#only supervisor in the building is gonna be the maintenance supervisor and I know he isn't gonna care

[pierswife]

I crave to create, but alas I am yet another victim to this mortal coil <- literally did statistical analysis for 4 hours with only one break to eat dinner

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

I Knew Your Were Trouble When You Walked In 3

Warnings: non/dubcon, medical procedures including dialysis and chronic illness, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

Characters: Pete Brenner, short!reader

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging.

The clanging is enough to drive you crazy. You snap shut your laptop and let out a huff. A day where you can just stay home and get your work done and the landlord is doing maintenance. It has to be that day.

You check the time and rub your eyes. You look down at your pajama pants mournfully. You’re going to have to wear real clothes. You change into a pair of cords and a gray button up. You pack up your bag and shrug on a jacket as you step into your shoes.

You jingle out with your keys, locking the door behind you before quickly fleeing the echoing metalling thrums. You take the stairs down and tuck your chin down against the crisp autumn air. A tea will help with that, maybe something with a kick of caffeine to wake you up.

The cafe is only a block away. You order some ginger tea and take it to a table in the corner. You set up and hunker down to get through the last of your emails. You cup your chin as you lean your elbow on the table, entranced by the screen.

The rush of the cafe is almost soothing. The white noise helps you get through the overstuffed email sent by your supervisor. Check, check, got that done. You sip your tea as it cools and sit up to type your reply.

“You can have coffee?” The voice interrupts your frantic typing. You look up with brows furrowed. How on earth? “Genuinely curious,” Pete sits across from you, setting his paper cup down on the other end of the table, “with dialysis and everything.”

You blink at him and refocus on your laptop. You don’t want to know how he found you. Whether it’s cruel fate or something more sinister, you have more important things going on.

“You pack a real blow, you know that? I had a bruise and everything,” he complains, “not very nice and I’ll say I’ve been really nice to you.”

You continue to ignore him as you resume your response to Caroline. In hindsight, you would rather sit through the clanking of wrenches and pipes. You swallow your agitation, tuning out the silhouette just on the other side of your screen.

Suddenly, your laptop crushes your hands and your eyes pop up. Pete’s hand lingers on the cover as you snatch your fingers out from under it. You tilt your head in frustration.

“You look like a sweet girl,” he says, “but you’re not, are you?”

“Excuse me?” You hiss.

“Ah, come on, loosen up," he winks.

You shake your head and contemplate your options. You could pack up and go but you risk leading him back to your building. Telling him to go away isn't going to do too much and ignoring him only seems to encourage him.

"You like sweets? They got a great chocolate croissant."

"I'm not hungry," you insist and go back to typing. "I'm busy."

"Lonely too, by the looks of it," he leans forward, "let me buy you something, sweetheart."

Your eyes flick up and you give him a glare. You don't understand this man and he surely doesn't understand you. You're less than interested in any guy but especially not him. Your life has order and you value that. What little you can control, you hold close.

"You don't just come down to the cafe looking like you do and not want attention," he pushes on your laptop again and you stop it from closing. "I mean… how many dudes are gonna hit on a sick girl anyway? I accept you, babe, kidneys and all–"

"That's it," you snap, "get away from me. Now."

"Hey, it's a compliment–"

"Leave. Me. Alone."

"It's fine, we can move past this, I like a little fire–"

You flutter your lashes at him as your chest burns. You want to scream and cry at the same time. You look around, reminding yourself of your audience and take a deep breath.

"I'm asking you nicely…" your voice cracks, betraying you, "to go."

"I didn't do anything wrong–"

"There a problem here?" A deep growl has you shrinking further as Pete turns in his chair to look defiantly up at the man in the black apron.

"No problem. None of your business, bus boy."

The man with the black apron crosses his arms and scoffs, "big problem. I own this place so if you don't leave in the next fifteen seconds, I'll have you trespassed."

"Whatever, bro, me and the lady are having a chat–"

"He bothering you?" The man in the apron asks. You nod, breathless. "On your feet before I throw you on your ass," he growls at Pete.

"Like to see you try," Pete stands and puffs out his chest, "you're getting a one-star, bud." He crushes his cup into the man's apron, spilling the coffee down it, "coffee tastes like dirt anyway."

"Have a good day," the owner sneers, staring until Pete finally retreats, not without sending you a lecherous leer.

You watch after him and swallow, "I'm sorry–"

"You okay?" The man holds the dripping cup, foam on his name tag that reads 'Curtis'.

"Yeah, thanks," you murmur, "I didn't mean to make a scene."

"No worries, you need anything, just ask for Curt," he gives a curt bow and backs away, leaving your to wallow in a stormy rush of nerves.

[srose-foxfire]

Damirae - Vet AU

A/N: Hi! Welcome to my page this is my first ever Damirae fanfic, so I hope you enjoy!

-- -- --

“Thank you again for what you did for Titus, Dr. Roth.”

“It’s my job Mr. Wayne. Please stay safe. You be a good doggie, okay Titus? You were the best patient I ever had.” Raven knelt down to pat the great black Dane on his head, he barked at her happily before his owner Damian Wayne click his tongue to signal Titus to follow him. Raven looked up to the young man dressed in a fancy black suit as he gave her a small smile. Both dog and owner exited the clinic.

Not turning her back toward the two girls that worked the reception desk Raven crossed her arms over her chest, “can I ask why his paperwork was thicker than what our patients usually sign after discharge?” Earlier when Raven had come out of the examination room to say her farewell to Titus, she found that Damian was signing off the discharge papers, but he had a bigger stack than what was usually the norm. She eyed the two girls, with a stern look letting them both know she wouldn’t like whatever they were going to say.  

“Girl, we all just added some blank papers with a signature box in the bottom for him to sign!” Roxy exclaimed unashamed she cost the young man much valuable time.

“What for?”

Roxy only gave Raven a dumbfounded look, like she couldn’t understand why Raven would be surprised at her actions, “what for? What for? Girl, he is Damian Wayne! Like the hottest, most eligible bachelor in Gotham! His dad is Bruce Wayne, one of Gotham’s multi-millionaire and owns Wayne Enterprises. I can die happy having the chance to be in front of a god like Damian!”

The second receptionist, named Mayra only snickered before looking up to Raven, “don’t mind her Rae, she just one of those crazies calling themselves a member of the ‘Damian Fan Club,’ but seriously you never heard of the Wayne family?”

“I’m not much for social media or newspapers articles, besides the last nine years I have been focusing on completing my veterinary degree.”

“Well now’s a good time to get out then,” Mayra stated, really hinting on the idea that she should get out more.  

“Sounds fun, but I rather focus on my patients right now.” Raven said as she left them both to go back into the procedure room and look at the animals they were caring for. She had entered the room and looked through various folders they had on the counter, she found the one belonging to Titus. Raven opened the folder and reread his report for what felt like the hundredth time.

Damian had brought his three-year-old dog in an emergency, Titus was shot during a drive by. The poor young man was devastated that his animal friend had gotten hurt and didn’t know what to do. Raven who was on duty when Damian came in holding Titus in his arms, took Titus from him and reassured she would do everything in her power to care for his dog. Luckily the bullet only managed to graze over the dog’s shoulder. There wasn’t too much damage, all she needed to do was clean the wound to prevent any infection and help him get out of his state of shock. As a precaution Raven held Titus for two nights to observe him and make sure there wasn’t any other dangers. Now three days later Titus got to return home with his master. It warmed Raven’s heart that she was able to reunite them again.  

-- -- --

It’s been over a month since Raven met the infamous Damian Wayne. Well Raven hadn’t really spoken��to him personally since Titus was discharged. One of the main reasons she kept hearing the young man’s name so often was thanks to Roxy who couldn’t stop talking about him. She would speak of the countless rumors the media had written about him. The girl sounded she was under a love potion of sorts, speaking of her fantasies she had on Damian. Immediately, Raven would leave the lobby of the clinic whenever Roxy would start her fantasizing lectures. To make matters worse Roxy had the audacity to build a small little altar with Damian’s picture cut out from a magazine article with pink hearts doodled around him.Of course, this didn’t bode will with Raven, this was a pet clinic and if their patients ever saw Roxy’s little corner of honoring the young Wayne; let just say they would be losing some credibility that the staff took their job seriously.

Raven was in one of the examinations room, cleaning the counters and all the surfaces to have it ready for their next patient, when she heard Roxy literally scream. “Oh my god!” Raven dashed out of the room as quickly as she could wondering what the hay Roxy was screaming for this time. Thankfully when she reached the lobby room, the clinic was empty, today they didn’t have as many patients as other days. “He’s here!” Roxy squealed.

“What’s wrong with her?” Raven asked, she didn’t care that her voice sounded very irritated at the moment. She wanted to make her point across to her coworker that this behavior wasn’t acceptable at the clinic.

“Damian is back. He is just been standing there for over half an hour.”

“What?”

Mayra who had her arms crossed over the reception desk shot Raven a look before motioning with her head towards the door. “Yeah, I thought he was going to come in and have us check his dog or something since he brought his pooch along. But they are just standing there. See for yourself.”

Raven cautiously moved behind the receptionist counter and shot a quick glance through the glass door to find Damian, leaning up against a light pole looking down at his phone, while his dog sat beside him. Damian was wearing a black turtleneck, paired with a dark grey jeans. God he was very handsome. Raven couldn’t help but continue to stare at the young man, as he glances away from his small screen to kneel before his dog and pet him lightly on his head. A smiled crept up her face when she saw Damian give his dog a most genuine smile, before Titus moved in to lick his master’s face. Raven could see how much the young man loved and cared for his dog. This is why she choice this career, she wanted to be someone to help and care for people’s animals’ companions because these beautiful creatures are part of a family. It brought Raven joy to see Titus was doing well, he will live many years to come along his benevolent master.

Raven sighed and looked back at Mayra and Roxy. “Well pay it no mind, we have work to do. For all we know he could be waiting for someone and that just happens to be the meeting spot.”

“You don’t think he is out on a date?!” Roxy practically yelled; thankfully the glass was thick enough to minimize her cry or else Damian could had heard her.

“Why should we care if he’s out on a date or not? Roxy go back to work and leave the poor man alone.” Raven added.

“As member of the ‘Damian Fan Club’ it’s my responsibility to make sure no harm comes to Damian and make sure whoever becomes his wife is right for him!”

Raven couldn’t believe this girl, she raised an eyebrow at her, “Seriously?”

“She’s serious.” Mayra who was keeping quiet during one of Roxy’s little fangirl phase. “It’s actually a thing. The club exists and all, bunch of crazies like Roxy here that want nothing more than to go to bed with Damian.”

“You witch! We take our role as Damian’s fans very seriously!”

Raven couldn’t help but feel flabbergasted at the little brunette, “Roxy, I have heard you speaking of the fantasies you have about him.”

“Well Raven, we are allowed to dream, aren’t we? Besides I know very well I am not meant for such a handsome prince like Damian Wayne.”

“Go back to work, I am gonna go finish up room 3 and 5. Then check on the animals we have staying overnight.” Raven said as she looked back out the door and found heat creep up to her cheeks when she noticed Damian catch her gaze towards him. Quickly she turned around and walked towards the door that led to the examination rooms.

-- -- --

It was now 6pm and everyone had already left for the day. Raven was busying herself making sure she jotted down any new appointments on her agenda. Afterwards the young vet made her rounds around the kennels. There were a few animals staying overnight at the clinic, she pulled out their files and adjusted them on a shelf organizing so the overnight staff knows which patients needed more attention depending on their case. There was a back door the overnight staff used to enter from. Soon enough Garfield Logan, the supervisor of the night shift had arrived; Raven went ahead and handed him the full reports on their overnight patients. After she discussed what they were monitoring in each of their patients, Raven went inside the staff’s locker room and changed from her work clothes to her civilian clothes. Raven finally called it a night and said her goodbye as she went for the front door with her shoulder bag.

Once exiting, Raven found Damian was still leaning up against the pole, she was grateful he hadn’t noticed her due to the fact he had his gaze pinned to his phone. Though Titus recognized her, as he stood up and started wagging his tail. Raven quickly turned around; locking the glass door, afterwards she then reached for the metal folding security gate and pulled it towards her to lock the clinic. Unfortunately for her, this gate was due for some maintenance and sometimes instead of smoothly sliding along, the bottom part of the gate would always get stuck. Today of all days the damn gate decided to mock her and really give her a hard time as Raven kept tugging the gate; mentally begging it to obey her. She cursed under her breath, giving in to her defeat. Raven pulled out her phone and was about to call Gar to come help her with the damn gate.

“Here allow me to help.”

Her finger was about to press the call option, when Damian stepped from behind her. She looked up to him and just realized how his eyes were a beautiful emerald color, they held so much warmth in them. Damian gave her a soft smile, before handling her Titus’ leash. Raven had to blink a few times to remember where she was before grabbing the leash, as the young man before her stepped up and gave a good hard tug onto the gate sliding all the way across the door. Needless to say, Raven was impressed how strong Damian was, she noticed how his black turtleneck was tight and his tight muscles were begging to be free from the cloth containing them. A light blush managed to creep onto her cheeks at the idea of a shirtless Damian. What was she thinking?! Raven shook her head a couple of times to get these wild thoughts far away from her mind, she then looked up to Damian gesturing with her head to allow passage towards the thick key lock. Damian side stepped, taking back Titus’ leash as he allowed her to open the lock and passing it through the slotted area to secure the gate.

When Raven finally locked the gate, she looked up to the man beside her and gave him a small smile, “thank you, Mr. Wayne.”

“Please call me Damian, Dr. Roth.”

“Then you may call me Raven, what brings you here? Is Titus unwell?” Raven asked as she bend down and patted the dog’s head, he responded back her gesture by licking her hand. His tongue was very ticklish that Raven couldn’t help but giggle, she looked up to find Damian was smiling down at her. She looked away from him when she could feel heat worm it way towards her cheeks, she prayed her face wasn’t flushed that Damian would notice.

“No, he is doing well. Actually…” Raven looked up to find Damian was looking to the sides as he rubbed the back of his neck. It looked cute nevertheless to Raven, she couldn’t help but snicker very silently at the very nervous young man before her. Finally, Damian turned too face her and extended his hand towards her to help her stand up. “I was wondering if we could invite you out to dinner? As a thank you for what you did for Titus. There’s this restaurant down the street that offers outdoor dining… I mean if that’s all right with you and if you aren’t busy tonight?”

“Actually, I had nothing planned for the evening. I would love to join you both.”

- -   - -  - -

That was five years ago when Raven had gone out on her very first date with a guy. The sun was coming up over Gotham’s skyline as she looked out the window thanking the universe for the life she had received. Raven had gotten up just a few minutes before the sun was even up, she was wearing a light blue tank top, with a pair of cotton navy blue very short shorts. Just then she heard a stir come from the bed, Raven turned around to find her husband was moving in his sleep. The covers covering him had slipped down his body, exposing his sculpted chest and abdomen, gosh he was so handsome. He was even more beautiful under the sun’s morning light as it highlighted his perfect face. Even after all this time Raven couldn’t help but blush whenever she saw him naked. Her female coworkers -especially Roxy- at the clinic wouldn’t like to admit it but they were jealous that the fact Raven didn’t even try but manage to bag Gotham’s most eligible and hottestbachelor.

Closing her eyes, Raven turned around again to stare out the window as she continues to hear Damian stir in his sleep. Still keeping her back turned she could hear him groining and moving the sheets to the side as he steps closer to her. Damian walks behind her, placing his strong muscular arms around her waist, then pecks her on her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. “Good morning Mrs. Wayne,” he says into her ear as Damian begins to trail the tip of his tongue along her neck down her shoulder, just the way Raven liked it. She couldn’t help but blush at how he addressed her. They been married for over two years and she still felt like their relationship was still new to her, exactly like how she felt five years ago. “How long have you been up?”

“Mm…not too long,” Raven answered him as she turned to face her husband and wrap her arms around his neck. She looked him up and down seeing he was only wearing his black cotton boxers’ briefs. Raven then met his emerald gaze she was so entranced with. He gave her a warm smiled before leaning in and placing his lips softly onto hers. 

The kiss was soft much like their first kiss, when Damian had come to her apartment to pick up Titus after she dog-sat for him while he was away on a business trip. He was acting very nervous and after being decline of receiving the payment he was offering Raven for her service. He muttered something under his breath in another language and leaned forward to steal her first kiss. Afterwards Damian confessed to having feelings for her since the moment they met and asked if she would give him a chance. Raven answered him she started developing feelings for him as well, before she could say anything more Damian captured her lips once again. One thing led to another that they made love to each other that night. Since then Raven knew she wanted nothing more than to spend her life with Damian.

Now coming back to the present Raven pulled away from their kiss and lightly trail her fingertips over his bare chest; tracing a scar that was over his heart. Damian mentioned to her that as a child his grandfather would make him train day and night just to teach him self-defense. Some trainings were very brutal that most of his scars came from his own grandfather’s hand. It saddened Raven the least to know Damian has been hurt by members of his own family. All she could do for her husband now was kiss his healed scars and hope any painful memories could be covered by her love for him.

Raven wrapped her arms around his waist, then buried her face onto his hard chest; slowly pushing Damian towards their bed. When he was stopped by the foot of their bed, Raven let go and took a small step back before pushing Damian to fall on the mattress. Her husband sat up giving her a sly smirked she so loved. Raven then moved closer to him swaying her hips very seductively. She placed her hands on her hips before finding the waistband of her shorts, Raven never once let her amethyst gaze leave her partner’s emeralds. Keeping her movements very slowly Raven pulled down her shorts. Stepping out of them she walked over to Damian who reached for her waist and bringing his wife down onto his lap. Raven rested her knees on either side of his hips, she then gave him a devilish smile before she pulled her tank top off, now only wearing her cobalt blue lace undergarments before him. Raven could see Damian’s eyes were filled with hunger and desire, he started trailing hot messy kisses just beneath her collarbone. Lightly leaving bite marks to signify she belonged only to him, which Raven didn’t mind at all. Damian then lightly started kissing the top of her plump bosom, she knew she was playing with fire when she was seducing him a few seconds earlier now as punishment Damian was teasing her. Raven didn’t know how much longer she could last.

“I love you beloved,” Damian whispered as he continues to caress her skin with his lips. His hands were running circles on her bare back, before resting and gripping her hips.  

Raven let out a moan, before grabbing either side of her husband’s face having his emeralds looking into her amethysts. “I love you too, Damian.” She said softly as she pulled his face to have their lips meet once more. Raven felt an immense happiness consumed her as she shared these moments with her husband. She thanked whatever universe or destiny had made their paths crossed five years ago.

She couldn’t imagine her life differently.  

__________________

A/N:

Hello!! If you reached this far first all… THANK YOU!!! I found many amazing completed fic and ongoing fics here on tumblr and wanted to try my hand with my own ideas to show my love for Raven and Damian. I am currently writing two other fics for a separate fandom but will probably start sharing one-shots of Damirae here on tumblr. I have a couple Damirae fics that are on the longer side, those will be posted on my Wattpad page under my user: s03Rose .Those fics are still in development because they will have a plot line to follow so when I get halfway the storyline I will post little snippets here.

On the side note, I started writing fics for my own enjoyment because I want to be a writer, I have original ideas already started but first things first I must practice my writing to see first if it makes sense and if it’s entertaining to read. Also this was my first ever writing a fic filled with some small ‘smut’, I read fics that were on the mature side and wanted to try my hand at writing these sort of scenes. Again I am no good but practice will aid me. I don’t know when I will upload another Damirae fic since I have work and other ongoing personal projects. Please bear with me but do know I will try to update every second week. Till next time!

--Simona R.

[bellestalesoffiction]

Clean Love

Pairing: Eventual Mob!Steve x Reader

Warnings: Descriptions of violence, a swear here or there, minor shit talk

A/N: I wrote this in the span of two days over 6 hours. I’m not sure if I'll continue with this, but I was inspired to write for the first time in years. Please don't judge too hard. Also sorry for the shitty summary! Feedback appreciated!

Summary: She’s a city girl, an artist with a day job, because how else is she gonna pay the bills. She cleans for Tony Stark’s offices, one day she has the pleasure of cleaning up a mess made by the most feared boss in all of New York, Steve Rogers.

It was brisk, just like any normal autumn morning in New York. Steve stepped out of his town car, fixing his coat, before heading into the tall building that held the name 'Stark' in large letters high in the sky. Another meeting with his god-father about one of many deals that their organizations made. Today would be a messy one, held in the lower levels of the looming building. Someone in their lower ranks had tried to steal half a shipment of guns and ammo, they didn't get far at all. Steve's right hand man and best friend had gotten the three who tried before they even left the docks.

Two of the three men were already at the bottom of the harbor, the third was currently on the lowest floor. Most likely the traitor was bruised and beaten into cooperation, or so Steve hoped, he really didn't want to bruise his knuckles or ruin his new Armani shirt.

The few people milling about the lobby paid no attention to Steve as he strode past. He nodded at the security guard on duty before heading past the main elevators and towards a back hallway to a private lift. It was one of two elevators that reached  the lower levels, the other elevator was used by maintenance staff and regular employees to reach the underground parking (not the floors below said parking  that Steve was headed to now).

The doors to the elevator opened up after Steve input a 6-digit code, he stepped on pressing the corresponding level switch before clasping his hands in front of him. There was no music during his decent, no soothing calming or annoying music, just silence. The doors slowly parted, opening up to a metal gate, on the other side of which stood James Buchanan Barnes, "Bucky" as Steve knew him growing up. The sight of the slightly shorter dark-haired man made the mob boss grin slightly.

"So Buck, how's our friend?" Steve smirked walking alongside his right-hand.

Bucky smiles, it's almost sinister, "He's about ready to talk boss. Tony's waiting right outside for ya, wants you in the room for intimidation factor."

