#next update I need a solo assignment with him

[postsofsilver]

AGHHHH LIKE I CANT DEAL WITH THESE TWO. I LOVE IT EVERY TIME THEY INTERACT

[so-boredtoday]

The Scent

Miguel O’Hara x Fem!Reader

Summary: You've been transferred back to the general work zone without explanation after spending a couple of months working with Miguel. You decide to confront him about it but reason for your transfer is not what you expected.

Word count: 4K

Rated: M / NSFW

Tags/warnings: Mating cycles/In Heat, Biting, Scent kink, Knoting, Fluff, Smut, Oral sex, She/Her pronouns, Breeding talk, No beta reader we die as a cowards, Vaginal sex, Pet name, this is not good don’t let the tags fool you, Spanish.

Author notes: So here it’s the first one… I loved Miguel so much and the Oscar Isaac voice is a turn on to me so here we goo!

✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵

The following week marked the two-year anniversary of your arrival to the Spider Society. Jessica had invited you to join after you helped her deal with an anomaly in your universe. At the beginning you had individual tasks of little importance until your first team mission arrived. You had been assigned to Miguel's group for the first time, he didn't seem to care about anyone in his group, after a couple of missions you were able to start adapting to his rhythm, avoiding getting in his way and tying up loose ends when he needed it.

He liked working with you: You were efficient, something he liked very much and you were not intrusive which he liked even more, you did your solo missions on time and covered him perfectly in battle. You also brought him lunch without interrupting him and made his coffee just the way he liked without having to tell you how.

You did the reports better than anyone else and always had the answers he needed. Plus you are very good at talking to people, could see how you were genuinely interested in what others had to say. You were able to talk to him... which was not an easy task, at first you talked about casual things like Lyla's updates or Hobbie's disasters but soon you started talking about more important things such as the multiverse or even his family.

He had moved your desk into his office a couple of months ago, with the excuse that it would make the work more efficient. But the real reason was that he could see you from there even when you didn't realize it.

Jess started teasing him about how much he liked you but he would always deny it and end up grumpy. He didn't like you...he just thought it was nice how you smiled when something went right or how your hair fell a little messy over your face...well maybe he liked how you smelled… like black cherry and vanilla it was a pleasant smell that he began to get used to. Sometimes his office smelled like you when he arrived in the mornings which made him smile as he started with the day's activities, however right now your sweet smell had started to become a problem.

A couple of weeks ago something started to change in him. He could smell you even before you came into the quarters and being there next to you had become a living hell, your essence was affecting him in unexpected ways.

With you in his office every time you moved a burst of vanilla flooded the room, like when you stretched to straighten up or when you untied your hair it was totally intoxicating.

He felt the need to hold you in his arms and kiss you, just imagining it made his cock twitch inside his suit and it was getting annoying. He knew his rut was close but there were too many things to do in the GQ so he decided - for his own sake and especially yours - to return your desk to its original place.

It had been a couple of weeks of you working in your old space wondering what had happened. In addition to sending you as far away as he could, Miguel had been completely ignoring you and put you to Peter B's mission group. Something was wrong and you needed to find out.

You walked to his office to discuss but Lyla informed you that he was sick so he had taken a couple of days at home. Concerned, you decided to go to his house with a bowl of hot soup with the intention of helping him to get better, but above all to get some answers.

Lyla would help you to remotely open the door for you, the house was beautiful, with an exquisite Scandinavian style but with more earthy tones and small decorative accents of Mexican craftsmanship. Everything seemed to be in its place and there was no trace of dust anywhere. You left the soup on the open kitchen counter to check if he was okay but heard a noise in what seemed like the master bedroom, you approached and heard his voice through the door.

"Mieerda... I can even smell her in here" A knocking noise alarmed you a little and you opened the door cautiously. A book flew next to your head; the room was a mess with pillows torn, sheets disheveled and many items lying on the floor.

"Miguel, are you okay?" you asked as you walked in, his eyes looked confused to see you there "I came to drop off some soup for you...Lyla said you were sick and I was worried tha..."

"Get out of here." he said bluntly as he sat on the edge of the bed to turn his back on you, you walked to where he was “Que te vayas carajo”.

"No" you replied "You've been ignoring me all this time... you even took me back to the main work room... what's wrong Miguel? Did I do something to upset you? If so I didn't mean to, I apologize if..." He made a grunt interrupting you

"You didn't do anything wrong... It's my business go away please" He said with clenched teeth. You ignored his words and moved closer to face him. He looked feverish and he was sweating.

"Miguel you don't look good at all" You said ignoring his words putting your hand on his face.

When you reached his chest, Miguel gave a soft growl in response. His muscles were tense beneath your touch, and you could feel his heartbeat pounding against your hand. Despite this, he still wasn't saying anything.

"You have a fever Miguel, you need some medicine" You told him as you sat down next to him. He started to stand up to walk away "Let me take care of you Miguel" You told him by taking his hand. Miguel's eyes got a little darker, there was something in the air that felt heavy "Please".

As you spoke, Miguel let out another low groan from deep within himself. For some reason, hearing those words coming from you made him feel more at ease than before. He looked up at you, his eyes full of emotion. "I’m sorry," he said quietly. "But you can’t help me”

"I can't do it if you don't tell me what's wrong, trust me Miguel... I just want to help you" I said looking at him with genuine concern.

Miguel hesitated for a moment, but then nodded slowly. Taking a deep breath, he finally opened up about his situation. "I've been feeling these… urges lately they have become so intense that they won’t let me work." he admitted, looking away slightly.

“Urges?” You said confused. “What kind of urges?”

Miguel took a deep breath, hesitating for a few moments before speaking again. "Sexual urges… It comes with powers. I have them from time to time…" he paused before continuing “I had always been able to control them but… They get worse when you're around... your scent… It makes them worse” he confessed in a quiet voice.

"Oh..." You blushed at his confession. "I didn't know sorry… I was so worried… I thought I had offended you in some way " You replied "Or that I had inadvertently jeopardized a mission and I made you angry without realizing it" you continued relieved "I’m sorry Miguel” You told him sincerely “…But don't worry you just need a little help and you'll be fine"

Miguel's face softened as he heard your words. His eyes were still wary though, like he was waiting for something else. "Y-you are going to help me?" he asked softly, sounding hopeful.

"In any way I can" You said to him as you approached him again "Tell me how I can help you Miguel..."

Miguel looked at you with surprise, unsure if he should trust you or not. After a moment of hesitation, he spoke quietly "Pero Cariño… I don’t want to hurt you"

"What could be so bad that would hurt me Miguel?" You asked looking at him tenderly

Miguel nodded slowly, looking relieved. He seemed hesitant but determined too. As you leaned closer, he whispered "I want to bite you..."

"Then do it..." You told him as you moved even closer… Vainilla y cereza negra he thought as he closed his eyes, your scent flooded the room and then without a hesitation you kissed him.

As soon as you kissed him, Miguel let out an animalistic growl in response. You could feel his sharp teeth pressing against your lips, before he started to kiss back passionately. Soon enough, his hands moved up from your waist to grip onto your neck tightly, pulling you closer to him.

“Miguel…” you say with a sight

Miguel responded by deepening the kiss, his tongue exploring every inch of yours. His hand slid down your body until it reached between your legs, gently caressing your inner thighs. With each passing second, his desire grew stronger, making him more desperate to possess you completely.

Miguel's hand moved up to remove your jeans. Each movement was accompanied by a soft moan from you, heightening the intensity of the moment. "I want you," he whispered huskily, his breath hot on your skin “I have wanted you for months”

"Take me then" You said looking him in the eyes.

Miguel smiled devilishly before leaning in closer to capture your lips once again. His hands roamed freely across your body as he explored every inch of it, leaving trails of fire wherever they touched. You moaned softly as he pressed harder against you, letting out a growl of desire.

You heard the sound of the fabric of your panties tearing “Miguel… oh my god… they were brand new” You told him in a tone of mock indignation as he carelessly removed your button-down shirt and unclasp your bra to throw it away.

With a wicked grin, Miguel pulled away slightly to admire your exposed curves. Taking in each detail with his eyes, he then leaned forward to claim your mouth once more. As he kissed you deeply, he ground his hips against yours, sending waves of pleasure through your body. "Yes… I’m going to prepare you Cariñito”

You blushed when you heard the pet name again. His hands moved slowly across your body, exploring every inch of you with his fingertips. When he finally stopped on your pussy and then on your clit, he began to massage gently, sending shivers through your spine. "Are you already wet for me Preciosa?" he asked huskily.

As Miguel's fingers moved down faster and faster, your breathing grew heavier and deeper. His lips traveled lower, leaving trails of fire wherever they went. When he finally reached your most sensitive spot "I've wanted to taste you ever since I first smelled you...so sweet." The sensation was overwhelming, he started to lick your entrance and you closed your eyes while he made circular movements over your clit. It was overwhelming you tried to close your legs but he stopped them to continue devouring you, at some point your hands were on his head grabbing his hair as you began to tremble and a feeling of pleasure formed in your lower stomach it didn't last long before you were left trembling from the intensity of your orgasm.

You looked at Miguel, panting heavily. With a satisfied smirk on his face, he pulled you close and kissed you deeply, savoring the taste of your passion. “Are you ready to take me now Cariño?" he asked.

The interior of your thighs was all wet and your chest was rising and falling rapidly as you gasped for breath “Miguel…” You said almost inaudibly “Please… I need you…”

His eyes darkened as he heard your plea, and he knew exactly what you needed. Without another word, he take you and lay you face down on the bed and lift your hips positioned himself behind you. Taking hold of your hips, he pushed himself inside you in one swift motion. "Ohhh...yes..."

Your face sank into the mattress, silencing a little the scream of pleasure when you felt him deep inside you "My God... Miguel" You moan

As he continued thrusting deeply within you, Miguel let out a low growl that was part pleasure and part dominance. With each powerful movement, he reached deeper and deeper until he couldn't contain the need any longer. "So pretty like this… and just for me… you want me to fuck you harder right Cariño" he said between breaths.

Tears of pleasure streamed from your eyes and as you felt it deep inside, the angle made each thrust touch that soft spot "Yes..." You said in a whisper.

He responded by increasing his pace, pushing himself harder against you with every stroke. His breathing became ragged and his grip tightened around your waist, pulling you closer to him. "Yes… just like that preciosa, cum for me” he murmured softly.

"I’m close…" You moaned, my hands gripped the sheet as you felt him moving inside of you, his hands tightened on your hips as your walls began to contract in their length and your legs trembled trying to hold up.

With each wave of pleasure that washed through you, Miguel grunted in satisfaction and increased his speed. As your orgasm subsided, he slowed down slightly but kept moving inside of you gently, savoring the feeling of being close to you. "That's right, babe, feel it," His knot was forming inside you

As Miguel continued thrusting slowly and steadily, you felt his body trembling from within. With each movement, he seemed to be getting closer and closer to release. His knot was big inside and you could hear the soft sounds of skin slapping together echoing throughout the room, creating an intense rhythm between the two of you. "Take it… take it all of it”

His breathing was heavy and his grip on your hips tightened leaving a red mark. Suddenly, without warning, he let out a loud moan and released himself inside of you, filling you up completely.

As you lay there feeling satisfied by the sensation of being filled up by Miguel's seed. Miguel wrapped his arms around you tightly, pulling you close to him as he nuzzled against your neck softly. “I need to bite you honey”

You shivered when he put his mouth in the back of your neck and began to give small wet kisses.

As Miguel kissed your neck, you shivered in anticipation, enjoying the warmth of his breath and the gentle touch of his lips. You closed your eyes, letting yourself get lost in the moment, until suddenly, you heard a low growl coming from behind you.

Miguel slowly turned you around, you looked at him revealing that his fangs were now fully extended. His gaze was intense, and his breathing was heavy as he stared at you hungrily. "Don't move," he said in a low voice, before moving closer towards you. A feeling of dread settled in your chest and you closed my eyes in anticipation "Is it going to hurt?" You asked.

Miguel chuckled darkly, but there was no trace of humor or kindness in it. Instead, there was only an animalistic hunger mixed with lustful desire. Without warning, he grabbed hold of your waist firmly and pulled you close, pressing his body against yours. His hot breath brushed against your ear as he whispered. "Yes, it will hurt... but I promise it won't be too bad just stay still”

You let out a sigh with your eyes closed feeling his hot breath on your neck and suddenly a sensation of sharp pain flooded you as he began to bite you.

As Miguel bit harder, you let out a sharp gasp from the pain. You couldn't believe how strong he was, yet also gentle enough not to cause any more harm than necessary. Despite this, the sensation of being bitten made you feel like prey instead of a human.

Miguel's hand went down until it reached your pussy and to make circular movements on your clit. The sensation of pleasure that started to build up inside of you quickly overwhelmed your senses. Your breathing was heavier and faster as you began to moan softly in response to Miguel's hands. Soon, you were lost in a world of pure bliss, unable to think or control yourself completely.

"Vamos cariño, cum for me," Miguel said with difficulty with his fangs still in your skin. As you came closer to orgasm again, Miguel increased the intensity of his movements until finally, you reached your climax once more.

For a moment you forgot that his teeth were still on your neck until he let go. His teeth marks left behind a trail of red lines across your skin, but it didn't hurt anymore thanks to the numbing effect of his venom.

You were breathing heavily as he caressed you tenderly, helped you into his arms and then put his chin on your head. You closed your eyes for a moment as your breathing returned to normal "Are you okay?" He asked you softly

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine" You told him as you smiled, you turned to look at him, his hair was messy and his lips were a little swollen. "How are you Miguel?... I was able to help you?" You said whispering in his ear, he let out a small laugh. No one had ever seen him so relaxed, he looked you in the eyes and started to bring his face closer to yours.

His lips brushed yours for a few seconds and then he kissed you again softly, he took your face gently with his right hand and caressed your cheek. He pulled away from your face slowly to move down to your neck, he gave a couple of kisses on the bite mark and you closed your eyes at the contact "So beautiful… and just for me." He sat on the edge of the bed and carefully helped you onto his lap.

Miguel looked up at you with intense desire in his eyes as you lay on top of him. You both stared deeply into each other's eyes before he leaned forward and kissed you passionately. After several minutes of rough kissing, he pulled away slightly and whispered in your ear, “Ride me Cariño”

Having control after what happened before seemed a bit surreal. You kissed him again as you guided his length to place it in your folds, he let out a grunt as you began to push him inside you "Oh Miguel… you feel so good" You said to him.

Miguel let out a low moan as you rode him, feeling completely enveloped by pleasure. As you continued moving up and down, he reached around and grabbed onto your hips tightly, pulling you closer to him. As he continued thrusting upward, " Who owns this beautiful cunt??"

“It belongs to you Miguel…” You said in a needy moan your walls began to contract as you found the right angle, your eyebrows drew together and you let out a moan. “Only to you…” Miguel responded with a growl as he increased the intensity of his thrusts, pushing himself harder and deeper helping you. You gasped in pleasure as his movements grew more powerful, sending waves of sensation through your entire body when your climax came.

Miguel's breathing became ragged as he approached his climax, gripping you tighter as he plunged deeply inside of you. His eyes closed shut tight, groaning loudly as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through his veins. His knot feels big inside you, he trusted in you a couple of times and he cums again.

You felt his hot cum inside and looked at him as he kept his eyes closed. He looked handsome with his sweaty forehead and breathing erratically, he was still inside you without moving, you could feel his seed sliding down your thighs. That’s when a thought hit you "Miguel..." You said in panic "I'm not on birth control."

Miguel opened his eyes at the sound of your voice and looked back up at you with no worries in his face. "I know," he said softly, his expression turning serious. "In fact, I was hoping for that…” You looked at at him in confusion as he moved carefully to get out of you.

Miguel smiled reassuringly at you before leaning down to kiss you gently. "Don't worry about it," he murmured against your lips. "I'm not going to lie, I was thinking about it when I knot you."

You opened your eyes in surprise. "What are you talking about Miguel..."

Miguel chuckled lightly at your surprise. He kissed you again to stop your words, he moved closer so that his body pressed against yours. His hands began exploring your curves while his tongue explored every inch of your mouth. When he finally pulled away, he looked deeply into your eyes and spoke quietly. "Well, let's just say I like the idea of it," he whispered kindly. You shivered slightly from his words, feeling both scared and excited.

He continued kissing you and caressing your skin until you relaxed, it was then he carefully placed you on the bed so that you would rest. He stood up and walked to the bathroom leaving you alone on the bed for a moment reflecting on his words. After a few minutes he came out of the bathroom with a damp towel and helped you clean your thighs, he noticed how nervous you seemed. "Is everything okay?" he asked softly, kneeling beside you on the bed.

You avoided his gaze for a moment "Miguel... I don't think you're serious, are you?..." You said nervously "About the pregnancy"

Miguel looked at you thoughtfully before speaking again. "I don't want to scare you off, but... yes, I was serious about it." His voice was gentle yet confident.

You looked at him surprised, the idea of having a son with Miguel seemed crazy… you weren't even together... But that didn't stop you from fantasizing about what it would be like, the idea flitted through your mind as he caressed your legs lovingly and the more you thought about it the more it started to make sense. You guys were the best team in GQ and you spent all your time together even when you didn't have any missions. He cared about you as much as you cared about him, he knew you more than anyone and above all he understood you...

