#my tablet broke making this had to take drastic measures

[rizsnt]

you're an angel; i'm a dog

[rk1kheadcanons]

Markus ,trying to flirt with Connor: are you a private investigator? Would you like to investigate my privates? 😘

The thing is, I 100% think that Markus would manage to make bad pick-up lines sexy somehow which goes against all known laws of the nature of bad pick-up lines. And I think that the idea of him managing to fluster Connor with some of the very worst of the worst while being a total dork about it is 10/10 a top-quality thought to ponder so here we go:

-

Connor's eyes were fixed on the tablet in front of him. And they were trying very very hard to stay fixed on only the tablet in front of him and not on the figure of the RK200 just behind it who was stretching himself languidly across Connors desk, vying for the RK800s attention.

"What are you doing now?"

Connor rolled his eyes.

"That's the fifth time you've asked me that question now in the past fifteen minutes. I'm working"

Markus propped up an elbow on the polished wood, resting his head on his hand and fixing the RK800 with a heavy-lidded stare and a raised brow. Usually, their positions were reversed in these situations - with Markus' workload being the heavier of the two - but since Connor had been wrapped up in a high profile case for the past two weeks Markus was enjoying his opportunity to finally get to be the lech and the menace in their relationship.

"Working on what?"

The RK200 asked with faux innocence and an unsubtle flex of his bicep.

Connor just about suppressed a smirk and another eye roll.

"My private investigations case. As you well know."

He finally looked up to meet his partner's gaze as he heard Markus shuffle across the table to lean in closer to him with mischief in his eyes.

"So you're a private investigator huh? Would you like to investigate my privates?"

Connor stared into the deviant leader's mismatched eyes for a beat, and then for another, and then for one beat more before the serious gaze he had been leveling at his partner a second ago shattered as he dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"Please" He managed to choke out between begrudging laughs "please never use that line on me again"

Markus only seemed to take Connors breaking as a win and edged himself closer again with a smirk so that he was now fully seated on the desk and leering towards Connor where he sat in his office chair.

"You know, maybe if you'd have just been a bit faster with your paperwork I wouldn't have had to resort to such drastic measures in the first place. Unlike you I myself am on top of things, wouldn't you like to be one of those things?"

Connor made an aborted motion that looked like he was about to hide his face in his hands before he reached out to gently push Markus' away from him instead with another stifled giggle.

"Stop" He whined, dragging out the "o" sound.

"But you're the last thing I have on my To-Do list today"

This time Connor didn't protest as Markus began to inch his way closer again.

"How many more of these have you got up your sleeve huh?" The RK800 inquired with a smile.

"Oh, a countless number" He responded, reaching out a hand to card down Connors's cheek. "I can't help it, you inspire me. Although I don't understand what a nice android like you is doing in a dirty mind like mine."

The RK800 caught the hand stroking across this hairline and used Markus' palm instead of his own to bury his face in to stifle another round of giggles.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Markus spoke over Connor's laughter in a tone that implied that he wasn't sorry at all "I just...I tried to distract myself while you were working ok? but it's difficult. I tried to paint for a bit but I couldn't get into it you know? So then I thought...maybe I could get into you instead?"

Connor now used the palm he'd been burying his face in to bang his forehead against in mock exasperation.

"Markus!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm done now. You want to sit and file paperwork instead? be my guest but...how about a joke first? Just one little one before you go back to work? a tiny one?"

Connor leaned forward with both elbows on the table as he stared into his partner's eyes with fondness and a smirk.

"Alright, I'll humour you. Shoot."

Markus' eyes lit up as he inched even further across the varnished wood table until he could lean down close enough to Connors face so that the RK800 was able to feel the breath from each inhale ghosting across his mouth. Markus met the eyes of the other with the piercing, unwavering glare that he knew for a fact drove the RK800 crazy, paused for dramatic effect without breaking eye contact, and then broke the silence with a very serious sounding:

"Knock Knock"

Connor wheezed a small laugh at the absurdity before responding.

"Who's there?"

"When, where"

A delicate eyebrow arched curiously on Connors face as he tried to puzzle out which direction the other was going with this before he responded.

"When, where, who?"

Markus was also struggling to keep his composure at this point, only just managing to rearrange a snort of laughter into an - what he hoped was enticing - smirk as he grabbed the knot of Connors tie to pull him in so their lips were only a handful of millimeters apart.

"Right now, this desk, you and me."

Connors laughter caught in his throat in a strangled exhale from the proximity and the tone that Markus had dropped the - absurdly cheesy - punch line on him with. Connor knew that Markus knew that that voice drove him absolutely insane. But now was not the time. He had work to do, he had planned to finish this report by the evening, he was busy he-

Connors thoughts were interrupted by Markus quirking his lips up just so and every excuse that had been flooding the younger androids mind drained away in an instant.

Instead, he reached a hand over beside the RK200 to swipe the tablet and his folders off the desk and into the drawer before clamouring up onto the desk where his partner was perched and swinging a leg over so that he was straddling the other, crashing their lips together and pushing Markus' shoulders down onto the wood.

"Fine, fine you win but if I hear one more pick up line or pun while I'm riding you I'm leaving you high and dry and going back to my paperwork"

This finally elicited a chuckle from the older android who reached his arms up and behind his head as a pillow before fixing Connor with another gaze that he knew would work wonders on the other.

"We'll see about that..."

[desparikon]

Murdoc/Mac fanfic misfire #3

Murdoc is the last person standing between Mac and his plan to save the world.

Mac shook the tiny bottle, his stomach acid sloshing in unison.

It's not a date rape drug, he firmly reassured himself. OTC sleep aids. Murdoc would have a nice, long night’s sleep, and Mac would ditch his final tail. A small, but necessary, evil to temporarily get Murdoc out of the way. Nothing untoward was going to happen.

He slipped the bottle back into his jacket pocket, and took another sip of his drink, hoping the sweet stickiness would coat his stomach and settle the butterflies.

Disgusting.

What kind of message was he about to send to Murdoc, drugging his drink like that? It's sleazy, the lowest of the low. Everything Murdoc had ever done to him, and even he’d never attempted to trick Mac into ingesting something. Despite his intense, nearly overwhelming, feelings, and the opportunities, and the fact that drugging Mac would be the easy way to end his years-long craving.

No, Murdoc was bringing this onto himself. He was always too eager to make Mac’s business his own, so this time, he’d suffer the consequences. Murdoc was forcing him to make it personal.

They all were.

What part of Leave Me Alone, did people not understand? What part of I Have A Plan So Let Me Do This, jolted his friends into pursuing him around the world, in a chase that wasted time and resources, and threatened to exhaust them all to their breaking point?

Keeping loved ones safe sometimes required high risk and drastic sacrifices, and if he had to leave a trail of destroyed friendships behind him, then so be it.

Only Murdoc stood between him and finally being alone, and he had to get Murdoc to a safe distance. He couldn’t falter now. If everything went wrong, the fallout would be swift and brutal. His own survival was irrelevant, but Murdoc would absolutely not be collateral damage.

Whatever measures necessary.

Mac jumped, a hand grazing along his shoulder.

“Hello, MacGyver.” Murdoc sat back in the chair across the table, his ever present, smug smile on his face.

“Murdoc. I’m...happy to see you. Wasn’t sure you’d come.”

“Refuse an invitation from you? Never.” He eyed Mac’s nearly empty drink. “Though, it looks like you started without me.”

“It looked pretty.”

Murdoc leaned across the table and swiped the glass, finishing the drink for him.

“You do remember that I’ve been drinking out of that?”

“That is. Sweet. Really sweet. They need to double the alcohol in that, at least.”

As much as Mac wanted to throw back a few drinks to kill the stress, being on the run required him to be on at all times. Alcohol wasn’t an option. For now.

“I’ve been drinking out of that,” Mac repeated, stunned that Murdoc had drank out of his glass without hesitation. Flirting, or just being creepy?

“Yeah, I heard you.” “And you don’t care,” Mac smiled in spite of a sigh, “Of course you don’t. Alright. OK. Murdoc, can I get you a drink?”

“Surprise me.”