Steve nods, spying Tony up ahead. He gives the older man a nod, showing his respect with a hand on his chest reaching for the other man's hand. Tony smiles and returns the gesture, pulling Steve in for a quick familial hug and a pat on the back. They step apart after a moment, "You ready?" asks Tony, receiving a nod from Steve. 

The older man twists the handle and pushes the door open, the room behind it was rather large, deep and wide. A single bulb hung from an exposed wire, the only source of light in the room. The temperature was low, cold enough to make your fingers go numb and just cold enough to see your breath leave your lips. In the center, just below the exposed bulb was a chair, tied down to said chair was a man, blood running from his ear, nose and mouth, one eye swollen shut. Tony approached him slowly, circling around him, just on the edge of the light.

"Do you know why you're here, hmm?" Tony continued to circle the man, getting closer to him with each step.

"Let me tell you why," Tony stood behind him, grabbing his shoulders tightly, making the man wince. "You and your little friends tried to steal from us." Tony motioned to Steve and himself, the former staying just in the shadows.

"You tried to take 250 semi automatic weapons and sell them off, to who? And for what? You knew that if you got caught you'd end up dead... what's so important you'd risk your life? Or rather who?" Tony smacked the back of the man's head, pretending to have a moment of clarity, "Oh That's right! Your wife, Georgia... She's pregnant with your first kid right?"

The man tensed, "You wanted to get her away from all this right? Set her up somewhere you wouldn't be found?" Tony began to circle his chair again.

"You never would've been safe you know, we'd find you anywhere. We'll find her anywhere she goes." Steve smirked, Tony continued, "Who were your buyers?"

The man glanced up at Tony before he spat at him, right in his face. Tony wipes at his face, turning and nods to Steve, giving him the que to take over. Stepping forward slowly, Steve grins, making his way towards the chair. The man's eyes widen, fixed on the knife in Steve's hand. He squirms and yells out, no one moves or tries to intervene as Steve begins to slice into the man.

"Stop! Stop!! Please!" Tony doesn't listen, watches the man's face as he cries like a baby.

"He won't stop until you talk... Mr. Rogers here doesn't take too kindly to people who take his things," Steve smirks, moving to press his knife to the mans cheekbone, "... maybe after he's done we'll send your head to your lady" Tony chuckled watching the man go white as a sheet.

"Please, no, leave her out of this, I'll tell you anything!"

Steve glares at him, pressing hard with his knife, "Your buyers names, who put you up to this?"

"S Sitwell, his name's Jasper Sitwell!", that was all they needed to hear.

She hurried up the street, jacket half on and a granola bar hanging out of her mouth. Her alarm hadn't gone off, the power in her building had somehow gone out during the night causing the events leading up to now. She had overslept by a good half hour, she had skipped her shower and a real meal, having time to barley grab a snack for breakfast before running out the door 5 minutes late already.

Weaving and dodging through the crowds, she made her way down a back alley stopping at a door with a pass card sensor. She digs through her purse, grabbing her Stark Towers cleaning badge and swipes it, successfully walking into the building.

"Hey Y/N, you're wanted for a mess on level 26!", one of her coworkers calls out.

She groans, "I just walked in, I'm not even on the clock yet!"

"Yeah and the supervisor isn't happy about that. She said it's your punishment" Y/N sighs and nods punching in as she quickly scarfs down the rest of her breakfast and tosses her coat on the back of a chair. As you can probably guess by now, Y/N cleaned pretty much anything she was told to clean inside the tower. She was one of 3 cleaning ladies, besides her was Wanda Maximoff and Jessica Drew. The girls supervisor was one Felicia Hardy, who once was just a cleaning lady like the rest of them. Felicia had stabbed the trio in the back and thrown them under the bus for her mistake with their last supervisor, convincing the hiring staff that she was the most competent to take over the position. The maintenance team knows Felicia isn't meant to be where she is, the position should have been Jessica's, Felicia just knew how to brown nose better.

As they say, speak of the devil and she will appear, "Y/N, floor 26 now! Men's room on the south end had two urinals that went out of order!" Felicia snaps sauntering into the room. Besides ordering her around, the woman made her way to the coffee machine for a refill.

Y/N rolled her eyes and threw her (hair color) locks into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. She turned and made her way down the hall to the supply room bumping into Scott and Luis, the two maintenance men for the building, besides their supervisor Flash Thompson.

Luis waves and smiles, "Morning y/n, how was your weekend?"

Y/n smiled and gave him the rundown as she gathered her cleaning supplies, groceries, another failed date and a dozen texts from her ex trying to get back with her. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Man, he just won't leave you alone," Scott huffed, annoyed for her. "Well if you need anyone to help you get the guy off your tail, let me know. I'd gladly offer my services."

Y/n smiled softly and nodded, "Thanks Scott, but I can handle it. You guys already fix the busted urinals on 26?"

Luis nods and makes a fake retching noise, "It's only Monday and already some asshole decided to-"

She cuts him off, "I don't wanna know, all I need to know is that it's fixed so I can clean the floors. You left the Out of order sign up right?"

Luis smiles sheepishly and shakes his head no. The man was good at his job, he could fix pretty much everything well enough, his only problem was that he often forgot about the cleaning crew and forgets to mark the areas that need cleaning out of order so the regular staff don't go in. She sighs, shaking her head, oh Luis. She picks up her cleaning bucket and pushes the mop bucket towards the service elevator and waits quietly.

The elevator dings and opens up, allowing her to step inside. She presses the corresponding button and waits, mind wandering to lunch and what's close and cheap. The elevator dings again and she makes her way off. The rest of her day is just as boring, cleaning more bathrooms and a few meeting rooms. Finally the day comes to an end, she heads back to the maintenance break room, only to be stopped half way by Felicia.

"Oh, Y/n, great, glad I caught you. Mr. Stark called and needed someone to do a quick wipe down outside his office. Security had to get involved and well, Mr. Stark doesn't want blood stains on the carpet," Felicia smirks at her, "Besides, it's not like you have anywhere to be tonight, or any night."

Y/n frowns softly, nodding and averting her eyes. When the young woman wasn't working she was making art, drawings, pastel illustrations and paintings even. She loved art more than anything, it was her passion growing up, helped her forget the harsh environments she lived in. Currently she was building a portfolio to submit to a few lower end galleries, hoping to spread her name and gain some recognition. Now here she was, stuck at work cleaning up after millionaires and office snobs just to pay the rent, pushing her dreams to the back burner.

Her supplies gathered once more, she heads up to the top floor, anxiously. She had never gone up that high, never had she been asked to clean anywhere near Mr. Starks office, normally that was Jessica or Felicia who took care of that. The ding snapped her out of her train of thought as she stepped out onto the floor cautiously. Giving the hall a once over she headed towards Mr. Starks office, his personal assistant should still be there if there was a mess to clean. The woman she knew only by name, her name was Natasha Romanoff. Ms. Romanoff had a particularly sharp eye for details and a 'no half ass' policy when it came to anything. Y/n had only interacted with the woman once, and that was when Felicia threw them under the bus. Now here she was, leaning against her desk tapping away at her phone.

"Good, you're here. My desk needs a total wipe down and when Mr. Stark is done he'll need some clean up on the marble in front of his desk," Natasha explained without looking up once.

Y/n nodded, "Yes Ms. Romanoff, I'll get right on that."

And she did, doing a thorough cleaning of the sides of her desk and the top, making sure not to move any of her personal items and work around the woman herself. Once she was finished with the desk and the floor in front of the desk she stood still, waiting for the ok to head into the CEO's office. Natasha finally glanced up at her, eyeing her in a very unsettling way. Almost as if the woman was peering into the very depths of her mind.

"You can go in now." Natasha nodded to the door and stood opening it for her. Three men were still standing inside, but quiet. "Gentlemen, the cleaner is here"

( @kayteewritessteve​ @katurrade​ @kaybrownies​ )

[valeriethepussycats]

Speed

Chapter 1

Pairing- Dean x Reader

Warning- cursing

A/n- to anyone who with read this. I trying to make it as close to the movie as possible so it’s gonna take a lot longer for updates i’m trying to get Word for Word because the script is different from the movie.

Highrise in downtown L.A., framed tall against mountains. People stream out of the front door, the leaving work. In the near darkness of basement, a security guard makes his way into an inner cellar. His flashlight finds a man in work clothes bent over a panel, his back to the light.

 “Hey. This area's restricted.” The guard told the man.

The man doesn't look around. We can just almost see his face as he talks.

 “Yeah, I, uh, got called in ... some of this wiring got screwed up.”

“Nobody called gonna have to.”

“Yeah ... Just one second... reaches into his toolbox.” He rises, turning, and A knife is through his ear. It is pulled back out with calm efficiency. The man turns,wide-eyed, hand to his ear. Mouth open in silent protest. Out of his hand drops the work order. He slumps over.

“Nothing personal.”Chuck Shurley takes off the guard's hat. Dripping knife aside, he is an ordinary-looking man. His face is dead calm, only his eyes betraying the sea of hate behind it. He drags the body into a dark corner, grabbing a duffle bag from out of the shadows. Then checking his watch, he goes to the panel and begins making adjustments of his own. He then Walks over to the door of the panel. It reads: elevators

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

It's the end of the day and people are waiting for the elevator. The doors open, it's already crowded inside.NPeople groan, shuttle on. A Young exec moos. A few people laugh. Young exec's friend presses the  lobby button, even though it's already lit. The young exec nods.

“Thanks for pushing that, Bob. You never know -- the light's on, but maybe it's really broken.”

“Oh shut up.”

A Sweaty man, 50s, overweight, presses tighter into the corner beside his Secretary. Pats at his brow with a hankie. The elevator descends quickly. Something wired to the cables, just above the elevator car -- a slab of white putty, a black box, wires. A small red light flashes on the black box a split second before it Explodes. The cables Whip and snap up the shaft like retreating snakes.. Blackout.

“What the hell?”

The elevator drops fast. The voices yell. Pop out, dig into ratchets in the shaft walls. Spark shoot out. The elevator shudders to a halt.

“Ooh! Jesus, Bob. What button did you push?”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

A car comes SCREECHING to a halt near the front of the building, a red and blue light flashing on top. The door is thrown open and SWAT officer Dean Winchester steps out from behind the wheel almost before the car has stopped. Dean heads straight for the entrance as Benny Lafitte, his older partner gets out the other side and follows, tossing Dean his flak jacket. Dean puts it on without ever taking his eyes off the entrance as they make their way through police cars, fire trucks and various uniforms. We see these two are a team, and that when they move, Dean takes the lead. We are still tracking with Dean and Benny as we see two more SWAT guys emerge from another car, fall into step. Another team joins them as they enter the the Lobby. Just as another pair burst in through another set of doors finally eight SWAT members all wordlessly sync, walking with Dean and Benny until the whole unit stands in front of Captain Bobby Singer, 40s, on the phone... Garth, his technical assistant, looks at Blueprints with bagwell, a middle-aged guy with "building maintenance supervisor" on his worksuit.

“Mr Bagwell, make sure these other elevators remain locked down and empty.” Bobby order.

“Yes, sir.”

“There's no other way... no doors... no other way in or out..except through access panels, is that correct?” Bobby questioned.

“Yes, sir.” Bagwell answered.

Bobby then turns to addresses the group.

“Gentlemen, what we have here are passengers in an express elevator below floor 30. The bomb's already taken out cables. The bomber wants $ 3million or he blows the emergency brakes.” Bobby stated.

“What's our clock?” Benny asked.

“He gave one hour. That leaves us 23 minutes exactly.” Garth declared.

“Anything else that'll keep this elevator from falling?” Officer Jacob asked.

“The basement.” Dean remarked.

“The city would like to avoid that event, Officer Winchester.” Bobby informed.

“We can't just unload the passengers?” Benny wondered.

“This is an express elevator. Gentlemen The only way in or out is through access panels. The bomber's also wired the hatch to trigger the bomb,... which seats him in the 'crazy but not stupid' section.” Garth stated.

“Sir, Benny volunteers to examine the device.” Dean voiced.

Benny looks over at Dean jaded. “Yeah, right.” Benny mocked.

“Fine. The two of you check it out.” Bobby order.

The nearest access panel's on the 32nd floor in the lobby.” Officer Jacob

“I want reports only. We're in a holding pattern. Worthy, Briggs, I want you to secure the base area. No-one in or out.Everyone else, I want you to affirm building evac. Move!” Bobby disclosed.

“Looks like we're walking.” Dean grinned As him and Benny rushes off.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Combat boots thunder up a metal staircase. Dean and Benny sprint up the stairs.

“Hurry, folks, but watch your step!” And officer Addressed the people. “All the way down to the lobby! Let's go, folks!”

“49.....30....31...32”

As Dean and Benny make it to the 32nd floor they proceed with caution as they enter the floor. Benny scouts ahead with his gun raise as Dean is hitting the walls for a panel to get into the elevator.

Blackness. Sounds of a power drill, muffled, through a wall. A three-by-three foot metal access panel is lifted away; light enters the shaft.

“Hello!”

“Come on, man. Get us out of here!”

“Hello!”

“Please, help us!”

“Come on, man!”

“Who's up there?”

“What's going on?”

Dean and Benny crawl through and stand on top of the elevator, Dean addressing the passengers while Benny checks out the bomb. Jack has to raise his voice to be heard.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the LAPD.” Dean announce.

“Thank God. - What are you doing up there?”

“There's been an elevator malfunction, so just relax.” Dean disclosed.

“Hey, come on! What are you guys waiting for?”

“We'll have you out of there as soon as possible.”

Benny stands, gives Dean a significant look.

“Am I lying?” Dean asked smiling.

“How come they sent cops here? Shouldn't they send repair guys?” One guy wandered.

“Yeah. - Makes no sense.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Dean squat down holding a flashlight at the bomb.

“What do you think?” Benny questioned.

“You're the expert. I just work here.” Dean answered.

“Looks pretty solid.” Benny commented

“Anyone we know?” Dean asked.

“I don't recognise the work, but he's a pro.” Benny said looking down at his watch to check the time. “He’s cutting it close.”

“I don’t like it.” Dean shared.

Well, what’s to like?Bob said we hold, so we hold.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Chuck has a radio set-up, is listening in on the various police exchanges. He suddenly hears sounds of Benny and Dean echoing down the elevator shaft.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Dean clams over near Benny and examine the elevator shaft.

“All right. Pop quiz. The airport. Gunman with one hostage. He's using her for cover. He's almost to a plane. You're 100feet away.

Not paying attention to what Benny is saying Dean is still examining elevator shaft.

“Dean.”

“Shoot the hostage.” Dean finally answered.

“What?”

“Take her out of the equation. Go for the good wound. He can't get to the plane with her. Clear shot.”

“You're deeply nuts. You know that? "Shoot the hostage." Benny scoffed.

“Benny, this is wrong. He's going to blow it anyway.” Dean started.

“Why?” Benny Asked.

“I don't know. Gut feeling.” Dean replied.

“Right now, Bob outranks your gut, so we sit.” Benny disclosed.

“This is taking way too long.” Said one of the people in the elevator.

“How much you think that elevator weights?” Dean wondered.

“Dean , come on.” Benny trailed off.

“Maybe we can do something about those hostages.” Dean stated as he starts out of the shaft.

Benny follows.

“We're not going to shoot them, right?” Benny joked.

“Hey, where you going?” Someone yelled

“What's going on?” Another person Asked.

“Don't go!” begged one person

“Don't leave us here!” Someone pleaded.

Dean bursts out of a roof for something. Harry follows him. Jack runs over to the edge of the roof where there is a winch used by window-washers. Large, heavy-duty.

“No, we just take 'em out of the equation.” Dean answered.

Dean and Benny lug cable from the winch into the elevator housing on the roof.

“Are you sure it'll hold?” Benny questioned.

“It'll hold.” Dean declared.

Benny looks at his watch. “Six minutes.” Benny replied.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Captain Singer paces with his walkie talkie, talking to the brass at city hall.

“I can't get any more time. He's not talking! I need the goddamn money now.” Bobby yelled.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Dean is being lowered headfirst on a rope down the center of the shaft. He holds the window-washing cable with a hook on its end. He and Harry are speaking through their microphones.

“Tell me again, Benny. Why did I take this job?” Dean Asked joking manner.

“Aw, come on. 30 more years of this,you get a tiny pension and a cheap gold watch.” Benny answered.

Dean continues down. The elevator approaches. Dean comes to the elevator car...He signals and Benny stops. Dean looks leery at the hook to part of the C4 by his feet. Quietly secures the elevator's frame. “Cool.” Dean Said sarcastically

“God, it's hot in here.”

“There's no air.”

“Can't they just pry the doors open?”

“I can't breathe.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Chuck listens, hears the winch faintly. He fingers a small box with a plastic button and a timer counting down. Three minutes left. We notice that the hand fingering the box is missing its thumb.The hand starts moving more agitatedly. Chuck’s face registers growing concern. Two minutes fifty-three seconds. “Don't fuck with daddy.” With sudden violence, he jabs the button. On the bomb, a tiny red light comes one.

The bomb BLOWS.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

The passengers SCREAM as the elevator shakes, begins to drop as the bomb went of the big gaping hole, appears at the bottom of the elevator and a woman falls halfway through it.

“Grab her hand! Grab her hand!” Someone yelled.

Everyone listening to the TWANGING of the cable echo down the shaft.

“Usually they fall down now.” Bagwell Announced.

“Oh, my God!”

“Get her out of there!”

“He's early! Son of a bitch is early! Bob, we need more help up here now!” Benny shouted.

The weight on the cable is starting to pull it from its foundation. It groans and starts to crack --can't bear this weight for long. The wheels start to come off the track. Then with a loud bang, the winch breaks free, flies across the roof and comes to a stop at the door to the elevator machine room.

Dean and Benny look at each other. And bolt

To another floor.Dean and Benny Emerge from the stairs, race over to the elevator access panel... Get the last screw out of another access panel. They can see the bottom two feet of the grunt they pry open the doors. sounds of panic.

“Oh, please!”

“I don't want to die!”

“Please save us!”

“Open the door!”

Getting the elevator doors open a woman looks down at at Dean. “Please help me!Get me out!”

“We'll get you out!” Dean said promised.”Come on. Give me your hands! It's OK, give me your hands.”

“Watch your head.” Benny told the woman.

Women reaches out for Dean. Dean and Benny grab her hands, pull her out.

“OK, I've got you.” Dean told the women.

“Take it easy.” Benny said trying to calm the women

“Oh, thank you.” The women said grateful.

“You’re fine.” Dean voiced calmly.

Two more SWAT guys arrive.

“Take her. Let's go. Who's next?” Dean asked.

Dean and Benny pull out another woman.

“Thank you.”the second woman said

“We've got you, ma'am.” Said one of the SWAT guys

The winch About to break free.

Dean and Benny Pull out two more people.

the windows washing winch rips through the door frame, wedges against an engine The elevator drops sharply. Oh God... But then it stops, now with only the top three feet of the elevator showing. The cable Is being held by what's left of the platform -- some slats of splintering wood and lengths of bending metal. It's giving way slowly, an inch at a time. Dean and Benny Now pull people up to get them out. They see the elevator sinking, the opening closing.

“Come on, lady! Come on!” Urged the man in the elevator.

“No. No.”

“Come on, lady! Come on!” The Man tried one more time before he jumped up and Dean grabs his hand and pull him out the elevator.

“Grab my hand!” Dean insisted. “Come on! Let's go! It's going to fall!”

“No! I can't!” The woman said Frighten.

“Just take one step, reach out, and take my hand.” Dean urged the women.

The woman hesitant looks over at Dean not really convinced she should move from the corner of the elevator

“Come on! Come on!” Dean shouted at the woman.

Finding some courage the woman takes a step forward and Grabs Dean’s hands. “Oh! Oh, God!”

Dean starts to pull her up out of the elevator. “Don’t let go of me.” The woman told Dean.

Dean have the woman to pull her waist still in... The cable Pulls free as the mass of wood and the elevator Drops. Dean Pull the woman as hard as he can flies down, shooting out sparks -- and a half feet. Two out. She's halfway... metal finally gives way as the huge metal box. Elevator drops like a rock, trailing cable. It drops so far that it disappears from sight. A huge sound when it hits bottom.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Singer and the other SWAT and bomb guys are almost knocked off their feet by the impact reverberating throughout the building. elevator doors In the lobby buckle out from the air concussion.

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The other SWAT guys usher the rescued passengers to the stairwell as Dean and Benny lean against the wall, a little out of breath.

“Was it good for you? Dean asked Benny.

“It was great for me. How was it for you, honey?” Benny replied.

“Elevator dropped.” Dean pointed out.

“Oh, good. That's good to know.”

They both sit down in front of the open Panel breathing heavily.

“Is your watch slow?” Dean asked.

“Uh-uh. He jumped the gun. We had three minutes left.” Benny informed Dean.

“Why does he do that? He's losing his $ 3million.” Dean Wandered.

“I don't know. Maybe he couldn't hold his wad long enough. It's a common problem among middle-aged men. So I'm told.” Benny remarked.

Dean gets up and starts walking away. “He’s here.” Dean Started.

“He could've blown that thing from Pacoima.” Benny told Dean still sitting down.

“No. He knew we were up to something. He's close by.” Dean declared

“He's not going to corner himself in a building we evacuated anyway. Come on.... He'd want to be here, but he'd want to stay mobile.” Benny commented.

“Right?”

“The elevators.” Benny answered.

“Passenger cars were stopped. They checked them out.” Dean told Benny.

“What about the freight elevators?” Benny question.

They get to the freight elevator doors, pry them open.They look down. The freight elevator is stopped five floors below them. They can hear movement in the elevator and a man coughing.

“Will the mystery guest please sign in...” Dean trailed off as he slides down the elevator cable.

