Not to mention, it’s got a great safety rating. Do you know how much more dangerous it is to fly than it is to drive?”

“On average, it’s about nineteen times more dangerous. The odds of dying as a result of a car accident in the United States are roughly 1 in 114, but the odds of dying in an aviation accident is closer to 1 in 9,821. You’re far more likely to die from choking on food than in a plane crash.”

“Of course you know that.” She grins at him, letting him know that she’s not making fun of him. She’s impressed by him. She always is. “I don’t know why I bother asking at this point.” The smile he offers in return is only half-hearted. The drive into the District is quiet. Given the tension she felt earlier, she decides not to push him for conversation. Yeeqin is away visiting her sister for the weekend so she offers to take them back to her apartment. He calls to order takeout to be delivered from the Indian place around the corner. They arrive at her place only moments before the food does, fortuitous timing.

It feels strangely intimate to invite him in. She’s been to his apartment twice for their LOST marathon, but this is the first time he’s seeing her space. She wonders what it looks like through his eyes, what a profiler can discern about her life from the books on the coffee table and the pictures on the walls. They sit at the tiny kitchen table she usually shares only with Yeeqin and split the samosas down the middle.

“So what’s going on?” she asks, taking a sip of mango lassi.

Spencer purses his lips and pushes the tikka masala around on his plate before answering. Whatever has happened is still bothering him. “This case was hard,” he says. “There was a cult. They were separating kids from their families and it just became something awful. Seeing someone taking advantage of all these people who put their trust in him, it just… I try to distance myself from things when I’m in the field, you know? I try to be objective and treat it like a puzzle, but it’s not. And sometimes it’s harder to keep that distance.”

“Yeah. I know.” She doesn’t have to push down her emotions to solve a killer, but she does know the difficulties of keeping one’s distance. Of trying not to feel something.

“The case was hard enough, but then I had a… a fight, I guess with a team member. Not like we were arguing more just, like I made them upset I guess. And I didn’t mean to. But I think in trying to be helpful, in trying to be objective, I hurt them. I think that I know things or that I understand people because of this job and then when I don’t… I feel like I’ve failed.”

“I’m sure you haven’t,” she says.

“They were struggling with something. And I thought breaking it down to a science would make it easier. Maybe because that helps me. But it just made things worse and then I didn’t know how else to comfort them.”

“What happened, exactly?” she asks.

Spencer hesitates. “Uh, I can’t – I can’t really say. It’s not mine to share.”

“Oh. Of course.” But it stings slightly. You can’t get close to them. Arthur’s words of warning echo in her head. They don’t let people in. After all this time, she’d begun to think that maybe it was different. Maybe they would trust her – maybe he would trust her. But perhaps the BAU is still an impenetrable world, one she’ll never truly be welcome in. Even now. Even with him. He still won’t let her in.

He looks down. “I hate knowing that the way I am made someone I care about feel worse. I don’t have a lot of friends outside my team. And sometimes I wonder if maybe that’s because I’m not a very good one.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” she says, trying to push her own frustrations aside.

“It is. The only people I’m close to who aren’t colleagues are my mom, a former colleague, and… well, I guess my girlfriend. Before she died.”

The words instantly steal her breath. She had no idea. “Spencer, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

He shrugs. “It’s okay, it was two years ago, and I don’t usually talk about it. But it’s just so easy with you. I feel like I can tell you anything.”

The sting subsides. The way he looks at her so softly like a salve for the bitterness. He’s trying. He is letting her in. He is sharing things with her he doesn’t usually share. And small bit of knowledge lifts her hopes once more.

“Well I’m glad about that. And thank you, for telling me. Although I guess what I was trying to say was that I don’t think it’s true that you’re not a good friend. I mean, I haven’t even known you a whole year and I think you’re one of the best people I know. You’re thoughtful. You’re smart. You have a tendency to be passive aggressive sometimes,” she teases, and he nods in bashful acknowledgement. “But you’re a good friend. And I’m really, really happy that you’re my friend.”

“Me too,” he says. “I really like having you in my life.”

They stand at the sink together, washing the few dishes they’ve used, and she tries not to think about the way his arm rests against hers, his fingers touching hers when she hands him a plate to dry.

“I want to be a good friend to you,” Spencer tells her. “Which means I should probably ask how you’re doing now that I’ve talked about myself so much.”

“I’m good,” she answers. “I guess I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to belong somewhere. My parents haven’t spoken to me since I took this job.  I think they had higher expectations for me and I don’t think any of us really knows how to start to repair this rift between us. So it’s been strangely lonely. But I have Yeeqin, and our neighbors. I have Arthur, and Martin. And I think I’m finally starting to feel like I have a place with this job. Like I belong here.”

“Of course you do, Y/N. I mean we all think you’re great. Garcia always asks me about you. Ever since you came along, things have been different. Flying feels different. You’ve become part of the team. Not that Captain Dobson wasn’t,” he adds quickly. “But I get the sense he likes to keep a distance from things, while you…” He pauses, looking for the right words. When they don’t seem to come he just smiles. “You’re you. And you fit right it in.”

“Thank you, Spencer.”

“I’m sorry, though. About your family. You have a gift for flying. And for lifting people’s spirits. I don’t understand how who you are wouldn’t make them proud.”

Flying is her gift. Something she has always intrinsically understood. The world makes so much more sense to her from the sky. But it’s nice to know that someone outside of her world of aviators sees it as something worthwhile. It’s not just jet-setting and traveling and steering. It requires communication, a knowledge of physics and the earth and the weather. An ability to think fast and act faster.

Spencer sees her. He understands her. And he knows exactly what to say to make her feel at home.

“See?” she says, gently elbowing him. “You are a good friend.”

She decides that there has been enough trauma bonding for the night, and scoops them both a bowl of ice cream. They sit on her couch and she flips through the channels before settling on one playing one of her favorite old movies, Sabrina. It’s a nice way to unwind, with a the soft distraction of the television and the sweetness of the ice cream. And the simple pleasure of sitting beside each other.

Humphrey Bogart is sitting in the back of a car as his beloved Sabrina’s father, the chauffer, reprimands him. “I like to think of life as a limousine. Though we are all riding together, we must remember our places. There’s a front seat and a back seat and a window in between.”

Y/N is struck by the parallels. A cockpit and a cabin. A door in the middle. Two completely different worlds, inhabited by heroes who save the day and the pilots who ferry them from place to place. It’s easy to imagine Arthur saying those exact words to her, trying to protect her from her own heart.

Then she feels Spencer’s hand against her own. Glancing down as subtly as she can, she finds his pinky and ring finger stretched out over her own. So close it might be an accident. Maybe it is. But maybe for tonight she can let herself pretend it isn’t. Let herself believe that she is allowed to be close to him. Testing the waters, she slowly leans her head against his shoulder. He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t pull away. But he does, seconds later, respond in kind, resting his head against the top of hers. It’s warm, and his cardigan is soft against her cheek. Is this really the same man who didn’t want to shake her hand when they first met? Now they sit together, not quite embracing, but close. It’s so gentle. It feels so tender.

Neither of them says a word. They just sit there, in silence, sharing the same space.

And then the next thing she knows, she is blinking awake in the morning light. Her arm is around his waist. His hand on her shoulder. Her back incredibly stiff from falling asleep sitting up. The television is still softly playing.

She carefully pulls her arm away and sits up. His hand falls away from hers. She isn’t sure what is okay and what is too soon and what this is even supposed to be. What they are supposed to be. Y/N carefully inches to the opposite end of the couch and lies back down, pretending to still be asleep. But she stretches her leg out and allows her ankle to touch his. Holding on to some little connection. Soon, he awakes himself, and she pretends to startled out of slumber by his movements. Spencer looks at her, at their tangled legs, at her bedhead, and laughs. And she does too, giggling at how tired they must have been to fall asleep like that, how silly. How incredibly comfortable next to each other.

They walk downstairs and grab coffee and pastries at the bakery next to her building. She drives him home. He concedes that she’s far better at the helm of any vehicle than he could ever hope to be. She stops outside his building and he grabs his satchel and coffee.

Door open, he pauses, turns to her and says, “Thanks for this, Y/N.”

“Anytime, Doctor.”

He climbs out of the car. “Bye,” he says. “I l-” He blinks. “Um. I – I’ll see you on Monday.”

He closes the door. She waits until he gets into the building to start the ignition again, but lingers there on the curbside a few minutes more. Wondering what he would have said if he’d woken up to find them with their arms around each other like that. Wondering what exactly they are to each other.

[imalifegen89]

A Legacy Left Behind - Chapter - 5 - The Gemmond Incident

Part 2

P3X-422 - Planet Gemmond

John was glad that he'd activated the stealth mode on the Jumper the moment he entered the Gate. He was pretty sure that was what kept them from getting blown to hell by the nasty-looking craft that flew past right in front of them.

"Sheppard!"

Lorne shouted out a warning even as Sheppard jinked the Puddle Jumper violently to the left to avoid colliding with the other Dart that came swooping down from above. The pointy little flyers looked like they were made of biological - or maybe organic stuff - combined with metal alloys. They emitted a loud whine while flying and John felt that the name 'Dart' would suit them nicely, what with them being so pointy. The design of the exterior of the flyers reminded John of the exoskeleton-like layers on the Wraiths. The moment that thought crossed his mind, he knew they were facing the Wraith. He wondered briefly why he wasn't experiencing the change that overtook him when he was in the vicinity of the Wraith. Then he realized the link with the Puddle Jumper was acting as a buffer, maintaining a safe environment for the moment, preventing the embedded instinct from taking over.

He kept flying the Jumper in a series of left, right turns and corkscrews until he was clear of the angry, buzzing nest of Darts that were flying randomly around the Stargate. The inertial dampeners thankfully kept everyone inside the Jumper from truly experiencing the g-forces Sheppard was pulling while flying. The previously clear screen in the front of the Jumper had now transformed into a transparent Heads-Up-Display, with the gathered data scrolling down, as the little ship ran its scanners on their surroundings. Everyone in the cockpit and the back of the Jumper was focused on the screen, trying to get a feel of the situation they had just flown into.

Sheppard didn't really focus on the HUD. He had it all in his mind, therefore he was completely focused on flying.

He finally managed to get the Jumper into a higher altitude, turn it around, and then hover. The ship had finished the scan and was informing him what it had found.

'There are five Wraith Darts in the immediate vicinity,’

Clever, little shit had picked up on the name, John thought fondly. He could feel the Jumper preening in the back of his mind at the praise.

“They appear to be flying at random as they try to pinpoint our location. The sixth Dart that was on the ground maintaining the dial-in, has now joined the others to continue the search.'

John could see the dimensions of the Dart appear on the interactive HUD with neat little labels on weak points, weapons, hull compositions, etc. He watched Lorne minimize the window on the Dart and bring up the map of the area again. Lorne was tracking the six Darts now flying around looking almost panicked, vainly searching for whatever had just come through the Gate.

"These are Wraith Darts." Lorne inhaled sharply the moment he realized what everybody was now looking at.

John felt Steve squeezing his shoulder in response to the other Major's exclamation. John knew he was asking whether they could maintain control without Steve having to ask the question out loud.

"It's alright Steve. We're good. The Puddle Jumper is acting like some sort of a buffer. We're not directly engaging the Wraith at the moment, so the imperative isn't going to take over as long as we are inside the Jumper," he assured Steve and Lorne. Lorne had started to go pale, realizing that he was going to go through his first 'Online Experience' before the day was over.

"They know someone's here - they've probably informed the others in the swarm by now. So I'm going to take us on a flyby over the city to see what these things are doing here in Gemmond," Sheppard announced, as he turned the Jumper back from the gate and pointed the nose towards the city.

..........

It took about a minute to get right above the city. There were fifteen Darts circling the capital city of Gemmond and Sheppard maneuvered right through their ranks to get to a higher altitude. He held the Jumper stationary while scanning the city below. They were all focused intently on the HUD.

It was carnage. It was horrendous.

The natives were all in states of absolute fear and sheer panic as they were all running around trying to get away from the Darts. The Darts were behaving in a certain pattern - They'd circle around the city, then the moment they noticed a cluster of people, one of them would swoop down on the huddle, emit a transparent yet shimmering transporter beam, fly over the group, dematerializing them and sweeping them up into the Dart. Then it would fly away and another Dart would take its place to repeat the same actions.

"It looks like these things are collecting the humans and taking them away for storage as if a farmer would herd his sheep into a barn, or scoop his chickens and drop them in a coop," Adam Noshimuri commented quietly, greatly disturbed by what they were witnessing.

"Let's follow the next one and see where they’re taking them. They’re not killing them, so they must be still alive somewhere," said Sheppard. He felt the anger rising in him as he watched the horrific scene unfolding beneath them. What was obviously a once-thriving city, was now in a state of chaos. Its citizens running around and screaming in fear instead of celebrating the fruits of their hard labor. Some buildings and structures seemed to have blown up or set on fire. Sheppard figured the Darts must have fired at the buildings to get the people out in the open, making it easier to hunt them. He unclenched his fingers that had unknowingly tightened around the flight controls and took a deep steadying breath. He was going to destroy each and every one of these Wraith assholes, he made a promise to himself.

Then another Wraith Dart suddenly swooped down to sweep another group of Gemmondians into its belly and started on a direct course away from the city. Sheppard abandoned their observation post and directed the Jumper after the Dart. They flew for about five minutes, passing a few cities, a couple of farms, and then a jungle terrain. Just after the Dart cleared the jungle, they could all see its destination ahead.

There was a bigger ship that had landed on the ground. The Jumper scanned the ship and scrolled the data on the HUD. It was made of the same organic/metal combined composites just like the Darts. It was only two-thirds of an earth warship in size. The Jumper identified it as a 'Wraith Dart Carrier', a slightly smaller spaceship than a 'Wraith Cruiser'. It had the capacity to carry thirty-five Darts but had only fourteen Darts inside it at the moment. The rest were away busy collecting humans and guarding the Gate. There were fifteen 'Wraith Drones' inside the ship for security and they had over one hundred live humans in captivity. There were two male Wraiths controlling the entire operation.

Sheppard was starting to feel the change slowly beginning to take over, responding to the Wraith atrocity that was right in front of them. He could see Lorne was still himself, but he knew it was going to change the moment they closed the distance.

"Alright, here's what we’re going to do. I'm going to follow one of those things in and land us inside somewhere clear of the Drones. You guys are going to separate into two teams, one take left and the other right. You go after the prisoners and take them out. Then lead them out of the ship and get everyone as far away as you possibly can."

Then he concentrated. Two interior hidden compartments opened and two small rectangular PDAs came out. Sheppard took one out as Lorne took the other. Then he activated the PDA which was actually an LSD, a life-sign-detector, with a thought and programmed it. He handed it to Steve over his shoulder. The LSD stayed active with its screen blinking and emitting a soft blue, despite the fact that it was in the hand of a non-gene carrier. Then he did the same to the other detector and handed it to Danny.

"I’ve programmed it to stay active for three hours. It’ll show you any Wraith-related life sign in a red dot and humanoid in a blue dot. You can also see a map inside the ship here. It’ll orient automatically as you move along and show you scales and dimensions."

Both the SEALs studied the instruments intently.

Then Sheppard focused his attention on the data on the Jumper screen. He went through a few information windows at speed and got the information on the Wraith weapons to the front and center.

"Steve, if you can get your hands on a few of these Wraith stunners, you should be able to stun them quietly and then shoot them. According to this, the stunners work on them better than bullets since the stunner attacks the nervous system while bullets just bounce off their skin." Steve and the rest of the group went through the data Sheppard pointed out quickly.

"What will you two be doing?" Danny knew the answer but asked the question anyway. He didn't like the fact that the two zoomies were going to turn into out-of-control killing machines the moment they touched the ground inside the ship.

"You know we’re going to go after the Wraiths; it won't help any of us if they manage to get into your heads and turn us all against each other. We’ll close in and engage them directly, keeping them distracted while you carry out the prison break. Radio in the moment you clear the ship, we’ll finish them and get back to the Jumper. Once you're all clear from the blast area, I’ll blow this thing to hell." Sheppard laid out the plan.

They had all practiced war games on scenarios such as this and Sheppard had the tactical lead on this mission as it was Wraith-related. They were all well-versed in the comms codes they'd be using once they were on the ground, keeping chatter to a minimum. Sheppard only outlined the rough plan, knowing the SEALs, the Agents, and the Marines were all capable of taking care of smaller details on the go as they carried out the mission.

"Just saying, man, you two are the only ones who can fly this tin can and I don't want to walk all the way back - I've got a bad knee," replied Danny pointing at his right leg with the fake ailment, looking quite serious. Sheppard recognized the unvoiced message hidden inside: 'be safe and get back in one piece.’

He gave a smile and got ready to fly the jumper in, right on the tail of the Dart. It was just entering the ship through an entrance on the cargo bay which had slid open, recognizing the Dart that was closing in on it. Steve and the rest of the team quietly got ready, mentally preparing themselves for the task in front of them.

Inside the Wraith Dart Carrier

Planet Gemmond

Sheppard had followed the Dart inside the Carrier and then taken them closer to the bulkheads above to see what it was doing.

The Dart had entered the spacious cargo area and then carried out a low sweep, depositing its terrified cargo. The newly re-materialized, scared, and panicked group of Gemmondians were then herded further into the ship by the Drones that were waiting for them. They used the pointy ends of their stunners to poke and prod the prisoners until they moved along the path presumably leading to their cells.