Mac appreciated the bar’s modernity in its ordering system. Using a tablet offered just enough anonymity for him to order the stereotypical girly drinks. The mermaid drink had been tasty. He had to take this opportunity to order the unicorn one. It even had little marshmallow ears; how adorable was that??

And Murdoc wouldn’t comment because he was getting the same thing.

As he pulled out his room key to scan and finish ordering, he also removed the drug bottle. Hopefully, having his back to their table made the motions of passing it to his free hand casual and undetected.

The relative emptiness of a hotel bar in the off-season, on a weekday, had the benefit of making the wait for their drinks less than five minutes. Unfortunately, that same lack of people left Murdoc with no one to watch but Mac. And watch he did, a mix of study and...admiration.

Mac rolled his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck.

He wouldn’t have that respect after this.

A glance toward the bartender warned him that their drinks were nearly ready, the finishing touches being placed. The time was coming.

His heart pounded in his chest. No room for error. No leniency for cowardice.

He turned to retrieve their drinks from the counter, popping the bottle’s cap, careful to obscure Murdoc’s view.

To Murdoc, and a future with him in it.

In the cruelest turn of fate, a passing patron bumped Mac while he poured the drug. He jerked his hand back, and spilled the remainder of the bottle’s contents onto the counter. That split second of broken concentration was all his anxiety needed to turn the situation into a high-stakes gamble. He was only about 60% sure which drink he’d drugged.

”Ta da!” Mac gracefully presented a drink to Murdoc before sitting down with his own in hand. “Surprised?”

“Only in the sense that I’m always learning something new about you. Keeps things interesting, no?”

“Cheers.”

Like cotton candy. Exactly as the pink-blue gradient advertised.

“Not bad. Better than your last drink, but this one would also benefit from being harder.”

“I ordered them without alcohol.” Mac disassembled his drink, devouring the marshmallow ears and cherry horn before licking at the icing and sprinkles around the glass’s rim.

“Oh?” Murdoc offered Mac his uneaten marshmallow, using the opportunity to rub his knuckles against Mac’s hand.

“I don’t want to end up like Amber.”

“I’m not? Seeing the connection?”

“First date, couple of drinks...I don’t want to wake up tomorrow, married to you.”

Murdoc rolled his eyes. “OK, that is not how it happened, but…” He poked at his drink with its decorative stirrer, the impaled cherries muddling the layers, "I guess that whole thing is proof that waking up married to me would be a bad thing."

“I don’t want to be one of Phoenix’s most wanted.”

Murdoc hummed; Mac had tricked himself into mentioning the elephant in the room.

“You’ve been doing a fantastic job of that by yourself.”

“Don't.”

“I think you’re really starting to embrace the darkness. Never thought I’d see the day where you’re the one throwing traps into your friends’ path.”

“Nonlethal, and always designed to do minimal harm.” Mac glared, and laid his hands on the table, pushing his glass out of the way before he broke it. “Unlike you, I don’t enjoy hurting people. I’m not out to maim or kill.”

“Mmm, but accidents happen, don’t they? You’re running, and you’re tired, so tired...and sometimes, the hunter sneaks up, corners their prey--”

“Stop!”

“Why, the force could’ve snapped her leg off!”

“Shut up!” Mac growled, his arm shooting across the table with intent to grab Murdoc by his coat’s lapel, but Murdoc calmly sat back, just out of reach, unfazed by the outburst.

“Yikes, what kind of attention do you want to attract?”

Mac’s eyes darted around the room, relieved that there didn’t appear to be unwanted witnesses. Yet. Their corner table only offered so much privacy.

How long did those sleeping pills take?

“And the standoff with the whole gang the other day. I was on the edge of my seat! That ‘You want to stop me?! Kill me!’ was a nice touch. Really nice.”

“I needed them to understand how serious I was about being left alone.”

“Oh, I think you got your point across. Did you see Matilda considering it?” Mac’s flinch as he hung his head didn’t go unnoticed. “No? Well, I can tell you the first shot was going into your arm, but the second...Lucky for you, she decided the hospital wasn’t close enough.”

“Maybe that would’ve been the best for everyone,” Mac mumbled.

The heavy silence amplified the sounds of Murdoc’s glass, the clinking ice, the quiet plink of the stirrer being dropped onto the table--

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? Nothing better than my suffering, right?”

“Not enjoying, merely proving a point that you seem to have forgotten.”

“That I’m capable of turning to the dark side.”

“Exactly the opposite. You can’t be completely corrupted. All the chaos you’ve caused, and you’re still the same MacGyver underneath it all.”

“Have you not been paying attention? I’ve changed. This is the new me.”

“New you? No, your methods might’ve changed, but your motivation hasn’t. Everything you do is for others. This dramatic show of recklessness, of pretending to go all the way, is all to cover up the fact that you care, relentlessly. So much so that you stupidly reject everyone’s help. Even if it costs you everything.”

“Because it’s a worthy trade off to save the world! I accept the risks. I know the possible outcomes. Why can’t you, or anyone else, respect my decisions?!”

“Do you hear yourself? You’re not gonna save the world on some haphazard solo mission!”

“At least I can say I tried.”

“I’ll admit I tagged along for the entertainment—and your performance has been stunning—but I didn’t come this far to watch you turn the third act into a tragedy.”

“Then go. I sure as Hell didn’t invite you,” Mac snarled.

He stormed out of the bar, but instead of going through the lobby and up to his room, he rounded a corner into an isolated service hallway, and slammed his back into the wall, struggling to keep himself upright.

“Fuck,” Mac huffed under his breath, his entire body shaking as he forced his fists to unclench. “Fuck.”

He’d let Murdoc get under his skin, and now, his problem had gone from leaving a drugged Murdoc in his hotel room, to finding Murdoc before he dozed off in a dangerous situation. Great. He’d taken a step backwards.

Before Mac could make it back into the main hallway, Murdoc appeared, and shoved him, death gripping his upper arms, and grinding his shoulders into the wall.

Of course. Why’d he ever doubt that Murdoc would find him?

“Let. Go.”

“First, you’re going to listen. You want to put me through the paces like your friends? Fine. I’ll play. But bring it all, bring your best shot, and don’t you dare hold back, because I certainly won’t. It’s time to keep my promise to end you, wouldn’t you say?”

Mac wasn’t sure Murdoc was bluffing. He was glaring with a fury that Mac hadn’t seen since Amber had betrayed him in Colombia.

“You’re going to kill me in this random hotel hallway?”

Murdoc squeezed harder, unamused by Mac’s sarcastic tone. “We both know the fun’s in the hunt. So when I say go, you better start running, my dear. Run, and never look back. I will hunt you to the ends of the Earth. Run you down to the point of collapse. But unlike the Phoenix, I will not be called off. You won’t have peace until one of us is dead.”

“Murdoc—”

“Or,” Murdoc shrugged and released his hold on Mac, “you can take me up on the second option, which I offer only because you’re my best friend, and I like you a lot.”

Even after all his experience with Murdoc, the instantaneous mood-flip was still unsettling.

“Just tell me what you’ve gotten yourself into, Angus.”

[eirian-houpe]

What the Actual Fuck! - Chapter 4

Fandom: Cobra (TV 2019), Once Upon a Time (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Relationships: Belle (Once Upon a Time)/Robert Sutherland (Cobra)

Characters: Robert Sutherland (Cobra), Belle (Once Upon a Time), Neville (OC) Anna Marshall (Cobra)

Additional Tags: Angst, Betrayal, Extramarital Affairs, Politics, Drama, Eventual Smut, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Violence, Explicit Language, UST, Adding to this list when necessary

Summary: Prime Minister Robert Sutherland is feeling pressured, and isn't prepared to acquiesce to the repeated challenges from within his cabinet nor the wider circle of those around him.  He resorts to drastic measures to ascertain who can be trusted, turning to an 'old friend' to help him separate the wheat from the chaff. Said friend promises to send in his best operative to assist the PM, the trouble is the operative finds out more than Robert necessarily wants to know, and all this just as all hell is breaking loose around him; people hurt, Britain in chao and multiple deaths push him into making some hard hitting decisions in order to safeguard himself, the country, and the people he cares about.

