#my wife my abuser: the secret footage | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

religion-is-a-mental-illness · 9 months ago

Text

The horrific Fool Me Once-style nanny-cam footage that exposed an abusive wife: Secret camera footage shows battered husband threatened with a knife, beaten and cowering in a foetal position during wife's 20-year reign of terror

By: Stewart Carr and Kevin Donald

Published: Mar 15, 2024

Sheree Spencer, 45, terrorised husband Richard at their East Yorks home

C5 documentary 'My Wife, My Abuser: The Secret Footage' airs Monday

Chilling never-before-seen footage from a nanny cam has revealed the moment a battered husband cowered on the floor while his wife hurled abuse at him and brandished a knife in their home during her 20-year reign of terror.

Damning videos of Sheree Spencer's attacks on husband Richard at their seven-bedroom home in Bubwith, East Yorkshire, were captured on cameras the couple had installed to monitor their children.

And explosive clips from police interviews show Sheree casually lying about her husband being the abuser, only for her face to turn ashen when confronted with the footage.

On one occasion she defecated on the floor and forced him to clean it up, and on another she beat him with a wine bottle so hard it permanently disfigured his ear.

Sheree, 45, was jailed for four years at Hull Crown Court in March 2023 by Judge Kate Rayfield, who told her: 'This is the worst case of controlling and coercive behaviour I have seen.'

Now, Mr Spencer is sharing his story in vivid detail in Channel 5 documentary My Wife, My Abuser: The Secret Footage, which airs on Monday.

And today, MailOnline can reveal Sheree went to desperate lengths through the courts in a bid to stop the documentary being broadcast.

[ Damning clips of Sheree Spencer's attacks on husband Richard at their seven-bedroom home in Bubwith, East Yorkshire, were captured on cameras the couple installed to monitor their children ]

[ The hidden nanny cam gave a vital way out for battered husband Mr Spencer after he endured years of physical and verbal abuse from his wife, that sometimes left him 'broken' in a foetal position ]

[ Sheree's reign of domestic terror finally ended in June 2021 when the police were called to their family home by a concerned welfare worker ]

[ Footage showed furious wine-fuelled tirades, in which Sheree would call her husband 'fat boy,' 'a pussy' and 'dumb dumb' and inflict bruises and scratches ]

The footage, obtained from the nanny-cam, gives a chilling real-life echo of Harlan Coben's Netflix adaptation Fool Me Once, starring Michelle Keegan. In it, Keegan plays a woman who installs the small camera to keep watch over her young daughter, only to recognise an eerie figure from her past creeping into her home.

Mr Spencer felt his harrowing experiences should be seen to raise awareness of the type of abuse men can suffer in their daily lives at the hands of violent partners but Sheree tried to block it.

He told Mailonline: 'Sheree tried to stop the documentary being broadcast in the crown court but failed, then she applied for a prohibited steps order through the family court, which luckily was rejected and thrown out at the first hearing.

'The broadcast has been delayed due to the legal challenges for about six months, but now it is finally going to be shown.

'I'm hopeful that the film will be well received and will make a difference.'

The hidden nanny cam gave a vital way out for battered husband Mr Spencer after he endured years of physical and verbal abuse from his wife, that left him 'broken' on the floor in a foetal position.

Mr Spencer had met his wife in a nightclub in 2000, and the pair married on a Thai beach in 2009.

After they welcomed the eldest of their three daughters in 2015, Mr Spencer installed the nanny cam so they could keep watch over her.

Instead, footage showed furious wine-fuelled tirades, in which Sheree would call her husband 'fat boy,' 'a p**sy' and 'dumb dumb' and inflict bruises and scratches that he would need to cover with make-up before going outside.

Mr Spencer told The Sun: 'We had two [cameras] — one in the playroom and one in the bedroom. They were there for reassurance, to keep an eye out because it's a big house.

'It was on something like a 28-day roll, where if something new came in it would delete the old footage.'

When police finally became involved, Mr Spencer handed over 43 images of his bruised face, taken on different dates following savage assaults he had suffered.

[ Equally explosive clips from police interviews show Sheree casually lying about her husband being the abuser, only for her face to turn ashen when confronted with the clips ]

[ Mr Spencer, now happily settled with a new partner, decided to take part in the Channel 5 documentary to help other abused men speak out ]

[ Mr Spencer handed police 36 photographs he took of himself, showing cuts and bruises to his face and body ]

[ Sheree Spencer, 45, was jailed for four years for making her husband Richard's life a living hell with daily beatings and verbal attacks that left him cowering on the floor in the foetal position ]

[ Richard Spencer, pictured, secretly recorded video and audio of his wife's attacks on him for years. When police became involved he handed over 43 images of his bruised face and body ]

A police officer tells the documentary: 'This has been going on for such a long time, that this is who he is. Withdrawn and broken.'

Mr Spencer says: 'I just wanted the abuse to stop. I was in a situation and there was no way out.'

Hull Crown Court heard that mother-of-three Sheree had carried out most of the attacks on her husband in the family home.

Sheree worked at the highest levels for HM Prison and Probation Service and bragged to friends that she had the ear of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

She was a project manager in the department's directorate of strategy and performance.

A former friend said: 'She would brag about being only two down from the Prime Minister in her field and had meetings with Boris Johnson, who she spoke of as though he were a friend.

'She was bragging about her high flying career while subjecting her poor husband, a lovely man, to daily abuse, degradation and humiliation.'

It was described as 'a great irony' that Spencer had done so much work aimed at investigating the effect of custodial sentences on the family.

Within months of becoming a couple in 2000, Richard Spencer endured her violent rages, which happened whether she was drunk or sober.

The worst of the assaults on him happened in April 2021 when his wife attacked him with the empty wine bottle.

Mr Spencer, who stands at 5ft 10in, told the court that although he was bigger and physically stronger than his petite wife, he did not fight back when she began to attack him.

He said he became almost immune to the physical abuse she meted out, even though she would cause him immense pain by sinking her teeth into him.

But he said the mental scars left by 16 years of her hate-filled attacks were what would leave the most lasting effect.

Sheree's reign of domestic terror finally ended in June 2021 when the police were called to their family home by a concerned welfare worker.

Her arrest that day on suspicion of assaulting her husband opened a door into the hell he had kept private for his entire married life.

Mr Spencer said: 'In trying to block the footage being shown, she continued trying to exert control even from jail, but fortunately justice prevailed.

'It’s astonishing to me that she’s living a relatively easy life in prison, having been moved to an open jail after six months of her sentence.

'The judge in her case described it as the worst case or coercive control she had ever seen, so why she was considered for open prison so early is beyond me.

'She is due for release next February but she is able to go out for family and friend meetings and has been working in a cafe.

'It doesn’t seem a just sentence for someone who committed such serious offences.'

Since his ex-wife's imprisonment, Mr Spencer has joined a campaign called ManKind Initiative, which supports male victims of domestic abuse.

He has also found love again and told media he is happily settled with his new partner.

Speaking to media after Sheree was jailed last year, he said: 'I have become resigned to the fact that I will never fully recover from her abuse and that it will have a permanent damaging impact on mine and my family's life.

'Sheree's abuse towards me evolved and escalated over time, she used repeated acts of physical assault, threats, verbal abuse, and humiliation to punish and exercise control over me.

'The abuse was hidden from the outside world, including friends and family. Sheree manipulated me into believing that I was a responsible and willing participant in the abuse. She remorselessly proclaimed that I deserved to be punished, and that it was a justifiable consequence of me disappointing her in some way.

'Little by little, I lost my independence and willpower and just accepted that was how my life was going to be. I complied with Sheree's demands, and she controlled most aspects of my everyday life, including things like what activities I could participate in and when, which room I could sleep in, and even which toilet I could use.

'Gradually I became isolated from family and friends and was left deep in debt causing me to feel trapped.'

'After a while, I learnt to cover my face with my hands and curl up into a foetal position to try and avoid sustaining any visible facial injuries, so that I could still take the children to school and nursery.'

Abstract

Objectives. We sought to examine the prevalence of reciprocal (i.e., perpetrated by both partners) and nonreciprocal intimate partner violence and to determine whether reciprocity is related to violence frequency and injury.

Methods. We analyzed data on young US adults aged 18 to 28 years from the 2001 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which contained information about partner violence and injury reported by 11 370 respondents on 18761 heterosexual relationships.

Results. Almost 24% of all relationships had some violence, and half (49.7%) of those were reciprocally violent. In nonreciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases. Reciprocity was associated with more frequent violence among women (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.9, 2.8), but not men (AOR=1.26; 95% CI=0.9, 1.7). Regarding injury, men were more likely to inflict injury than were women (AOR=1.3; 95% CI=1.1, 1.5), and reciprocal intimate partner violence was associated with greater injury than was nonreciprocal intimate partner violence regardless of the gender of the perpetrator (AOR=4.4; 95% CI=3.6, 5.5).

Conclusions. The context of the violence (reciprocal vs nonreciprocal) is a strong predictor of reported injury. Prevention approaches that address the escalation of partner violence may be needed to address reciprocal violence.

Abstract

This annotated bibliography describes 343 scholarly investigations (270 empirical studies and 73 reviews) demonstrating that women are as physically aggressive as men (or more) in their relationships with their spouses or opposite-sex partners. The aggregate sample size in the reviewed studies exceeds 440,850 people.

Abstract and Figures

The first part of this article summarizes results from more than 200 studies that have found gender symmetry in perpetration and in risk factors and motives for physical violence in martial and dating relationships. It also summarizes research that has found that most partner violence is mutual and that self-defense explains only a small percentage of partner violence by either men or women. The second part of the article documents seven methods that have been used to deny, conceal, and distort the evidence on gender symmetry. The third part of the article suggests explanations for the denial of an overwhelming body of evidence by reputable scholars. The concluding section argues that ignoring the overwhelming evidence of gender symmetry has crippled prevention and treatment programs. It suggests ways in which prevention and treatment efforts might be improved by changing ideologically based programs to programs based on the evidence from the past 30 years of research

#Richard Spencer #My Wife My Abuser #Sheree Spencer #domestic violence #intimate partner violence #coercive control #male victims of domestic abuse #male victims of domestic violence #abusive women #female abusers #violent women #male victims #domestic abuse #religion is a mental illness

11 notes · View notes

missvelvetsstuff · 2 years ago

Text

Where you goin, Star?

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Biker au

Summary: Reader meets Bucky when the truck hauling her show horses breaks down as she is trying to leave for an event and he works for the mechanic. Passionate, secret love affair ensues. After a confrontation with her father, Bucky decides she deserves better than a poor biker like him and leaves town with his friends Steve and Sam.

Three years later, reader is trapped in an abusive relationship and about to give up hope of things ever improving, when Bucky comes back.

Chapter 11

Warnings: Swearing, angst

Banging on her door distracted Star and Bucky before she could respond.

Star hurried to answer the door and was almost run over by Tony and Steve who started talking over each other

"Turn the tv on, any news channel, you have to see this"

"Holy shit this is the best thing ever"

"Friday, turn the tv on any news show."

Star and Bucky just stood there staring until she spoke up "What the hell is going on here?"

Tony smiled at her and nodded towards the tv "Check this out."

The news anchor was talking about a storm in the Caribbean when the co anchor took over and the picture of the entrance of Stark tower went from a small box in the corner to full screen

"This is footage from outside of Stark tower in Manhattan earlier this evening. New congressman John Walker is being walked out of the building in handcuffs. While no one has confirmed why, insiders say it is probably related to the recent drug overdose of his wife of 3 years, Heiress Y/N Pierce. She was saved by a dose of narcan administered by an EMT and was released from the hospital yesterday. She is reported to be staying with Tony and Pepper Stark while she completes outpatient rehab.

Regardless of whatever the facts end up being, this isn't a good look for Walker who is rumoured to have his eyes on a Senate seat. Especially when added to the rumours that he has already been served divorce papers.

We'll be reporting on this story as it updates."

Star looked at Bucky blankly, unable to form any words for a moment. Bucky squeezed her hands and brought her back "Wow. I really didn't expect all-" her phone rang and she stopped speaking to find it. She answered it on the 3rd ring and didn't even get to say anything before the caller started speaking hurriedly at her. She just listened and hummed in answer to the barrage of questions.

When the caller finally stopped speaking Star barked out harshly "Where did you get this number? This is a private number. If you need to contact me you can call the main number for Stark Tower and leave a message." she angrily hung up the phone before answering the question on everyone's face "Reporter asking about the divorce and John's arrest."

Tony looked annoyed "They shouldn't have been able to get your number unless John or one of his people gave it out."

She shook her head "It wouldn't surprise me if he leaked it. Anything to make my life more difficult. That's kinda his thing."

Bucky growled "I could fucking k-"

Star cut him off "Nope. We're not going there. I'm not letting you get into trouble over me." She lowered her voice "I'm not worth it."

But Bucky heard her "No doll, you are worth everything. That's what I've been trying to tell you. Star, you mean everything to me and I'm so sorry I messed it all up." He gently reached out to touch her cheek, she closed her eyes, leaned into his touch and he saw a tear fall.

Star shook her head "You didn't mess anything up, my father didn't give you much choice. If you hadn't accepted his offer he would have sent Brock to take care of you. I heard them talking about it at my wedding. They expected you to show up and disrupt everything. My dad said he hoped you would so he could take care of you once and for all. That's when I realized it was hopeless, even if you tried to save me it wouldn't have worked."

She jumped when her phone rang again, another unknown number. She sighed and answered it only to be assailed with questions.

Tony looked at her and put his hand out so she handed him her phone. He just hung it up and turned it off. "This isn't going to work. I'll get the number changed and bring it back later. I'll have Jeri contact John's office and advise them to use the main number here to contact you."

Tony's phone rang and Star jumped again, Bucky rubbed her back to soothe her.

Tony answered and spoke in short, terse sentences before hanging up quickly with a sigh.

He looked sadly at Star. "The story is out and everyone wants to talk to you. There's a mob of press in the lobby so it looks like you're staying in for the night." He looked at Steve and Bucky, "you're both welcome to stay too. I can have rooms prepared for you."

Steve shook his head, "I need to get back to Peggy. My bike is in your parking garage so hopefully I can get past the press."

He looked over at his friend "Buck?"

Bucky looked at Star hopefully "It's up to you, doll. I'm here if you need me or I can go if you need space."

Star looked at him with wide eyes "Are you sure? I don't want to be alone but I don't know.." She trailed off.

Bucky pulled her close "I'm positive Star. Whatever you need, I'll do."

She melted into him, his warmth and scent taking her back to happier days. He gave her hope that just maybe her nightmare with John was almost over and better times were on the horizon.

Tony and Steve quietly excused themselves and a short while later Star and Bucky separated, both of them smiling and hoping the other couldn't tell their faces heated up, and then ate their dinner.

"Do you want to see if there's any more news or find something funny to watch?"

She giggled "I don't know, watching John doing a perp walk and listening to the speculation about why and the divorce is pretty damn funny"

Buckys grin grew at the sound of her laugh and he knew he would do anything for her. He wished he could touch her how he used to but knew it would take time, for her to heal from John and for her to trust him again. He promised himself that he would be here for her no matter what.

Star went to get ready for bed and came out of the bathroom in a long shirt and sleep shorts then climbed into the big bed before patting the spot next to her for Bucky to sit.

He looked at her concerned "Are you sure? I can sit over here" he gestured at the chair in the corner but Star just rolled her eyes and listed the blanket up for him to climb under.

Bucky grinned and shrugged "Who am I to question my Star?" and cuddled up next to her.

They stayed up late talking like they used to. Bucky told her stories of the drama from going to school and living with his three closest friends. Star listened and smiled but every time he tried to ask her about the time they were apart she changed the subject or asked him questions to distract him. There wasn't much worth discussing outside of the abuse from her father and John and she'd rather not talk about that anymore than necessary.

They both finally fell asleep as the sun was coming up, wrapped up in each other.

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

They were woken up by the disembodied voice that Star was trying to get used to. "Ms Pierce? Mr Stark has invited you and Sargent Barnes to join him for brunch in an hour. Shall I tell him you will be there?"

Star tried to sit up but Bucky growled and made her laugh "Yes, Friday, we'll be there."

She poked Bucky in the ribs and he opened one eye and stared at her until she went to poke him again and he snapped at her finger then grabbed her arm and pulled her flush against his chest. After taking a deep breath of her he shook his head "Nope. Staying here."

She giggled "come on Jamie, Tony Stark has invited us for brunch" she didn't notice that Jamie slipped out but he wasn't going to tell her and simply basked in the glow of their slowly rekindling relationship.

When they made it to Tony's dining room they saw Tony, Pepper and Morgan.

"Star, Barnes come in and have a seat. Fill up a plate, drink mimosas."

Star went to sit next to Pepper, talking to Morgan in her high chair. Bucky sat next to her, a soft look on his face as he watched Star play with the baby.

Tony sat down "I wanted to let you know I was able to talk to one of the judges that handles divorce and family law and he's willing to meet with you in his chambers. There you can try to convince John to just settle and walk away before you release the particulars of your marriage and it's end. Hopefully sitting before a judge will make him realize how serious this all is." He explained. "Plus you'll have credible witnesses to John's crapulance."

Tony looked at Bucky and sighed "You won't like this but I think Barnes should sit the divorce mess out. You don't want John trying to throw out some fidelity issues."

Bucky started to protest "I don't want her facing him alone, she-"

Tony cleared his throat "I know, I know and I will send Happy and Rhodey with her. They will keep her safe from John or any of his people."

Bucky scowled at Tony but conceded and squeezed Stars hand, trying to assure her everything will be ok.

Star nodded "Will that even work? He knows that he's already facing charges for his last round of abuse and ordering Brock and Jack to discipline and kill me."

Tony nodded "Maybe. He might think he has a chance to get out of those charges and keep his job but an illegitimate kid? Conservatives aren't attached enough to him to overlook cheating so without your money, he'll be too broke to fund his next campaign like your father paid for his last which puts him out of a job."

Star thought for a minute while chewing on a piece of bacon, then shrugged. "I'll have to trust you Tony, I don't know anything about all this mess."

Tony smiled at her "Well you know I have to do what I can or your biker friends might cause me some trouble" and winked.

Star laughed and shouldered Bucky "I've been told that they are troublemakers." She took a deep breath "So when is this appointment?"

"Tuesday, 10am. It's already coordinated with your attorneys so all you need to do is wear something nice and stand your ground."

Star nodded "I know, he's a bully. He will try to intimidate me. I'm not letting him do that anymore."

Pepper spoke up "So Y/N we should find some nice court outfits for you. I can have some sent over for you to try on. Accessories too. Once you are past this divorce mess we will have to have a girls day out, brunch, shopping, beauty treatments, a play. The works. For now we will have them brought to you."

Star felt herself start to choke up and wondered when she would stop feeling overwhelmed by others kindness "Thank you, Pepper."

Tony looked at his watch "Alright Barnes, we have business to work on. Your partners should be here soon."

Bucky looked at Star "You'll be alright here without me?"

She nodded with a smile and he gave her a kiss on the cheek and followed Tony out of the room.

Pepper looked at her excited "Business has kept me so busy I haven't had time for pampering and you know how hard it is to make real friends in our world. I think you might need a friend as badly as I do.

Let me make a few calls to get things started."

Pepper left her to finish her food and returned 15 minutes later. "They're on their way, let's go to the wardrobe and get comfortable.

They spent the morning drinking mimosas and trying on an endless stream of clothes. By the time they were done both were more than half drunk and had put together 2 weeks worth of court appropriate ensembles.

"I don't know, Pep. Do you think I'll need this many outfits?"

Pepper nodded and giggled "If you don't need them for court they'll be good for the talk shows and book signings."

Star shook her head "Book signings and talk shows? What are you talking about?"

Pepper giggled again "After you write your book. I think people would love to read your story."

Star shook her head "Because people love dirty laundry, especially when it proves that the rich and famous are as fucked up as everyone else."

"But Star, you could use any profits for your work at your stable."

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Divorce and John's criminal BS because I know he won't settle. Thats all I can handle right now."

While they were getting their mani-pedi Pepper kept gossiping like a teenager. "What about you and Bucky?"

Stars head snapped up "What about what? I definitely can't think about that right now. I'm still recovering from John and not ready to jump into another relationship right now. He's being a good friend, thats all I can deal with right now."

Pepper frowned "But its so obvious you two still love each other."

Star took a breath "I don't know what we feel. If we are going to have something again it will have to wait till I can heal."

Pepper nodded "I don't think he's going anywhere unless you tell him to. I'll let it go as long as you remember that Tony and I are here for you."

Star smiled "Thanks, Pep."

When they were done, Star was exhausted and went back to her room to lay down. She couldn't get Bucky out of her mind and when she finally did fall asleep he haunted her dreams.