The Jumper now had a detailed map of the interior and was showing them the cells area, cargo bays, the bridge, the living areas for the Wraith and the Drones. Sheppard slowly guided the Jumper further inside until they came to a secluded area. It was a food storage bay for their human cargo and was not under guard at the moment. It had enough space to land the Jumper.

Once they all got out, Sheppard locked the back door and turned to face the group. Everybody took a collective step back noticing the expression on his face.

Sheppard was different. His normally bright and hazel eyes had gone completely dark, pupils blown, almost swallowing up the entire sclera. His expressive face was blank, lips flattened in a tight line and his head cocked to the side slightly, as if he was listening to something far away. His demeanor was decidedly more alien and predatory than human.

Lorne wasn't much better. But he looked downright normal compared to John. His pupils were enlarged to a point to cover only his irises. Not the entire eye looking like a black hole like Sheppard's. And he looked somewhat pale and afraid which was much more easier to digest than Sheppard's visceral metamorphosis into a deadly, alien hunter.

"Go free the humans," said Sheppard. His voice was quite different from his usual lazy drawl and now had a deep and vicious quality to it. With that he turned and took off through a tunnel exit leading towards the middle of the ship, way faster than any of them could match, with Lorne following closely behind.

..........

"Fuck," said Danny softly. Steve felt that it was an apt description of what they had just witnessed. They had all known about this, but seeing it for the first time was an entirely different experience. He didn't know whether to be disturbed, happy, or scared. He had plenty of reasons for all those emotions. But he firmly pushed all those thoughts away to deal with later. For now, they all had a job to do. They were on a timer and they had to move fast to make the maximum use of the elements of stealth and surprise they had on their side at the moment. So he signaled everyone to separate into two teams and move.

..........

Steve cautiously led his group towards the left side of the Carrier. 'Spaceships are supposed to be cool. This one’s a nasty piece of crap.' He complained to himself. The interior was dark with a red hue, thanks to the membranous interior, with what looked like veins spread inside them. It gave off the feeling of being inside the belly of a beast instead of a spaceship. Steve thought that he saw the soft tissue-like areas of the bulkheads moving at random intervals as if the thing was breathing. It made a creepy sort of sense because according to the data on the LSD, these ships were grown out of bio-organic materials and then blended with metal alloys to make them space-worthy. It also had a strong, pungent, almost rotting smell that reminded him of a carcass of a dead animal. Steve suppressed the shudder at the thought of walking inside a cadaver.

Then the screen on his Detector flared for a brief moment, alerting him of the incoming three Drones only a few yards away from a corridor to their left. He had a few seconds to act before the Drones took the turn and came face-to-face with them.

He quickly signaled Adam to come over and give him a boost. Steve lightly stepped on his cupped palms and pushed himself up, hanging onto the narrow ledge that was protruding out of the wall. It ran horizontally along the wall about 7 ½, maybe, 8 feet above the ground. It seemed to be a part of an interior major vein/pipeline system and was sturdy enough to support his weight. At Steve's signal, Bates boosted Adam onto the ledge directly in front of Steve and then quickly retreated to hide in the small alcove they just walked past with Cadman.

Steve hauled himself onto the ledge and stood straight, plastering his torso against the wall, the narrow ledge barely supporting his footing. Adam positioned himself on the ledge on the opposite side of the narrow corridor and gave Steve a nod. Steve glanced at the LSD once more, started a mental countdown of seconds, and placed it inside his tac vest. Then he took his K-bar out and got ready to face the Wraith Drones.

Just when he reached six on his mental countdown, the three Wraiths took the turn and stepped into the corridor Steve and Adam were waiting. They were staring straight ahead as they walked, oblivious to the threat that was hanging above them. Just as the trio walked past them, Steve and Adam made their move.

Adam jumped onto the back of the Drone that walked closest to his position and landed on its shoulder. He wrapped his knees around the Drones’ upper body and drove his knife into its exposed throat twice in rapid succession. Then he switched hands and stabbed it again on the other side of the neck for good measure. The whole thing took about five seconds and the Drone slowly sank into its knees, the stab wound to the enzyme sack on its neck proving fatal.

He looked up to see Steve finishing up his Wraith Drone in the same manner. The third Drone was frozen in shock and it took a few seconds to move towards Steve, his stunner pointing at the SEAL team leader's face. But that few seconds’ delay proved to be a fatal mistake. Steve dropped to the ground and extended his leg, sweeping it in an arch along the floor, catching the Drone on the foot and toppling it over. The Drone landed on the floor on its butt and Adam didn't waste any time dragging his knife along the thing's neck, splitting it open and killing it where it lay.

Then they dragged the bodies to the side and propped them up against the wall. They collected the three stunners the drones had dropped and Steve tapped his comms to let the others know to join them. Now armed with more effective stunners, they continued towards the holding cells where the captive humans were held.

They reached the cells without running into more Drones. The six Drones that were standing near the cramped cell area were quickly dispatched with Stunner fire to their heads followed by quiet shots to the necks with suppressed MP7s. Bates made quick work on the cell door by shooting at the keypad-like thing with his suppressed handgun. The cell door retracted with a sickly noise.

"Hello people, we’re with the SGC, you need to move now and come with us, we’re going to get you guys out of this messy place," Cadman had a ready smile on her face while she talked to the scared and pale Gemmondians. Then they broke out of their frozen stupors, finally recognizing the uniforms of their allies, the Tau'ri, and they all started spilling out of the cell eagerly. Cadman managed to keep them quiet, celebrations at being rescued to a minimum, got them all out and paired them up efficiently. She signaled that they were ready to leave, and Steve, who was keeping watch, acknowledged. Then they all started moving towards the closest exit out of the ship with Steve and Adam in the front, the fifty or so Gemmondians in pairs in the middle along with Cadman, and Bates taking the rear keeping an eye on their six.

..........

Danny's team was having a bit of hard luck. They had been edging towards the right side of the ship and managed to dodge a few Wraiths by taking cover, thanks to the advance warning received from the LSD. Now they were facing a problem. They were all taking cover behind a small wall that was jutting out from the floor and peering over to observe the holding cell. They could see there were about fifty people crammed in the entirely too tiny cell and there were five Drones milling about in the area. They needed to distract the Drones and lure them away from the vicinity of the cell, so Kono and Vega could take the shots from their positions.

A quick rock, paper, scissor session elected Danny Williams for the bait. He sighed and started to crawl back from the safety of their cover to reach the corridor that ended at the cells. Then he stood up and walked back in the corridor about a ten-meter distance from the cell. Once positioned in the middle of the corridor now in plain view, he waved at the Drones with a grin on his face to get their attention.

"Oi you, fuck-face, where's the.." He didn't even get to finish the question as the Drones all reacted. They all adjusted their weapons to face Danny and came running towards him.

'Oh, you aren't very bright, are you?' Danny had a few seconds to shake his head in sympathy before they started firing their stunners. Kono and Vega, who were ready with their rifles primed, but couldn't risk the shots earlier because of the prisoners, now had clear lines of sight to fire. They dropped three Drones with shots to the necks before the Drones even had the chance to fire. One Drone got a shot off as Danny threw his knife at it. Then he dove off to the side to dodge the stunner fire. He only partially succeeded. Vega finished off the remaining Drone as Kono shot the Drone that was already on the ground writhing with Danny's knife buried in its neck, killing it. Higgins came running towards Danny to see whether he was okay.

"Ah man, I can't feel my shoulder, please tell me I still have a shoulder." Danny was concerned. He wasn't panicking at all, not really - just very very concerned about his shoulder which he really couldn't feel anymore.

“Yeah, man, you're good. It only grazed you. Not even a tear on the uniform to show for it. You'll get the feeling back soon.” Higgins was palpitating his shorter colleague's shoulder with a chuckle. Danny could be a downright diva when it came to field injuries.

Danny moved his own gun to the back with the help of Higgins and picked up a stunner with his left hand. His entire right arm was going to be out of commission for a while. They all armed themselves with a newly acquired stunner and moved towards the prisoners. They had to move quickly. They were not sure whether the dead Drones somehow managed to send out an alert that there were intruders on board.

Kono and Vega got busy getting the prisoners out of the cell to move. They quickly organized the now big group and started their trek towards their closest exit with Danny and Higgins in the front, and Kono and Vega taking the rear while keeping the newly rescued bunch of Gemmondians safely in the middle.

[raz-b-rose]

Donsy Week 2020: Day 2: Family

This one took a slightly different direction than previously planned, and I think I’ll try to continue it another time. 

Words: 1507

@donsyweek

“Dewey sit down, Louie stop touching everything,” Donald sighed, gently pulling the toddlers away from the edge of the cart, sleep deprivation causing him to blink slowly and for far too long. He looks for the oldest, to feel annoyance building when he spots him. 

“Huey if you pick up that candy one more time-” He cuts the treat off, not quite sure how to punish the sugar crazed toddler. He was the less mischievous one, but his brothers didn’t have to do much convincing for causing trouble. Huey dragged himself back to the cart, Donald placing him back with his brothers. 

He finally stops, resting his head in his hands. The cart was barely full and they had already been here an hour. Maybe he should get a babysitter to go shopping? No, that money was needed for work days. There had to be some trick to doing this, three ducklings was not a rare occurrence after all, just not the average. 

“Donald?” 

His head snaps up, locking eyes with someone he hadn’t seen in far too long. He flushes a little when the butterflies resurface, even after all these years. She smiled softly, hair pulled back, a workout band settled on her forehead. A quick glance affirms that she must have just come from a workout, a far cry from himself. 

He flushed even further when he mentally took in his own appearance. Milk and food stains on every inch of his clothing, heavy bags under his eyes, and he’s pretty sure he has food stuck to his head feathers too. 

“Daisy, wow it’s been awhile”

“I’ll say, I didn’t know you had kids,” She stepped to the side of the aisle with him, smiling apologetically to the other patrons. 

“Oh uh,” His stomach lost altitude, falling fast, crashing at his feet. Her brows crease, clearly confused by his reaction. “They’re Della’s”

“Oh!” He smiles softly, as she turned pink, and everything about her seemed to relax, “That’s good to hear, well I mean, oh” 

“It’s ok, I understand,” He laughs, waving off her.

“How is she?” 

Donald should have known the question was coming, but it still struck quite the blow to him. It hadn’t even crossed his mind to inform the girls, Minnie and Daisy, he had been so caught up in the changes to his own life. Well that's not true, Daisy still crossed his mind quite a lot. 

“Well, she..huh..” Donald struggles, looking at the wide innocent eyes of his nephews with a tired grief that has seemed to become such a heavy part of him. A weight he would never be rid of. 

They each voiced questions, hard to decipher from the minimal language skills and that they all melded together. Donald sighed as his exhaustion grew. Taking care of three curious boys definitely took a toll on the body and mind. 

“Oh” Daisy whispers, drawing his attention back to her.

She had never been one to cry when they were younger, always tough as nails. She was the first to start fights and the ones to finish them. Loyalty was a strongly held belief of hers, and she may not always be the most gentle vocally, but you would always know she cared. 

Seeing her cry now, so openly in public of all places, was not only a surprise but so encouraging. No, encouraging wasn’t the right word. He did feel relieved in some twisted way though, that he wasn’t alone in the grief anymore. That she cared for Della enough to cry over her loss.

He really hated himself for feeling that. 

“Sorry I never told you,” He murmurs quietly, awake enough to remember they were in a crowded building with many ears perked for private conversations. But not enough it seems as a few shoppers slowed down their browsing to hover. He glared at each of them, unfortunately they kept their backs to them. 

“Donald, “ Daisy grabs the front of the cart, pulling gently to lead them to a different part of the store. “You not only lost your sister, but became a parent, that's a lot for anyone to handle” 

He smiled, reminded of why he had liked her so much. Her words were kind but her tone held that bite that said, ‘argue with me and die’. 

“You’re not wrong about that, they are quite the handful, “He sighs as he pulls a bag of food from Huey’s grip again. Ignoring his whining to continue to try and get some shopping done. He yawned, slowly down in his walking.

Dewey and Louie started to whine as well, a chorus of I’m bored, are we done yet, and I’m hungry. He answered each one, you can play with your toys at home, not yet but soon, and we will eat after. 

“It sure seems like it,” Daisy chuckled softly. 

Donald doesn’t know when she started helping him, but he welcomed it the same. He could actually inspect his options without having to keep a third eye on the triplets. The rest of the trip went by smoothly, and found it weird how quickly they fell back into that rhythm they had back in school. 

Donald had never admitted he liked his best friend the way he did, and ran away to the Navy when she had gone across the country for college without, he felt, enough of a warning. He had been hurt and upset, even more so when their conversations grew further and further apart until they only wished eachother Happy Birthday’s and Merry Christmas’. Even that he hadn’t done the last two years, the reminders of those days rendered him a further shell of himself. 

“This explains your radio silence,” She said softly, helping him load up the car. He glanced at her as he wrestled Dewey into the car. 

“Yeah,” 

That's all he can say? Yeah? Why was it suddenly so hard to talk to her? 

“Donald listen,” She moved to the other side of the car, Louie far to content to finally be held to let go that soon. He smiled softly as she bargained with him to let go of her shirt, bucking him in quickly and gently. With practiced ease Donald noted, the smile falling from his face.

She stands and sighs, clearly thinking over her words, awkwardness still between them like a thick fence. It felt so impossible to clear away, to return to who they once were. Honestly, it was. Donald was a parent now, and Daisy was doing who knows what. 

They couldn’t go back to being those carefree highschoolers, hanging out at the local arcades and parks, blissfully ignoring the ruckus they took with them everywhere they went. They couldn’t go back to the late movie nights with too much junk food or the spontaneous early morning road trips to the next town. 

They couldn’t go back and Donald wasn’t sure they could ever move forward. 

“Why did you leave?” Donald busies himself with Huey, avoiding Daisy’s searching gaze.

“I was running away” 

That was not the answer he was expecting, and Daisy only smiled sadly at him. 

“You see, I really liked you and didn’t realize it until senior year and it really freaked me out. You were, are?” She starts to ramble, “my best friend. I thought that if I left then we could continue to be friends and things would never change.”

“Things always change, unfortunately,” Donald sighs out, pushing the cart to the return. 

“I was stupid,” She sighed. 

“Me too, I didn’t react the best to you leaving, I said some pretty heartless things.” 

“Yeah well, I started to ignore you,” she winced, “That just feels worse.”

They both laugh softy, sharing a hug. Donald started to cry, his mind and body finally taking that critical hit. 

“Are we still friends Don-man?” He smiled at the nickname.

“Always D-easy, we just have a lot of catching up to do”

“Yeah, a lot has happened” 

“Do you have time to come over?”

Daisy smiled again, Donald relaxing himself, remembering the last time he saw her smile like that. It was just before Senior year, and they had just finished their final summer adventure. The sun was setting as they sat on the manors roof, snacks piled around them trying to drag out the final hours for as long as possible. 

She had looked so relaxed and content. Her eyes were soft and she had said that this next year would be their best one yet. She had been so hopeful and talked about all the different things they would do and all the pranks they would pull, a final year of chaos she had called it. 

“Yeah I do,”

Donald knew that him and his family would be ok now. He didn’t have to do it alone anymore, now that he has his best friend back. The boys were all he had until now, and even though

they didn’t say it, he knew, she was staying around for good this time. 

[365days365movies]

January 3, 2021: Cliffhanger (1993)

Sylvester Stallone.

The Italian Stallion here is one of the most prominent action movie stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s, coming to prominence with Rocky in 1976. And before we even start this review, here’s the deal: I refuse to make fun of the man’s iconic voice. Yeah, I get it, we’ve all shouted “YOADRIAAAAAAH!” at some point, but his voice and face is due to a botched birth, which pinched a nerve and caused permanent facial paralysis. We all got something, and I’m not gonna target him for it. It’s been done enough.

I also can’t really comment on his acting ability. Why? Well...OK, some confession time. I’ve BARELY seen Stallone in a film. That’s going to be fixed this year, as I’ve added many of his films to the list for 2021. So, what have and haven’t I seen? Let’s start with haven’t, shall we?

I haven’t seen:

Rocky (1976): Sports November

Rocky II (1979): maybe Sports November

First Blood (1982): later this month

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992): Please. Please don’t make me.

Cliffhanger (1993): Give it a minute.

Demolition Man (1993): Science Fiction September

Judge Dredd (1995): maybe Science Fiction September

The Expendables (2010): later this month

I have seen:

Tango and Cash (1989): Dumbass buddy cop movie with Stallone and Russell; 2/5.

Antz (1998): Sub-par Dreamworks rip-off of an already kinda sub-par Pixar movie; 2/5

Spy Kids 3: Game Over (2003): Yeah...I saw this in theaters, on my birthday. I saw everything in red and green for, like, an hour afterwards. Worth it. 2/5.

Rocky Balboa (2006): Somehow, this is the only Rocky movie I’ve seen, Creed included. And from what I remember, it was fine. 3/5.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017): The ONE good Stallone movie I’ve seen, and it isn’t even a Stallone movie. 5/5.

So, yeah, I haven’t seen any good Stallone movies, sans the one. But now, some of you are probably asking another question: “Why Cliffhanger? You literally haven’t seen any major Stallone movie, so WHY CLIFFHANGER?”