Read more on AO3

[Chapter 1]  [Chapter 2]  [Chapter 3]

Chapter 4 - Press Call

Prime Minister Sutherland watched as his Chief of Staff sat on the other side of his desk taking notes. He didn’t say anything just yet… only watched, but there were some things he had on his mind, and he was damned if he was going to let her leave before he had satisfactory answers. Not that he was angry with her, just that he had… questions, and he didn’t like it.

She was dressed for the afternoon press conference; power dressing. It was form fitting, and v-necked but revealed little, cinched by a belt at her waist, and when she’d walked in he noticed her shoes were also black and shone as though recently polished; a medium heel so as not to overshadow him - not that he cared. It took more than physical height in excess of his own to make him look small. The only splash of color she wore was a blue silk scarf tied carefully around her neck, its ends tucked in on itself. He wondered.

“What?” she asked without looking up.

“Hmm?” he made a sound of query as he snapped back to his office, to the piece of paper he had in front of him of which he hadn’t read a word, and the realization that he had been staring.

“You’ve been looking at me like fucking judge, jury and executioner for the past ten minutes, Robert,” she said. “If you’ve got something to say,” she finally looked up at him, “come on, out with it.”

He sat back in his chair, tapping his pen on the papers on his desk before he set it down and then asked bluntly, “Why wasn’t I informed of the change in staffing?”

“Staffing?” she echoed.

“My aide,” he said. “I heard that Dennis took emergency family leave, and I clearly have a new aide, so,” he spread his arms, “why wasn’t I informed; consulted, even.”

“Christ, Robert,” Anna said, “If we informed you on every single staff change in Number 10, you’d have to employ someone to run the country.”

“I’m not talking about every staff change, Anna. I’m talking about my aide. My aide, who is in and out of this office, sees to my needs, picks up the domestic slack - don’t you think that’s one staff change about which I should be consulted?”

“Is there a problem?” Anna asked. “Don’t you like her work. I assure you, she was fully vetted.”

“It’s not about security,” he said. “It’s about who might accidentally walk in on me with my freshly dry-cleaned suit when I’m—”

Anna laughed dryly. “Seriously?” she asked, “All of a sudden you’ve gone… shy and prudish?” He didn’t answer. Merely gave her a look that was twice as dry as her laughter had been. “It was my call, and she came highly recommended.”

“She’s very competent, actually,” he said.

“Well then,” Anna tipped her head to the side slightly, “just… make sure to tell her to knock.” She sighed. “Do you think we can get down to some real business now.”

“The psychological comfort of the Prime Minister is real business,” he said, not exactly serious in his complaint - he’d said his piece and he would move on, but he wanted to give Anna a hard time, so he made it sound as though he were, eliciting a ‘what-the…’ face from her before he went on, “but if you’re referring to this afternoon’s press conference ahead of the arrival of the European Minister for Public Health and Safety, I’d be happy to.”

“Oh, so you remembered then,” Anna remarked, sarcasm clear in her voice.

“Of course I remembered,” he quipped, “Not quite senile yet, despite what some in the cabinet might think.”

She gave him a tight smile, and asked, “What is it now?”

“What do we know about Eleanor James?” he asked. He made it sound off hand, absent, but he might have known that Anna wouldn’t fall for it in the slightest.

“Still on the war path, Robert?” she asked, frowning. Then she shook her head and said, “She’s solid.”

“Are you saying that because you know,” he asked, “Or because she had your back over the whole, Tosumbegovic… thing?”

“Well thank you for that ringing endorsement,” Anna snapped. “It wasn’t a thing.

“Poor choice of words,” Sutherland answered, though without a hint of apology, “but you know what I mean.”

“I have no reason to doubt her,” she said, “either before or after I went to her about Edin.”

Robert shrugged, and murmured, “Fair enough.” He wasn’t sure he was convinced.

“What brought this on?” she asked, but he shook his head.

“Maybe I really am still on the war path,” he said. Then, sitting forward again, said, “So… press conference?”

Anna evidently recognized that she wasn’t going to get anything else out of him on the subject, so she followed his change in subject.

“All right,” she began. “Well, we thought we might take advantage of the good weather, and hold it out front… Number 10 in the background, that kind of thing. It’ll be good for the public to see you ‘out of doors’ as it were.”

“Or are you trying to—” he broke off, as the irritating tickle in his nose suddenly became a full on irresistible urge, and he reached over, only just in time to grab a tissue from the box on the corner of his desk, before he sneezed violently. “Fuck!” he hissed.

“Trying to?” Anna prompted.

“Well I was going to say ‘rub the noses of the remaining dissenters in it.’” He answered, “but under the circumstance…” He shook his head, and leaving the sentence hanging, tossed the tissue into the trash, and then reached out to squirt some hand sanitizer into his palm, carefully applying it to the rest of his hands, before he got up, and went to close the cracked open window. “I’m really fucking starting to hate this time of year,” he said as he returned to his seat.

Before Anna could answer, there was a soft knock at the door, which didn’t open until his invitation allowed it, and his new aide - though he supposed not new any more - came in carrying a tray.

“See,” Anna remarked, and he couldn’t tell whether she was teasing or not, “already well trained.”

He frowned, his jaw tightening slightly as he said, “So, you want to hold this press conference outside, on a day like today.”

“Yes,” Anna said. “It will be good for morale.”

As they spoke, Miss French came to the side of his desk, and carefully unloaded the tray of its contents, being obviously careful not to set anything down on his papers as she brought him lunch. He glanced up at her, but she seemed to be concentrating so hard on her task that she didn’t meet his eyes; didn’t or wouldn’t and he wasn’t sure which.

“Whose, exactly?” he snapped, looking back at Anna, until, from the corner of his eye, after Belle unloaded the last of the items from the tray, he saw her slip her hand into the pocket of her dress, and pull out a small packet, which she set beside his lunch. He turned his head to look over, and noted, not without a good deal of relief, that she had set a packet of antihistamine tablets onto his desk and said a quiet, “Thank you, Miss French.”

She gave him a barely there smile and a nod, before beginning to withdraw, and turning his attention back to Anna, he said brusquely, “At least someone in this fucking building is paying attention.”

Belle French took her job very seriously. She always had, and believed that was what made the difference between a good operative, and the best operative. After the incident with the vase of flowers the previous day, she’d made it her business to learn why the Prime Minister wanted to avoid having cut flowers at the formal dinner, and it wasn’t hard to guess, but guesswork wasn’t part of her her purview, and so she made a point of making sure, and after that, to do something about it.

Neville had told her to have the PM’s back, to find out just where loyalties lay in the way she had perfected in her few short years of service. To her, that went deeper than just snooping around in people’s offices for evidence as to whether they were for or against Sutherland. She’s been told to take it, ‘all the way,’ not just to people that made up his cabinet and members of his party, but everyone: his estranged wife, his daughter… all of them, and she had her doubts about the wife… his daughter had been a puppet, a pawn. Beyond that, she had her doubts about Anna Marshall.

Not that she believed his Chief of Staff would ever betray him. As far as it went, Marshall was one hundred percent for Sutherland; loyal and on his side. She was, however, sometimes so self-involved that she was clueless and blind to the little things, no matter how sharp she was about the big picture. It was the little things she overlooked.

After delivering lunch, Belle went upstairs to begin the process of setting out the suits and other items of clothing that the PM would need on his upcoming trip, ready for his approval - and by approval, she’d learned, it meant that he would pack them into the suitcase, or not, as the case might be - hanging the suits near their respective suit bags, and laying out the shirts, ties and other clothing on the top of his bed.

As she worked she let her mind back and forth over what she knew, like the shuttle on a weaving loom, slowly slotting the newly acquired pieces back into place and weaving the tapestry as it should be woven, the complete picture. She was so engrossed that she didn’t hear the door open behind her, or register the presence until his voice made her start and bring her back to the moment.

“Miss French,” he said quietly. “I hoped I might find you here.”

She turned slowly, composing herself from her slightly startled state, and the thought that, at the sound of his voice, her body had begun to hum with the memory of her dream, and the reality of standing alone with the man, in his bedroom… and the words he’d spoken.

“Prime Minister?” she queried, then at his expectant expression, added, “Did you need something?”