Chapter 12

@pattiemac1

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #angst with a happy ending #biker au

33 notes · View notes

deadlydetails · 10 months ago

Text

When Corrupt Cop Stages Wife's Attack But She Survives

When Corrupt Cop Stages Wife's Attack But She Survives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXISoH4A7Wc Full Video: https://youtu.be/gXfM0lISaHQ Police officer (Chief’s Grandson) tried to kill his wife, didn't make any attempt to see if she was still alive, got another girlfriend (after his dispatcher mistress), lied on a legal document about having Jessica's belongings, got custody of the kids, had the kids taken away because he was abusing them, and he still wasn't brought to justice. Glad Jessica and the children are safe now! What do you think? Full Video: https://youtu.be/gXfM0lISaHQ #crime #truecrime #documentary #bodycam #footage #raid #corrupt #badcops #detective #coverup #cops ✅ Subscribe To My Channel For More Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDeadlyDetails ✅ Stay Connected With Me: 👉 Instagram: https://ift.tt/DvA2OMG 👉 TikTok : https://ift.tt/fPH87pg 👉 Facebook: https://bit.ly/3PMw5vz ============================== ✅ Other Videos You Might Be Interested In Watching: 👉 Police Interrogations: The Strangest Moments Caught On Camera | Deadly Details https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOWJh2Oayh4 👉 Senator's Shocking Downfall: Pedophilia Accusations - The Jail Sentence Awaits | Deadly Details https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TFH8-1cJU4 👉 Employee's Disturbing Discovery: Realizing Your Boss's Deadly Secret | Deadly Details https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAV1y-o0la8 ============================= ✅ About Deadly Details: Dive deep into the intricate world of true crime with unfiltered access to raw footage. We primarily focus on dissecting police interrogations, shedding light on the strategies used and emotions displayed. Join us for a front-row seat to real-life detective work and witness the high-stakes dance between suspects and officers. Subscribe and unravel the truth with us, one case at a time. For Collaboration and Business inquiries, please use the contact information below: 📩 Email: [email protected] 🔔 Subscribe to my channel for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDeadlyDetails ===================== ADD HASHTAGS Disclaimer: We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage which is incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of reading any of our publications. You acknowledge that you use the information we provide at your own risk. Do your own research. Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use © Deadly Details via Deadly Details https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkn5MwAp7aVgXuYkYIbdxzw January 25, 2024 at 04:21AM

#crime #truecrime #drinsanity #dr.insanity #jcs #mystery #interrogation #interrogationfootage #policefootage #actualfootage #cops #detectives #detective

0 notes

deniigi · 4 years ago

Note

Jack and the other folks at the gym; how they met, what their relationships are like, how they are with Matt etc.

For you, anon. I have an old fic that answers all of these questions.

It’s written from the perspective of Jack’s best friend and sparring partner Rudy DeLuca.

Title: Tape

Summary: There were two generations of devils at Fogwell’s Gym

Warnings: child abuse, physical abuse, references to drug use and suicide/suicide attempts, and foster care

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

There was a famed baby at the gym at the moment and Rudy was scheming how to get it into his arms when the old man caught him leaning on the front desk and told him that he had two whole grandbabies waitin’ for him at home.

Matty took that moment to fly in from the back room where he’d been harrassing the shit out of the new ‘clerk’ (as Fogwell called him) to ask if Tina had finally popped.

Rudy was caught off guard by the image of Tina beating the shit out of Matt for that and then by the wave of nostalgia that the kid’s sudden enthusiasm bought.

“Well, look who’s here?” he drawled instead, slowly turning around towards the beast. “Where you been, neighbor?”

Matt beamed at him.

He looked good.

Happy.

Far, far too happy.

Rudy squinted.

Matt waited a beat, then scrambled back into staff entrance and knocked shit over on the desk back there in his haste to go hide behind Fogwell.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

That’s right, troublemaker, go hide behind Grandpa. He’ll protect you, you little shit.

The new gym baby was a full two months old. He was fat and grumpy and his papa’s pride and joy already. Rudy managed to snag an opportunity to get the thing into his arms when Bert and Kenny came in, signaling for the youths that the senior citizen shift had begun.

Fogwell was the most distinguished of the senior citizens, but, of course, he would wait his turn until the rest of them had finished lavishing attention upon his fiftieth great-grandbaby.

Baby’s papa was proud as a peacock.

“His name’s Henry,” he told Rudy, while Henry wrinkled his nose and eyes up at him.

Henry.

Ehn.

Terrible name.

“He looks like a John,” Rudy said.

Papa, who Rudy had forgotten the name of at least six times since he’d joined the gym, laughed.

“I thought about callin’ him Jack,” he said. “But my girl drew the line there.”

Ah.

Right.

This was that kid.

Kenny had gathered everyone into a group huddle in the changing room the other week to explain seriously how they all needed to avoid the fuck out of this guy. He’d said in a whisper that the guy was one of them people into vintage shit.

A hipster, he meant.

A fuckin’ hipster in their midst.

God, there were more and more of them in the gym every day.

Rudy lifted an eyebrow at baby Henry.

He didn’t deserve to be called Henry. He really did look more like a John. But, for the sake of the dead, Rudy decided that he’d squint for as hard and long as it took for him to become a Henry.

---

Fogwell’s had been legendary back in the day for producing pro boxers out of good-for-nothin’, trouble-makin’ guys with no other prospects.

Fogwell was that general from Mulan who made men out of boys (and the occasional girl. And the most recent kid who said that they weren’t a guy or a gal and if anyone wanted to throw down about it, they were posting their number on the cork board by the front desk).

Back in Rudy’s youth, that had been appealing as hell. And so he’d had a swagger on into the place, thinking that maybe he would pop his guns a bit in Fogwell’s direction and get the polishing he needed to make enough money to buy his girl a ring.

On the upside, Fogwell had, in fact, noticed him. But the downside was that Rudy had had no fucking clue what that actually meant, and so three years later, he’d found himself smoking only twice a week instead of every day, drinking goddamn protein shakes, and doing a daily fuckin’ jog like a military brat.

Fogwell had no time for dumb shit. He didn’t care if you wanted to kill yourself slowly with whatever vice you picked from the basket, but if you walked into the ring with his name on your back, then you would disgrace that name on pain of divine retribution.

It was way easier just to get one step ahead of the guy’s nit-picking than to suffer his judgemental silence.

That had been Fogwell back in the day, and that was still Fogwell in the now.

But as with any force of nature, even if the old man had planted his feet and announced his intention to rest there in that place for the next two millenia, the world around him still carried on spinning around.

Fogwell’s wasn’t just a facility for churning out pros these days. It wasn’t just legendary, now.

It was a fuckin’ institution.

God help them.

They were a tourist destination. Ghost hunters, folks on buses, sports fans, teen girls with a mighty need for a vintage-lookin’ selfie. You name it. They pressed their noses up against the yellowed glass to watch the people inside break their bodies down to build them up into something money-making.

It wasn’t an unwarranted curiosity, to be fair.

Fogwell had produced twenty pro boxers in the last several decades who’d really made it. Like, really, really made it.

Bert was one of them—to literally every one of the senior citizens’ surprise.

Bert had been a empty-headed wise-guy with a porn-stache at best way back when. And like, don’t get Rudy wrong, he was still an empty-headed wise-guy. He was just an empty-headed wise guy with a head like a helmet and a whole lot of money now.

Not that you’d have known it from lookin’ at him.

Bless him.

He was paying college tuition for all his kids and he was helping the older ones vet kindergartens with tuition or what the fuck ever, doing all that he could so that those babies didn’t have to live life out of Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese boxes like him.

Bert had made it. That was the dream.

The dream was just that, though. A shot in the dark. A drop in a bucket. Kenny had done alright, just like Rudy had done alright. They’d had their ten minutes of time in the spotlight. Had made enough to get by. Had made enough to be comfortable in Hell’s Kitchen. To retire and become personal trainers or sports commentators or whatever the fuck opportunity jumped up in their faces.

A lot of fellas hadn’t made it, though. And then there were the Almosts.

Jackie had been an Almost, god rest his soul.

This new hipster kid at the gym with his baby had latched onto Jack’s image, found in old magazines and grainy footage, and had decided that that whole vibe fit the image that he wanted to live in.

It made Rudy sick. It made Kenny angry—hence the group huddle.

There were about seven of them left who’d both known Jackie and who still used the gym on the regular. Eight if you included Fogwell.

Nine if you included Matty.

Jesus fuckin’ help them.

This dumbass hipster kid didn’t even know who Matty was. Most of the newcomers didn’t. He was just some bright, perky blind guy to them. He was Center-Left-Second-Back bag. That was his bag.

And he was good.

He was a curiosity to the newcomers and the people pressed against glass—one of a handful of middle-weights in a sea of heavyweights. He didn’t look like everyone else. He wasn’t packing muscle like everyone else. He was lithe and coiled and looked, honestly, a little out of place to folks who didn’t know the gym as Home #2.

He was interesting to the newcomers mostly because he was 100% Fogwell’s favorite. Fogwell doted on him by ribbing him and bullying him viciously, by bumping into him and throwing him off mark left and right, and all the while, Matty just beamed.

The newbies thought he got preferential treatment because he was blind. But that wasn’t it. Matty got treated that way because that was how his grandpa told him he loved him.

---

Before Jake and Carlos and Omar and Matty, Jack had been Fogwell’s favorite up-and-coming rookie.

It had been no secret. Well. To most people.

Jack had been horrified when he’d found out.

No one wanted to be Fogwell’s favorite. That’s how you went pro whether you liked it or fucking not.

Jack had pleaded with Kenny for hours to take his place, but there was nothing that could be done. Jackie was the youngest and Jackie had come from a shit home life and Jackie would do anything and everything Fogwell told him to do because he was just that kind of sweet and respectful.

Fogwell could smell Jack’s lack of a father-figure on him like Chanelle No. 5.

He could smell it miles away.

Jack had actually been at the gym before Rudy had joined up. He’d been around since he was about seventeen. He’d come in on the heels of his big brother who wanted to go pro.

It quickly became apparent to Fogwell that Tom Murdock didn’t have what it took to be a boxer. He was just a bully. But that little brother of his, Tom’s punching bag, now he had some talent. He had the diligence and respect that the game, in Fogwell’s opinion, was severely lacking.

So Fogwell did what he did best and drove a wedge slowly between Tom and baby Jackie, separating the two of them so that he could get his mitts on Jackie and do something with him before Tom and his junkie sister took Jackie down with them.

Rudy had met Jack soon after Jack’s eldest brother had been arrested for murdering his wife and stepdaughter.

The kid was a wreck. He’d just turned 18.

He didn’t talk. He just fought and fought and fought until he cried and cried and cried. All on his own, from 5pm to 1am, at Center-Left-Second-Back.

Fogwell let him.

Fogwell came over to put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed when he finally dropped from exhaustion.

It was hard to watch.

The older guard at the time had bared their teeth and clenched their jaws as Jackie had pummeled his heart out against that bag.

No one could help him.

Everyone but Rudy, at that time, had seen the man he’d walked into the gym with. They’d seen this coming a mile away. And over a few days of that, it become clear to Rudy that Jack didn’t have a home to go back to that didn’t scream at him from morning until night. At that time, the gym for him was Home #1.

---

It took about a year, but Rudy eventually got to know this weeping, heartbroken boy from the worst side of the Kitchen.

Rudy learned from the others about the Murdocks.

They were sinners and drunkards and addicts, word had it. The police were always in and out of their rooms, taking one of the five kids or one of the parents to jail for some damn reason or another. Neighbors wasted their hard-earned money on phone calls to the police for domestic disputes and violence and so on and so on. Everyone on the streets said to be careful of the Murdocks, especially them boys.

They got the devil in ‘em.

But not Jackie, Rudy learned.

He was shy, bless him. He wasn’t suited to those others’ kind of life.

Rudy actually had felt, for the second time in his life, strong brotherly feelings around this kid. He and his own sister didn’t get on until someone threatened the other. Then it was no-holds-barred, bear-like feelings. Just them against the world.

But Jack was different. He had puppy eyes with a constant black one and perpetually chapped lips. It had never occurred to him that he could spend a buck buying chapstick. It had never occurred to him that he could have friends that he didn’t have to smile at until his face hurt.

He didn’t really get what it meant to have relationships with other people and for the first six months of their acquaintance, Jack refused to meet Rudy’s eye, much less say more than five words to him.

He was more than respectful.

He was skittish.

The other guys, who were happy to haze Rudy, warned him that he if so much as looked at that kid, Fogwell would break his bones and his career would be over before it even started.

It had definitely turned into a kind of spite thing.

Rudy had absolutely been that kind of shithead back then.

He’d started by offering to hold Jack’s bag while he worked out his aggression. That had been a mistake.

He’d caught Fogwell snickering at him about ten minutes into it, after trying and failing that whole time to find a way to plant his feet that would let him actually hold onto the bag.

Jack had noticed.

Jack had gotten flustered and freaked out bad enough that Rudy had been forced to leave him be or else he’d hyperventilate or go hide in the backroom in a cupboard or something in self-flagellation.

It took some practice and some muscle, but they got there in the end.

Jack was a great sparring partner because he did not fucking go down. It was like trying to fight a pine tree sometimes. He would, could, and did take hit after hit without batting an eye.

And when it was his turn for offense?

Rudy was well aware that he’d signed up to be a human punching bag, but this? This was a lot.

Fogwell critiqued the fuck out of Jack’s everything.

His form.

His posture.

His aim.

His drive.

His commitment.

His tape.

His fucking hair.

Jack thought he was like that with everyone.

Rudy loved that kid like a brother, but he wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box. Not by far.

That had become more clear when Kenny joined their mottley crew and, aggravatingly sharp, had taken to teasing Jack. That was more frustrating for Kenny than anyone else because Jackie didn’t get a single joke or jibe.

No, Jack didn’t know Seinfield. Or Friends. Or Charlie’s Angels. No, he didn’t know anything about cars. No, he didn’t know about physics or chemistry or math. What the fuck was English lit? Wait, what’s the difference between books and literature?

God.

Bless.

That.

Kid.

He wasn’t unintelligent, he just wasn’t academic.

He was sweet about it, though. The youngest of five, he had no choice but to be sweet because all his siblings called him hopeless and useless and stupid, so he had to be something and so pretty it was.

Rudy had never met someone who performed so well under pressure and around two years into their friendship and, suddenly privy to the full extent of Jack’s honestly horrific, borderline surreal upbringing, he finally got it.

But then along came Grace.

The Lord’s agent herself.

Jack was a good Catholic boy who saw a nun and dropped his eyes, but for some reason, this novice caught his gaze and he was gone.

He got dopey and dreamy the night after she and some friends had snuck out in their novice habits to see a load of guys in desperate need of the Lord hitting on each other.

It was tooth-decaying the way Jack swooned for that girl.

Her name was Margaret, she told him saucily at the church one street over from the one he’d grown up attending, but he could call her ‘Grace.’

Jack banged his melon on a locker a week later at the gym and the jolt make him realize that he was in love with her.

He cracked his head a second time with everyone watching him in a mix of pity, exhaustion, and indulgence and then scurried off to the bathroom to hyperventilate over a urinal.

“Someone go keep Baby M from drowning in a sink,” Horace Whalin, a professional beast at the start of his career, had sighed.

Everyone had looked right at Rudy.

---

Grace was the worst thing that could ever have happened to Jack.

Everyone at the gym knew it. Fogwell hated that girl with a cold passion.

She made Jack stupider than usual. Bolder than ever.

She made him think and made him question things and like, that was probably a good thing in terms of Jack’s life experience and mental health, but in terms of boxing?

Not good.

Fogwell was openly dreaming up schemes to break them up the day Jack came tearing into the gym and announced that he was getting married.

It took everything in Rudy not to start cackling right then and there. The entire gym’s necklines bulged with the effort not to fucking laugh. Fogwell went silent and blank.

He’d waved Jack in close and and when he came—because he would always come to Fogwell, no matter what—the old man set a hand on Jack’s shoulder and told him that if he brought that woman into the gym he’d kill him.

Jack stared up at him and said that they were getting married in a church, Coach. Why would he bring her to the gym?

At that point, it would have taken a saint not to laugh and the gym was full of only sinners.

---

Grace was the worst thing that had ever happened to Jack, but Matty was by far, the best thing.

Fogwell, after being vindicated upon Jack and Grace’s abrupt and tragic separation, found that Matt could be used as a motivator for his up-and-comer.

Matty, of course, played the part beautifully.

He was unfairly cute with those delicate, whispy red locks and them big hazel eyes. He was bubbly and chatty. An unrelenting troublemaker. Just a barrel of laughs.

Fogwell took to letting Jack put Matty’s carrier on a bench next to the ring or on one of the metal bleachers around the mats in the weights and sparring room. He found that if Matty started whining or crying, that Jack got twice as motivated to finish whatever task was at hand with maximum efficiency.

Matt was the best thing to ever happen to Jack’s boxing career, truly.

He also immediately became the gym’s darling because all the veterans there at that point were dads. Rudy himself had had his first girl Tina the year before, but unlike Jack, the rest of them had childcare arrangements and the money to maintain them.

---

It was just natural for people to gravitate towards the baby. Out of paternal instincts, yeah, but also because Matty was a source of constant entertainment.

He called everyone uncle until he was seven and he needed to be negotiated with to leave Fogwell be until he was nine. Fogwell didn’t mind him. Fogwell had unwittingly adopted him.

Matty didn’t meet his own uncles and grandpa. Jack couldn’t bear that. He took Matty to meet Bill, Jack’s eldest brother—the one who’d killed his wife—in jail and afterwards had been heart-broken and anxious for days.

Grace did not approve, it turned out.

Grace, who went by Maggie at that point, and who had given up her rights to be the mother of Jack’s child, remained one of Jack’s closest and dearest friends.

They still loved each other, and in Fogwell’s very correct opinion, that was nothing but trouble. He snatched Matty at every opportunity and informed him softly but firmly that he was not going to fall in love with a nun when he was big or there would be consequences.

Matt seemed to have come to understand this rule over time, but he never seemed to put together pieces as to why Fogwell was so insistent about it.

---

When Jack turned up murdered, everyone at the gym decided that it was their fault.

It was surreal.

Unbelieveable.

He’d been right there, just fine, laughing and smiling the day before. Rudy had held his bag and Jack had told him to tell the girls and Mel that he missed them.

And, in a moment of crushing realization back then, Rudy had understood the implications of those words and then remembered how good Jack had always been about smiling at people.

He knew how to make himself seem okay and unimportant. He knew how to fade into the background.

Fogwell took it hard.

He blamed himself for not recognizing how bad things had gotten at home for Jack and Matty. He blamed himself for not booking him for more jobs, for pushing him harder and harder on his form lately.

Matty was taken away by social services and his absence from the table at the gym the next day finally brought out the tears that Rudy hadn’t been able to let fall.

He tried.

He tried, he did.

Over the years, Matty had become a brother to Tina, Angie, and Penelope. He fit right in that two-year gap between Tina and Angie. Rudy had him over when Jack worked and Jack had the girls when Mel needed a break from the screaming and crying. And really, by then, everyone’s kids were everyone’s at the gym.

It wasn’t a matter of who belonged to who, it was more of a matter of when someone belonged to someone.

Rudy tried to get custody or at least foster rights. Mel gave herself an ulcer over it, trying to think of how to arrange things to make their home safe for Matt. Trying to think of how to make space for him. He could share a room with Tina. They were still young. They probably wouldn’t mind after some growing pains. But social services said that that wasn’t possible. Matt was too high-risk for them. They didn’t have enough experience with ‘his type of child.’

Which was bullshit.

Matt wasn’t high-risk, Matty was traumatized and scared and with people he didn’t know, who didn’t know him.

That was what made him high-risk.

He knew Rudy and Mel’s house. He knew their girls. He knew their neighborhood.

Still, nothing.

Fogwell himself tried. Shocked the shit out of everyone at the gym, but Social services sadly shook their heads.

By then, Matt had been placed out already.

---

Matt disappeared for five years. Just vanished completely. There was no sight of him until one day, Tina came home and said that ‘oh yeah, I saw Matty today’ while playing with her food at the dinner table.

Rudy and Mel had set down their forks.

Tina sighed and said that he was taller now, but he didn’t look good.

He looked sick, she said. With dark rings around his eyes and broken sunglasses. He’d been sleeping, leaning against the side of some stairs out in his school uniform at the Catholic highschool a few blocks away.

She’d poked at her chicken and then set down her fork and excused herself.

Rudy stroked her hair that night as she cried into her pillow for her lost brother.

---

Matt was, by fifteen, a troubled kid.

Rudy heard shouting one day from Clinton Church and stepped out to see what was happening. He was shocked to see that familiar ginger mop struggling in the arms of two cops, swearing that if these people took him back to wherever he’d come from, that he’d kill himself. He’d do it. Don’t try him.

The priest was called.

Matt was forced down to the ground and handcuffed, still fighting.

It was--it was a whole lot to see. Kenny swore softly behind him and Bert left them to go back inside. He went to the bathroom and didn’t join them out on the mats for a while.

---

Fogwell decided around then that enough was enough.

He went to the church and asked if he could borrow Matt for a while. He needed some help getting his accounts together and he knew Matt was a bright kid. Giving him a little work experience in a familiar and disciplined setting would be good for him.

But Matt wasn’t there.

---

The hospital didn’t allow anyone to visit Matt. He apparently hadn’t earned the privilege of visitors from anyone who wasn’t on his care team.

Rudy felt numb at the front desk.

Jack’s boy had tried to kill himself. He’d warned them all that he would do it.

He’d apparently screamed himself hoarse that he wanted to be with his dad in the ground.

He was still screaming.

This wasn’t the first time he’d done any of this, Rudy came to learn through a few whispered conversations with some nuns from St. Agnes.

Grace had found him after the three attempts the nuns knew of. This last one was just bad enough that she couldn’t bring him back from the edge.

Grace’s eldest younger sister had committed suicide. Grace had found her and then left home immediately become a novice. To find her own son as she’d once found her sister was cosmic and divine cruelty—enough that even Fogwell shook his head and said it just wasn’t right.

---

The first time Rudy saw Matty after the whole situation, he looked exactly as Tina said he did. Tired. With dark circles. Thin. His clothes threatened to fall off of him. They were threadbare and had holes in them here and there.

Matty didn’t talk.

He moved his head around a lot and jerked when anyone spoke to him or brushed against him, and he scrambled back and tripped sometimes if he was touched directly.

It was like looking at a smaller, thinner version of Jack all those years ago—this time with tightly bound wrists and a hospital bracelet that looked like it had been stretched and torn and chewed on.

Fogwell asked Matt if he thought he could do something with the accounts.

Matt said nothing.