First of all, I think everybody’s kinda slept on this movie. It was a big success back in the day, but people have basically forgotten it at this point. You’ll see in this review that there aren’t even many GIFs from the movie made, and it wasn’t easy to find enough clips to make my own, honestly. Does it deserve to get slept on? I mean, we’ll see, right? 

Secondly, I just watched a Tom Cruise movie where he dangles off of a rope, and I liked that, so why not do that for the next one, I guess! And third...honestly, I saw this on the list, and it kinda just spoke to me. It called to me, like a boxer calling to his love. Hey, look, a reference to a movie I’ve never seen. We’ll get there. We’ll get there. Oh, and SPOILERS from here on out, by the way.

Recap

We start on a cliff. Surprise.

Michael Rooker (y’know, Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy) is hanging out (HA!) with his girlfriend Sarah on a cliff called the Tower. Y’know, third date kinda stuff. First date is dinner, second date is dinner and a movie, and third date is free-climbing up a cliff to your near death. Well...near is a strong word…

ANYHOOOO, We meet Gabe, played by the big man himself, Sly Stallion, who’s a rescue ranger in the Rocky Mountains. So, Rocky, the Rockies Rescue Ranger is sent to save Yondu and Sarah. Unfortunately...someone forgot to check the equipment before the rescue mission…

Not gonna lie, this scene is actually heart-wrenchingly tense. And the ending...well, if you’ve seen Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls...you know what happens here. And it’s actually somewhat traumatic, for Gabe and for me. Seriously. It’s a roughie.

Cut to almost a year later, and Gabe is...NOT OK. He and his wife, Jessie (who is a pilot for the Rescue Rangers, and was there when Sarah fell), have been separate, and Gabe just can’t do it anymore. And I get it, honestly. That was a hard experience, losing someone and blaming yourself. And no, it wasn’t Gabe’s fault. But to add insult to injury, he has NO SUPPORT SYSTEM. His wife doesn’t seem to understand, his former best friend Yondu hates him (getting GotG Vol. 2 flashbacks), and he’s basically all alone. Geez. You guys are jerks.

Meanwhile, a plot is afoot! And hey, it’s Tripp from CSI: Miami, AKA Rex Linn! I always liked him, so it’s cool to see him in other roles. Turns out, though, that Tripp is working with a group of thugs to steal from the US Treasury. This villainous group of 8 thugs is led by John Lithgow, AKA Lord Farquaad from Shrek, who is channeling Hans Gruber from Die Hard, and trying super-hard on that British accent. Anyway, after a pretty great mid-flight action sequence, the group of thugs loses 3 suitcases of money, amounting to millions. In the process, they also lose Expendable Thugs #1 and #2. This will be a trend. 

The thugs crash their plane into the mountain, killing Expendable Thug #3 in the process. They stage a rescue situation to get some expert mountain climbers to help them find the money. Jessie, after having just told her hubby to suck it up like a big boy (I don’t really like Jessie, by the way), begs him to help find these people. Reluctantly, he agrees, and has a tension filled reunion with his former best friend, who blames him (unfairly, in my opinion). That animosity disappears as soon as they find themselves held hostage by the thugs. And so, the money hunt begins!

First suitcase is on a cliffside, and Stallone goes to get it. Some shenanigans quickly ensure, and the thugs shoot at him. An avalanche occurs because these dumbasses have never seen a movie, and in the process, we lose a suitcase of money, Expendable Thug #4 goes the way of Sarah, and Gabe is presumed dead. Farquaad tells Yondu to tell his coworkers that everything is fine, and he’s gonna stay on the mountain to ride out the storm. Which is #5 in the list of “moments in this movie where I would 100% die” I grew up in a warm climate, this is not a comfortable hypothetical situation for me.

Anyway, our intrepid team of criminals takes Yondu to find the next suitcase, while Jessie and Gabe separately make their way to the cabin that Yondu was talking about. They catch each other up, and they can’t contact the main office because...Jessie’s radio died in the cold? You...you work amongst mountains as a rescue officer for stranded hikers. That’s the best excuse the writers came up with? Why the hell didn’t she bring a better radio? They HAD to have spares, right? RIGHT? Geez, no wonder you needed Gabe’s help.

The tracker, with its marvelously outdated computer graphics technology (IT’S A UNIX SYSTEM IKNOWTHIS), leads the thugs to the next package, but not before Gabe and Jesse get there! Gabe leaves a ransom note for the money, holding it hostage. This eventually leads to a nighttime chase in the snow, leading to Expendable Thug #5 going The Way of Sarah.

By the way, it’s also at this point that I notice that it is VERY bright...for being in the middle of the mountains at night. And I get it, you can’t exactly have your movie be shot in darkness, but...look at this.

Like...wow. That’s the fakest outdoor shot I’ve ever seen. I guess I’m glad it isn’t a day-for-night shot, but...yeah. Wow.

Jesse and Gabe find themselves in a cave full of the cutest goddamn bats I’ve ever seen. This is supposed to be a harrowing experience, but simply makes me jealous. They’re fruit bats, by the way, and they’re also WAY too high up, altitude-wise. At least, that’s what I assume. I’m a bird-guy, not a bat-guy. Eventually, they make it out of the cave after Stallone does some free-climbing...loudly. Loud enough for the super-violent, sociopathic, knife-and-gun-loving Expendable Thug #6 to hear them. And that’s when Gabe ICE-PICKS HIM IN THE LEG DAMN

Understandably pissed, and not as understandably still walking around without crying (#6 in that list of me-dying moments), the thug finds and beats the SHIT out of Gabe, handily.  But then, he calls Jessie a bitch, and Gabe is, above all things a feminist. Which leads to him, and read this CLOSELY:

This leads to Stallone, bloodied and beaten, PICKING THE THUG UP OVER HIS HEAD, AND IMPALING HIM ONTO A STALACTITE. Not a stalagmite, a STALACTITE. HOLY SHIT!.

Well, Expendable Thug #6 is dead, there’s a bomb on the mountaintop, Jesse almost goes The Way of Sarah, and Frank (another guy who works with them, don’t know if I mentioned him) gets lured into a trap where he gets killed. An “Aww” moment from me; I liked Frank, he seemed like a really nice guy. This eventually leads to Farquaad and Tripp out-crazy-ing each other, and Farquaad winning by killing Expendable Thug #7, who does not go The Way of Sarah (blessed be her fall).

Gabe finds the remaining money, while Tripp, Yondu, and Expendable Thug #7 get there just after. Tripp leaves, and Yondu then delivers my favorite line of the movie:

Oh, sorry, no, it’s, “In a minute, I’ll be dead. You will always be an asshole.” Thug #7 beats the shit out of Yondu, I get flashbacks to GotG 2, and Thug #8 goes THE WAY OF SARAH, BLESSED BE HER FALL. Tripp finds the tracker without the money, and officially loses it, outing himself and Farquaad to the government officials who FINALLY get here.

Tripp finds Gabe, they make their way to a frozen mountain lake, and Gabe SHOOTS TRIPP FROM UNDERNEATH THE ICE. That shouldn’t have worked for many reasons, but that was cool, so fuck it. Now, it’s just Farquaad, BUT HE HAS JESSIE! OH NOOOOOOOooooooo.

This whole thing culminates in a tense, cool chase sequence between Gabe and Farquad in the helicopter. The helicopter crashes into the mountainside, and the two fight while on the helicopter, which is now hanging from the cliff.

Oh. Oh, I get it.

This inevitably leads to Farquaad and the helicopter going, of course, The Way of Sarah. Blessed Be Her Fall. #BBHF. 

And that’s it. Our three heroes are, themselves, rescued by the government agents, and we pan away from the cliffside, as the credits roll. Boom. Cliffhanger.

Stay tuned for the epilogue, which contains the review!

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 36

At last we arrive at the end of the 2-parter or 2-weeker if you prefer. Does it have a big dramatic finish? I’ll let you decide that for yourselves in...

    The tiny planet hung in the sky. Above the mountain ruins that Sonic ran through. Above the storm clouds that Draw tried to keep the golems that held Rosy from reaching. Above the blue aurora and the god who stood in Rosy’s dreams. And at last Rosy had heard its name. Yoluku. Or as she and Sonic had taken to calling it in so short a time. Yolk.

    “Ooh~! Even in my sleep that creepy little planet just won’t go away,” Rosy resumed her fusing before turning her eyes back down onto the entity in her dreams. Or tried to.

    “Eh? Huh? What’s going on, I can’t lower my head!”

    Trying her best, and even putting her hands on her head she could not turn her head away from the little planet in the sky. Even waving her arms in front of her face did nothing as her arms simply became transparent.

    “Cree~py!” Rosy cried out and could not even force her eyes closed. “This bad dream is starting to become a nightmare!”

    Rosy was not the only one who could not take her eyes off the little planet in the sky. Sonic found his own eyes affixed to it as he was sure he saw something beyond it which was not the red crack in the sky.

    “Is that…?”

    “…another Red Star Ring?” Draw finished the question as he stood up on a floating eye-type golem and looked up at the heavens through the crown of storm clouds. He did not realize however that he was already in ear shot of Sonic.

    “What are you doing here!” Sonic’s question broke through Draw’s trance and he looked across to where Sonic was glaring at him from a nearby cliff. “And where’s Amy!”

    “I’m trying to catch up! You left me to fend against an army of golems with only a bow and arrow! How was I supposed to keep her safe! And I’m betting you did that too!”

    Pointing up the mountain at the towering entity at its peak, also transfixed on Yoluku, Draw called Sonic’s actions out. “How did waking that thing up come into collecting Rings! What is wrong with you!”

    “Believe it or not, but I was trying to get her some help dealing with that oversized egg in the sky!”

    “Now I know where she gets her food obsession from!”

    Sonic did not humor Draw with a reply and flicked his nose before taking off back up the mountain. He was going to need a great deal of altitude to spot which golem had taken Rosy. Peaking back and forth between the swarm of golems and the entity on the mountain, Sonic noticed it was clutching at the crystal rose that seemed to be its heart.

    “Maybe that will…,” Sonic started before turning to yell back at Draw. “I’m going to do something crazier than ever! Find Amy before I pull it off and get her somewhere safe!”

    “And where would that be!” Draw yelled back, but Sonic was already moving up the mountain in a demonstration of skill that showed just having his speed was not enough to match him in its use.

    Accelerating as he climbed, Sonic hit the sound barrier the moment he reached the end of an incline he had climbed in the blink of an eye. As he left the ramp, he curled into a ball to perform his signature Spin Attack and was like a fired bullet as a sonic boom erupted around him.

    The sound at last drew the entity’s attention away from Yoluku and it turned quick enough for Sonic to pierce its spectral body and land on the gyroscopic mechanism within its heart. And wasting no further time, Sonic devastated the contraption, the ancient stone standing little chance against his fury of attacks.

    “Ha~ hahahahaha!” the entity surprised Sonic by laughing aloud even as it crashed back down into the mountains from which it rose.

    Sonic was flung from where he attacked back down the mountain and through a cloud of flying golems. Within that collection of golems, he spotted Rosy draped across the arms of one that resembled a smaller headless version of the entity’s stone upper half. With a smirk that things were going well for him at last, Sonic twisted his body to find a foothold on another passing golem. With just a flick of his ankles he kicked off and crashed a Spin Attack right into the core of the one that held Rosy.

    In a spectacular display of acrobatics, Sonic recovered from the recoil of his impact and snagged the sleeping Rosy from the air. With her safely in his arms, he allowed himself a smile. “You’re something else, you rascal. Do you always get into this type of trouble when I’m not around?”

    “Maybe…,” Rosy whispered weakly as Sonic’s voice bridged the gap between her dreams and the waking world. But as she turned her head to look at his reassuring face in both her dreams and reality, her eyes fell fully on Yoluku. A jolt tore through her body and she cried out in pain.

    “Sonic! Sonic! It hurts!”

    “Amy!"

    “KYAAAA~~~~~~!!!!!”

    Trying to understand what it was that made Rosy cry out, Sonic turned to look at her to make sure she wasn’t just half asleep. But the way her eyes snapped open in terror told him otherwise.

    It was an expression he never wanted to see on her face, and he felt powerless. In her eyes though he saw Yoluku reflected and a Red Star Ring behind the ominous planet. Turning his head to look back, he saw only a hint of the Red Star Ring’s presence behind Yoluku. In Rosy’s eye however it was clearly reflected. A broken ring at two of the star points, a length of a red gear in the gaps holding the ring together. Reflected so clearly in Rosy’s eyes was it that that very Red Star Ring replaced her left iris and pupil. Sonic could do nothing to hide his surprise and again he heard the entity he came to the mountain to speak with laugh.

    “A fair exchange,” its voice bellowed through the storm as it descended once more onto the mountains. You freed me from Yoluku’s power and now Yoluku has claimed the medium in compensation. Now, even freed I am powerless to help you, and you her. Ha~hahahahaha~!”

~I never learned what Sonic wanted to see up in those mountains. When I came too after passing out from my fever, it was in a seaside hotel. Sonic had been resting on the foot of the bed and greeted me casually when I woke up. He was ready and raring to go in search of his next adventure. He talked about finding Tails as he wanted to learn more about the world and was sure he could help us. But he never talked about what happened up in those mountains and neither did Draw.

    ~Hee-hee! Normally I’d complain about it or comment it wasn’t like Sonic to keep secrets, and I know I didn’t stop asking them for a while. It’s not just that I wanted to know, but that I had to know. My cards wouldn’t tell me anything either. But I know something happened. I didn’t just have a scary dream up on those mountains. I didn’t just get sick. Something happened to me, and I know it had to do with that dreaded little planet, Yolk.

    ~It had to after all.

    ~The Red Star Ring that replaced my left eye from time to time in my reflection was identical to the one I saw behind Yolk in my dream. And even when my eye appeared normal, it sometimes wasn’t blue like my right eye, but the same shade of red as a Red Star Ring. I’m sure Sonic and Draw saw it too. Sonic didn’t show that he did and told me any problems that we had we could just figure out later. He was so optimistic, but the way Draw looked when he looked me in the eye, and then back at Sonic… I know they know and just don’t want me worrying. But I’m stronger than that. Even with a Red Star Ring replacing my left eye every so often, I can still be cheerful and my usual self. I feel great and want to help find Tails and the rest of our friends and I won’t let this little bit of weirdness stop me!~

-|-

    In Tower Point, Claymore the Purple stood with his arms on his hips watching Yoluku from a bridge between towers. He never saw the Red Ring that appeared behind it, but reports would soon arrive to him of sightings of it. The one that would most hold his interest though was barely arriving.

    “Good Knight!” the black robed priest that strode out onto the bridge greeted the three-meter tall autogolem. “You will be pleased to know that we have compiled all of the reports involving those who have seen the Red Star Ring with the gear within.”

     “Ho!” Claymore greeted the priest mirthfully as he turned. “And have you determined if any of them are mediums?”

    “Not per say Good Knight,” The priest scratched the back of their neck and looked away. “It’s just that one of the sightings...”

     “Ho~,” Claymore expressed his curiosity with an exclamation. Squatting down, he leaned in close to the priest. “Pray tell. Did someone hear something at one of these sightings?”

    “It’s not what it sounds like Good Knight,” The priest looked away not sure how Claymore would react. Claymore remained patient however and kept his silence so that the priest might report. So prompted, they continued anxiously.

    “You see Good Knight, and we’re lucky this report was filed at all as it is so unusual, but one of the sightings was not of the Red Star Ring appearing in the sky behind Yoluku. Rather as the left iris of a traveling pink hedgehog girl.”

    “Has the seal grown so weak that Yoluku could act!” Claymore asked as he clenched his fist, the creaking of metal frightening the priest. But Claymore meant the priest no harm and spun to his feet, striding quickly for an entrance to one of the towers the bridge joined. “We must meet with this girl at once. Yoluku acts and we must know why.”

    Before the priest could act, Claymore suddenly turned around and held a finger up, perhaps even winked one of his glowing purple eyes. “But you leave the gathering of soldiers to me. Return to the radios in case of more sightings and forget not the banquet. The people still need hope. And perhaps I might restore the seal myself before then and we can feast in celebration.”

Scene 36 · CLEARED Sonic & Rosy, End

-----

And that wraps up the 2-parter/2-weeker. I hope no one minds that things took a hard shift there at the end, but the idea was to cause an event to get Sonic and Rosy more invested in the lands below Yoluku. Having Rosy get branded in a way is a huge part of that. It also allows me to introduce another bit of interest further down the road. AU or not, this is still a Sonic the Hedgehog story and that means that means he has to face off against machines and protect nature. Or at least if I stick to the usual themes. But we’ll leave that for the future and I hope you enjoyed. Thank you everyone!

-----

Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – One Last Kiss – Hikaru Utada – From Neon Genesis Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

[erikismybitch]

Waiting In Vain: Chapter 18

Protection

“Would you like to Meet my dad ?”

Erik never thought he would hear that question come from Marley’s mouth but it did . And he was thrown off , knowing exactly what he put her through . Why in the hell would she want to go Down this path .

“He and his wife reached out. My Therapist said I should go...Meet with him maybe unveil some hidden wounds or some shit like that”

“Its whatever you want to do” He told her.

“Then I can decide if I want to explore a relationship with him or let him go completely “

Erik , who was very protective over this girl , didn’t want her to get into this situation. Marley had a pattern of forgiving and being too nice to people who hurt her . He hated that trait , he only wanted her to be that way when it came to him. Erik was confident that he had her best interest . Her knew that if he told her not to go, she might do the opposite. And just in case her father decided to hurt her again, he’d be there to back her up. Or fuck him up.