“I wanted to ask if you’d mind coming with us when we go north,” he said, and she could tell by the lingering expression that asking directly if he needed something was not what he had been waiting for.

“Is that usual?” she asked.

Sutherland shrugged. “I don’t know that there is a precedent for these things,” he said, “It’s… entirely up to you, of course, but… I would appreciate knowing that there’s someone around that I can count on to bring me a decent cup of tea when I’m up too late at night.”

She raised an eyebrow, suspecting he was teasing, and answered, “Well, in that case, I’ll make sure to pack the Yorkshire.”

He laughed, a deep, throaty laugh that went right through her, and sent the lingering hum in her belly into a tingling overdrive.

“Yorkshire it is then,” he said. “I um… I have to run, damned press conference, otherwise I’d stay and give you a hand.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Almost done, anyway,” she added, indicating the few small piles on the bedspread.

He nodded once, and then turned as though he were about to leave, but instead stopped and said, “One more thing.”

“Robert?” she asked, forgetting herself and the attempt she’d made to maintain formality as a defense against her quickly growing, inappropriate desires for the man in front of her.

He turned back to her with a warm smile on his face, and a sharp, almost wicked twinkle in his eyes, and asked, “Could you make sure we pack the pinstripe?”

[wanderingspacedragon]

The Spark That Will Restore

A Finnlo little fic that is a bunch of fluff. I needed to write fluff after such a bad last week.

You can find my fic on AO3 here: The Spark That Will Restore

Finn is on a break from peace talks when he he's approached by Ben Solo. Takes place after Episode IX and after the war is over. 

More below the cut.

Leaving the conference room, Finn let out a long and exasperated breath as he tried to think of all he had to contemplate during this break in talks. He looked about the hallways for somewhere he can be alone and spotted an empty alcove with a window seat. For now he wanted to gather his thoughts instead of mingling with everyone for these peace talks were straining everyone’s patience. Sitting, he looked out at the rolling waves of this foreign world as they crashed against the building’s base. They were on an oceanic planet in the Mid Rim region of the galaxy, chosen for it’s ideal position as a midway point for all to meet at. The structure was a landing port for space-faring craft and this world’s sea ships, built on the one of the highest underwater mountains. Easily visible were the large sea vegetation growing beneath the surface and the schools of fish-like creatures darting about the pillars of the building. He glanced at the datapad in his lap that had information of the topics that they were just discussing in this meeting.

He wasn’t sure how Poe manage to speak so easily in front of all those leaders and generals. He suppose it was all Leia’s careful grooming that helped Poe grow into the role as leader of the Resistance. He had kept the group alive after their dwindled numbers from the Crait Battle and things had gotten dire as they struggled to regain support. Things had become so strained that Poe chose to make... questionable decisions in order to gain the upper hand on the First Order, but he did finally see what had to be done to bring a true end to this war. To focus on restoring and healing instead of burning and destroying the other side. Hux had pulled a coup against Kylo Ren, who was forced to flee and joined forces with Rey and Finn. Together they were able to gather more support and Finn lead a stormtrooper uprising who rallied to their cause. With the combined help of the Resistance, they were able to topple Hux’s war machine and end the First Order. But now they had to deal with how to make this peace last which apparently takes lots and lots of long, exhausting meetings.

Finn was taking the lead in helping the former stormtroopers regain their rights and freedoms. He felt responsible to these people for he was one of them not too long ago and had been the first to make it out of First Order. In these talks he was their spokesperson, making sure there needs and interests were heard.

A reflection in the window of someone approaching caught his attention. Turning, he saw Ky- no he goes by Ben Solo now, standing over him with a slight frown upon his face as the former Supreme Leader stare past Finn at the view. Finn was still unsure of this man who seem to always give an unnerving air about him. How much of that was his Force abilities or was that just who he was, Finn could never tell. He was no longer sporting his all black attire, choosing instead a dark grey robe with a white tunic underneath. He looked awkward in these more peaceful surroundings and a bit unsure of his exact purpose here.

“Y-yes?” Finn queried. Ben blinked rapidly, abruptly coming out of his deep thoughts.

“You’ve taken up the integration of the Stormtroopers to civilian life?” He posed it as a question, but his tone was more factual. Finn had just recently argued on the importance of this program against people who thought it was fine if the former troopers just became the army for the new government. He was vocal and firm that this should absolutely NOT happen. Some may want to stay in a more military lifestyle, but that should be each individual trooper’s choice to make. They had so much to recover from and acclimate to. What they needed was time.

“Yes. Someone has to.” Finn looked him square in the eye, he wasn’t afraid of this man anymore. Wary... yes, but not afraid. There was a time he did find him terrifying. A masked monster staring at him once on Jakku while he was hiding behind his own Stormtrooper mask. That night was so clear to him. It was the night he made one of the most important decision in his life, cause of what he saw in Kylo Ren was his fate if he stayed with the First Order. He would have become just another monster destroying everything in its path. So he ran and saved the humanity inside himself. It was only after fighting against and later with Ben that he realized that the monster Finn saw was just a mask.

The man that was Ben now broke his eye contact, still unsure of himself and this new life he was trying to forge. He gazed out at the waves below.

“You are the perfect one for the task.” the taller man was matter of fact, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “They will listen to you.”

“Them?” Finn gestured his thumb back towards the conference room. “Well yeah that’s cause of the Resistance and-”

“No. The troopers.” Ben quirked an eyebrow as he looked back at him. “You led their rebellion. You knew they could... should be saved. You were the one that showed them the way.” It was admiration in his voice that surprised Finn the most.

Finn still wasn’t used to the idea of people looking to him, but for the former Supreme Leader and powerful force user to think him as superior and correct in some way was...bizarre. He was so use to following orders and doing as he was told that the idea of him being a leader alien to him. He just knew when something wasn’t right, he couldn’t follow those orders. When he knew he needed to run as far as he could from the First Order, he ran. When he finally learn when he needed to fight he fought. That didn’t mean he was always right though. Rose showed that, by saving him from his well-intentioned, but pointless suicide run at that battering ram cannon on Crait. But when he saw his fellow troopers he knew they weren’t his enemy. They were just like him. Stolen from families and lives they never got a chance to experience. It was the Order and power hungry men like Hux and Snoke that were their true enemy. It took some drastic measures and even risked his friendship with Poe and his position with Resistance to convince them that to truly end this war they had to save and joined with the rebel Stormtroopers.

“Well actually them included.” Ben shrugged at the closed doors Finn had pointed to. “I couldn’t accomplish what you could. They won’t listen to me on this matter.” His voice was somber, weighted down from his past. He knew that trust amongst each other was still very fragile and will take time to build. The war was over, but that didn’t mean a new one couldn’t spring up. They were trying to start a new and not repeat past mistakes.

“Ben...Why- What are you getting at.” Flustered and a bit uncomfortable at this awkward conversation, Finn just wanted Ben to get to the point. Why had he seek him out during this break?

“I had some officers go through the Order’s archives.” He reached into his robes and pulled out a datapad from his inside chest pocket. “This...this is yours.” He handed Finn the tablet as it flickered to life.

He stared at it for a minute not really registering the words on it. It was the picture of a very young boy that was staring back up at him that left him dumbstruck. Who was this? Was this-

“Is this me?” His fingers splayed out over the glassy surface. Ben nodded at him.

“The First Order kept records on all of their officers, including where they came from.” Finn stood up and looked in Ben’s face, not sure what to say.

“Why?”

“I’m trying to gather all of the troopers’ and officers’ files together to give back to them. It was hidden from them. It's the least I could do.” Ben chewed his bottom lip, a quirk he had when he was unsure exactly how he was to proceed.

It was an apology of sorts, Finn realized. It was only then he finally knew that Ben didn’t hate or resented him like he had suspected. Well he may have before when the man was trying to snuff out the Light within himself. But Ben had come gain some peace within himself and his conflicting nature. Rey said that it wasn’t completely gone, the turmoil within the once darksider. She doubted it ever would, but that Ben had told her, “It’s a work in progress.”

“I did use to resent you.” the force user’s dark eyes didn’t hold any malice, only remorse. “You reminded me too much of a part myself that want to do what you did after Jakku.” Finn flinched. He hadn’t felt any mind probe. Could you feel a mind probe.