Fogwell gave him a box of receipts and bits and bobs of payment cards and IOUs and Matt had frowned and put his hand into the box to touch its feathery contents. He’d lifted his face up in Fogwell’s direction and sneered.

“You can’t seriously live like this,” he’d said in a voice that almost brought tears to Rudy’s eyes. He’d heard Kenny clear his throat behind him.

---

Matty was the smartest person Rudy had ever met.

He set Fogwell’s accounts into order in an afternoon and then he fucked off for a few days, only to come back and digitize the whole thing after making the Big Man himself sit with him and read everything out individually to him as punishment for his nasty, twentieth-century ways.

Matt was disgusted with Grandpa’s living conditions.

He banged into every object in the backroom and swore like a sailor, loud enough that the folks hitting shit in the front room could hear him.

It was hard not to laugh.

“WHY?” Matt finally raged at Grandpa. “WHY. WHY. WHY?”

Grandpa shrugged.

Matt flailed at him in agitation at the lack of verbal answer and told him to get into the fartherest corner of the room and to get a pen, they were going to organize.

Matt was the reason that Fogwell’s Gym had survived for long enough to become a tourist trap.

Matt put every document in that place in order, ready for an audit. He made computer systems for payments and receipts and direct debits. He singlehandedly bullied Fogwell into the new century and made him get a card machine.

He bitched and moaned and belly-ached until Fogwell had interviewed a handful of tax people with actual, non-criminal reputations and picked one and once he was done with all that, Matt harrassed him to invest in a deep clean for the place and to make it accessible by ADA guidelines—the whole nine yards.

Matt, at fifteen, breathed new life into Fogwell’s Gym and it was kind of amazing how the place went from barely hanging on to a decent business once more.

---

After that, Matt seemed to be doing a lot better.

He didn’t have any more foster home placements. He didn’t try to hurt himself again. He decided, instead, that he was going to graduate highschool. He’d failed a fuckload of classes, though. Rudy found him despairing in the backroom over these and settled in across from him and asked to see the reports.

They weren’t good.

Matty’s teachers wrote constantly that Matt was extremely bright, but failed to participate in class or turn pretty much anything in for a grade. He slept in class. He seemed dazed. He didn’t ask for help or give any indication that he needed it.

His assigned para said that she found him challenging to work with. He was resistant to questions and seemed to be angry or, at best, uninterested in her speaking to him.

He was way behind.

Rudy had tapped the reports against the table back there and had taken a deep breath.

“It’s okay,” he told Matt. “We’ve got two years. We can make this work.”

And Matty’s head had jerked up from the table.

“We?” he’d asked in a small voice.

---

Matt really, really struggled with high school. Not because he wasn’t smart enough, but because his experience was so wildly different from other kids. He didn’t go home like they did. He went to St. Agnes’s. He didn’t play video games, he read books. He didn’t smoke cigarettes or joints. He didn’t drink. He was under constant surveillance.

He was bullied. Relentlessly.

Fogwell was quietly furious when Matt came in a few times a week to type away at the desk, inputting receipts for the new secretary to deal with later. Matt was always hurt. Always fighting.

He got his classwork done out of spite, seemingly, but then went home to the orphanage and got harrassed the whole way.

He fought his peers like the devil himself.

It was…

There was…

Something not quite right with him.

---

Bert pointed out when Matt was seventeen that he didn’t always use his stick like other blind folks. He forgot it sometimes and wandered around the gym like anyone else.

He didn’t trip over anything or keep fingers touching the wall like he usually did in other places.

They all chocked it up to him having grown up in the place.

Matt asked Fogwell to let him train.

Center-left-second-back.

That was Jack’s bag.

That was his son’s bag.

The veteran boxers all cycled through teaching Matt how to box. He knew—they all knew Matt already knew how, but there was always shit to learn.

Except that sometimes there wasn’t?

Matt seemed to already know everything that they taught him, including the nit-picky, little things. He listened to their descriptions, let them manipulate his hands and arms and hips, and then did what they asked immediately and with perfect form.

It was eerie.

It just wasn’t right. There was just something about it that wasn’t right. Rudy couldn’t put his finger on it.

---

Matt graduated highschool the year after Tina and it was only when Rudy saw the draft of the commencement program slip out of his bag on one of the benches that Rudy realized that Matty hadn’t mentioned it to anyone.

He picked up the program while Matt was attacking his bag and considered it, then did what was done in the gym and handed the program off to Fogwell who, in a booming voice, told Baby M to get the fuck over there, front and center.

Matt clung to his bag in terror at the sound. He, unlike his daddy, had the good sense to be reluctant to follow Fogwell’s orders. Eventually, with his tail between his legs, he skulked over and had his nose shoved in the program.

He pawed at it when Fogwell made him acknowledge it and mumbled something about not going.

Which was absurd.

“It’s not a big deal,” Matt said. “I’m not valedictorian or anything. It’s just highschool. And no one’s got time to go anyways, so what’s the point if it’s just me?”

God, this kid.

---

Matt’s graduation was very Catholic. Far more Catholic than Tina’s had been, but when Rudy looked over his shoulder, he was pretty sure that even a school this Catholic hadn’t been prepared for the influx of nuns hurrying down from Clinton’s church, all bustling and excited about young Matthew actually getting his diploma.

Between those four (aw, Grace. Look at you trying to play it smooth) and the seven boxing families who’d shown up, Matt was embarrassed to the point of tears. He’d hidden behind his mortarboard for the thirty minutes it took for people started calling folks up on stage.

He didn’t want to come out to take any pictures afterwards, but Tina wasn’t letting that happen. Her sisters leapt on board with the program and Rudy had managed at least one picture of the four of them smiling. Even better, he had one of Matt trying desperately to keep a smile while Fogwell stood stiffly next to him in stone-faced approval.

---

Matty was the first in the gym’s kid’s generation to graduate college, and then he was the only one to go on to law school.

It was only at that big graduation that Rudy finally saw Matt beaming like a loon—like he had up at Jack as a baby, but this time at the long-haired, chubby guy next to him.

This, legend had it, was the Roommate.

The one Matt refused to speak about to anyone at the gym.

Period.

At all.

There was no discussion.

That is, until he was forced by Fogwell standing menacingly over him in silent demand for a hug, to introduce them all to Foggy.

Foggy Nelson.

And then, just like that. It was exactly Jack all over again.

Veins bulging as everyone tried desperately not to laugh at Fogwell’s face at the realization that Matty had gone out and found a better, nicer Fog-person to be friends with.

---

Foggy Nelson—Edward Nelson from the hardware store’s son—was not fucking good enough for Matty, Fogwell decided. He’d begun a stoic campaign to introduce Matt to every available boxer’s son and daughter in the city in the hopes that a little nudge would get Matty away from all them conniving lawyer-folk. That was all fine and well with Matt because Matt, they’d all learned after a few years in his company again, was a horrendous flirt.

God, this boy.

Incorrigible.

He flirted with Tina and Angie and Penelope and got slapped every time.

He flirted with Bert’s daughter Becka.

He flirted with Becka’s husband.

He flirted with Kenny’s son’s best friend at the son’s wedding.

He flirted with the new secretary’s sister-in-law.

He was completely unstoppable.

Kenny approved.

But Kenny also asked Matt pointedly if he and his roommate had worked things out yet and that sent Matt scowling and shuffling off to go hide behind Fogwell, wherever he was, for emotional support.

---

Matt was Daredevil.

He had to be.

Everyone in the gym suspected this.

He was too good at fighting. To flexible. Too sturdy and relentless and angry to be anyone else. They all recogized his shoulders in those little blips of videos people posted online. They recognized how close he got to people from the way he get up in his bag’s imagined face.

He had some kind of superpower—some kind of 360 degree awareness was the best Rudy could describe it.

He felt like he remembered Jack freaking out about something like this a million years ago. Nattering on about super-senses in the aftermath of the accident.

Fogwell was the one who’d brought it up again after he’d noticed that Matt liked to come in at night and spar on his own.

One time, just once, he’d left one of the security cameras on, concerned that Matty might get mugged in the night on his own there.

But Matty wasn’t getting mugged anytime soon.

No, for real.

Matt was…maybe something a little beyond them.

The video Fogwell had shown the older guys before deleting it and telling everyone to mind their own fucking business had shown Matt throwing his weight at the bag—throwing legs and fists—in complicated, almost choreographed movements that spoke of lethal intent.

He moved like a weasel. Like a predator.

Like a devil.

God knew where he’d learned those moves. The boy had lived a lot of life in those few years he’d fallen off of the gym’s radar. There was no telling who he’d met or how he’d learned to be as he was, but things made a lot more sense after that.

Jackie had had a devil in him. It only made sense that his dramatic-ass kid had one, too.

Matty had made something more of himself than his daddy. In so many other things, but in this, too.

Fogwell’s Gym was protected. It was home to a devil in disguise.

---

The hipster Jack-fan appeared with baby Henry a few more times before Bert asked him if he knew that his hero’s kid, who’d lived the life baby Henry was currently living, was actually a regular at the gym.

Hipster-kid gaped and fell over himself trying to ask Bert if he could meet the guy.

Bert smirked. And then waved across the place over to where Matt had just slithered in with absurd orange sneakers that he was very proud of. He was clearly on the hunt to go show Fogwell so that he could be disgusted.

He froze when Bert called his name.

The hipster’s jaw dropped.

“Matty, come tell this man about your daddy,” Bert said.

Matt stared.

Then made a sad, aborted gesture with his free hand that said that he had very important annoyances to make of himself, so could this maybe wait?

“You’re—you’re--?” the hipster stammered.

“Matt Murdock,” Matt said hurriedly. “Great to meet you? You’re the one with the kid, right? Congrats. Have either of you seen Fogwell?”

The hipster blinked.

“Uh?” he said. “Not today?”

Matt scowled.

“He’s not escaping these,” he said, tapping his way angrily back to the door. “I got him a matching set. No one is escaping them.”

The gym at large watched him stalk back out the door, tapping away furiously, no doubt on the way down the block to Fogwell’s house.

“That’s Matt Murdock?” the hipster asked.

“Man, I thought he’d be taller,” another newbie said.

“Kid, that is the least of your problems when it comes to Matt Murdock,” Bert laughed. “Now, all of you, back to work. This ain’t a dog and pony show. Go on.”

---

#daredevil #fic #ficlet #jack murdock

116 notes · View notes

khaleesiofalicante · 3 years ago

Note

GUESS WHO'S BAAAACCCCCKKKKKK

THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S ME!

LEMME JUST SAY the number of times you've made me cry with your fics isn't even funny anymore...

ok ok ok but LEXI OMG SHE'S SUCH A HERONDALE SDYJCDCGYGYCDGYUYUGZSDGYUGYUACGYUMSGYUMSZD I LOVE HER SO MUCH

And "Jason talk dirty to me" is the best way to start a fic, I said what I said.

Don't we all hate zoom meetings? I know I sure do and I have class in 5 and a half hours (i woke up at 1 am...don't even question it). Technically i was gonna try and go back to sleep when I remembered HOLY SHIT LBAF FUCK SLEEP I CAN STAY UP

Also...KIERARKTINA CHILDREN XSUHSGYDSDGJM IM SCREAMING. At first, i was like...one child...TWO CHILD???? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Patrick...I never really knew the guy well but Aline is grieving LEAVE ME ALONE TO CRY

Lexi wrinkled her nose at the name. “I have a message for you.”

“You love me more than mom?” Jace asked.

THE WAY SHE SAID YES WITHOUT HESITATION

but seriously though...do silent brothers wear clothing under their robes...?

ALL THAT FORESHADOWING ABOUT "Darker times" IM SCARED AND I ALSO BELIEVE THIS ISN'T JUST ABOUT THE COHORT.

“I’m not a child!” Lexi protested.

You are seven years old, brother Enoch pointed out. He had been there to place the protection charms after the twins had been born.

If Jace didn’t know any better he’d say the silent brother was sassing her.

But Lexi was a Herondale.

“I’m 49 in dog years!” Lexi huffed.

You are not a dog, Alexandra.

“Daddy said I can be anything I want to be,” Lexi stuck out her tongue. “I’m a dog. A very old dog. Woof!”

Brother Enoch turned to him as if to say, ‘control your Herondale spawn’.

HERONDALE SPAWN.

There is so much going on in these lines BUT LEXI IS A WHOLE ASS MOOD YES BESTIE IF YOU WANNA BE A DOG THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GONNA BE FUCK EVERYTHING ELSE!! WOOF

Jace knew many children had been orphaned by the war with the cohort - like Diego’s daughter, who had been adopted from the Chennai Institute.

This part scared me because for a second I was like "IS DIEGO DEAD??????" before I read on and my mind caught on.

ok on to my second favorite character right after Lexi

DAVID MY CHILD I SAY WE KILL ALBERT. SCREW THE PRISON I'M GONNA BURN THIS BITCH ALIVE

THE FUCKING AUDACITY OF HIM. DAVID IS A CHILD HONESTLY FUCK YOU. I WAS SO ANGRY THIS LITTLE SHIT HOW DARE HE.

I just wanna squeezes David into a bear hug ill protect him from now.

THE FAIRCHILD-HERONDALE FAMILY IM GONNA SCREAM

THEY ARE SO PRECIOUS ISTG AHDGYJDYUKCYDVYGDJHVCGYJMDV

Max stamped his foot on the ground, because he liked to be theatrical about everything

Im sure we all know where he gets it from...

“Shall we go check on the little miscreants?”

“Max and Rafe aren’t that bad,” Jace replied faithfully.

“I was talking about your girls,” Magnus grinned. “My boys are literal angels.”

“One of them is a warlock,” Jace pointed out. “With demon blood.”

“You know your family descended from Tessa, right?” Magnus asked. “Your children have demon blood too.”

“Yikes, no wonder people want us gone,” Jace chuckled and Magnus chuckled with him.

THIS WHOLE CONVERSATION THEY HAVE COME SO FAR ISTG IM GONNA CRY

“Did you know there is a trick to find out if kids are really sleeping?”

“A magic trick?” Jace asked.

“Yes,” Magnus winked. “You see…When kids are asleep, really asleep, they put up right hand. Only parents know of this secret.”

Rafael and Selena remained still, his little celery still snoring gently.

Max’s hand slowly went up and Lexi’s followed.

A bark of laughter escaped Jace, and Magnus shushed him.

“Miscreants!” Jace whispered.

“I told you so!” Magnus chuckled.

“I know of another secret. I heard the Consul has a new punishment for kids who lie,” Jace said. “They apparently have to eat Izzy’s food.”

The hands flopped back into bed immediately and Magnus covered his mouth to control his laughter.

THE DOMESTICITY OF THIS SCENE OH MY GOD

also TIAN!! ISTG IF WE DON'T SEE HIM IN TWP OR TEC 3 MARRIED AND HAPPY WITH JIN FENG IM GONNA BE VERY SAD

“Damn, I would have gladly punched you in the face, Herondale. Next time, ask for volunteers.”

Damn bestie-

“This is ridiculous! I didn’t do anything!” Albert yelled and looked at the brother Enoch. “You saw what they did, right?”

I’m a silent brother, Albert. I can’t see. Surely you know that.

Exactly you blind fuck.

we got Jace and alec brotp bonding leave me alone to cry in a corner. the fact that shadowhunters don't have laws protecting children like wtf is wrong with you people

“Alexandra,” his parabatai interrupted. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” “Shouldn’t you be in Los Angeles?” Lexi countered.

LEXI AYUAHGUSUSUGWDCDGD,DCGKSDYG,SDGSCDH.

“Max is awake?” Magnus was alert now.

“And Max is hungry!!!” the boy walked into the room.

Live footage of me every morning (or evening. or night. depends on my sleep schedule)

DAVID LEGIT HAD A LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT MOMENT MY PRECIOUS

HE NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS

“Oh my god, who is this?” Max yelled and jumped straight into the bed, right next to David. “Are you a shadowhunter? Where are you from? Your eyes are so blue! My daddy has blue eyes too! Wait, I also have blue eyes! We both have blue eyes!”

Max- PLEASE THIS IS SO CUTE

“Yay!” Lexi yelled. “You could pretend to be my other twin.”

“Then you would be triplets,” Alec mumbled quietly. “Not twins.”

Oh shush

“Our people are not going to like this, Alec,” Jace pointed out.

“Well, that’s too bad,” Alec said unapologetically. “I’m the Consul.”

YES BITCH SHOW THEM

I really hope Albert does have to come crawling back and have his marks stripped.

“Is that...Is that a stubble?” Jace asked when something prickled his cheek.

“Yes.”

"Are you growing a beard?" Jace inquired sceptically.

"Yes."

“Gross. I don’t like it,” Jace complained.

“Too bad. Cause I do.”

“I’m going to tell Magnus to shave it off while you are asleep,” Jace muttered.

“Jokes on you. He likes it too.”

Jace weren't you starting to grow a beard in TDA as well-

no, but I'm with Jace on this one.

“So, I heard an interesting story from Magnus when I came in,” his wife said, coming out of her bathroom, wiping her face with a towel. “You adopted a kid, I hear? Your parabatai is really rubbing off on you, huh?”

It's the alec affect bestie.

“He only said there is a child at the institute who needs my help. At first, I thought he was talking about you.”

I-

Jace trying to find David a new last name was so goddamn sweet I'm crying in a corner. And David choosing to keep his name as a reminder that he survived??? TEARS

Selena had learned Spanish so she can talk to Rafael. Then she had learned French just because she could.

Oh to be good at languages...

“It means darling,” Jace corrected and then beamed. “But wait! It also means cabbage! David, you are going to be my little cabbage.”

Lexi, Selena, and Clary groaned in unison.

“You’ll have to deal with this, David,” Clary said apologetically, not letting go of the boy. “Lexi is Lettuce. Selena is Celery and I’m Carrot.”

AJHHUHYUCDJILSDYVGILCQBCDHCUOUCEDCCSCUHKK SCREAMING

DAVID YOU ARE GONNA BE EATING PIZZA TONIGHT SCREW VEGETABLES.

THE LIBRARY SLEEPOVER!!! SQUEALS. I LOVE READING TOO I WANNA JOIN THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was so long wtf-

and I guess I don't truly understand what it's like to be a child abuse victim but to all those who can hurt a child and not feel anything...I hope they fucking pay for what they do. All those kids who survive are so goddamn strong but why the fuck does one have to go through so much shit and people be like "oh you came out stronger" sure bitch but they didn't deserve this shit in the first place. i might be saying it wrong but we seriously need more strict laws against this kind of shit.

damn, I curse a lot. SEE YA ON FRIDAY BYE

Me scrolling through this entire liveblog like:

Thank you so much. It made my day! I love reading reactions!!! (lol you know that)

I am so glad you like the first chapter. And I curse a lot too so issokay ;)

And thank you for that last point. It's what we need more of in this world - empathy and understanding x.

And we definitely need better laws - but these laws also need to be implemented correctly - without judgment and with efficiency.

We have a long way to go just like the shadowhunters oof.

#THANKS AGAIN BYEEEEEE #lbaf

17 notes · View notes

coreastories · 4 years ago

Text

Modern Royals: 10 Times the King and Queen of Corea made ahjummas ugly-cry over their romance

You know what this author loves about Corea? The delightful mix of tradition and modernity

I mean, in this country, you have visiting and dining etiquette, respectful address etiquette, and countless other delicious customs steeped in tradition. Catholicism with its millennia-old ceremonies is also a favored religion

On the flipside, this country has rock-solid laws on divorce, equal rights, and zero tolerance for rape and abuse or discrimination of ANY sort

I’m quite in love with this country. Its people are well taken care of

And of course, the biggest deliciousness for me are Their Majesties

Shrouded in privacy and that same tradition I just mentioned, the king married the queen in July

In the course of a few weeks since the wedding, the queen endeared herself to her people, and even made friends with the Prime Minister, a formidable woman who was herself previously linked to the King (entirely one-sided pursuit on her part)

It’s now October, and we’re happily expecting the first royal baby in May!

I’ve seen some colleagues in the media voice that thought we’ve all had: “They didn’t take long.”

I’ve also seen comparisons with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and Baby Archie, who was born only a few days shy of his parents first anniversary. Corea’s royal baby will be born two whole months before his/her parents’ first anniversary.

So this little article seems absolutely timely!

It sounds trite, I know, but lists are all the rage these days. Add Corea’s royal romance and this article will pay for my office’s bills for two months.

This is with sanction from the Royal Public Affairs Office, who I’ll never cross, and who also gave me some background where they could or would.

1. Who can forget the breathless kisses in New Zealand?

Well, they made us breathless. Taken from Chateau Maryleone-- a security breach that apparently got people fired. If it was originally a video footage, we don’t know. Only the photos were spread online.

The world is in love with this smiling kiss.

The Royal Public Affairs Office’s only comment here is: “We’ve found the parties involved and they have been summarily dealt with.”

You can see why I would never dream of crossing them.

2. The snuggle at Pyeongyang Children’s Hospital

The new digital diagnostics wing was inaugurated in July. If this author remembers right, two of the queen’s photos made it to a list of 7 Times the Queen of Corea Stole Our Hearts with Her Smile.

Children, parents, media, and hospital staff loudly showed their approval of the queen then, and she had laughingly and shyly accepted it.

Reports have emerged that the queen was quite overwhelmed, and had actually retreated to a room with the king. It was one of the new consultation rooms of the new wing, with glass windows.

People saw the queen seek refuge in the king’s arms, hiding her face in his chest, and the king cradling her against him, arms around her, one hand stroking her hair.

We don’t have photos, because none of the witnesses dared. But they’ve all reported and demonstrated it. I’m sighing here.

3. The hand-in-pocket cuteness when we visited the palace before Queens Day

You’ve read about this in the Royal Twinkle, of course!