“Yeah I wanna meet that nigga”

So there they were . In Erik’s car driving through mountains of redwood trees and narrow peaks that made it hard to maneuver through . The altitude was so high that the XM radio only spit a static sound . Just to reach her dads property . This definitely wasn’t where he lived when she was younger . Erik asked her if he was rich “or something” Judging by the private driveways hidden with gates and greenery , this new living situation was a total upgrade .

“This is it” he squinted at the tiny lit up address on the side of the steel gate . It was already open so they didn’t have to buzz the intercom that was door level .

Erik drove down the long brick passage, until he got to the circular driveway . Each brick perfectly placed in between healthy green grass . A slight waterfall in the middle , and surrounding it was a Tesla and a Mercedes . Both license plates saying his & hers. Marley grew sick to her stomach when she read them.

“This man , and his wife living an an estate in the mountains with matching license plates” she said in utter disbelief, but she mumbled . The two of them both met outside of Erik’s car and began to walk up to the huge doors. She took a breath and Erik held the small of her back.

“I swear you just say word and we can leave, I’ll get a hotel and everything” Erik could tell she was becoming upset already . He’d sacrifice though , even if the drive was roughly five hours from where they stayed .

“It’s okay . I can do this”

After Erik knocked obnoxiously hard , what Marley thought to be her Step brother opened the door . He had gotten big since the last time she saw him .

“Hi” He said , he had gaming headphones on his ears, and he walked away in true teenage fashion . Uninterested, and trying to get back to the technology. They both walked in, his sister , Marley’s stepsister was walking past . She smiled , waved and went about her business elsewhere . She was nearly a toddler the last time Marley seen her . Her birthday was the day before Marley’s . She remembered because they were always better than hers.

The lady of the house came into view . She wasn’t as dashing as she used to be. It amazed Marley that her father was clearly still smitten by this woman. Marley didn’t know if she just aged badly because she had no melanin or if it was karma for her ruining her life . Karen was her fucking name .

Marley hated Karen more than she hated her father . Her therapist told her not to blame Karen for the actions of her father . Marley would argue that if Karen never had come around , her father wouldn’t have left . To her therapists rebuttal, he explained that her father is who he is, no matter who he married . But Marley didn’t care . Karen did it for her .

Erik held her hand still. Karens eyes bright with surprise. Marley didn’t tell them that she would be bringing her boyfriend , but she wouldn’t have came alone ... they should have known that .

“Hi , how have you been ?” Karen asked her. Marley was fake , she smiled and told her that she was doing well. “You look great , you’ve grown into a very pretty girl”

Karen touched her arm and attempted to be chummy . Marley tensed . She felt so ugly growing up in that old house.

“This is Erik” Marley snapped back and introduced him. Karen looked him up and down. Seemingly pleased.

“Cutie” she said in a tone as if he was a toddler. All that was missing was a cheek pinch. Erik nodded and raised his brows when he looked at Marley.

“Hubby’s on a call, he will be out in a second”

Marley fumed At Karen’s Botox filled expression . Her hubby ?

Marley looked around at how nice the inside of the house was . The high ceilings with two crystal chandeliers that towered over the dining room table and the living room center . The table itself was something out of Game of Thrones , large and royal looking . Heavy and expensive. The hardwood floors sparkled like they had just been polished, so clean you probably could eat from it. And It smelled good in there , Karen was preparing dinner . That was something Marley forgot about Karen , she could cook. Whenever Marley was in the mood to come out of her room and eat , it was good.

“I seen pics of your mom , she look way better than her” Erik was able to whisper without anyone hearing , but even if they did . He wouldn’t care .

Marley laughed , but it was shortchanged . She didn’t even want to bring her mom up . In fear that her spirit would be upset that she would even entertain these people . She wondered what kind of haunting her mother had done to her father. She hoped he had nightmares .

Her father had walked into the room with a smile. Erik could literally see that dark cloud of fear hanging over her . She wasn’t ready for this , and he knew it . He wanted to grab her and take her out of there. Marley felt twelve again . Like a shell who couldn’t move . Erik spoke up for her, he introduced himself .

“Christopher” he spoke and shook Eriks hand firmly , he grip wasn’t as tight as Eriks . Which sent him into alert right away . Her dad was light skinned , with a bald head and beady eyes. Much taller than Erik but not a threat at all. He eyed this guy who was with his daughter . Up and down . His fashionable outfit and those stupid expensive shoes that his step son recently begged him for . He thought his hair style was comedy , the kind that dumb young punks get . Back in his day , they would never fly .

“You some kind of artist or something?” Christopher guessed .

“Engineer”

“So you got you a man with some money, huh?”he joked . Before Erik could respond , Marley had built enough confidence to speak to him . Especially before he offended Erik too much. Christopher nudged Marley in her shoulder like they were old friends .

“H-hi dad” she spoke softly . She didn’t even think he heard her, until he gave her an uneasy side hug .

“Hun, the phone!” Karen came from another room holding his cell phone, Christopher excused himself and took the call.

“Marley, how about a tour?” Karen suggested , as if that would make her feel more at “home” . “I guess” slipped from her lips as she drifted away from Erik . She felt cold now , but he grabbed her arm before she walked away . Pulling her against him, he kissed her quickly . Then she was off to trail along side Karen. Who already seemed to be chatting enough for his liking .

“Aye dude , you play FIFA?”

Marley’s step brother asked from the living room . He was sitting on the plush couch , facing the Tv that was so big , it could be a projector . Nobody else was there but the two of them. “I do”

Erik ended up playing a game with the boy, getting his ass kicked by the teenager who had nothing better to do. Every game system was at hand , he had everything . “Erik right ?” He asked , right before blocking the op team from scoring .

“Yeah , didn’t catch your name though”

“It’s Simon”

“Aight Simon, you too good at this shit... you got 2K?”

Simon nearly rejoiced at Erik’s question . Within seconds he ended the game and switched it to 2K. “Glad I can play this with someone because my dad is trash” he admitted . Erik was taken back

“Yo’ dad ?” He screwed up his face.

“Only dad I ever knew”

-

Heather took Marley on a tour of the house . The outside did no justice . It was even bigger behind the doors . She toured the guest rooms, the chefs kitchen , their family rec room, their home gym and now Karen’s daughters room .

It almost brought tears to Marley’s eyes . It was everything she would have wanted as a young girl . The walls were covered in pink sparkly wall paper . She had a small white vanity filled with jewelry and makeup . In the center of the room was a huge gold canopy bed with white tulle draped over the top . A room fit for a princess . “Oh my god” Marley mouthed to herself .

“ If it’s worth anything” Karen started to speak , her skinny hand touching Marley back made her feel awkward. “I didn’t want to to go stay with your aunt”

Marley let go of a loud breath , almost like a cough. She didn’t expect this to be a topic . “That lady... is your friend” Her words cut through Karen

“I-.” She stuttered “I really didn’t want to send you . But it was out of my hands” Karen blamed her father.

“You have no idea , at all about what happened to me there” Marley turned to her quickly , her eyes were watering. Before she knew it , a tear fell down her cheek . She was pissed that she even gave Karen the satisfaction of seeing her upset . In her eyes, she was just as guilty as her father . Marley walked away , not exactly knowing where to go . She just wanted to be away from all of them .

-

“So how was it around here, when Marley lived with y’all?” Erik decided to dig, since Simon took to him quickly. He knew he could get the kid to talk .

“We didn’t live her , we moved here after she left”

“You were young , you probably don’t remember much , huh?” Erik kept going .

“Not as young as my sister . I remember her being really quiet . We stayed out of her way, dad told us too . Then one day she was gone . I thought she was dead until my dad needed a kidney”

Erik stopped himself from tossing the game controller . He didn’t want Simon to sense anger , in fear that he would stop spilling the beans. So he pretended not to be bothered . “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah ,they have the same blood type or something , that’s why they asked her here . To ask her”

Erik spotted Marley outside in the backyard . He excused himself from the game . He walked to the French doors and opened them . As he was about to tell her the real reason her father invited her, Erik noticed her face . She had been crying . He knew she shouldn’t have come . Before he could get a word in, Marley began to speak . Telling him about thought fake apology from Karen. And how she tried to blame everything on her father , like she didn’t play a key role in her outcome.

“Erik they have a pool , look at how these kids grew up . They aren’t even his kids” her voice cracked , Erik grew angrier by the minute .

“I slept in a basement , a fucking basement . Like, why didn’t everybody hate me? I was just a kid”

Erik saw her dad inside now . He told her to hold tight and get some air , he would be back for her .

Erik went inside and made sure to shut the door. He caught Christopher in the living room, mid sentence when talking to his son. “So you abandon your daughter , steal from her and then bring her here to save you, my nigga ?”

“Excuse me ?” Christopher glared at Erik, then back at Simon.

“You tryna’ Get her kidney right , that’s why she here?” Erik was jumpy , he slammed his closed fist into his open hand . He lunged toward Chris .

Simon paused his game and rushed to his room . Christopher would deal with him later .

“This ain’t got shit to do with you”

“Nah, Marley is my business”. He pointed to her sitting beside the pool , she didn’t have a clue about what was goin on between the two of them

“You may not care , but that’s what you missed out on . She’s special , she’s smart , she’s funny, and she matters to me . And everyday I see this fucking sadness in her and I couldn’t figure out why . But now I know it’s because of you . You fucked her up , but I’m here now, and I’m changing that”

Christopher stood up , he was taller than Erik but he had knocked down bigger and younger . Erik would kill him, without thinking or feeling remorse . He looked him dead in the eye, Christopher looked to the French doors and softened . Marley had come in.

“Don’t call her no’ more” he said in this tone, that only the two of them could understand .

“What’s going on?” She came towards the duo .

“Marley lets go” Erik didn’t shout but he didn’t have to. He couldn’t hit him, or beat his ass like he wanted to . He would have to tell Marley the reason and he wanted to spare her.

She didn’t argue, Erik was her man and meant more to her than anyone in that house . She grabbed her purse off the table and took his hand . They left , leaning the door open behind them. Erik drove off as soon as they fastened their seatbelts . Marley cried , she just sat in her seat and cried on the journey home . About twenty minutes in, Erik reached over and grabbed her chin. He leaned her over and kissed her a few times to calm her down . “Chill out, try to stop crying aight ?”

Marley took a deep breath and nodded her head . Erik decided that he would never tell her about the Kidney. That was something he’d take to the grave .

[cupcakeshakesnake]

Facing an end (fanfic)

It’s a one-shot about White Diamond dying. That’s it.

This was written way before the movie - its Google Drive document was created back in January. And I don’t feel like editing Spinel into it. It was basically written in one go so it’s probably quite clunky too, but I don’t feel like working more on it, either. I’ve been toying with the idea of turning it into a comic, but I’m not sure about it right now, and even if I do, I see no harm in posting the writing first.

Here it is, under Read More.

One day, White Diamond takes Steven aside. "Steven, I need your help." A brief flash. She looks the same, but more ragged, gray and glitching in places. Her gem is considerably duller than before. "I'm not who I used to be. I can't sustain my own form anymore. I just can't. And I feel my energy seeping away every day. I... I think I'm dying." "But I thought you guys could live forever." "No... No, we can't. I once thought we could exist indefinitely, but now, I... I can feel it. Our gemstones can't persist. I feel mine failing." Her voice slowly drops to a whisper as a tear wells up in the giant eyes. "And I... I'm scared, Steven... I'm so afraid..." Days later. "So... What did the Peridots say? M-maybe that you're not dying after all?" White Diamond doesn't meet Steven's hopeful eyes as she stares off into the distance. After a few moments of silence, "Fifty years." Steven's face brightens up a little, then falls again. "Oh hey that's longer than- oh. That's like a couple of days for you isn't it?" "It's a mere moment compared to how long I have existed so far." Silence again. "But then again, a considerable time for humans..." Steven wonders where this is going. "Steven," White speaks, still not looking at him, "when I--" she stops. She begins again, laying out her words slowly as if tiptoeing over a rickety bridge. "Could you promise me, that, when I--" Another pause. Steven thinks he might have heard a suppressed sob. "Could you promise me, that when it happens, you'll be there, with me?" Steven walks over from the elevated ridge he was sitting on, and gently lays a hand on one of her fingers. "I promise."

Time passes. It's a quiet evening on Earth. The slightest of winds blows over the snow-covered land and city lights sparkle like tiny embers in the far distance. The night sky is a clear, deep indigo, and if one doesn't look carefully enough they might be startled by a giant brilliant-cut diamond floating high in the air, reflecting starlight off its dull grey surface. That's what she has been reduced to; near invisible. Her form is a strange amalgamation of glitches and wispy foglike light; only those who knew what she had once looked like could struggle to recognize her face in the darkness. "I didn't expect you to come all the way over here." The cheery voice of a grown human male breaks the silence. White looks down and smiles as the small figure - bigger than before, yes, but still small to her - trudges through the snow towards her, bundled up in a large pinkish overcoat, trailing clouds of exhaled breath behind him. "Nearly got ready for a trip to Homeworld. What brought you?" "The view is quite beautiful," she responds simply. Steven keeps trudging over. He's almost reached her toes now. "And I like the silence. Homeworld is too loud and too bright these days, and I simply can't bear the thought of staying inside my head during-" An abrupt pause. A sigh.

"I've been there long enough. Too long perhaps. Some things I don't want to remember in my last moments." Steven now sits down at the ground beside her heels, or rather, what he assumes to be the heels judging by the shape of the displaced snow. "So this is it, then. ...And here I was, hoping you'd just fancied dropping by all of a sudden..." More silence. "How is Connie?" "Oh, she's doing great. She said she'd stay at home, though. Thought you needed some space." "I see." "You know, Steven, I spent the last half century doing what I could to make up to the fullest - and I thought I'd be prepared for this, but..." she chuckles a little. There is a sad tinge to the laugh. "I'm still afraid, Steven. It may as well happen at any minute and I'm scared out of my gem." "White... It's okay to be afraid." An even more lengthened silence. "You just-" Steven's sentence is interrupted by the loud roar of a spaceship landing. Out of the single arm exits Blue, Yellow and Connie. "You didn't tell us she'd be coming here!" Yellow starts accusingly at Steven, but Blue quietly lays a hand on her shoulder. Yellow follows her gaze. "Oh." Connie trots towards Steven - she'd run but she'd rather be cautious. Even though she's perfectly healthy, you never know what's coming at that age. Blue and Yellow slowly walk towards White. "It's... time, isn't it?" a tentative query from the blue one. A nod from the translucent figure. "Why didn't you tell us?!" this time from Yellow, directed at either Steven or White, or both. "Well, she might want some space to herself--" Connie starts with a slight edge to her voice, but White holds up a hand. It's by pure luck that the hand glitched brightly enough just at the right moment so that Connie could see it.

"I thought--" a pause. "...Well. It's too late to explain anything. Thank you for coming. I'm glad to see you all." "So it really is time then," Blue repeats, more of a mumble than anything. "Oh, White," then she lets out a sob and wraps her arms around the smoky figure, "I'll miss you so much." The arm that wraps around her back in return is only felt, not seen. "It was good, knowing you," Yellow chokes out. Her face contorts almost comically as she tries her best to keep the tears in, but it's a losing battle. It's only from a patch of snow that is suddenly flattened with wetness, that she knows White is fighting tears of her own. "Don't mourn for too long, Blue," White somehow manages a joke. "Yellow would be after my shards." Joking was one of the many things Steven taught her, and though their senses of ‘humor' somewhat differed according to him, it never failed to brighten her up. Blue giggles weakly, ignoring an indignant "I wouldn't!" from Yellow. "Really White, at a time like this?" But as she withdraws from the hug, she notices all the moisture on her shoulders. Not her own tears. Those start flowing afresh as well, but she just decides to giggle some more. She can hear White chuckling along. A sudden bright flash, and the floating gemstone drops a dozen feet or two in altitude. An oversized handprint appears in the snow. "Not... Long..." White's voice rasps. The bright flash starts again. No, the bright flashes. They grow and grow until they form one big blinding static in the vague shape of White Diamond. Irregular buzzing noises are heard. "Yellow... Blue... I'm proud of you..." her voice seems to be growing distant and cut off, like a radio broadcast with bad reception. "Steven... Connie..." The statics start to jump wildly in form, blinking in and out of sight. "Thank... You..." Whether she says any more after that, it is not heard, but only swallowed by the static. It grows more intense. More fuzzy. It's becoming painful to the eye.

Then all at once, a bright flash - quickly followed by nothing, reminiscent of an old-fashioned TV screen turning off. It takes a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. There, in the snow, lies a diamond. A dull, foggy grayish white diamond, the size of a human child. But no more than that. Just a beautifully shaped chunk of pressurized carbon, holding no life or light within.

Steven slowly kneels, picks up the heavy gemstone and cradles it in his arms.

It’s cold.

It begins to snow.

“Do… do you want to go home now, Steven?” Connie lays a gentle hand on his shoulder. “...Yeah.” He stands up, the diamond still in his arms. “Yeah, let’s go inside.”

He turns to Blue and Yellow. “Do you wanna come stay for a bit?”

Yellow answers in Blue’s place as she tries and fails to speak through her sobbing.

“That would be great, Steven.”