Before the rut situation and his sudden estrangement, you began to suspect that he liked you as much as you liked him. Hobbie annoys you with it all the time, Gwen encouraged you to be more flirtatious... Even Jessica hinted at how much he liked you sometimes but you were sure about Miguel’s feelings. He had never crossed the friendship line before this, that made you doubt ."Miguel…” You said with sadness in your voice “Do you really like me in that way or is this all just about your rut?" You asked

Miguel smiled gently at your question, his eyes softening with affection. "Is not about that…” He answered “I care about you… I always have," he said quietly. He said reassuringly. "I care about you deeply, more than anything else in this world. You're important to me” He paused for a moment before continuing. "I've been caring about you since the first day we met. I feel bad when you're not with me... you don't know how hard it was not being able to have you around"

Before he could continue, you kissed him with a tenderness that the two had not shared before. Miguel's face lit up with joy as he felt you kissing him like that. His heart was pounding faster now, but he managed to keep himself calm. He leaned forward slightly and brushed his lips against yours tenderly. "I love you Cariño" he whispered softly.

[logansargeantsbabymom]

A Love Worth Fighting For

Bodyguard!Lando Norris x Fem!Actress!Reader

CHAPTERS 3, 4 & 5

Genre: Forbidden Bodyguard to Lover

Warnings: Smut (Not yet), This is (MY VERSION of) a Slow Burn story!

Follow my instagram account (THATS STRICTLY FOR THIS BLOG) for updates on when i post and fun stuff like that!

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Chapter 3: Lando

From the moment I was assigned to protect Y/N L/N, I knew this job would be different. She wasn't just any client. She was one of the most famous actresses in the world, a superstar known for her roles in the Avengers movies and her solo Marvel films. But beyond the glitz and glamour, she was also a target. There had been multiple kidnapping attempts, and it was my job to ensure her safety at all times.

When I first met her, I was struck by her beauty and poise. She was everything I expected and more. But as the days turned into weeks, I began to see the real Y/N – the woman behind the fame. She was kind, compassionate, and surprisingly down-to-earth. And despite the walls she had built around herself, I could see glimpses of vulnerability that made me want to protect her even more.

But no matter how strong my feelings grew, I had to remind myself of my duty. My job was to keep her safe, not to get involved. And as long as I was her bodyguard, I had to maintain a professional distance, no matter how difficult it became.

Chapter 4: Lando

Y/N had a close-knit circle of friends, and one of her best friends was Daniel Ricciardo, a driver for Red Bull Racing. When she told me she wanted to attend one of his races, I knew it would be a logistical nightmare. But I also knew how important it was to her, so I did everything in my power to make it happen.

The day of the race was hectic, to say the least. Security was tight, and the crowds were massive. But Y/N was in her element, cheering for Daniel and mingling with other celebrities. I stayed close, my eyes constantly scanning the crowd for any potential threats.

As the race ended and we made our way back to the car, I couldn't help but notice the sparkle in her eyes. She was genuinely happy, and it was a sight that warmed my heart. But as we drove back to the mansion, I couldn't shake the feeling that this happiness was fleeting. The dangers that came with her fame were never far away, and it was my job to ensure she stayed safe.

That evening, as we were leaving things took a turn for the worse. A group of men, clearly intoxicated, approached us with aggressive intentions. They recognized Y/N and started hurling insults, their behavior quickly escalating.

I stepped in front of her, my body tense and ready to defend her at any cost. "Stay behind me," I instructed, my voice firm.

The men continued to advance, their intentions clear. But I wasn't about to let them get any closer. With a few swift moves, I managed to subdue them, ensuring Y/N's safety.

As the police arrived and took the men away, I couldn't help but feel a surge of anger. This was exactly why I needed to be by her side at all times. The world was full of dangers, and I couldn't let anything happen to her.

Chapter 5: Y/N

The next few days passed in a blur of interviews, photo ops, and public appearances. Lando was always by my side, his presence a comforting constant. Despite the hectic schedule, my mind kept drifting back to the confrontation at the race track. Lando's bravery, his unwavering dedication to my safety – it all made me see him in a new light.

We were back in my mansion, preparing for a quiet evening. I had invited Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Taylor Swift over for dinner. They were my closest friends, my support system, and I needed their company now more than ever.

As we sat around the dining table, laughing and sharing stories, I noticed Lando standing discreetly in the corner, his eyes never leaving me. It was like he was always on high alert, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.

Taylor leaned over, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "So, Y/N, how's it going with your dashing bodyguard?"

I blushed, glancing at Lando. "It's...fine. He's very professional."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Professional, huh? Is that code for 'I have a crush on him'?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "No, it's not like that. He's just...different."

Ryan chimed in, a grin on his face. "Different how? Come on, spill the beans."

I sighed, feeling the weight of their curiosity. "He's always there, you know? Always looking out for me. It's...reassuring."

Blake's expression softened. "It sounds like he cares about you."

I glanced at Lando again, my heart skipping a beat. "Maybe. But he's made it clear that he's just doing his job."

Taylor placed a hand on my arm, her voice gentle. "Just be careful, Y/N. It's easy to confuse gratitude with something more."

I nodded, appreciating her concern, but deep down, I knew that my feelings for Lando were growing stronger with each passing day.

After my friends left, I found myself alone with Lando in the dimly lit living room. He was standing by the window, staring out into the night. I walked over, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Lando," I began, my voice barely above a whisper. "I just wanted to thank you for what you did at the race track. You saved me."

He turned to look at me, his eyes softening. "It's my job, Y/N. I would do it again in a heartbeat."

I took a deep breath, my heart racing. "But it's more than that, isn't it? I mean, you could have been hurt."

He shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips. "It's a risk I'm willing to take."

I stepped closer, my eyes searching his. "Why?"

For a moment, he hesitated, as if weighing his words carefully. "Because I care about you, Y/N. More than I should."

My breath caught in my throat. This was the moment I had been waiting for, the moment when he finally acknowledged what I had been feeling all along.

"Lando, I..." I began, but he held up a hand, stopping me.

"We can't," he said, his voice firm. "It would compromise my contract. And more importantly, it would put you in danger. My job is to protect you, not to be with you."

I felt a pang of disappointment, but I understood. He was right. Our relationship was complicated, and there were too many risks involved.

But as I looked into his eyes, I couldn't help but hope that one day, things might be different.

And with that thought lingering in my mind, I knew that this was just the beginning of a long, complicated journey. A journey that would test our resolve, our feelings, and ultimately, our fate.

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Feedback and Suggestions are ALWAYS welcomed.

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[rottenpumpkin13]

Just thinking about some Kunsel Whump. Like, of the soldiers he is the most generic and easily overlooked. I feel like he is the cog that holds most of the department together. It’s like a stage technician. If the job is done right, nobody will notice you, but do it wrong? They are the first person to get the complaints.

Anyway, Kunsel goes missing for a day. Be it captured by the enemy or the Turks, or just called in sick but nobody knows that because he is usually the person who knows who in the roster is away or sick or where they are stationed without looking anything up.

Chaos.

Picture him getting captured by an enemy faction while out on a solo mission, but no one notices at first because he's usually the guy in charge of logging the mission details and updating the status reports at the end of the day.

The only reason the 49th floor isn't more chaotic the next day is because Lazard hasn't yet given up on his men—not even when Zack accidentally triggers the emergency lockdown system while trying to alert the department about the infestation, sealing several escape routes and trapping some of their own troops in the middle of an infestation of monsters that escaped from the labs.

Everyone's struggling to deal with the monsters as the lack of efficient communication makes it impossible to coordinate attacks or know the precise locations of each operative (Kunsel was also responsible for maintaining the communication system).

Genesis: Where's Kunsel?? I can't get through to anyone on the lower levels!

Angeal, fighting off a monster: He wasn't at the usual briefing this morning. Sephiroth, have you seen him?

Sephiroth, looking at a dead monster while going through the motions of self reflection: I haven't, which now leads me to believe that he's missing.

Zack, also fighting off a monster: This is bad! This means he never got back from his assignment yesterday! What if he's hurt? Or in danger!? OR DEAD? Man, I'm the worst friend ever!

Genesis: I never realized how much we rely on him until now. I feel simply horrid that we—Sephiroth please don't mourn the dead specimen.

Angeal: I know what you mean. He must hate us now. We have to get him back now. Before it's too late!

Cut to enemy territory, where Kunsel sits at a table, a steaming cup of tea in hand, surrounded by the members hanging on every single word he says, while looking over a map of Midgar.

Kunsel: Yeah, your plan of attack makes no sense. You need to deploy a diversion in sector 7 to drive Shinra's forces away from sector 0, and then use the undercity to move in.

*The enemy group is in awe*

Enemy commander: Impressive! We could use someone of your expertise to lead us from now on. We'll be devoted to you and you alone.

Kunsel: Tempting, but I have to decline.

Enemy commander: Ah, I see. You're loyal to Shinra and SOLDIER alone.

Kunsel: Not really. It's just that the health benefits are great, I have game night with the boys every Friday, and me and Zack got movie tickets for next Saturday.

*Kunsel sips his tea*

Kunsel: Plus Tuesdays are taco days at the mess hall.

[theflyindutchwoman]

License and registration, please. C'mon, you don't really need that, do you? You should come to the party after work. We'd have fun. Yeah. I bet we would. … All right, I'm gonna let you go with a warning this time. But slow down, okay? Yeah, I promise. Thank you so much. Yeah. Have fun at that party.

| ANATOMY OF A SCENE - CHENFORD EDITION 3.14 - Threshold

Lucy's first solo undercover assignment… and it's already clear that despite her lack of proper training, she is extremely good at this. The way she is able to quickly think on her feet and adapt to any situation, while remaining level-headed is remarkable. We saw hints of this when she was a rookie but now, we get to see this side of her completely shine. Like how she catches Tim's attention : she knows she's in a perilous situation and the second she sees his shop, she immediately seizes the opportunity to get noticed, all so she can warn Nyla about the incoming robbery without raising any suspicion. I've always wondered whether she recognised Tim specifically when she sped up or not… But regardless, once she sees him in her rearview mirror, her anxiety and worry cranks up a level, with Dahrio ready to shoot their way out. And yet, she manages to take control of the situation. She uses her outward panic to sell her cover story, following Nyla's advice to the letter : You know, if you're not nervous, you're not human. Okay? So, use this to your advantage. Be scared. A nice reminder that Lucy is indeed a quick-learner.

This is also where Tim and Lucy's shorthand comes in handy and is beautifully underlined, with how well they can read and understand the other… And this, despite the fact that they haven't ridden together for close to a month. That's not to say it is perfect either : it is not quite as effortless as the next time she'll go undercover - with him. There's a slight awkwardness present between them. But it works for them. Tim getting caught off-guard at Nova's flirting makes their act more credible in a way. And even though he lets her get away a little bit too easily, it still gets the job done, from Lucy passing all the informations she has to Tim understanding her message. But it goes beyond the dialogue. It's how these two have a whole conversation without words. It's in the intense eye-contact. It's in the physical touch, with Lucy putting her hand on Tim's, using this gesture to ground them both, to reassure him that she's fine and she's got this. It's in the softness of Tim's voice when he tells her to slow down : he's no longer talking to Nova here, he's asking Lucy to be careful. It's in his last look before he leaves - a proud look, trying to infuse how much faith he has in her. And this is such a departure from his original reaction when he found out about her wish to do undercover work. He learned his lesson and he's trying to be as encouraging as he can without tipping off the bad guys. It's subtle but judging by Lucy's look, she got his message.

This is their first interaction since she went undercover… But more than that : it's also one of their first interaction since her graduation. Since her last day as his rookie, which incidentally, was when they last talked about her trying to become an undercover cop. When he last voiced his reticence and doubts on the matter. We didn't get to see his reaction at her going back under for a longer period, without immediate backup. So this little moment is the perfect opportunity to show where his head is at… how supportive he now is. Not to mention that it introduces us to that scene at the wedding, where he openly praises her. And I love how Tim will take this encounter as a reason to get involved in the operation - even from afar - and pester Nyla after that. Because truthfully, he doesn't have any reason to insert himself here : Nyla is the one in charge. He is no longer Lucy's training officer so Harper doesn't have to tell him anything or update him. But she knows how important this is for him. It's also reminiscent of their moment after Day of Death, when they were trying to figure out who might better serve Lucy for her first day back. It's worth noting that this is the first and last time so far that Tim isn't involved in Lucy's undercover mission in whatever capacity from the get-go. But it never comes across as a lack of faith in her abilities or as him being overbearing. It always feel natural, as a show of support. She's calling the shots and he follows her lead… It's a bit of a role-reversal from their former dynanic but it demonstrates how well they complement each other.

[sl-newsie]

Query: Q x 00 Agent- Ch. 3: Whatever It Takes

The next day I have to head back to MI6 for one last training session, where I run into Bond.

“You’re off to Hong Kong now?” I pant as I dab my sweaty face off.

Bond gives a stiff nod. “And you, little Levie, are off to Ireland. I’m guessing Q treated you well, Mrs. White?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Haha, very funny. Did you think I’d like him because he’s younger?”

The older agent simply shrugs and the gleam in his eye is undisguisable.

“Bravo, Bond. You’ve still got a sense of humor.”

We keep walking to the office space in a comfortable silence. “Joking aside, congratulations on your first solo mission,” Bond says sincerely. “It’s a big moment for you. Still, I’ll be sad to not have you with me. You’re one of my favorite partners.”

I playfully punch his shoulder. “Because I keep your ego in check?”

“Because you’re the only one I treat like a sister.”

I grin. “Aw. Big brother’s going to miss me.”

Once we’ve gotten to the office center we both spot Q, Eve, and M waiting for us.

“Say goodbye, Bond.” M instructs. “This may be the last time you two see each other.”

Bond and I exchange looks. I must say I am nervous about being on my own, but Bond’s prepared me well.

“Good luck, Bond. The whole force is counting on you, no pressure.”

“Goodbye, Levie.” Bond gives my hand a sturdy shake. “You don’t need luck, because I know you’ll do brilliant. You’re still young, but healthily spirited. Just don’t let your heart get in the way.”

With that, he follows M down the hall and for the first time we go our separate ways. 

“Is he still mad at me for shooting him?” Eve asks.

“Hasn’t mentioned it, at least not to me. But I do know one thing:” I look up with a slightly defiant demeanor. “If I had been on that mission with Bond, I would have jumped off that bridge after him. I don’t care what M says, I don’t leave a man behind.” I look at Q and ask: “When do I leave for Ireland?”

“In one hour. I will quickly brief you on a few last minute updates on your way to the airport.”

“You won't be accompanying me, husband?” I bring up the repeating joke as we start walking out.

It either flies over his head or he ignores it. “I don’t like flying.”

“It’s rather accelerating,” I comment as we enter a company SUV. “You should try it again. It makes you think.”

Q sets his face straight and begins looking through some paper files in his bag. “I can do much better thinking at home with my cats.”

Huh. Nerd guy who sits at a computer desk with cats. Who knew?

“You seem like a cat person. I respect that.”

Q accepts my statement with a small grin. “At least there’s one person who does.”

The quick trip through the airport flashes by, and soon enough I’m seated in first class and headed off to Ireland. From what Q tells me, I am to penetrate a secret lab and retrieve a formula for a new type of cyanide. Not as extreme as Bond’s assignment, but I’m still excited. Over the flight, Q apparently took the liberty of placing a few audio books in my bag.

“Hello, 0011. Or Levie, as Bond called you. I still prefer Mrs. White. I’ve recorded a few history books to entertain you for the duration of your flight, because I picture you as more of a history fan rather than a science geek such as myself. Your options are: The American Revolution, World War II, or the Spanish Civil War.”

I chose World War II and am surprised to find that I actually enjoy Q lecturing about history. Something about his voice makes it seem like a hobby rather than a chore. Maybe it’s because he’s younger? Why am I becoming friends with my Quartermaster?

In an hour I arrive in Dublin and meet up with my contact at a local pub called The Cobblestone. He’s a local Paddy with a thick accent, who tells me that the best way for me to sneak into the lab is through the sewer tunnels much to my distaste.

“What I’m wondering is why a lass like you is charged with this mission,” the man thinks out loud.

I down the whiskey I’ve ordered and narrow my eyes. “Don’t underestimate a 00 agent.”

Nighttime falls and my nerves are a jumbled mess. Unlike Bond I don’t always dress in fancy attire for missions. Instead I’m sporting a long-sleeved black jumpsuit with dress flats. Less stylish, but effective. I station myself a few yards from the sewer entrance outside the lab. After I put in my earpiece both M and Q’s voices ring in my ear.

“Voice check, please,” Q requests.

“Good evening lady and gentleman. Tonight’s forecast calls for one 00 agent and the loss of one cyanide formula. Possible celebration may be sighted in the morning.”

“Very cute,” Q replies dryly. “I expect you’re dressed for the occasion?”

I smirk from behind the tree I’m using to hide. “Wouldn’t you like to know, dear?”

“Can we cut the jibber jabber and focus?” M states harshly. “0011, are you in position?”

My agent instincts kick in and I stiffen up. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. You are clear to proceed.”

Thankfully the sewer entrance doors aren’t locked, but I wish it didn’t smell so putrid. It seems luck is on my side because there are no lights to expose my location. However there is one security camera.

“Q, I’d very much appreciate it if you could disable the camera.”

On the other end I hear the nerd chuckle. “Oh? I thought you liked drawing attention to yourself.”

“Just kill the bloody camera!”

He does so without another word and soon the blinking light on the camera dies. I keep scrolling through the checklist in my mind of everything I need to accomplish, deciding that I can continue on. Once I scale down the ladder into the inky darkness I switch on my night vision contact lenses. I have a few rat friends to accompany me but other than that there’s no security here. 

“Now go to your right for about 50 paces, then turn left,” Q voices in my ear.

“0011, there appears to be a maximum of only 5 guards in the area you will be infiltrating,” M adds. 