4. Turning up late and blushing during Queens Day

You also remember this from our recent report. Their Majesties turned up late for their scheduled appearance, and then the king was just a giggling mess in the dim part of the stage (stage right), and the queen just looked at him, blushing.

The Royal Public Affairs Office almost had no comment, but remarked that the king and queen are newlyweds. Well, that’s exactly and the ajhummas and I said, didn’t we.

5. Another hand-holding-and-tuck, also during Queens Day

Remember the king looking anxious whenever the queen was onstage, despite the queen being surrounded by the Royal Guard?

We have eyewitness reports from people closer to the stage, who have craned their necks or ducked between people’s onstage legs to get a glimpse of the king and queen whenever the guards surrounded them.

Apparently, the king invariably fetched the queen in the same way. He would go on stage, take her hand with his left and hold her hand against his chest while his right hand and arm tucked her securely against his side.

I love a man who’s so enamored of his wife he takes hold of her with both hands.

6. The distraction during the Opening of Parliament in Seoul

The Opening of Parliament is a series of ceremonies dating back to 1945, when the parliament was first established. We were hoping to see the queen accompany the king, but she had stayed in Busan-- and we now know the reason why, don’t we?

In one of these ceremonies, the king was supposed to signal the Usher to open the door to summon the Ministers into Parliament.

But the king had seemed transfixed by a bunch of forget-me-nots included in the predominantly blue flower arrangement in the Parliament’s subdued decorations for the occasion.

Sources say the king had a fond expression on his face, and his eyes were, according to the reports, shining, like he was near tears.

The Royal Public Affairs Office had no comment. It seems the significance of the forget-me-nots remains a secret between the King and Queen.

Since then, forget-me-nots in pots and seeds and cultivars have sold out across the kingdom.

7. Every time they step out of the car

This is an event people of Corea have come to watch, even more so than the actual events the king and queen attended.

Unlike other royals who get their doors opened for them, the queen gets her door opened by none other than the king.

It always happens this way. A member of the royal guard opens the king’s car door, the king steps out, and then he goes around the car to open the queen’s door.

And then we watch with bated breath as the queen swivels in her seat to bring both legs and feet outside the car. The king’s hand is already waiting, and she takes it with one of hers.

He helps her to her feet and then just smiles at her for long moments, head tilted to her, whether or not she’s also looking at him or is already distracted by the crowds.

And they hold each other’s hands until they absolutely have to let go. Duties be damned. They’re working royals, yes, but they’re married and in love!

It’s become a game among members of the media and event organizers to attempt to prolong that hand holding as long as possible.

Ministers of Parliament and their wives-- the more popular ones-- always seem to have planned on holding something in their hands so that they only bowed to the king and queen and Their Majesties didn’t have to offer to shake hands.

It’s ridiculous and yet delicious, the way this romance has united the country like this, both Parliament and public besotted with them.

Their Majesties hold hands so romantically too. Their grip is always so visible, like they’re constantly gently squeezing each other’s hands.

Corean celebrities and their own significant others imitate this on red carpets, calling it the royal handhold.

8. An actual kiss after the Bureau of Fire Protection Annual Gala

No wonder the gala raised nearly a billion won. The queen had turned up unexpectedly, remember?

And we’ve had matching stories from eyewitnesses who saw the queen’s car pull up to take her back to the palace. At the time, the Royal Guard had taken care of crowd control, to make sure only the queen was leaving at the time, with no other car waiting or leaving.

But the gala had been held in a converted warehouse in Clearwater Bay, and as such, a doorway was practically an entire absent wall, so plenty of people had a vantage point of seeing the king stepping out of the car.

The queen was visibly surprised to see him, and then she was gently greeted with a kiss before being just as gently ushered into the car.

9. Every time the king broke the order of precedence-- and he continues to do so

For state and diplomatic events, the order of precedence protocol dictates that the queen consort follows two steps behind the king. If they have a son, the crown prince will be next in line, literally, after the king, overtaking the queen consort unless His Majesty gives a king’s order about it.

That king’s order is only a matter of time. I very much doubt the king or his heir will let the queen trail after them.

Since their marriage, we’ve witnessed the king and queen attend two state events and one diplomatic event: the investiture of the re-elected Prime Minister in July, the 383rd anniversary of King Yeongjeong’s Defeat of the Qing Invasion in early August, and a return visit from Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden.

The PM’s investiture was held in the Royal Audience Hall, and the king and queen arrived when everyone was already seated.

The anniversary was commemorated in King Yeongjong’s Memorial in Yeongjong Park in Busan, where Their Majesties were driven right up to the blue carpet leading to the memorial statue.

For Crown Princess Victoria’s arrival, the king and queen publicly welcomed her at Busan Airport, with the heir of Sweden and Their Majesties of Corea walking toward each other to give and accept welcome.

In all three events, the king does walk ahead at first, but then he always stops and waits for the queen, turning back to her and putting an arm around her upper back. Then they walk side by side, or even with the queen slightly ahead of the king.

We’ve seen the queen give the king a look, but the king just smiles at her, a restrained close-mouthed smile, or an outright grin, which was what he wore when they met Crown Princess Victoria, who is a friend.

10. A hug after a long day in Busan. There’s so much love inside the palace.

This one is from the Royal Public Affairs Office, captioned, “The king meeting the queen in the grounds after a long day.”

If you’ve been to the palace grounds for Queens Day, you will recognize this clock. It’s in the part of the extensive gardens open to the public, and it has a little coffee shop where you can taste the palace’s appointed teas, coffees and cakes.

The print came to us exactly like that-- it’s not the fault of our scanners. Perhaps it’s a stolen shot and our dear Mr. Jang Mi-reuk hastily took it and then made the photo grainy and overexposed when he hid his phone again? Who knows.

And who cares?!

Look at how the king holds the queen as if they’d been apart for days or weeks rather than hours. The press of his head to hers, the curl of his body around hers, and that hand cradling the queen’s head-- these all speak of his love for her, and I’m melting.

That royal baby is going to be such a beloved baby. The royal parents certainly don’t shy away from displaying that love.

I don’t want to leave Corea. I want to follow this happily ever after today and forever.

More to come! Stay tuned.

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

#CoreaNews #CoreaFiction #the king eternal monarch #the king: eternal monarch

89 notes · View notes

quicksilversquared · 5 years ago

Text

Papa Bear

If there's one thing that Tom Dupain will not stand, it's threats against his daughter. So when Mr. Agreste demands that Marinette and Adrien break up or else, Tom isn't about to let that stand. So he makes a call that ends up setting off a chain of events that no one could have expected.

a Chat Blanc rewrite

(links in the reblog)

Mr. Dupain was steaming as Nathalie and her tablet- with Mr. Agreste still on-screen- sauntered out of the bakery, as cool and unaffected as when they had entered, despite the crying girl they had left in their wake.

How dare they tell Marinette that she and Adrien had to break up. How dare Mr. Agreste say that she was negatively impacting his company image. And how dare he threaten Marinette and say that he would pull Adrien out of school and away from his friends- and his girlfriend if Marinette didn't end her relationship with Adrien. That was- that was just cruel.

What, was Adrien not allowed to have a happy relationship just because Mr. Agreste couldn't, because his wife was missing? That was dumb.

Tom would show him a negative effect on company image.

"I- I guess I have to do that, then," Marinette sniffed, wiping her eyes, and Tom pulled himself out of his plans for a street fight, maybe, or going to Madam Chamack and having her run a story on Mr. Agreste's interference, and looked to her daughter. Despite the shock, she was clearly trying to pull herself together. "A-Adrien loves school, and it's not- we weren't dating that long. M-maybe we can try again l-later, if Mr. Agreste changes his mind-"

"We are not bowing to Mr. Agreste's delusional demands," Tom told her, his eyes catching on the camera that was installed in the corner of the bakery and his anger abruptly receding as a plan hit him. The camera was a newer addition, one that Sabine had insisted on after several attacks had taken them out of the bakery, leaving it unstaffed. They hadn't had any problems with thievery, but they didn't want to take that chance. He caught Marinette's shoulder, turning her towards the camera and pointing. "You know, I was a little unconvinced when your mom insisted on getting a camera with audio recording as well because it was far more expensive and I didn't see the use, but I'm glad she did now. We've got evidence of Mr. Agreste's threats."

Marinette sniffed again. "I- what?"

"We won't let this stand, Marinette," Tom told her. "That threat of his, of pulling Adrien out of school if you don't break up with him- that is so out of line. It isn't tolerable, and could very well be an indication of more issues at home."

"I'm sure of it," Sabine finally chimed in. "There's been so many things that Adrien has told us about his home life that- well, some of it just doesn't sit right with me. And this- this is just the cherry on top."

Marinette nodded, jerky and tearful.

Tom patted her shoulder, steering her towards the back. "Why don't you go upstairs and text Adrien about what's going on. Don't break up with him, okay, sweetie? I'll get everything sorted out."

"But- but what if Nathalie is going straight to the school to pull Adrien out?" Marinette asked, clearly anxious. She was picking at her fingernails, a clear indication of how nervous she was. "And Mr. Agreste is just at home waiting to see if I break up with Adrien fast enough? I- Adrien worked so hard to get into school, and his father keeps threatening to take it away."

...so this was a reoccurring threat, then. Mr. Dupain was even less impressed.

"He can't possibly expect you to immediately turn around and break up immediately," Tom said instead. "That's unreasonable. You would need some time to get over the shock. So I think we have a little wriggle room."

"Since when has Mr. Agreste been reasonable?" Marinette asked, which- well, was a very valid point. She clung to his arm. "M-maybe we should break up, and then try again later- we can still be friends, Mr. Agreste didn't ban that."

"If this doesn't work, I would say stage a breakup and then date in secret," Tom told Marinette. "Keep Adrien in the loop, that's most important. Don't break up out of the blue without an explanation, that will just crush him. But I'm confident that I can get something worked out. Mr. Agreste can't be unreasonable and push you kids around like this without consequences, and it's about time he learned that."

Marinette considered that, then nodded and darted inside the bakery. Tom had a quick, hushed conversation with Sabine, and then retreated into a back room to make a call.

If Mr. Agreste thought that having Marinette and Adrien dating was somehow negatively impacting his company's image, then it was time to see how the company's precious image looked after Mr. Agreste got a visit from child protective services.

The agent that Tom reached was very interested in what he had to say about Mr. Agreste. Apparently several of their agents had wondered what Adrien's home life was like after his mom's disappearance after seeing Mr. Agreste just straight-up vanish from public life, with his few public appearances making them no less concerned. Mr. Agreste was apparently not exactly giving off the image of a stable, reasonable parent, even to the largely uninvested bystander.

"We'll be over for a visit to see your footage," the agent told him. "And to talk to your daughter, as well, to hear what she knows. Threatening a healthy teenaged relationship like that, just to try to control Adrien...well, something tells me that that's just the tip of the iceberg."

"Yes, I thought the same," Tom agreed. "And Marinette said that Mr. Agreste has threatened to pull Adrien out of school for other minor perceived offenses before, and I've certainly heard plenty about the times that Adrien has suddenly not been allowed to go on outings with his friends, even if he had been told that he could go out before."

There was tapping at the other end of the line- the agent entering what Tom had just said in her computer, perhaps, or making note of more questions to ask. "All right. Do you think your daughter would be willing to answer some questions today? I know she must have just had quite a shock what with Mr. Agreste barging in and threatening her, but I'd like to move this case along as quickly as possible, before Mr. Agreste catches wind of what's going on and can start putting pressure on anyone to change their story."

Tom nodded, then remembered that there was no way for the agent to see that. "Of course. I think Marinette can talk today- she's a strong girl. She'll want to help Adrien right away."

"All right. We'll be there in a few minutes."

Tom thanked her and hung up.

"Any news?"

"They're coming right away," Tom told Sabine, following her back into the bakery front. "Threats to isolate kids like Mr. Agreste is doing are taken very seriously. And in Paris right now, they want to make sure that people aren't being abused, because of the threat of akumas."

Sabine let out a breath. "That makes sense. I'm glad they can work fast. Adrien and Marinette have been so happy together, so forcing them to break up, even for a little while..."

Tom nodded, quickly washing his hands before doing the rounds of the shop, rearranging things and making sure that there was enough stock in front. A couple of things needed to be refilled- a quick run to the back took care of those problems easily enough- and by the time everything was just how he wanted it, a pair of child protection agents had arrived.

"Tom Dupain?" the first one asked, sticking out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Sylvia Faye. We just talked on the phone?"

"Hi," Tom said at once. "Yes, I'm Tom, and this is my wife, Sabine. Marinette is upstairs- oh, I probably should have given her a heads-up," he added, wincing. Whoops. He had been so nervous about the agents coming that...well, warning Marinette had kind of slipped his mind. "I'll show you guys up, then give her a minute's warning once we're there."

"Fantastic." Sylvia and her coworker followed him at once, into the back and up the stairs. "Now, we'll be asking Marinette and Adrien as well, but can you think of anyone else who could truthfully vouch for what Adrien's home life is like? We're going to end up having to interview everyone in the household, of course, but we don't want to give Mr. Agreste too much of a heads-up and allow him time to rehearse excuses for everything by approaching someone loyal to him right away."

Tom thought about it. "Well, there would be the teachers at school- they would be able to provide a, ah, less biased view of Adrien and Marinette's relationship than Sabine and I might..."

Sylvia's lips twitched towards a smile. "You mean they wouldn't accidentally refer to Adrien as your future son-in-law."

"...yes." He wasn't good at being put on the spot, that was Tom's only defense. Also, he had once said something similar to Adrien, and it had since become a bit of an inside joke. "And Adrien's other friends- Nino Laffe and Alya Césaire, and then, ah, his friend from fencing- Kagami Tsurugi? I think her mom is friends of a sort with Gabriel, so Kagami has seen Mr. Agreste more often than some of Adrien's other friends. Adrien has private tutors for all sorts of things- piano, Chinese, probably some other stuff that I've forgotten- but I don't know how likely they would be to side with him over Mr. Agreste. And- oh! Adrien's bodyguard. Mr. Agreste's secretary has always felt somewhat off to me, but his bodyguard clearly cares for Adrien."

Sylvia jotted that down. "Fantastic."

"I don't know if he can speak, though," Tom added, remembering all of the times when he had seen Gerald- also known as the Gorilla, which (oddly enough) he didn't seem to mind. "I've never heard him talk. Adrien might be able to tell you more, though."

"Ah, that sounds like a good lead." Sylvia smiled as they reached the landing, and Tom pushed open the door to lead the two of them into their living room. "I take it we should wait here?"

"If you would." Tom gestured to the sofa, then headed up the stairs to Marinette's room. He tapped on the trapdoor, then stuck his head in. "Marinette? I called some people about Mr. Agreste's threats, and they'd like to talk to-" He cut off abruptly as his eyes cleared the floor and spotted Marinette on her chaise lounger, curled up with...Adrien.

Huh. How had Adrien gotten in? Tom had been downstairs in front of the door and in the hallway ever since Mr. Agreste's appearance, with the exception of only a very few short minutes. For Adrien to have somehow managed to slip in during that time...

"Chat Noir saw me trying to slip out and brought me over," Adrien volunteered at once. He cringed. "I- I wasn't planning on making a habit of this, sir, I swear."

Aha. That made sense. "I'll have to thank him the next time I see him, then." Tom climbed fully into the room, crossing over to the two teens and pulling up a chair. "Adrien, after the scene with your father earlier- Marinette has told you about it, right?"

Adrien nodded, exchanging a glance with Marinette. Their fingers were wound together tightly, curled up as though they didn't want to part. "Yeah. That's why I was trying to come over. I- I don't know what's gotten into him! He liked Marinette! She won his design contest, and was great about switching out the feather on the hat so that I wouldn't sneeze on the runway, and has come home with me for lunch before and it was all fine then. And it's not like anything should have changed since she was last over at my house! He's not talked to me about us at all." Adrien snorted, but it sounded sad. "Or at all, really. As usual."

Marinette wriggled closer to him, her legs pressed against his and practically in his lap, and the two of them exchanged a look.

"Yes, well... what he's trying to do- the way that he's trying to manipulate you and Marinette- that's not normal in any way, shape, or form, and it's not okay. I called child protection services."

Adrien's eyes widened. "Oh."

"And they're here right now. They wanted to speak to Marinette, but since you're here as well..." Tom studied Adrien, trying to gauge his response. Considering Adrien's acting training- something that he had told the Dupain-Chengs about over dinner one night- it was hard to tell exactly what the boy was feeling, but he didn't seem nearly as torn about that as Tom might have expected.

Maybe it was because their family had fully embraced him, accepting him as family, too, and so losing his father- well, he wouldn't be losing everything.

"I can do that," Adrien agreed. He paused. "So, ah, one at a time, I'm assuming? Or...?"

Tom glanced towards the open trapdoor. "Well, there are two of them so, ah..."

"May we come up?" Sylvia called. "I heard that Adrien is here?"

Both teens nodded, so Tom called back an affirmation. Moments later, Sylvia and her companion- oh, Tom should have asked for her name, where had his manners gone?- came into the room.

"Hi, Adrien and Marinette," Sylvia said at once, heading over to where Adrien and Marinette were curled up. Tom could see her professional gaze taking in the way they were curled up together and he winced, hoping that she wouldn't decide that Mr. Agreste's sudden, random decision to end his son's relationship might have some merit to it after all because of them getting too serious too fast. "I'm Sylvia Faye, and this is my colleague Alice Durand. We're both agents at France's child protection agency, and we'd like to be able to talk to both of you about your home life, Adrien."

"Together, or..?" Adrien asked, exchanging a look with Marinette.

"Separately, if we could. We don't want one person's answers influencing the other person." She glanced back at Tom. "And we'd like to be able to talk to you and your wife after this, Mr. Dupain. I know you have a business to run, but..."

"This is far more important," Tom assured her at once. "Everything else can wait."

Sylvia and Alice talked to Adrien and Marinette for quite a while. Alice finished talking to Marinette first, and then came down to talk to Tom. He left the back bakery in the very capable hands of his staff, then sat down in the break room to tell her everything. Every interaction he had had with Mr. Agreste and his staff, what he had heard from Adrien and Marinette, all about Adrien and Marinette's friendship and relationship.

Tom made sure to wrack his memory for everything he had ever heard. Right before they wrapped up, he remembered the story of Marinette's gift to Adrien on his birthday, only a little over a month after meeting him.

"She made this scarf- hours and hours of work, with very fine yarn- for a kid her age, it was expensive, too," Tom told Alice. "And she brought it over to Adrien's house to deliver it. Her name was on the package at one point-" the fact that there may have been some breaking and entering to get Marinette's name on was irrelevant, really- "but Adrien showed up at school with the scarf the next day, under the impression that it was his father who had given the gift to him. Marinette didn't tell him that it was her, because he was so happy about it- apparently Mr. Agreste had just given Adrien a pen for his birthday for several years running prior to that, so a scarf was a huge deal. I still don't think she's told him."

Alice had frozen. "He stole a gift from- good lord." She was shaking her head. "The emotional manipulation that we're seeing here..."

She didn't continue. Tom suspected that she probably wasn't allowed to say much more. Anything that Adrien and Marinette told her was in confidence.

"We're going to talk to a few more people today," Alice told him. "Sylvia is still talking to Adrien, so I'll talk to your wife and then go get one of our other agents to help me do other interviews. If Mr. Agreste or his assistant come by again, let us know right away."

"Of course."

"And if you think of anything more to tell us- well, Sylvia will leave her contact info," Alice told him. "Just shoot us a message."

Tom nodded again, then ducked out to go up front and take over for Sabine so that she could talk to Sylvia. Marinette was up front as well, decorating petits fours for an order they had. She looked a lot better, steadier than she was before but still quiet.

"Do you think that they'll do anything about Mr. Agreste?" Marinette asked Tom after a few minutes, after the few people in the bakery had been served and had left. She had put her piping bag down, and he could see her hands shaking. "I mean, he gives Adrien food, and quality tutors, and a roof over his head, and he hasn't- well, as far as I know, he hasn't hit him."

"Hitting isn't the only form of abuse, sweetheart," Tom told her. "Emotional manipulation, at the level that Mr. Agreste does- well, even if Adrien doesn't get removed from his father's care, they're going to keep a close eye on the situation and check in regularly. That by itself might be enough to keep Mr. Agreste in line."

Marinette nodded, but her brow furrowed. "And- and if it doesn't? If he has connections- he's rich, he's friends with the Bourgeois family, who knows who else he knows-"

"And we have connections, too. I'd like to see how that-" Tom hastily reconsidered his word choice, no matter how angry he was he did still have to control himself in front of his daughter- "arrogant man would react if that footage got 'leaked' to Madam Chamack. He might be famous and connected, but public opinion can ruin those people."

Marinette's eyes flashed to him. "You- you'd do that, Papa?"

"Of course." He hoped that it wouldn't come to that, of course, but he had stood by and trusted that the authorities would do the right thing one too many times when it came to bullies at Marinette's school. "We want to keep you and Adrien safe, no matter what it takes. Maybe going on the news would be a little underhanded, but if it's necessary..."

The smile on Marinette's face was more than welcome as Tom watched her turn back to her petit fours, noticeably steadier. He turned his attention back to the store as a new rush of people came in, focusing on them and doing his best to not seem off at all. He didn't run the front of the store as often as Sabine did, but he could still manage well enough. Marinette finished up with the order of petits fours, boxing them up neatly and putting them to the side before cleaning up, clearly trying to focus on that instead of worrying about what was going on upstairs.

Tom was worried. Even more so after Alice finished up talking to Sabine and headed out to go collect another agent and do more interviews, but there had been no signs of Sylvia or Adrien yet.