[jj-lynn21]

Roman & Princess: Castle in the Desert ch 3

Music: Romantic Music https://youtu.be/58GQx4xEdlY  

Warnings: fluff, 

ch 1  ch 2  ch 4  ch 5

When you wake covers are tucked in around you. Light piano music plays. You sigh deeply reaching your hand out for Roman. Awake but eyes stilled close. Unsure of the time you whimper as you open your eyes to see, Roman is not there with you.

The smell of fresh baked bread scents the air. You sit up and notice the juice on the side table. Swinging your legs around off the edge of the bed you stand grabbing the juice. Roman’s t-shirt adorns your body. You are also wearing fresh red lace panties. Of course, Roman would put these on me, you think to yourself as you smirk. You finish the juice before heading out of the bedroom with the empty glass to take downstairs..

You hear Roman in his office as you come out of the bedroom. He sounds pleased for a change. He turns seeing you and snaps his fingers. You rush to his side.

“I couldn’t have gotten anything done with out my best girl today,” He holds you close with his free hand around your shoulder. A smile on his face. “No, thank you. If you need more, I will try to help. Our labs were closed with the rest of the building so instead of them sitting there unused I knew you needed them. You don’t have to do that. Just take care of the children. Alright, bye.”

Roman hangs up. “You lit a fire under those slackers asses Princess. The hospital received one million masks and one hundred boxes of gloves from Godfrey industries. They are going to call the new  kids play area Godfrey house.” He chuckles.

“That’s great Roman,” you smile up at him. “So, what smells so good? Did you cook?”

He chuckles, “No, I heated up some French bread about ten minutes ago. And we have pasta from your favorite restaurant.”

“Good, I’m starving,” You both head downstairs. “Did you get in touch with Bill?”

“I did,” Roman pulled a chair out for you at the dining room table. “We will leave after dinner. I already packed our suitcases with everything we will possibly need. I bought you a new dress for our first ball tonight. I guess there are still people showing up every day even though it is suggested strongly they stay home.”

“That’s crazy,” you take a sip of blood wine. “But at least we will get a fresh drink. And it is not all of the humans that are choosing not to follow basic safety guidelines.”

“Yes, it’s not all of them,” Roman gets the meals from the kitchen and sets them on the table, lights some candles and dims the other lights in the room. “I guess it’s all good for us.” He smirks. 

“That sounds bad,” You giggle, “but it’s so true.”

After dinner you and Roman head to Godfrey industries. His plane is in a hanger behind the building.

“I called the closest airport to file a flight plan.” Roman opened a compartment under the plane for luggage. “There isn’t much traffic in the air right now. We should get there in three hours. Bill sent me the coordinates.”

You helped him put the luggage in the compartment. “What do you need me to do captain?”

“Oh shit, you didn’t?” Roman grinned. “I need to be serious until I can put her on auto pilot in the air. You just do whatever I say. It’s going to be a smooth flight.”

“Do whatever I’m told in the air, got it,” You give him a super serious face.

Roman shakes his head. He just thinks you are being to cute right now. Maybe because your nervous. “I’ll tell you everything I do to get ready. I’ve logged thirty thousand miles in this baby. You don’t worry about a thing, Miss sexy co-pilot.”

You giggle, “Yes, Captain.”

Roman shuts the luggage door. Then pulls the main door down that has steps attached. “Lady’s first.” He slaps your ass as you ascend the stairs into the passenger area of the plane. 

You giggle. When you step inside your jaw drops at the cream and black leather interior, “Wow Roman.”

He steps inside, “Yeah, worth every bit of the 3.9 million I paid. If your impressed with this, wait until you see my cock pit. Right this way.” You follow him, “This little refrigerator between the passenger end and the cock pit has some blood bags for a treat once we get in the air if you feel thirsty. I shouldn’t drink and fly unless I’m desperate, but I will be fine. The blood orange juice we had for breakfast will keep me stable without the high.”

“I hope so,” You bit your lower lip nervously, “because I don’t know shit about flying a plane.”

“Just sit over there and buckle up Princess,” Roman instructed. “I got this.”

He buckled up, “I’ll walk you through the take-off procedures, alright?”

“Yeah, that sounds cool,” You say excitedly.

“Ok Bill gave me coordinates to an airstrip between Sandy Valley and Goodsprings, Nevada to put in the onboard computer like this,” He reaches down to the control panel to put in coordinates. “Auxiliary fuel pump — Off. Flight controls — Free and correct. Instruments and radios — Checked and set. Landing gear position lights — Checked. Altimeter — Set. Directional gyro — Set. Fuel gauges — Checked. We are all fueled Princess. Just going through all this like I was taught.”

“Just do what you need to do,” You wiggled in your seat a little. All this was turning you on a bit. “It makes me feel more comfortable.”

“Good.” Roman looked at the panel to check off everything else on his list. “Seat belts/shoulder harnesses — Fastened. Parking brake — Off. Doors and windows — Locked. Action — Engine instruments checked.”

Roman taxies the plane down the runway. You hold your breath. Seeing the whole thing from the front seems like a whole different experience. When he had the plane in the air at a good cruising altitude, he turned on the autopilot.

“We are all set,” Roman swivels his chair to look at you. “How about a drink to help those nerves? I will keep the radio open so we can hear if there are any unexpected crafts. I also need watch a few things on the panel from time to time during the trip. But we can basically do whatever you want for two and a half hours..”

You go to grab a flute full, from a blood bag. Come back and straddle Roman. ���Anything I want to make me less nervous?” You grind into him.

Roman groan. Nod his head yes looking in your eyes and he holds your hips. 

[justforbooks]

Herb Heilbrun was born October 11, 1920 in Cincinnati, Ohio to his father Herbert, who worked for his wife’s family business that “produced high-quality made-to-measure men’s suits” and his mother Mary Lou, who “Had a promising tryout during Hollywood’s “silent” era, but decided that life in the movies was no life at all after working severals grueling days as a film extra”. As a young boy who loved building wooden model airplanes, he attended elementary school at North Avondale Elementary in Cincinnati alongside his future best friend and Tuskegee Airman, John Leahr. Herb remembers December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He didn’t hear the news until later on in the afternoon when he stopped at a favorite restaurant in the neighborhood called Sugar N Spice and all of the employees were sitting around listening to the news on the radio; the “Japs” were bombing Hawaii. He had just turned twenty-one in October and was working at the Wright Aeronautical defense plant that had just opened north of Cincinnati and within weeks he decided to join the Army Air Corps and do something he had always dreamt of doing… learn to fly. That following May in 1942 Herb passed the entry exams for the Air Corps and the Cadet Board of Examiners and was then sent home to await an opening for aviation cadet classes. He was finally called up in February of 1943. He had B-17 training in New Mexico and B-17 combat crew training in Texas. When he was finally ready to set off to Europe in a shiny new B-17G, everyone in his crew showed up except his waist gunner. Missing even one member of the crew forced them to be considered incomplete for combat and they were broken apart and placed into other squadrons as replacement crew members. Herb was forced to return to combat crew training and eventually was able to ship out overseas. November 1944, Herb landed in Italy with combat assignment in the 301st Bomb Group. Combat airfield life forced the men to live in a tent city, take off on runways made of interlocking steel mats and build furniture from from junked aircraft.

The following excerpt is from “Black and White Airmen - Their True History” (John Fleischman)

We have to fly whatever airplane is given to us because they’re always fixing something on them. “On February 1, 1945, Herb found himself  in a deathtrap, only it was his own side that nearly killed him. It was mechanical failure, not flak. The mission was an oil refinery at Moosbierbaum, just outside Vienna. The weather was awful. The B-24’s, which flew at lower altitudes, were more vulnerable to bad weather, so the pressure was on to get as many high-altitude B-17s as possible into the attack force. That put the major in charge of the repair shops for Herb’s squadron under the gun. The night before Moosbierbaum, Herb’s crew was on the order of battle, but rumor said that there weren’t enough airworthy B-17s for such a big mission. The major promised a maximum repair effort overnight. Herb had no idea what he would be flying in the morning.

Crews always had favorite aircraft, but except for the special Pathfinder ships, no crew had a guarantee of getting their “own” plane. Herb’s crew preferred “Haley’s Comet” a bright metal B-17G named by a previous crew after Jack Haley, the actor who played the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz movie.” That was the plane Herb’s crew wanted to fly most if it were on the flight line for the next day’s mission.

“The Comet was out of action for Moosbierbaum; they would have to take the luck of the draw. But when Herb reached his assigned aircraft on the flight line, he was stunned. It was a crate, an orphan B-17 from the Eighth Air Force in England that had crash-landed behind Soviet lines, been patched together, and flown out to Italy. It belonged to no one now unless the major’s repair crews tore it apart for spares or converted it into a squadron “hack,” a stripped-out bomber good enough to fly men to Naples or Rome on leave. Suddenly this old crate was pretending to be a bomber again, sitting there fueled, armed, and bombed up to join the order of battle. When Herb reached the cockpit and pulled out the plane’s logbook, he felt sick. The engines had 521 hours on them. Herb knew from his time at Wright Aero that an aircraft engine with close to 500 hours on it wasn’t safe. After 500 hours, an engine needed a total teardown and rebuild. To fly this crate on a combat mission was crazy. But it was too late. Planes all around them were going through the engine start drill. Any minute, the colonel’s ship would be rolling toward takeoff. The rest of the squadron had better be with him at 10,000 feet and building the attack formation within minutes. Herb remembered what he’d told his flight engineer before Brux: “We’re going to fly whatever airplane they give us. We’re going to fly it to wherever they tell us.”

Herb Glanced across at Harry in the copilot’s seat. There was nothing to do but start the engines and pray. Maybe an oil seal would blow on Engine Start. None did. Herb took off, climbed to his assigned position in the formation, and set out for Moosbierbaum. All four engines were running, but Herb was worried. To keep up with the formation, he couldn’t nurse his suspect engines. As the bombers crossed the Alps into southern Austria, the number one engine began to smoke and then vibrate violently. Herb shut it down and managed to “feather” the head propeller; that is, he rotated the blades into a neutral position to minimize air resistance. Unfeathered, a frozen prop would drag them down as surely as if the airplane had a ship’s anchor dangling from the wing.”

Now it was equally dangerous to turn back alone or go on with the formation to target. Running on three engines, Herb ordered the bombardier to jettison half the bomb load. The barrage tore up the Austrian pastures below them, but the lighter airplane picked up a little speed. They would be able to stay with the formation, Herb thought, if nothing else went wrong. Then engine number three erupted in smoke and violent vibration. Herb feathered the prop. On two engines, they were finished, at least, with this mission. Herb lowered and raised the plane’s wheels, the signal to his squadron leader that he was aborting, and turned his crippled crate toward home.”

The radios didn’t work, I couldn’t get fighter escort, I couldn’t get anything. So I called the crew and said, we gotta problem, I want you to charge your 50 caliber machine guns and stay with them. We’ve got two engines gone, we’re a long way from home, I don’t know what’s going to happen if we’re attacked, but we’re going to give em what we can give em!

I figured if I got over the Alps, the worst thing that could happen was that there’s a flat place before you get to the Adriatic that would allow us to either bail out or get it on the ground. We might be captured. We got that far and I made a little deal with the Lord, I didn’t say get me home *laughs* I was pushing that hard, I said just get me half way down the Adriatic because the British had launches in Yugoslavia and when they’d see an airplane they’d come out, pick you up and take care of you.

“Moosbierbaum was waiting for the rest of Herb’s bomb group with bad flak and terrible weather. The flak claimed two B-17s, and the weather scattered the attackers. But Herb and his crew were already fighting for their lives. The enemy was gravity. To get home, they had the Alps to scale first, and Herb would need every inch of altitude the plane could grab to get over on two engines. He ordered the rest of the bomb load jettisoned. The B-17 gained a little height, but the snowy mountaintops ahead still looked much too close for comfort. They had no Little Friends (P-51s) to protect them, but they had no choice. The guns had to go. Herb ordered the gunners to heave their heavy 50 caliber machine guns overboard, followed by anything else the crew could tear loose — the oxygen cylinders, ammunition, extra clothing, flak jackets, and helmets. They kept the radio, their parachutes, and the navigation chart. Somehow, they scraped over the Alps without attracting Luftwaffe attention. Herb recited one of his silent prayers, asking only to reach the coast. The minutes tick by. Herb caught a glint of sunlight ahead, flashing off the Adriatic. Then Herb saw a thin stream of oil drizzling out of engine number two. A B-17 can’t fly on one engine, at least not for long.

Herb prayed, “Dear Lord, please just get me halfway down the Adriatic.” His radioman made contact with an American flight control station so at least someone would know where they went down or if they bailed out. Herb, though, was determined to go home. He radioed ahead to the airfield, asking for fire engines and ambulances on the runway”… We got halfway down the Adriatic and I called the crew and told them we were going home. And I’ll never forget, I called base and said Foxtail one two to Long-skirt, I’ve got two engines gone, one leaking oil. I told them where I was at 7,000 feet and 75 miles away from you and I said if a group is landing please hold them and give me permission for straight in approach on one seven.

“Number two was leaking heavily now. Herb figured that he  had one pass at landing. They were too low to bail out now, and too crippled to go around the field again. It was land or crash. On February 1, 1944, Herb made one of the best landings of his life in the worst airplane he ever flew. He let the crate roll all the  way down to the end of the runway before coming to a complete stop. The crew climbed out, giddy with relief. They were home, safe, sound, and dry.”

The major came roaring up in a jeep. A magnificent landing, the major shouted, a magnificent achievement to make it back on two engines. “Lieutenant Heilbrun, you’ll probably get the DFC for this,” said the major, meaning that Herb would get the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the AAF’s highest honors. What Herb almost got was a court-martial. For the next five minutes, the lieutenant told the major precisely what the lieutenant thought of someone who would send ten men on a bombing mission in an aircraft with more than five hundred hours on the engines. “Criminal” was one of the more polite words Herb used. Lieutenants did not talk this way to majors in the AAF, especially with so many enlisted men and officers standing around, soaking up every word. And yet Lieutenant Heilbrun said all that and walked away from the major. Maybe that was another reason for the DFC that Herb was awarded for actions above and beyond the call of duty on February 1, 1945.”

Herb continued flying, keeping his crew alive and ended his final Mission, with a total of 35, on April 16, 1945 - “Herb’s personal Victory in Europe day”.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[angrylilfic]

On the Wild Side chap. 8

SORRRRRYYYY! I know I keep flaking on you guys but @bihoodnerd has actually been posting chapters of the fic on AO3 for me, so you can check that out too. In the meantime, here’s the second to last chapter :) 

The team rolled out of the garage and made their way through the countryside. Trini was in front, watching the horizon for anything out of the ordinary. They were running at a quick pace, trying to find any sign of Astronema or her minions.

“Guys I think I found where Astronema is transmitting the signal from. It seems to be coming from one of the old radio towers on the other side of town,” Billy said over his mic.

“Take Jason with you. Kim, Zack, and I’ll take on Astronema and buy you some time to take it down,” Trini commanded.

The team parted as Trini’s team took off headed downtown while Jason and Billy went uptown. The zords came to a screeching halt as they saw the destruction that led into the city. Buildings were completely destroyed and others were on fire. Smoke was everywhere and there seemed to be nowhere that wasn’t covered in a thick layer of dust. 

“We gotta stop her or Angel Grove is gonna be completely destroyed,” Zack said as they climbed out of the zords to get a better view from the ground.

People were rushing to get out of buildings and to safety. In front of the buildings was a giant nano monster. As soon as they stepped into the square, the smoke cleared and Astronema stepped out from a portal.

Astronema laughed as the rangers stood in front of her. “So glad you could join us rangers. Now that you’re here, the party can really start.”

She snapped her fingers and a large, blue portal opened behind her. Dozens of nano monsters and rows of children with identical ranger armor on, except all of theirs was black with blue accent lines. They stood without their helmets on, emotionless and awaiting command. The nano monster towered over them, ready to attack. 

Astronema raised a clawed hand. “Kill them.” The children and nanos ran out of the portal, charging at the team with no hesitation. 

“Okay new plan, kill the nanos and subdue the kids,” Trini yelled over the chaos.

“What about jumbo over here?” Zack said trying to fight his way through the kids and monsters. 

“Leave him to me!” 

A little girl jumped on Kim’s back, putting her in a chokehold.

“Watch out Kim!” Zack yelled as he ripped the kid off her back and threw her a few feet away. The girl landed on her feet effortlessly. She swung her arm out and a sword made of fire emerged.

“Aw shit, we’re screwed,” Zack sighed, pulling his ax out.

Trini climbed her way up a building, not yet sure how she was gonna take the monster down.

“Tri- Trini can you hear me?” Billy said through the coms, his voice cutting in and out.

“Kind of, what’s wrong?” 

“We nee- time. There’s- can- get through.” He cut out. 

_____

 “Bil, you’re gonna have to hurry up!” Jason yelled as he used a shield to try and keep the ranger kids from breaking down the door to the radio tower.

“I’m going as fast as I can, but it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The whole thing is written in some kind of alien code.” 

Jason grunted as he used his body to hold the shield in place. The force on the other side of the door eased up for a moment, until the kids used their weapons to break the door down completely.

“Jason!” Billy cried as his friend flew through the room, landing with a loud thump. The kids moved into the room and closed in on Billy. Jason groaned as the kids pinned him against the wall.

“Get off him!” the boy yelled as he hurled a ball of electricity towards them. The ball hit the kids directly and they fell to the ground, unconscious. Jason stared at Billy in wonder as the other boy kept working.