Only 5? Bond and I have a record of taking out 50 in 10 minutes. But a rookie mission is a rookie mission.

Now I’ve arrived at a small door. Still no sign of trouble.

“This leads to the boiler room,” Q informs. “No human heat signatures detected.”

There’s just one problem: the door’s lock is far beyond crackable. Normally Bond is the one for cracking locks while I stand watch, but it’s time to be adaptable. Somewhere in my pocket- I think there’s…

“0011, what’s taking so long?” M asks.

“Trying to bust the lock. Ever heard of liquid nitrogen?”

I take out a small vial and tilt it to apply the cold substance over the lock. After a few moments the metal freezes over, and after a hard kick it shatters to the floor.

“All done.”

I burst through the door holding my pistol and search for any threats in the boiler room. Only a few leaky faucets. 

“We can’t scramble all the cameras in the building. You should be on their radar now. If anyone asks, you are here for an appointment with Dr. Lambert,” M says. “Mention Project Ares.”

“Seems like a rather late appointment,” I comment as I make my way up the stairs and out of the room. “Where to now?”

Q speaks up. “Turn left, then take the elevator to the 5th level.”

Right as rain, the elevator is right down the hall. Unfortunately I’m not the only one riding it. There’s one older man and a younger woman who appears to be a secretary.

“Going up?” The woman asks.

“Yes, please.”

I hope for there to be no conversation on our ascent but am proven unlucky.

“That’s a lovely necklace,” the man comments.

“Thank you. It’s a gift from my husband.” I finger the blue pendant, letting it comfort my nerves.

"You're not wearing a ring?"

"I'm afraid I lost it a few weeks ago."

“Where do you work?” the secretary inquires.

I keep a steady smile. “I don’t work here. I’m visiting on account of my boss to visit Dr. Lambert.”

This surprises the older man. “Really? I didn’t think Norman took appointments this late.”

“It’s a special case. For Project Ares.”

This quiets both people and we ride the rest of the way in silence. Obviously Project Ares is a big deal. The elevator drops me off at the 5th floor and I give a wave goodbye to the two employees. 

“I’m on the 5th level.”

“Good. Now go straight until you see a door marked X,” Q says.

I walk a few feet down and sure enough there’s a door with a large X on the front. You’d think this project would be hidden better. This lock may pose another issue because it’s activated by a fingerprint-

“Miss? What are you doing here?” A voice asks.

I keep my cool and pivot to find a man in a lab coat walking towards me. He looks to be in his mid-thirties, with light brown hair and a little stubble. Must be a scientist.

“Ah, yes. I was looking for Dr. Lambert. It’s about Project Ares.”

The man’s face lights up. “You must be the reporter! Yes yes, come in!”

He strides past me and swipes a card to open the door, gesturing for me to follow him. This seems too easy. The room I enter is obviously a lab, one filled with many different vials and chemistry equipment.

“Are you in?” M asks in my ear.

“I had a little help,” I whisper to keep discreet from the man behind me. “What am I looking for?”

“A test tube full of the new formula,” Q says. “Any amount of a sample. Who helped you in?”

“One of the project scientists. He thinks I’m a reporter.”

“Over here!” The man in question beckons me over to a table that displays a rack of test tubes. “My name is Watson, by the way. Daniel Watson in case you’re going to include me. But I don’t care for fame, I only want to help with the progress of science.”

Aw. I’m beginning to feel sad for stealing from you.

“Is this the new cyanide formula I heard about?” I try to sound unbearably dumb.

“Indeed it is! This is our company’s most recent accomplishment, one we boys in the lab are extremely proud of. Its symptoms are quick to take over the body’s cardiovascular system and can go undetected through drug screens.”

Thank God I have a pencil and small pad of paper in my pocket so I actually look like a reporter. I write down all highlights of his lecture while side-eyeing the tubes within an arm's reach. So close! 

“Do you have any other questions?”

I zoom back to focus on Watson, trying to think of a way to sneak a vial… What would Bond do? Huh. There’s no question about what he would do. Whatever it takes to make them lower their guard.

“No, I don’t think so,” I use a more airy voice as I bat my eyelashes at the scientist. “Thank you so much, Watson! My boss will love hearing about this!” I put away my pad of paper and saunter over to the blushing man. “How can I ever repay the favor?”

He shakes his head frantically. “No, that’s not necessary. Achievement through science is it’s own reward.”

Now I’ve got him trapped against the counter. “That’s not always enough. Maybe just one kiss?”

Before he can decline I press a firm kiss to his lips, rendering him speechless. In a split-second I look to see that he has his eyes closed, right as I slip a vial into my chest pocket. When I pull away, Watson still can’t find words to say.

“Thanks again, Watson!” I wave as I strut out. “Q, M, I have it. Ready for a quick exit before they ring the alarm.”

“Right. This time you’re going to use the stairs, a few paces down to your right,” Q states.

Is it just me or is he acting a bit differently?

“Everything alright, Quartermaster?” I ask as I begin my descent.

“Peachy. Will you please continue with the mission?”

“I thought I was. Did I do something wrong?”

He doesn’t answer, which just makes me even more curious. By now I’m at the 2nd floor-

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Bad news, folks. Watson turned traitor on me.”

“Who?” Q asks with disgust.

“Doesn’t matter. Right now I have to get out.”

“I just detonated an explosive on the south side of the building to cover your exit window. You're welcome.”

My eyebrows raise in surprise. “Thanks very much, chap. Remind me to repay the favor someday.”

“B squad, you check the bottom levels. We’ll get the upper floors!” Voices shout from below.

Uh-oh. Looks like I’ll have to take a detour to the ground floor. I make a dash for the exit and find multiple security guards scurrying all throughout the hall. The lobby is only a few yards away-

“Miss! Quick, there’s been a security breach. You must get evacuated and head home immediately,” one man in a suit informs me.

I play dumb. “Oh my goodness! What happened?”

“A bomb exploded at the end of the property so we’re evacuating all staff. Now hurry!”

Pretending to be in a jumbled panic like everyone else, I flock down the hall and am almost there-!

“Hold up! Where’s your badge?” One guy stops me just before I reach the lobby. A college jock if I ever saw one.

“Well, you see sir,” I bat my eyelashes. “I was having a private meeting with one of your employees that shall go unnamed. That’s how my business works. Technically I’m not supposed to be here, but he needed some stress relief, if you catch my drift. Do you think you could possibly look the other way and let me slip out?”

Lord save my soul. I can’t even register my own words as they pour almost too easily from my mouth. I really have learned a lot from Bond. And it must work, because the young guard is now looking at me with a new-found hunger.

“I dunno about that, but I’ll let it slide if you use that pretty mouth of yours to give me a little loving.”

It’s all I can do not to vomit. “Very well.” I take his hand and lead him to a nearby closet, locking the door behind me. “One kiss, one favor? Sounds enchanting.” I give him a blunt punch to the head and he drops to the ground, out cold. “But I’ve already had my date for the evening.”

I hide him behind a crate and sprint for the lobby, speeding through the door into the cool night air towards the rendezvous point for my getaway. Once I’ve cleared the hill and the lab is out of sight I relax. Finally! I’ve done it! My first mission-!

Bam!

The shot rings out and I stop dead in my tracks. The blood is already dripping down my pant leg. I’ve been lucky to have been shot only twice before, both in the arm. But this is my first leg injury. And I don’t like it.

The guard who’s holding the gun is standing a short distance behind me. “I won’t miss next time. You seemed unfamiliar when I saw you earlier. Now tell me, who are you? And don’t bother trying to sell the whole reporter scheme. Tell me who you’re working for!”

Bond wouldn’t have gotten into this. Think, think! 

I kneel down and make it seem as if I’m surrendering, then-

“Ah!”

My knife, Mrs. White, lands perfectly in the center of the guard’s chest. Thanks, Q. He topples over and, with what force I can muster with a shot leg, I jog over and knock him out cold. That’s one check off the list. But my adrenaline is wearing off and the injury’s starting to get to me.

“Q? M? Anybody copy?” I grunt as I keep walking, wanting to get to the rendezvous point as quickly as possible.

“Q here. Sorry about that, got caught up with Bond’s radio call. What’s up?”

“Agent wounded. I’ve been shot in the thigh, losing blood fast. How far away is the car?”

It’s like I flipped a switch when I said ‘shot,’ because now Q’s manner has definitely changed.

“I see your position. Keep going straight for another 50 yards, and whatever you do don’t fall asleep. Is your head spinning?”

“Starting to. I’m not sure if the bullet nicked the femoral artery, but I’m fresh out of tourniquets.”

“Stay calm, keep your breathing steady. Do you think you can last?”

I try to give a laid-back chuckle but it turns into a short coughing fit, bringing up specs of blood on my hand. “You should know, Quartermaster, that my intentions as a 00 agent keep me motivated to keep going until I literally die? Yes, I can last.”

Q is quiet for a time, leaving me to notice how heavy my breathing has gotten. My leg feels numb now, which cannot be a good thing.

“Are you still there?”

“Yes,” I answer in a tired voice. “Would you mind chatting with me so I can ignore death?”

“I’d think that you would have kicked death in the crotch by now,” Q jokes lightheartedly. “You’re almost there, just a few more yards. Don’t mess up, or you’ll be the first agent to die under my watch.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. I’m going to rub my victory in your face when I get back.”

“There’s the 0011 I remember,” he groans. “Just get back alive.”

I’d really like to, but my head’s starting to feel even more dizzy. So much for a flawless first solo mission. Is this really how I’m going to go out? Slowly bleeding to death? I’d hoped my death would be something dramatic. Should I say goodbye to everyone? It would mean I’m accepting defeat, but I’d be disappointed not say farewell to my few friends. Bond, Eve, the other 00s, M- Q? Is Q my friend? That would be the first time I’ve been friends with my Quartermaster. It’s not like he’s unlikeable, only annoying at times. Annoying, witty, attractive-

The new thought makes me go into another coughing fit. Q, attractive? My blood loss is clearly making me delusional. He’s mildly cute at best. Wait- no. Why am I cogitating about his appealing looks? Just keep focused and stay alive!

“Q, I’m starting to see spots.” I look behind and see a pathetic trail of blood behind me.

“You’re almost there. Do you see the car yet?”

“I see a bright light-”

“No! Not that one-!”

“Just kidding. Yes, I see it.”

Q sighs. “Shut your trap and get in the bloody car before I tell them to leave you behind.”

I try to laugh but end up spitting up more blood. Now the driver of the black Jeep sees me limping towards her and she rushes over to help.

“Are you 0011?”

“Yeah. Or at least I’ll stay that way if I can stay alive.”

“Stay calm, miss! I’m going to get the stretcher-”

“Forget it. If I can walk this far I can walk 10 more feet to the back of the car.”

The driver quickly opens the rear food and I climb inside with what little strength I have left. As soon as I’m seated my eyes begin to droop and she panics.

“No, no sleeping! We need to get your wound dressed…”

Her words are drowned out by my building fatigue, and soon all I can hear is my faint heartbeat as I start to drift off. So close… Maybe if I wake up after this I’ll copy Bond and top it off with a drink…

[walker33961]

( 2 )

- All of them reached the hospital. Laswell was sitting with head in her hands , looking down at the floor …tears in her eyes for her best friend … all of them came running to her , soap was asking ….

“ WHERE’S PRICE ? “

- Laswell pointing to the glass viewer on the wall where they can see price from outside , yn got near the viewer to see Price bounded with wires around his body , head tied up with gauze, one hand heavily wrapped, face pale and dark circles around his eyes …..

Ghost , Soap & Gaz was just standing cold there … none of their senses were straight in line …

Gaz :

*tears forming *

Why didn’t he let us go ?!?

It wasn’t a solo mission…

Ghost :

*punched the wall *

THIS NEVER HAPPENED…

JUST WHY DOES IT HAVE TO GO LIKE THIS ….

Fucking hell !!!

Soap :

*muffling his Mohawk back n forth *

We should have gone secretly….

*grunts in regret *

- That moment , Yn fell on her knees Gaz & Soap held her ..

“Never knew this side of yn …last time it was her brother’s funeral where she was all pale like this “ Ghost says with a worried tone ,Laswell looked at her ….

“ Loves Price , her intelligence and sense of combat is the reason why I added her as his second in command . Also to keep her near him so he doesn’t feel low ..since he also loves her …“

“ Capt’n made a move ? “ * Ghost concerned*

“ If he hasn’t he has to , Can’t see the girl blame herself forever if something happens , It was never her fault “

* Laswell lets out a huff *

“ He will definitely be steady on his feets soon okay lass ..please don’t overthink “ * soap consoles yn with a sad yet hope filled voice * “ He’s our strong leader “ * Gaz rubs her shoulders lightly *

- Yn was all speechless, like Not even a single breathing sound was heard from her ….She got up and asked if she can go inside the room . Doctor allowed and she went inside …The boys and Laswell was watching from outside …

*steps into the room , gets near his figure and sits near him by chair’s support *

* Held his hand lightly , caressing his hand softly *

* tears started to flow again *

“ Your pain burns me Price *sobs*… It’s burns more than hell “

I …I should have went out for you se..secretly….*sobs*

“ Please..plea..please wake up , I should have told you that ..I ..I love yo..you …please don’t leave me in dark Price “

- Her lines were stabbing in their chest , Ghost couldn’t hold it and tears ran from his eyes … Soap understood this is how it feels when your loved person is hurt .. Gaz understanding why his gf is always so worried about him when he’s on missions …

- Price was gaining sense , Yn was sitting there holding his hands to her chest lightly with her own hands intertwined with his ..

“ Lov…Love …Yn “ * Barely a whisper , enough for Yn to hear *

“ PRICE !! *yn called out with her swollen eyes, intense shock*

DOCTOR !!! HE’S AWAKE “ * She was crying in happiness that he opened his eyes *

- Laswell and the boys were finally in relief. A big weight got lifted from their back …

Doctor immediately came and checked … Told everything is fine since they have already removed the bullets and it wasn’t to late .. need to stay on the hospital for 3 days so that his legs can heal properly .

Laswell got inside the room , Gaz , Soap and Ghost behind .

“ OH GOOD HEAVENS!!! YOU OPENED YOUR EYES “

* Laswell speaking in relief *

“ Good to see ya back Cap “ * Soap and Gaz spoke at the same time *

“ Next time we’re not letting you go on solo .. If it’s not us then Yn is definitely getting assigned with you in every mission “ * Ghost with his relieved yet serious tone *

“ Calm down yn ..He’s back now …” * Laswell side hugging yn *

* Price signaling them to give yn and him some time alone *

“ Keep me on updates Yn “ * Laswell and the boys left *

* Yn nods *

……….

“ Please ..don’t cry yn …see I’m here “ * holding her cheek with one hand so carefully as if it was made from glass *

*yn grabbing his hand *

“ I thought I *sobs* Lo ..lost you “ * Tears still slipping from her swollen pretty eyes *

*Price trying to sit in bed* “ See I’m already fine ..Just that bloody leg is…..”

*Yn hugged him straight away *

“ I LOVE YOU TOO JHON …. AND I ALSO WANT TO STAY BY YOUR SIDE ..FOREVER “

* His eye’s shining by her reply *

*tugged her closely *

“ I SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU FIRST … IN A PROPER SITUATION..NOT LIKE THIS “ *holding him tight*

“ I always wanted to take parts with you ..you denied every time why don’t you…”

“ Because I want you to be safe yn “ * releasing the hug , looking straight into her soul *

“We will workout together to keep each other safe ..promise me you won’t go dark like this again . Or else , I’ll go on instead “ * Yn with a weak smile *

“I clearly don’t allow it “ * Price side eyeing her*

“ Means you will always take me and the boys with you no matter what happens okay ? * her face lit up *

“ As you speak , My second in command “ *him smiling innocently *

After 3 days

- Price finally got discharged, back in the base ..taking rest in his room .

His room was filled with welcome back messages in flower bouquets from the people in the base , Laswell , Los vaqueros and specially from his boys …

Soap brought homemade cookies for him , Gaz made a muffler for him since it’s winter already, Ghost brought him The finest tea bag around the country …

* He was holding the note from the boys *

“ Mum made these for ye “ - *doodled soap emoji *

“ Hope you like the colour “ - * doodled blue cap *

“ Finest tea for our fine captain” - * doodled skull emoji *

*he was looking over the surroundings from bed while Yn was looking at him from the peak of the door*

* him not aware of her presence , chuckling over the note from the boys *

“Sweet muppets aye “

* Sun rays hitting his skin , his green eyes shining as it was a dark forest with sun rays making ways*

*yn entered with a large bouquet of Rose and a lunch box *

“ Lunch break was going on , brought time to bring those for you “ * her smiling brightly *

“ You’ve already done much Love .. it’s your time to rest “

“ Look I have paperwork’s from your side so gotta complete them before ….”

* kissed her in lips , sweet yet passionate *

* yn was a blushing mess*

“ You just talk too much Yn “ *Price giggling like a kid*

“ If this is how you’ll shut me ,,I’ll read a whole series of any kind of tasteless joke “ *Yn giving him a slight smirk*

“ If my legs were fine …I would have made yours weak “

* Price Leaning closer *

*A knock broke his intense stare*

“Augh..come in “

* Gaz came in , calling yn for the recent paperworks *

“ The paperworks are here Yn , Load continues till Capt’n is all steady “ * looking at captain with a simple smile*

“I’m coming ..wait …*ugh ah *

*Price was about to fall , Gaz and yn grabbed him*

“Please take rest Honey , I’m handling okay !?!”