Maybe it was just- well, Adrien had been in that household for years before they knew him. There were probably more things that he had experienced but never told them. Of course he was going to have more to tell the agent than they did. It was unfortunate that he had to talk about all of his awful experiences all at once, one after the other, without so much as a break, but hopefully it would all end with Adrien being removed from a toxic situation.

They could only hope.

They got the news before the sun set and Mr. Agreste came looking for his son: Adrien was, at least temporarily, being removed from his father's household.

"We don't like to have kids stay in their homes when there's an ongoing investigation," Sylvia told Tom when she called with the update. "It can result in the parents lashing out at their kids, and that can turn really ugly, particularly since we have Hawkmoth looming over everyone's heads. Ah, about housing for tonight..."

"We do have a guest room," Tom told her. "Which, son-in-law jokes aside, we will insist that Adrien stay there instead of in Marinette's room. They're far too young for that."

"Ah. Fantastic." Sylvia sounded relieved. "Adrien indicated that he would prefer to stay with you guys for the time being. We'll probably look into a different placement long-term once the investigation has wrapped up- from what we've heard and seen today, I'm confident that we will end up charging Gabriel Agreste with emotional abuse and manipulation- but that has nothing to do with your household, I assure you. It's just that we prefer not to place kids with the families of the person they're dating. It can get messy if anything goes wrong."

Tom could understand that. "Right, right, of course."

"After today's interviews, we're looking at Adrien's current bodyguard as a more permanent placement, but again, things can change."

He knew that the man seemed trustworthy. And it was nice that Adrien would be able to stay in Paris and with someone he knew. If Adrien was taken away from his controlling, manipulative father, only to be sent away from Paris and Marinette and all of his other friends, he would be crushed.

"We'll keep you updated," Sylvia promised. "And someone might drop by tomorrow to check up on Adrien's sleeping situation. It's not that we don't trust you, it's just..."

"You have to make sure that kids aren't going from one bad situation into another," Tom finished. "Or staying in a household that's not equipped to handle them, I understand. It's no problem. Ah, will Adrien have a chance to get back to his house to grab his clothes and school things soon? We're willing to buy supplies for him, of course, but I'm sure he'd like some of his own things."

"We can arrange that," Sylvia promised. "Now, ah, we're going to be calling Mr. Agreste and letting him know soon. I would suggest, just based on what we've seen from him, that you lock down your house and business so that he doesn't try to barge in."

Ah, that was a good point. It wouldn't stop any akumas if Mr. Agreste flew into a rage and caught Hawkmoth's attention, probably, but it should deter Mr. Agreste if he decided to storm over. "Will do."

"And again, thank you for calling us," Sylvia finished. "We can only do our work when people act as our eyes and ears for the children of Paris. Have a good evening, Mr. Dupain."

"And to you as well."

Tom flashed a thumbs-up at Sabine as he hung up the phone, and she perked up. "Good news?"

"He's not going home tonight. I get the impression that they're pretty confident that Mr. Agreste will end up losing custody, but of course they're not going to call that for a bit." Tom was feeling quite triumphant as he headed to the front door, double- and triple-checking that it was locked. Then he triggered the security system, locking down their shutters over the windows and the door. Just in case. "They said to make sure that we're locked down, so that Mr. Agreste can't retaliate. So I'm going to do that before I help you clean up if that's all right?"

Sabine nodded, clearly anxious. "Of course. They're calling him soon, then?"

"Right after they called us." Tom ducked into the back hallway, making sure that that door was locked, too, before heading into the bakery. The delivery door had to be checked, as did the emergency exit, and the few windows, just in case.

Maybe he was just being paranoid, but... well, Mr. Agreste didn't seem like the most stable of people, and it was better to be safe than sorry.

By the time the last lock had been checked and double-checked, Sabine had finished up the cleaning and had headed upstairs. Tom set up the alarm system- he would have to put several notes in their room and on the stairs so that they wouldn't be alarmed by it tomorrow morning- and headed upstairs, where Adrien was actually smiling as he helped Marinette get dinner ready, circling around her like she was his sun and he was her earth like he always did.

Honestly, Tom, had been worried that Adrien would be taking this whole investigation harder than he was. Maybe having Marinette there and the support of their entire family was a bigger help than he had anticipated.

No matter the reason, Tom wasn't about to complain.

It didn't take long for Gabriel Agreste to get declared unfit for parenting. He flew into a rage about it, of course, but the child protection services weren't about to budge.

Perhaps he hadn't abused Adrien physically, but the emotional manipulation and neglect were enough to throw up all of the red flags in the agents' minds. And as if that weren't enough, apparently Gerald had brought up some other concerns he had had about Mr. Agreste's behavior following the disappearance of his wife, suspicious activity that he had never really told anyone about before.

Apparently Gabriel Agreste had never really been investigated for his wife's disappearance, or at least the investigation that he had undergone was short and very much inadequate. Someone at the police station had been paid off, they suspected, and so no attention had been paid to if his story made sense, if it had been verified, if- well, anything, really.

So Mr. Agreste had been called into the police station along with Nathalie- apparently he had had to be told that so, he could not just call in via his tablet or get interviewed in his office at home, and that suggestion had been received none too kindly by the police officers who had been re-assigned the case. While he was out of the house, Adrien and Marinette were going over to get more of Adrien's clothes. Gerald had been able to smuggle a small bag of Adrien's things out earlier, but Adrien had more things that he wanted to pick up, too, and he wanted to have more changes of clothing.

Tom had offered to come along to help, but the two of them had insisted that they would be fine, and anyway the Gorilla was going to be there to pick up the suitcases and bring them over to his house afterwards, since Adrien was staying there now. So Tom let them be and went about his day, throwing himself into the bakery work and making sure that everything was running smoothly. He made sure to ensure that his bakers knew how to run everything without him, because if he got called away again to support Adrien throughout any other legal stuff that needed to be done, it would be better if the bakery could still stay open.

His staff, of course, were well-trained and experienced, knowing exactly where all of the books were kept with the lists of what needed to be made when. Tom beamed in pride, plenty proud of how well they had learned.

They were like a second family, really. Most of the bakers were people he had taken in as interns as the bakery grew, and he had brought them from floundering culinary school graduates to confident bakers and patisserie-makers.

Tom was bringing empty bread baskets back to the back kitchens to clean them out when the side doors banged open, and Adrien and Marinette came flying in. Adrien looked far closer to tears than he ever had before, barely holding himself together. Marinette was pale, practically green, as she clung to Adrien.

What had happened?

"We- we found some stuff," Marinette managed when Tom rushed over, leaving the baskets on the hallway floor. She pressed a fist to her lips, clearly trying to pull herself together. "Since Mr.- Mr. Agreste was out, and Nathalie, too, we explored a little bit, and we found- we found-"

"Mom," Adrien choked out. "I don't know what- what's wrong with her, b-b-but..."

...okay, they needed the police. Right now.

"We'll find out," Tom promised. He placed a gentle hand on each of their shoulders, guiding them upstairs. Some settling tea and a few cozy blankets was definitely in order. They didn't know when Hawkmoth could strike, so it was important to help as quickly as possible.

...but seriously, the police hadn't looked hard enough to find anything suspicious after Mrs. Agreste's disappearance, but Adrien and Marinette were able to find Mrs. Agreste while just exploring? That was- that really painted a really terrible picture of the police, honestly.

(Was Tom surprised? No, not really- disappointed, definitely, but not at all surprised.)

Adrien was shaking as he headed up the stairs, hard enough that he nearly stumbled several times. Marinette was steadier, clearly having had a huge shock as well but seeing Adrien so shaken was helping pull her back from the same sort of breakdown that Adrien seemed to be having.

If they had actually found Mrs. Agreste- well, heaven knew what kind of state she was in. If she had been dead this whole time, there was very little that would have kept her actually looking intact. If she was- what? Sick? In a coma?- then why hadn't Mr. Agreste gone to hospital experts to help?

This whole thing- it was weird.

"Should I text Gerald and ask him if Adrien can stay the night?" Tom asked, aiming the question largely at Marinette. She seemed the most likely to be able to respond, after all. "I know you're not left alone all the time like you were before, Adrien, but if being with Marinette would help..."

Adrien nodded, a jerky little move of his head. Tom mentally patted himself on the back. That was a victory, no matter how small.

"I'm going to put some water on for tea," he told them as they straggled up the last few stairs and headed for the living room door. He paused to head over to the linen closet and pull out a big, fuzzy blanket. "And then you two can snuggle up on the couch while I call the police."

Adrien nodded again, but he didn't look entirely focused. Marinette hugged him tighter, pressing her face into his neck briefly before moving back slightly.

Tom hustled them in, wrapping them up before putting the kettle on and rustling through their packets of tea to find the kind he was thinking of. It was good for helping with shock, and they had stocked up on it after the first akuma attack- after all, while they might have turned almost into background noise at this point, there were some particularly nasty ones that were especially nightmare-inducing, and it was best to be prepared. He had just found the box he was looking for when the sound of feet pattering quickly across the floor and the bathroom door slamming shut caught Tom's attention. He spun around, spotting Marinette sitting alone on the couch, looking startled. Seconds later, the sounds of retching from the bathroom told Tom exactly why Adrien had made such a hasty exit.

"Marinette, what happened?" Tom asked quietly, stepping towards his daughter. Her eyes had been trained on the bathroom door, but snapped to him quickly enough. "I need to know so that I can call the police. What did you find?"

Marinette worried her lip for a second before saying anything. "We- we were just exploring-" Her words trailed off, and she have herself a good shake. "Adrien had asked the Gorilla about what suspicious activity he saw, just out of curiosity. I don't think he told him everything, probably, but he had told Adrien about what he thought was maybe a hidden elevator in Mr. Agreste's office. So we went looking, and the buttons- they were hidden in this painting of his mom. And we experimented a bit, because you could kind of see the spots that had been pressed a lot, and it worked, and brought us to this underground chamber."

...Tom had so many questions. Why they couldn't just wait for the police to investigate definitely topped the list.

"There were buttons that we didn't push, though," Marinette continued with a frown. "Like they were part of a different combination, one that would make the elevator go somewhere else. And the tunnel that we went down- there was a split in it, a track that led up instead of down. He's got to be hiding something else."

Tom blinked, a little taken aback by both the hyper-focused look on Marinette's face and the fact that apparently, despite the (definitely traumatic) experience that she had just gone through with finding Adrien's mom in whatever condition she was in, Marinette had managed to notice, remember, and think about what the worn buttons and the extra tunnel might mean. If he had been in that position- well, Tom was pretty sure that he would have been all but useless to the police because of the shock, especially when he was Marinette's age.

"In the chamber- it had a metal walkway, and water running underneath, and the walls were rock. It was huge, like a church." Marinette's eyes went distant, and Tom wondered if he should maybe be taking notes so that he would know everything to be able to report it. "And there was this little garden at the end, and a- it looked like a glass coffin sort of thing, and there were machines tucked under it- they were beeping, so I think she's still alive, maybe, but if she's been down there over a year..."

Tom cringed. That was...not promising. Not at all- unless.

Unless there was magic involved. And the only way that there might be magic involved was-

Tom pushed the thought away. He wasn't going to think it, not now. They already had enough things to be concerned about, and if magic was involved...well, the police would come to the same conclusion soon enough, and then it would be Ladybug and Chat Noir's concern. Marinette and Adrien didn't need to get even more tangled up in this.

"There were butterfly cocoons, too," Marinette said quietly, and Tom startled. How had she noticed that when there was the practically-dead body (he was assuming, but based on what he had heard it was probably accurate) of her boyfriend's mom in front of her? "Little white cocoons all over the plants. We didn't look closer, because Adrien was about to be sick, but..." She trailed off as Adrien exited the bathroom, looking even more shaky than before. Tom was up at once, half-carrying Adrien back over to the couch and wrapping him up in the blanket with Marinette.

Shock was a hell of a problem to have to deal with. And if Adrien had been even half as observant as Marinette had and come to the same conclusion that Tom had...well, it was a miracle that he had managed to make it back to the bakery at all.

The teapot whistling was a welcome interruption.

Tom watched them out of the corner of his eye as he quickly prepared two cups of tea. Adrien was practically curled up in Marinette's lap, his head tucked under her chin as she ran her fingers through his hair. She was whispering to him, dipping her head down to press a kiss to Adrien's hair. He could make out the occasional word from where he stood, kinda-sorta-definitely eavesdropping.

Kitty seemed to come up pretty often, oddly enough. Maybe it was a pet name- Adrien and Marinette seemed to like using those fairly often. It was a little odd for a pet name, admittedly, but it might be an inside joke or something.

"Tea for you two- careful, it's hot," Tom told them after a couple minutes of steeping. He carried the two cups over, pulling their coffee table closer to Adrien and Marinette so that they could easily reach the cups. "And I'm going to step out and call the police. If you need anything...well, I'm not going far."

Marinette nodded, glancing down at Adrien in her lap. Tom waited for a moment to see if they needed anything, then headed out, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he did. It took a moment for him to pull up the non-emergency number- after all, nothing was on fire- and dial. Someone picked up right away.

"Hello, may I speak to a sergeant?" Tom asked, doing his best not to rush his words. "This is Tom Dupain, and I have some information regarding Emilie Agreste's disappearance...and possibly also Hawkmoth's identity."

With Mr. Agreste already at the police station, it was easy enough for them to come up with an excuse to separate him and his Miraculous, and Nathalie from the Peacock Miraculous as well. Apparently they told each of them individually that they needed to go to a back room, and would need to remove any jewelry to go through the metal detector. They had both been irritated by the whole thing, Tom had been told- apparently Mr. Agreste had been deeply offended that anyone would even consider that he might do something to his wife- but had been acting outwardly cooperative, which meant that all jewelry came off and into the storage bins. Even the Miraculous.

Somehow Ladybug had heard about the discovery and showed up long enough to reclaim the Miraculous and thank the police for their clever work in getting the Miraculous off without a fight. She had also heard about the discovery of Mrs. Agreste and her condition, and promised to send an expert to the hospital where she had been transferred as soon as possible to see if there was anything that could be done.

Tom was of the opinion that Ladybug was actually superhuman. Like, not just a human with a Miraculous, like Gabriel Agreste had been, but a superhuman with a Miraculous on top. How else had she managed to hear about everything so fast, before things had even gone public? It was incredible.

And of course, with the evidence piling up against him, there was no way that Mr. Agreste was ever going to get custody of Adrien again. Not, of course, that he would be able to, not when he was going to end up behind bars for quite a while.

Whether or not Mrs. Agreste would wake up- and if she would pass the inspection that the child protection agents would no doubt level at her- still remained to be seen. Tom was hoping that she would wake up, for Adrien's sake, and that she was a better parent than his father. Gerald was a good guardian, from what they could see, but of course it would be even better if Adrien had a loving parent, one who would actually treat him right.

Adrien was clearly still reeling, but he seemed to be coming back slowly. Marinette was with him, of course, and Sabine had turned over the counter to Tom for the rest of the afternoon so she could go up and stay with the two of them. Gerald was going to be coming as soon as he had gotten Mrs. Agreste settled and her paperwork at the hospital completed, and then Adrien would have one more person who cared about him to help get him through his shock.

Tom couldn't help but smile, a hint of triumph dancing along the edges of his lips. He hadn't known, of course, that he would be setting in motion a chain of events that would end up taking down Hawkmoth and Mayura when he called the child protection agents- it was a very unexpected outcome- but he couldn't deny that he was maybe just a bit proud of that.

Soon enough, the news would be breaking to the rest of the city, and everyone in Paris would know who Hawkmoth and Mayura had been. The impact on the Gabriel brand would leave the employees reeling, probably- the one thing that Tom felt bad about, but it wasn't his fault, but Mr. Agreste's. If he hadn't turned to supervillainry...

Tom could understand wanting to do anything for his wife, because the thought of losing Sabine- well, it wasn't a thought that he wanted to entertain. But there were boundaries that had to be respected. Grief wasn't a fun thing to go through, but it was healthy to be able to remember those that had been lost but move on anyway, instead of becoming shut off from the world and manipulating others.

No matter what happened, though, with Mrs. Agreste and the fallout from Hawkmoth's reveal, at least Adrien and Marinette would be safe. There would be no threats from parents, no attempts at emotional manipulation, no unstable supervillains trying to target them. They could be happy together, just like any other teenagers. If any other threats came along...well, Tom would do his best to help get them through it.

After all, they had been through quite enough already.

#Miraculous Ladybug #my writing #oh look adults actually being useful #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #Tom Dupain

383 notes · View notes

pop-culturereference · 4 years ago

Text

as long as i’m reflecting you

Summary: “I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet. I'm you, Hawks."

@hawksweek2020 day 1: Cliché

If you’d rather read on ao3 (or if you want to read my long rant in the chapter notes): https://archiveofourown.org/works/27203351

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Pairing: Gen

Rating: G

Characters: Hawks, Dabi

Dabi towers over Hawks as he lies there, helpless, blue flame licking greedily at his face and wings. He can feel himself shriveling under the heat, but perhaps the worst part is this:

Takami Keigo.

Dabi knows his name. Dabi knew all along what Hawks was doing there, knows more than even his friends do—his name.

Hawks panics at the sound of Dabi’s boots crunching on the broken shards of his visor—He can’t die here! The battle is far from over, and he’s the only hero ready and equipped to deal with the aftermath. There’s not much Hawks can do, at this point, but he does have one option. Dabi needs time between using his quirk in order to recover. Use conversation, distract him, draw him in. In Hawks’s experience, villains never pass up a chance to gloat and throw their self-righteousness in everyone’s face. Get a villain talking about themself, and they won’t shut up. Even closed-off Dabi will likely blab his life story, thinking Hawks is about to die. It’s worth a shot.

“The only members of the League I found nothing on were you and Shigaraki. I found everyone else’s background, their families—but for you, I couldn’t even find a name. Who are you?”

Dabi sets a foot on Hawks’s back, leans his weight into it. Hawks pushes himself up with his hands as much as he can to prevent his ribs from snapping. He’s miscalculated. Dabi will keep his secrets over his ego. Hawks accepts his death even as he fights and pushes against it; he can’t die, but he’s going to, and there’s nothing he can do about it. He’s expecting Dabi to burn him to death right there, and he’s already bracing himself and gritting his teeth against the heat. He is not expecting Dabi to crouch down, one foot still on Hawks’s back, and whisper:

“I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet.” There’s a warm huff of laughter on his ear that has Hawks cringing away, then— “I’m you, Hawks.”

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

Hawks wakes up to the horrible smell of antiseptic solution and the annoying tug of compression sleeves on his leg hair. Then, of course, the swoop of vertigo that speaks of some Pretty Heavy Anaesthesia. He tries to cough the smell out of his mouth, but is met with a sore throat—more than sore, actually. It’s like someone’s taken literal sandpaper and dragged it down his entire esophagus. He gags, tries to sit up, is hit off balance by the vertigo, and promptly throws up over the side of the bed.

He leans back against his pillows and wallows in the agony his stomach acid has raked over his poor, abused, sandpapered throat.

“Can I get you anything?” asks a nurse holding a bucket. Oh, good. He’d vomited into a bucket and not all over the hospital floor.

Hawks gestures frantically to his throat with a plea in his eyes that the nurse hopefully interprets as “water,” or “cough drop,” or even, “please just slit my throat and put me out of my misery.”

The nurse hands him both water and cough drops. Hawks’s eyes water with gratitude. Well, either that or pain. Maybe both.

“Sorry, man,” says the nurse as he reaches to adjust Hawks’s blanket. “They had to do surgery on your wings, and you had a breathing tube.”

Hawks croaks in horror. “Wings!?”

“They’ll be all right. You also had some skin grafts for the burns.”

Burns. Dabi. I’m you, Hawks.

“Phone,” he demands urgently.

With his miraculously only-slightly-singed phone in his hands, Hawks shoos the nurse away and starts tapping and typing with frenzied vigor.

His google search shows him an article spotlight on him, featuring an interview with Tokoyami, who apparently saved him. Good kid, that Tokoyami. It also shows him that there were minimal casualties and that apparently the UA students were spearheading the clean-up and rebuilding of the battleground. Okay. Okay. Good, good. All of it good.

Now, what he really wants to know: Dabi.

To: VP HPSC:

get me every pic i ever sent u of dabi highest res possible asap

also the cam footage of lov hideout

To the number he’d found on Google for the news network he saw at the raid:

Hi, this is Hawks. I saw your news logo at the fight in Reika. I was wondering if you could send me any footage you managed to get of the villains. Thank you. Here’s a selfie for proof it’s me.

To: Dabi (Villain):

hey ik its a bit of a long shot but like i would love an explanation thanks xoxo <3

He knows Dabi’s claim is ridiculous. He knows, all right? What he’s actually hoping to find is some connection to Endeavor. There’s definitely something familiar about Dabi, and that, paired with the fire quirk, could explain it.

The first replies he gets are the pictures and footage from the Commission. Hawks zooms in and examines Dabi’s hair. He always knew it was dyed.The roots come in a lighter color, which would make his hair look perpetually greasy if it laid flat; but instead, it makes his spiky hair look just the slightest bit detached from his head. As he looks at the pictures, he’s surprised to realize that he was already biased toward his Endeavor explanation in his head: he was thinking Dabi’s hair was white, like the color of Todoroki Shouto’s ice side, from whoever was Endeavor’s wife. Closer scrutiny shows that it’s actually a dark blond, like Hawks’s own hair.

That doesn’t mean anything, though.

Dabi’s aesthetically stapled under-eye bags are right in the spot where Hawks has his natural eye markings.

The one picture he managed to find of Dabi shirtless (It’s okay, Hawks reminds himself. I’m a creep with a noble cause. It was for the intel) shows that the stapled purple skin covers the part of his back where Hawks has his wings. If Dabi had wings and they were removed, purple skin grafts or whatever those were would cover up the evidence quite nicely.