“You okay Jase?” The blue ranger called over his shoulder. 

“Yeah I’m good, focus on taking the signal down,” Jason said as he checked on the kids. He took the chips out and made sure they were all breathing. Billy pumped his fist as the tower signal came down, in the distance they could hear Trini roar. 

“Where am I? Stay back!” One of the kids woke up and threw up a shield around her and the other kids.

“Bill, get Trini on the line. I’ve got an idea.”   

_____

“Billy? Billy! Shit,” she said out loud, “guys, Billy and Jason need more time to bring the tower down.” 

“We’ve kinda got our hands tied down here Trini!” Zack said, trying to take down two kids that were attacking his left side. Zack felt his control slipping away and as the next thing he knew, the kids were knocked out.

“Zack! Remember how you were able to heal Kevin? Maybe your healing powers can be used to knock them out too!” Kim said panting.

From Trini’s position, she could see Astronema move away from the square and make her way towards Krispy Kreme. Running out of options, Trini whistled for the zords. 

“Guys get out the way; I have an idea!” 

Kim and Zack jumped up to higher positions as the zords came crashing through the town square. Trini jumped from the roof and into her cockpit. Her zord opened its mouth and roared. The ranger kids’ chips shattered as they fell to their knees. 

“C’mon, Astronema’s getting close to the crystal,” Zack said, jumping into his zord.

“What about the kids?” Kim said as her pterodactyl hovered above them.

“Leave them, we’ll come back.” Trini instructed as they all made their way after the mega nano.

The three made their way to the crystal, where Astronema’s monster was digging a hole where the Krispy Kreme used to be. The nano was slow in its movements, as though it didn’t exactly understand her command.

“Work faster you idiot!” Astronema yelled frantically as they approached. She turned her head and gave a sinister smile, “Rangers! I’m so glad you could be here to witness the beginning of a new earth. As we speak, my rangers are being driven out of Angel Grove and to government facilities all over the country. When they wake, they have instructions to covertly hypnotize all other personnel in the facilities, then make their way through every major city in the country. With the zeo crystal and an army of minions, not even you will be able to stop me!” The enchantress cackled.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Trini said as Kim’s pterodactyl swooped low and fired missiles at the mega nano.

Zack rushed behind her and used his zord to push Astronema’s monster back from the pit. Trini followed, using the Sabertooth and slashed at them.

“Enough!” Astronema yelled. The monster got back up and with a roar, pushing all the zords back. Astronema’s eyes took on an icy blue and dozens of nano monsters came running out through a portal. 

The monsters weren’t as sturdy as before, they were confused and were fighting sloppily. They began flinging themselves at the zords, ripping into them and trying to take them down. Trini looked up, Kim’s pterodactyl was being swarmed with nanos on the wings.

“Kim do a loop!” Trini said through the mic. Kimberly tried her best to shake the nanos, but the majority of them hung on.

“Shit look out!” Zack yelled as Astronema’s monster began flinging balls of fire at them.

Kim was doing her best to fly through the chaos, but the monster threw a large fireball at her and the pterodactyl began losing altitude, “I need some help over here!” she screamed as the zord dipped lower.

Trini used the Sabertooth to chase after Kimberly, when she was low enough, the tiger jumped into the air to cushion Kim’s landing. Kim’s left wing was hanging on by a couple steel beams, with the cockpit almost completely torn out. Zack screamed behind them as the mega dragged his zord into the pit which was now on fire.   

“Zack hold on,” Trini said as Kim jumped into the Sabertooth with her. The tiger rammed into the mega’s side, making it lose hold of Zack.

They were locked in a hold, Trini and Zack’s zords using all their strength to hold back the mega nano. They could feel themselves sliding back as they heard Billy over their comms.

“Trini! We got the signal disrupted, her powers should be weakened. Jason and I have an idea.” 

Billy’s zord ran to them as a high pitched screeching noise filled the air. The nano monsters all shrieked as their body’s began to crumble to the ground.

“Guys go down, I think we can take them from the ground,” Zack said, ejecting himself from the Mastodon.

Astronema watched as her monsters began to fall apart, desperately trying to use her powers to get them to move. The rangers closed in on her as she struggled to regain control.

“It’s over Astronema, you lost.” Trini said as she stood to her full height.

“Lost? Oh no children, you’ve only delayed the inevitable. You see, even without my rangers, even without my nanobot monsters, I am still an alpha, still a ranger. That kind of power can’t be taken away.” 

Astronema brushed herself off as she took a deep breath. Immediately, Trini’s hair stood on end as her alpha sensed something, “Grab her!”

Trini lunged at her as Astronema’s body began levitating in an eerie blue light, a forcefield shielded her and Trini got thrown back. As the enchantress opened her eyes, an evil smile stretched her face, fangs poking out. A silhouette began forming around her, taking on the shape of a giant blue wolf almost two times the size of an elephant. The shadow engulfed the enchantress and in her place stood only the wolf.  

“Now you will see what a true alpha looks like!” She cackled as the wolf let out a howl that left the others clutching their ears. 

Astronema charged at them, fangs drawn as the team moved to get out of the way. Astronema leaped at Trini, jaws snapping at her throat. Trini wrestled with the wolf, trying to push her off when an arrow lodged itself in its back. The wolf snarled as she turned around.

“Hey bitch! Get off my girlfriend,” Kim yells, bow drawn with a pink arrow already knocked in place to shoot again.

The wolf growled as it jumped off Trini and headed for Kim, a ball of electricity hit her in the side. Billy raised his hands as the electricity flowed from one hand to the other. The others surrounded her, weapons raised. Zack with his axe and Trini with her claws out. 

Astronema laughed as a puff of blue smoke surrounded them. A scream was heard through the smoke, but Trini couldn’t see anything in front of her, “Guys! Where is she?”  Trini stumbled forward, feeling around for her team. A yellow light covered Trini head to toe.

Her hands bumped into a body, “Kim? Guys, is that you?” She said getting closer.

“Trin- Trini I can’t move” Zack said, coughing. Trini looked down, Zack had deep cuts running down his torso, his legs were being pinned in place by the blue smoke and his armor had dematerialized. Next to him, Billy groaned as the smoke pinned him down on his back, his shirt torn up and covered in blood. A cough alerted Trini to someone behind them. 

“Trini, help me,” Kimberly sputtered out. Trini crawled her way to her girlfriend, Kim was laying on her back, a large cut ran from her forehead to just below her eyebrow. 

“Jesus, Kim what happened?” Trini kneeled over her, pressing her hand over the wound. 

Kim groaned underneath her, “She jumped me before the smoke spread.”

A large paw emerged from the smoke and clawed at Trini’s back, slashing through her undershirt and ripping into her skin. Trini let out a shriek that made Kimberly’s blood run cold. The alpha dropped to the floor as Astronema pulled her claws out from Trini’s body.

“Trini!” Kim screamed as the wolf stepped over Trini’s body and walked towards Kim.

“Leave them alone! Get away from them.” Zack yelled as he fought against the weight of the smoke.

“I have grown tired of the games little rangers. You will submit to me, or you will die trying to save this pathetic town.” Astronema paced in front of her with a wolfish grin.

Astronema raised a giant paw, setting it down on Kimberly’s wound. “Such a shame really, I thought your little alpha would’ve put up more of a fight. Guess she didn’t love you as much as you thought.” 

Astronema ripped her claws down the side of Kimberly’s head. Kimberly and the boys screamed as Astronema put a hand on Kim’s windpipe. “After I kill you and your team, there will be no one left to stand in my w-”

A thunderous roar boomed through the street. Astronema whipped her head around as a gigantic  yellow Sabertooth jumped on her back, large teeth sinking into her neck. The two rolled around before Trini pinned Astronema to the ground. 

“Enough! You think I'm weak? You think I won’t kill you? How dare you threaten my family.” Trini growled.

Astronema shifted one of her paws into a hand and threw a hard punch to Trini’s jaw. Trini stumbled back as the enchantress circled her.

“I’ve defeated much stronger alpha’s than you Trinity Gomez. I have watched the very best ranger teams fall. What makes you different?” The wolf said, grinning. Trini shook her head and gave the villain a toothy smile.

“Because you just fell for our trap, bitch.” A large explosion came from behind them, the ranger kids came running towards them with Jason leading them. Jason threw up shields around Astronema, boxing her in. Trini jumped into the ring as Jason and the kids held them up. The kids who didn’t have shield abilities had weapons drawn. Trini circled the enchantress, her eyes blazing yellow. 

Astronema lunged at Trini, sinking her teeth into the girl's shoulder. Trini cried out in pain as she tried to get away. Trini snapped her teeth at the wolf’s hind leg and Astronema tumbled to the ground. She took several steps back, a deep growl coming from her throat. They stared each other down, eyes blazing. Blue and Yellow lasers shot from their eyes, blinding Jason and the kids. 

“You think you’re more powerful than me? I’ve had worlds bow before me!” The wolf growled out.

“You’re weak. We know you’re weak, you know you’re weak. Last time you fought one of our teams they left you scrambling.”

“Silence!” Astronema yelled as she lunged at Trini, Trini dodged as Astronema hit the side of Jason’s shield. A bright light flashed and suddenly there were three people in the ring: the wolf, the sabertooth, and Trini in her human form. 

Trini pulled her claws out and beat the wolf repeatedly into the shield wall. Astronema gnashed her teeth as Trini whipped her claws across the wolf’s face and neck while her sabertooth circled them. 

“You’re weak and everyone knows it.” Trini dragged Astronema to the middle of the ring and threw the wolf down into the dirt. The sabertooth pinned Astronema to the ground as Trini’s hands wrapped around her neck. Trini felt her eyes turn yellow. 

Astronema’s eyes glowed blue, and as Trini kept her eyes locked. “Your time as alpha has come to an end, I am the alpha ranger and you will submit to me!” Trini yelled as the sabertooth roared. A ball of light encased them, a mysterious wind blew as they levitated into the air. 

Trini ripped her claws across the wolf’s chest, her Sabertooth bit hard into its wolf’s shoulder. Trini reached into the wound and pulled Astronema’s spirit out. The wind and the light died down as they drifted down to the floor. Trini’s Sabertooth stood at her side as Astronema tried desperately to merge with the wolf, who was on the floor whimpering as though it were dying.

“What have you done? What have you done!” She shrieked.

Trini and her alpha merged. “I’ve stripped you of your alpha and taken your powers. You’re nothing more than a human now.”

The wolf stood and walked to Trini’s feet. Trini looked at it as the wolf bowed its head and disappeared into a ball of light. Finally defeated.

[fanfics-await-you]

I never know what to expect from him (Part 2)

Pairing: Poe Dameron/Female OC

Summary: Poe Dameron is your friend, your fellow resistance fighter, but most of all he's a goddamn pain in your ass. And yeah, maybe you're falling for him and well yes, it seems like he's falling for you too, but now REALLY isn't the time.

Tags: angst, a pair of dumbasses unnecessarily complicating things, minor ROS spoilers

notes:  yeah, it’s been a bit, sorry. Yes, there are literally overlapping themes/lines with the last thing I wrote but I will not apologise. I write what I write lol. I also thought of the quote from the Christmas movie in here when it was Christmas time, so it’s fine. Also, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movie now so if anything’s wrong sorry, I’m going off memory. I genuinely cannot remember like anything about the general fleet after the lightning happened?

Inspired by: @polkanote‘s post & @andhumanslovedstories‘s post

Word Count: 1,642

masterlist

Part 1

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

I would follow you anywhere…

The noise of the party continues to pound in my ears like a drumbeat. I don’t move. A moment passes, and then another. I try to find the words to describe the flurry that is going on in my mind. Poe saves me the trouble.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

I can’t take my eyes from his face. Poe’s expression is tight with tension and his eyes are troubled.

He speaks again, “I shouldn’t-I shouldn’t have put you in this position, I’m-I’m sorry.”

My mind finally catches up to the situation as he pulls away from my touch. The absence of Poe’s warmth at my side spurs me to action. As he takes a step away, my hand darts out to grab his arm. As Poe turns around, my hand slides down his forearm until our fingers are touching.

“Poe, I don’t understand.”

“I know, I shouldn’-“

“No, I don’t understand why you’re leaving.”

I intertwine our fingers and then use my grip to pull him closer. Poe’s face is conflicted, but he doesn’t fight me.

The words come out as a whisper, “I never said that you couldn’t come with me.”

His breath catches slightly before Poe turns away and pulls his hand from mine to distractedly push his hair away from his face. His rejection stings but I don’t let it stop me; for once, when it comes to Poe, I am feeling brave. I step towards him so that we’re almost touching and place my hand in the middle of Poe’s chest. He looks at me in surprise and then down at my hand. I can feel the quick thump-thump of his heart beneath my fingers and all I want to do is sink into his warmth.

“Poe.” He doesn’t meet my eyes.

I speak again, “Poe.”

His gaze finally finds mine, and everything that I’ve been dying to tell him tumbles out in the form of a single, breathy sentence.

“Poe, I never said that I didn’t want follow you too.”

He closes his eyes for a moment, like he’s fortifying himself, before gently taking my hand from its place on his chest. Then, steadily like he might startle me, Poe adjusts it so that my palm faces the ground. He raises my hand upwards and places my knuckles against his mouth for a moment.

He murmurs against my fingers, “Kess, it’s not that I don’t want this.”

Slowly, always slowly, Poe cradles my hand against his chest.

He speaks softly, “In fact, all I want to do most days is grab you and get on the next freighter out of here…The thought of you being mine but getting hurt anyway- I- I-” He trails off.

I can almost sense what he’s about to say next before he even starts speaking; mainly because the same thought is playing in my head.

“And that’s exactly why this can’t happen. I can’t give myself the choice between you and the Resistance.”

With a quiet exhale, he lets go of my hand.

“Because if I’m honest…I need to be here but I’m always going to want to choose you.”

I want to fight him. I want to say he’s wrong. I want to be selfish and demand that he stays right here in front of me. Most of all, I want to say fuck the Resistance if it means that I lose you. But that’s exactly it, that’s the problem. What’s more, I gave up the right to be selfish the day I signed my name on the dotted line and became a soldier. So, I say the only thing that there’s really left to say; the one thing that my thumping heart is telling me not to do.

“I understand.”

Poe closes his eyes and nods slightly, like he’s in pain.

“But I just need to you to know one thing.”

He opens his eyes and for a second, I can’t say it because it feels too much like goodbye. I want to forget my responsibilities and just want to drown in the warmth of his eyes and mouth and hands and-

“Given the chance, I’d follow you to the end of the universe and back ten times over,” my tone is steady despite the fact that I feel lost at sea.

Poe’s sad smile is like a stab to the stomach, but I force myself to keep my hands at my side as much as I want to pull him closer.

“We can’t do this again, can we…I don’t think that I’d be able to resist your charms twice,” his tone attempts to be playful but just sounds ragged.

Poe’s gaze doesn’t leave my face as he takes one small step backwards, and then another. Every step feels like another mile between us that I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to cross. I want to say but I can’t lose you completely, that some days the thought of your smile is the only thing that keeps me going.

As if he can hear me, Poe throws one last line over his shoulder with a soft chuckle as he turns away, “Call it self-preservation.”

I only find something to say once his figure has melted back into the party that I had all but forgotten. It doesn’t mean anything now that he’s gone, but I say it anyway.

“Goodbye, Poe. Maybe in a better life.”

---

“I’m hit! I repeat, Black Eight is hit! One wing is compromised. I am losing altitude!”

Radio silence is all that responds.

Forks of lightning are everywhere, and the world feels wrong; this choking, paralytic intensity is clawing its way through my chest. I’m battling the controls but it’s useless. A laser cannon blast tore through my left wing not a minute ago, causing me to dive, and these unnatural bolts of lightning have robbed me of any remaining ability to steer. The ground is getting closer and closer and the goddamn parachute is increasingly seeming like the only option left. I’ll be a great big target for First Order guns, and I have a better chance of being hit by an errant X-wing than hitting the ground, but what’s my choice? Definitely burning to a crisp in this earth-bound hunk of metal or only maybe being shot to pieces? I’ll take a small chance over none any day.

I try the comms again, “Can anyone hear me? Black Eight has lost control and is diving! I’m going to bail!”

Again, only silence.

All Resistance ships are dropping, but thanks to my damaged wing the black earth is coming up on me fast. Fuck, I have to go now or I’m gonna be hitting the ground hard either way.

“I don’t know if anyone can hear me but I’m bailing. Any assistance is welcome!”

…

I’m alone.

“Fuck!”

With that, I pull on the oxy mask and pull the eject lever. I’m violently thrown from my fighter and the world spins beyond my control as the chute struggles to open. My sight alternates feverishly fast between streaks of purple light and black earth, and all I can hear the screaming rush of the air around me.

Why isn’t my goddamn shoot opening?!?

Then suddenly the light stops and my sight is swallowed by black.

---

The lightning suddenly disappears, and I wrestle back control of my X-wing.

“What the hell was that?!? Command, what’s the situation?! Black Squadron, report!”

Quickly, a few names (heart-sickeningly too few) sound off but there is one particular absence that stops my heart.

“Anyone got eyes on Kess?”

It’s Jess who responds finally responds, her tone tight, “Poe…her fighter took damage before the lightning…it didn’t look good.”