“Yn and I are looking over this ..Soap is helping with the shooting range ..Lt is managing the supplies and weapons “

* Price sat on bed , eyes watery due to the sudden pain hitting his leg*

“ Gaz can you give us a minute Mate ? “ *Yn patting price’s shoulder while asking *

“ Sure Sure . And you won’t need to do extra things , Farah made coffee for you while she was making hers “

“Tell her a big thanks please”

“Affirm” * Gaz leaving the room *

……….

“Show me where it’s hurting “ * Yn ready with the painkillers *

“ I was kidding Love , just brought some time for us now “

“ Next time you scare me like that , no kisses for the rest of the week “ * Yn leaving the room *

“ Biggest nightmare a guy can have “ * Replying with a little feared tone ..Yn looking back *

“ Be my good men and let your women treat you “

* leaving the room while saying it loudly *

. . . . . . . . . .

- Soap and Ghost was standing near his room …

“ 5$ if I catch them kissing “ *Ghost with a cocky smile *

“ Bet “ * Soap with an amused voice , fistbumped *

- E N D -

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[herblackabyss]

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[Title] 7 Dates, 7 Conflicts [Rating & Genre] [M] 18+, strangers to lovers, slow burn, Collage AU [Pairing] Jeon Jungkook x Reader (Amaya Bradford) [Trigger Warnings] a few cuss words

[A/N] I'm baaacckkk~! I apologize for my absence, but I truly struggle with this whole social media and social interaction thing. I had to restructure this part because I've come to the realization that my brain doesn't quite know how to write multiple events into one part...

P.S the last bit is a mess but I'll update it soon...<3

ALSO HAPPY HUNTER DAAYYY!!

[Word Count] 2740

"This is an absolute colossal fucking disaster, Chenle," I hiss under my breath, pacing across my bedroom with my phone clutched tightly to my ear. On the other end, the low hum of my best friend's tired yawn slips through the line, the digital clock on my nightstand casting an ominous glow – 10:47 PM.

I roll my eyes, my frustration lacing into the very syllables of my words. "I mean, how on earth are we even supposed to tackle this if he's out there getting his dick sucked instead of meeting me to work on the assignment?" Veronica had given us a unique homework assignment during our last COMM101 class—a creative pair-building exercise intended to break the ice. It was supposed to be an opportunity for Jungkook and me to explore each other's perspectives and come up with something that was at least halfway decent. Yet, instead of paying even a sliver of attention, Jungkook seemed to be far more interested in sketching bizarre doodles across my meticulously taken lecture notes. Since that fateful Monday morning, I've embarked on a one-woman crusade to pin him down and get him to work on it. But every attempt I make is met with flimsy excuses and empty promises. He's always conveniently "busy" or "tied up with something else." And me? I'm not naive enough to swallow those slippery words whole, not when they spill from his slick, slithering tongue like a practiced dance. As the relentless ticking of the clock emphasizes the looming deadline for my not-so-friendly essay, the harsh reality sets in. I realize that I know next to nothing about this bumbling baboon, except for the fact that he can't seem to keep his... cock out of people's mouths. The idea of crafting an essay detailing his countless escapades with the campus coeds is tempting, but it also feels like a peculiar form of self-inflicted torture. I flop onto my bed, clutching my phone as if it's my only lifeline in this chaotic situation.

"Guess I'll just have to corner him tomorrow," I murmur to myself, feeling a potent mix of determination and resignation settle in my chest like a heavy anchor. I reach out for the worn notebook resting nearby and flip it open, its pages ready to receive my thoughts and ideas for the upcoming project, even if, for now, it's a solo endeavor. After all, if Jungkook insists on making things difficult, I'm more than willing to return the favor. "Key word: 'probably,' but I can't take that risk with Jungkook," I try to speak as calmly as possible, frustration mounting within me. There's no way I can just sit here and hope he comes to his senses. I need to take action. I shouldn't be in this position, having to babysit a grown man when it comes to his academics. I mean, seriously, I'm baffled by his attitude towards this assignment. How on earth is he the top student in the Computer Science department? Does the university randomly select his name from a hat filled with sheets of paper with only his name on them? Or is he secretly paying someone to do his assignments? "But I hope you're right," I concede with a sigh as I wrap up the call and head to bed.

"Jeon!" I shout, my voice slicing through the noisy street, instantly grabbing the attention of curious onlookers. He strides purposefully toward Avery's Bagel Shop, his arm wrapped around the waist of a wavy-haired blonde. Her stunning long legs propel her forward, her eyes locked on him, with hearts practically sparkling in them. As I watch their interaction unfold before me, it becomes painfully evident that this is a heartbreak in the making. Jungkook, of all people, isn't exactly renowned for his ability to commit, and that's common knowledge around campus. He cycles through new romantic interests every week, and he's openly professed his disinterest in love on countless occasions. Yet, here she is, hopelessly falling for him—poor thing.

I raise my voice, frustration bubbling within me as I call out to him once more. But he remains utterly indifferent, his gaze fixed solely on the entrance of the quaint, inviting eatery. With a graceful sweep, he swings the door open, his hand tenderly resting on her lower back as he ushers his companion inside. I can't help but let out an exasperated sigh, my impatience growing by the second. I shake my head in disbelief before navigating my way across the bustling street. What the fuck is his problem? Stepping through the gleaming silver double doors, I make my way to the established ordering queue. Contrary to any wild ideas he might be concocting in his thick skull, I'm not here because of him. I wanted to get some work done on a few of my assignments before making my way to Chenle's place. Avery's holds a special place in my heart— it's been my favorite spot to grab a bite and study for years. Avery, the owner, is a culinary virtuoso in her mid-thirties, a mastermind behind a medley of bagel creations that are nothing short of life-altering. Over time, she's expanded her menu to include other breakfast and lunch delights, all of which keep people coming back for more.I became a regular of Avery's in her food truck era. Back then, she operated her modest business right in the heart of the city, serving her delectable creations from a weathered, banged-up red truck.Since then, I haven't looked back, it feels like I've gained a good friend and a great place to study when I need to. "Are you planning to ignore me for the rest of your life?" I say, my voice filled with frustration as I approach Jungkook. He's engrossed in a conversation with the blonde, oblivious to my approach. It amuses me how much effort he invests in girls he never intends to pursue beyond a casual fling. I mean, what's the point of all this when there are no intentions of going any further?

I watch as he slowly turns his head to identify the source of the voice. When he realizes it's me, his expression shifts, but he doesn't reply. The blonde clinging to his arm shoots me a nasty glare, clearly annoyed that I've interrupted their conversation. It's even more amusing to me that there are girls who willingly put themselves in such situations with guys like Jungkook, thinking they can be the ones to change them. "The assignment is due in just four days, Jeon, and I haven't even started because of you," I huff, frustration gnawing at me as I rummage through my bag to find my purse. Earlier, he had told me he had important matters to attend to today, which was why he couldn't meet with me. When I proposed meeting later in the day, he promptly shot down the idea, insisting he didn't have the time. So you can imagine my surprise when I spotted him with his little date. Emerging from the depths of my bag with my purse in hand, I shift my gaze toward him, awaiting his response. But there's nothing. No glimmer of recognition in his eyes, no hint of acknowledgment. He just stands there, unmoving, as if I'm invisible.

Is he really going to stand there and ignore me like a petulant child

I exhale a deep sigh, my eyes narrowing as I focus on the back of his head, frustration bubbling up inside me like a simmering volcano. A million wicked scenarios play out in my mind, each one more devious than the last, all focused on how I could effectively sabotage his date.

A mischievous thought dances through my mind. What if I were to swing my bag, aiming it at that unsuspecting, utterly useless head of his? And just for good measure, I could give his blonde friend a forcefully playful shove, a move that would surely knock her on her ass.

Or perhaps... A sly smirk gradually creeps across my face as a more subtle, yet equally potent, idea blossoms in my mind. It's nothing too extravagant, but I have complete confidence that it will work like a charm.

As I stand here, contemplating my revenge plot, I can't help but notice that the queue opposite the one I'm currently in has emptied out. Without missing a beat, I smoothly slide into that vacancy, feeling a rush of anticipation building within me. My eyes immediately fixate on the illuminated board behind the cashier's head. I tilt my head to the side, carefully examining my options before allowing my gaze to shift to Jungkook, whose irritated expression is now in plain view.

As I observe, a smug grin slowly creeps across my face. I can't help but revel in the satisfaction that washes over me as I witness the subtle twitch in his furrowed brow and the rhythmic clenching of his jaw. The tension practically oozes from his pores, an electrifying aura that I can almost taste. After all, he doesn't deserve to have a good day, not after all those lies he's been feeding me these past few days. I'm in absolute awe of his extraordinary ability to seemingly disregard my very presence. My eyes meticulously track his every move, from the way he confidently places orders for both himself and his date, to the charming, heart-melting smile he offers her and with a delicate touch, he tucks a strand of her golden locks behind her ear. It's almost as if the world revolves around them, and everyone else in the room merely fades into the background. I watch, captivated, as he tenderly grasps her hand, guiding her with a gentle assurance toward a cozy booth nestled in a secluded corner of the establishment. They settle in, their bodies so close that their shoulders brush against each other, creating an aura of intimacy that's impossible to ignore. Their conversation flows effortlessly, brimming with laughter and whispered sweet nothings. I have to admit, this guy knows exactly what to do to make a girl feel special.

A simmer of irritation bubbles beneath my skin, while amusement dances at the edges of my thoughts. Jungkook, so blissfully unaware of just how persistent I can be and utterly clueless about my insatiable appetite for pettiness, continues to test my tolerance for his behavior daily. What he doesn't know is that I've always been known for my excellence in theatrics, and quite frankly, if Jungkook wants to put on a performance, I'll give him a whole damn show.

As soon as I place my order, I waste not a single second in moving toward my target. I stride with unwavering purpose toward their booth, my head held high, my hips swaying seductively as I saunter across the room. A mischievous glint flickers in my eyes as I gracefully slide into the seat right beside him, his murderous glare meeting my unflinching gaze.

I respond with a sickeningly sweet smile, my voice dripping with a teasing tone, my eyes twinkling with faux longing. "I haven't seen you since Monday, Jeon. I really missed you," I say, letting a pout form on my plump lips as I lean in closer to him. My gaze shifts to his date as I rest my head on his shoulder. "Who's this, Kook?" I mumble, deliberately ignoring the way his fists clench between us. I'm fully aware that my intrusion on his little date will undoubtedly annoy the ever-loving shit out of him.

He exchanges a quick, awkward glance with his date, who appears thoroughly confused and uncomfortable with my sudden presence. I release a sigh, my gaze carefully assessing her features. "My replacement, perhaps?" I ask, shifting my attention back to him. I catch that split-second flicker of surprise on his face – he clearly didn't expect me to say that. "Amaya," he warns, his demeanor growing stern as he clenches his jaw, clearly struggling to maintain his composure. But if I'm completely honest, I've never been one to heed warnings; Chenle always claimed that it would take a miracle worker to handle my attitude. "I'm Amaya, by the way. You?" My focus shifts to her.

"Kiarra," she whispers, her voice barely audible, and I notice her eyes closely following my fingers as they delicately trace the contours of Jungkook's exposed neck. Her lips curl into a condescending smile as she shifts to the seat opposite ours. Girls like Kiarra, the quintessential "it" girl, always seem to gravitate towards guys like my insufferable group member.

To be honest, I've got her type down pat. Her shallowness cuts through the layers of designer labels and caked-on makeup. She gives off vibes of someone who places an exorbitant amount of importance on her position within the social hierarchy, evident in the meticulous effort she pours into her appearance.

She's undoubtedly frequented the finest surgeons, splurged on the most lavish clothes, and surrounds herself with a clique of girls who are both beautiful and, well, rather uninteresting. "So, how did you end up meeting my favorite boy?" I ask, a gentle smile gracing my lips, my head still comfortably nestled on his shoulder, my gaze locked onto her as we engage in this unspoken standoff. She's challenging me for control of the situation. "We met at Jimin's party last week," she responds with a manufactured smile, her impeccably white teeth on full display. However, I can discern the underlying annoyance in her eyes, even through her facade.

"Jimin's party," I inquire, my brows furrowing in faux hurt, pretending to be genuinely surprised as I maintain that delicate touch along Jungkook's collarbone. My fingers trace a slow, teasing path, eliciting a subtle shiver from him. "I'm hurt, Kookie. You told me you were too busy," I pout, my tone dripping with feigned disappointment. I shift my gaze to Jungkook, my eyes wide and glistening, attempting to make it appear as if I'm truly saddened by his recent evasiveness.

Kiarra, caught off guard by my interaction with Jungkook, shifts uncomfortably in her seat. She clears her throat, her irritation growing the longer I linger. "Well, I guess he had some free time after all," she retorts, her voice laced with hostility. The cracks in little miss perfect's facade are becoming more apparent, and I can practically feel the tension radiating off Jungkook in waves. He's obviously annoyed by my intrusion, but by the look on his face, you could never tell well aside from his clenched jaw. "Amaya, what are you doing?" His deep voice carries a warning as he slowly turns his head to look down at me, his dark eyes fixed on mine.

I maintain my act, tilting my head ever so slightly to meet his gaze, a playful smile dancing on my lips. "I mean, I have to get your attention somehow, right?" I respond, my voice brimming with faux innocence. Leaning in a little closer, my lips hover dangerously close to his ear, and I whisper, "Besides, it's been weeks, and you've been so absorbed in... other endeavors." I punctuate my statement with a sly wink.

Kiarra's perfectly manicured nails clench onto the edge of her designer bag as she observes our little spectacle, clearly flustered.

Drawing even nearer to Jungkook, my lips graze his ear as I murmur, "You know, we do make quite the convincing pair, don't you think?" My words are laced with just enough mischief to set him on edge, and I can see the gears turning in his head as he contemplates how to navigate this unexpected scenario. "Excuse me," she mutters, abruptly pushing her chair back and rising to her feet. Her frustration is palpable in her tone.

"Leaving so soon?" I inquire, my voice dripping with feigned concern.

Jungkook attempts to intervene, but Kiarra is already making her way toward the exit. "Kiarra, wait," he pleads, reaching out for her, but she brushes past him without a second glance.

With a theatrical sigh, I rest my head on Jungkook's shoulder once more. "Well, that didn't go as planned, did it?"

Jungkook rolls his eyes, a hint of amusement twinkling in his gaze. "You're un-fucking-believable."

I flash him a mischievous grin, my façade dropping as Kiarra departs. "Just rescuing you from a bad date, Kookie," I remark with a wink. "And reminding you that you can't keep avoiding our assignment forever." With a satisfied hum, I smoothly slide out of the booth and stride toward the exit, shooting him a playful wink before making my way to Chenle's place.

← PREVIOUS | NAVIGATION | NEXT →

[ramble-bloo]

With the way the hero system works in Decking City, heroes have to basically have to manually report when they have an archenemy and all the information they know about said villain.

This keeps things smoother and more organized instead of a hero being assigned to someone who they might be unevenly matched for and unfamiliar with.

So Sweetheart certainly had to actually put in the paperwork just to have Bitterbat listed as her archenemy. This is a process that had to be repeated with the rest of the Flavor Four when the Beloveds reformed but during her solo career after Bitterbat returned, she only had to worry about him.

Of course, it was easier for her than most others because of the fact Bitterbat could just tell her verbatim all the stuff she needed to know. Granted, they had to leave some things vague just to keep up the appearance of Sweetheart "not fully knowing what this new threat could be capable of".

So after doing the necessary paperwork, she turned it into the Decking Defense Force (aka the official hero league for Decking City).

And then, after them processing it, during the next meeting closest to the completed processing date, Bitterbat gets added to the whole "Heroic Updates" presentation slide where the head of the meeting does a professional breakdown of the information given.

And that's when Sweetheart starts spacing out because there's something about hearing Bitterbat described with such a seriousness that hits different. It's one thing to have known him since they were kids, but seeing him through someone else's eyes...

...her cheeks are getting warmer but that's to be expected because I mean, that's her boyfriend they're talking about and that picture the press managed to snatch of him during one of their battles is really good.

And then the head gets to the bullet point about him being the "King of Monsters" and Sweetheart starts to think more about the statement.

Because she's known this information but now she is seeing it in a different color because it's not just "Oh yeah, my dad died so I'm king now I guess" and it's now "Bitterbat is the King of Monsters and is no one to be messed with" and Sweetheart can't help but imagine him on his throne.

Instead of being bored like he usually is when it comes to having to deal with king stuff, he looks confident and smug, with a sharp-toothed smile. His clothing, while still revealing, have a more regal touch to them and all sets of horns and wings are out.

And his eyes are locked right on her.

His Queen of Hearts

He beckons her over, stating "This throne is fit for two, my Queen" and he pats his lap with his other hand.

And Sweetheart swallows before approaching and using what strength she can still muster in her legs to direct herself to sit down.

And then she feels his arms wrap around her from behind, a deep body shaking purr emanating from his chest where his soul suit can be seen glowing fondly for her. And her own shines on her lower half, completely in sync with his.

He chuckles before he whispering sweet nothings in her ear as he starts to kiss down her neck and shoulder with his dark lipstick leaving loving markings behind--

And Sweetheart is abruptly snapped out her her daydream as the meeting head questions if something is wrong with. And initially she is confused before she realizes her eyes and hair are glowing.

No one knows the true meaning of why it happens but she does and she quickly excuses herself from where she is seated, tail between her legs, as she heads to the nearest restroom to splash some cold water in her face as well as make her stomach soul suit stop glowing so brightly.

Meanwhile, Bitterbat, where ever he is, feels something is up and notices his own marking glowing.