“Sorry!” Ben partially regretting started this conversation. He was terrible with small talk or speaking easily with any besides Rey. “You’re just loud is all.” His large hand tapped his own temple to indicate that he was referring to Finn’s mind.

“Ohhhh… Wait really?”

“Yes. It’s why I noticed you that night on Jakku.” Ben broke eye contact again, groaning inwardly that he was probably alienating the former trooper once more. Finn looked down at the datapad with his childhood face.

“Thank you.” his voice was soft, but deeply touched.

“You don’t have to. It’s yours and should have never been taken from you.” Finn hand reached out and squeezed the taller man’s shoulder. Ben didn’t flinched or moved away.

“I’m sorry, Finn.” he looked back at ex-trooper and held out his open hand.

“It’s alright, Ben. Again… thank you.”

And each clasped each other’s forearms.

A gentle chiming announced the ending of the break and people began to shuffle back towards the now open conference room doors. Finn and Ben gentle release each others arms and began their way back.

“I’ll need help getting all the files in order and to everyone.” “Hey that’s a project I can lend a hand with. It could be part of the Stormtrooper integration program I’m working on.” Finn grinned as Ben gave him a rare, but genuine smile, both walking back into the meeting.

[str-spangled-banner]

Home - Bruce X Daughter!Reader - Part 4

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

MASTERLIST

TAKING REQUESTS

Summary: You stay up late in your new workshop when you and Steve are given your first, real, chance to talk.

Warnings: None.

Words: 2 249

A/N: Okay I’ve been away for so long I’m sorry! This is just a filler so that I’ll post something at least. Please tell me what you think!

(Also there's no GIF cause whenever I press the GIF I want ((or any other)) nothing fucking happens so that's that.)

She sat in the center of her dimly lit workshop, the bright light of tablet illuminating her face and making her surroundings appear even darker. She scrolled through the digital lists of material, tools and parts that Tony had stored, adding each thing she needed for her renewed generator reluctantly. Tony had given her a credit card of her own and had transferred enough money for her to buy a private island. It made her wonder if he was trying to make her feel horrible purposely. He had assured that the money was nothing, which they truly weren’t to him, but even if she had made progress with her struggle to accept gifts she couldn’t handle everything. Tony didn’t know how to support the bright girl other than giving her the capability to build and create all the things her mind could muster up. Money could give her that capability, but only if she accepted it, which she barely could.

She had declined the gift instantly and refused to use the card after she had been forced to at least take it. She had tried to barter with the persistent billionaire by promising to use the resources of the stored materials that were just laying around instead, and Tony had to her relief let it slide after that.

She put a dozen of quarter inch bolts in her order from the material storage that resided somewhere in the basement levels of the Tower. Tony had explained that it worked much like ordering online, despite it being so close to where they she, Tony and everyone else worked. She simply had to mark the items she wanted, send the list down, and wait for half an hour to an hour to have the things delivered straight to her own workshop. It was efficient, and even though it was just past midnight on a Friday and the employees that worked in the storage wouldn’t fulfill her order until Monday morning, she still made her very long list.

“Liquid cobalt?” Y/N quirked one eyebrow, pulling her head back slightly as she questioned its necessity. “Yeah, that could be useful. Some copper wiring for prototype… It’s measured in grams? Ugh, okay. The wiring is 0.812 millimeters. Take that times it’s weight-”

“Am I interrupting something?” Steve’s voice echoed in the still empty lab, his sudden presence causing Y/N to yelp in surprise and clutch her hand over her chest where her heart hammered loudly. Steve smiled, letting out a short breath from his nose. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I knocked but it seems you didn’t hear me.”

“I was just…” Her voice trailed off as she scanned back to the screen, ears heating up in embarrassment from having been caught talking to herself. As she looked back to Steve, who had a more than kind and nonjudgmental vibe radiating off of him, she sighed in defeat. “Talking to myself out loud makes things easier to remember and keep track of. I just tend to talk a lot more when I’m tired.”

“No need to justify your actions.” Steve raised both his hands in defense of her excuse, smiling wider and lowering his limbs as Y/N let out a quiet chuckle. “I just wanted to drop in for a bit. With everything going on with you moving in here, school, and what not, I feel like we’ve barely gotten the chance to meet.”

“Yeah, it’s been quite hectic the past…” She glanced down at her watch, counting the hours. “Twenty seven hours.”

Steve let himself further inside, bringing a stool with him and settling down across from her at the table and propping his arms on the cold, metal, surface. “This place seems to fit you like a glove, though. Even if I don’t know you personally yet, I can tell that you take after your dad a lot when it comes to your interests and hobbies.”

“Is it that obvious?” She chuckled again, already liking Steve for approaching her on his own accord.

“Not if you’re not looking for it.” He assured. “But transparent personalities or not, it’s nice with some fresh blood around here. I’m glad you decided to move in. I know Bruce is too.”

“I didn’t really have another place where I could move.” She chuckled again, but her voice was strained and her tone far from genuine. Steve, who had maintained eye contact with her since he entered the room, watched as she broke under his gaze and looked down at her hands resting on her thighs.

“I can also tell your not the type that enjoys pity, but I’m sorry for how your mother treated you and for what she did. I don’t know the details of it all and I don’t except you to want to share them with me out of all people, but just know that I stand behind your back in this.” Steve confessed, striking a soft spot in Y/N who felt her eyes sting as they teared, glistening in the dim room but never surpassing that phase. She could never admit to Steve how much it meant to hear him say that, but she doubted he needed her to confirm it to him. He seemed more than capable of making that assumption himself.

“I don’t think my mother did what she did because she doesn’t care for me or because she doesn’t like me as a person. I just think I reminded her too much of a past she would so much rather forget. I’m not saying that what she did was right, because even I can tell that it wasn’t, but I’m just saying that I think I can somewhat understand why she did it. At least I can to some extent imagine what she might have been thinking. Saying I understand why she did it sounds far too… Kind.”

Steve continued to watch her, pity turning into admiration. He wanted to praise her in that moment for the amazing girl she was and tried to get a sense of what she would be most appreciative of hearing. She had always been treated like a child from the picture of Y/N and her mother that he had managed to acquire, but from the single moment they just shared he could unquestionably say that she was more mature than most people twice her age. She was also insecure and extremely small in spirit. Steve doubted she had ever heard someone acknowledge how strong she truly was. He could only begin to imagine how much a girl of her age needed that kind of affirmation. In the end, he decided that she deserved to hear both.

“You’re a very strong, young, woman, Y/N… To be able to have such a deep understanding of your mother’s reasons despite how she has treated you is a very mature thing that most people would not be able to handle.” He watched as she tried to subtly disguise her hands rubbing away the tears in her eyes before they could fall. “Oh my… I didn’t mean to come in here and bring up all the heavy stuff.”

“No, it’s- It’s nice, to talk sometimes, I mean. I’m not much for it usually, but it is rather relieving.” She chuckled for the fourth time and the sincerity to it was back much to Steve’s relief. The last thing he wanted to do was upset Y/N so shortly after her moving in and so soon after first meeting her.

“I just saw that the light was still shining in here and thought I’d stop by.” Steve explained why he was in her lab at all. “You disappeared after dinner and I just wanted to check that you were alright.”

“I’m fine, more than fine, actually. It’s just that I’ve had nothing but a messy bedroom to work in for all my life. Now I have a state of the arc lab six times the size of my bedroom and access to materials I could never have dreamed of… It’s difficult to stay away from it.” She admitted with a hint of red creeping up her cheeks as she realized she had been rambling.

“It seems everything is as it should be then. If I was in your shoes, I would have much rather sought out the solitude of this place than hang out with us grown ups for a dull evening in the lounge… We can let go at Tony’s little gatherings, sure, but we get pretty boring during the week.”

“I’ve just always preferred to keep to myself and my projects. I’ll try and work on it, but despite liking it here, there’s a lot on my plate that I have to swallow as it is. I’m being given enough money to drown in, an entire workshop, a new phone, a five star bedroom… There’s over a dozen new people who just happens to be superheroes that I’m living with, I’m finding out that the quiet and nerdy guy in my after-hours biochemistry class is Spider-Man… The list doesn’t exactly stop there.”