“What Dean.” Benny called Dean. “Damn it.” Benny starts to climb down.

As Dean arrives. Pulls his 9mm Glock and steps from the rungs lightly onto the car. Benny right behind him. The car sinks slightly from their weight.

Dean points at the hatch cover on the elevator roof. Benny nods and pulls his Glock. He and Dean kneel by the hatch cover. Dean grabs the handle. Benny makes the countdown hand signals. A shotgun BLAST nearly takes their heads off, splintering part of the hatch cover. Both men jump back. A second shot right by Benny 's foot sends him jumping away, he steps on the hatch cover and it gives away. He falls into the elevator, hitting his head badly.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Benny swore.

“Up! Get your ass up!” Chuck shouted at Benny.

Dean wants to return fire, but hears Benny yelling in pain and doesn't know where to shoot. Another blast right next to him keeps him prone in the corner. He senses something and looks up.

The elevator barrels toward the ceiling of the shaft. Dean has no other choice, jumps feet first through the pen hatch. Dean comes crashing down into the elevator, lands hard. The few lights not shot out flicker. Dean looking into... the barrel of a shotgun.

“I don't suppose anybody will give me million...just for you.” Chuck made known.

Chuck chuckles. Then a loud, dull click. Another click.The shotgun is empty. Dean flinches and and tries to grab the gun but struggles and get pushed way and then reaches for his and points it at Chuck who in the mist of all of it grabbed Benny.

“Hold it! Pop quiz, hotshot. Terrorist holding a police hostage. Got enough dynamite strapped to his chest..to blow a building in half. Now, what do you do?” Chuck questioned Dean.

“There's gonna be 50 cops waiting for you in the basement.” Dean informed Chuck.

“Standard flanking deployment, right? Maybe we'll get off on the third floor, huh? At least that's what they'll think.” Chuck told Dean . Chuck then opens the elevator control panel. Wires feed into a small box Chunk has hooked up. He hits a couple of buttons.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“I want a location on those goddamn shots! Garth! Where's Benny and Benny?” Bobby questioned.

“Lieutenant, we've got movement on the freight elevator.” Garth answered.

As Bobby and the SWAT guys watch The elevator indicator light stops at the third floor.

“It's on three. Let's move!” Bobby shouted.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Ding! The elevator reaches P1.

“End of the line.” Chuck grinned. “This day has been real disappointing, I don't mind saying.”

“Why? Because you didn't get to kill everyone?” Dean mocked.

“There'll come a time, boy, when you'll wish you never met me.” Chuck replied.

“Mister, I'm already there.” Dean agreed.

Chuck starts to back up out of the elevator, dragging Benny with him.  

“You can see I'm in charge here.” Chuck Stated.

Angle on Benny The Deadman's stick right before his eyes. “I drop this stick and they pick your friend up with a sponge. Are you ready to die, friend?”

“Fuck you.”  Benny voiced with fire.

“Oh in  200 years, we've come from "I regret but I have one life to give for my country" to "fuck you"?” Chuck mocked.

“Go ahead. Drop the stick. Do it.” Benny declared.

“Shut up, Benny.” Dean urged.

“We've got all the balls in the world here, man.” Chuck grinned.

“Give it up. You got nowhere to go!” Dean shouted.

Chuck drags Benny out. Dean doesn't know what to do. Benny looks at Dean . He barely making the words. “Shoot the hostage.” Benny told Dean.

“Say goodbye, Benny.” Chuck laughed.

Chuck and Benny head toward swinging doors that lead to the garage. Dean shifts aim and BLASTS Harry in the leg. Harry goes down

and Fisk can't take him anywhere.

“Ahh You fuck!” Benny cried out.

Dean shrugs and then points his gun at Chuck

“Freeze! Freeze!.....Give it up! You're out of options!”

Chuck looks at Dean in disbelief then gives him a strange grin then starts running. When Dean goes to follow him the garage that Chuck ran into Blows up blasting him back into a wall.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

The elevator hostages and cops in attendance. Dean and Benny stand to one side of the podium in full dress uniform as the Mayor gives a droning speech. Benny has a cane.

“Through dedication and bravery, these next two officers effected the rescue of 13 citizens of this city. And thanks to them, the only life taken by the terrorist's bomb, was his own.”  The Mayor proclaimed.

“You shot me. I can't believe it. They're giving you a medal for shooting me, you little prick.”  Benny remarked.

“Benny, you told me to.” Dean replied.

Benny gives Dean you’re unbelievable look.

The highest honour bestowed upon a member of the Los Angeles Police Department. Officer Benny Lafitte. Congratulations.” The Mayor praised Benny.

Commissioner pins on Benny’s medal. There is applause.

“Thank you.” Benny whispered.

“Officer Dean Winchester.” The Commissioner moves to pin on Jack's medal and we Chuck 's  garage continues. We see the ceremony on TV, a close-up of Dean's face as the audience applauds again, somewhat louder. Pull out to reveal a bank of four TVs, all showing the same shot of Dean. The TVs are all fairly old, not fancy.

Chuck sits before the screens, stone faced. Slowly, loudly, he applauds.

“Way to go, Dean. Way to go.”

Part 2

[missing-marvel]

The Shape of You (Pt. 1)

Pairing: Vision/Reader

Tags: Slow burn, multi-chapter, self-indulgent Shape of Water AU ???

Part 2

A/N: Guess who’s back? I bet you thought I was dead. Well surprise, I’ve got ANOTHER Vision fit for ya cause Endgame did my boy dirty. As you may have noticed, this is an AU. It’s set after AoU but kinda diverges from Civil War... You’ll get it as you read. And yeah, I pretty well am taking the whole premise of The Shape of Water (cause it’s a gorgeous movie if you haven’t seen it!) but you don’t have to know literally anything about that movie.

Also! This is gonna be a long chapter cause there’s a lot of stage to set so buckle in kids.

-------

A harsh beep sounded from the terminal as you clocked in for the day. It was like your second alarm clock. One in the morning to get you out of bed, a second one when you got to work to get you out of your head. No amount of coffee would make you properly awake this early, but you were getting used to it. A government job expected you to work on a strict schedule, even if you were just a custodian.

You’d been working here for a couple months now. Supposedly this place had some pretty secret government projects going on, but you hadn’t seen anything interesting just yet. It must be true though, considering how much screening you went through when you applied for the job. Not to mention the amount of forms you had to sign. No employer went to that much trouble unless they had something to hide.

You didn’t expect today, however, would be the day things finally got interesting.

You made your way to one of the many maintenance rooms to grab your gear. Before you got there, however, you ran into your boss, Ronnie.

He was a skittish man, always nervous about something or other. He was also incredibly annoying. He’d do anything to get attention from the higher-ups. He was always gunning for a promotion, though he had been in this position far longer than you’d worked here. Most of what you knew about him came from break room gossip.  

“Different assignment for you today. It’s a big one. You cannot mess this up.” Ronnie shuffled the folders and loose papers in his hands. He was always carrying papers it seemed. You had no idea what any of them were for. You were half convinced it was just his way of looking ‘professional.’

“Yes sir,” you droned, already tired of Ronnie’s crap. He was your superior though, and you couldn’t risk being snappy with him. “What will I be doing?”

“Report to Lab 205. You and a handful of others will be the only custodial staff allowed in there for the foreseeable future. There’s a very special asset about to be moved here and it’s extremely important that we don’t screw this up.”

Lab 205 was on the second basement level. You’d only been down there a handful of times and you certainly weren’t familiar with it.

“All due respect sir, but am I the best choice for something like that? I’ve only been here a couple months and—“ Before you could finish your thought, Ronnie cut you off.

“Ah ah ah!” There he went again, making that God-awful sound. There wasn’t anything more condescending than the sound Ronnie made when interrupting people. “I don’t choose the people for the job, I just give them the news. Just report there in 5 minutes and someone there will tell you what to do. I’m sure if you can’t handle this, they’ll find someone more suitable for the job.”

And with that, he simply walked away. What an ass. One day he was gonna get smacked in the face. You didn’t let it get to you, however, as he did this with just about everyone on the custodial staff.

You made your way quickly to the elevator, silently hoping you remembered the way to the lab.

___

You made it with no time to spare. Turns out, you didn’t remember the way to the lab. You had just spent the last 4 and a half minutes frantically combing the floor for the right room. Why did this place have to be so damn big?

Several faces turned toward you when you burst into the room, sweaty and out-of-breath as you had been running. There were four other people in the room wearing custodial uniforms, all giving you looks of disapproval. Their attention was brought back to the front of the room fortunately, when a sharply dressed woman cleared her throat loudly.

‘Oh great, another Ronnie,’ you thought. You suppressed the urge to roll your eyes and stood at attention as she spoke.

“As I’m sure you’ve been told, the five of you are going to be the sole custodians responsible for the care of this lab for the foreseeable future.”

It was only now that you fully noticed the size of the lab. The ceiling was higher than every other room in the building (that you’d been in) and the whole space was filled with so many computers and monitoring stations that there was hardly any walking room left. At the back of the room was a glass wall of some kind, separating you from the back wall. Behind the glass was mostly empty space aside from some complex-looking machinery.

“The new asset is being brought in tomorrow. That means you have today to get this place spotless. This is easily the most important thing ever to be housed in this facility so I expect all of you to maintain complete secrecy. Anything you see in this room from now on is completely confidential. As I’m sure you all understand, any divulgence of confidential information will result in immediate termination and legal action will be taken.”

You exchanged a few nervous glances with your coworkers but said nothing. You had no idea what you were getting into.

The woman’s expression suddenly turned chipper and she clapped her hands together cheerfully. “Well! I expect nothing short of perfection from you all. Now get to work!” With that, she turned and exited the lab.

___

It had been a long, grueling day. Cleaning that lab had proven far more work than you expected. Every time you thought you were done with an area, a supervisor would tell you to do it again, better this time.

But now you were home, stretched out on the sofa to relax your aching muscles. You lived in a small apartment uptown. You tried to avoid the word ‘dingy,’ opting instead for ‘modest.’ Sure the place was small, there was a spider problem, the temperature was always slightly off, and plenty more problems you’d gotten used to but it was yours. There was nothing better than going home to a space to call your own at the end of the day, even if it was dingy.

You worked long shifts, leaving little time for activities in the evenings. On the plus side, you got long weekends. This meant your nightly routine consisted mainly of eating, showering, watching TV for a little while, and going to sleep. Today was no different.

However, as you lay in bed, you found your mind wandering. You thought about this ‘asset’ being brought into the lab. You had endless theories about what it could be. You were secretly hoping it was a live alien. How cool would that be? A stream of ideas fit for a sci-fi novel ran through your head until you inevitably fell asleep.

_____

So it wasn’t an alien. At least, you didn’t think it was.

You and the other four custodians had been permitted to be in the lab when the asset was brought in, much to your surprise. Presumably, they thought that if you got to see the ‘asset’ right away, you’d be less likely to snoop later. The five of you stood in the corner, enthralled by the scene in front of you.

A couple men in military uniforms had wheeled in some kind of container, large enough to hold a person. Through the glass on the front, you almost thought the thing inside was a person. But when you got a better look, you could tell it was something inhuman.

The figure inside had their eyes shut. At first glance, their face appeared human, until you noticed that their ‘skin’ was a deep red and green with clearly artificial design. With all the commotion, you unfortunately couldn’t see much more than that.

A man in a lab coat was fussing over every little thing. He would snap at the men pushing the container, saying things like ‘this is worth more than you’ll make in your lifetime’ and ‘if I find one scratch on that machine you’re both fired.’

While the man was utterly exasperating to listen to, his complaining informed you that the figure was in fact, a machine.

“It’s... an android?” You mumbled under your breath and your coworker next to you looked over.

“What’s so special about an android?” she asked, keeping her voice low so as not to get in trouble. “Hasn’t the government been building robots for years?”

Thinking about it, you realized she was right. The government had already created some fairly advanced robotics that were far from secret.

“There must be something special about this one,” you said. “Something worth studying. Maybe it’s foreign?”

Suddenly another coworker that had been listening in gasped. “Oh my God you guys,” he said, his voice trailing off.

“What? What is it?” You were surprised by his outburst and too impatient to deal with it.

“What if... what if that’s the Avengers’ android? The one that got destroyed right before they disappeared.”

If that was the case, it certainly hadn’t been destroyed. When Ultron was threatening humanity, news that the Avengers had built another android to fight him was a bit upsetting to most people, the government in particular. Luckily, it worked out. The news hadn’t given a lot of details but the planet was still intact so they obviously did something right.

The government disagreed, however. They thought the Avengers needed more accountability. They tried writing up laws of sorts to control them, but it didn’t go so well. When the Avengers had tried to fight the laws, they were forced to go into hiding. At one point, a government assault team had been sent to stop them. They failed of course, though there were no casualties. Unless you counted a destroyed android. Like, completely destroyed. The news footage had shown a massive explosion. The government even released an official statement saying the android could not be recovered and the rest of the Avengers escaped. Looks like the conspiracy theorists were right about this one.

While no one in the general public knew much about the android, there was still footage of it from Sokovia. At the time, you’d been impressed. Leave it to Tony Stark and Dr. Banner to build something that advanced.

If it was here now, that meant the government wanted to study it. Stark wasn’t known to like sharing his most advanced tech, and this clearly had been no exception.

You let this new information settle in as you continued watching the scene unfold.

_____

The excitement settled down pretty quickly.  The guy in the lab coat, who you’d learned was called Dr. Newmann, rushed from computer to computer, looking over the shoulders of the lab assistants and criticizing anything and everything. You quickly learned to tune him out. You didn’t bother his work, and he didn’t bother you.

Right now you were supposed to be checking the printers for paper and ink. They were brand new, brought in this morning specifically for this lab.

However you couldn’t help but let your eyes wander to the back of the room. The android was no longer in the container it had been transported in. It was now behind the glass wall, lying on some kind of  table and connected to countless computers and machines.

When Dr. Newmann wasn’t yelling at lab assistants, he was in there, fussing over the android like it was his damn child. You could hear him drone on about the discoveries they were going to make into Stark technology. You had a sudden image of what the government could do with that sort of power, but shoved it to the back of your mind before you could dwell on it.

What you really wanted was to get a better look at the android. The other custodians’ interest had diminished rather quickly but you couldn’t help but continue to be curious. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near that glass with Dr. Fussy over there, not even for a quick look.

Your watch beeped suddenly, signaling the time for your lunch break. That was all the distraction you needed to forget everything you were doing and leave.

______

You’d finished your lunch a little early today and decided to get back to work right away. Perhaps if you got everything done early you could go home sooner.

You were surprised to find the lab empty when you got back. All the lab assistants as well as Dr. Newmann were absent. They must all be on their lunch breaks.

The android was still in the same place, unsurprisingly. You briefly thought about going over to sneak a look, but anyone could come in at any second. You didn’t know what kind of trouble you’d be in if you got caught. They seemed to take this thing pretty seriously.

You decided to do the reasonable thing and just get back to work. You started collecting the little trash bins by many of the desks that had already filled with paper. It was amazing how many notes these guys wrote down in just a day.

As you knelt to pick up a crumpled paper that was on the floor, you noticed what looked like a drawing on one of the corners. You carefully unfolded the paper, smoothing it out on your knee. It was a sketch of the android’s face, messy, but recognizable. A bunch of notes and equations surrounded it, practically illegible. One thing stood out to you, which was a question mark with circles around it.  A line connected the mark to a point on the android’s forehead. There was an indent of some kind, though you couldn’t tell if it was deliberate or if something was missing. Your main focus was on the drawing itself though. It was surprisingly detailed. You thought that whoever drew it could’ve had a future in art, maybe in another life.

Well you had managed to do the smart thing for all of thirty seconds. Now your curiosity was getting the better of you. You knew the old slang about curiosity and the cat. You also knew the ending of it.

‘Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.’

Stuffing the paper in your pocket, you carefully approached the glass, cautious of the many wires that snaked across the floor. You couldn’t go inside. The only door in the glass was opened with a full handprint scan. Specifically, Dr. Newmann’s. Not that you wanted to go inside, anyway.

Up close, you were surprised and just how much detail the android had. Aside from the color, its face looked almost scarily human. In fact, it’s whole body seemed organic in shape, for lack of a better term. Though you did recognize the odd indent in its forehead from the sketch. It definitely looked like a part was missing. Overall, it didn’t look like what you expected a robot to look like; all blocky and mechanical like in the movies. It looked like a person.

“What the hell are you doing?!” You hadn’t even realized you were practically leaning on the glass until the furious voice of a lab assistant snapped you back to reality.

“I’m s-sorry! I-I was just looking, I swear! I didn’t touch anything!” You frantically backed away from the glass.

The lab assistant marched over to you, eyeing you over before looking back towards the android. She was silent for several moments as you stood frozen in fear, expecting the worst.

When she seemed satisfied in her examination of the situation, she spoke up, “You’re lucky I wasn’t Dr. Newmann. He would’ve had you out of here faster than you could even blink.”

You let out the breath you didn’t realize you were holding. You couldn’t afford to lose this job. You especially couldn’t afford whatever lawsuit against you would ensue if they thought you had damaged anything.

“I’m sorry Ma’am. It won’t happen again.” Your voice still shook as you tried to come down from your panic.

“It better not. I may not be here next time.” Suddenly, her frown picked up into a slight grin and she glanced back and the android before turning to you again. “Although... it is pretty cool huh?”

Was she... messing with you? Was this a test?

“Y-yeah. Hey, if I can ask, that is the Avengers’ android, isn’t it?” You had to ask. If anyone was going to tell you, it was the lab assistant that just saved your job.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her smile disappeared as quickly as it had come and she turned back towards one of the computers, but if you didn’t know any better, you’d swear she’d winked at you.

There wasn’t time to question it, however, as Dr. Newmann and the others walked into the room. You returned to the trash cans as quickly and nonchalantly as possible, still wrapping your mind about what had just happened.

____

The next several days were uneventful. You kept to your duties, careful to avoid another close call. Today, however, you’d been told you’d have to stay late with two of the other custodians. Apparently, the security guard had been in an accident and you were the only last minute options. Technically, you were all trained in very basic security skills. It was mandatory for the job, partly because a lot of custodians had to stay late when almost everyone else has gone home. You guessed it was cheaper to train people the extra skills rather than hire a whole ton of security guards.

In preparation, you were drinking coffee during your afternoon break. Only the sweet embrace of caffeine was going to get you through this night. On the plus side, you were getting a ton of overtime.

It was that time of day where a large portion of the people here were starting to go home. You watched as one-by-one, the lab slowly emptied, leaving you alone with the two other custodians you’d spoken to on the day the android had been brought in.

As the night drew on, you took turns doing various tasks around the lab to keep busy. At any given time, however, somebody had to be in the actual lab itself. Right now, that was you. One of your coworkers was out walking the halls and the other had snuck outside for a cigarette. You were alone.

There were only a few lights on in the lab; just a couple of the ceiling lights as well as the main light that lit up the space behind the glass wall. It was like a spotlight shining down on the android.

It had been days now and you had no idea what they’d learned from this thing. It was still shut down. You weren’t sure if it was powered off or just straight up broken.

You turned your back on the android, slowly pacing back to the other side of the room. You barely made it a halfway, however, before a loud crash behind you nearly made you jump out of your skin.

You spun around reflexively, looking for any sort of intruder. What you saw instead was far more surprising.

The android was awake. It was also on the floor. It seemed to have fallen off the table. It sat upright, one arm braced against the side of the table. It was looking around as if dazed and you briefly made eye contact. The first thing you noticed was the striking artificial blue of its eyes, unlike anything you’d ever seen before. The thought was fleeting, however.

In a moment of pure panic, you dove behind a desk, pretending like the android hadn’t seen you when it most definitely had. You heard more clattering come from behind the glass. You peeked over the edge of the desk and watched as the Android seemed to struggle to stand. Now that it was on its feet, you noticed something you’d hadn’t seen before.

The android was damaged. There were gashes in its artificial skin of varying severity. It placed a hand gently on a particularly nasty looking cut on its arm and for a moment, you felt a pang of sorrow for the thing. Could it feel pain?

That was when you decided this thing probably wasn’t a threat to you. You weren’t sure what told you that exactly, but you weren’t afraid. You were intrigued, in fact. You were the first person to see the android awake.

You slowly stood up from behind the desk, once more approaching the glass.

The android tried to say something, but you couldn’t hear it. At first you thought it was because of the glass, but the android’s reaction said otherwise. It’d only appeared to say a couple words before it stopped. A confused expression crossed its face and it turned away, raising a hand to its throat tentatively. It began to speak again, but once more was silent. You couldn’t identify the look in its eyes when it turned back to you.

“Can you hear me?” You spoke up only a little, not knowing how soundproof the glass was, but also not wanting your coworker in the hallway to hear.

The android merely looked at you a moment and you assumed it hadn’t heard you. Before you could speak again, however, it nodded.

A small part of you felt overjoyed. You weren’t sure why, but the fact that you could communicate was strangely exciting. Maybe it was the fact that you, not a lab assistant or that ridiculous doctor, but you got to be there when the android woke up.

“Can you speak?” Your mind was suddenly racing and you had to restrain yourself from just spouting out endless questions.

The android frowned before shaking its head. It gestured towards its throat and you understood.

“You’re damaged...” You weren’t asking so much as simply repeating what it had been trying to say. The android nodded solemnly. You wondered how much more damage it had sustained that wasn’t visible.

“Does that-“ you gestured to your arm, mirroring the spot on the android that appeared damaged. “Does it hurt? Can you feel it?”

The android’s expression suggested that the answer wasn’t as simple as a ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ It started gesturing something with its hands and it took you a moment to realize it was miming writing.

“Oh! Are you asking for something to write with?” The android nodded excitedly. You almost turned to look for paper before stopping, your shoulders slumping in disappointment.