In an instant, I can’t breathe. This cockpit is too constricting as I desperately try to spot her X-wing in this mess of a battlefield. The general in me continues barking out orders and the pilot keeps shooting down Final Order freighters, but the simple man in me is distraught. My eyes keep darting from ship to ship, trying to spot her. It’s only when I dive steeply to avoid the debris of a freighter do I finally see Kess’s ship. The flicker of relief in seeing her airborne is quickly swallowed by dismay as I notice how quickly she’s plummeting. Automatically, I push my controls in a deep dive towards her.

“KESS!”

The two-way channel just hisses a static that sets my nerves on fire.

“Kessandra! Kess, answer me!”

It’s like I’m watching in slow-motion as the scene unfolds: I’m gaining speed on her, thinking maybe I can help or do something when suddenly there’s a massive explosion in the nose of her fighter. Within a moment, the entire X-wing has blown apart and is raining debris on a fleet of grounded ships. My world has gone absolutely silent but I can feel Kess’s name ripping out my throat. It burns with all the things I never told her and now will never have the chance. I repeatedly beat the console in front of me and beg someone to help her, to help me, but there’s no one who can change things and now there’s nothing left to do. She’s gone, she’s gone, oh Maker she’s dead. I vaguely hear someone through the comms, but their words are hazy and I can’t understand them. For a second, all I want to do is let go, to plummet downwards to stop the heavy ache in my chest that is threatening to consume me. Then through all the grief, the blazing and white-hot fury of everything that I have lost sweeps over me like a tsunami. I clench my hands around my controls and fly back into the battle. I steel my voice despite the tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Let’s burn these fuckers to the ground!”

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Banner- One Shot:Empire State of Mind

Katie Stark and Steve Rogers- How it all began…

So this is a little different to how I normally write, so I hope you all enjoy it. I was listening to the radio and  ‘Empire State of Mind’ by Alicia Keys came on and it gave me a bit of inspiration.

Warnings: Language!

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist

Grew up in a town that is famous as a place of movie scenes

Noise is always loud, there are sirens all around and the streets are mean

If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere, that’s what they say

Seeing my face in lights or my name in marquees found down on Broadway

Something catches her eye on the coat hooks by the door. A light blue coat. A woman’s coat.

“Babe…” he begins, but she isn’t listening. She pushes past him into the apartment and glances around. There’s a pair of heels by the couch. Her blood runs cold

 “Kay…”

Pushing open the door to the bedroom she stops dead. There’s a woman in there. A blonde woman. Lying, in the bed. On her side. Her chest tightens, her word crumbles and she turns to her boyfriend, who is stood in the doorway, guilty expression on his face.

 “Katie…”

She punches him square in the nose, brings her knee up sharply into his groin leaving him groaning on the floor before she runs, stumbling onto the street. The rain is cold as she gasps for breath, shaking with anger. Before she knows what she is doing, she’s dug a huge scratch down the side of his car, his silver Audi A5, his pride and joy, with her keys. And then the red mist well and truly descends and she wrenches open her trunk pulling out the socket wrench for the tyres…

 “Katie…what the fuck…”

She hears his yells as she brings it down with a crash into one headlight, then the other in a fit of rage she doesn’t ever recall having had in her life before. A hand catches her wrist and she spins round, trying to escape out of the hold.

“LET GO OF ME GRANT!”  

“I will if you drop that…” She does, and it clatters to the floor as she looks up, tears falling down her face mingling with the cold March rain.

“13 fucking months.” She sobs, her voice quiet “What was it for you, all lies?”

“No, course not…I love you baby…you know I do, I fucked up….” She looks straight into those warm, hazel eyes, the eyes she loves so much and something inside her breaks and it physically hurts. She needs to get away.

“Fuck you…” she whispers softly before she turns and walks to her car.

 Even if it ain’t all it seems, I got a pocketful of dreams Baby I’m from New York! Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There’s nothing you can’t do Now you’re in New York! These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you Hear it for New York, New York, New York!

She is sprinting. The base is about to collapse on top of them, and they run through the tunnels, weaving in and out of the falling structure.

“We’re clear upstairs sir,” Agent Coulson says on the radio. “We’re good to go.”

Together they hurtle out of the doors and sprint towards a helicopter which is waiting. Agent Fury shoves her up and into the cab and the helicopter starts to fly up in the air just in time before the ground crumbles below them.

She presses her face against the window, glancing down as the facility crumbles. But that wasn’t what she is looking for.

Sir!“ she shouts, pointing when she spots her target.

"Move,” Fury orders the pilot. The pilot turns around and drops altitude, fast. Both whip out guns and she closes one eye and pulls the trigger. Windscreen glass smashes and the jeep swerves off the road and onto the grass verge, making her smirk slightly, Clint has taught her well.  She takes aim again but this time doesn’t get a chance. Loki aims his sceptre at the helicopter and hits, causing the helicopter to stall and lurch.

 “Jump…!” Fury yells, grabbing her arm. And she does. She rolls along the floor, covering her head as the helicopter passes over and crashes about 20 feet away.

 “Shit!” she groans as she gets to her feet, the jeep now well out of range, both hands grab at her hair in frustration.

“Director,“ Coulson says on the radio. "Director Fury do you copy?”

 "The Tesseract is with a hostile force,“ Fury replies, glancing at her and then back at the helicopter. "I have men down. Hill?”

“A lot of men still under,” Hill responds. “Don’t know how many survivors.”

“I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that brief case.” Fury commands.

“Roger that,” Hill complies.

“Coulson, get back to base, this is a level seven, as of right now,” Fury continues into the radio. “We are at war.”

“Sir, what do we do?"  she asks. He turns to face her and takes a deep sigh.

“He hit us hard…” Fury said, as the sound of another chopper approaching his her ears. “So we hit him back harder.” On the avenue, there ain’t never a curfew, ladies work so hard Such a melting pot, on the corner selling rock, preachers pray to God Hail a gypsy cab, takes me down from Harlem to the Brooklyn Bridge Some will sleep tonight with a hunger for more than an empty fridge

He rounds the street corner, someone is stood there selling something, yelling “Buy some time! Get your time here!” If only he thinks to himself. He spots a café and crosses the street, settling down at a table. He purchases a cup of coffee and pulls out his sketch book, sketching the large building that stretched above him. It’s only when he really paid attention he notices that it reads STARK across the side. He snorts, the building is just the type of thing he would expect to be associated with Howard’s son.

 “Waiting for the big guy?” a soft female voice says.

“Ma’am?” he looks up from his drawing, confused slightly as the waitress stands with the coffee pot in her hand.

“Iron Man,” she explains. “Lot of people eat here just to see him fly by.”

“Right,” he says, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “Maybe another time.” He pulls out his wallet and drops some cash on the table preparing to leave when the Waitress speaks again.

“Table’s yours as long as you like,” she says kindly, “Nobody’s waiting on it.” She pours him some more coffee and as she walks away she says, “Plus we’ve got free wireless.”

“Radio?” he mutters. She turns back and smiled.

“Ask for her number, you moron,” An elderly man says from the next table over. He stares round at him, confused for a moment, then simply shakes his head.

Everything, even his fucking Baseball team is gone and finding that out is the thing that tips him over the edge, the thing that makes him lose his shit completely, the thing that had him cursing the fact he has been pulled out of the damned ice in the first place. At 10 pm he is in the gym, taking his frustrations out on a punch bag.

Fist after fist, punch after punch as memories fly before his eyes.

"There’s not enough time! I gotta put her in the water.”

“You won’t be alone,” Peggy whispers.

He grips onto his wrapped hands tight and punches the bag in bitter remembrance. He throws one last hard punch across the punching bag that makes it tear away from the ceiling, and broke the bag of sand apart. He is out of breath, trying to calm his anger down. He brushes the sweat away from his forehead and goes to pick up another sandbag by the chains. He starts to hook it up on the ceiling, takes a deep breath and starts again.

Then hears the door open and heels clicking on the laminate flooring of the gym.

“Trouble sleeping?” A soft, female voice speaks, a touch of amusement in her tone. Her accent wasn’t local. He looks up, and for the first time he sees her. Perfect lines, curves, and bright green eyes.

I'ma make it by any means, I got a pocketful of dreams Baby I’m from New York! Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There’s nothing you can’t do Now you’re in New York! These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you Hear it for New York, New York, New York!

They’re in Stuttgart. They’ve traced Loki.

“The sceptre is dangerous.” she says, her eyes flashing as she watches “That’s how he got Barton and everyone else under control. That has to be the first priority, stop him using it.. But even without it, he’s powerful…”

“Alright I’ll take Loki…” he speaks, inhaling. “You start moving these people out to safety.”

She nods, and slips off to the left. He turns to watch Loki again, waiting for his opening as Loki bears down on the old man who has challenged him.

“Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example.” And then, as he raises the sceptre and it started to glow blue he knows he can’t wait any longer. Instinctively he flies out from the shadows, diving in front of the man, blocking the blast with his shield. The beam reflects and knocks Loki down backwards.

“You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing” he says, as the crowd starts to dissipate around them. 

Loki cocks his head, but his attention is soon drawn to a point over his shoulder.

 “You know we really have to stop meeting like this” she says loudly as she draws level with him, staring at the dark haired man whose attention flickers to her.

 “Hello, again Agent Stark…” Loki’s twisted grin spreads across his face

“Yeah, hi…” she shrugs, waving, concentrating on keeping him talking enough to let people get out of the way and back up to arrive “How many times is this, 3? You know you could just ask me on a date…” “It is nothing but sheer, dumb luck that has kept you alive the last 2 times we met…”

“Well technically the first time we didn’t meet. You sent that big fire shooting robot thing after your brother, you didn’t actually come yourself. Why was that? Too scared?”

He side eyes her. She’s good. Definitely has Howard’s gift of the gab. He sees Loki’s grin slip again, before he sneers down, his attention flickering from the woman to his left and over to him.

 “And you. The soldier. A man out of time”

“I’ve got a shot…” Romanoff sounds in his ear and he gives a little smirk.

“I’m not the one who’s out of time.” 

But it never works out how you plan, does it? As Romanoff sends him a warning, Loki replies by sending his own- a blast of blue at the Quinjet, which maneuverers upwards just in time. And then they fight, the 3 of them. Ducking, diving, kicking, vibranium flying, shocks sounding. Loki is strong, the strongest opponent he has ever fought and at one point the god gains the upper hand, tripping the Captain, sending him to his knees. As he stands over him, he has his head bowed, as Loki, points the tip of the sceptre on his helmet.

“Kneel…” 

“Not today!” he says, flipping his body over and then she runs forward, aiming a two footed kick at Loki’s chest which sends him stumbling backwards. They begin to fight again, almost like they are performing some kind of twisted tango, then suddenly there’s a loud blast of music. She instantly stills and looks up, scanning the sky for something.

“Hey Kiddo, did you miss me?!” a male voice asks and her face splits into a grin. He looks up to see Iron Man fly over the top, blasting Loki backwards to the ground.

He lands in between the Captain and the Agent, turning to look at the woman. “You know one of the problems of little sisters is always having to bail them out.” 

“You’ve never bailed me out of a fight yet!” she snorts indignantly as Iron Man turns to look at Loki, his suit shooting out every piece of weaponry it contains.

“Make your move, reindeer games…”

Loki puts his hands up and surrenders, his armour suddenly vanishing leaving him in a long, emerald green jacket with a black leather trousers and top underneath.

“Good move.”

“Mr Stark…” he says, not looking at him as he greets his friend’s son for the first time.

“Captain…”

One hand in the air for the big city Street lights, big dreams, all looking pretty No place in the world that can compare Put your lighters in the air, everybody say Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

They lose Loki, but get him back again after she talks his brother, the God of Thunder down in the middle of the forest. Then they row, about SHIELD building Weapons with the tesseracts, about egos, about being on a threat list.

“Wait, you’re on that list?” Tony looks at him “Are you above or below angry bees?”

He feels the anger bubbling in his chest and he snaps back, stepping forward towards the man, holding his gaze.

“Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack…”

“Threat! Verbal threat. I feel threatened” Tony says, pointing at him.

“Tony for once in your life shut up!” she yells at her brother, angry flushes redden her cheeks.

“Who died and made you President?” Tony childishly replies and raises his eyebrow at her

“God you’re such a dick!”

“Fuck off!” Tony replies

“Hey.” he feels himself snap again.

“What’s your problem now?” Tony glares at him.

“You shouldn’t speak to her like that.” he has no idea why but he feels compelled to defend her. Her brother snorts. “Thanks but I can handle him on my own…” she folds her arms and looks at him, but it isn’t an unkind glare. It’s almost a thank you.

“You speak of control yet you court chaos.” Thor’s voice loudly cuts over everyone quieting the room down slightly.

“That there, that’s his M.O., isn’t it?” Bruce Banner points at Thor “I mean, what are we, a team? No, we’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We’re a time bomb"

“You need to step away.“ Director Fury speaks darkly.

"Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam, right?” Tony asks placing his hand on the Captain’s shoulder as if they were old friends.

“You know damn well why, back off.” he says said angrily throwing Tony’s hand off.

“Oh, I’m starting to want you to make me.” Tony says straightening up in front of him.

He smiles somewhat condescendingly. “Right, big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, and what are you?”

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” Tony shoots right back.

At that point she steps in between them both.

“Stop it!”

“I know guys with none of that worth ten of you.” he hisses and she spins, gently pushing on his chest. He acknowledges her touch by stepping back slightly but he continues to goad Tony “Yeah I’ve seen the footage, the only thing you really fight for is yourself. You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”

“I think I would just cut the wire.” Tony responds nonchalantly.

“Tony I mean it…” she says, still in between the two of them as she spins back to face her brother.  “For once in your life…”

“Always a way out.” he can’t help but bite back, “You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero.”

“A hero?” Tony repeats in disbelief, and with that he moves his sister out of the way, stepping forward. “Like you? You’re a laboratory experiment Rogers, everything special about you came from a bottle.”

“Put on the suit, let’s go a few rounds.” he hisses, the two men now almost nose to nose.

Thor’s loud laugh rings across the lab “You people are so petty, and tiny.”

“Not helping!” she snarls, rounding on the god.

The sniping continues until Banner makes them all nervous as he picks up the sceptre. The tension diffuses somewhat as the location of the Tesseract is found, but as he watches her read the screen, he has a split second to register the look of shock and horror on her face as she locks eyes with him, before the ground shakes as they’re hit.

Differences are thrown aside as they battle their enemy. Loki escapes, sending Thor plummeting to Earth and after transforming into the Hulk they have no idea where Banner is either. They regain the archer, Clint, Hawkeye.

But Coulson is dead. And she thinks it is her fault, for choosing to try to release Thor, but he assures her it isn’t, and that he would have done the same. A gentle hug as she cries is all he can do. She’s small in his arms, but not weak. Now the mood is solemn as they are left floating in the sky, with no idea what to do next. All previous differences are put aside as they grieve, mourn the loss of one of their own. And then it’s back to business as they figure out Loki’s play- he wants a monument in the sky with his name plastered all over it after all.

And the Avengers assemble on the streets of Manhatten.

In New York! Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There’s nothing you can’t do Now you’re in New York! These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you

They are operating as a team now, and he falls into his natural role as leader, as Captain. His instructions as to keep the aliens fighting and their attention off civilians whilst trying to figure out how to close the portal. They’re back to back and he looks around as she takes down another alien with an expert shot between the eyes and he feels a surge of pride at how fiercely she is fighting.

“Cap.” Clint’s voice came through the radio. “The bank on 42nd past Madison. They cornered a lot of civilians in there.”

He stops dead as does she. The two exchange a look and she nods.

“We’re on it.“ He says back.

They turn and ran back in the direction of the bank. When they arrive she doubles over, catching her breath as the pair of them glance through the glass doors. Most civilians are located on the lower floor, in the lobby whilst the Chitauri stood on the upper portion of the bank, pointing their weapons down.

“Shit…” she sighs “how do we get in there without setting them off in a firing frenzy?”

He is looking around for a solution when he suddenly spots one. He points to the small annex at the side of the bank. It’s one story high with a flat roof. “If we get up there we can get through onto the top balcony of the bank.”

She nods and together they run round the back to the alley which was lined with dumpsters.

“You saw Nat right?” he asks, gesturing to his shield. She nods and easily clambers up onto the dumpster. She takes a second then jumps onto the shield and he propels her easily upwards. As he watches she twists and manages to reach the edge of the building easily, the top half of her body safely over the ledge. He vaults onto the dumpster and takes a running jump, catching onto the ledge and pulling himself up. They make their way over the roof, using the various steel vent columns to hide. The aliens have their back to them both but one is doing something on the floor.

“Cap… that’s a-“

He knows what it is. And sighs. “We’ve got to get in there…”

“But how, if we go charging in then-“

“We’ve no other option…” he says, “look, I’ll go first. If you follow, hopefully we can get their attention and keep the fight on us.”

He doesn’t wait for an answer. He backs up a few spaces and then runs, clearing the meter gap between the two buildings with ease, going shield first through the window of the bank. She follows a few moments later, rolling over on the landing before leaping up. There is a moment’s pause as the aliens registered their arrival, punctuated only by the rapid beeping of the bomb in the background.

Then, the fight begins. He hurls his shield one of the Chitauri’s heads. Another one growls, shooting off its spear, as he dives for cover landing in front of a desk, kicking it forward. She approaches another one and leaps into the air, snapping its head as she arches over the top of it, before throwing it down onto the lower portion of the bank.

"Everyone, clear out!” she yells over the railing, looking down at everyone below.