And… what Hawks learned during the raid. Dabi’s weakness is his own quirk. Fire. That’s Hawks’s own biggest weakness. That’s almost too much to be a coincidence…what if…?

As he’s looking over the Commission’s images, he almost drops his phone in surprise because Dabi (Villain) texts him back.

Every intelligent thought in his head evacuates in favor of wtfwtfwtfwtf.

It’s a selfie—a close-up of Dabi’s face, right behind a hand that’s flipping him off. It’s just the puzzle piece that he needs, because the small gleam of light catches on the telltale glint of a contact lens, and Hawks can see where the edge of the blue goes lighter where it’s not covering the colorful iris underneath—Dabi’s eyes aren’t actually blue. And, what Hawks has always thought of as edgy eyeliner looks suspiciously similar to his other eye markings.

Another quick text to: Pres HPSC, VP HPSC:

i dont have any sort of long lost twin brother right??? or like an evil clone or smth??

Almost instantly, he receives a No.

It should be a relief, but his mind’s still going haywire. Dabi…is him? He is Dabi? Dabi is Hawks? Does Hawks is Dabi who? Shut up, brain, you didn’t connect shit. It Dabi, Takami Keigo Dabi Hawks… if Hawks? Who Takami Dabi… he…

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

Maybe I shouldn’t try thinking when I’m high on painkillers, he thinks when he wakes up.

As he looks around, he realizes he’s been moved to a more long-term room. Instead of curtains, it has a door, and there’s a TV and a nightstand. His phone is dead and he’s not about to call the nurse to come plug it in for him, so he switches on the TV instead, not sure how much he can trust his conclusions on the outcome of the raid if he convinced himself that he was somehow Dabi in the same 10-minute timespan.

The first thing that shows up on the news channel is a report about Hawks, and he’s greeted with the atrocious selfie he took to prove his identity to the news channel. His hair is a devastated battleground and missing completely on his burned side, he’s covered in gauze and medical tape, and his smile looks half-crazed. What was he thinking?

“Hawks is recovering in an unknown hospital, but he looks to be well. The real question is, will the Number Two Hero still be able to charm without half of his famous wind-swept hair?”

“I don’t know, Motome-san. Let’s look at some footage of the battle. I’m sure any lady—or gentleman—would be charmed by someone willing to go so far to protect them.”

Hawks rolls his eyes and scowls, but doesn’t turn off the TV. If they show his fight with Dabi—if he could get a quick glimpse of him—he could turn off the idiot switch in his brain that won’t shut up.

Instead, what he sees is a streak of red that flies into Dabi’s hand. That’s one of his feathers. Dabi controlled one of his feathers. Dabi has control of Hawks’s Fierce Wings.

To hell with his pride! Hawks repeatedly jams the help button on the side of his bed, and a nurse arrives soon after, out of breath. Hawks feels a little bad for scaring the poor man, but he needs to charge his phone. As soon as it turns back on, he sends out the text to almost every single one of his contacts.

Hi all, this is Hawks. I’ve figured out the identity of the villain Dabi. It should help you lure him out and take him down. DABI IS ME. Text me with any questions. Go after him with fire, if you can.

Within three minutes, Hawks has rejected 7 calls. Text me with any questions, he said. Not call. He won’t be speaking with his sandpaper throat for at least the next month if he has anything to say about it.

Someone with enough manners finally texts instead of calls. It reads: omw to kill you right now. should have finished the job last time.

Oh, shit. Did he really send that message to Dabi?

Yeah. He did.

SOS this is not a joke, he sends to the HPSC. Dabi just texted me says he’s going to kill me right now. i’m in the hospital, can’t fight. PLEASE send someone

He answers the next call from Pres HPSC. “Can’t talk,” he rasps and tastes blood on his tongue. The president talks to him and he gives one tap for yes, two taps for no.

“Do you really want us to send someone?”

One tap.

The president sighs. “Hawks, as soon as you can speak, I expect the most thorough, detailed, in-depth report you’ve ever given in your life.”

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

With Hawks’s warning, they capture Dabi easily enough. He shows up at the hospital directly and comes face-to-face with Endeavor, who, knowing about his weakness to fire, easily takes him down.

When Hawks visits Tartarus a month later to interrogate Dabi, he wonders how he ever missed it. Without the dye and the contacts, there’s no denying that Dabi is Hawks. He’s left wondering, though.

“Why did you text me at the hospital that you were on your way to kill me? I immediately got Endeavor there. I thought you were a little smarter than that.”

Dabi just shrugs, his newly-regenerated red feathers rustling with the movement. “Obviously not. I am you, after all.”

#hawksweek2020 #hawks #it's a day early but im pretty busy tmrw so i;m posting it now #this is so so stupid. extremely stupid.#WHY did i use so many italics they are a PAIN #here it is. the dumbest thing i've ever written.#and ive written some pretty dumb things in my decade on this hellsite #the only thing i will ever name with a song lyric #bnha #manga spoilers

17 notes · View notes

thezestywalru · 5 years ago

Text

Kismet 3

Hey guys! So Donald Peak is an actual police detective in the GCPD, I believe he was introduced in the Gotham Central comics. Hope you guys like the update! It’s way shorter than I wanted it to be, but I should be working on something else anyway. Thank you to @messymessyml for showing me how to link the chapters.

First | Previous | Next |

Marinette quickly picked up her purse after checking Anthony’s pulse. He was dead, and rigor mortis would soon set in. Pulling the blood red clutch open, she placed on the blonde wig she had worn last night. Smirking, she walked out of the hotel room, briskly walking down the hallway away from the cameras.

Quickly pulling out her phone, she chatted aimlessly into it about the recent hookup. Pretending to talk to a girlfriend, Marinette chewed gum to alleviate her nerves, twirling the ends of her long messy blonde wig.

She checked the phone as she left the hotel, trying to avoid suspicion but not seeming like she was trying to avoid suspicion. Ducking out of view of the cameras and removing the wig, she still kept her guard up. She reversed the jacket she wore over the short asymmetrical dress from last night. Tucking her phone into the pocket, she turned back to the direction of the hotel. The police would arrive soon, and no matter how incompetent they might be, she didn’t want to be there when they came.

“Time of death 0300.” The underling reported to the head detective. “We’re currently reviewing all camera footage from last night.”

“Alright.” Said Donald Peak, the lead on the case. “Gather ‘round, everyone!” The other four detectives he was in charge of joined him in a circle. “Our vic’s name is Anthony Jilani...” He paused to flip through a notepad.

“He was reportedly the ringleader for an underground fighting ring. They were notorious for human trafficking. He had no children, was married twice, the current wife being his mistress. Maybe the ex-wife hired someone?”

The detectives each began squabbling, talking over one another and offering up their own proposals, each less and less likely than the last. Don sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, and surveying the crime scene. There was barely any evidence- the cameras were their only hope if they couldn’t get a hold of any reliable witnesses.

“Sir!” Officer Xue jogged up. “I have a theory what happened.”

Peak was not amused. He crossed his arms, turning to the young man with an unimpressed look to his eyes. The detective faltered.

“The MO matches Tyche, sir.” He hastened to explain. “There was iocane powder ingested by the victim by whiskey last night. He came upstairs with a blonde woman around 25, 5 foot even, 125 pounds. The camera didn’t get a good enough image of her face, but they both seemed pretty intoxicated.”

Tyche was the most infamous vigilante for hire on the streets. They- or rather evidently, she- had made waves of terror on the crooks of crime alley just three years before. She never targeted one caste, ranging from domestic abusers to high profile men such as Jilani. No one knew her identity or who she was. She always seemed to get away right before the authorities arrived, in a fruitless game of cat and mouse. A young detective had aptly nicknamed her after the Greek goddess of luck a few months after her first murder.

Don looked at the blurry image of the laughing girl as she struggled to get him into the room. They immediately began to passionately remove clothes in the doorway. Giving them this image of her wasn’t careless. No, it seemed like she was following the footsteps of many killers that came before her by giving them one scrap of information, a shred of hope- the legacy of the Zodiac, Jack the Ripper and the Watcher. It was planned nearly perfectly, but Don swore on God that he would stop this woman before he would retire, even if it took to the rest of his life.

-----

“Hello.” A young man greeted Marinette nervously in the coffee shop next to the Bat-Cave. He was tall, with the typical black hair and blue eyes befitting a Wayne.

“Timothy Drake?” She emotionlessly confirmed, gesturing for him to sit down next to her. He cracked a small smile, sipping on a travel mug of coffee. He avoided her eyes, perhaps as a way of keeping her from discerning his secrets, or maybe in an act of anxiety.

Marinette surveyed him quickly in a small once over. He was passable, and she could tell that his father had made all of his boys attend weight lifting and wrestling classes. She frowned as she noticed the large under eye bags that made his eyes seem sunken in. She extended her hand after a minute or so of silence.

“My name is Annette Cheng.” She gave the moniker she had chosen upon her arrival to Gotham. “We have a lot to work on. But first, we drink.”

Marinette picked up the flask from her hip. Nodding to him, she lifted in a toast. “Kismet.” She said, knocking back her head.

@thestressmademedoit

@maribat-is-lifeblood

@magic-miraculous

@loveswifi

@stareyedmoonchild

@mochegato

@queen-in-a-flower-crown

@messymessyml

@bigpicklebananatree

@crazylittlemunchkin

#maribat #maribat au #timinette #marinette x tim #assassin #mafia au #vigilante #kismet #thezestywalru

47 notes · View notes

religion-is-a-mental-illness · 8 months ago

Text

Richard Spencer: Probably one of the most, erm, you know, demoralising things would be… …we were in the bedroom, and we were sat on the bed, and she told me to get off the bed. She'd bought the bed on her credit card, and she said that that bed belonged to her, so I didn't have any right to sit on the bed. But she still wanted to argue. I didn't want it to escalate, so I said, "All right." So I sat on the floor next to the bed.

And I was still chatting to her. So she's sat on the bed, I'm sat on the floor, chatting to her, and, erm… And then she says, oh, she just needs to go to the toilet. Or she just got up to go to the toilet.

So she went to the bathroom and then I was just sat on the floor, facing away from where the bathroom was, and then the next minute, Sheree was kind of, like, on top of me, and I didn't really know what was going on. And the next minute, I realised that she'd defecated, like, on my head.

Richard: I don't deserve this, Sheree.

Sheree: You do deserve it. Go on, scrub away you cunt. Clean my shit up.

Adele Jenkinson: To get to the level of defecating on your husband and hitting him with a wine bottle at ten o'clock in the morning, that's another level of abuse that we can't… I still, to this clay, can't comprehend.

"My Wife, My Abuser: The Secret Footage."

#Richard Spencer #Sheree Spencer #Adele Jenkinson #domestic abuse #domestic violence #male victims of domestic violence #male victims of domestic abuse #violent women #male victims #female abusers #religion is a mental illness

6 notes · View notes

very-grownup · 4 years ago

Text

THE YEAR IS 2020 AND I WATCHED NEON GENESIS EVANGELION FOR THE FIRST TIME, PART 9

Episode 21.

Suddenly it's a found footage shakey cam horror movie. I think it's meant to be footage of ... NERV before it was NERV labs in 2000 with some bad shit happening. I'm unclear of so much in this episode, guys.

There is one of those blue screens with the white text that warns you that if you make copies of this you will go to jail for a million years, though, which feels nice and nostalgic before we get into the opening credits. (Opening? Still a bop. Thank you, '90s.)

Episode 21 continues behind the cut.

Someone has been kidnapped from NERV, possibly by or because of Kaji (fuckin' Kaji), and because all these NERV people are interchangeable except for Misato, Ritsuko, and Shinji's horrible father, I have no idea who it is until we see the old dude who is usually behind Ikari. He's tied to a chair in a black void, surrounded by an increasing number of numbered obelisks who I think are the old man Simon council but instead of projecting as old men they're ... obelisks. Look, their government is run by supercomputers named after the Magi. This is as fine as anything.

The obelisks don't like Commander Ikari (same) or what he's doing (same) and want Number 2 to explain what's going on (same) due to the Dead Sea Scrolls and their desire not to create god (... same?). Which means it's time for BACKSTORY or as close as this show gets to backstory.

Number 2 used to be a scientist/academic at ... a school ... lab ... university ... somewhere ... where he met a promising young student of ... science stuff ... named Ikari. There's some sentence vagaries to make the audience think the student is a young Commander Ikari but PSYCH, it's /Yui/, Shinji's mysteriously dead mother. This is not a big surprise, because no one would be anticipating meeting Gendo Ikari. What is a surprise is that Yui Ikari is currently single, although if you've consumed enough Japanese media you've probably encountered cases where a husband takes the wife's surname and is adopted into her family when there's no sons in the family (Summer of the Ubume). ANYWAY Yui is currently single and Number 2 talks to her about her post-graduation career plans, failing to consider that maybe she wants to get married and start a family. Find your own path and all that but also: this is a woman who is going to make terrible life choices.

I don't know why, but as a favour to Yui, Number 2 goes to spring an absolute piece of shit ... fellow student? from the drunk tank after he got arrested for brawling and it is, of course, Gendo Originalsurnamewhocareshesucks. We see him without his glasses for the first time. Even though this is ~15 years ago, Gendo without his glasses is the worst thing ever, rivaling yes the EVA with the giant white human teeth ripping an Angel apart and screaming. I hate looking at him, his cheeks sunken and his eyes huge, very like a skull. The real thesis material in Evangelion is: why has anyone ever slept with this awful gaunt uncharming skull man? He has the visage and personality of someone whose genetic line should die with him.

On a nature walk (because this is before seasons are destroyed by the second impact [and this is a really pretty scene, too, all fall leaves and oranges and red, more vibrant yet gentle than the series often is]) Yui reveals to Number 2 that she and Gendo are in a relationship. Why? Look, that's some Dead Sea Scrolls bullshit, learn ancient Hebrew and get into archeology, unearth some tablets, figure it out for yourselves.

The Second Impact happens and destroys Antarctica and Misato's father and she becomes mute for a while after this and also is kept in a featureless hospital cell for observation with a few age appropriate toys for company and for some reason this doesn't help her mental trauma. No wonder her roommate's a penguin.

The Misato flashback may seem like it comes out of nowhere and if so /hey welcome to my experience of this episode/ where I mostly had my hands on my forehead like I needed to reinforce my brain to process everything.

Number 2 and Shitty Gendo are in Antarctica after the Second Impact with the neon pink ocean and the none ice and oh Gendo and Yui got married. Surprise! Gendo and Yui or Gendo through Yui are involved in something called Seele which is the thing that becomes NERV I think. What's going on /shut up I don't know/ there's some kind of secret science government military organization and it involves the Ikari and then Number 2 and also Ritsuko's mother and underground caverns that may be cities and is this Atlantis? Ancient aliens? Akashic records? I DON'T KNOW Number 2 has concerns and Yui both seems to agree with Number 2's concerns but also is down with whatever Gendo's doing and they have Shinji and he seems like a pretty happy and cute baby and Yui seems to love him even though she brings him to work. And by work I mean the underground lab where they're dissecting or recreating flesh tube skeletons from Adam or building Adam or using Adam to build what will be the Evas, specifically on the day Yui is doing The Experiment. I don't think bringing little Shinji to work is a great idea or a sign of great parenting, especially when The Experiment goes awry and Yui is killed in front of Shinji's toddler eyes.

Ritsuko's mother, Dr. ... Doctor, doesn't approve of kids in the secret mad scientist bunker but MAN does she approve of Yui being killed. Because, somehow, she also wants to fuck Gendo Ikari, a skeleton of emotional abuse and neglect wearing sausage casing as skin.

There's also some stuff here about young Ritsuko (she's not a natural blonde! but honestly the fleeting glimpses of Ritsuko at different ages in this episode show greater awareness of how women can change without just relying on bigger breasts more hair than I'd expect). She and her mother exchange letters where they seem to be more honest with each other than they are in person and I wish there was more time spent dwelling in that, because Evangelion has an imperfect but still insightful view of the complexity of mother-daughter relationships. She goes away to school and meets Misato and they bond and become friends and they each seem to be the other's first friend due to their various issues and weirdness and Ritsuko's clearly at least a little in love with Misato. Unfortunately, Misato is dating Kaji (fuckin' Kaji) and Dr. Doctor thinks Kaji is a pretty great catch, but like ... Dr. Doctor wants to fuck or possibly is fucking Gendo Ikari, so if you can think of a great condemnation of Kaji than this, I'd love to hear it (fuckin' Kaji).

Misato and Ritsuko both join Seele or NERV or whatever the fuck these secret awful organizations are currently calling themselves, with Misato going to Germany and Ritsuko starting to work with her mother and also seeing her mother just jamming her tongue down Gendo's throat. Truly, Ritsuko could never understand her mother as a woman and neither can we, because /why would you desire Gendo Ikari/ and his judgmental touch, icy even through fucking Mickey Mouse gloves.

SO ONE DAY Gendo comes to work with a young Rei and I guess since Yui died no one has seen Shinji since people are looking at Rei and going 'oh is this your son?' and 'I thought you had a son, not a daughter'. But no, Rei is the daughter of a friend Gendo is looking after. Imagine thinking 'Gendo Ikari has even a single friend' is a believable lie.

Since Yui's death, no one has bothered to institute any kind of secret underground lab rules about kids on the premises, because while Dr. Doctor is doing some shit with her O. Henry super computers, little Rei wanders in and proceeds to neg the shit out of this grown woman. They're obviously not the words of a child and it's been clear since the beginning that there's something Not Right about Rei, but when she tells Dr. Doctor that she's a sexually undesirable hag and a nagging shrew and has outlived her purpose they're the words of a man. An adult man, specifically Gendo Ikari, as Rei just straight up tells Dr. Doctor upon being scolded for rudeness. Dr. Doctor's poor judgment of character means she is semi-shocked and hurt by this and sent into a weird fugue state where she chokes Rei until a small arm goes limp. Dr. Doctor thinks about how both she and Rei are both equally replaceable to Gendo, who is still hung up on Yui as much as he seems able to have an emotional attachment to anyone, and so finds all other women to be interchangeable tools.How replaceable Rei is could be a reference to whatever Rei's unnatural origins are, but we've also seen that Gendo considers children to be a renewable and easily disposable resource.

Then Dr. Doctor kills herself (or is murdered, who can say) and gets ... replaced by her daughter in the project.

SO I GUESS THIS IS ALL PART OF NUMBER 2'S TESTIMONY TO THE OBELISKS or maybe not but his thing is done or on break and fuckin' Kaji is there to ... break him out? Even though he's the reason Number 2 was getting interrogated? I don't know, I don't know.

They only use one set of handcuffs for Number 2, but they had three on Shinji in the previous episode.

Misato also had some thing with security intelligence interrogation going on in this episode maybe but they're done and give her back her gun.

Then Kaji's hanging out in a Silent Hill otherworld before a giant fan in weird sickly light and the screen goes black with a gunshot and I don't believe he's dead because I've been fooled about fuckin' Kaji before.

... but then Misato comes home, looking utterly exhausted and devastated, and she sees the message light blinking on her answering machine and she presses play as tears fill her eyes and she collapses to her knees listening to a message from Kaji. He apologizes for causing her trouble yet again, asks her to apologize to Ritsuko as well, asks her to get Shinji to show her where his garden is so she can water the flowers for him, and promises to tell her what he was too scared to tell her years ago. Misato's crying becomes heartwrenching raw sobs (Kotono Mitsuishi does a great job here, breaking my heart) and Shinji, curled up in his room, takes out his headphones and peeks into the kitchen to take in this vision of distraught, helpless adult grief. Then he goes back to his room without alerting Misato to his presence and pulls his pillow over his head, trying to drown out Misato's sobs, because he's just a kid and he knows there's nothing he can do and so he doesn't know what he /should/ do.

Although I've been wanting it for episodes, Kaji's death becomes a bitter pill that I can feel no mean satisfaction from. I'm not sure what's going on, but I know Misato's distraught. This concludes my report on Episode 21 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

#neon genesis evangelion report #fuckin' kaji

2 notes · View notes

sweetsmellosuccess · 4 years ago

Text

Sundance 2021: Day 3

Films: 4 Best Film of the Day(s): Cryptozoo

Playing With Sharks: Valerie Taylor and her late husband Ron were pioneering shark conservationists for the last four decades, paving the way for protected marine parks in Australia and helping to create a different perception of sharks. As Sally Aitken’s doc on Valerie’s life and times suggests, however, the Taylors were also paying something of a penance: First, for all the spearfishing they had done in their teens and 20s (Ron was a world champion); later, for playing a significant role in helping Jaws achieve some of its underwater shark scenes. As a result of that film’s supernova success, sharks became one of the most egregiously hunted species in the world for decades (one conservationist in the film explains that after 100 million sharks were killed for twenty years — a result of macho big game hunting, yes, but far much more for their lucrative fins, which go on to make the soup considered a delicacy in China — only 10% of the world shark population still exists), leaving the Taylor’s favorite filming subject in dire peril. Aitken’s film, loaded with wondrous footage — a benefit of Valerie’s being in the public eye, and working as marine oceanographers for most of their lives — charts the evolution of Valerie’s relationship with the animals in the sea, and displays her fearless brand of adventuring along the way (Ron dubbed her “Give it a Go Valerie” for her willingness to put her life on the line). Now 85, we also watch her travel to Fiji for a dive amongst a newly replenished population of bull sharks, aided greatly by her, and other conservationist organizations, working to end the shark genocide. For this Jaws aficionado — an animal advocate myself, like the Taylors, I have to acknowledge the harm the film did to marine ecology in my devotion — watching the couple film their notable live shark scenes in Spielberg’s monster movie opus was a thrill, but watching the couple’s dedication to their cause in subsequent years is far more significant.