“I’m sorry. I can’t get you paper ‘cause I can’t open that door.” You pointed toward the glass door and the android followed your gaze. “Only Dr. Newmann can, and he’d never let anyone else in.”

The android approached the glass calmly and you found yourself backing up subconsciously. It raised a hand to the glass and much to your shock, it phased right through. It stopped abruptly after its hand was through the glass just past the wrist. It appeared that the damage on its arm was stopping it. The android pulled its arm back in frustration before looking back to you. It waved its hand in a way that told you to step back. You did so without question.

You only realized what was happening when the android pulled back a fist and struck the glass with a wicked punch. You reflexively flinched away at the contact but the glass didn’t move. It barely even made a sound. There was no sign of damage.

The android’s eyes were wide in shock and it struck again, the glass still not budging. A small part of you was glad, not wanting to be held responsible for a possible robot rampage. But the look on the android’s face when it realized it was trapped filled you with guilt. Despite its inhuman appearance, this time you recognized the expression as fear.

As the android took a step back, you came up with an idea. You grabbed a pen and paper off the nearest desk and approached the glass again, earning a quizzical look from the android. You took a seat on the floor, gesturing for the android to do the same.

It was still for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to trust you. It must’ve decided you weren’t a threat because it mimicked your actions, taking a seat in front of you.

You froze for a moment, realizing this was the closest you’d gotten to the android. The only other person that had been this close was Dr. Newmann. You wondered what the man would think if he saw you right now. You silently gave thanks there were no cameras in here. They had worried about them being hacked and causing a security breach.

Your attention back to the matter at hand, you clicked the pen and set both it and the paper on the floor as close to the glass as possible.

“If you can at least reach your hand through the glass, you can write on here to talk. It’s not the fanciest method of communication but it should work.”

The android reached for the pen, slowly this time, so as not to worsen its damaged arm. To your surprise, it simply wrote, “Thank you,” on the paper in immaculate handwriting. Oddly, it wrote the words upside down, not needing to turn to the paper for you to read.

You didn’t have time to respond, however, as it continued writing.

“Where am I?” It asked.

“A government facility,” you said, noting the immediate look of alarm on the android. “I don’t know how they found you, but you’ve been here several days. I’m just a custodian, not a scientist. I don’t know much of what goes on around here.”

Rather than responding, the android looked back at the computers and machinery with newfound worry.

“Where did you come from?” You tried to distract it with another question.

It didn’t even need to finish writing before you knew what it was saying. “The Avengers.”

You muttered a soft ‘woah’ under your breath. “We wondered if that was the case. So, did the Avengers give you a name?”

You wanted to ask more about the Avengers, but you doubted you’d get many answers. This android just woke up and found out it’s trapped in a government facility. It wasn’t likely to start spilling secrets any time soon.

The android finished writing, moving its hand to reveal “I am Vision,” written on the paper. You weren’t sure what you’d been expecting, but it wasn’t that. Still, the name seemed fitting. The name reminded you of the android’s eyes. Now that you were close, you noticed not only their vibrant color, but the intricate detail in its eyes.

“That’s an interesting name. Fitting.” The android broke eye contact to write a response. Now that you knew it had a name, it didn’t feel right to keep referring to it as, well, ‘it.’ You realized this wasn’t a simple machine. It may well be as alive as you were. In that case, it seemed appropriate to say ‘he.’

“It was Thor’s idea,” he wrote. You couldn’t help but chuckle. Somehow you found the image of the Norse god of thunder naming this robot to be quite funny. It made you realize just how little you, or anyone else for that matter, really knew about the Avengers.

Suddenly, you heard the door to the lab jiggle and panicked, grabbing the paper and sprinting over to the door.

You grabbed the door as it began to swing open to see your coworkers. Luckily, as long as you held the door open only about halfway, they couldn’t see the android—Vision— behind you.

“Your shift’s up. You can go home for the night. Hey, uh, are you okay? What’s that—?” Your coworker tried to reach for the paper in your free hand but you quickly stuffed it in your pocket, trying to appear inconspicuous and failing.

“Oh just some doodles,” you said, letting out a strained chuckle. “I got bored. Hey you guys wanna give me just a minute? I need to round my stuff up and then I’ll go.” Your coworkers glanced at each other before giving you a look.

“Uh, sure, whatever you say.” You muttered a quick ‘thanks’ in response and closed the door on them without further explanation. You turned back to find Vision standing up now, watching you intently.

“I have to go.” Vision tried to gesture something but you cut him off. “There’s no time. If I’m in here much longer they’ll figure out something’s up. Dr. Newmann and the other researchers will be here in a few hours. I don’t know what they want from you but one thing I do know is that that man is crazy. He’s obsessed with this whole project.” Vision pointed at you in a questioning manner as you picked up your coat.

“I’m really sorry I’m not more helpful. I won’t be back until after the weekend. I don’t know what you’re going to do but just...” You suddenly wondered what you were thinking. Was Vision in danger? It’s not like they could hurt him, right? He’s a machine. But still, you didn’t trust the people here. And a bad feeling in the back of your mind made itself known. You stopped before you reached the door.

“Just be careful.”

---

Part 2

[spidypool]

Tales From Bed Bath & Beyond

So I’ve decided to start a little series called “Tales From Bed Bath & Beyond���.  For those of you who follow me you know I’ve been working there for almost 4 years now. And honestly this store is one giant mess. It wasn’t always like that mind you.  But it is now.  My sister says I work in the real life Superstore (never seen the show but I’ll take her word for it).

I’m writing these little tales 1. Because so many incidents happen I can never remember them all, 2. One day I’ll probably wanna look back on these, 3. I’ll have a ton of stories to tell me niece and nephews, and 4. For @ladysnowstorm​ because she LOVES hearing all about the Bed Bath and Beyond drama.

This first post I’m just gonna give some background so anyone who wants to read them will have an idea of the set up.

Alright lets start with the store and the ranking. So in BBB it goes:

Store Manager (can tell what this is by the name)

LOD aka Leader On Duty (just the senior who is currently in charge because the store manager can’t always be there)

Senior (head Managers of the store)

Department Supervisors (the managers of each store department)

LEAD aka I have no idea what that stands for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  (they are just Department Sups but just without the extra responsibility)

Associates aka the bottom of the food chain

Maintenance (change my mind these guys are the bottom of the food chain)

*There are other parts and stuff but this is all that you guys should know

See I’m an associate. Officially. However I’m treated as a manager and most of the managers obey me so hey I am a manager just without the title, the pay, and well the actual authority.

Now I work at the largest BBB in the world located in NYC. It’s 3 stories tall PLUS the warehouse. Customers only have access to 2 of those levels.  The store is so large it is divided into smaller departments. I’m sure other stores do this but they probably don’t have it divided up so much. Anyways they are:

Frontend which includes

Checkout

Customer Service

Home Delivery

Cashroom

Hardside

Seasonal

Seasonal Electronics

Small Appliances

Kitchen Basics

Pots and Pans

Utilities

Soft Side but really called Lifestyles

Vacuums

Cleaning

Tabletops

Closet and storage

Bath

Candles

Rugs

Towels

Shower Curtains

Bath Essentials

Bedding

Bedding

Furniture

Window Treatment

Frames

HBC aka Health & Beauty Care

okay this ones obvious but beauty stuff

and some random cleaning

Gormey Foods

food

Registry

Baby Registry

Wedding Registry

Also Luggage

And Fancy Dishes

Inventory Control

damaged products and such

Warehouse

where extra stuff is kept

Office

People who answer the phones

Secretary stuff

Human Resources

Scan

they order stuff for the building

LP aka Loss Prevention

they deal with stolen stuff

full of a bunch of idiots

Training

they train the staff on well anything

Okay well I think that everything that matters really. Anyways I’m part of the Frontend Staff! But not only that I’ve every department of the Frontend. Which is well a lot of work.  Plus I’m backup to the office. Just means I answer phones and am generally bored out of my mind 99% of the time.

So now that you know about the ranks and the building set up what about the most Important part. The people!

Seniors/LODs

Sha-tanna - my favorite LOD she’s the bomb funny thing though we actually could not get along to save our lives and it wasn’t until I started working in the Cashroom that suddenly we worked great together. Go figure.

Darnell - used to be my Frontend Manager and we got along great until he was promoted and the power went to his head. He won’t shut up at all. Is always talking and is generally considered the most annoying guy around. You can literally hear him from down the hall. But all in all he’s not the worse boss and sometimes I like him but sometimes I wanna strange him.

Anthony Illarti (we just call him Illarti cause there are a ton of Anthony’s in the building) - he is a bitch. Just putting that out there. He’s a bitch.  He’s rude to people, says the most inappropriate things, frankly he doesn’t know how to work with people. But he can be a good boss?  I mean considering most of the people we work with are terrible he’s not the worse? IDK how to describe him. He’s like 80% of the time terrible but 20% good so yeah...

Quincy - he has no idea what he’s doing like ever.  I usually end up telling him what to do because OMG he cannot handle anything.

Twed Jacket (I can’t remember his name so shoot me) - thinks he know everything doesn’t know anything and fucks shit up trying to boss us around and just GETS IN THE WAY. Like holy shit just go you make our lives SO MUCH HARDER. Just GO.

Kathleen - a stupid fucking cunt. Yes yes I said that. I know.  I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but HA she proved everyone else was right about how awful she is. She literally knows NO ONE’S names. Only the people she hates. If you tell her no at anytime she will find a way to DESTROY you. She also knows nothing, can’t count, forgets to do her job all the time like remembering to lock the door. I cannot say anything good about her. She is the worst.

Managers

Joey - he’s bath and lifestyles. He’s a good guy. Kinda short, gay, and an annoying dude but in a fun way.

DeShaw - hardside.  Freakishly tall, really reliable, and a good guy.

Ronald - hardside. We don’t really talk. He’s okay-ish at his job.

Alex - HBC. Is kinda like that annoying little brother type.

Steve - HBC okay so he’s not a manager but I swore up and down he way and then I found out he wasn’t so he’s going on this list cause he SHOULD be.  He teases everyone all the time like ALL THE TIME. It can get annoying.

Victor - bedding. He was Frontend but couldn’t hack it. Being honest here.

Rochelle - bedding. I know nothing about her at all. We’ve spoken like twice.

*There are some others but I cannot remember their names so not important here or to my stories.

Frontend Managers (there are so many they get their own section)

Ms. B - customer service only. She’s a good boss but she also hates me. I have no idea why. Also I actually like her.

Shelina - frontend only. Okay ya’ll this is the person I will talk about the most. She’s THE BOMB. The Badass MVP. She actually runs the entire frontend cause everyone else is stupid idiots and have no idea what they’re doing. Like at all. She makes the schedule, orders products, sets up everything, puts away the products, I mean it she does EVERYTHING. I work with her a lot. She’s taught me everything I know. Literally the best person and I love her. You guys are going to hear SO MUCH ABOUT HER.

Dumescus - I hate him. He tortured me for months. Bullied and treated me like shit. He flirts with all the women and if his flirting doesn’t work well he hates you. He literally has a group of girl squeal at every word he says.  He does nothing even though he’s given all the responsibility and treated like he’s in charge of the whole department. Only thing he actually does is fix the registers.

Tiffany - we started at the same time and are friends and as much as I love her she has no idea what she’s doing. But she does have one of the biggest hearts. She’s fed me when I planned on going hungry to save money. And she has a positive attitude. She technically a department sup but she doesn’t act like it. She is a good person and a good friend but she panics at even the slightest pressure. She acts like a LEAD doing on the basics of her job. The Bare minimum.  She seriously need to start acting like a leader.

Celeste - a LEAD. I like her as a person. She’s also the best person to close Customer Service when you’re in the Cashroom. She’s also the youngest LEAD. And the thing is when I started she used to be a badass LEAD. She was great at her job used to give it 110%. I honestly don’t know what happened. Now she does nothing more than the bare minimum. Hell she even stops me from doing the other parts of my job to make sure I “stay on a register”.  Even when we have 6 open cashiers and no customers. I like her a lot but whatever happened to her she stopped being a great LEAD and just fails all the time.

Jessica - a LEAD. The gossip Queen. A very likable person.  But being likable doesn’t mean you’re a great or even good boss. She does nothing. When she started he was so eager to learn but no she disappears to gossip with people. Never comes back and just does the basics. It’s sad really. All the potential just wasted.

Sanshia - a LEAD. I hated her, I liked her, I hated her again, now I like her again.  She was for the longest time the most hated LEAD. She was a bitch to everyone and no one wanted to work with her. Something happened and now she’s actually good to work with. Not that she does anything more than the basics. Seeing a pattern guys? Everyone does the basics and pons off their work onto others if given half the chance. Sanshia is no exception.

Kenisha - a LEAD. A literal baby who cries when she doesn’t get what she wants, throws fits, and is just petty. Funny thing is she’s proven she can actually be good at her job she just chooses not to.  She is actually the most hated LEAD right now because of how horrible and childish she acts. It’s just terrible.

Marsha - she gets her own spot because she secretly runs the whole store. Her offical job is head of the office but really she’s girl Friday.  She makes sure everything is running and knows everything. Frankly she’s the bomb and a lot of people are terrified of her. IDK why. I actually have a total crush on her... She so awesome and pretty.

Now I could talk about all the associates but I’m not going to because the staff is ridiculously large and they come and go so often that there’s not too much of a reason to bother.  But you’ll hear more about then as I tell you guys about what happens at my store.

There’s also other people in other positions I could mention and I have a ton of stories to tell you all ready but I’m not gonna cause they’re all stupid people as you’ll learn soon enough.

Okay so I know I just threw a lot of fact at you thanks if you’ve stuck it out this far but from now on all my Bed Bath and Beyond Tales will be fun stories or awful things that happened. Eh we’ll just see what happens.

[bl6ckr0s3]

Fatigue

I been so tired all week. Even though I haven't been working as hard as I normally did before physically, I'm just finding myself passing out right after work when I get home. It's harder to stay awake behind the wheel when I have the baby since I don't want to be smoking around him. I smoke outside of my car now when I can and other times while I'm at work, I go outside to the back of the docks by the maintenance building to smoke. I'm not sure if it's the stress of Ricky that's been draining my energy. Normally, the weather doesn't drain me. Having the baby only 2 days out of the weekday does save me a lot of losing sleep. Early in the morning, the baby woke me up crying 2-3x because he was hungry and I was so damn tired, I was afraid of passing out on the baby when he was still awake. Thankfully, my son falls asleep about 5am and slept for the remainder of the morning. Wendy drove back home up north after I left to work last Monday. I had so much fun playing Pokemon with her Sunday evening and all through Monday. It's nice to be able to enjoy gaming with somebody else for once. I been a gamer all my life and what kids don't love games? That's where Ricky seems to fall in short with the gaming. He either never got into it, or he's just very competitive & don't want to deal witht he frustration of being hooked on a game. What does it matter? I'm having fun and enjoying myself again rather than allowing somebody else to try to change me for who I am or telling me what I should do for Lim. On the Talking Parents chat program, Ricky is still trying to have control over me by trying to give me instructions on how often to feed the baby solid food, the time schedules & all that bullshit. Wendy showed Paul his messages and he said I don't need to follow his instructions for anything. I have the right to raise my child my way. It's not like I dunno how to feed the baby, but I go by how the baby is comfortable with the amount of intake of food he consumes. I notice Ricky is the one messaging me a lot on the chat just as if he's texting me normally. Wendy is the one who checks and responds to the messages for me because she knows I get anxiety when he contacts me. Anything that has to do with dealing with Ricky, I get anxiety now because I dunno what he plans to do next to try to get me in trouble or make me look bad. I completely don't have no trust for him. He's basically just a threat to me.

Wendy has to remind me not to post anything that relates to him or even speak of him because I wouldn't want him to be able to use anything against me. It's not like he has much on me that would be effective, but still have to play it safe until the court bullshit is done. Everyone thinks I'm raising him just fine. I don't need anybody watching over my shoulder every minute and complaining about what I'm doing wrong or what I should do differently. Ricky is the one with OCD. Everything he's accused me of such as having anger issues, being the insecure one, being the one cheating, no everything he's accusing and saying about me, it's all him doing. He can go fuck himself. He doesn't own my life. This was the one thing he over estimated about me. He tried to control me, but got pissed that he can't. He got pissed when I decided to stop tolerating his bullshit. He got pissed when I called him the 'abuser'. The idiot has no logic because any evidence presented to him doesn't matter that it proves he's guilty. In his mind, he's never guilty of anything.

There's a co worker name Steven, an older black guy that just walks around the work place trying to talk to younger chicks. He whines & complains about stupid shit and a lot of people don't like him. I remember when he would start yelling about not being at his assignment by my old supervisor Archie, and this is during the safety meetings. Everytime he opened his mouth, I just wanted to say shut the fuck up to him. When you argue with the guy, he doesn't want to shut up, he just keeps running his mouth & continues to yell. Well, for the first time last night, I had to deal with him trying to start a fight with me over printing label tags. I was busy working on sorting the insects inside APPS1 machine, & in that area theres 2 printers. A printer to print regular labels and one to print small tags for the sack of mails. I was busy printing tags for David, the Vietnamese guy working on the 300 rack. I figure since I'm there working, I may as well try to get that done while I was sorting. I remember hearing yelling out in the background, I turned around and didn't see anybody so I went back to working. Out of nowhere, then I hear yelling again and Steve walks up near my work area and starts asking me about how long I'm gonna be printing the tags and that the printer is jammed. Basically, the man was like rushing me to hurry up so that he can print. Annoyed, I went to reload the printer with new paper tags so that I can continue printing. 2nd time Steve walks up to me yelling at me again and asking why I'm printing more tags, I yelled back at him and told him not to talk to me like that. I told him to ask nicely, but he continues to try to talk over me and yell at me and shit. I told him I didn't hear him ask me how long i'm gonna take with all his yelling, then I just basically told him if he's gonna whine and complain, i'll stop printing so that his ass can print his damn tags, and I called him a big baby. He called me crazy and he just walked away. I stopped printing so his stupid ass can print and stop bitching, but the stupid mother fucker just left lol! I wasn't gonna tolerate anybody's bullshit at work because of what I had been going through with Ricky. I kept Steve's photo that I took 2 years ago because he's one of the people I don't like at work. So I decided to message my friend at work Shiela who's actually friends with him. I told her she needs to tell her friend Steve that if he doesn't get his act together and start treating people nicely, I'm gonna make sure I will curse him so bad that his health will deteriate early and he will be forced to retire early. I can make him suffer if I really want to, I just left him alone because he seem to have kept his mouth shut for quite a long while. No, he had to open his mouth. Somebody has to teach him a lesson and how him you can't just be doing whatever the hell you want and get away with it.

[multifandomhoodies]

okay so yesterday our supervisor came by and dropped off some job postings for current employees looking to transfer. the job postings are for current employees/union employees only but it’s really likely that the jobs will get released to the public. and that’s me. the one park is like fifteen minutes from me and they’re looking for grounds maintenance, which is what i want to do. the senior tech was looking through the postings and was just like “hey do you want this? it’s gonna open to the public and you could definitely apply.” he said that he’d?? vouch for me? which is like holy shit cuz he’s someone i really really look up to? and he’s the senior tech? and he’s like “you know everyone else would too” and one of the guys is friends with someone in hr and he’s like hey just lemme know when you apply i’ll let my friend know and the senior tech’s just like yeah you’re as in as you can get right now. cool! that’s terrifying. that’s awesome but like holy shit that’s kind of a big thing. the thing is though. like. the park i’d apply for gets Talked about in a bad way. it’s kind of a known thing that their crew is kind of shitty and their manager isn’t really great and im just :/ and tbh i like my four minute drive to work where we don’t get much snow. i also just really really want to go out west. part of the reason i’m dropping out of school is because i want to go out west? and there’s like age limits on the trail crews which is what i really want to do. 

the senior tech saw me stressing over the print out and “if you’re going to stress out about it, i can take it back.” he knows i want to go out west and we’ve talked about it a few times so i told him that i’m kind of like. what the hell we gon do now. and he’s just like  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it’s a hard choice but this place isn’t going away.

on one hand, the clearly smart/safe option is to apply for the job. it’s 40hrs a week with benefits and a retirement plan and it’s decent money. i’d have to stay there for a year before i could transfer back to the park where i work rn. it’d be a lot easier to pay back my loans getting paid what i would get paid there. 

but on the other hand? I’ve been wanting to go out and build trails for years. the whole reason i got into parks and rec jobs was because i got interested because of youth conservation corps job postings. i dropped out partly so i can go west and do things. it’s an experience i really really want to have and i don’t want to age out and never get to do that. i’m barely an adult and other than my loans which really aren’t much in the grand scheme of things and like my car insurance i really have no expenses and i can take risks right now. it’s just! nerve wracking.

[hexalianrebel-blackfeathers]

The First Fox Hunt

Panda’s Notes: Here’s a taste of what I consider my favorite AU from my RPs with my birb friend, @tooticklishforyoo . Admittedly, this and the Rough Crows AU are in close competition, but I plan to give you more of both. The story for this AU runs deep with several characters, but please enjoy this piece spotlighting Suga’s role in the world.

 A night like any other…

The wind blew by the city rooftops and kissed the face of a young man perched atop a building. Clad all in black: sweatpants; a long-sleeved shirt; black shoes and socks; and even a hoodie with a hood large enough to keep his face hidden; the average-sized 19-year-old sighed happily as he started to get up. He pulled on the backpack he’d brought, mostly empty to leave space for what he intended to fill it with.

“My name’s Koushi Sugawara!” The teenager called out to the wind, giggling softly as it’d be the first and last time anyone heard that name out loud for a long while. “And I’m gonna be the greatest thief this city ever saw!” He hoped the breeze carried it far—it was going to be lonely on the thief’s path, after all—but not far enough that he’d be caught.