He turns to another alien that was coming at him, and he raises his shield pushing the alien backwards. But another grabs him from behind in a headlock. He gives a yell as he feels it gripping at his head but he dodges under its arm, leaving his helmet behind and giving a huge two footed kick into its back, sending it over the railing. Meanwhile, his partner manages to squirm out of the hold of the one holding her and he kicks at it before spinning it round and using it as a shield to take the shots fired from the one remaining Chitauri.

“Katie!” he yells as the remaining Chitauri scrambles to pick up the ticking bomb. He races over to her, grabs her round the waist just as the Chitauri throws the bomb in their direction.

His shield takes most of the impact but the force of it sends them both flying out of the window. He twists in mid-air so that she is clutched to his chest and sheltered from the impact as they crash onto the top of a car, his body taking the blow, the roof of the car crushing under his weight and the impact they hit it with. That hurt. He opened his arms to let her out of his grip, moaning slightly as he rolls down and lands on his back on the floor. He opens an eye and stands up, looking around taking deep breaths, eyeing up the chaos. The sounds around him dim slightly, and everything seems to be moving slower. He starts to wonder how they’re going to actually win this one. He looks around and spots the civilians coming out of the bank. One of them he recognises vaguely…

“Captain… Steve!” a voice cuts through his thoughts and he spins round, pulling himself up to full height as he looks at her, then he notices 3 of the aliens stood a few feet away. He grabs her arm and pulls her behind him and his shield.

The 3 Chitauri Warriors look back at them for a moment before they launch. He does the same, snapping the neck of one, ripping the arms off another, using his shield to cave in its head. It writhed in front of him on the floor before going silent.

He turns to look at Katie, the third at her feet as she slid her gun away. They lock eyes for a split second, chests heaving as they catch their breath and then there’s a loud bang above them. Instinctively they both duck and look up, attention to the sky. 

One of the leviathans has exploded in the air as Iron Man shoots out from its tail end, and comes crashing down to Earth, taking out a glass bus stop a few hundred yards from where they were. Then he flies off again, his thrusters at full pelt.

They go again, it’s a fierce fight. Shield, hammer, bullets, arrows. At one point he thinks they are clear and drops his shield to his side, and he is caught in the stomach by one of the rays which burns through his uniform, scorching his skin. He drops to his knees, clutching at his side hissing slightly at the stinging and then she is there. Green eyes searching his, asking if he is ok as she kneels down, one hand on his shoulder, the other gingerly pressing just underneath the wound as she bends to get a look at it.

And then Natasha says she can close the portal. He tells her to do it, but Tony stops them.

“I’ve got a nuke coming in, it’s gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it.” Tony says.

“Stark, you know that’s a one way trip.” he warns, turning away from her slightly as he speaks, looking up into the sky.

 “Tony. Don’t you dare I…. I…” she begins to protest and he turns to her, sadly.

 “To the Stars and back, Kiddo.” Tony’s voice is calm, and she takes a choked breath at his words, the words he always spoke to her as a little girl when he tucked her in at night are echoing in her head, I love you the stars and back.

“Tony…” her voice cracks as she looks up. Tony climbs higher, and higher, past Stark Tower gaining speed before he flings himself through the portal.

Everything goes quiet on the comms.  He glances down and she looks up at him meeting his gaze through watery eyes and he sticks his hand out to take hers, squeezing it. He hopes she understands what he is trying to say, that he had been wrong about her brother. He was the one to put his neck on the line after all.

 “He’ll be fine…” she says, stubbornly as she turns her head back to look upwards, tears trailing lines on her dirty cheeks, visible under the bottom of her helmet “He’s never let me down before…”

They watch the explosion. The Chitauri soldiers in the street convulse and shake, then stop.

“Come on Tony…” she mutters, as she grips his hand even tighter. He pauses, but there is no sign of the eldest Stark. Nothing. He sighs, he has a code, he never trades lives, but as he watches, he knows that portal has to be closed…and what were the chances of Iron Man surviving that?

“Close it.” he speaks, the words catching in his throat as he turns to look at her, his head bowed. “I’m so sorry Katie…”

She struggles for words, her sobs choking in her throat as he pulls her close, her head burying into his chest. He stands stock still for a moment before he turns his attention back upwards to make sure the portal is closing. He wishes it could have been different, losing men never sits well with him. He feels like he has failed again, just like he failed Bucky.

But as the hole closes a scarlet and gold figure plummets down through the sky.

“Son of a gun.” he says, his lips curling up in a smile as he gently pulls back and directs her attention to the sky where Tony has made it back.

Now you’re in New York! Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There’s nothing you can’t do Now you’re in New York! These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you Hear it for New York!

The group escort Thor and Loki to Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, the safest place for Thor to call the Bi-Frost as it can be surrounded on all sides by STRIKE agents, should Loki try and pull a fast one.

Thor firmly grasps his hand before he turns to her and pulls her into a huge, bone crushing hug.

“I will return, Little Stark” He says as he holds out a glass tube in his hands “I’m hoping that with the tesseracts power we can repair the Bi-Frost permanently.”

“Always a pleasure, just don’t bring him with you.” she grins, gesturing to Loki with her head. The dark haired god returns her jibe with a glare, which she greets with a smirk and the raising of the middle finger of her right hand. Thor nods, gently touches her neck with his hand in a sign of friendly affection before she moves back a few steps to the side of her Captain. The group watches as Tony opens the Tesseract’s case. Dr Banner takes it out, holding it carefully between metal forceps and places it into the glass tube Thor is holding. Thor thrusts the end of the tube to Loki, who reluctantly takes it. The blonde haired god shoots one more look round at the group, nodding, before he twists the handle and then the pair step into the energy beam it generates.

The remaining heroes begin to say their goodbyes and he walks over to Tony, holding out his hand and the man shakes it, smiling.

“I was wrong about you.” he says to the inventor.

“So was I” Tony says “Turns out I wouldn’t just cut the wire, huh?” He gives a little laugh as he drops Tony’s hand. He watches as Tony turns to Banner opening the trunk of his car so Banner can drop his bag into it.

She watches the exchange, smiling slightly, before she steps up to his side and speaks to him.

“So what’s next for Captain America?” she asks as he turns to facer her. “I mean, once the weeks of debriefing and analysis are over…”

“I dunno” he says, looking around. “Fury has something in the pipeline for me within SHIELD, apparently. What about you? Back to DC?”

“No, I’ll be sticking around for a while, certainly whilst the clean-up operation gets going so you’ll get to see my smiley, happy face every day…” He laughs and she pouts “That was your cue to say you’re so excited about working with me.”

“Sorry!” he shrugs, peeping out at her from under his hair.

“Whatever, anyway you’re gonna need this.” she says, handing him a piece of paper “That’s my cell number, call me.”

Steve stares at the piece of paper, his thumb stroking the writing on the page before he looks down at her.

“You know, your father would be proud, of you both.”

“I like to think so.” she smiles. “I mean, he is part of the reason I do what I do.”

There was a moment’s pause before he leans forward, hesitating slightly, before he drops a gentle kiss to her cheek. She feels herself flush slightly at the contact of his lips and the compliment, and his own cheeks flush red too.

“See you soon.” He smiles as she turns to go, grinning to herself as she walks towards Tony’s car

“Hey!” he calls and she stops, turning back to face him. “Maybe I could er, stop by the Tower sometime in the next few days, if that’s ok?”

“You do that!” she smiles “Or I’ll come find you instead.”

He nods, waves, smiles and turns back to his bike before she shouts back to him

“Oh and Cap…”

He turns to look over his shoulder

“You might technically be nearly 100 but you don’t look it so ditch the plaid, yeah?”

He frowns, looked down at his shirt before he looks back at her, she shrugs innocently before settling into the car behind her brother.

**** It was late. Almost 1 am, but her side of the bed was cold and empty. Steve raised his head, blinking. He can’t remember her coming to bed, in fact her pillow doesn’t look like she had. He sat up, still, listening slightly and then heard the faint sounds of the piano and her soft voice. He threw the covers back and padded out into the hallway and down to her music room.

He loved watching her play. She did it with such elegance, and her voice was always so soft yet sultry. As he watched, the soft lamp illuminating her features as her hair fell over her face, her graceful fingers flew to the last key and she let out a soft hum of the last note.

 “You ok?” he asked giving her a moment.

Katie turned on her seat and smiled at Steve as he walked into the room and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, dropping a kiss to the back of her neck.

“Yeah…” she sighed as his hands gently began to work her muscles.

“It’s late Kitten.” “I know, I got ready for bed but just wasn’t tired.” she says, her eyes closing at his soothing touch. “Any particular reason you were singing that song?” he asked.

“Not really. I heard it on the radio before for the first time in years” she said as he worked her stiff shoulders “It got me thinking about the battle, how we first met.” At that point his right thumb found a knot under her shoulder blade which he dug into, causing her to hiss slightly.

“Sorry.” he said gently, easing off but she shook her head.

“Don’t stop, feels good” she mumbled.

“How about you come to bed and I can do it properly.” he said softly.

“Yeah and how long till it descends into you giving me another earth shattering orgasm?”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” he pouted.

“Didn’t say that…” she smirked as she tilted her head back to look at him and he leant down so his mouth was an inch or so away from hers.

“Come to bed.” he said softly, and there was something about the way he said it that made desire pool in the bottom of her belly and she nodded, gently pressing her lips to his.

He stepped back allowing her to stand and she turned off the lamp and slipped her hand into his as he led her to their bedroom.

@the-omni-princess​

@momobaby227​

@geekofmanythings16​

[solesurvivorkat]

FAR CRY 5 WEEK, DAY 3: THE RESISTANCE

((My sincere apologies once again - I fell behind in FC5 Week b/c I'm in the process of raising my toddler, selling my house, getting ready to move to a new house, work, toying around w/ a few different writing ideas and possibly a new AU-pairing for Sarah, blah blah blah blah... once more, please forgive me rushed writing & anywhere in which I fall short!))

Far Cry 5 Week, Day 3: The Resistance

'You're watching me. I don't know how I know... I just know.' 

Sarah swallowed a lump in her throat as she reached for the radio clipped at her side.

"This is Deputy Sarah Rook, seeking out Nicholas Rye of 'Rye & Sons Aviation'. I think I found something rather large here at Seed Ranch that may belong to you. Please respond." 

There was no answer at first. After a few seconds of waiting, she glanced to Sharky at her side, who shrugged.

"Maybe his radio ain't on, 'Po-po'," he offered.

Suddenly her radio crackled with static.

"Holy shit, are you fuckin' serious?!" a man's voice exclaimed loudly, forcing her to twist the volume knob down as fast as she could to avoid any nearby Peggies hearing them in the hangar. "Tell me you found my plane, Dep! Give me some good news!"

"Mr. Rye, I presume," she said dryly, eyeing the large yellow aircraft in front of her. "And yes, it appears that the cult stored your plane here - which makes sense, considering there's not too many airstrips in Holland Valley."

"Peggie sons-a-bitches!" Nick hissed. "I swear to God, I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch John Seed if anything happened to my Carmina..."

"It looks pretty intact to me, but I'm certainly no mechanic," she replied over Sharky’s snort of laughter. "I'm not sure how you wanna go about getting it out of here-"

"Well shoot Dep, I'd think that's pretty obvious - you're just gonna have to fly it outta there for me!"

Sarah blinked for several seconds, hoping that she’d misheard him.

"Saaay... what now??"

"You know, fly! S'real easy... if you've never flown before, I can teach you the basic controls in no time flat! I know Carmina like the back of my hand!"

.....No. No fucking way. NO.

Mouth agape, her head whipped over to Sharky, who was staring at her wide-eyed with large pupils.

"Don't look at me, Dep!" He held his hands up in front of him and shook his head. "I had some weird-looking 'oregano' or some shit right before you called me, and like... I really don't think flyin' a plane is what I should be doin' right now."

'...Damnit, Sharky...'

"Just climb on in 'er, Dep!” Nick continued. “They don't call me 'King of the Skies' for nothin' - I've taught plenty of people in Hope County how to fly! Your lesson'll just be... a little more 'accelerated', that's all."

Sarah’s throat immediately went dry. “Nick, I... I can’t fly,” she croaked feebly. “I have this bad thing with heights, and... Pratt and Hudson were the ones who always flew the chopper at the sheriff’s department-”

“Aww Dep, please! I-” Nick’s voice instantly went from cheerful and optimistic to alarmed and pleading. “That plane’s been in my family for three generations! My grandfather bought it after he returned from World War II! It’s our ONLY chance of getting out of Hope County! I'd get it myself, but my wife's pregnant and due any second and... I just don't know what else to do! I mean... without that plane, we're fucked! Please! I- my family needs your help.”

Sarah’s fingers tightened around her radio as if she was holding a grenade without a pin. She drew a ragged breath, heart pounding in her chest.

"...Oh God," she whispered, feeling herself tensing up more and more as her eyes dragged over the entire length of the plane. 

“I'm sorry... I don't like gettin' emotional,” Nick went on. “I know it's a lot to ask, but... I'm desperate, partner."

Sharky raised an eyebrow as she raised her other hand to clutch at the small silver cross dangling from her neck.

‘...Mom... help me out here... give me courage... ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me’...’

~~~~~~~~~~

The next half hour or so of her life was a nerve-wracking blur to Sarah. She was vaguely away of Sharky saying something jokingly to her as he climbed into the seat behind the pilot’s... she kind of remembered looking down at all of the plane’s numerous controls on its instrument panel and instantly feeling light-headed... there were angry shouts from Peggies as they made their way out of the hangar and into the skies, Sharky whooping gleefully and firing off a few rounds at them all the while... Nick giving her instructions over the radio during the flight, making different comments here and there ("Man, what I'd give to have seen the looks on their faces. Stupid Peggies!", "You got this, keep it steady!")...

Looking back, she wouldn’t remember most of it - just how completely terrified she’d felt the whole entire time. She’d almost lost track of where exactly she and Sharky were - not even realizing that they’d nearly reached Rye & Son Aviation, until Nick suddenly addressed her again.

"Now people say landing is the hardest part, but I'll show ya how to do it just right. Just get the runway in front of you while steadily lowering your altitude."

.....Ohhh. Holy fucking shit, that’s right... she was gonna have to land this fucking thing... 

“You got this, Dep!” Sharky crowed from behind her over the roar of the plane, causing her to jump in her seat, nerves already blown sky high. Her teeth ground together as the airstrip loomed in front of them, and she half-wondered in the back of her mind if she wasn’t about to crack a tooth with the pressure she was exerting on her molars.

Somehow... purely by the very grace and mercy of God... she managed to touch down Carmina’s wheels upon the ground with a soft bump. She gasped at the impact, breathing heavily and trying to ignore her constricting lungs and the frenzied butterflies in her stomach.

"Awesome landing partner! Now bring the plane to me - you'll see me wavin'."

Sharky yelled something as she taxied over to the man - Nick - waving his arms from the hangar in front of them, but Sarah’s mind was too far gone to comprehend much at the moment. Words couldn’t describe her (somewhat) relief when she was finally able to turn off the plane and exit the vehicle, nearly falling head over heels in her haste to get out of it.

Nick ran over to them - a huge grin upon his face, looking like a child at Christmastime as he took in the sight of his rescued aircraft. 

"Oh my God... oh my God, look at her!” he exclaimed gleefully. “Son of a bitch, you did it! You did it! Thank you!!” He clapped her trembling hands in his, oblivious to her quaking as he turned and yelled back towards his house. “KIM! THE PLANE'S BACK!”

Sarah was barely aware of Sharky exiting the plane behind her while Nick turned to face them again. 

“Let's turn it around-" he stopped mid-sentence, his grin vanishing as he did a double-take at her expression. "Uhhhhh... Dep... you doin' all right?"

She opened her mouth, then immediately shut it again when her stomach lurched, the world suddenly spinning around her.

"Aww, man..." she heard Sharky say - though he sounded far away. "I think... I think she's gonna blow!"

Her eyes darted around frantically for a moment until she spotted a nearby bush and raced over to it. She only just made it in time for her stomach to promptly empty its entire contents behind it. 

...Thank God she hadn't eaten a large breakfast that morning. 

"Ooohhh... that can not feel good."

"Aww man... she wasn't kiddin' about the heights thing, was she?"

"Never," she rasped in between wheezes, "NEVER again. No fu-" She coughed and shuddered once more - a dry heave this time, nothing left in her. "...No way," she croaked, hands on her knees as she fought to regain control of herself.

A hand clapped her on the back, and she winced, gritting her teeth.

"Aww, I'm real sorry Dep, honest," Nick murmured sincerely. "For what it's worth - I really appreciate everything you've done for me today. I really don't know what we'd have done if we lost that plane."

Sarah waved a hand at him half-heartedly and straightened up slowly. She turned to Sharky and was about to say something when her radio crackled again.

"Deputyyyy..." a smooth male voice called out to her.

Nick and Sharky's eyes immediately narrowed.

"God damn - that bastard has balls tryin' to talk to you right now!" Nick growled.

"You may think you've done something worthwhile today, but let me assure you - sin has a way of catching up to us all. My people WILL come for you. They will bring you to me... where you belong. And then... you & I can begin to... get to know each other better." 

She could practically see his lips curling upwards then, revealing that cosmetically beautiful but deadly smile of his. The purr in his voice made a shiver run down her spine that she was pretty sure had nothing to do with her body's recovery from the flight. 

"...I look forward to seeing you soon."