On the Count of Three: It seems like a great idea to start a film with a pair of best friends holding up guns to each other’s heads in a suicide pact, only to go into extended flashback and retrace what led to this moment right before they pull the trigger, but that’s precisely where things begin to go awry for screenwriters Ryan Welch and Ari Katcher. In comedian Jerrod Carmichael’s feature debut, the two friends, Kevin (Christopher Abbott), and Val (Carmichael) have a long history of helping each other through their respective childhood traumas — Kevin was abused by one of his therapists; Val had a physically abusive father — so they mean to come to this moment in a sort of full-circle act of final friendship, but then various sillinesses intervene to extend the day into a series of escalating incidents until finally things go too far to simply go back as they were. A cross between an unrealized dark comedy (much humor is derived from Kevin’s “horrible” taste in music, including a far too on-the-nose track from Papa Roach concerning actual suicide), and unbelievable drama (driving around in a bright yellow jeep, with Kevin wearing practically a technicolor dreamcoat, it’s impossible that the pair wouldn’t have been arrested almost immediately), the film gets decent mileage out of its pair of leads, who share a solid rapport, but never seems to find its footing enough to make much of an impact otherwise.

Cryptozoo: In his zoom video intro to the film, writer/director Dash Shaw appears through a kaleidoscope filter, a fitting visual enhancement for the trippy animated film he’s created. Painstakingly hand-drawing the cells, which gives the film a much less fluid but appreciably personalized appearance, he’s crafted an engaging story about cryptids — mythical creatures, from gorgons, manticores, and chimeras, to unicorns, pegasuses, and a baku — being kept by a kindly woman (voice of Grace Zabriske) in a secret park in order to keep them safe from outside forces. Tracking down the creatures from opposing sides are Lauren (Lake Bell), a fiercely determined woman, whose childhood was saved by a nightmare-eating baku when she was a child; and an evil-minded capitalist (voice of Jason Schwartzman), who has a mind to sell the creatures to the military. Trippy it most certainly is, but the story remains solidly coherent — imagine a kind of Jurassic Park but with a kraken, and a lot more peculiar nudity — which keeps it beguilingly grounded, despite its fantastical imagery and thematics. As an analogy for how it is mankind has lost all instinct and contact with the magical realm — well, beyond the MCU, and LOTR, and all the movie series that have made billions of dollars on the idea — but, also, a treatise on what happens when even our best intentions turn out to be misguided.

Eight For Silver: Sean Ellis’ werewolf movie tarts itself up a bit with 19th century gothic imagery and a steady atmospheric gloom, but the script, which Ellis also wrote, can’t escape most of the worst cliches of the genre, and its earnestness alone can’t keep it from being pretty insipid. Alistair Petrie plays a wealthy landowner named Seamus Laurent. When a group of Roma come to settle on his land, which they (rightfully, it turns out) claim as their own, he and the other nearby landowners pay a posse of mercenaries to eviscerate them as cruelly as possible. As a result, Seamus and his family, wife, Isabelle (Kelly Reilly), daughter, Charlotte (Amelia Crouch), and son, Edward (Max Mackintosh) are put under an ancient curse. Many predictable things happen from there involving a pair of silver, canine-like teeth, innocent people being gored by some mysterious creature, and lots of arterial sprays of blood (Ellis seems to have a penchant for them, as well as for severed limbs — I lost count of how many hands and feet were forcibly removed from their trunks). When a pathologist (Boyd Holbrook) comes to investigate, he puts all the pieces together, but not enough of the landed gentry listen to him in time to save themselves from their appointed maulings. Shot in the French countryside, the film has a grand palette with which to work, but too much time is spent establishing things that seem perfectly obvious, and the script is riddled with peculiar anachronisms (“Me, neither,” one character says in response to someone being unable to sleep) that keep throwing off its calculations. It’s trying hard, but simply isn’t made carefully enough, or with enough originality, to have it rise above its B-movie sort of station.

Sundance goes mostly virtual for this year’s edition, sparing filmgoers the altitude, long waits, standing lines, and panicked eating binges — but also, these things and more that make the festival so damn endearing. In any event, Sundance via living room is still a hell of a lot better than no Sundance. A daily report.

#sweet smell of success #ssos #piers marchant #films #movies #sundance 2021 #film festival #virtual #eight for silver #cryptozoo #at the count of three #playing with sharks

2 notes · View notes

bigprettygothgf · 5 years ago

Text

kayla bigprettygothgf’s halloween recommendation list

I know it’s a little late into October to publish this, and I had wanted to get this out at the start of the month, other things just got in the way of my time. But, I finished it anyway.

I’ve divided this into two parts - First, movies that are available on the big three streaming services - Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. Second, movies that are not available on those services and you’ll have to get via… other means. All in all there’s over 70 films here.

Summaries are either written by me or lifted from letterboxd. Because I’m lazy.

It probably goes without saying that almost all of these come with a CW for violence. Violence will only be mentioned specifically in CWs in more extreme cases.

If I’ve missed any applicable content warnings here, please message me about it! it’s been a while since I’ve seen many of these movies and it’s likely there’s some details I’ve forgotten.

Full list under the cut.

Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hulu

-Annihilation (2018)

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don’t apply.

-Genres: Alien invasion, body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: Death of a lesbian character

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-Apostle (2018)

Netflix original horror tends to be very hit or miss, more often than not a catastrophic miss. While not without its flaws, Apostle is fortunately one of the better releases to the service, offering a very The Wicker Man (1973)-esque story about a man who travels to a remote island in search of his sister who has been kidnapped by a cult.

-Genres: Cult horror, historical period horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-As Above, So Below (2014)

While the dialogue in the film borders on unintentional comedy at times, As Above, So Below is a surprisingly decent found footage flick about a team of explorers delving into the Paris catacombs.

-Genres: Found footage, horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2017)

Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the young “Jane Doe,” they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Blade (1998)

When Blade’s mother was bitten by a vampire during pregnancy, she did not know that she gave her son a special gift while dying—all the good vampire attributes in combination with the best human skills. Blade and his mentor battle an evil vampire rebel who plans to take over the outdated vampire council, capture Blade and resurrect a voracious blood god.

-Genres: Superhero, vampire horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Hulu

-Candyman (1992)

The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster’s myth.

-Genres: Psychological horror, slasher, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Animal death, R-slur

-Available on: Netflix

-Cloverfield (2008)

Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.

-Genres: Disaster, found footage, monster, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: One of the lead characters, Hud, is played by accused sexual abuser T.J. Miller

-Available on: Hulu

-Constantine (2005)

By all accounts, Constantine is a bad adaption of its source material, taking far too many creative liberties and making many unnecessary changes from the Hellblazer comic. However, despite that, the film is a fun and decent movie in its own right, and worth a watch regardless of whether or not you’re familiar with the comic it’s based on.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, superhero, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Suicide

-Available on: Hulu

-Creep (2014)

Aaron answers an online ad and drives to a stranger's house to film him for the day. The man claims to want to make a movie for his unborn child, but his requests become more bizarre as the day goes along.

-Genres: Found footage, horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Creep 2 (2017)

A video artist who craves shocking stories realizes she has made a mistake when she meets a serial killer in a cabin.

-Genres: Found footage, horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-The Crow (1994)

Exactly one year after young rock guitarist Eric Draven and his fiancée are brutally killed by a ruthless gang of criminals, Draven – watched over by a hypnotic crow – returns from the grave to exact revenge.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, superhero

-Content warnings: Sexual assault

-Available on: Netflix

-Event Horizon (1997)

A film that could have been great had it not been marred by interference from Paramount, Event Horizon is still a decent entry into the sci-fi horror genre, even if just for the great scenery-chewing by Sam Neill. It’s just a shame that we’ll probably never see a fully uncensored version.

-Genres: Sci-fi horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-The Evil Dead (1981)

Bruce Campbell & friends take a trip out to a cabin in the woods. Hilarity ensues.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: The infamous tree rape scene

-Available on: Hulu

-Evil Dead II (1987)

Bruce Campbell & friend takes a trip out to a cabin in the woods. Even more hilarity ensues.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, horror comedy

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Hulu

-The Exorcist III (1990)

Despite the title, The Exorcist III has very little to do with the original Exorcist film, only given connections to it due to studio imposition. Fortunately, this is a rare case where studio interference didn’t actually negatively affect the film itself much at all, and I strongly recommend it, even if you haven’t seen the original.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Ableism

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Gerald’s Game (2017)

When her husband’s sex game goes wrong, Jessie (who is handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house) faces warped visions, dark secrets and a dire choice.

-Genres: Psychological horror

-Content warnings: CSA, graphic degloving

-Available on: Netflix

-Ginger Snaps (2000)

The story of two outcast sisters, Ginger and Brigitte, in the mindless suburban town of Bailey Downs. On the night of Ginger’s first period, she is savagely attacked by a wild creature. Ginger’s wounds miraculously heal but something is not quite right. Now Brigitte must save her sister and save herself.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Animal death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Green Room (2015)

A punk rock band becomes trapped in a secluded venue after finding a scene of violence. For what they saw, the band themselves become targets of violence from a gang of white power skinheads, who want to eliminate all evidence of the crime.

-Genres: Horror thriller

-Content warnings: Nazism, racism, N-slurs

-Available on: Netflix

-Hellraiser (1987)

An unfaithful wife encounters the zombie of her dead lover while the demonic cenobites are pursuing him after he escaped their sadomasochistic underworld.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-Hereditary (2018)

When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry.

-Genres: Drama, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Animal death, child death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-The Invitation (2015)

Will and his new girlfriend Kira are invited to a dinner with old friends at the house of Will’s ex Eden and her new partner David. Although the evening appears to be relaxed, Will soon gets a creeping suspicion that their charming host David is up to something.

-Genres: Cult horror, horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Lake Mungo (2010)

One of my personal favorite films in the horror genre, the underappreciated Lake Mungo - creatively presented in a faux-documentary style - is an eerie look at the difficulty of moving on from family loss.

-Genres: Found footage, pseudo-documentary, psychological horror

-Content warnings: CSA

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Mother! (2017)

I hesitated adding this one because to be frank I do not care much for it and Darren Aronofsky, while a talented filmmaker, is a bit of a self-aggrandizing prick and this film demonstrates his pretentiousness more so than any of his past work. But, even so, there’s some legitimately great material here, particularly in the third act when everything goes to shit. If you can look past the extremely heavy-handed bible metaphors and clumsy environmental message, you may get something out of it.

-Genres: Psychological horror, thriller

-Content warnings: Misogynistic violence, graphic baby death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-Nightbreed (1990)

A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of monsters are hiding from humanity.

-Genres: Dark fantasy

-Content warnings: Eye trauma, F-slur

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Night of the Living Dead (1968)

A group of people try to survive an attack of bloodthirsty zombies while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse.

-Genres: Zombie horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video (Public domain, so you should have no trouble finding it elsewhere.)

-Possum (2018)

Long stretches of not much happening are made up for by some truly horrifying puppet sequences which are among the creepiest things I saw in any 2018 film.

-Genres: Drama, psychological horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Pumpkinhead (1988)

A man conjures up a gigantic vengeance demon called Pumpkinhead to destroy the teenagers who accidentally killed his son.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu*

*Audio is slightly out of sync on both streams.

-A Quiet Place (2018)

A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

-Genres: Alien invasion, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-The Return of the Living Dead (1986)

When a bumbling pair of employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to re-animate as they go on a rampage seeking their favorite food: brains!

-Genres: Horror comedy, zombie horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-The Ritual (2017)

A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that’s stalking them.

-Genres: Cult horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Saw (2004)

Obsessed with teaching his victims the value of life, a deranged, sadistic serial killer abducts the morally wayward. Once captured, they must face impossible choices in a horrific game of survival. The victims must fight to win their lives back, or die trying.

-Genres: Horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Hulu

-Saw II (2005)

When a new murder victim is discovered with all the signs of Jigsaw’s hand, Detective Eric Matthews begins a full investigation and apprehends Jigsaw with little effort. But for Jigsaw, getting caught is just another part of his plan. Eight more of his victims are already fighting for their lives and now it’s time for Matthews to join the game.

-Genres: Horror thriller

-Content warnings: Needles

-Available on: Hulu

-Scream (1996)

A killer known as Ghostface begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins to rise, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the ‘rules’ of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one.

-Genres: Slasher

-Content warnings: Rape mention

-Available on: Netflix

-Society (1989)

Containing what I consider to be the greatest special effects Screaming Mad George ever did, Society is a story about the son of a rich Beverly Hills family feeling like he doesn’t quite fit in. If you like body horror, 80s practical effects, and satire about the west coast upper class, I can not recommend this hidden gem enough. Another of my personal favorites.

-Genres: Black comedy, body horror, satire

-Content warnings: Incest and really gross body horror. In general if you’re averse to sex and nudity you may wanna steer clear.

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Suspiria (2018)

I can’t think of many films I hold such a high opinion on that I was initially ready to hate. When I found out that the Call Me by Your Name director would be behind a remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 classic Suspiria, I rolled my eyes. When official photos started to roll in indicating the film would be gory and desaturated in contrast to the original’s surreal usage of exaggerated colors, I decided I wasn’t touching it with a ten foot pole. Fast forward about a year later, and I eventually decide to give the film a chance. Low and behold, not only do I list it as a top film of 2018, I actually, genuinely like it more than the original. While there’s much to be said about the style and color palette of the original film, I find the remake’s radically different tone and style to be still, in a difficult to describe way, faithful to the 1977 original. But most importantly, the film stands on its own as a visceral, nightmarish, violent, and disturbing experience I still haven't stopped thinking about nearly a year later.

-Genres: Body horror, cult horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Suicide, very graphic gore

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-The Terminator (1984)

In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the “Terminator” back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah.

-Genres: Science fiction, thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, YouTube

-They Look Like People (2016)

While held back slightly by its low budget, They Look Like People is one of the best looks at mental illness I’ve seen in a film, especially a horror film, and I’d easily recommend it to anyone tired of the demonization of mental illness in the horror genre.

-Genres: Psychological horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Train to Busan (2016)

Martial law is declared when a mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency. Those on an express train to Busan, a city that has successfully fended off the viral outbreak, must fight for their own survival.

-Genres: Thriller, zombie horror

-Content Warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil (2010)

Two hillbillies are suspected of being killers by a group of paranoid college kids camping near the duo’s West Virginian cabin. As the body count climbs, so does the fear and confusion as the college kids try to seek revenge against the pair.

-Genres: Horror comedy, slasher

-Content Warnings: Rape mention

-Available on: Netflix

-The Witch (2015)

In 1630s New England, William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness, exiled from their settlement when William defies the local church. When their newborn son vanishes and crops mysteriously fail, the family turns on one another.

-Genres: Religious horror, supernatural horror

-Content Warnings: Abuse, animal death, child death, implied CSA

-Available on: Netflix

Not Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hulu

-Alien (1979)

During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.

-Genres: Sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Aliens (1986)

When Ripley’s lifepod is found by a salvage crew over 50 years later, she finds that terra-formers are on the very planet they found the alien species. When the company sends a family of colonists out to investigate her story—all contact is lost with the planet and colonists. They enlist Ripley and the colonial marines to return and search for answers.

-Genres: Sci-fi action, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Altered States (1980)

A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from native American shamans, he explores these altered states of consciousness and finds that memory, time, and perhaps reality itself are states of mind.

-Genres: Sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-AM1200 (2008)

A fantastic little horror short film. Officially on Vimeo.

-Genres: Eldritch horror

-Content warnings: Suicide

-Army of Darkness (1992)

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that Army of Darkness isn’t as good as Evil Dead II. They’re full of shit and this movie fucking rules.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, horror comedy

-Content warnings: N/A

-Basket Case (1982)

A young man carrying a big basket that contains his deformed Siamese-twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will.

-Genres: Body horror, horror comedy, slasher

-Content warnings: Attempted rape

-Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

Deep within the mysterious Arboria Institute, a disturbed girl is held captive by a doctor in search of inner peace. Her mind controlled by a sinister technology. Silently, she waits for her next session with deranged therapist Dr. Barry Nyle. If she hopes to escape, she must journey through the darkest reaches of The Institute, but Nyle wonʼt easily part with his most gifted and dangerous creation.

-Genres: Sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Blair Witch Project (1999)

In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.

-Genres: Found footage, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Five college friends spend the weekend at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

-Genres: Black comedy, eldritch horror, horror comedy, satire

-Content warnings: N/A

-Christine (1983)

Geeky student Arnie Cunningham falls for Christine, a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury, and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile to her former glory. As the car changes, so does Arnie, whose newfound confidence turns to arrogance behind the wheel of his exotic beauty. Arnie’s girlfriend Leigh and best friend Dennis reach out to him, only to be met by a Fury like no other.

-Genres: Horror thriller, supernaturally horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Donnie Darko (2001)

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

-Genres: Drama, psychological thriller

-Content warnings: References to CSA

-The Fly (1986)

When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.

-Genres: Body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-From Beyond (1986)

A group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.

-Genres: Body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: Sexual assault

-Get Out (2017)

Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.

-Genres: Horror thriller, psychological horror, satire

-Content warnings: N/A

-Grave Encounters (2011)

I’ll admit that this found footage pseudo-reality show film isn’t all that good, but if you’re like me and you’re a slut for all those dumb Ghost Hunters-type TV shows, this should be right up your alley.

-Genres: Found footage, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Ableism

-Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

I’m just going to quote my best friend Lars @dracenines:

there is so much shit in this movie that makes no goddamn sense at all but it's so damn fun that i can't help but love it anyways

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The House of the Devil (2009)

In the 1980s, college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret.

-Genres: Cult horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

With the disappearance of hack horror writer Sutter Cane, all Hell is breaking loose…literally! Author Cane, it seems, has a knack for description that really brings his evil creepy-crawlies to life. Insurance investigator John Trent is sent to investigate Cane’s mysterious vanishing act and ends up in the sleepy little East Coast town of Hobb’s End.

-Genres: Supernatural horror, eldritch horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-It Follows (2014)

For 19-year-old Jay, fall should be about school, boys and weekends out at the lake. But a seemingly innocent physical encounter turns sour and gives her the inescapable sense that someone, or something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her teenage friends must find a way to escape the horror that seems to be only a few steps behind.

-Genres: Psychological horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Sexual assault

-Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

A traumatized Vietnam war veteran finds out that his post-war life isn’t what he believes it to be when he’s attacked by horned creatures in the subway.

-Genres: Drama, psychological horror, religious horror, thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Jennifer’s Body (2009)

A newly possessed cheerleader turns into a killer who specializes in offing her male classmates.

-Genres: Black comedy, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Keep (1983)

A great seemingly forgotten horror film that was unfortunately never able to be fully finished due to the death of the special effects supervisor early in post-production, and much more to the film’s determent, heavy studio interference, resulting in shoddy sound design and over 100 minutes cut from the movie. Despite this, I still enjoy this film quite a bit, particularly for its fantastic atmosphere and excellent soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Nazis

-The Lost Boys (1987)

A mother and her two teenage sons move to a seemingly nice and quiet small coastal California town yet soon find out that it’s overrun by bike gangs and vampires. A couple of teenage friends take it upon themselves to hunt down the vampires that they suspect of a few mysterious murders and restore peace and calm to their town.

-Genres: Horror comedy, supernatural horror, vampire horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Marebito (2004)

A fear-obsessed freelance cameraman investigates an urban legend involving mysterious spirits that haunt the subways of Tokyo.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Eye trauma

-The Others (2001)

Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions.

-Genres: Drama, gothic horror, psychological horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Prince of Darkness (1987)

A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.

-Genres: Supernatural horror, zombie horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Resident Evil (2002)

Look, this movie is not great, it doesn’t follow the games, I know. But it’s a guilty pleasure and Milla Jovovitch awakens homosexual feelings in me. Just don’t bother with the sequels. Or do bother with them. Honestly, you could do a lot worse with your time.

-Genres: Action horror, sci-fi horror, zombie horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Sinister (2012)

Found footage helps a true-crime novelist realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity.

-Genres: Mystery, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-Spring (2014)

Sci-fi horror romance film about a shapeshifting monster girl. That’s all I need to tell you.

-Genres: Romance, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Suspiria (1977)

From the moment she arrives in Freiberg, Germany, to attend the prestigious Tanz Academy, American ballet-dancer Suzy Bannion senses that something horribly evil lurks within the walls of the age-old institution.

-Genres: Gothic horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)

One of my favorite found footage films and and a great example of how much potential the genre holds when handled by a director who seems to actually give a shit. To top that off, it features a lesbian lead character who doesn’t die. It’s really that easy!

-Genres: Found footage, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Five friends visiting their grandfather’s house in the country are hunted and terrorized by a chain-saw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

-Genres: Slasher

-Content warnings: Ableism

-The Thing (1982)

Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people it kills.

-Genres: Alien invasion, body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: Animal death

-Trick ’r Treat (2007)

Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: an everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a bitter old recluse receives an uninvited guest.

-Genres: Anthology, black comedy, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-Us (2019)

Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends. But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.

-Genres: Cult horror, sci-fi horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-V/H/S (2012)

When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.

-Genres: Anthology, found footage, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Sexual assault

-V/H/S/2 (2013)

While there’s less good to be found in the sequel than in the previous installment, the segment featured in V/H/S/2 titled Safe Haven is easily the best in the entire series and has quickly become one of my favorite horror short films of all time. It alone makes V/H/S/2 a worthwhile watch.

-Genres: Alien invasion, anthology, cult horror, found footage, sci-fi horror, supernatural horror, zombie horror

-Content warnings: References to CSA, eye trauma

-Videodrome (1983)

As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon “Videodrome,” a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.

-Genres: Body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Void (2016)

Cloaked, cult-like figures trap a police officer, patients and staffers inside a hospital that is a gateway to evil.