***********

A night like any other…

The clock ticked patiently above the head of the company’s newest night guard. His hands fussed with the folds and buttons and badges of his uniform shirt, making sure he looked as professional as possible in front of his new superior. The older man nodded as he looked over his new trainee.

“You wear it well, kid. Alright, Bokuto-kun.” He said firmly, giving the tall teenager a flashlight for his belt and a walkie-talkie. “Tonight’s your first night handling the floor by yourself.

The trainee nodded eagerly, a toothy, but stiff grin on his face. He blinked as his superior tapped his chest lightly with the back of his hand.

“You can relax a little, you know.” He advised with a slight smile. “It’ll just be you here all night.” He walked past Bokuto, a mere five steps across the small security to the cross-section map on the wall. “Now, this building is zoned from the seventh floor up as office space for the housing insurance company; you’ll be manning the tenth floor: Child’s play, I promise. The top floor is impossible to get to without employee clearance. Just patrol around the area and make sure all the doors are locked, even the supply closets and bathrooms. If you need to use the bathroom, lock it after you leave. You can take a 30 minute break for ‘lunch’ or something if you need it; just call in on your radio, and there’s a vending machine in the employee break room up there.”

Bokuto just kept nodding; this was his very first night as a security guard, and even with butterflies fluttering about in his chest and stomach, he felt ready. He would prove himself tonight.

“My name is Koutarou Bokuto…” He murmured, as he left the security office to take the elevator up, a personal mantra he’d developed. “And I’ll be the face of justice in this city one day.”

***********

Suga adjusted the straps on his bag, feeling giddy, daring, and even a little stupid. A childlike wonder was sparking in his chest as he ran and jumped gracefully over the top of buildings, and he tried his best to quell it before he got to his mark. He sprang up one last time, his leather gloves squeaking as his hands caught the sill of an apartment in the tall building he’d marked. He peeked in for just a second before hopping over a few ledges to the building’s corner. This window, as he’d heard, had a broken latch. He peeked again, and—yes; the stairwell on the east wall corner: one of the maintenance/emergency corridors.

According to his informant, this window got opened a lot during the warmer months since the stairwell and adjacent maintenance halls only had old clunky fans, and with the heat pushing into October, the window was still loose and easy to open, even from outside. Suga hopped inside, his shoes touching the concrete floor with a quiet tap. The small map he’d been given showed an elevator in the maintenance hall just near the window; and he found himself dwarfed by the large doors. Apparently, these maintenance lifts weren’t equipped with any special security since these halls were already off limits. Suga knew this city was quiet, but that’s just a foolish thing to skip out on. He pressed the button, easy as anything and just waited. Pessimistic thoughts assaulted his mind at an astonishing rate:

“What if the elevator is monitored? Someone could be alerted that you’re coming and plan accordingly.”

Even if it was, he forced himself to believe he was crafty enough to avoid them.

“What if there’s a camera? The security team could look right at you from their seats and know you aren’t an employee.”

That’s what the hood was for, obviously. As long as they couldn’t see his face and he got away at the end, nothing would be lost.

“But what if the guard is up there when you come out of the maintenance hall?”

He tried not to think about that one. He stepped inside the elevator when it opened, and selected the top floor. His informant had been very clear: there was a safe hidden in a stationary closet up there: buried way in the back behind shelving units and strategically placed, never-to-be-opened boxes. Apparently, it was a leftover from when the building was first constructed, and it was an old-fashioned tumbler safe: supposedly easy pickings for someone like Suga, who had no prior thieving experience. Suga wasn’t sure that his informant had any thieving experience either, but he still went along with it. As long as he could hear the tumblers, it should have been simple enough.

He stepped out of the elevator and checked his map. The stationary closet wasn’t too far from the tunnel entrance on this floor. In and out, just like he’d been told. Should be fifteen minutes at most.

 ***********

Bokuto wandered the empty floor, checking the knobs on office doors and making sure the copy machine and main printer were turned off. Everything was quiet so far; he hadn’t seen or heard anything of note.

Five whole hours of this for four nights a week…

Well, he supposed he had to start somewhere.

He lifted his radio off of his belt. “Um, senpai? Is there anything I should know while I’m up here?”

“Aside from what I told you? I thought I was pretty straightforward.”

“I—Well, um…”

“Getting bored up there already, huh?” His supervisor laughed lightly, and Bokuto couldn’t help cringing in embarrassment. “Ah, kid; I tell them every other day that we’re short-staffed; we ought to have at least two or three people to a floor, I think. Don’t worry about it; someone will always be down here to talk to if you get too bored. Can’t have our staff going crazy, after all.”

Bokuto smiled slightly, thanking the other guard and continuing to roam. He eventually found himself passing in front of an unmarked door, presumably a closet. He suddenly heard something clatter to the floor inside, and he instinctively unlocked the door to check inside. It was a stationary closet, apparently: full of cheap plastic shelving units holding up boxes of printer paper, folders, staples, paperclips, ink cartridges, et cetera. Glancing around and pulling up his flashlight, his eyes finally fell on a shelving unit across the room. The corner of the second lowest shelf was broken right where it intersected the post holding that corner, and a box full of smaller cases of staples had fallen onto the floor; the little boxes and some wayward staples littering the thin, dark-colored carpet.

“Hey, uh… A shelf just broke in a closet up here.” Koutarou said calmly into his radio, brushing the staples as best as he could into a pile with his shoe.

“Is it the stationary closet?”

“Yes? I’d assume so, at least.”

“Well, yeah, those shelves are always breaking. They’re cheap as dirt. Company’s pretty well off; you’d think they’d spring for some metal shelves or something. Just let it be; keep walking. There’s nothing really important in there anyway.”

The young guard turned the radio off, glancing one last time at the small mess before shrugging and leaving as he was told, making sure the door was locked as he did.

***********

Suga had pushed open the door out of the maintenance hall, catching sight of the retreating form of the night guard. He gasped faintly, having the tiniest hint of a heart attack and only relaxing when he realized he hadn’t been noticed.

He quickly slipped through the door and approached the stationary closet. That guard had seemed to be walking away from—yeah, it was locked. He sighed almost silently as he pulled his hand off the doorknob. He glanced around again; this would have to be fast.

Suga slipped a hand into the side pocket of his backpack, pulling out the lock pick he now held so dear. He’d practiced on a hundred different locks in preparation for this, and the old bolt lock on the knob wasn’t even a match for an amateur like him. He smiled like a fool as the handle gave, turning it quietly and pushing the door open enough to creep inside. He closed the door with the softest click he could manage, stepping away from the door and nearly jumping out of his skin when his something made a crinkling sound under his boots. Suga blinked as he examined the floor. Staples. He’d scared himself with wayward staples. He walked over the small bits of metal, stepping around the fallen box when he came to it and making his way to the back corner of the closet.

He crouched beside the unit against the wall, slipping his backpack off and slinging it onto the shelf above him. He barely registered the crack that the shelf made, assuming it was the rattle of metal on his bag. He shifted the boxes around on the bottom shelf, his eyes lighting up a bit as he uncovered the dusty and rusted old safe. Suga gently toyed with the combination dial; it was so stiff, he almost thought it might be jammed. He drummed his fingers on the floor thoughtfully. Oiling the dials should be enough to fix it. He reached up to the shelf over his head, using it to lever himself up…

And immediately falling over as the shelf broke under his weight and the entire unit shook before tipping over. Heavy boxes collapsed onto his back, and Suga cringed in pain as pointed cardboard dug for split seconds into his back and hands as they covered his head and neck. He took steady breaths as he felt nothing but loose papers raining down on him. He was breathing fine; no punctures; probably no internal bleeding; his hands ached, but they’d protected him from a likely skull fracture and possibly a broken neck. As his adrenaline drained away, he slowly became aware of the box-loads of printer paper and some kinds of paperback books, along with the entire broken shelving unit, weighing him down.

He winced, trying to move his hands and feet to escape his new trap, but the sheer weight, especially combined with his now thoroughly sore body, was going to be temporarily insurmountable. Suga sighed and tried to keep himself calm. It was paper and a cheap shelf; this was not impossible. Then again, it was a pretty heavy shelf; he was slowly realizing the true weight of the broken unit as he became aware of its bulk pressing on his ankle. He pulled as much as he could without either hurting himself or getting stopped by all the paper. Koushi gave a quiet sigh as the weight disappeared in a single instant, only to groan angrily when he realized his shoe had come off. Again, this was simple, he could get out of—

He froze up completely at the sound of the door opening.

***********

Bokuto was nearly to the other side of the floor, the tedium of all the wandering setting in again. He considered calling in for his break, just to hunt for a vending machine, but just before he could grab his radio, he heard a loud crash from all the way on the side where he’d started. Part of his mind pressured him to brush it off. It was probably just that stationary closet again; but that crash had been way too loud to be an accident. He found himself sprinting back to the closet, his radio still holstered. He didn’t even feel the need to be worried; even if someone had broken in, any person foolish enough to make that much noise probably wouldn’t get away easily.

His hand was on the doorknob within 20 seconds at most, and Bokuto cursed under his breath when he realized it was unlocked. Someone was here, probably still in there. He kept his nerve though, pulling open the door and flicking the light on. At a glance, one wouldn’t even think there had been an incident had they not heard it, but stepping inside, the mess of stark white paper was easy to pick out against the mostly dark colors in the room.

Bokuto sighed heavily, approaching the pile and studying the toppled shelf. He felt guilty; this was his fault. His first night here and someone had already managed to slip past him. Whoever it was must have already scurried off like the rat they were. He was about to lift it back into place when he noticed the black shoe on the floor. Okay, anyone can make a mistake and break a shelf, but no one could be dumb enough to actually leave—

The mass of paper was moving; a foot covered by a black sock stuck out of the pile. Bokuto felt like an idiot. The little thief was still here. He caught the leg swiftly by the ankle, and he couldn’t hold back a smirk at the full-body flinch he got for it. Honestly, he just couldn’t resist. It wasn’t like this kind of thing just happened.

“Looks like someone’s in an awkward position.” He taunted playfully, drawing one finger down the sole of the trapped thief. At another flinch, Bokuto chuckled, kneeling slightly to trace tauntingly around the helpless foot. “I bet you really thought you’d get away with this, didn’t you?” His fingers scribbled, and he smiled at the sound of quiet snickers. They sounded almost like…

“You’re just a kid!” Bokuto said incredulously. Well, not a kid, but definitely a teenager, maybe even his own age. “Oh, my God, you little bastard!” Turning to sit on the floor, the young security guard hooked his arm around the smaller boy’s ankle and scratched roughly at the entire length of the socked foot. Another smirk crossed his face as his new captive yelped and tried to pull out of his grip. “Oh, no, you are not getting out of this so easily.”

*****************

By the gods, Suga wanted to die.

When he had left his apartment earlier that night, he’d assumed that the worst that could happen was that he got caught and thrown in a holding cell for attempted robbery. This city was pretty loose with people who screwed up robberies as long as they go in unarmed, and they cracked down hard on anyone performing armed crimes.

But this?! Not only being partially trapped inside the building he was trying to rob, but being found and now tickled by a security guard. Tickled of all things…

He could feel the blush creeping onto his face as he tried to stifle the laughter clawing at his chest. Suga had always been ticklish; he’d never deny it. Hell, he loved being ticklish; he loved being tickled; he used to love tickling his friends goofy, and he still tickled his roommate when he had a rare chance to sneak up on him.

That didn’t make this any bet—Okay, it made it a little better, but—

No.

No, dammit; this is bad!

The thief's resolve started to break down, and he found himself resisting his own mind giving into a stupid fantasy he used to have about situations like this. Real life doesn’t freaking work like this normally! Real life shouldn’t work like this; it’s really inconvenient.

Suga was giggling, and giggling hard. His hands gripped uselessly at his hair and the collar of his hoodie as he broke further and started to laugh. Trying to pull his foot out of the guard’s grip wasn’t doing any good. In fact, it seemed to encourage him. A squeal rushed out of the smaller teen’s mouth as the offending fingers moved to focus on his toes, and he cackled helplessly.

“I can’t help but wonder wat could have possibly been going through your head, shorty.” The guard taunted, not letting up for an instant. Ugh, the goddamned taunting; Suga could never handle it, and this guy just wouldn’t shut up.

“S-Stop!” He whined through his laughter, trying to struggle again when the taller male’s fingers traced his leg to find and scratch the back of his knee. He flailed a bit, all his writhing helping to throw the bulk of the papers off of his body.

But did he want it to stop? Well, yeah, actually, it was pretty imperative that he stopped, or else Suga would get caught by someone who wasn’t up to playing games.

Then again…He wouldn’t lie once he was out of this: It was a story for the ages alright.

Out of this. He had to get out.

He blinked his eyes open, having to steel himself against the sensation to reach out and grab the strap on his backpack. He cried out and cringed as he laughed brightly; why was this guy such a good tickler anyway? His hand clutched around the backpack strap, and he moved his free foot as subtly as possible. This had to be perfect, or he’d be caught again in an instant.

**************

Bokuto snickered as he kept running his fingers along the thief’s foot and lower leg, reveling in the squeals and cackles he was able to draw from just this limited position. As much as he was enjoying this, and as much as he wanted to tease this kid for the rest of the night, his conscience nagged him to just scoop up the little thief and take him down to the security office already. He finally gave his captive a break, his free hand pawing around for the male’s other leg. He blinked when it wasn’t anywhere on the floor near him, and just before he could turn to look, the leg in question delivered a swift kick to the back of his head.

He cried out and keeled over, momentarily stunned. He watched, through hazy vision and while clutching his aching skull, as the thief snatched his shoe and slipped it on before darting out of the stationary closet with his backpack in tow.

“H-Hey…Hey, get back here!” Bokuto called groggily, getting back to his feet to give chase. His mind caught up quickly, and he pulled his radio off of his hip. “Senpai! I need your help! I saw someone sneaking around up here! Hurry; I don’t think I can catch him!”

“I’ll be right up; try to keep up with him!”

Bokuto nodded, smiling as he pumped his arms to try to speed himself up. “You are in so much trouble, you little brat!” He called playfully after his former captive.

The thief darted around the corner, leading him in an entire loop around the floor before slipping into the maintenance door. “Hey, stop!” Bokuto shouted, grabbing the handle of the door and struggling with it for a moment. He could hear a rattling sound before the clatter of something metal falling to the floor. The door flew open just afterward, and the young guard burst into the maintenance hall, looking around frantically. He paled when he saw the numbers on the small screen above the elevator ticking downward.

There was no way. Even if he called to tell his trainer that the thief had changed course, they wouldn’t catch up to him; and it was unlikely he planned to just waltz out the front door anyway. The little punk had won…

“Koutarou!” Bokuto turned at the sound of his name.

“Senpai…” He murmured, looking at the older man guiltily. “I-I…”

“He got away, huh?” The trainee could only nod, feeling worse and worse by the second. If he hadn’t been screwing around then—

“Well, c’mon, let’s check the damage.” Bokuto followed slowly. “It didn’t look like anything was moved though. Where did you find him?”

“He was poking around that stationary closet you were telling me about. He broke a shelf in there, and he started running when I came to investigate.”

“Hm… I’ll check it out.”

Bokuto stood in the doorway, watching his supervisor lift and examine the shelf and the area around it. He knelt in front of the wall, shining his flashlight there, and Bokuto was surprised to see that there was an old safe there.

“Must have been after this…” The older man stood up, tapping his flashlight on his hand. “It’s barely touched. Breaking this shelf must have shaken him up.” He scoffed and crossed his arms. “Just an amateur. You did well, Koutarou. Didn’t give him a chance to try and crack the safe. Aside from this mess, there’s no harm done. I’ll tell maintenance that they need to put up a new shelf.”

He slapped Bokuto’s shoulder proudly. “Pretty exciting for a first night.” He blinked and leaned to look at the trainee’s head. “That’s a nasty bruise, kid. Tell you what; you’ve had enough for tonight. I’ll pay for your cab home, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Bokuto couldn’t help but smile. He still felt guilty; he still felt terrible; but he’d stopped a thief from actually stealing anything. Everyone makes mistakes, but he’d get better. He was on his way. He’d be the face of justice in this city in no time at all.

**************

Suga could already hear his informant laughing at him when he got back to the apartment. His roommate always did love to tease Suga while he was teaching him things.

But…

It was worth it. A smile was stuck on the young man’s face as he ran across the rooftops and sprang between them as necessary. His nerves were still tingling; his feet were light. He’d lived a fantasy and gotten away. He couldn’t help but be ecstatic. Tonight was just practice anyway; he had no reason to care about failing. He’d gotten away completely, no evidence left behind but that guard’s own memory of a figure clad in black.

He felt a tingle in his hands: a desire to use them. Gripping the sill of his apartment window wasn’t fixing it. He curled his fingers as he stood in his room. He wanted to get someone and get them good. Maybe someone who might give him a new mark once he’d practiced enough. He chuckled lowly; this city wouldn’t know what hit it.

A smirk crossed his face as he remembered the note he’d left in the maintenance hall of that building: a prototype of his calling card:

A business card with paw prints lining its edges and with a simple message: “Marked by the Silver Fox.”

[presumenothing]

past time

aka I have too many AUs, and also the Kaito & Shiho tag now has one (1) work on AO3 now, yay

People never think to look up, do they? (Or: two conversations, years apart.)

(AO3) (FFN)

.

The rustle of leaves catches Shiho by surprise.

That in itself is unusual - she’s always alert to her surroundings, and perhaps it might’ve been excessive for anyone else, but in her case it really isn’t.

So when an unfamiliar figure swings up onto the tree branch opposite to the one she’s sitting on, it takes her a moment to register that he’d said something. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know there was someone up here, I’ll just – ”

The boy (a year younger than her, probably Japanese descent, Shiho estimates automatically, trying to calm her racing heartbeat) is about to jump back off the branch before she speaks, startling both of them. “No, it’s fine, you can stay.”

“Really?” He gives her a blinding grin when she nods, and settles in - with enviable ease, Shiho can’t help but think. The trees lining the grounds have made a passable sanctuary for her thus far (people never think to look up, not even in a school ostensibly for gifted children), but even then she’s always wary of falling.

She almost regrets the decision not half a minute later, though, when he speaks again. “Enjoying the afternoon sun?"

“Not particularly,” Shiho answers anyway, leaning against the tree trunk. “You?”

“Nah, I’m definitely a night person. Just needed some fresh air after all those classes, you know?” He tugs at the collar of the school uniform with a faint grimace.

Shiho doesn’t, actually – her schedule is far from the usual even here, most of it taken up by research and graduate lessons with the professors.

“Right, I forgot to introduce myself! I’m Kuroba K – sorry, Kaito Kuroba, I should say?” he continues with a sheepish grin, apparently unoffended by her silence. “Still getting used to that, my name sounds really weird in that order.”

“It’s an adjustment period,” she says noncommittally, because - well, it’s not as if she has much experience in the matter. Codenames don’t exactly differ across the world, after all. “I’m Shiho Miyano.”

“I know,” comes Kuroba’s answer, and that’s unexpected. “We’re in the same class for organic chemistry, right?”

Shiho pages through her memories quickly - she isn’t taking the class herself, of course, only helping her supervisor with it as part of her PhD qualifications. “You transferred in recently?”

“Yeah, a month ago. My mum wanted me to come to the States with her, and this school was recommended by a good friend of hers.” He pauses briefly. “Also, I’m quite sure my old school was just about ready to kick me out after I blew up the chemistry lab twice.”

Shiho does look up at that one. “Twice,” she repeats, half in disbelief – she remembers seeing Kuroba’s work in class now, and it had consistently been above average if one ignored the haphazard doodling in the margins and occasional creative answers. Certainly well above catastrophic-lab-incident standards, if she were to judge.

“On purpose,” he clarifies unhelpfully, a glint of mischief clear in his eyes. “Well, mostly on purpose. I was bored, and it wasn’t anything permanent at any rate... well, except for the glitter. I’m not sure Komoe-sensei ever completely got that out of her hair.”

Glitter? she thinks, but silently this time, because she’s not quite sure she wants to know the story behind that particular statement. “Well, I don’t think boredom will be an issue for you here, given the flexibility of the curriculum.”

The sudden excited grin on Kuroba’s face suggests that he does, in fact, agree. “Yeah, I definitely haven’t been bored so far - I mean, some of the teachers are boring, but I guess that’s the same everywhere. Though I could use some help with linear algebra, if you’re taking that class?”

“No, I’m biochem,” Shiho answers shortly – she knows the subject well enough, of course, but the last thing she needs is someone poking around in curiosity. “You’re engineering, I assume?”

Fortunately, he takes the hint to change the topic. “No, I want to be a magician! I’m working on a card gun for design class now, actually, although the mechanism keeps refusing to work out right.”

“Card gun?” she asks, interested despite herself.

“Yeah, you’re supposed to be able to shoot cards with it, but – ” there’s a crinkle of paper as he takes a sheaf of paper from a book she could’ve sworn he hadn’t been holding earlier, “ – here, I have the drafts if you want to take a look?”

“I wouldn’t be much help with that, I’m afraid,” she says before he can hand over the blueprints, and nods at the book instead. “What’re you reading?”

He holds out the book to her, and it takes her several seconds to make the mental switch to Japanese. “Lupin versus Holmes?” she reads from the cover, raising an eyebrow.

“Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes, actually, but Holmes is overrated anyway,” he quips with a grin. “Do you want to borrow my copy? It’s worth the read, I promise.”

Shiho hesitates – it’d be good practice for her Japanese, which she’s rarely had the chance to use for the past few years since coming here, but on the other hand –

Three things happen almost simultaneously in the next moment: the bell rings, Kuroba visibly startles, and the book reappears on her lap with a puff of smoke.