And then a wave of Sweetheart's current emotions washes over him and a wide fanged smile creeps to his face. His eyes soften but have a haunting glow in them.

"My Queen is thinking about me~"

[smaptain-smerica]

Female Reader x Rooster

Time: Post-Top gun: Maverick

Y/n Blackwood - L/n, daughter of Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood. Y/n took a strong interest in planes from a young age. Knowing her father was an esteemed pilot drew her even further into the navy. Quickly, she became one of the best solo pilots and graduating at the top of her class at Top Gun.

Her next mission? Return to Top Gun, Face certain death, romantic interests, and finally, her thought-to-be-dead, father.

This book contains strong language and sexual content that may be sensitive readers under the age of 18

This story was originally posted on Wattpad, follow me on there for faster updates. I have published a non-binary version of this story published there for those who do not identify as female or use she/her pronouns. It will follow the exact same story line. Link to Wattpad Account Link to the Non-Binary version

Master list

Plaque Status

Third person POV.

May 2nd, 2014.

"Attention on deck!"

The group of pilots stood and saluted as their instructor, Admiral Solomon "Warlock" Bates, entered the room and stood at the podium.

"Top Gun was created to teach ACM. Air Combat Maneuvering. Better known as Dogfighting. You're here because you're the top one percent of all naval aviators. You're the elite, the best of the best. We're gonna make you better."

The group of pilots looked around at one another, taking in the competition.

"You will be put through a series of tests, each pilot or team to come out on top will receive points. The pilot or team with the most points at the end will get their name on that plaque."

The infamous TopGun plague that included the few legendary pilots to complete the course. One of them, being Iceman. It was y/n's dream to see her name on that golden plate.

"However, there are no points for second place. Every moment counts." Warlock continued.

"We will reconvene at 0900 for your first assignment. You're all dismissed."

Y/n suddenly became nervous. She realized that a lot of the other pilots here knew each other. She got up, making her way out the door behind everyone else towards the cafeteria for breakfast. Once she entered the cafeteria, Instinctively she found the coffee. She took a cup and began to pour herself a cup.

She felt a presence behind her, standing obnoxiously close. She didn't move, stood her ground. She wasn't finished yet, this impatient person could wait. "'Scuse me, doll."

Offended, she turned around and was face to face with none other than Jake Seresin. Callsign, Hangman. He earned the notorious reputation of leaving his wingmen stranded and somehow accomplishing the entire mission by himself.

"That will be the first and last time you ever call me that." She growled at him. Their eyes locked, he had the most annoying smirk plastered on his face.

"How can you be so sure?"

"You wanna fuck around and find out?" Y/n snapped, taking a step closer to him. Despite the size difference between the two, she squared off her shoulders to appear larger than she was before.

"That the big bad wolf's bark is worse than her bite? Sounds like a challenge to me." Hangman picked up a toothpick, and put it in his mouth, giving her a wink.

"And you are?" Y/n knew exactly who he was, but she could tell that his ego needed to be knocked down a couple of notches.

Hangman scoffed. "Didn't care to learn about your competition?"

Y/n laughed and rolled her eyes. "You think you're the competition? You know, if you keep that optimistic attitude and you might get second place." She paused for a moment, pretending to think. "Oh no, that's right. There are no points for second place."

Y/n shoved past the now fuming Hangman, A smirk was plastered on her face.

Hangman had never gone somewhere and not been recognized. He found it shocking that she had no idea who he was. What was even more frustrating is how easily he let her get into his head. Just because she's got a pretty face and a pair of breasts. Mind games were his tactic.

Hangman swore that day that his only goal was to come out on top and beat Wolf.

~~~

May 3rd, 2014

Y/n had just landed her plane and was walking back to the hangar. She ripped her helmet off, thankful to be out of that sweaty fishbowl. The first thing she wanted to do was check scores.

She walked down the many hallways and into the screening room where most of the pilots seemed to be hanging out and passing around different bowls of snack foods. The pilots congratulated her on her flying during the session today. All, except for one.

Hangman sat in the corner and rolled his eyes whenever she entered the room. He looked over at the scores on the computer screen, praying for a good outcome.

Y/n's score went up. She was now only one point ahead of Hangman. This was distasteful to her. She wanted to be ahead, way ahead of him. She wanted to leave him no room to gloat.

Hangman got up from his chair, dramatically walking to the middle of the room. "We've got a long couple of weeks ahead of us Wolf. Don't get used to the top." And with that, he slammed the door shut on his way out.

~~~

May 6th, 2014

Y/n and Hangman had managed to be put on the same team today. Unknown to the instructors, this would be a bad idea.

They were flying side by side together, neither one attempting to talk or strategize with one another. Y/n kept checking her flanks, on the look out for their enemy contender.

Finally, her eyes rested on a small plane shaped object way below them. "5 o'clock low." She announced into the headset.

Hangman looked over his shoulder and saw then plane. He slowed down, dropping back to glide above the plane.

"Hangman what's the strategy?" Y/n asked, slowing her plane down as well.

"Win." Hangman said simply before diving down to chase whatever instructor was unlucky enough to be here.

"Damnit." Y/n cursed, punishing her plane forward and looping around to join the chase. Hangman was hot their tail, grunting with the efforts to keep up with the contender.

Y/n took a head-on approach, flying as close and as fast as she possibly could to the enemy. At the last second she ripped her plane sideways, attempting to sent a hard gust of wind to rattle the cabins.

The force rattled the plane, startling Hangman. Noticing his moment of weakness, y/n took advantage. She slithered her plane between the two of them and pushed Hangman back as far as she could.

"Wolf!" He yelled angrily.

"What? You said win, that's what I'm doing." She snapped back at him.

"We're supposed to be a team!"

"Oh so now you're concerned about being a team. Eat shit, bagman."

Something inside of Hangman snapped. He pushed his plane underneath hers, as close as he could possibly get and forced her off her designated path.

Y/n growled as the two ascended higher, completely forgetting the fact that this was an exercise. The two were now in a face off, their planes now dangerously close to each other.

"Wolf! Hangman! Disengage!" The instructor demanded. Y/n listened, easing off and heading forwards. Hangman stayed on her tail, radar locking on the aircraft.

"What are you going to do, shoot?" Wolf challenged him, hearing the heart-sinking tone.

"Just letting you know I could." He growled.

"Lieutenants!! Land your planes now!"

Reluctantly, Hangman and Y/n landed on the pavement. Exiting their planes with hell-bent fury. The two pilots stormed towards each other, engaging in a screaming match in the middle of the hangar.

Warlock entered the room and with a booming voice yelled: "Shut up!"

Hangman and y/n, did so, looking towards their Admiral. "You two, come with me, now."

Reluctantly, the two followed him into the office where he shut the door and then closed the blinds to the hallway.

"Never in my life have I seen two such irresponsible and arrogant pilots! Those stunts you pulled could have gotten yourselves and others killed. I will not tolerate it!" Warlock was screaming. Y/n stood still as a statue, afraid to move even a muscle.

"You two are benched from the rest of today and tomorrows activities! And that's being generous because I should kick you out of the program!"

Warlock paced a bit in his office, smoke practically coming out of his ears. "Tomorrow you two will spend the whole day together. I don't care if I have to superglue your hands together you will be getting along and there will not be another episode like this again. Understood?"

"Yes Admiral." Hangman and y/n said at the same time.

"Now get out of my damn sight." Warlock dismissed them angrily.

~~~

May 7th, 2014

Y/n and Hangman sat on as far opposite sides of the table as they could. To not interfere with the rest of the trainings for today, they were shut in a conference room with a long table and multiple rolling office chairs.

They were burning death glares into each others eyes. The tension between them laid like a thick heavy blanket in the room.

"Why do you hate me?" Y/n finally broke the silence.

Hangman rolled his eyes and looked down at the floor. "I don't hate you. I hardly know you. Other than you're a dick."

"You're the dick, dick." Y/n spat back.

Hangman couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the childish comeback. "You know I think we're more alike than we think."

Y/n was silent for a moment. She thought about it, and he was right. Headstrong, stubborn, confident pilots who had one goal. Be on top. Y/n looked around the room, it was rather empty except for a water jug with a stack of paper cups. Y/n suddenly had an idea.

"Do you want to play a game?"

The two requested for some snack foods for lunch. A couple sandwiches, some potato chips, and a bag of m&m's that the cafeteria kept in stock for the instructors only. Hangman slipped them a $20 to not tell anybody.

Y/n and Hangman created a game of truth or dare, putting a T or a D on 6 cups and putting them in a beer pong formation. They used the m&ms to toss them into each others cups.

Hangman threw an m&m and it landed in one of the cups closest to y/n. She pulled the m&m out of the cup and popped it into her mouth. A large D was labeled on the bottom.

"Dare." Y/n said.

Hangman thought for a second and the smirked. "Scream as loud as you can."

"Seriously?" Y/n asked. Hangman nodded and leaned back in his chair.

Y/n rolled her eyes and took a long breath in, letting out a loud and short scream that quickly turned into a laugh. Hangman laughed loudly and doubled over on the table.

"Move move, my turn! I'm getting you back." Y/n laughed, preparing an m&m to throw into the cups. One landed, Hangman took it out and popped it into his mouth. "Truth."

Y/n grumbled a cuss word. "Umm, do you have any siblings?"

Hangman's face kind of fell a little bit, causing y/n to tilt her head in response.

"Yeah, I had a sister."

Y/n felt her heart shatter when he said 'had'. "What happened?" She asked.

"Her name was McKenna but we called her Ken. She was a couple years older than me. She was hit by a drunk driver coming home from a basketball game, she was a cheerleader."

Y/n frowned and rolled her chair around the table to be next to him. "What did she look like?" She asked.

Hangman pulled out his phone and scrolled way back in his camera roll before finally selecting a picture. He laid the phone down on the table and y/n looked at it.

Y/n smiled at the heartwarming picture. "The buzz cut is a great look." Y/n teased.

"Hush." Hangman elbowed y/n gently in the arm. She looked over at him and smiled.

"Thank you for telling me."

Hangman smiled at her. A fond, genuine smile.

The game between the two of them continued on for what seemed like forever. Time had flown by and eventually Warlock had come back to check on them. He opened the door to them both doubled over in laughter and something the other had said.

The two pilots looked over at the door way, stopping laughing after realizing who had entered.

Warlock looked at the different foods strung across the table and then at the two pilots. "Hey, how'd you get my m&m's?"

~~~

May 11th, 2014

Hangman thought it was odd that y/n hadn't showed up for breakfast yet. She was usually there before he was, getting freshly made pancakes and talking with the cafeteria ladies for extra goodies for later.

After he had ate, he stood up and made his way down the hallway to the dorm rooms. He arrived at the outside of y/n's door and saw it was slightly ajar. He knocked twice on the door before pushing it open gently.

"Hey, you're going to miss breakfast." To hangman's surprise, y/n's room was empty. The bed sheets were ruffled around and things left slightly out of place. Hangman was overcome with concern, wondering where his friend was.

He made his way out to the hangar and saw warlock talking with another one of the instructors. "Admiral Bates!" Hangman caught his attention and jogged up to him.

"Yes, Hangman?" He asked.

"Where's Wolf?"

Warlock sighed, looking down at his feet. "She will not be continuing the program. A family emergency came up and she had to leave."

"Well where is she now?"

Warlock pointed towards the entrance of the facility. "Packing her things into a taxi."

Hangman hardly let warlock finish his sentence. It was drowned out as he sprinted towards the entrance of the building. He burst through the double doors in time to see y/n closing the taxi trunk.

"Wolf!" He yelled, running up to her. She looked over at him, face red and puffy with tears still draining from her eyes. Hangman's heart broke as he slowed down to stop right in front of her.

"What happened?" He asked, placing his hands on either of her shoulders. She sniffled her nose hard, wiping tears away with her sleeves.

"My mom has cancer. It's bad, I need to go home." Hangman engulfed y/n in a hug and she let out a shuttering sigh. He placed his head on the back of her head in comfort while she tried to regain her breathing.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered.

Y/n pushed off of him, clearly distraught and wanting to go home as quickly as possible. In their game Hangman had learned how much she loved her mom, she he understood her hurry.

"Let me know when you win, okay?" She asked, attempting a pitiful smile.

Hangman chuckled and shook his head. "You'll be the first to know."