-Genres: Cult horror, eldritch horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Vampire housemates try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster some of the perks of being undead.

-Genres: Horror comedy, pseudo-documentary

-Content warnings: One F-slur

#horror #halloween

126 notes · View notes

evien-stark · 4 years ago

Text

✧I Need You✧ Chapter 140

In the very back of a mostly empty and unsuspecting diner in the East Village, you and Tony sat facing away from the door (less easier to be spotted that way), with you leaned into him on his side of the booth. You’d barely touched the salad the waitress had brought you. He’d made similarly slow progress on his own food until really it was just the two of you picking at his fries. And then another order. Somehow just easier to eat than an actual meal.

“So where’s this place again?” He seemed a little dissatisfied with this makeshift plan you’d left Jessica’s apartment with. Probably because it wasn’t much of one.

“Caldwell, New Jersey.” She’d written the address down for you. But already it was burned in your memory.

He huffed out a soft noise of amusement. “Jersey, huh? Explains a lot.”

This tiny amount of sass at least got a little smile out of you, probably its exact intended mark. You gave him a little nudge. “Don’t start.”

His arm around you gave you a little squeeze. “So. She goes. Does who knows what for who knows how long and… then gives you some sort of secret code word so you can swoop in and save the day? There’s a lot of blank spots here.” Which wasn’t really good. It didn’t make for a solid plan. And he was anxious.

So were you. But what more could you do? “I think Kilgrave thinks he’s in love with her.” The way she’d said you have no idea in her office. The way Kilgrave was pursuing her so intensely-

“Tell me something less obvious.” Clearly Tony agreed. “Like- for instance- if that’s the case, what does he want with you? He’s expecting her to go to this house of her own volition. He escorted you to dinner basically on the same premise. Is this just about double-dipping?”

Kilgrave in love with you? “I don’t think so.” It really didn’t feel that way. You pressed closer to Tony, thinking… about everything. “He’s enamored with me. I think. He asked me a lot when- the first time.” You clasped your hands tight on your lap, eyes unfocused as they lowered to the table. “About my family. My powers. What I could or couldn’t do.” It was hard. Remembering all that.

It always was. It probably always would be. But it helped. Having Tony so close. His simple presence was comforting. Reassuring. “The whole-... the nickname thing.” He was just on the cusp of saying it. Puppy. You were intensely glad he hadn’t. Probably the reason he choked the word back before it got out. “It’s not just a pet name. Is it.” Knowing already. Knowing it wasn’t.

The noise that came out of you was as sad as it was bitter. “So what. He wants to have Jessica as his wife and keep me as the family dog?”

“Guy’s deranged, that’s for sure.” Breathing out slowly as the thought escaped. “How much does he know? About what you can do?”

“I don’t think he knows I can undo his little mind spells. Didn’t seem like it, anyway.” And you had to hope that was the case. It was about one of the only secrets you had left that would help protect other people from him if you fell in their path. Which you were about to in a very big way.

The silence then was telling. Tony was thinking. The wheels were churning. It probably would have been a lot easier if you’d explained the entirety of your first stay with Kilgrave. But up until now- and maybe always- you were too weak to do so. But even with those missing pieces… “You think he wants you as reinforcement?”

...oh. You hoped that was not the case.

---

Two days was too long a time to not hear from Jessica considering everything. It wouldn’t do any good to get your anxiety working, but that’s what it was doing. Pulling your brain in all directions. All the bad ones. Thinking of every terrible end this could come out to. What if, in the end, she’d just given herself up? What if she and Kilgrave had disappeared into the sunset? What then? Did it erase your accountability? Did it make this whole thing over?

...of course not. You’d be back to square one. Like you’d just come home again. Clawing through your trauma and secretly wondering if every person behind you was the next one about to whisper in your ear. But what more could you do? If you called Jessica out of the blue it would seem fishy, right? Especially when Kilgrave seemed to have a mind to make the two of you fight. If you just called her to check in… he’d get suspicious. And rightfully so.

So that meant you had to sit around. And pretend things were okay. Pretend you weren’t slowly coming undone at the prospect of that you’d just let Jessica hand herself over to her abuser with no real plan in mind. No other avenues or options. Just the one where you were supposed to storm in once she got his guard down. But what if it never came down? What if-

“Ms. INY.” JARVIS thankfully stole your slowly spiraling attention away, calling to you while you sat on the couch in the living room of the penthouse, laptop having long since gone to sleep.

Stiffly you sat up. “Yeah- what’s up?” Something good? ...probably something bad. That seemed to be how life went these days.

“Jessica Jones was just spotted on a news camera in New Jersey with an unidentified male. I believe they broke the perimeter of a hostage situation.”

It took you a full minute to process this wealth of information. So… JARVIS had had pings running in case Jessica showed up in the media. Fair enough. You hadn’t set that safeguard but… you knew who might have. It was irrelevant right then, anyway. The ping was happening at a crisis situation- where she and… most likely Kilgrave were… doing what?

“Can you show me, please?”

“Of course.”

The TV overhead turned on and JARVIS picked one of the news stations running the story- WHiH no less. Whose side was he on? He then reversed the airtime, zooming in beyond the reporter to the left side of the house where it looked like Jessica and her unknown guest were talking to a group of cops- who then stepped out of the way for them. Kilgrave, for sure. Not that you had any doubts.

But what the hell were they doing? They disappeared out of the camera’s frame in just another moment, going around the backside of the house. Before you had time to try and puzzle it out for yourself, JARVIS released the footage letting it run live as the reporter exclaimed, “The hostages are coming out! They’re coming out!”

Bewilderment wasn’t really even close to what you were feeling. Something far beyond that. Had Jessica taken Kilgrave to a hostage situation to… use him? To do something good? This felt wrong. Like perhaps she’d had too much of the Kool-Aid. What had they been doing together in this time? What had they been talking about? That Kilgrave could be turned around? That-

“He’s coming out!” The reporter stole your attention again as the man who had been holding his family hostage for hours on end just walked out of the house with his hands up. Dead-eyed stare ahead. One you’d recognize anywhere.

Maybe it was the wrong move but… you called her. And she didn’t answer. Obviously. So you called her again. And maybe she sensed it was better to not avoid you, because she picked up that time. “I’m a little busy right now, so I don’t have time for your bullshit.”

“I’ll say. What the fuck are you two doing?”

In the background you heard him. “Is that my puppy? Won’t you two ever play nice?” There was a weird sort of glee in his voice.

But it only cemented the fact that you two could not talk freely. Still, you tried. “Are you serious right now? You think you can- what- rehabilitate him or something? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

Her voice grew hard. “Well not all of us can just sit around and do nothing, oh righteous one. I’m sure you know better, but I don’t really have time for a lecture. So fuck off.”

Maybe the two of you should have established a code word or something. So you’d know if she was in trouble. It was weird, hoping that Jessica was in trouble and that she needed your help. But the alternative was that she’d gone soft and seriously thought the only way through this was to pull Kilgrave by his hand into the light. And that was just absurd. If you lost her in this battle, too, that would only make things that much harder.

Infinitely more, really. She was definitely one of the people that he didn’t need under his thumb, but definitely one of the only ones he wanted. If he had her, did that mean he was coming for you next? ...did he have her? Was she acting on her own? She had to have been, you reasoned, because Kilgrave wouldn’t make her take him to a hostage situation all on the off chance you’d see it… but did this have anything to do with you anymore? None of it made sense. Your head hurt.

You knew where they were. You had her address. The place they were staying… you could go there. But to do what? Liberate her? End this? That wasn’t a plan. It was the beginning of a warzone. Kilgrave would never let you get near her, if he’d finally wrapped his arms around her. Maybe, you were finally realizing, it hadn’t been smart to tell her to hand herself over to him. Maybe that was why she had wanted you to come up with any other plan than that. Because facing him down, maybe she came to the same conclusion as you had-

What you’d thought that night in her office. This was inevitable. And eventually he would win. So why… why bother…

“No news was good news, right?” Tony’s voice piped up behind you as the sound of his footsteps came closer. He’d been in his office. Still torn between two worlds. He was probably hoping that this would be over soon. So that the two of you could get back to… other just as terrible business.

But he knew. Because of course he did. You just sat there, staring ahead, heaving a sigh. “I don’t know what she’s doing.” He perched over the back of the couch, and you felt his gaze, saw the soft blue light of a tablet in his right hand. “He sounded… happy with her.” Maybe that was the most confusing part of all. That monster- happy that he’d saved a family? Could that even possibly be right?

“Because that’s what he wanted. And now he’s getting it.”

You found yourself shaking your head. “She made him save a family and he sounded happy.” Had she come to some understanding with him? Did she see in him something you hadn’t? Was he… capable of not being a monster? Was that the point she was trying to make? Would there be a point of trying to redeem himself? After all he’d done? ...was that even your call to make?

Tony’s head dropped forward with a little scoff. “I’m sure Jones is a stunning ethics professor. Who knows what we’ll have on our hands now. Maybe they can both be Avengers. Should I send them some applications?”

His ribbing was generally appreciated, but right now it was rubbing you the wrong way. Jessica was saving Kilgrave. Was that it? Saving the world from him by changing him. “I just don’t get it. Is it over?” Utterly defeated. Was this possible? Was this her plan? She’d seen some spark in him and realized he could be used for good? Really? And she’d mocked you on the phone… maybe for your insistence that he’d never be anything other than evil. But she had seen better? Was doing better?

“I think the call is a little early to make.” His voice was soft as he lifted his head again to look at you. You shifted back just slightly to return the gaze. “Give it at least another day.”

Maybe Tony was right. Maybe you were jumping the gun. ...this was too many maybes.

---

All the maybes ceased that same night around nine PM. When an unknown number called your phone just as you’d sat down for a dinner in the kitchen neither you or Tony were going to eat. The two of you shared a long look before you answered it- and, of course, Jessica beat you to the punch. “I don’t have a lot of time.”

“So talk.” You held your phone out after putting it on speaker.

Her voice filled the room. “It’s tonight or never. You’re gonna come to the address I gave you. I’ll keep Kilgrave preoccupied. He has a bodyguard- Hank. Take him out first. He’s not under control. Just paid well. He has two other people- Laurent and Alva. They seem ordered to kill themselves at the first sign of trouble, so you have to deal with them.”

A plan. She had a plan. She was giving you a plan. She had not decided Kilgrave was worth redeeming. You’d ask her about it later. It wasn’t important right now. “Okay. Understood.” This was all stuff you could do. It was a stealth reconn mission. You had one soldier to take out and two civilians to save. You could do this. “Then what?”

“If you do your part successfully, I’ll be able to knock Kilgrave out without a word. Then we’re taking him to the place. And we’ll get his confession.”

Hope. This was still all for Hope. Jessica was still holding out that this would all work out. That she’d be able to do this. To make him talk. You were pretty sure it was never going to happen but… you had no choice. This was her plan. You were going to stick to it. “Okay. I’m on the move in five.”

“Stark is not to come with you.” Jessica seemed almost a little… scared? There was a small tightness in her voice as she said this. One she was trying to over control.

Tony rolled his eyes. “No, of course not. Block off all potential avenues for help. You just love making this harder on everyone. I get it.” Angry. Easily so. If this was the move, he was being told he had no involvement. Which didn’t sit right with him.

...probably because you were being asked to go to an unaccounted for address, pick up Kilgrave, and then go to another unaccounted for secret location. There were a million ways this could go wrong or end badly for you.

“You’re of no use to me. Stay out of this.” She didn’t let a silence hang too long, calling your name a lot softer than she’d said his. And then, “I’m counting on you.” Just when you thought maybe the two of you would make some headway, she defaulted to what was easiest. “Don’t fuck this up for everyone.” And then quickly hung up.

Tony put both his hands down on the table and stood, though he waved one at you. “She knows I don’t take orders from her, right?”

You had to take a deep breath and settle your nerves. “But what about from me?”

The look he gave you was heartbreaking. “Honey… what was the point of me being here- if finally- we’re making a move- and I have no part of it?” Utterly desperate for your allowance on this one. To not be left behind. To be able to do something.

Carefully you stood, raising a hand to soothe up along his arm. “Not no part-”

“Just nothing that’ll matter-”

“I need you to watch my back. Track my coordinates. Keep my channel open.” You wanted him for backup. Just in case a moment came that you were unprepared and outmatched. But until it arrived… you wanted him safe. And as far away from all this as possible.

He made no attempt to hide his frown. His disappointment as he looked at you. But. He gave in. For you. “You know I’ll do whatever you need but- me being outside a ten mile radius if you get pinned is not a good plan.” Being just short of blunt. Any harder and he’d have called this idea stupid.

“I think this bunker is somewhere in the city.” It had to be. She’d tried to kidnap Kilgrave from Union Square- she couldn’t have had plans to go far.

“Very reassuring.” Tone dry as his lips pulled thin. “Don’t even know where you’re going yet.”

“But when I do, we’ll have a smaller radius.” If he didn’t come to terms with this now, you’d have to either resort to begging or laying down the law. Neither would be fun or easy. When he just continued to stare at you, “Tony. I have to make a move.” You said you’d be out in five. It was getting past that now. Any later and you risked ruining the entire plan altogether.

It took him another few seconds, but finally he sighed and resigned. “Open window at all times.” He was setting his own rules, so you had to listen, giving him a nod and an affirmative noise. “Coordinates on this bunker as soon as you get them.” Another nod. “And…” He stood back from his hunched over position on the table, hands moving to lay atop your shoulders. “If you get hurt, or you get into a corner you can’t get out of, you say the word. And I’ll be there. Plan or not. Promise me.”

He’d blow up Jessica’s childhood home and everyone inside of it to save you, most likely, if you required that level of action. This little bunker situation was probably no different, either. That was what he was saying. He would come and get you. And put everyone else in the ground. If that’s what it took.

Reaching up you wrapped your arms around him, allowing yourself one final moment of weakness as you held tight to him, closed your eyes, and just breathed him in. “I promise, Tony.”

That was that.

---

You had your orders and you were going out. This was a mission and you would see it through to the end. What a concept. The end to this. No more worrying. No more waiting. No more wondering when he was going to come get you. Or ruin another part of your life. No. Now you were going to come get him. So you had to do it absolutely right.

No random passerby or any part of the media could know that Lady Iron was leaving the Avengers Tower. That would tip him off, and much as he seemed complacent with Jessica now, whatever he was feeling, you were also sure he was still prepared. He still had whatever service staff Jessica had spoken about, after all, all filled up with contingencies.

So you left quietly, in a car. And once you were in enough of a deadzone you suited up and pushed hard to get to Caldwell. On the outer limits you killed your jets and slowly yet quickly sneaked your way through the town up onto the premises. Nothing could be allowed to get to him. Absolutely nothing. If you blew this Jessica would never forgive you. You would never forgive yourself, either.

While you deactivated the helmet, you left the visor on as you approached through the backyard. Already LUNA was detecting all the heat signatures in the house. Two in the dining room- Kilgrave and Jessica for sure. In the kitchen there was a broad figure. Probably the bodyguard. He wasn’t hanging too close to the dining room, though, instead facing the back of the room on the other side- drinking something. Maybe a beer? Jessica had probably asked for him to go away. A good set up.

The other two signatures in the house were in the living room. Standing… eerily still. Waiting. Probably. Waiting for anything. Their next command, maybe. Or for something to go wrong.

You started calculating. Going in through the window on the backside of the living room- freeing Alva and Laurent first- that made the most sense. If they were positioned to kill themselves, they were collateral damage. You and Jessica wouldn’t let them, which was why Kilgrave had laid that wire down. You had to get them free first. Then you’d wind back around to the kitchen and take out Hank. After that… the rest was up to Jessica.

Okay. All on you. Sidling up the side of the house, you held your breath as you reached up in the darkness to press on the edge of the window, not hard enough to break while you were still wearing your suit, but enough to pressure it into moving up. Slowly. So slowly. No noise. You had eyes on them the entire time. Luck might have been on your side as they continued to stand still staring off into nothingness. Lifting yourself up, you perched on the windowsill and then eased your legs in first and then arched your back to allow a full swaying stand. Just like that you were in. And while they still had no idea of your presence, you slipped beneath. Jessica was right. They were drowning in that heavy, stifling purple command of his. And while you’d never done this- done more than one person at a time- or had to concentrate on your forward momentum as you approached them-

You let pure adrenaline carry you as you quietly stepped closer with both sets of eyes. And then with both sets of hands, you laid one on each of their shoulders. They startled- thankfully without a sound- turning quickly- but with a clawing squeeze you shattered that thickened glaze over the both of them in one swift move. The next was a quick slide of your arms around both their necks, bringing them down. While they weren’t controlled anymore there was no saying that they wouldn’t overreact and throw the entire plan down the drain. Right now you couldn’t control their panic. They’d scream and run. You couldn’t let it happen. It was unfortunate. You were sorry. Really. They seemed like nice older people.

But it was time to go to sleep.

You held them firm during both their struggles, glad you had the suit on, bolstering your strength. And finally. Finally they stopped moving and you let them both down completely. You had to ease yourself. Take a breath. Stop focusing on the hammering of your heart. ...make sure they were still breathing. Which they were.

Kilgrave and Jessica were talking about something in the other room. You couldn’t stay still very much longer.

Quick and careful you made your way through the entryway and then around the side into the kitchen. Hank had his back only half turned, looking out the window, head tipped as he finished off the rest of his beer. And while you wanted a longer moment to make a plan out of this, you didn’t have one. Gut reaction came first because if he stopped in his final swig and saw you, he’d have the upperhand.

So you launched yourself at him, wrapping both arms around his windpipe. A poor plan, as he dropped the bottle he was holding and it clattered against the counter and then dropped to the floor in a shatter. The other room went cold with Kilgrave’s sudden nervousness- he called out-

But your attention was redirected as Hank slammed back into the fridge once- and then again- bruising you in between with every blow. You upped your efforts, just shy of crushing his windpipe. “Just go to sleep-” Hissing in his ear.

Cutlery and plates were falling to the ground in the dining room. But you had no attention to give Jessica, hoping she was doing her best- as you rode the proverbial bull. He started tapping out, the telltale slaps of his hands against your arms growing weaker until finally his legs gave out beneath him and you found your own feet finally firm on the floor when he crumbled. You held on to him. Just a few seconds longer. Not life threatening. Just assurance.

When you let him go he fell face first onto the kitchen floor. And you had no time to waste. Dashing into the dining room you saw Jessica with her hand holding something over Kilgrave’s mouth. He was struggling, but had no strength to compare to her. And certainly none when realization dawned as he laid his eyes on you.

His terror had never tasted so good. He’d been out played.

Perhaps the last thought he had as she rendered him unconscious. She was breathing heavy, as were you. And the both of you stared at each other. She found the courage to speak first. “We good here?”

You nodded blindly. “Yeah. We’re good.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Coming closer, you bent down, hefting Kilgrave’s quiet body over your shoulder. He was so… powerless. Why didn’t- why couldn’t the two of you just- ...why not end it here? It would be so easy… you could just… kill him. Break him in half. Rip him apart. Snap his neck-

A pain deep in your chest threw you forward back into reality. You were still breathless somehow as you asked, “Where’s this bunker?”

As you looked at her, you realized she was barely hanging on. This was too much for her. Same as you. The two of you would have to weather drowning together a little while longer. She moved her hand around uselessly. “It’s a- a decommissioned CDC facility. Brooklyn. Come on. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Tony’s voice was quick and quiet in your ear. “Got it. I’m locating now.”

So. You were taking Kilgrave back to Brooklyn. The first place he’d taken you. And maybe now… maybe you could finally end it.

You followed Jessica into the living room and waited while she grabbed something- a laptop and something off the coffee table, both quickly shoved into a bag she then slung over her shoulder. She then nodded wordlessly and led the way back outside onto the lawn. Where, immediately, the two of you were stopped by three men carrying very large guns.

“Let me finish him.”

Jessica shook her head. “We can’t.” Clearly she knew whoever this was.

But there was no time for this. So you held your hand up, repulsor charging. “Back up. Move away. Now.”

Two of the men lowered their guns, a wave of astonishment along with a healthy dose of fear taking hold of them. The murmur of, “Holy shit-” was not exactly hidden well, either.

The man facing Jessica didn’t back down though. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what you can do. He has to die. This doesn’t have to be on you. Let me do it.”

Jessica turned fully towards him. “Back off! He’s not allowed to die. Not yet.”

This arguing would go on forever. One your visor screen you eyed the power window for the repulsor bringing it center, lowering your gaze down along the retinal scan to back the power off to 50%. And then, without a word, you fired a blast his way, knocking him off his feet into the nearest car. “We’re done here.” Holding your hand up to the other two men who immediately surrendered their weapons onto the ground. You turned to Jessica. “You have a plan to get back into the city?”

She rolled her eyes, a little bit of annoyance getting the better of her. “You didn’t bring a car?” And before you could bite back she just shook her head. “Never mind. Here give him to me.” Leaning over to her, you hefted Kilgrave into her arms. She then turned her back on you. “You carry me. I’ll carry him.”

“That’s a terrible plan.”

Tony’s voice was hot in your ear. “I agree.”

Jessica’s frustration leaked out of her. “Well I don’t have a better one, so let’s fucking go already. We’re losing time. He won’t be out forever.”

This was a threat. Surely and truly. Kilgrave wouldn’t be unconscious forever. Which meant… the two of you had to get moving. So you could only do as she asked, picking her up and reactivating your helmet. “This isn’t going to be fun for you.” Warning her only once.

“Tell me something else I don’t know-” Complaining ending abruptly with a rough cry as you lifted off.

This wasn’t going to be fun for anyone.

#Tony Stark #Tony Stark x Reader #INY Chapter One Hundred Forty #Jessica Jones Spoilers

5 notes · View notes