“Right, that’s my cue,” he says with a glance at his watch, while she’s still mute with surprise. “The professor’s gonna kill me if I’m late for physics again, I think.”

He’s already jumped down from the branch in one nimble movement that would’ve easily sprained Shiho’s ankle (or worse) before she finally manages to respond. “Wait, your book – ”

“Don’t worry about it, you can return it next time we meet! I’ve practically memorised it by this point anyway.” He waves at her with a cheeky grin. “See you around, Miyano!”

Kuroba dashes off around the corner of a building before she can figure out a reply, but - well, Shiho has never been one to say no to a good book, much as she hasn’t made time to read for longer than she can care to remember.

Then again, she’s free for the next two hours while the maintenance crew deals with the spill in an adjacent lab that’d sent her out here in the first place, so she opens the book and begins to read.

On the eighth day of last December, Mon. Gerbois, professor of mathematics at the College of Versailles, while rummaging in an old curiosity-shop, unearthed a small mahogany writing-desk which pleased him very much on account of the multiplicity of its drawers…

. 

(He’d been overly optimistic, of course - she finishes the book quickly enough, but doesn’t get the chance to return it when she’s called back to Japan that very weekend.)

–––

Two muted voices echo faintly as Ai heads down the corridor, snatches of conversation from beyond the slightly ajar doors of the Kudo library.

“ – already told you to be careful – ”

“ – like to see you try piloting a hang glider in this weather, tantei-kun – ”

Both fall suddenly silent when she pushes the door open. (Honestly. She’d already deduced what was going on several heists ago, did they need to look so surprised?)

She walks in anyway, shaking her head with a sigh. “Here, I brought some extra medical supplies for – ”

Ai’s thoughts are abruptly derailed as she gets a proper look at the third person in the room, and the name slips out without her realising it. “Kuroba?”

And the Kaitou Kid, face unobscured by the shadow of a hat brim for once, blinks. “…Miyano?”

(…so, okay, Ai had known that Edogawa was helping Kid, but she clearly hadn’t figured out the whole truth. Though, judging from the look of shock mirrored on the thief’s face, she hadn’t been the only one.)

Edogawa freezes mid-movement, and Ai has the rare privilege of witnessing his complete, utter confusion. “You two… know each other?”

“I thought you looked familiar, but I figured that it must’ve been some weird coincidence. I mean, what were the chances?” Kuroba - who happens to be the Kaitou Kid, apparently, she cannot even believe her life right now - gives her the same blinding grin she remembers from a lifetime ago. “Guess I should’ve known better, huh?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have taken kindly to you asking, at any rate.” Ai takes a page from his book, and doesn’t bother answering Edogawa either - the detective can afford to stew for a while longer. “Still a Lupin fan, I see?”

The familiar top hat appears in Kuroba’s hand in a small puff of smoke, and he tips it at her theatrically, still with that look of amusement on his face. “I always wondered how that book ended up back in my room afterwards.”

“There was a reason I was sent to that school specifically.” Ai shrugs as she strides forward, placing the box she’d been carrying on the table between the pair. “I returned to the labs nearby several times, it was more a matter of finding an opportunity to slip away. Though I suppose I owe you one for taking that long to return it.”

Kuroba appears to think over that for a moment, before glancing to where his sleeve has been cut neatly away to reveal a gash across his upper arm. “Patch me up, and we call it even?”

Ai considers the wound - bullet graze, relatively large caliber, probably matched the deleted reports of snipers that she’d helped to track down previously - before nodding. “Get me a basin of warm water, would you, Edogawa-kun?” she asks, finally glancing over to where the detective is still opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

(Unbeknownst to her, a certain magician thief shudders for reasons he is not completely sure of.)

“Don’t worry, tantei-kun, the answer probably isn’t half as sinister as what you’re probably imagining,” Kuroba adds airily, just as Edogawa looks like he’s about to protest. “Though I’ll leave it up to the ojou-san here to decide whether to tell you.”

Edogawa gives them both a vaguely disgruntled look as he leaves, and Ai gets to work, picking up the tweezers she’d brought over.

“So I take it that you - ” Kuroba hisses sharply as she removes a piece of debris lodged in the wound, “ - are the scientist that tantei-kun mentions every now and then?”

“I would assume so, yes,” Ai quips dryly. “Better than ‘great white flying target’, if you ask me.”

“Hey, I volunteered for this job before I even met tantei-kun,” Kid objects, sounding mildly offended.

“Which is a testament to your soundness of mind, I’m sure,” Ai mutters under her breath.

Kuroba has the temerity to chuckle at that. “Seriously, I even told you about the card gun, I can’t believe it took you this long to put the pieces together. Though I got carried away with the customisations and ended up submitting my modified smoke bombs for class in the end.”

“Even if I’d realised the connection, I would’ve just assumed that both you and Kid had taken inspiration from a common source.” Ai reaches over to tilt the table lamp so she can see better. “And you’re certainly one to talk, given that you already know who Edogawa-kun is.”

“True,” Kuroba says with a wince - whatever painkillers he’d taken earlier were probably wearing off, Ai thinks.

They both fall into silence after that, until Ai straightens, satisfied that she’d removed all the debris. “Besides, if you’d actually gotten as far as showing me the prints, I’d probably have told you to patent the design, and then where would Kaitou Kid be?”

Kuroba is still laughing at that when Edogawa returns with the basin of water and two clean towels, a confused expression on his face.

.

(“I was lying, you know,” Kuroba tells her as his gaze flicks over the wall of screens in the surveillance van, showing various exits of the hideout they’re planning to raid. “Before.”

“Oh, for…” Shiho shakes her head as she checks the barrel of the Glock that Agent Jodie had lent her. “Do we really have to discuss this now, Kid?”

They all use the moniker when he helps on these missions, but it’s very much Kuroba that grins back up at her - there’s a distinct difference. “I’ve never had problems with linear algebra, although I don’t like it much.”

“So what, you were planning to play dumb if I’d agreed to help you?” A glance at Kuroba’s expression confirms her hypothesis - or possibly that he just hadn’t thought that far. “And you already knew I was up that tree, I assume.”

“Guilty as charged,” he answers in a singsong tone, card gun appearing in one hand with a quick movement. “Shall we go, then?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” Shiho says, deadpan, as she ducks out of the van’s door ahead of him. “And I wasn’t actually taking that org chem class, if you must know.”

She hears him pause briefly at that one, and there’s a note of realisation in his voice when he replies. “Don’t tell me you were the one who deducted five marks for handwriting on my assignments?”

“No, that was one of the other grad students.” Shiho heads over to where Kudo is talking to several FBI agents, though she does wait for Kuroba to catch up before continuing. “I would’ve deducted ten, at least.”

Beside her, Kuroba splutters in indignation.)

.

.

as far as I can tell, the Japanese translation does actually have the title as ルパン対ホームズ, literally “Lupin vs Holmes”, unlike both English and the original French.

not terribly alternate as far as AUs go, though I leave the details up to your imagination – Mystery Train goes somewhat differently in this universe, of course, but otherwise the DC timeline thus far remains mostly similar. on the MK side of things, Kaito presumably returned to Japan for high school when he learned about Toichi being Kid, and while he did keep in contact with Aoko while overseas, their relationship would likely (and unfortunately) not be as close as in canon, leaving him freer to act as Kid. (if it wasn't obvious, the school was recommended by Vermouth – ostensibly to keep Chikage and Kaito safe from Snake and co., but who knows when it comes to her, honestly...)

and allow me to yet again link two stunning pieces of relevant art from aoi/aonosubete, because this artist owns my soul by this point, seriously

[portersnotebook]

Jay Loves Christine

“It’s a ship. I dunno. Same contract like any other.”

The roast was getting cold between them on the table, Jay’s beer was getting warm and there was no fire in any oven hotter than the one in Christine’s eyes.

“Jay, c’mon, baby, you been on building contracts before. People are talking.”

“Well, while they’re talking can I eat my dinner? Baby, I don’t know. How many ways I gotta say it? You want me to learn Chinese? Say it that way?”

The “it” Jay was building was just a set of ribs. It had taken months just to build the support cage in which the ship would grow and Jay, like every other guy with half a brain on the line, had to admit it was a little bigger than most. A man came by with a piece of paper and made everybody sign it, but that wasn’t gonna fly with Christine.

“Don’t talk at me like I’m stupid, Jay.”

“Christie, gorgeous, love of my life, it’s just a fuckin’ ship. Gonna haul enough macadamia nuts from down south to fill a whale’s nutsack.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“And you’re gorgeous.”

“Shut up.”

But she was smiling.

Picket lines formed outside the job site. People waved signs with slogans like “tell us the truth” and bible quotes. The crowds grew along with the ship.

“Baby, I got promoted.” He banged in through the door of the apartment with a six pack and flowers.

“Jay, I’m scared.”

“You’re scared? Baby, I got a promotion and you’re scared. C’mon. You gotta relax.” He gathered Christine in his arms and lay his cheek against her hair. She was shaking.

“What if what they’re saying is true?” Her voice was muffled by his jacket.

“C’mon. That’s fuckin’ crazy. I mean, I’m not reading all the shit you’re probably reading, but I’m there on the site and whatever they’re saying, it’s bullshit.”

“You telling me the truth?”

“Of course, Christie. You want a beer?”

Later in bed, staring at the unforgiving confessor that is the ceiling, Jay didn’t believe it either.

The doomsday whackjobs grew in strength and number. More police arrived with shields, facemasks and sticks. Forget his commute, it took Jay an hour for them just to cut a path through the Hare Krishnas.

His buddy Kostas shoved a pink rober with a harmonium out of his way. “Least they’re calmer than the biblethumpers.”

“They’re vegetarians.”

“Must be it.” Kostas stiff-armed a guy wearing a ‘Free Hugs’ shirt. “I swear, dude, you want the fuckin’ apocalypse? I’ll hook you up.”

Christine couldn’t talk about anything else, and with each moment the ship grew, Jay couldn’t figure out any new ways to deny it that didn’t make him sound like an idiot.

“I can’t believe you’re buying this shit!” He said.

“I can’t believe you’re just gonna sit there and tell me the sky’s green when it’s not, Jay. What’re you doing, baby?”

“I gotta work, Christine. I don’t know what else to do. They’re still collecting rent and charging for groceries.”

“They’re not telling us everything.”

“Baby, they never tell you everything. C’mon. It’s for fucking shipping. World’s getting smaller. Gotta haul more stuff, I dunno. Fuck you want me to do?”

Christine crossed her arms and shook her head. “You’re so blind, Jay.”

“I still see you pretty good, beautiful.”

“Shup up, Jay.”

But she was smiling.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Jay. You believe this rain?” Kostas put down his rivet gun for a second and wiped his hands.

“Careful with that.”

“Fuck off, Mr. Supervisor.”

Jay chuckled. Over the side of the main deck, the protesters were huddling in the torrential downpour, their signs turned to mush. They still yelled, but it was hard to make out words over the water screaming down out of the sky.

“It’s fuckin’ crazy alright.”

“You ever think...”

“Don’t fuckin’ start, Kos. You sound like Christie.”

Jay stepped away from the workmen and put his hand out under the rain. It had real weight. It wasn’t just falling out of the sky, it was being thrown down. With spite. He heard the end-of-shift whistle screech.

“The fuck’s that for? It’s only five!” He asked Kostas.

“Flood warning. We’re done for the day.”

“Alright. I’m right behind you.”

Jay slipped down below decks. The hallways were done in warm wood, velvet piping and gilt windows. He walked past dozens of private berths, down and down past deck after deck that pared away in opulence until the rooms were just iron stalls with single curtains. He stood in the belly of the ship, dwarfed by the engine. The god-engine the gearmonkeys called it, it was sort of a joke. Jay didn’t like the glint in their eyes when they said it. All these cages. Stout fixtures and floor to ceiling bars and fresh straw on the floors. Across the way cots were stacked for additional sleeping. He picked up a discarded welding torch and climbed to one of the maintenance catwalks near the ship’s massive ribs. With the sparking, snarling torch he wrote:

“Jay Loves Christine”

And drew a heart around it.

He put the torch down and thought for a minute before he added.

“Even if she drives...”

He stopped and drew a line through the last set of words.

“Nah. Nobody needs to know that.” He said and left the job site, through the sloshing rain and the night watchman’s box.

“You just getting done, Jay?”

“Yeah.”

“Ya’ll were supposed to be off the site an hour ago.”

“Had some things to check, relax, Frank.”

A line of trucks was turning the corner ahead. Moving trucks.

“What’s all this?”

“I can’t tell you, Jay.”

“You can’t tell me.”

Frank waved the line of trucks through. “Fact is, man, I got no fuckin’ idea what’s going on.”

Jay watched the trucks pass him and then we went home, sloshing through the pouring rain that didn’t seem like it was ever going to stop. He wondered if Christine had bought beer.

Photo Credit: A ship under construction in London. Jack Benton, 1900.

[seedling-lotus]

today has been such a fucking shit show and i’m going to rant about it under the cut because i need to vent in a huge way

oh my gods... i just... i fucking can’t even. i barely know where to start, but i’m gonna start at the beginning. I work second shift for a multi-billion dollar shipping company in the heavy freight division. so this is pallets of things weighing, for the most part, over a hundred pounds. This is some big shit. but whatever so I work second shift. My shift starts at 2 in the afternoon. perfect hours for a night owl like myself. 

so i got up, had breakfast, went to therapy, came home and did the dishes, took my car through the car wash and went to work. all fine and dandy. a good start to the day. get to work. terminal manager has gone home. before i even got there. by, like, a while. I mean, no really big deal there. at least i don’t have to deal with the guy. (he’s a fucking moron. he doesn’t know how to do anything and he’s a condescending, sexist, racist, homophobic ass.) the supervisor covering the outbound shift is running late. also no big deal. can’t stand him either. 

so whatever, first hour or so goes pretty smoothly. i get settled in, start doing my work, run into my first snafu. but i was distracted, doing a couple things, didn’t realize how big of a snafu it was. in the mean time the supervisor comes in and gets himself settled and is generally annoying, which gets me peeved. i go out on the dock, come back, go out, whatever. I can barely remember exactly why, but work was being done. 

meanwhile dick ass supervisor somehow gets into a conversation about anti-depressants with one of the clerks so i walk into that. I take the clerk’s side that meds can be helpful. bible thumping jesus freak skin head asshole supe insists that medication is a scam and it can’t help you and blah blah blah. got me so steamed i’m litterally screaming at him. I storm out before i punch the ass in the face. get some more work done

and back to my snafu from earlier. except it’s less snafu and more total fubar. I shoot the driver related to said fubar a message and he calls up with some lame ass excuse for said fubar. so i’m fucking fuming. go out on the dock. i’m looking at this trailer, and the paperwork and i’m i’m so pissed i’m not even angry anymore. I’m resigned. and also fucking determined to get it sorted out. 

now mind you. there is only one dockworker present at the moment. trucks are starting to come back with the afternoon freight. i need to get this sorted, and i need to get it sorted NOW. But this dick doesn’t want to do it. he wants to leave it for one of the new guys. I insist. he still wants to leave it for a new guy. he asks for a different trailer. I tell him i’m not printing any paperwork until this shit gets sorted. he finally relents to stripping this trailer for me. (mind you, i had half a mind to strip the thing myself, but i had to go through the pallets as they were coming out and it would have taken longer if I stripped it.) But whatever, he strips the pallets out and I start going through them. I match the pallets up to the bills that I had and put new tracking numbers on absolutely everything. everything had to be re-done. none of it was right. great. it took me over half an hour to go through all 39 pallets and make sure everything was right. 

 so I get that sorted, entered into the system i’m still fuming about the whole thing with the supe from earlier and this so i’m just tense and angry and it’s barely 5:00 and i’m already done with the day. I’m just ready to fucking go home. 

only to find out that one of the driver’s handheld computer died. which now means that, when he gets back, i have to manually enter everything he does. great. another fun thing to worry about. 

work gets done. 7:00 rolls around. one of the night drivers comes in early to help on the dock. he’s an ass and he wants to murder me and at this point i’d love to see him try. i’ll feed him his own fucking dick i do not give a fuck. he starts pressing my buttons and bringing up the bitch that i replaced when i took this job. she was a horrible person and she was specifically a complete pan in my ass and interfered with my ability to do my job when i was working on the dock. she was evil and i hate her. but he loves her and wishes she would come back and is singing her praises and shitting on me and generally being an extremely loud nuisance. mind you, the phone starts ringing. it is someone who has called multiple times and they’re being really nice about how much we fucked up since we never sent their stuff out to deliver and they need it urgently so we were sending it out late and they were calling to check on it. dick driver wont shut the fuck up. he’s practically yelling. so i round on him and scream at him to shut the fuck up, and then very pleasantly answer the phone and assure the person on the other end that yes the freight is being loaded on a trailer now and will be leaving within twenty minutes. we hang up, some minor jokes are made about how pleasant i am on the phone as opposed to in person. it’s true so i don’t really care. whatever. the night goes on. 

now, at this point. it’s getting late. ish. it’s only bout half way through my shift, but it’s getting on 8 o’clock at night and I’m supposed to clock out for lunch. but the driver who i’m supposed to be fixing things for has only just gotten back to the terminal and i know that if i punch out now, i’m going to get stuck fixing his stuff while i’m off the clock and... i’m not fucking doing that. fuck the policy. write me up. i do not care. so i decide not to punch out. i wait until exactly eight and tell the supervisor that i’m taking lunch late. i do not ask. i do not check if that is okay. i just tell him. late lunch. whatever

meanwhile, a different and more annoying driver comes back and his paperwork is somehow even more fucked up than the guy with the dead computer, and the guy with the fubar from earlier in the day. combined. but he gets his paperwork to me first, s now i’m stuck sorting his shit out. fucking 11 bills i had to enter manually into the system. 11. and i mean, it’s not terribly hard, or even completely terribly time consuming, but... it’s annoying. 

so i’m fixing that, and the dead computer river comes back with his stuff, explains everything, leaves for the day. i wrap up the first driver’s fuck ups, set his paperwork aside. fix the dead computer guy’s paper work and enter his things into the system. set that aside. and then finally go on my lunch break. now mind you... it’s like... 8:40? my shift is supposed to be over at 10:30. i haven’t even really gotten through half of my regular job duties. 

but whatever. through all of this i’m texting my best friend who’s grounded in Washington DC because of thunderstorms trying to figure out when i’m picking her up from the airport provided the plane ever actually takes off. 

whatever. I eventually get through all the paperwork, and clear all the lists i have to clear in the system. but i stll have to scan everything in. by this point it is 11:00 I have just started scanning things. I’m in the middle of scanning things when that late delivery, and even later pick up that the driver ended up doing get back. at that point, i’m the only dock certified union worker in the building. so i have to strip it. thankfully only one skid, but still. 

so i put the freight aside, go back in, back to scanning. the dick supe wants the driver to stay and move trailers around. it’s past 11. the driver has been here all fucking day. and then some. i’m like, should we tel him before he gets parked? supe agrees so i run outside to tell him driver can’t do it. he’s out of hours. it’s against the law. whatever. supe can deal with it. he’s the dick who wants it done anyway. (supe gave in because, yeah, LAW). 

OH YEAH! i forgot. so while i was doing paperwork, back like 10:30 there abouts, i find out that the ass whit the 11 unentered bills didn’t give me his delivery receipts. mother fucker took them home with him. i checked his truck just to be sure. I had to call the guy 3 times before he answered his fucking phone (yeah, you can bet your ass that i called him. i’m sorry, if’ you’re going to fuck me over with 11 unentered bills and then forget to give me half your paperwork on top of that, i’m waking your ass up. especially if you don’t have voicemail set up)

but whatever. i’m going through, i’m scanning. dick supe accidentally loads that skid from the late pickup onto an outbound manifest. he tells me to break the seal on the trailer and put that skid in since the trailer hasn’t left yet. so i drop what im doing, go open the trailer. full to the tail. go get supe, show him, he groans and has me close it back up. i go back inside and the supe ask me if i had already sealed the trailer. uh, yeah. duh. did you think i was going to come back in without sealing it?

whatever. so I go back to my scanning and the fucking morning crew starts coming in. it is after midnight and i am still scanning. ugh. 

oh yes, and for the real kicker. the maintenance/service/repair people came to try to fix our AC unit that’ been on the fritz for like an entire month and said that it was overheating and shut it off early in the afternoon. so the building jumped from like 78 degrees to 88 degrees of hot, muggy bullshit. so that did not help me keep a cool head in any sense of the word. 

anyway, i’m done venting now. it was just overall a very frustrating day and i’m so glad that it’s over and i’m home and showered. still waiting to see when i have to pick my best friend up from the airport, but... it’ll all work out in the end

[voyagerafod]

Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion: Part 4 of 4: Hotter Than Hell: Chapter Seven

As beautiful as the sunrises on Quarra were, Kathy Janeway had little time to enjoy today’s as she tried to find a supervisor. She needed this job, and being late on her first day was not a good way to make a first impression. She knew this planet had a bit of a labor shortage which might save her, but she would still rather not risk it. Factory work was a bit beneath her skill-set, but better to get her hands dirty here than to keep them clean behind a desk on the shithole planet she was born on.

    “Excuse me,” she asked a pink-skinned alien who was about to pass her, “can you tell me where I can find the supervisor?”     “Over there,” the alien said, pointing to his right.

    “Thank you,” Kathy said, jogging off in that direction. She made her way to a small office with a window that overlooked this part of the factory floor. The supervisor seemed to realize what she was there for just by looking as he stepped out to meet her and immediately, but politely, asked for her authorization and licenses.