They said their goodbyes, Hangman watched the taxi car drive off, a heavy feeling in his heart.

~~~

May 16th, 2014

Next Chapter

[holyiker-blog1]

EA FC 25! All NEW features and changes explained!

EA FC 25 is finally here – well, sort of. After going solo for the first time with EA FC 24, EA Sports will launch the newest installment of the EA Sports FC game series in the next few months, EA FC 25. Players were desperate to see big gameplay updates in EA FC 24 after some underwhelming FIFA game releases, and changes were made, with HyperMotion V and PlayStyles both being added. EA has announced that, for EA FC 25, another pillar of its gameplay innovation will be added called FC IQ. The new addition has seen tactics overhauled in EA FC 25, with the publisher claiming it will 'shake up the meta'. Did the new FC IQ make a big difference to tactics and gameplay, and does the new Rush game mode improve the game?

EA FC 25 gameplay: it needs more

In the early preview build of EA FC 25, we could play two different modes – Rush Kick Off, and regular Kick Off. In Kick Off, the new FC IQ tactics seemed the biggest change, and we can confidently say that when setting up your squad on EA FC 25, you have more options tactic-wise than ever before – fantastic!

EA claims it's the most significant change to tactics in a decade, and it does feel that way. The ultra-attacking, attacking, balanced, defensive, and ultra-defensive tactics have been removed for good, with a new team tactics system replacing them.

Using real-world data, EA has used FC IQ to make the game even more authentic, giving each player something called Player Roles. There are over 50 Player Roles in EA FC 25, and this guides how your players behave off the ball and out of possession.

When setting up your tactics, you can assign a player role to each position on the pitch – more like an in-depth version of player instructions. There are three to five player roles per position, with each role having positive and negative impacts on your team. For example, if I'm using Manchester City and assigning a role to former EA FC 24 cover star Erling Haaland, I can choose whether he is an advanced forward, poacher, false nine, or target forward.

Haaland plays best when you assign the poacher role to him, with the striker having two plus' appear next to his name, meaning he is familiar with this role. But, with Manchester City's team tactics using a false nine, it impacts how well he plays in-game as the tactics don't match. EA has also removed the center-forward, left-wing-back, and right-wing-back positions from the game, with these positions now integrated into the player roles.

When assigning player roles, a graphic called the 'activity map' appears on screen to show you where on the pitch the player will play, using the color green to display this, similar to Football Manager 2024. So, if you play your full back as a falseback, it will push the defender into the center of the pitch as a deep-lying midfielder, meaning the player will rarely stick to the wing.

A new tactical foul system has been introduced too, where you can purposely pull back the opposition to stop a counterattack, but it will get you a guaranteed yellow card. EA has also increased the number of subs as well, with nine substitutes now included.

RUSH-ed?

The Volta game mode will not feature in EA FC 25. After first being introduced in FIFA 20, it's gone (sort of). Volta was introduced as almost a replacement for FIFA Street, the beloved game that saw its last edition, FIFA Street 4, released in 2012. But, that same magic that made FIFA Street so popular was missing, and Volta was forgotten about by the majority of players after the first few months.

EA has now developed a new EA FC 25 mode called Rush, but in terms of gameplay, it's basically Volta 2.0, and it left me underwhelmed. Rush is a 5v5 game mode that will feature in Ultimate Team, Clubs, Manager Career Mode, and Kick-Off. In Ultimate Team and Clubs, you will control a single player and play alongside three friends or strangers, with the goalkeeper AI.

In Kick-Off and Manager Career Mode, you will control the entire team, and it might be because I only got to try it out in Kick-Off, but Rush just felt bored playing. I liked the addition of new commentators, the Rush-specific stadium, and the drone show that was displayed before the game started, but away from that, the gameplay wasn't anything special.

Firstly, the pitch was bigger than a Volta pitch and smaller than a regular pitch, but it still felt way too big. And because it's not the street-style game Volta was, there are no ridiculous skill moves. EA hasn't changed any of the gameplay mechanics from the 11v11 for Rush, so it's the same, just with fewer players on a smaller pitch.

In Rush, the kick-off is a race to the ball, which adds a bit more competitiveness to the game. There are also blue cards in Rush, so if a player receives a blue card, they are sin-binned for one minute. Offsides do exist in Rush with the pitch being a decent size, but only in the attacking third rather than the attacking half.

One of the most exciting additions for Rush was how penalties are taken. Rather than a regular penalty, a Rush penalty will see the fouled player take on the 'keeper in a one vs one situation, starting from the halfway line. The opponent's captain also controls the 'keeper to make it even more fun. Apart from the new penalty system though, I didn't enjoy Rush. However, it does seem like a sociable game mode, and it might be more fun to play it within Clubs or Ultimate Team, but in Kick Off, it's just not it.

New EA FC 25 features

Clubs are getting a promising overhaul, including a new way to spend your club's budget on improving stats and adding PlayStyles. Relegation is also returning to the divisions, which increases the stakes when competing.

Career Mode is also receiving big changes, for the first time in what feels like forever. Women's football is being added to both Manager and Player Career, while you will be able to use Icons in Player Career, which is a very cool concept I can't wait to try.

The youth academy has also been overhauled with more scouting options available, and you can use Rush to develop and play with your youth squad - the first time that the youth academy has been playable. A live Career mode feature called Live Start Points will arrive in EA FC 25, where you can jump into a career mode based on the real-life season.

For example, If Brentford are somehow top of the Premier League at Christmas, you can start the game from that exact time You can try and guide them to glory, with all fixtures and results up to date. I wasn't able to try out either Clubs or Career Mode in my preview build, but on paper, these are welcome upgrades.

Overall then, it's not that EA FC 25's gameplay felt bad, but the fact that it felt so similar to EA FC.

[postsofsilver]

It is robbery that we didn’t get a CG from this moment. Next update I need a solo assignment with him and 3 new CGs with him.

[lunamidnight]

November 16th

Fanfiction/Original Fiction

First created: August 2016 (then overhauled Nov 2020)

Last updated: April 2023

General Premise: this is the one before the one uploaded on the 3rd, Takes place around a year before I think, so may have stuff in between eventually.

Other notes: Ended up overhauling it after my friend fell out of the rp of it.

For the past year, Angel has been in many department areas, from tech lab, rescue, and even medical. To say she was a little thrown off when she was told earlier this morning that she would be observing over an interrogation would be an understatement. Looking at the detailed file she was given on the man sitting in the next room through the one-way mirror really didn’t answer many questions. All she knew was that he was unusual with the ability to see the past of anyone he met, and the only person who regularly dealt with him was her superior officer Darrien. Looking at the man again while she waited for Darrien didn’t really scream that he had that ability. In her opinion, he looked like a nutcase, which according to the file wasn’t too far-fetched. The file described him as not completely insane but not entirely sane as well. That tidbit just confused her more so she set the file down and waited. She’d have to ask Darrien when he came in.

She didn’t have to wait long as Darrien walked in moments later in a black and white business suit. She’s never seen him in it before, but she’s been told that he owned it for interrogation purposes; he also owns a tuxedo for more formal events. Everything else is either his regular dress shirt attire for work or business casual for days off. Angel herself took the cue and wore a dark blue button-down under a suit jacket and matching black slacks and flats. She didn’t do much for her hair, she simply let Jessica straighten it.

Angel turned to greet him but stopped at the contemplative look on his face, something was on his mind and she felt it had something to do with this assignment. “Darrien?” Angel spoke up, getting him out of his thinking space. He looked up and blinked before replying. “Oh, you're here already; read the file?” He asked simply. “Yeah I did, and I have a few questions.” Angel replied. “Of course let me guess, one is how does he do it?” Darrien asked, earning a nod. “The other is about the comment of being not completely insane and not entirely sane, to me he just looks like a total nutcase.''Angel replied gesturing to the man in the next room, only to notice him looking towards the mirror, towards Darrien. “Exactly my point…”Angel mused.

Darrien nodded in understanding, before rolling his eyes at the man’s antics; the man knew someone else was there, just could see who through his visions. “Well, I agree he is a nutcase, but I also admit it’s not the most traditional sort.” Darrien replied unsure of how to describe the man easily. Angel turned back from the window and tilted her head in question. “Honestly you're just going to have to see for yourself.” Darrien replied. “Alright then, how does his power work exactly? I read it's whoever he’s met but what does that intel?” Angel asked, confused. “There isn’t an exact moment, but with just one new person involved, just seeing a face could do it; it does seem harder for him to grasp in larger crowds. Of course, much of it is based on observation and speculation.” Darrien detailed. Angel nodded in understanding.

“So the moment I walk in and he sees my face, he could see everything of my past?” Angel asked, obviously uneasy. Darrien understood that. He didn’t like that she couldn’t just observe through the window, but due to previous times when he wasn’t present they figured they needed someone to talk with the man when he was out on a solo mission, but why her was beyond him, sure she was his subordinate but she was only 15. “Darrien?” Angel called out getting him out of thinking again. He sighed and then popped his back to get himself alert again. “Yeah he will, well except for any repressed memories, he can’t seem to get past that wall without putting in a lot of effort, and he usually can only do that, if you’re in the room with him alone long enough, but I know ways of keeping him out longer, which I will teach you before you ever have to deal with him on your own.” Darrien replied assuringly.

“Right okay, that makes sense I think. Good, I don’t know what to expect in there, is there anything I can do to prepare myself?” Angel asked. “Just take all the basics you’ve learned so far, keep a neutral face as much as possible, and let me do the talking.”Darrien said before adding. “And chew some gum; it helps with the expressions, and blowing bubbles is actually a pet peeve of his, even though he denies it.” Darrien replied by pulling out a pack of bubble gum and tossing it to her. “Oh stay silent and annoy; I can do that.'' Angel said with a mischievous smile before popping out a piece in her mouth. “Good, now ready?” Darrien asked, heading over to the door. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Angel replied following.

---

When Darrien walked in first the man grinned excitedly as a friend had just come over to play, but when he saw Angel walk in afterward his expression changed to delightful surprise as he took in her face as she went to the wall near the door to lean on and chew her gum. Darrien caught his attention not long after as he spoke to the man. “Sean Walker, alias Typhon, something your mommy named you.” Darrien replied with a slight tone of mocking within his business-like tone. “I thought it was my Ex-Girlfriend; speaking of, who’s the sweet little girl you brought with you, Mr.Caster?” Sean asked curiously-looking from Darrien over to Angel, only to see her blow a big bubble in response to the little girl comment. 

Angel wanted to see how much it would piss him off, and by the way, his nose crinkled ever so slightly as he turned back to Darrien for an answer she figured it was at least mildly irritating for now. “Mommy is more fitting, and we both know you’ll figure that out on your own.” Darrien replied before leaning back on the wall opposite Angel and pulling out his phone sending a message to her. She took her time pulling out her phone so as not to make it obvious that it was from Darrien. 

‘Keep up with the bubbles and play along, he hates being ignored.’ the message said. She smiled ever so slightly before blowing another bubble, slightly bigger than her first. Sean was looking at her at that point, still very curious as he tried to look through her mind. The bubble distracted him though so he turned back to Darrien. “Aren’t you going to ask where your friend is?” Sean asked simply. Darrien didn’t even look up at him when he replied. “I know you won’t tell me.” He replied, opening a game and turning the sound on, its sounds echoing around the room, it sounded like a simple puzzle game.

Angel followed suit and started playing a creature collecting game with the sound on. She blew another bubble while she was at it. Sean looked to Darrien knowing his methods to annoy him so he turned to Angel and grinned curiously. “I’m surprised they let someone so young in here, and not just with me but with him, I can’t believe it, You two obviously have been working together for a long time, almost a year or so if I look back.” Sean mused aloud before continuing. “You're so young and impressionable, and yet there is so much of you that I can’t see; why would such a young girl hide so much? That is probably why they have you two working together so you can end up just like him.” Sean pointed out emphasizing the last part.

“My file may have said so much about me, making me look like some kind of boogie man, but you don’t believe shitty kid stories now do you?” Sean asked even though he knew he wouldn’t get an answer as she blew another bubble. “You may not be scared of me now, or ever, but there is someone you should be scared of.” Sean said glancing over at Darrien before he looked back at Angel, both were still playing on their phones, but both were obviously listening for their own reasons. Angel, although her face was controlled by force and the chewing of her gum, showed some other signs that she was getting increasingly uncomfortable with what was being said. From slightly adjusting her feet to get comfortable every few moments to pulling her business jacket tighter around herself. Darrien could see it too, knowing he’d need to step in soon. Sean could see him observing her from where he sat and continued with what he was saying before.

“You think he's just a strange, quirky man, but that's just the mask. He even scares me." Typhon chuckles. "The whole agency is damn terrified of him, afraid he'll snap. At any moment, he can kill off every member one by one. You won't think he's a man before he's done. Yet you're blissfully unaware. But maybe you'll see..." Darrien takes a quiet step forward, making Typhon laugh again. "Looks like it'll be sooner than later." He laughs again. "Daddy's mad, oh daddy don't hurt me!" He wales like a little kid before Darrien slams his palm against the temple of his head hard, knocking the man out for a few seconds and making his nose bleed a little. Darrien sighed through his nose before looking over at Angel who stared at him in both surprise and understanding. She put her phone away and surveyed the damage.

Darrien pulled out a small device from his jacket pocket as Sean was slowly coming to, he pressed the single button on it and then tossed it to Angel, who barely caught it in time, she looked down at the device in her hand to see that it was to the camera. She looked up and saw that the lone camera inside the room was now off. She wasn’t sure what to expect now, even though she really didn’t before either.

---

Once Sean regained consciousness, he sniffled and chuckled lethargically. "Did you forget... you have a... reputation... to uphold?" Darrien responds by slamming his knuckles into Typhon's fingers. "The red light isn't blinking, the camera's not rolling..." Darrien replies. "What about the girl?" Darrien grinds his knuckles on his fingers. "Tell me where Mr. Jackson is..." Darrien asks coldly. Angel didn’t step closer, she knew not to intervene when his voice got cold, not unless she absolutely had to.

"Why so serious Darrien? Can't you let loose and have a bit of fun? It was only a game." Typhon says with a wicked grin. Darrien grabs his middle finger and starts bending it back, making Typhon laugh like a drunk getting tickled. "Ahah, you're no fun." Then he winces. "OK, that's a lie, you a fucking party, pal!" He cackles like a madman, only to be cut short by Darrien's persistence. "Fuck!" Typhon laughs as he speaks. "If you really want me to spoil it, he's at the goddamn museum. He's got a HOT date with the aquatic life there."

Angel took a step forward at the information but stopped unsure if that was all they would get. Darrien doesn't flinch, pushing a little further. "Hoo hoo hoo Hoo ooh ooh!" Typhon reacts to the pain. "The mask is slipping! The mask is slipping! Better take a picture before you miss it! Frame it! This is what you wanna be when you grow up!" He makes a sound between guttural grunting and laughing. Angel frowned slightly as she watched before being looked in the eye by Sean."Maybe I should take you next! Put in the final piece and make you SNAP!" Typhon stamps his foot for emphasis as he looked back towards Darrien at the last part. Darrien keeps pushing.

This made up her mind as she stepped close to Darrien and placed a hand on his shoulder, a small minuscule tremor reaching her hand even though the rest of her stayed calm. “I think we have what we need; let’s go already.” Angel replied having stuck the piece of gum to the side of her mouth so she could talk properly. Darrien freezes, not a muscle moving. Typhon holds his breath in with a smile in exaggerated anticipation. After a few more seconds, Darrien reluctantly lets go and stands up straight, still looking. Typhon shook his head, still smiling, before turning his head as if talking to his shoulder. "I could've sworn he was gonna break his finger. I know, me too! I think he should've." Sean talked to himself quietly.

Angel sighed before taking her hand away and heading for the door. Darrien stares him down for a couple of seconds longer. Typhon just gives him a stupid grin. "Go get 'em, tiger." He motioned his head to the door. Darrien turns and follows Angel out the door, but not before hearing one more line from Sean. "No, it was beauty who killed the beast..." He quotes quietly and chuckles. Once out of the room, Angel felt like she could take a thousand breaths of fresh air, but she didn’t elaborate on that.

She then turned to Darrien after he shut the door behind him. “So Museum, the word hot and aquarium, should we let the higher-ups know?” Angel asked choosing to stay on task than dwell on any inner turmoil.

“Yes and no, we are going ourselves; fewer problems that way.” Darrien replied looking over his charge simply. “Are you alright?”

Angel frowned unsure if that was the best approach but she trusted him so she didnt question it. “Yeah I guess…what about you?” She questioned in return while returning that device. “I’m fine; I’ve dealt with him before; this was no different than before.” He replied almost a little too quickly. Angel frowned not fully believing him considering she was present and that was a big difference. “Alright, so the Museum?” Angel asked as Darrien started to lead them both to the car park.

“Yep, but not the aquarium exhibit; that would be a trap if we had the higher-ups send anyone else.” Darrien explained as they went. “Right I figured that much with the emphasis on the word Hot. Maybe the volcano exhibit?” Angel offered in thought. “More like the boiler room underneath the museum.” Darrien replied as they got to his car and he got in the driver's seat. 

Angel got in next to him and hummed in understanding before getting quiet as he drove them out of HQ. Darrien noticed the change easily. Darrien looks at Angel for a second, followed by a grim expression. "....Are you afraid of me?"

Angel turned and glared at him incredulously. “hell no, you're not a monster Darrien, and there's nothing some psychopath or anything else in this world that can change my mind of that; everyone else may see you as one, but not. me. “Angel replied heatedly a few angry tears escaping her eyes. “I will never be afraid of you…”

"You're right not to be afraid of me, but I am a monster. And that... is something I hope you never realize..." 

“It won’t because you're not one, not to me. ” Angel replied stubbornly, turning back to the door.”...can I ask you something?”

"Of course." He replies simply.

“Why’d you keep going and how did I get through to you enough to let go?”Angel asked looking at him.

Darrien doesn't hesitate with the first answer. "I wanted to see how far it would go before he cried, uncle. And well, I could tell it was scaring you..."

“It wasn’t that, it was because he was getting to you, I heard what he said before it went further, about me being next...that affected you...didn’t it?”

He didn't understand his own reaction himself, but he wanted to give an answer regardless. "He can't get to me. When it comes to mind games, I'm as strong as him. I was just shutting him up. Plus, I could tell he was getting to you a little. So I had to do something, and I got carried away."

Angel sighed “Yes it was, but you don’t know why you got carried away, do you?”

"I can't lie; I like seeing the guy hurt." He replies bluntly.

“Well...can’t fault you there.” Angel replied satisfied and more ready to take on whatever came their way.

END.

[goonlalagoon]

The stars must look on forever || Second Star to the Left

Bell Summers is supposed to be minding three Scouts.

Three months in, Gwendolyn Hartley hasn’t answered a single one of their calls, and all they can think is maybe I already failed. When the comms finally spark to life, they almost fall off of their chair in relief even as they snap accusing protocol down the line because it’s better than saying thank god thank god thank god you’re alive thank god you’re okay to a stranger.

It’s a thought that will repeat.

Read on Ao3

(Spoilers through to end of ep. 10 below)

Stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active part in anything, they must just look on for ever. It is a punishment put on them for something they did so long ago that no star now knows what it was.

- J.M. Barrie Peter Pan

When they receive the data packet detailing their three assigned scouts, Bell spends the whole night curled up reading through every detail, narrating key details to Gigo. They’ll read it all again in the morning, and again a few weeks later, and again the night before landfall, until they’ve memorised it - the scant personal details, names and pronouns and birthdates, the more detailed medical records (you can’t monitor someone’s physical condition without knowing the baseline, without knowing that Mikail mustn’t eat tomatoes and the schedule for when Hartley has to do regular maintenance on her prosthesis), the dense reports on what’s known of their destination planets. They use up highlighters and scrawl on post it notes.