“No one is expecting you to fall right in and adjust the first day or two. Take all the time you need. I get how drastic of a change this must be for you, it was for me as well. Waking up, finding myself seventy years into the future and landing in a world so technologically advanced I thought it couldn’t possibly be real… It was drastic to say the least. It took some getting used to and I certainly didn’t do that over night. You just have to find your own way of breaking it all down into pieces and dealing with one at a time.”

She furrowed her eyebrows slightly whilst still hinting a smile, taken aback by the excellent advice. “Thank you, Steve. That’s actually really helpful.”

“You sound surprised.” He stated. “I’ll take it as a compliment as well as my subtle cue to wrap this night up. If I were to shut my eyes right now I don’t doubt I’ll fall asleep within thirty seconds.”

“Seems we have more things in common there.” She wiped her hand over her face, tiredly looking down as she shut her tablet off and rose from her seat along with Steve.

“If you’re not too busy with all the projects I’m sure you have planned, you should definitely spend the weekend with the rest of us. We don’t have to do anything special at all, I just know the rest of the team would really like to get to know you. If it’s not too much, you should consider it.” Steve offered as you both stepped out in the hallway, the workshop falling into darkness behind them.

“What should we do?” Y/N asked instead of giving a clear answer, causing Steve to smile again as they made their way up the stairs. “Fight aliens? Bake cupcakes? I don’t really know what you guys do on a casual Saturday.”

“If you can get us all to bake cupcakes together, I will praise the very ground you walk on, for you must truly have a magical gift to do such a thing. Thor using any type of baking equipment feels just as real as the existence of dragons or mermaids.” Steve shook his head, attempting to get rid of the image of Thor wearing an apron that involuntarily had popped into his head.

“I guess we’ll see what tomorrow brings then?” She raised a brow as they came to a stop outside of her bedroom door, the ceiling lights also dimmed as the upper floors of the Tower were in Night Mode, creating a more calm and relaxed environment merely by adjusting the lights.

“We will indeed.” Steve agreed before bowing subtly towards her. “Goodnight, Banner. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.” She waved in his direction as he continued down the hallway for his own room and she backed into hers.

She shut the door and turned around to the yet to be personalized room. Her old room hadn’t been as personal as it had been historical. Things from her early childhood lingered on the shelves to gather dust, but it had never been personal. The only exception had been her inventions and her projects, but her mom had made sure to hide them as often as she could, so Y/N didn’t even have them to express her personality with.

“Ms. Banner. Your father set a timed message should you still be awake at this time. He wishes you goodnight and tells you that he can be found in Tony’s workshop tomorrow morning.”

Friday’s voice spoke softly in the quiet room. Y/N laid down on her bed, staring up at the speaker in the ceiling which was only one of the outputs the AI was linked to.

“Thank you, Friday.” Y/N replied, moving her legs underneath the sprawled out cover and ignoring the fact that she was still fully dressed. It was nearing one in the morning and her eyelids were becoming significantly more difficult to keep open. After a few more, tired, blinks she gave in and let her eyes fall shut peacefully. Falling asleep was effortless. The talk she and Steve had shared was still fresh in her mind as a pleasant reminder that the people in the Stark Tower were not so harsh and cold as she had first imagined.

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Defeated Angel- Part 3

Part One, Part Two

Characters: Human!CastielxArchangel!Reader, Metatron, Gadreel, Naomi, Sam, Dean, 

Word Count: 1,567

Warnings: This is a world where Cas was never an angel so is this really a warning? Some violence, Metatron being a dick as usual, Cas being a sweetheart, maybe that’s it?

Summary: You finally get to Heaven but what happens when you finally face off with Metatron?

Author’s Note: This is part three to ‘My Human, My Angel’. Please, send in requests because I love reading them and I love writing them! If you would like to be tagged in my future fics and my Series Rewrite that is coming soon, let me know and I’ll add you!

Feedback is always appreciated

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Your name: submit What is this?

X.

The door to fucking Heaven was at a playground. There were kids playing there but they were no kids. When they heard you coming, they stood in front of the entrance ready to protect it and keep out whoever wanted to pass.

However, when they saw you, their eyes went wide. You didn’t have to say any words. They knew how powerful you were and how easily they would lose against you. They got out of your way because if not, they would be dead.

This was it.

This was the day you would set foot in your home.

Upon your foot in the sand, the entrance glowed a bright white and the door opened. To humans, all they would see is two kids and an adult by the sandbox. But to other Angels, they would see a bright white light coming out of it.

With determination, you stepped through the door and into the familiar world you were used to. You didn’t see any Angels but you knew that was probably because the ones that Metatron allowed to be with him, were gone.

Metatron was the only one you wanted right now. You made your way down the white hallways, using your natural senses to spot your younger brother. As you passed by a room, you heard it before it could do any damage.

You ducked, seeing an Angel blade whiz by your face. You turned around and held up your hand, pinning whoever tried to hurt you to the wall.

“Naomi. Pleasure seeing you again.” You walked right up to her and took out your own Angel blade.

“Y/N, you’re supposed to be dead.” She said, eyes wide.

“Not quite. Where is Metatron?” You demanded.

“I don’t know.” She stuttered.

“Naomi, I will hurt whoever I have to in order to get to him. This can either be bloody or it can be easy. Your pick.” You glared, not in the mood for any kind of games.

“I don’t know where he is.” You sensed he was still in Heaven and you had a feeling of where he was.

“I don’t know why you lie to me. All I want if for our family to be whole again and to live here in Heaven. But you make that very hard on me when you don’t cooperate.” You put a hand to her head and because you were much stronger than she was, you knocked her out. You hated killing your family so you did what you had to do without taking drastic measures. Naomi would be out for a while.

You turned back around and walked further into the hallway.

“Metatron! Give it up! I know where you are!” You growled out, walking to the place where you knew he would be. He was always there and it was his little hideout. You stopped outside of the door and you could practically hear Metatron’s little heart beating so fast. He was scared of you. Good.

You used your grace to slam the door open to Metatron’s library. The room was filled with books stacked to the ceiling. You walked in, the Angel blade in your hand. Like you would need it. You could take Metatron without any Grace.

You walked in further but something was off. Metatron was in here but you felt another presence. A presence of someone who you thought was locked up.

“Y/N, I’m glad you could make it.” You whipped around to see Metatron sitting at his desk, a smirk on his face.

“Metatron. You know I’m a lot stronger than you and the person you have in here. You may be my younger brother but I will not hesitate to take you down.” You stood still, trying to think of a way to attack.

“Threatening your brother? Jeez, that doesn’t sound very friendly coming from my big sis. You see, I thought you died along with our other brothers, yet, here you stand. Which actually couldn’t be more perfect. Because you’re not going to hurt me.” Metatron was so smug, you wanted to slap it off his face.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because you don’t have the power.” You turned and saw Gadreel walk into view and you glared at him.

“Gadreel, how dare you walk around here like you belong here. You’re the reason everything went downhill.” You hated Gadreel for letting Lucifer into the Garden of Eden and basically caused war to break out between demons and Angels.

“You see, Y/N, you, Gabriel, Michael and Raphael wanted the Angel tablet so much, I was forced to leave my home. My home!!! All the other Angels didn’t defend me and left me to rot in some Native American Tribe! Well, now that all the Angels are gone, I am going to create a new version of Heaven and Gadreel here, is helping me do just that.” Metatron raised his voice.

“You think you can stop me? What makes you think you’re more superior than I am? Or did you forget I am an Archangel?” Your grip on the Angel blade tightened with every word.

“Because I have this.” Your eyes widened when you saw the Angel Tablet. All you ever wanted was to take that from Metatron because he wasn’t responsible with it. Yes, he was the one who wrote it down for your father but he was abusing its powers.

That tablet gave instructions on how to defeat all kinds of Angels, including you. And Metatron is the only one who can read it. Well, besides the prophets but you never knew one. He could draw from the tablet and use that power against you. That table gave whoever had it, God-like power.

Shit.