    He looked at them, smiling. “Level 6 in thermodynamics and quantum fusion? I’m impressed, Ms. Janeway.”     “Thank you, sir,” Kathy said. “And I apologize for being late. I boarded the wrong transport and-”     “Ended up at the Atmosphere Filtration Facility? Don’t feel bad, I did that my first day too. Happens to nearly two-thirds of the new hires in the first week. But around here we have a saying. ‘First is forgiven.’ Don’t let it happen again, but as this is your first infraction, and a minor one at that, it won’t go in your file.”

    “Thank you, sir,” Kathy said.     “With your skills I’m surprised Atmo didn’t offer you a job when you got there,” the supervisor said. “But since you’re here, your job is to monitor the primary reactor coils. They process more than eight thousand metric-”     “Eight thousand metric tons of tylium per second at 94% thermal efficiency.”

    The supervisor chuckled. “Well, hopefully we can help you keep that level of enthusiasm for the job. We like to keep our workforce happy. If you have any problems, let me know.”

    The supervisor turned to walk away, then stopped.     “Oh, just a head’s up, we have a new efficiency monitor who also just started and she can be a bit… abrasive. She is good at her job though so listen to what she says, and try not to let her demeanor get to you. I guess being overly blunt comes with the territory when you’re a cyborg.”

    “I’ll keep that in mind, sir,” Kathy said. As soon as the supervisor walked away, she immediately got to work. It didn’t take her long to get into a rhythm. So much of one that she almost didn’t notice when a co-worker attempted to hand her a datapad with new specifications.

    “Ah, thank you.” she said to the alien, who simply nodded and walked away. She began entering the specifications when suddenly an error alarm went off.     “Of for the love of-”     “Input Error 145,” the automated alarm said between beeps. Kathy tried to correct, but was met with a “Command Code Violation 2308” for her efforts.     “Come on,” she said, leaning in closer to the machine in front of her, hoping against all logic that being nice to the damn thing would work where her inputted instructions had somehow failed. “If you stop with that alarm, I promise I will never violate you again.”     A hand reached into her peripheral vision and touched a button on the console, stopping the alarm immediately. She turned to see another alien, a male by all appearances, who was entering code of his own.

    “You almost started a core overload,” he said, though lacking the kind of judgement she would’ve expected from someone telling her she’d almost gotten everyone in the building killed.

If this is normal around here, she thought, maybe I should get a new job.     “I would’ve corrected it,” she said defensively. She wasn’t entirely sure of that in actuality, though she doubted it was entirely her fault and made a mental note to double check the specs she’d been handed earlier.     “Well,” the alien man said, “I’m sorry for interrupting then. And for eavesdropping. I overheard you talking to your console.”     “Well, it was either that or some percussive maintenance,” Janeway said, feeling a little embarrassed.     “Percussive main- Oh, you mean hitting it,” the alien man said, chuckling. “I like that. Percussive maintenance. I’ll have to remember that one. I’m Jaffen, by the way.” He extended his hand, and Kathy shook it.     “Kathryn,” she said. “I only let my friends call me Kathy and we’re not there yet so don’t even think about it.”     “Understood,” Jaffen said. “I work just down there,” he said, motioning his head down towards the end of the workfloor.     “This station doesn’t require two operators,” a voice said. Kathy turned and saw a blonde-haired human woman with obvious cybernetic implants where one of her eyebrows should’ve been, and another just under her right ear.     This must be the efficiency monitor I was warned about, Kathy thought.     “I don’t think we’ve met,” Jaffen said, offering the cyborg a handshake as well. Kathy wondered if he’d picked that up from one of the other humans on this planet, or if his species had somehow developed that form of greeting on their own by sheer coincidence. “I’m-”     “Employee 1326,” the cyborg said. “And you,” she added, glancing at Kathy before returning her focus to a device in her hands, “are Employee 8584. Since you’re new here, you may not be fully familiar with labor protocols.”     She looked at Jaffen again. “But you should be aware that fraternizing is not permitted during work hours.”     “And what’s your number if you don’t mind my asking? Or do you get a name?”     The cyborg sighed. “Annika Hansen. I am the new efficiency monitor.”

“Ah,” Jaffen said, “I didn’t know they’d hired a new one so soon.” He shook his head. “I’m happy for Masala of course, but I’m gonna miss him around here.”     “Now that you know,” Hansen said, “you can return to your work station.”     “For the record,” Kathy said, “we weren’t fraternizing. Jaffen just helped me correct an input code error. Speaking of-”

“Finish quickly,” Hansen said, nodding politely, and briskly turning and walking away.     “Yes ma’am,” Kathy said quietly.     “She’s a charmed one isn’t she?” Jaffen said.     “I think you mean ‘charming,’” Kathy said, “but yeah.”     “Anyway, from where I was standing I thought we were fraternizing,” Jaffen said with a friendly smile. Kathy chuckled, shook her head, and went back to work. “Maybe we could get acquainted after work.”

Kathy almost reflexively said “No,” but hesitated for a moment.

    Should I? She thought.     “I can’t,” she said out loud. “I appreciate the offer but with this new job, I don’t really have time to socialize.” She casually pointed in the direction Annika Hansen had gone.     Jaffen shrugged.     “Well, I suppose I could ask out the new efficiency monitor,” he said, though the tone of his voice suggested he didn’t really intend to.     Kathy snorted a laugh. “I take it they don’t have wedding rings on your homeworld.”

    “I know what those two words mean individually,” Jaffen said, “but I’m afraid I don’t know the context. Is this a… your race is called Human right? Is it a human thing?”     “Yeah,” Kathy said. “Did you notice that ring on Hansen’s hand there? That means that she’s already spoken for. Some lucky guy, or girl, gets to wake up next to the bipedal calculator every morning.”     “Huh,” Jaffen said. “Oh well. See you around, Kathryn.”     Kathy was surprised at how easy Jaffen was to let down. Not that he didn’t seem disappointed, just that, unlike some males of her own species, he wasn’t going to push the issue and that one “No” was enough for him. She found herself watching him as he walked away. She wondered if maybe she should’ve taken him up on his offer. She then wondered if she’d been too harsh in her initial assessment of Annika Hansen.     Or maybe the first impression was right on, she thought, and the only reason someone married her was for that rack of hers. I mean hell, I’m not even into women and I thought about it for a second.

---

    Jaffen waited by the bar, figuring the human women he had his eye on would show up sooner or later, but he didn’t spend too much time watching the door. He was already starting to feel like a stalker for having gone this far. Usually a “No” was all he needed, but there was something in the way that Kathy had said it, hesitating before doing so. Or maybe he was just trying to rationalize his actions to himself, he was willing to admit that.

    To pass the time, he shared some stories about his jobs on his homeworld and on various freighters in the sector over the years. Some of the workers listening had heard the stories before but seemed to enjoy hearing them again, while others were clearly new to the place.

    He finished telling a story about a poor young worker who, having never heard of Jaffen’s species, had attempted to insult Jaffen’s father to no avail.     “Eventually, I finally explained it to him. I’m Norvalian. I don’t have a father,” he said, everyone in the crowd laughing, except for one of the newer people, a dark-skinned humanoid with pointed ears.     “I’m afraid I do not understand,” the newcomer said.     “It’s… complicated, Mister, um ,”     “Tuvok,” the pointy-eared man said.     “Mister Tuvok. It involves a centuries-long war, a sterility plague, and some creative genetic research that-” Jaffen stopped when he noticed Kathy Janeway entering the bar, somehow managing to avoid walking into anyone even though her attention seemed glued to her data pads rather than her surroundings. “I’m sorry, Mister Tuvok, perhaps some other time.”     “I look forward to hearing it,” Tuvok said. “I am interested in learning as much as I can about the histories of the races who are now my co-workers.”     “Just remember to always ask nicely,” Jaffen said as he moved past his friends towards the table where Kathy was now sitting.

    “I thought you didn’t have time to socialize,” Jaffen said, sitting down across from her.     Kathy looked up with a small smile, but the rest of her face conveying annoyance.     “I’m not socializing,” she said, “I’m reviewing these manuals then getting something to eat.”

    “Well, I recommend the latara broth, and the section on coefficients,” Jaffen said. “I can help you with the manuals if you like. We won’t be fraternizing.”     Kathy looked at him contemplatively for a few seconds then laughed.     “You are not that great at this,” she said. “Either you’re a lot younger than you look and I’m your first attempt at flirting, or you don’t usually try this hard.”     “Well, you’ve got me there,” Jaffen said. “Normally once a woman says ‘no thanks,’ I move on. But there’s something about you. Not just your looks, though you are quite lovely, but something in your demeanor. I have to wonder why you’re just a low-level worker like me. You have an aura around you. I’ve seen it before. Some of the better freighter captains I’ve served under had it. The kind of men and women who you followed orders from not because you had to, but because you wanted to.”

    Kathy tilted her head, as if not sure how to take the compliment.     “So, you have a thing for authority figures?” she eventually said with a smirk. “Maybe you should be pursuing Efficiency Monitor Hansen.”

    “I doubt her wife would appreciate that,” Jaffen said.     “Her wife?”     “I asked around,” Jaffen said. “Apparently her and her spouse adopted an alien orphan and live in the higher level apartments. The wife, Samantha I think her name is, works at one of the local biotech companies in the R&D division. Explains why they can afford a place like that so soon after getting here.”

    “Well, good for her,” Kathy said. “Everyone deserves a shot at happiness. Even the officious, nitpicky, micromanaging types.”

---

    Annika Hansen wrapped her arms around her wife’s waist while the later worked on cooking whatever it was she was cooking. The smell filled the apartment, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Still, she didn’t think it needed to be quite that strong. She didn’t say so out loud though.     “We can afford a chef, Sammy,” Annika said, following up her statement with a kiss to the back of Samantha’s neck.     “I know,” Sam said, “but like I said the three other times you’ve brought up this week, I like cooking. I have more control over this stove than the equipment at work.”     Annika sighed.     “They still treat you like a plebe over there? Jerks. You know more about xenobiology than any of those guys.”     “I know, Annika, I know. But, humans are still the newbies on Quarra.”     Annika had to admit to herself that Sam was right. It could’ve been worse though, she supposed. It wasn’t as though they were discriminated against, or victims of any sort of bias-motivated violence. They just hadn’t been around long enough to settle in like so many of the other species had. The Quarrens didn’t seem to mind one bit that there were whole neighborhoods in the major cities where they could walk around without seeing another one of their own, yet they never showed any sign of being uncomfortable doing it. She just wished Earth had been more like that. She and Sam wouldn’t have had to leave. Being a cyborg got you enough dirty looks alone. Being a cyborg and gay…

    “But enough about me,” Sam said as she began chopping up some purple vegetable Annika didn’t recognize. “How was your day, Efficiency Monitor?”     “Only you could make that title sound sexy,” Annika said. Sam opened her mouth to reply when the sound of the door to the smaller of the apartment’s two bedrooms opened and Naomi, their adopted daughter, came out, rubbing her eyes as she sat at the dinner table.

    “You fell asleep while doing your homework, didn’t you?” Sam said.

    Naomi looked embarrassed. “Yes, Momma Sam,” she said.     Sam sighed and walked over to the little girl, handing off the knife she was using to cut the vegetables to Annika.     “Hey, it’s okay,” Sam said, bending down so she and Naomi were face to face. “I told them they were giving you too much study to do for your age, but they didn’t listen. I’m not mad. You just need to let me know next time if you get tired early, okay?”     “Okay,” Naomi said. The little girl looked up at Annika. “Momma Ann, did you hear? Some more humans started working in the factories today. Do any of them have kids? I’d like to make some friends.”

    “I did know we got some humans in today sweetie, but I didn’t ask any of them if they had kids. It was too busy. If I can find a few minutes tomorrow I can ask around, though.”     Annika liked being around Naomi. As useful as her cybernetic implants were, there were times when she almost felt like they controlled her more than the other way around. Being home however, she truly felt human. That made the sideways glances she’d get from the workers whose errors she’d have to correct worth putting up with.

    “I better finish dinner,” Sam said. “Why don’t you two talk about your days while I finish up?”

    “At the very least let me help clean your utensils as you go,” Annika said.     “No, no, you don’t need to do that. Besides, your job is more physically demanding than mine. Now sit, relax.”

    Annika sighed, but smiled as she did so. “You’re too good for me, Sammy.”

---

    “I can’t believe I let you keep me out this late,” Kathy said, chuckling as she and Jaffen walked down a flight of stairs.     “Well, I thought it was my responsibility to help you study those manuals,” Jaffen said.

    “Of course you did,” Kathy said, laughing.     “And now that I have,” Jaffen continued, “you should be less likely to overload the core.”     Kathy chuckled at that as the two of them came around the corner. Even this close to the plant, the air still was surprisingly clean smelling, if a bit cold for her tastes.

    “You know,” Jaffen said, “with all this fascinating discussion about thermal coefficients you never told me where you’re from.”     “A planet called Earth,” Kathy said.     “Well, I meant where on Earth,” Jaffen said. “Judging from the humans I’ve seen so far it seems like a pretty diverse planet. Different skin tones, body types, even eye shapes. I’ve met a few species with that kind of diversity, but not that many. Usually in this sector the only real differences between people are gender, height, weight, age, maybe hair and eye color, but that’s pretty much it.”

    “Doesn’t matter,” Kathy said. “The place is overpopulated, polluted, and not a lot of work.”     “Sounds a little like my homeworld,” Jaffen said. “Guess we’re both lucky to be here.”

“It’s nice to be in a place where different species get along so well,” Kathy said.     “Oh, so you admit we’re getting along,” Jaffen said.     Kathy laughed. “I was speaking in a broader cultural context,” she said.

    “I’m rather impressed you were able to say that while laughing,” Jaffen said.     Kathy sighed, and shook her head.     “It’s just… I mean there’s a lot of violence back home.”     “I’m sorry to hear that,” Jaffen said.

    Kathy pulled her coat tighter around here.     “The nights get so cold around here,” she said. “Reminds me of Bloomington during the winter time.”     “Bloomington?”

    “The city where I grew up, on Earth.”     “I like the name. Every major city on my homeworld is named after either some boring scientist or some pompous politician.”     “We have cities like that too,” Kathy said. “My favorite city name though, and I do kinda regret never visiting it to see what it was like before I left, was a place called Truth or Consequences.”     Jaffen laughed. “Really?”     “I shit you not,” Kathy said.     “I assume that’s human slang for ‘I really mean it,’” Jaffen said.     “It’s almost curfew,” one of a pair of Quarren policemen said. Kathy had to turn around to see them, glad she’d noticed them out the corner of her eye earlier or they might’ve spooked her. They were armed of course, but the way their coats covered their holsters it was clear they didn’t expect, or maybe even didn’t want to be able to reach them. The one who had spoken was smiling at them. He probably figured they were heading home.     “We just live over there,” Jaffen said, pointing towards the tallest of the housing complexes off in the distance.     “Okay,” the officer said. “Have a great night.” He and his partner turned around and headed back up the street.

    “That’s another thing Quarra has over Earth,” Kathy said. “The police around here don’t walk around like they expect every single one of us to attack them at a moment’s notice.”

    “You know, I do have a spectacular view of the river from my living quarters,” Jaffen said.     “Well, seeing as I live in the same building, I can see the river too,” Kathy said, which was mostly true. She could see the river nearby. But really only during the day, when she had to be leaving for work shortly, and thus could never really take the time to appreciate it. At night, it was damn near impossible except for the occasions when a police hovercar would happen to pass over it.

    “I really have to get to sleep,” Kathy said, rubbing her hands together to warm them up. “Maybe another time?” she said.     Jaffen smiled. “For a moment I was afraid I was making you uncomfortable,” he said.     “Trust me,” Kathy said, lightly touching Jaffen on the arm. “That’s a good thing.”

---

    “Son of a-” Kathy said as an alarm noise went off while she worked on her station. It took her a moment to realize the alarm sound was different, and no one seemed bothered by it. A few people didn’t even look up from their work, while others headed towards one end of the work floor.     “It’s not an alarm,” Jaffen said, coming up to Kathy from the side, making sure she saw him coming. She appreciated not being snuck up on. “It’s time for our inoculations.”     “What inoculations?” Kathy said.     “You didn’t know? It’s routine, they give ‘em out free of charge to employees here. It’s to protect against any ambient radiation. Seems a bit overkill to me. I’ve never seen any sign of radioactivity around here. The safety equipment may look old, but it’s solid. Trust me, I checked. First thing I did when I started here. I’ve worked a few freighters with lax standards before, so I know shoddy safety procedures when I see them.”     “I feel like I should’ve been told this earlier,” Kathy said. “Why isn’t everyone-”     “Some of the species who found their way here for work have natural immunities. No point in giving them an inoculant against something that can’t hurt them anyway.”     “Good point.”

    Kathy walked with Jaffen to get in line for the inoculations. Up ahead she saw Annika Hansen, and ahead of her, the dark-skinned, pointy-eared man Jaffen had been talking to at the bar a few days ago. He seemed jittery, and when the employee with the injectors went to give him his inoculation, he flinched.     “That’s odd,” Jaffen said. “Tuvok never struck me as the nervous type.”

    “Friend of yours?” Kathy said.     “Not really,” Jaffen said. “I met him the day before I met you. He’s also new here. His people are called Vulcans, if I remember right.”     Tuvok got out of line and headed back towards his work station, but even from this distance Kathy could tell he looked shaken.     “Could he be having a reaction to the inoculation? He doesn’t look too good.”     “Maybe,” Jaffen said. “It hasn’t happened before. Can you keep my place in line? I’m gonna check on him.”     “Okay,” Kathy said.

---

    After a five-day trading mission with a race called the Nar Shaddan, Chakotay, Neelix, and Harry Kim, all aboard the Delta Flyer were en route back to Voyager. However, only Chakotay was in the cockpit. Neelix and Harry were in the rear compartment, the former looking over the latter, who clutched his stomach as he lay on the extending biobed, grateful that Tom had included one in the ship’s design.     “In six years,” Harry said, “I’ve never been on an away mission worse than this one.”     “That’s just the stomach pain talking,” Neelix said. “These parasites are certainly causing you trouble, but off the top of my head I can think of several instances where you went through far worse than some mild food poisoning.”     “Mild?” Harry said, curled in a fetal position. “You call this mild? My ankle didn’t hurt this much after getting a bulkhead dropped on it.”     “Case in point,” Neelix said. “The Year of Hell was really more pleasant than this?”     “That wasn’t an away mission,” Harry said.     “Okay, you got me there.”

    “Why did you let me drink that Falah nectar?” Harry said.

    “I did try to warn you it wasn’t safe,” Neelix said.     “With hand signals, that I couldn’t see,” Harry groaned.     “I didn’t want to risk offending our hosts,” Neelix added, sheepishly.

    “I should’ve just said I was a strict vegetarian like Chakotay,” Harry said.     “In my defense,” Neelix said, “I had no idea the meat they used to make that drink was raw. If I had, I’d have risked the insult. Clearly Nar Shaddan stomachs are far sturdier than human ones.”

    The comm chirped, and Chakotay’s voice summoned both of them to the cockpit, apologizing to Harry as he did so.     “Let me help you up, Lieutenant,” Neelix said.     “Thanks,” Harry said, taking Neelix’s arm. The two slowly walked their way up to the cockpit, a mercifully short journey, but the steps made Harry felt like he going to vomit each time his foot landed.     He eased into the chair by the tactical console while Neelix took sensors.     “What is it, Commander?” Harry said.     “We’re at the rendezvous coordinates,” Chakotay said, “but there’s no sign of Voyager, and they’re not responding to hails. Start scanning on all frequencies.”     “Got it,” Neelix said.

    “They’ve got to be out there somewhere,” Chakotay said.     Harry thought for a moment about suggesting that maybe they weren’t; that the worst had happened and they’d been destroyed, or at least been forced to flee. He decided that pessimism was the result of the alien parasites doing metaphorical backflips in his stomach, and kept the opinion to himself.

    “I think I have their warp trail,” Neelix said. “I’m also picking up residual energy signatures. Weapons fire, maybe?”     Harry looked at his own console.     “Good catch, Neelix,” he said.     “I’m plotting a course to follow the trail,” Chakotay said.

    “Long range sensors are picking up a nebula a few light years ahead. I can’t pick up anything inside it, which means it’d be a good place to hide,” Harry said.     “That also means we’re going to have to be really careful following them in,” Chakotay said. “I’d hate to find them by running into them.”

    “What about who they were fighting?” Neelix said.     “The weapons fire signature was degraded,” Harry said. “Another few hours we wouldn’t have picked it up at all. Whatever happened, happened days ago.”

    The Delta Flyer entered the nebula, visibility severely reduced, but the ship’s Borg tech-enhanced sensors cut through the interference fairly easily.     “Guess whoever the attackers were,” Harry said, “they didn’t have sensors as good as ours.”     “Then how did they get the upper hand?” Neelix asked.     “Numbers, most likely,” Chakotay said. “A technologically inferior foe can still hurt us if there are too many of them to fight.”     “I found Voyager,” Harry said. “Hull’s mostly intact, no serious hull breaches, but she took one hell of a beating.”     “Lifesigns?” Chakotay said.     Harry winced, as much from the pain as from the results of his scan.     “None,” he said. “But, all the escape pods are gone, so maybe…”     “Maybe the crew is okay? We can certainly hope,” Chakotay said. “Can we beam over?”     “Affirmative,” Harry said. “We’ll have to do it that way since I can’t get the shuttle bay doors open from here.”     “Stay here and wait for the doors to open,” Chakotay said. “Neelix, you’re with me.”

    “Yes, Commander,” Neelix said.

    “We’ll beam to the bridge,” Chakotay said, “we can, or at least should be able to, access all systems from there, plus maybe the ship’s logs can tell us what happened.”

---

After putting on environmental suits, in case life support was one of the systems off-line, and readying phasers just to be safe, Chakotay and Neelix transported from the Flyer over to Voyager. The bridge was empty, and the only illumination came from the glow of exposed EPS conduits.