Strictly, it isn’t Bell’s job to know the first thing about the planets beyond the elevator summary, but they were a scout before they were a minder. The structure of the dossier hasn’t changed a bit, and they absorb it all. They don’t know what they missed, on their failed expedition, but they won’t let it happen again. They can’t.

Priyanka isn’t a surprise; they knew that strings were being pulled specifically to line them up to be the assigned minder for Pri’s mission, because Pri’s uncle knew that if it came down to it Summers would burn every tenuous bridge they’d managed to rebuild to get her off the planet, and damn the consequences. They’re all so, so proud of Pri for getting through training, for being clever enough and strong enough and driven enough to make it, and they’re so worried too. Bell would burn any bridges, of course they would, but not every danger has enough of a time window to drag resources into place.

Mikail on paper seems promising - when his comms unit splutters into life as he’s speeding through the stars, months into the first year of expected isolation, he seems promisingly eccentric. He’s a cheerful rambler to Pri’s quiet snark, chattering about the reading he’s doing and the experiments he ran on the side back in training. They listen, gauge his wellbeing and start the slow work of building up trust, and try to ignore the smile tugging at their lips. This burring curiosity would serve him well, they think in the early days, exploring and studying and mapping out a whole new planet, so long as it didn’t kill him. It was their job to make sure it didn’t, that he remembered to eat and sleep and build proper shelters. That he remembered he couldn’t live off of curiosity and scientific glee alone.

Hartley doesn’t respond at all.

Bell checks all of the reports they can, to see if the signal is disrupted or there’s any suggestion that there’s been a technical issue, but everything shows up as working. They can see readouts of Hartley’s vitals, pulse rate and oxygen levels, so they know she’s alive. Probably. If one thing has gone wrong with the shuttle, who knows what other bizarre glitches may have cropped up.

They tell themselves that everything is fine, that there must just be a wire loose in the radio unit or, much more likely, Hartley has just decided that she doesn’t need a scout-minder and wants to go solo, has decided that Summers is an unnecessary and patronising addition to the mission. They submit false reports on Hartley’s well being, because they have absolutely no issue with lying to their superiors when they know the consequences for revealing that one of their three scouts has gone radio silent before even making landfall.

They talk to Pri and Mikail regularly, review condition reports on all three of them, ping Hartley every day and get no response.

They tell themselves that everything is fine.

  Bell Summers is supposed to be minding three Scouts. 

Three months in Gwendolyn Hartley hasn’t answered a single one of their calls, and all they can think is maybe I already failed. When the comms finally spark to life, they almost fall off of their chair in relief even as they snap accusing protocol down the line because it’s better than saying thank god thank god thank god you’re alive thank god you’re okay to a stranger.

It’s a thought that will repeat.

  Retrieving your scout bot hadn’t been a tradition for Bell’s local program. They wonder if it’s one that other programs have, or if it’s just Hartley’s program, one of the small, unofficial differences that most of the time no-one ever knows about. It’s not like scouts regularly get the chance to compare notes outside of their cohort.

 If they kept to their class promise, Pri and Mikail had been familiar enough with their minder after three months to not inform them of where they were going - neither of them were in the habit of thinking aloud to their bots, either, which would have made it easier to hide that they weren’t strictly following protocol. Gwen was defiantly independent, uncaring of her unexpected monitoring, and Bell wanted to cheer her on and reign her in at the same time.

 They guess most places have a tradition or two, some secret pact amongst scouts who are pointing themselves out to the stars and seeing where they land. Something to tether you, when you set foot on a new planet and know you’re on your own, something that ties you back to the people you left behind. Bell takes a moment to be grateful that their pact hadn’t been quite so risky; instead of venturing out into the unknown before even setting up a shelter, they had sworn to wake up early, ignoring all the schedules and warnings and automated messages prompting them to get their full six hours - find somewhere high and climb up to watch the first sunrise on planet.

 They’d scraped the skin off their palms clambering to their highest point, winced as they cradled the thermos they’d carried up with them and the warmth stung the broken skin. The ground had been damp, seeping through the seat of their trousers, a bite to the air that made their nose run, but they’d done it. They’d pointed Gigo in the right direction to record the sight, this first dawn over a new horizon, the first day of their new life.

 Despite everything that happened, the nightmare things had turned into, the bitter taste on the back of their throat whenever they think back to the way it had gone, it’s a memory that brings a smile to their face even as they scold. It’s a memory that they might not have thought to be precisely worth it, if they’d known at the start what they’d learned by the end, but it’s a memory they cling to all the same.

 They can’t help but be a little glad that there’s some kind of tradition for Gwen, too, even as they worry aloud about structures and protocols and whether Hartley is going to have the shelters up in time.

 The shelters have air filtration built in, have temperature regulation, and are designed to withstand the harshest of conditions. If everything turns to dust, they think the shelters will keep their scouts alive for long enough to find a solution.

  They direct all three of their scouts to build an emergency beacon, the one deviation from the protocols that Bell told themselves at the start that they’d not only permit but encourage - no, insist upon.

 The union had fought so hard for assigned minders, for check ins on alternate days and a reliable source of human contact, citing studies of mental well-being and the importance of support networks, but it all went one way. Bell would call their three charges every other day, talk to them or listen in as they went about their business for the mandated four hours, and review any data packets the scouts copied them into when they were sent out to home office - to monitor for adhesion to proper protocol, for signs of strain, and for their own scientific curiosity. The scouts would answer the call, update them, then be stuck waiting a day and a half for the next call. If there was an emergency, they would have no way to reach out, to ask for help.

 If something happened, Bell wouldn’t know until they tried to call and no-one answered.

 The beacons meant that the scouts could at least ping them, a request for contact that would tell Bell to drop everything and grab their headset. With a few quick instructions, the beacon could be altered - honestly, any of the scouts probably knew enough engineering to figure it out themselves - so that it wasn’t locked to just the one frequency.

 If there was an emergency, if their scouts were let down by all official channels, Bell wanted them to be able to reach out to anyone else who might listen, to have the choice to burn their own bridges for the sake of living. They thought, sometimes, that if it had just been them they wouldn’t have called on the smugglers, but they wouldn’t ask the same of these three scouts; looking through the dossiers, curled into a narrow bunk on a half decrepit station, Bell had already known that they’d beg them to do whatever it took to survive.

 It’s not even that they’re that much younger than Bell - only a few years their junior - but they seem it. They seem so painfully young, practically children for all that they’re in their twenties. Still caught in the excitement of it, lost children pointing themselves at the stars and planning to map it all by hand.

 Bell had been that young, once, before everything - before they spent years alone on a planet, before they were told your lives aren’t worth saving and turned around to save them anyway, before all of the ongoing consequences of that choice drove the knife that much deeper.

  What are you going to do if something goes wrong? snipes scout Hartley, her first day on planet as she’s standing on shaky legs, leaning on Boots because she managed to get bitten by something venomous on her little jaunt into the undergrowth. Listen?

  Bell splutters something back, because they know how useful this can be - someone to talk to, someone to do research when you’re stuck, knowing that someone picked up the phone and heard you out. Knowing that someone out there will notice, if you disappear for good.

 They don’t sleep well, staring at the ceiling over their bunk, thinking. They know it can help - they know they can help, that Hartley would probably be a lot more inclined to listen if she knew that her minder had walked this road themselves - but they can’t hide from the harsh truth.

 If it comes to it, if one of these three scouts finds themselves trapped in an apocalypse, sends up a beacon to say it’s all falling apart and I have no way out - all they can do is listen, and hope it’s enough.

  Priyanka falls ill, and they don’t notice.

 Pri has been important to them for years, but they’ve never been close, exactly. They know each other mostly from stories shared by Pri’s uncle, and there’s a level of familiarty that you don’t get from those kinds of tales, from a few months’ worth of regular check ins. Hartley notices, sees something amiss between the lines of the letters Pri sends her, and she does the only thing she can, flags it to their shared scout-minder - she does the only thing she can and speaks up, hoping that someone will listen.

 Bell wonders, later, once Gwen has been proven terribly right, if maybe this is the first time that Hartley has thought of their presence as anything other than an annoyance. Pri, once she got over the change in expectations, had been glad to have a semi-familiar presence on the line, someone who she could trade family gossip with when she felt like it and had worked out an agreement with for the time when she didn’t want to bother with conversation, and Mikail had been cheerful enough from the start to have someone to talk to about all his ideas and findings, but Hartley had always seemed - resentful, maybe, like having Bell shatter her solitude was unwelcome, for all that she seemed to agree with the union on the practicalities of providing a life line of contact.

 Pri fell ill, and Bell didn’t notice.

 They remind themselves, over and over, that it hadn’t been obvious. Gwen, Mikail and Pri had studied together for years, lived in each other’s pockets as they made the same harsh choice to leave everything they knew behind with no guarantee they’d ever be able to get any of it back. It makes sense that Gwen had seen something Bell didn’t, they know it makes sense, but they can’t keep from going back over every report, replaying every conversation, trying to pick up the hints of a change that they hadn’t seen.

 What else would they miss?

  They lose Mikail to a storm, nothing but static when they try again and again to call. Bell hunches over their monitor in their tiny cubicle, punching buttons with fingers that want to shake, hoping that if they try just once more it will go through. They’d known the risks, all of them, of course they had, but -

 This was what they’d feared most, when they took the job. If a planet collapsed, if it came to it, they had strings they could pull with the smugglers, had learned already where they drew the line. The worst news they’d expected to have to deliver would have been bad news, the settlement office doesn’t care about you at all and won’t cough up any of their copious spare change to save you, but good news I’ve got some friends on their way, so sit tight and keep the line open. But they’d known the statistics for scout missions; they’d known that they’d be stuck on one end of a line through accidents, through unforeseen dangers.

 Bell had wondered, on sleepless nights, what they would do if they called one of their scouts and got nothing in return. They’d thought they would have gotten used to it, what with Hartley turning off all comms for literal months before they finally made contact, but this was different. At least with the shuttles they’d had the readouts, vital signs and tracking, to guess that things were probably okay.

 Mikail was just gone, and they thought about what Gwen had told them, what Mikail had never mentioned directly for all his endless chatter - of all the scouts, of all the planets, they’d sent the one who hated water and despised swimming to a place he couldn’t escape the sea.

 They had never met their scouts, but they had seen them in photos. There hadn’t been pictures included in their briefing information because it wasn’t necessary, but Bell had wanted a mental image of the people they were speaking to, so they’d looked up the relevant records in the system. Pri they’d seen in pictures before, shared by a proud uncle, but Gwen and Mikail had just been names with attached heights and weights until they called up the photos attached to their official IDs.

 It meant they could imagine - Mikail, on his island, frowning at the waves and smiling at his scans. Mikail, caught in the water, washed away in a storm surge - they see it, over and over, whenever they try to sleep.

 The beacon pinging them is so unexpected that they think for a moment they may be dreaming. They’d thought it too late, that everything must have been washed away along with their scout, but here he is reaching out to them. The emergency, against protocol backdoor channel that they’d insisted on was doing its job, and they were so glad. They drop everything, as promised, as planned, and when Mikail’s voice come through their headset they bury their face in their hands, even while they fight to keep their voice even.

 What else had they missed? Pri, poisoned by something in the air that crept into her system and twisted her brain in circles. Mikail had been quietly studying an alien species without mentioning it, had learned enough to make a call that they wish he didn’t feel he had to make.

 They lose Mikail to the sea, after all.

 That he was choosing to dive and keep swimming helped, but they lose him all the same.

  Gwen’s planet lights itself on fire, and all they can do is listen.

 They wonder, somewhere in the midst of the panic they’re fighting not to allow to bleed through into their voice, if this is some kind of punishment. If this is another penalty, some kind of justice, you let your settlers down and now you have to be stuck watching, always watching and never able to do anything useful.

 They’d been stuck listening as Pri struggled to diagnose the changes to her own brain, to the silence on the end of the line when Mikail was swept away, to the quiet certainty of his decisions after that. They’re stuck listening once more as Gwen runs back into the oncoming fire to get their maintenance kit, because if she leaves it behind there’s little enough point surviving anyway.

 They don’t know who they think it’s a punishment from, and they don’t voice the thought because they know it isn’t, really. They do. Bell knows, as well as anyone, that knowing someone is listening even if there’s nothing to be done can mean everything.

 But it seems like so little, one hand clutching the edge of their wobbly desk in their narrow cubicle to ground themselves, pressing their headset closer to their ear like that will somehow help, like being a millimetre closer to the ear-piece can make a difference to Gwen as she tries to outrun a wildfire. It seems like so little, to be able to only promise to pass on any messages that Gwen wants, to swear they won’t stop until they’re delivered, if they’re the last words Gwen ever gets to say.

 It seems like so little, and that’s before they learn the truth, learn that Peter will never read any of the letters.

 Peter has been dead the whole time, and later Bell will think they should have guessed - neither Mikail or Pri had mentioned him much at all, even when Mikail had been listing off who he wished he could talk to about his decision, the limited handful of people who he wanted to be told the truth if it was safe to. Gwen had never shared a single snippet of a letter from Peter, for all she repeated gossip about her sister and stories from her other friends on their own missions, and Bell thinks they should have guessed from that alone rather than assuming it was just too private.

 They hadn’t - they hadn’t thought they knew everything about Hartley, of course they hadn’t, but Gwen narrated her day to Boots and, by extension, Bell whenever they called. They’d thought that Gwen was the one they weren’t missing anything from - no unrecognized illness, no secret alien encounters.

 Just a grief they hadn’t known she was carrying, a loss she was still learning to live with.

 They think maybe they know, now, why Gwen had been so reluctant to have a voice in her ear, that first day, setting out to rescue a scout bot she’d sworn to retrieve. Why it had mattered so much that this was her first achievement, once her boots touched the ground of that alien planet for the first time.

 Gwen’s planet is burning and neither of them know what she’ll have left in the world when it dies down, so Bell does the only thing they can and tries to fill the uncertain silence with a story to hold on to.

  When Amelia lays out gleeful threats, promises of justice, it’s Gwen that Bell calls.

 Their head has been spinning since they hacked into the archives - they’d bought into the conspiracy theory, somehow, half convinced themselves there was a big reason for what had happened, something that would answer all the questions they’d lived with for years. Something that could ease the burden of guilt on their shoulders and caught at the back of their throat.

 Well, they had their answer: a skipped scan. A check they forgot, let slide because they were busy, a protocol they set aside to juggle other things - yet another warning sign they’d missed.

 Gwen insists otherwise, points out the ways they can’t be blamed, the way they wouldn’t blame any of their scouts if positions were changed. Points out that maybe it wasn’t a conspiracy, but there’s still something dodgy going on. There’s still something here - in the way these records are hidden, restricted, when they should be public record.

 If there was nothing here more damning than the record of what Bell missed and the price their settlers paid - it would be a cautionary tale, something held up in class for the overconfident new scouts: here’s why you should stick to protocol, kids, even when it seems pointless. This is why you can’t get complacent, get comfortable, can’t trust that after five years you know everything about your planet and you can relax.

 But it’s hidden, and they refuse to let that stand. They’ve wondered, so often over the years, if being made to do nothing but listen helplessly is the punishment for whatever mistakes they made. They know that’s what their employers think, those in the know about their history, shaking their heads and murmuring about how at least this once-promising scout can put their training to use. Those that can do, do, and those that can’t, teach. Or, as the case may be, listen.

 They listened, and they know that mattered.

 They listened when Hartley raised concerns, pushed for scans and tests to uncover what was ailing Pri, what could be done to save her. They listened to Mikail when he begged to be declared dead, gone, pleaded for them to be the one to break his family’s hearts because he couldn’t stand to be the reason his planet and its people were destroyed. They listened to Gwen while her home burned, talked to her through the panicked flight and the post-adrenaline slump.

 Sometimes all you can do is speak, and hope someone is listening.

  Twenty years for the murder of someone still alive. There’s an irony there, but they’re not sure they appreciate the joke. Less for good behaviour, so they try to curb their tongue, suppress the urge to fix things and instead try to maintain a stoic silence when they want to stand up to anyone who thinks to shove them around.

 After the first time they throw a punch in prison, because someone crosses a line and it’s all too much, because they can’t let it slide and still be them - it occurs to them, bandaging up bruised knuckles and wondering if they tell Gwen about this or try (and probably fail) to hide it, that it doesn’t matter.

 They aren’t here because the people in charge really think they committed murder – no unbiased court could look at assembled an emergency beacon out of spare parts and scout who hated swimming drowned after his entire camp was destroyed in a massive storm and conclude that it was remotely related, let alone intentional: they’re here because when they were told the price of freedom was lying to – lying about - their settlers, denying their dead justice, they said not a chance in hell.

 This isn’t a flawed attempt at justice, this is a punishment.

 They won’t be allowed out early, even if they’re the perfect prisoner. They have to live with this, and if that means getting a few bruises and scraped knuckles - well. They’ve never been afraid of a fight, and they weren’t the best at following the rules even before they realised just how little anyone in power cared.

 Gwen writes to them, and they can’t help checking in - are the crops growing, is her leg holding up, has she done her monthly environment scans (yes, yes, and of course, Bell) - all of the questions they had written out years ago to cover in regular check ins.

 They wonder who has taken over as scout-minder, who’s talking Pri through her newfound challenges as best they can without stepping too much on her fiercely independent toes and trying to figure out the change in cadence that signifies Hartley has switched to talking to Boots rather than whoever is on the line. They wonder if anyone is trying periodically to ping Mikail, hoping against hope that this time he’ll answer, that by some miracle he survived (they wonder if he’s figured out how to get his own messages to Gwen, once he realised that conference calls had always been an option except for bureaucratic limitations)

 They’re checking in, lists of questions and signs to watch out for briefed to them in advance, but they’d ask anyway, even if they’d never been told to ask.

 This stopped being about making sure that the scouts who’d had so much money and time invested into them remained at optimum performance sometime around the first time the call connected and they were taken on a completely out of protocol wander through Gwen’s new home in search of a defunct scout bot and a new horizon.

  They’ve come a long way, since the first long weeks of trying and failing to reach the third of their assigned scouts over the comms, since the first time Gwen picked up the call to discover that instead of an automated message she had a live - and somewhat irate - scout-minder waiting on the other end of the line.