“That right, be afraid. You should. You don’t deserve to be here. You deserve to rot on Earth and fight with our family.” Metatron growled. Gadreel snatched the Angel Blade from you and you were going to use your grace for inflicting pain but Metatron held up the angel tablet and said some words on it.

One moment you were in Heaven, the next, you were falling to Earth, crying out in pain. You thudded to the ground, a crater all around you. Your wings were damaged, you were weakened and you didn’t know how to save your family anymore.

As long as Metatron had that tablet in his possession, you were screwed. You could keep trying to get into Heaven but he would expel you out, damaging you further.

You didn’t know how long you stared into the sky. You didn’t know what else to do.

“Y/N!” You turned your head to see Sam, Dean, and Castiel run towards you with worried looks on their faces. Cas grabbed your hand and pulled you up.

“What the hell? Don’t ever do that again! You scared the shit out of us!” Dean said.

“I lost. He has the Angel Tablet. That’s the only thing that can defeat me. Why he didn’t just kill me then, I don’t know. What do I do now?” You looked at Cas with tears. “How do I help my family?”

“Y/N, we will figure out a way. They don’t call us Team Free Will for nothing.” Dean said, chuckling.

“No one calls us that.” Sam said, looking at his brother.

“Cas, tell me what to do.” You looked at your worried and concerned boyfriend.

“I will do whatever I can to help you. You’re not alone in this.” Castiel said, putting a hand on your cheek.

“Y/N.” You turned around and saw Naomi standing there, her arms crossed.

“What do you want?” You glared at her. She wasn’t the best Angel around but she was a very high ranked one.

“I want to help you. Metatron trusts me and I want nothing more than to take him down.” She said, walking closer to you.

“Why do you want to help me?” You gripped Castiel’s hand.

“I take care of the rebellious Angels. I want nothing more than there to be peace in Heaven and Metatron is doing nothing to help that. He is rebellious and I shall take care of him. But since he trusts me, I can get the Angel tablet for you.”

“What is in it for you?” You hated asking that but it had to be done.

“You leave me alone and I leave you alone. Simple.” She smiled sweetly.

“How can I trust you? How do I know you’re not lying to me?” You asked, suspicious.

“You don’t. But you do want Metatron out of the picture? Gadreel back where he belongs? I suggest you let me help you. Metatron is keeping other Angels up there. I can get them to follow you instead. Heaven shouldn’t be ruled by Metatron. It should be ruled by someone who knew what they were doing. But he’s in the cage with Lucifer right now. So we have you. And you knew Michael better than anyone. So please, let me help you.” She was very persistent.

“Fine. You get me that tablet and help me take down Metatron, I will leave you alone. You have my word.” You never broke your word.

“Good, you should keep a low profile until I come back. I’ll keep in touch.” She disappeared and you turned to Castiel who was biting his lip.

“I guess the only thing to do now is wait.”

Masterlist

Forever tags:

@shorter-than-sammy​​ @maddieburcham1​​ @ginamsmith​ @mogaruke​

Castiel tags:

@helllonearth​

Other tags:

@jensen-jarpad​ @jpadjackles​ @notnaturalanahi​ @mysteriouslyme81​@deathtonormalcy56​ @27bmm​

[samanthasroberts]

Are smart cities just a utopian fantasy?

Tyler Edell Crunch Network Contributor

Tyler Edell is a technical marketing manager at Oppkey, a developer relations company in San Francisco. He holds degrees in writing and literature from Emerson College and San Francisco State University.

How to join the network

Songdo, South Korea began its life as tidal marshland. Now its leading the charge into the future of smart cities. Once home to small-scale fishing operations, Songdo comprises massive, LEED-certified buildings, an efficient garbage collection system and even an island for rabbits.

The project began in 2000, when 500 tons of sand were poured into the marshland, laying the foundation for architectural achievements like the Northeast Asian Trade Tower, a 68-story building that is now the tallest in South Korea.

While Songdo is nearing completion and the flashy, meticulously designed buildings certainly suggest an eye on the future, much of what makes Songdo impressive lies under the surface. For example, the entire city is connected by an underground network of pipes that serve to funnel garbage directly from residents apartments into the highly automated waste collection plant. The garbage is automatically sorted and then recycled, buried or burned for fuel. This might be Songdos most avant-garde integration, and only seven employees are needed to handle the entire citys garbage.

Songdo has the benefit of being a greenfield deployment, meaning that the citys infrastructure could be designed beforehand, based on the predicted needs of the architecture and residents, instead of being integrated reactively, as is the case with most smart city deployments. Integrating Songdos garbage collection system with cities like San Francisco or New York would take years of legislation and astronomical amounts of money.

Not all of Songdos future-focused initiatives are out of reach for established cities, though. Songdo has sensors everywhere to monitor temperature, energy use, traffic flow and the salt water canal that runs through the city. Sensor prices have dropped drastically over the past few years, allowing an unprecedented degree of connection even to established cities. Still, most cities have been reluctant to roll out full-fledged initiatives for smart city deployments. Theres great optimism surrounding the smart city discussion, but that optimism seems to wilt whenever someone asks Whos going to fund this?

The city certainly isnt going to, at least in the case of San Francisco. While SF does have an outrageous $9.6 billion budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, most of that will be funneled toward the mismanagement of the citys disastrous infrastructure. Its a fair question to ask why they cant dedicate a portion of that budget to smart city initiatives, but maybe they were relying on the $50 million Smart City Challenge award from the federal government, for which they were a contender. If they had won the award, private contributions would have been added to the federal award, bringing the total for the initiative to $200 million.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure.

The federal government has dedicated $80 million in new investments toward its smart city program, but that money will be spread out over 70+ cities, bringing the average to a whopping $1.1 million per city. That might sound like a lot of money (it is), but when you compare it to, for example, the average price of repaving one mile of a four-lane road ($1.25 million), it isnt exactly breathtaking. And even if you think the SF municipal government could do great things with more money, keep in mind that its the same government that allows somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people to sleep on the streets, while dedicating $224 million to keeping them off of them.

Current funding for smart city initiatives is only good enough for proof-of-concept trials, which would lead, at best, to a piecemeal approach to smart city construction. The reluctance is understandable Songdo cost roughly $35 billion to build from scratch but without genuine investment in changing the infrastructure of a city to fit smart city needs, widespread deployment will be riddled with integration and adoption issues. Maybe the biggest obstacle to its full deployment is one question: Are smart cities profitable?

There have been compelling waste-reduction efforts based on smart city sensor technology, like using sensors in the water supply to mitigate waste. While these efforts have resulted in corking budget leaks, they havent appeared to bleed over into other aspects of smart city deployments. Cities can use smart meters to make street parking easier, but that might actually work against them. If a driver finds a spot, they pay $2. If they get a ticket, they pay $72. Thats why some companies are offering cities analytics to optimize a police officers ability to hand out tickets its all about profit.

Another example: Lets say a city opens its streets to autonomous vehicle rideshares, and that those rideshares catch on. And that they catch on to the point that it eats into the Department of Transportations revenue, so they have to slash public transportation frequency to a point where its no longer viable to maintain a robust public transportation system. They end up having to subsidize rides for low-income commuters, as well as lay off a slew of public transportation workers. In this scenario, the government not only doesnt make a profit, but it has to deal with the headache of transitioning its transportation system and the social upheaval that comes with massive layoffs.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure or engage with, which is probably why we havent heard very much about them. Smart cities seem abstracted from the cities themselves, as evidenced by the unwanted consequences of LinkNYCs free Wi-Fi program. If you arent familiar with LinkNYC, the goal is to replace payphones around NYC with free Wi-Fi kiosks. These kiosks come equipped with tablet-like touchscreens that allow anyone to browse the web. At least they used to.

A few weeks after the program went live, LinkNYC had to disable web browsing on all of its public tablets, for obvious reasons. If it doesnt seem obvious to you, let me list some of the ingredients in this debacle: homeless people, substance abuse, free video streaming and a public space. One of my favorite headlines about this misuse of the project is, Wi-Fi kiosks have become living rooms for vagrants, which was in the NY Post. My favorite excerpt, though, is from the Chicago Tribune: Its free. Thats the best part about it, said a tall man drinking a beer out of a paper bag as he watched an R. Kelly video at a terminal in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood.