 Bell knows that there’s no point trying to call until the ship is in sight of the planet, that they won’t have the signal or the range to reach Gwen until it’s a matter of hours before they meet face to face. They try anyway, thinking with retrospective fondness of the first three months, calling a number that never picked up no matter how often they tried.

 They wonder what’s going on, on planet.

 This is the first time they’ve been out of contact from Gwen since the first relieved moment when a call went through, when Scout Hartley made landfall and resigned herself to turning the computer and all its notifications back on. Bell thought at the time that being stuck just listening was bad, but they never thought they’d have months with no contact at all, no way of knowing. Everything had seemed fine, and the settlement ship was en route, but they knew how quickly things could deteriorate.

 Then again, Hartley had managed to coordinate a prison break remotely and apparently undetected despite using official comms channels to do it under the settlement offices’ collective noses. She was probably fine and managing to do a lot of impressive and yet wildly off protocol things that would delight and exasperate Bell in equal quantity.

 Honestly, Bell would like to say they’re surprised that this is the kind of woman they fall in love with, but they’re not; they’re years past lying to themselves like that.

 The planet comes into view, and they reach for their headset again. In a matter of hours, it won’t matter - neither of them will be stuck just listening, offering up ideas and research and stories to carry each other through, calling for help and hoping someone pays attention.

 But for now, the comms unit splutters, Gwen’s voice filling the storage bay they’re illicitly camped out in, and Bell presses the headset closer to her ear like that will help them hear more clearly, will make it easier to know for sure that Gwen is really okay, unsuspected and untouched by the fallout.

 I’ll see you on the ground, they promise, a distant star falling to the earth at last, and watch the horizon come into view.

[hellsenthero]

Indistinct | Chapter 1

Written by: hellsenthero

Bucky X Reader

As a shapeshifter you’ve done some heavy spy work, jobs that no one else is capable of. It’s what you’re used to but it’s no longer where you’re needed for. Now after years of working solo SHIELD has assigned you as part of the Avengers and it’s there that you’ll face your most difficult times. But maybe with the help of a certain dark haired, blue eyed super soldier that you have a history with, things won’t be so bad...right? 

Indistinct Masterlist (Series is complete.) < Chapter 1 current > Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. 

Main Masterlist 

Warnings/themes: Language, flangst. (1.4K Words.) Y/S/C = Your skin colour.

**********

“Welcome to the team.” Sitting in the briefing room of the Avengers Compound Y/N looks over her new comrades, the Avengers. 

“Thanks,” she nods her head at Tony who stands on the other end of the glass table, the rest of the team remaining sitting. 

Y/N had been working for SHIELD on different missions for years, never with the Avengers, always on her own. As a shapeshifter there was no cap on how many different people she could turn into, making missions that required infiltrating enemy compounds rather easy. Now, Fury has finally decided that with years of solo missions she was no longer just a spy. Y/N was finally ready for a team and for bigger, messier missions.  

“You’ll get to learn the hang of things here, the schedule. Mostly we just train with each other and hang out in the lounge when we’re not on missions.” Y/N looks over to Captain America who sits at her right, his full lips turned up into a welcoming smile. 

“Would I be able to train with some of you now?” Y/N asks, her eyes roaming over her teammates. Natasha lets out a laugh, leaning back in her seat as she points a finger towards Y/N. 

“I like you already, Y/N.” 

“You can train with me.” Looking to her left Y/N’s gaze locks on the Winter Soldier, who up until this point hadn’t spoken a single word during the meeting. His blue gaze stays locked on the shapeshifter until she gives him a shallow nod. 

“Sure.” Y/N had heard a lot about the Avengers over the years and certainly about the Winter Soldier. A man brainwashed by Hydra to kill hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. The metal fist of Hydra who now worked for SHIELD with his best friend, Captain America. 

“I’m still confused.” Sam piped up. 

“I’m not surprised.” Tony mumbled from where he stood. Sam gave him a side eye before turning to face Y/N, looking into a face that was almost her own. 

As a shapeshifter the woman’s natural form didn’t look like most people. Her body was her own, the same natural Y/S/C skin she was born with, her face the same shape it always was, but Y/N’s eyes were pure white, no iris or pupil to be seen, her hair matching the surprising look of it all. It was a look she rarely wore, a look that when Y/N did wear it it left her feeling open and vulnerable. So she didn’t wear it, especially not on the first day of a new job. Today she chose hazel eyes and honey blonde hair, tomorrow she might stay the same or choose curly black hair and brown eyes or long red hair and blue eyes, the combinations were endless. 

“I don’t get the whole human shapeshifter thing,” Sam went on, looking into the hazel eyes that were not Y/n’s own, “you can really change to look like anyone?” The woman’s lips pulled up into a smirk as she began to shift in her seat. A painful process but one she’d gotten used to many years ago. 

“Does this answer your question?” She asks, for starting back at Sam was no longer Y/N, the girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes, but it was himself. And as Sam’s eyes roamed over her he couldn’t find a single thing out of place. 

“Jesus, that’s…”

“Creepy?” Y/N supplied.

“Yeah,” he answers with a laugh, his hand coming to rub at the back of his neck. Y/N nods her head, a small smile of her own gracing her face as she shift’s back into her earlier look. She’d gotten used to the many different types of reactions people got when they saw her shift, Sam’s being one of the better ones. 

The sound of a chair scraping against the floor draws Y/N’s attention to Bucky who stands up from his seat. 

“If we’re done here we should get to training.” Bucky’s voice rumbles through the room. His lips are pressed into a thin line, his blue eyes revealing nothing about his thoughts or feelings as he stares down at Y/N but she doesn’t have any issue with his stoicism. As a man previously brainwashed for years she could understand his lack of warmth to strangers. Though, the woman wasn’t exactly a stranger to him, a fact Y/n knew Bucky had no clue about. A quick look at Tony has him waving the pair off, silently telling them the meeting is over with. Getting up the woman let’s Bucky lead her from the room and towards the training room. 

Peering down at her outfit of spandex Y/N’s glad she chose fitness wear for the day on the hunch that she’d get in some exercise after the meeting. 

“Did we ever meet before?” Bucky’s question takes Y/N by surprise. She looks up at him to find his hard stare already on her. “Maybe when you wore a different face?” Y/N hesitated for only a moment before answering. 

“No.” With a sharp nod Bucky looks away from her, content with the lie she’d fed him. 

It had been ten years ago, back when he was still the Winter Soldier that she’d first met him. A time where Y/N was in a dark place, a place she preferred to shove back and never think about again. 

“Specialties?” Bucky asks as he opens up the glass training room doors. 

“Hand to hand combat and knives.”

“Good, then we’re going to spar.” Neither Avenger bothers up with a warm up as they head to the sparring ring. Getting into their fight positions the door opens back up, a horde of people entering the gym distracts them both. 

“Hey now,” Tony begins, putting his hands up in the air by his head, “don’t let us distract you two, we just want to watch.” With a shake of their heads Bucky and Y/N look away and back at each other, their stares hard.

“This will be interesting.” Sam mumbles from his spot by the door. 

Bucky makes the first move, a right handed swing that Y/N easily dodges. Any chatter going on between the rest of the team becomes a distant buzz to both Bucky and Y/N as they fight. 

Swing, dodge, kick, dodge, lunge, dodge. 

Neither one if the fighters has landed a hit, the pair being too evenly matched. 

Kick, dodge, uppercut, dodge, punch--

“Fuck!” Bucky’s metal fist comes swinging too fast for Y/N to dodge, the powerful blow to her chest knocking the wind out of her. His hand grabs onto her arm, twisting it behind her back as he goes to land the killing blow-- and it’s stopped. Y/N twists at an unnatural angle, her leg sweeping out to knock Bucky’s feet out from under him. By the time he hits the floor she’s straddled atop him, her hand at his neck being the killing blow. Bucky’s blue eyes are wide, shocked as he looks her over. The rest of the team hoots and hollers from the sidelines as the fight has come to an end. Bucky’s wide eyes harden, his lips pressing together tightly. 

“You fight like Hydra.” He growls out, his metal hand grasping on tightly to the hand Y/N still has at his neck. Y/N stay’s silent, watching the realization come across Bucky’s face at who she is. A loud gasp escapes him, “you-” Y/N cuts him off with a nod.  

“I trained you at Hydra, Bucky.” 

__________

This is chapter one of my new series, Indistinct. I plan for this story to be roughly five chapters though that may change. This post will be updated with a link to the next chapter once chapter two has been uploaded. 

[sanababes]

Golden Child (II)

= twiceblackvelvet x fem!reader

(a/n: YES!! after 6 months of waiting LMAO im finally updating golden child which some of you really liked it uwuwuwu~ enjoy hihi! even though i know it's not that great-)

------

"Since we have a new student today, I'm planning to carry out a Battle Trial for all of you."

Mr. Ok announced with a pleasing smile on his face. The class started to shout and cheer loudly which made your eyebrows furrow as you never know how the sudden event works. On the other hand, Sana was also happy at your adviser's news but seeing your reaction, she had a hunch that you probably had no idea what it was about.

"Uhm, if you're wondering what a Battle Trial is, it's like a test? We'll be grouped into different numbers of teams and that's how the combat will begin!" the girl said with enthusiasm.

You just nodded and thanked the latter before turning your eyes away from her captivating aura, it was something too much you can handle. Nevertheless, you decided to just relax until a harsh ball of wind smacks your head abruptly. You almost fell off your chair but luckily Sana had caught your arm on time, and if she didn't, you would probably be known as a newcomer who lets herself plummet down the floor of her classroom. Don't forget, you're the renowned 'Golden Child' too... Imagine how embarrassing that could be.

"Lalisa Manoban, you little bitc–"

Before you could curse the hell out of her, Mr. Ok had spoken up once again, "It seems like we're all ready… Shall we head to the Gym Gamma?"

The class answered 'yes' in unison before they made a beeline outside of the room. You could hear Lisa snickering behind your back which made you grumble under your breath, you faced the latter quickly and guided your right hand over her wrists. You created an ice chain around it before smirking playfully.

"Get lost."

---

After arriving at the said training area, Mr. Ok immediately ushers all of you to change into your own training suits. Sana never left your side too as you and your classmates walked to the large cemented stadium. 

Then the boys and girls were divided at the moment, each of them changing from their uniforms into their own training outfits. You went ahead to the lockers nearby and scanned through the assigned names of each compartment just to find yours. After a while, you finally saw it by the farthest end and immediately pushed the password in. A blue tracksuit was provided inside the compartment and there's a few hygiene supplies in a small pouch. You shrugged your shoulders nonchalantly before grabbing the suit and undoing the first few buttons of your blouse.

"I would appreciate it if you would like to show off your body, Kang." you recognized your cousin's voice. 

"But do it when we're alone, okay?" 

You chuckled at her tone as you faced Dahyun who was already dressed in her own suit. You gave her a pat on the cheek before whispering, "Got it, Miss Kim."

She pushed you playfully into one of the partitions which successfully got you to start changing your clothes, decently.

Dahyun waited for you, and after a few minutes, you finally got out and thanked the latter. She puts her arm around your shoulder before pulling you out of the dressing room. 

"So~ How have you been doing lately?" she beams while the two of you regrouped with the other students.

"Hmm, I'm doing great," you replied. "Still sulking about this whole school and shit…"

She chuckled at your sudden change of mood, "You know how mischievous your sister is, and you wouldn't even realize it. And maybe… you can even learn more about your mother if you study here."

You just nodded languidly.

'Right... I should know more about the Mistress.'

"Everyone! Please gather around the center please!" Mr. Ok yells with excitement as he clasps his hands together.

All of the students followed their adviser's order as they stood in the middle of the stadium. You slipped your hands inside the pockets of your suit before glancing at Lisa who's currently chatting with a certain brunette.

You watched them closely, noticing the cat-like eyes of the other girl which looks significantly familiar. Nevertheless, you huffed out a sigh before moving your attention away from the two.

"Before officially starting our Battle Trial, I would like to call out our dear Class Representative," the studly man stated, then a girl immediately struts beside Mr. Ok. which made your eyebrow raise with interest.

"Sassy…" you muttered under your breath which earned a hit on your shoulder from the pale skinned girl by your side.

"For the one who's new, Im Nayeon is the name." the girl remarked as she gave you a look that you couldn't comprehend.

You bowed your head slightly and gave her a fake smile, the latter dismissed it quickly by continuing what she was tasked to say.

"Our class will be grouped to Mr. Ok's choices of teams and the fight will begin as soon as possible," Nayeon said eloquently. "Your team's main goal is just to avoid being knocked out or you could be the one who will knock your enemies out. That's all, and I wish you guys to do your best."

Your classmates started to holler around, giving the Class Rep an earnest attention. The certain latter just grins arrogantly before folding her arms onto her chest.

"Okay, moving on! Shall I start picking all of the teams?"

Mr. Ok's mouth curves in a slightest hint of smirk. But that alone, makes chills run down on your spine.

'Ahh shit, just what the hell is this fine man planning…'

"Starting off with--" teams were started to be formed, ranging from solos, duos, and trios. Coincidentally, you were grouped with that cat-eyed girl from earlier and a boy whom you never met before. They stood awkwardly, clearly keeping an obvious distance from your alluring frame. This made you chuckle quietly as you decided to greet them politely, "Uhm, hello. I'm Y/n and please, make yourselves comfortable."

Both of their eyes widen as the boy scrambles to acknowledge your sudden greetings. Meanwhile, the girl pulls herself together and just gives you a simple smile, "You can call me Jennie. By the way, I heard a lot about you from Lisa."

"Ahh, I see. That weirdo must have told you some unnecessary things as well so I would like to apologize in advance." your statement made Jennie laugh softly before she lifts one of her hands and waves it dismissively. "Don't worry, those things would be exclusive between the three of us only."

You just nodded sheepishly and changed the topic, "And you are–"

"Oh! Right, how rude of me. I'm Chan and I hope we'll be good friends from now on, mate." you gave him a passive smile and gladly accepted his friendly aspiration.

The three of you started to chat smoothly after that short introduction with each other. You learned that Jennie's quirk is Perfect Aim while Chan's quirk is Vibrate. Jennie further explained that her quirk allows her to use any weapon with accuracy in an agile manner, then Chan also explained that his quirk allows him to generate vibration or shockwaves through any kind of medium.

You instantly try to analyze their weaknesses whilst formulating a strategy in your head that could helpfully put your team at an advantage. Then, you proceeded to explain your quirk to them, the two of them were secretly doubting your power as you never showed it to the public. Nevertheless, they have no choice but to trust you in this round of the Battle Trial.

---

"Calling the next contenders!" Mr. Ok calls out. "Jennie, Y/n, and Chan versus Nayeon, Ten, and Gahyeon."

The six of you immediately walked inside the cemented platform. You glanced at your teammates and thankfully, they seemed pumped up which made you feel a little at ease. Your other classmates began to murmur as they were in awe due to the incoming line-up of contenders, with Nayeon being one of the top 5 students of Leidenschaft Univeristy, with you being the 'Golden Child', and the rest being one of the best students in Class 1-A. 

You reached down to your waist and unclipped your beloved metal mask from one of the hooks of your training pants. It was an essential equipment that you need while full-on using your quirk as it regulates your respiration, this was recommended for you to use because you often have a hard time breathing when utilizing your abilities without using your mask.

"Please prepare your stance," Mr. Ok said as he slips the whistle between his lips. "The round will begin  in 3…"

"2…" you exhaled heavily before heightening your senses.

"1…" a smirk started to form in the corner of your lips.

"START!"

A growl of thunder erupted from outside of the stadium, then you quickly picked up the change of color in Nayeon's eyes. Her orbs shined in yellow as she blasted a large charge of lightning towards your direction. You barely blocked her attack, instantly forming a shield of glaciers from the weight of your right foot. 

You hoisted yourself sideways and began blasting ice balls towards the latter. One of them successfully hit her leg which gave you a chance to check on Jennie and Chan's situation. They were doing quite fine as Gahyeon and Jennie were against each other while that goes the same with Ten and Chan.

"Hey! I'm the one you're fighting with right now, you know," Nayeon taunted as she forms a makeshift lightning sword and swiftly jabbed it to your chest. 

You groaned at the buzzing sensation spreading throughout your body, nevertheless, it didn't last long which made the spectators by the side gasp in surprise. Nayeon was strong as hell, and no one could last from her electrocution if she applied it thoroughly.

"Nice try, Nayeon-ssi." you grinned smugly before grabbing her forearm and freezing her whole dominant arm. "But I don't think charging such low strength can bring me down just like how you think it is," you crossed your left feet into her right ankle and quickly pushed her over.

The shocked bunny-like girl was caught off guard which resulted in the two of you toppling down to the ground. In the spur of the moment, your left hand held the back of her head so it wouldn't hurt Nayeon so much since the fall itself was pretty rough.

FWEET!!!

The sound of Mr. Ok's whistle resonated loudly but it didn't make you or Nayeon budge from the intense gaze that the two of you are sharing. Her piercing glare sent shivers down your spine but you didn't let her take over, your eyes reflected a nonchalant and unbothered look which triggered the latter's growing anger more.

"Ehem… Uhh, are you guys planning to stay in that position for the whole time?" your adviser teasingly said which put the rest of the class into a fit of laughter.

Nayeon immediately pushes your hand and body away before storming off to the changing room. You just chuckled lightly at her bratty attitude before lifting yourself up.

Meanwhile, Jennie and Chan shared a meaningful look with each other, making sure that they'll never let you go and will start to bug you about the 'tension' between you and Miss Class Representative.

"Moving on!" Mr. Ok clapped his hands for a few times which fortunately got the attention of the whole class.

"We got Jennie, Chan, and Y/n as the winner of this round! The three of you will get full marks for today," he announced shortly before scribbling something into his pad of notes.

"And don't worry Ten and Gahyeon, the two of you did great too… that applies to Nayeon as well."

The man continued his statement before letting the five of you out of the platform, instantly commencing the next fight with a new line-up of students. 

You distanced yourself away from anyone before heating your body up due to your almost-freezing skin from your previous ministrations. Heaving a sigh of relief, you removed your metal mask and let it hang around your neck as fog of your breaths came out of your mouth.

"Y/n!" 

It was Chan and Jennie, they gave you a nudge with a grin on their own faces which you would gladly smack off if you were given the chance.

"What?" you knitted your eyebrows together at their sudden disturbance.

"I think someone has taken a liking towards Nayeon~" the cat-eyed girl remarks which made you scoff as you rolled your eyes at the same time.

"You wish," you playfully pushed her shoulder. "Anyways, you guys did a great job earlier. Although, I was too pre-occupied due to Miss 'Sassy Ass Bitch' that I couldn't watch you guys fight at all."

The two just chuckled and gave you a pat on the back, "Don't worry, we actually enjoyed the show-off between you and Nayeon."

"Yeah, right," you shrugged them off and as you were about to leave, Jennie grabs your arm then leans incredibly close to your face.

"I know you're holding out," she whispered in sultry laced tone. "And that's pretty disappointing for someone like you," you can feel her pushing a finger against your chest.

"You're scared to loose control, aren't you? Especially with that flames of yours…"

You were utterly confused at her vast knowledge, but your blood started to boil as your mind started to be flooded with memories that you despise the most. A sharp pain suddenly shoots through your temple which made you wince as you closed your eyes in silent agony.

'No... Please stop...'

Those memories, it was all tainted with hatred, violence, and unpleasant recollection of your upbringing. It was a whole, opposite side that no one knows except you and him.

"How did you..." a few students nearby began to shudder as you unconsciously began to emit your dark aura.

Jennie immediately noticed this.

The girl caressed your cheek then just left a kiss on it before strutting away to her other friends. You continued to grit your teeth in silence which didn't went unnoticed by Chan.

"She can be feisty at times," he gives you a comforting rub on the back to make you calm down.

"Just don't let her get into your nerves, that would make her more gutsy." he showed you a soft smile as his gaze averted to something, or someone behind you.

"Y/n?"

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~to be continued~