That pretty much says it all. The unintended social consequences of smart city projects are a real concern, and a technological imbalance is at the heart of it. Smart cities are clearly not intended for the homeless, but homeless people are a reality of cities you cant just ignore them. Smart cities seem to be taking hold most effectively in areas where theres significantly less income inequality and crime. For example, the United States ranks 63rd on a list of nations by largest income inequalities, while South Korea, where Songdo is located, ranks 129th. The United States intentional homicide rate is also more than five times greater than South Koreas.

Every smart city deployment affects different groups of people in different ways. While some drivers might appreciate the traffic flow optimization that comes with cameras on traffic lights, others will bemoan the surveillance state. A major question to grapple with is how to assuage (usually reasonable) fears while improving efficiency and standard of living. When the Songdo project broke ground, plenty of fishermen lost their way of life, but instead of giving them a bus ticket and wishing them good luck, the South Korean government handed them urban farm plots as a way to keep them going. This is the level of understanding and foresight thats needed for successful deployments.

A common complaint about greenfield smart city deployments is that theyre antiseptic they lack character. When cities are designed and deployed as a single unit, they dont carry the cultural vibrancy of a city built organically in response to the needs and desires of its denizens.

As someone who moved to San Francisco because of its cultural fabric, the piecemeal approach to integrating smart city technology is more appealing than the built-from-scratch approach, even though its less efficient and more expensive. Its the only way to preserve the character of the city. We just have to hope the people who compose the city arent forgotten.

Source: http://allofbeer.com/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2018/04/22/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/

[allofbeercom]

Are smart cities just a utopian fantasy?

Tyler Edell Crunch Network Contributor

Tyler Edell is a technical marketing manager at Oppkey, a developer relations company in San Francisco. He holds degrees in writing and literature from Emerson College and San Francisco State University.

How to join the network

Songdo, South Korea began its life as tidal marshland. Now its leading the charge into the future of smart cities. Once home to small-scale fishing operations, Songdo comprises massive, LEED-certified buildings, an efficient garbage collection system and even an island for rabbits.

The project began in 2000, when 500 tons of sand were poured into the marshland, laying the foundation for architectural achievements like the Northeast Asian Trade Tower, a 68-story building that is now the tallest in South Korea.

While Songdo is nearing completion and the flashy, meticulously designed buildings certainly suggest an eye on the future, much of what makes Songdo impressive lies under the surface. For example, the entire city is connected by an underground network of pipes that serve to funnel garbage directly from residents apartments into the highly automated waste collection plant. The garbage is automatically sorted and then recycled, buried or burned for fuel. This might be Songdos most avant-garde integration, and only seven employees are needed to handle the entire citys garbage.

Songdo has the benefit of being a greenfield deployment, meaning that the citys infrastructure could be designed beforehand, based on the predicted needs of the architecture and residents, instead of being integrated reactively, as is the case with most smart city deployments. Integrating Songdos garbage collection system with cities like San Francisco or New York would take years of legislation and astronomical amounts of money.

Not all of Songdos future-focused initiatives are out of reach for established cities, though. Songdo has sensors everywhere to monitor temperature, energy use, traffic flow and the salt water canal that runs through the city. Sensor prices have dropped drastically over the past few years, allowing an unprecedented degree of connection even to established cities. Still, most cities have been reluctant to roll out full-fledged initiatives for smart city deployments. Theres great optimism surrounding the smart city discussion, but that optimism seems to wilt whenever someone asks Whos going to fund this?

The city certainly isnt going to, at least in the case of San Francisco. While SF does have an outrageous $9.6 billion budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, most of that will be funneled toward the mismanagement of the citys disastrous infrastructure. Its a fair question to ask why they cant dedicate a portion of that budget to smart city initiatives, but maybe they were relying on the $50 million Smart City Challenge award from the federal government, for which they were a contender. If they had won the award, private contributions would have been added to the federal award, bringing the total for the initiative to $200 million.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure.

The federal government has dedicated $80 million in new investments toward its smart city program, but that money will be spread out over 70+ cities, bringing the average to a whopping $1.1 million per city. That might sound like a lot of money (it is), but when you compare it to, for example, the average price of repaving one mile of a four-lane road ($1.25 million), it isnt exactly breathtaking. And even if you think the SF municipal government could do great things with more money, keep in mind that its the same government that allows somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people to sleep on the streets, while dedicating $224 million to keeping them off of them.

Current funding for smart city initiatives is only good enough for proof-of-concept trials, which would lead, at best, to a piecemeal approach to smart city construction. The reluctance is understandable Songdo cost roughly $35 billion to build from scratch but without genuine investment in changing the infrastructure of a city to fit smart city needs, widespread deployment will be riddled with integration and adoption issues. Maybe the biggest obstacle to its full deployment is one question: Are smart cities profitable?

There have been compelling waste-reduction efforts based on smart city sensor technology, like using sensors in the water supply to mitigate waste. While these efforts have resulted in corking budget leaks, they havent appeared to bleed over into other aspects of smart city deployments. Cities can use smart meters to make street parking easier, but that might actually work against them. If a driver finds a spot, they pay $2. If they get a ticket, they pay $72. Thats why some companies are offering cities analytics to optimize a police officers ability to hand out tickets its all about profit.

Another example: Lets say a city opens its streets to autonomous vehicle rideshares, and that those rideshares catch on. And that they catch on to the point that it eats into the Department of Transportations revenue, so they have to slash public transportation frequency to a point where its no longer viable to maintain a robust public transportation system. They end up having to subsidize rides for low-income commuters, as well as lay off a slew of public transportation workers. In this scenario, the government not only doesnt make a profit, but it has to deal with the headache of transitioning its transportation system and the social upheaval that comes with massive layoffs.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure or engage with, which is probably why we havent heard very much about them. Smart cities seem abstracted from the cities themselves, as evidenced by the unwanted consequences of LinkNYCs free Wi-Fi program. If you arent familiar with LinkNYC, the goal is to replace payphones around NYC with free Wi-Fi kiosks. These kiosks come equipped with tablet-like touchscreens that allow anyone to browse the web. At least they used to.

A few weeks after the program went live, LinkNYC had to disable web browsing on all of its public tablets, for obvious reasons. If it doesnt seem obvious to you, let me list some of the ingredients in this debacle: homeless people, substance abuse, free video streaming and a public space. One of my favorite headlines about this misuse of the project is, Wi-Fi kiosks have become living rooms for vagrants, which was in the NY Post. My favorite excerpt, though, is from the Chicago Tribune: Its free. Thats the best part about it, said a tall man drinking a beer out of a paper bag as he watched an R. Kelly video at a terminal in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood.

That pretty much says it all. The unintended social consequences of smart city projects are a real concern, and a technological imbalance is at the heart of it. Smart cities are clearly not intended for the homeless, but homeless people are a reality of cities you cant just ignore them. Smart cities seem to be taking hold most effectively in areas where theres significantly less income inequality and crime. For example, the United States ranks 63rd on a list of nations by largest income inequalities, while South Korea, where Songdo is located, ranks 129th. The United States intentional homicide rate is also more than five times greater than South Koreas.

Every smart city deployment affects different groups of people in different ways. While some drivers might appreciate the traffic flow optimization that comes with cameras on traffic lights, others will bemoan the surveillance state. A major question to grapple with is how to assuage (usually reasonable) fears while improving efficiency and standard of living. When the Songdo project broke ground, plenty of fishermen lost their way of life, but instead of giving them a bus ticket and wishing them good luck, the South Korean government handed them urban farm plots as a way to keep them going. This is the level of understanding and foresight thats needed for successful deployments.

A common complaint about greenfield smart city deployments is that theyre antiseptic they lack character. When cities are designed and deployed as a single unit, they dont carry the cultural vibrancy of a city built organically in response to the needs and desires of its denizens.

As someone who moved to San Francisco because of its cultural fabric, the piecemeal approach to integrating smart city technology is more appealing than the built-from-scratch approach, even though its less efficient and more expensive. Its the only way to preserve the character of the city. We just have to hope the people who compose the city arent forgotten.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/