    “Looks like someone was trying to do repairs,” Neelix said.     “Agreed,” Chakotay said. He looked around and wondered if the work had been done before they abandoned ship, or if some one had stayed behind. If the latter was the case though, why hadn’t the Flyer’s sensors picked them up? Unless they’d died while trying to fix the ship, he thought.

    Chakotay motioned for Neelix to follow him to the auxiliary engineering console on the bridge.     “I’m going to see if I can get the main power back on line from here,” Chakotay said. “It’s possible they powered everything down to help them hide. Otherwise we’ll need to replace some power conduits by hand.”     Chakotay began manipulating the controls, grateful that there was some power going to the console, while Neelix knelt down to put a panel back in place, since the conduit behind it was clearly in working condition.     “Stop what you’re doing and turn around!” Chakotay heard someone yell from behind him. He thought it might the Doctor’s voice but the helmet muffled the sound somewhat. He did as he was told and motioned for Neelix to do the same. It was the Doctor, a wristlight pointed at them, and a phaser in his other hand. He also had a red uniform on, meaning that for the first time, the real Emergency Command Hologram protocols had been activated.     “Doctor,” Neelix said, “It’s us. Neelix and Commander Chakotay.”     The Doctor smiled and lowered the phaser. “It’s good to see some friendly faces. Heck, it’s good to see any faces at all.”

    “Have you been doing repairs all by yourself?” Chakotay asked.     “I’m afraid so. Sorry I haven’t gotten life support back up yet, but since I was the only one here it wasn’t a priority.“     “Makes sense,” Neelix said.

    “Can you tell us what happened?” Chakotay asked. “I’ll take the short version for now. I can do a full debrief once we get the air circulating again.”

    “Roughly twelve hours after you left,” the Doctor said, “we hit some sort of subspace mine. It wasn’t long before I was inundated with casualties, all suffering from tetryon radiation.”     “Did you try using the Jetrel inoculation?” Neelix said.     “That only works if you inject before exposure,” The Doctor said. “I treated the patients as best I could but the ship was still flooding with radiation. Captain Janeway gave the order to abandon ship, since the warp drive was off-line. She ordered me to stay behind and activated the ECH program. The plan was to get the crew out of the radiated area and find the nearest habitable planet. I was to stay with the ship and try to get all the radiation vented while the distress signal was active. Either I could get it done and pick them up myself, or someone would come to help and I’m the only crewmember who could survive that kind of prolonged exposure, seeing as I’m a hologram.”     “What happened next?” Chakotay said. “Why is Voyager in the nebula?”     “I never even got the chance to start the repairs before things went sideways,” The Doctor said. “Shortly after all the escape pods were launched, an alien vessel showed up and immediately locked onto the ship with a tractor beam. I hailed them immediately of course. The captain of the alien vessel tried to claim Voyager as salvage and that it belonged to him, even though I was clearly in command.”     “Probably figured since you don’t have lifesigns,” Neelix said, “that you don’t count. I’d chalk it up to a salvage rights dispute, but he was there way too quickly. I bet he planted that mine.”     “My thoughts exactly,” Chakotay said. “I assume you tried to fight back?”     “I did,” The Doctor said, showing a hint of pride in his expression. “I was able to take out the enemy vessel’s tractor emitter and engines with phasers.” He frowned. “That’s about when the other two ships showed up.”     “What happened to the escape pods?” Neelix asked.     “I don’t know. I can only assume they were taken. Or at least I hope they were. I was able to evade the other two ships and hid in this nebula. I eventually got the warp drive back on-line and the radiation vented, but every time I tried to leave the nebula I detected more ships searching for me.”

    “Any idea who they are?” Chakotay said.     “Not any race we’ve encountered yet,” The Doctor said.

    “So either someone wanted to capture us based on our reputation,” Chakotay said, “Or we just had the bad luck to stumble on a pirate operation. I could believe either, frankly.”     “What’s our next move, Commander?” Neelix said.     “Get life support back on-line, get Harry’s stomach taken care of, then we go find our people,” Chakotay said.

---

    Tuvok was nervous. He didn’t like feeling nervous. He was starting to realize he didn’t like feeling anything. He felt as though if he didn’t merely control but suppress his emotions he might lose his mind. He watched the woman, Kathy Janeway, at her station. He was sure he knew her. Not just from the bar after work, where he had said hello to her once, or from what Jaffen had said about her. He knew her before coming to Quarra, somehow. That shouldn’t have been possible. The only other planet he’d known before this place was Vulcan, and there were no humans there.

    He winced and closed his eyes, and had another vision like the one he’d had before getting his inoculation yesterday. He was wearing a different uniform than his work one. He saw Janeway on a hospital bed, wearing a similar uniform, but with a different color on the shoulders.

    “We’re going to treat your injuries,” a Quarren doctor said to Janeway.

    This is too vivid, it can’t be just a dream or a hallucination. Can it? Tuvok thought.

    He was sure he’d seen the doctor in his vision around before. Kadan, his name was. He was sure of that.

    The vision persisted, and Tuvok saw himself struggling to get out of his own hospital bed as a device of some kind was placed over Janeway’s head. He heard himself demand that the doctor stop. Why, he had no idea.

    “Release her immediately,” he heard himself say.     “Restrain him,” Doctor Kadan said.     Tuvok felt the strong arms of two Quarren guards grabbing his own, when the vision went away and he, abruptly, was snapped back to reality.     Or the present if that was something that really happened, he thought. He felt sweaty, and anxious. He looked around, wondering why no supervisor had come to talk with him about standing around yet. Perhaps he hadn’t been staring at Janeway as long as he’d thought.     He saw Efficiency Monitor Hansen in his peripheral vision, but she wasn’t looking at him. Yet.

Best not to annoy Seven of Nine, he thought. He moved to get back to work, but then stopped.     Why did I think of her as Seven of Nine? What does that mean?     “You all right, Tuvok?” Tuvok turned and saw Jaffen behind him.     “What? Yes, sorry. I… I am not feeling well,” Tuvok said, which was mostly true. He liked Jaffen, but didn’t want to tell him he thought he was hallucinating. He doubted they’d let him keep working here if the higher-ups knew.

“Oh,” Jaffen said. “Do you want me to help you get to the infirmary?”     “No,” Tuvok said, a bit more forcefully than he’d wanted to, surprising even himself. “I mean, not yet. I can still work at my station. If it gets any worse I’ll go right away. I promise.”     Jaffen looked like he didn’t entirely believe him, but merely shrugged.     “If you say so,” he said, and walked away.

---

    "First officer's log, Stardate 54597.9,” Chakotay said, working while he talked. Neelix had poked fun at him earlier for keeping up with his logs, but it wasn’t mean-spirited. In fact, Chakotay wondered himself why he did it too. He thought maybe it was to keep himself from letting his mind wander to thoughts of what could be happening to the rest of the crew. He knew deep down that once he started to think that, he would inevitably start thinking the worst.     “After restoring primary systems,” he continued, “we have left the nebula to try and find the crew. Although there’s still a lot of damage, we’ve been able to reconfigure our sensors to detect subspace mines based on the data collected by the ship’s sensors once we got full power restored. Lieutenant Kim has been running continuous scans, but there’s still no sign of our people. On the bright side, the ships that were searching for us seem to have given up.”     Chakotay stopped as the computer voice announced that power to the secondary propulsion systems had been restored.     Good work, Doctor, he thought. He wondered briefly how Harry was doing in astrometrics, but figured if he’d found anything he would contact the bridge immediately. Chakotay finished his log entry as the manual work he was doing finally paid off and full lighting was restored to the bridge.     “And the Commander said, ‘let there be light,” he said to himself. He was not normally one to joke on the bridge, but he figured with no one around to judge…     The turbolift door opened and the Doctor, still in command reds, walked out.     “I’ve repaired the deuterium injectors,” he said, not waiting for Chakotay to ask for a report. “Anything else you need?”     “Could you get to work on the ruptured plasma conduits on deck 10?”     “Of course, Commander. Hopefully, once this is over I can get back to my regular uniform.”     “Why not do it now?” Chakotay said. “I don’t see why the ECH program would stop you.”     “It doesn’t stop me from switching back to EMH if that’s what you mean,” the Doctor said. “But I only have access to the Captain’s codes while in ECH mode, and ECH mode comes with the red uniform and the 4 pips.”     “So technically you outrank me,” Chakotay said. “Surprised you haven’t started giving me orders.”     “Yes, well,” the Doctor said, “if I had more people to work with I might do that. I feel like my place should be on the bridge, but I also know there are only four of us.”     “If your program is telling you to take charge,” Chakotay said, “maybe you should. Isn’t that what we designed it for?”

    The Doctor shrugged. “Maybe if I didn’t have the ship’s first officer aboard I would. I’d better get to work on those conduits.”

    “Kim to Chakotay,” Harry Kim’s voice said over the comm.     “Go ahead,” Chakotay and the Doctor said in unison. The Doctor looked sheepish, but Chakotay just smiled. He’ll get the hang of it, he thought.

    “I’ve found them,” Harry said, “An M-class planet, about three days away at maximum warp.”

    “Transfer the coordinates to the helm,” Chakotay said. He stood up. “Doctor, you have the bridge.”     “Oh. Okay,” the Doctor said, reluctantly taking the center seat.

---

    Three days later, Chakotay found himself in a position he knew that many of ancestors had faced in the past. That of desperately wishing he could punch a government official in the face.

    “I have personally interviewed several of the individuals named on your crew manifest. None of them know who you are,” the Quarren bureaucrat on the screen said, sounding like a parent who’d just caught a child in a fib. It had taken hours to get even the man to listen to him in the first place, and now this. He looked at the Doctor, sitting at the helm, and Harry at tactical. If it weren’t for the half dozen well-armed battle stations in orbit, he’d consider just giving the order to launch an all-out rescue mission.     “Nor have they heard of a starship Voyager.”     “I’d like to speak to them myself,” Chakotay said, not explicitly saying he didn’t believe the Quarren, but hoping it came across in his tone.

    “That’s not possible,” the Quarren official said.     “If you’re telling the truth,” Chakotay said, allowing some of his anger through more to keep it from exploding than to intimidate the official, “you have nothing to lose by letting us talk to them.”     “Unlike other planets in this system, we grant our guest workers full protection under our laws.”     “What exactly are you protecting them from?” The Doctor asked.     “Unscrupulous individuals attempting to acquire skilled laborers,” the Quarren said.     “We’re not trying to acquire laborers,” The Doctor said, shouting. “We’re trying to find our friends!”     Chakotay started to think of a way to ask the Doctor to calm down without giving the Quarren the impression that he was facing a divided crew, small as it was, but the Quarren responded quickly, with a statement that to Chakotay’s mind sounded at least partially practiced.     “Most of your friends have excellent positions in the Central Power Facility in the capitol. Why would any of them want to travel thousands of light years to a planet on the other side of the galaxy when they have safe, comfortable lives right here?”     “Because it isn’t their home,” Chakotay said, knowing full well that it wouldn’t mean anything to the official.     “I suggest you look elsewhere to increase your labor supply,” the Quarren said. “If you attempt to disturb any of our citizens, we will respond with force.” With that, the communication line cut out.     “What an asshole,” Harry said.     “Any luck with the scans?” Chakotay said.     “There’s no way to beam through their shield grid. This is one of the most well-protected planets I’ve seen in my life.”     Chakotay sighed. “Take us out of orbit.”     “We’re not leaving them behind,” the Doctor said, sounding hurt.     “No,” Chakotay said. “But I want these people to think we are.”     “Do you already have a plan, Commander?” Harry asked.     “I think so,” Chakotay said. “Chakotay to Neelix.”     “Yes, Commander?” Neelix replied over comms. Chakotay was glad that the Talaxian wasn’t on the bridge during the conversation. That gave him an advantage he could use to help get the crew back.     “I know it’s been awhile, but is your old ship still flyable?”     “A few containers fell on it during the fight with whoever planted the mines,” Neelix said, “but all the damage is cosmetic. Why do you ask?”

---

    The kiss felt like it had gone on for hours, but when Kathy looked at the clock she saw it hadn’t even been two minutes.     “Wow,” she said.     “Well put,” Jaffen said.     “So, was that better or worse than the coffee?” Kathy said, jokingly,

    “Ooh, tough call,” Jaffen said with a wink. “You know. If your homeworld makes drinks like that I’m amazed you ever left.”

    Kathy laughed.     “Caffeine is responsible for the industrial revolution,” she said.     “Is that a literal or metaphorical revolution?” Jaffen said. “‘Cause I’ve seen both in my travels.”

    Kathy laughed. “I can explain later.” She leaned in to Jaffen, and sighed as he hugged her close.     I can’t remember ever feeling this comfortable before, she thought.

---

    Samantha Wildman sighed as she heard Naomi get up, leave her room, and start moving around the kitchen.

    “Honey, stop,” she said.     “What’s wrong?” Annika said.     “The kid’s awake.”     “So?” Seven said, smirking as she wiped her lips on the bedsheet.     “I don’t want her to hear us,” Samantha said.     “You don’t want her to know her parents have a healthy and active sex life?”     “Well, yes, but, I mean, shit, look, can you at least see what she’s doing in the kitchen?” Samantha shifted her body on the bed so she could kiss Annika on the mouth. “I promise I’ll still be wearing my birthday suit when you get back.”     Annika sighed. “You better be,” she said in a mock threatening tone, never losing her smile as she did so.

    She opened the door, loosely closing her robe even though she didn’t really care that much what if anything her kid saw. The “talk” was going to have to come sooner or later, and Naomi seemed mature enough to be able to handle it.     “Hey kiddo,” she said to Naomi, who was taking a mug with some steam coming from it off the cooking console.     “Oh, I’m sorry if I woke you up, Momma Annie. I just had trouble sleeping, and one of the other kids at school said his mom uses this drink called tea. I thought I’d give it a try.”     “Well, okay,” Annika said, stepping forward and looking down into the mug. “It’s hot though so be very, very careful. And don’t drink it in bed. Here,” she added, pulling out two of the chairs at the dinner table. She sat in one and motioned for Naomi to take the other, which she did, smiling, obviously glad that she wasn’t in trouble.     “So, why did you have trouble sleeping? Bad dream?”     “Sort of,” Naomi said. “It was really weird. I dreamt I was on a spaceship, with you and Momma Sam, and you were wearing these neat looking uniforms. And I had a big brother, who was a cyborg too.”

    “Oh really?” Annika said, amused at her adopted child’s vivid imagination. “What was your big brother’s name?”     Naomi frowned. “I can’t remember.”     “That’s okay sweetie, most people can’t remember their dreams. And those that do tend to really only remember the really weird parts.”     “It felt really real though,” Naomi said. “Like we really lived on a spaceship. And Momma Sam was my real Mom, and I was only half-alien.”     Annika patted Naomi on the shoulder. “You should write all this stuff down, kid. You’ve got quite the imagination there, I bet you could be a writer someday.”     “Do they have writers on Quarra?” Naomi said. “All the books at school are textbooks.”

    “I don’t know actually,” Annika said. “I’ll look into it. But for now, you go ahead and try your tea and go back to bed, okay?”     “Okay.”

    Naomi took a sip of her tea, said it was gross, put the cup back on the cooking console to be recycled, and went back to her room. Annika watched her as she did all this, but couldn’t help but ponder what Naomi had said.     You know, she thought, I actually do see some of Sam in her. I hadn’t thought of it before. She shook her head, not wanting to think about it anymore. It was probably just her seeing things based on Naomi’s dream. She went back to her room, Samantha waiting exactly as she’d promised.     “Now, where were we?” Annika said.

---

    “Any progress?” Chakotay said as he entered astrometrics, The Doctor close behind him. Neelix turned from the console to face Chakotay.     “I’ve spoken to the captains of eight vessels that have left Quarra in the past two weeks,” Neelix said. “None of them knew anything about our crew, but every single one of them offered me a job. Apparently, there’s a severe labor shortage in this system and a lot of competition for workers.”

    “That explains a lot about what the Quarren official was telling us,” Chakotay said. “And that’s also our in. Neelix, get your ship ready. Doctor, I’m going to need some cosmetic surgery.”     “Why?” The Doctor said, sounding concerned.     “I’ve already spoke to several government officials on that planet. They know what all of us look like, except for Neelix since he wasn’t on the bridge. I need to look like another alien if I’m going to get down there.”

    “I can only alter you cosmetically,” The Doctor said. “If they do a full DNA scan-”     “I doubt they’d risk turning away a potential employee if the labor shortage is as severe as I’m led to believe,” Neelix said.     “So, Neelix and I are going to be a couple of Talaxians looking for work,” Chakotay said.     “I bet we’ll make a striking pair,” Neelix said, smiling.     “I’m not sure your skin is equipped to deal with Talaxian facial hair,” The Doctor said, “but we can give it a try. Worst case scenario, I can go for something easier to reverse later, like Icheb’s species, or a Bajoran perhaps.”     “Let’s get on that then,” Chakotay said, leaving astrometrics, not bothering to tell the others to follow him as they were already falling in behind him.     “”I’ll also give you both subdermal transponders so we can transport you through the shield grid if there’s trouble,” The Doctor said.     “How would that work?” Chakotay said.

“Their shields aren’t exactly like ours. Mister Kim explained it to me in detail, but suffice it to say, unlike our shields which can only be beamed through with superior technology, theirs can’t block a concentrated enough signal.”     “Good thinking,” Chakotay said.     “I think the Lieutenant deserves a share of the credit,” The Doctor said, “but thank you.”     “You’ll be in charge until we get back,” Chakotay added.     “Are you sure, Commander?” The Doctor said.     “If you’re worried about Harry, he’ll know better than to put his ego above the ship. Besides, he helped design the ECH program, so he knows what you’re capable of. He’ll follow your orders same as if you were me or Captain Janeway.”     “Well, all the same, I’m certainly going to keep an open mind to any suggestions he may have.”

---

    Annika Hansen didn’t think this was anything for her to worry about. Despite the employe she was told to go talk to having skipped his last few inoculations, her records showed his work had not suffered, at least not yet. Slower than it had been, yes, but that was from a starting point of him easily eclipsing most of his peers. Tuvok, a.k.a. Employee #8583, could probably run this place as well as if not better than current management with some more time and experience.

    But orders were orders, so go to speak with him she did. She’d been in line behind him once before, so she was sure she knew exactly what the issue was; his fear of needles. Maybe some subtle threats about unemployment would spur this Tuvok character to get over it and go to the infirmary.

    She walked up to him, noticed that he seemed to be gripping the side of his console far too hard, and became somewhat worried. She let none of that into her voice though, keeping her usual calm, even robotic demeanor as she spoke the employee’s number, and then name when he didn’t respond.     “According to records,” she continued, “you have neglected to report for your last two inoculations.”     Tuvok did not respond, but slowly turned his head to look at her. He appeared to be sweaty.     “The inoculations are for your protection,” Annika said. “A sick worker is not an efficient worker. Report to the infirmary immediately.”     Tuvok looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.     He must be getting sick, she thought. I may need to call for help to get him to the infirmary if it isn’t too late.     “Seven. Of nine,” Tuvok said.     “What?” Annika said.

    “Seven of nine. It’s your designation,” Tuvok said, starting to shake somewhat, the sweat on his brow becoming more noticeable.     “My employee number is 8586,” Annika said. Tuvok grabbed her so quick she hadn’t realized his hand was on her face and that one of the other workers was calling for security until she was pushed up against Tuvok’s console, his other arm gripping hers.     “What are you-”

She stopped talking when she saw something, like a vivid memory. Herself, in what looked liked a large room, shelves with massive containers on one side, and technology not unlike that of her cybernetic implants lining the wall behind her. A young man, possibly a teenage boy, with visible cybernetics of his own was sitting on the ground, playing a game with Naomi.

She snapped back to reality in time to hear Tuvok say to her as guards pulled him off her, “I don’t believe you are who you think you are!”     Annika slumped down, feeling drained despite the fact that all Tuvok had done as far as she could tell was grab her arm and touch the side of her face.

As the guards dragged Tuvok towards the infirmary, the other employees staring, the employees she recognized as Jaffen and Kathy Janeway came over to ask her if she was okay.     “What the hell was that all about?” Kathy said as Annika waved off her support.     “WE DON'T BELONG HERE! WE DON'T BELONG HERE! THIS ISN'T RIGHT! WE DON'T BELONG HERE!” Tuvok’s voice carried through the room even with the door closed.     “I should’ve said something,” Jaffen said. “I noticed he was acting weird the other day, but I thought maybe he’d just had a rough day.”     “He missed some inoculations,” Annika said, calming herself down, and wondering if she should tell her wife about this, not wanting her to worry but not wanting to hide things from her either. “Likely this is a result of radiation sickness.”

Was that vision a result of his sickness too? she thought. What did he do to you? And why did you see the boy from Naomi’s dream, her imaginary big brother? Tuvok may be sick, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something going on.     Annika wondered why her own inner voice was so willing to accept what was obviously the ramblings of a disturbed and likely radiation poisoned individual, but despite that, she didn’t hesitate to withhold the vision when speaking to her superiors about the incident later.     Kathy and Jaffen offered to walk her home, but she declined. Walking towards her apartment after end of shift, she decided she would tell Samantha about what had happened, but not mention the vision to her either. At least not yet.

---

    “Qualification Level 3 in microkinetics,” the supervisor said to Chakotay as he followed him down a flight of stairs in the main power facility, the place where he was led to believe most of Voyager’s crew had ended up. “You could use some improvement in that area, Mister Kotay.”     “I appreciate the honesty,” Chakotay said, responding to the alias that Neelix had provided him; Amal Kotay. “I imagine some people in your position would overlook something like that during a labor shortage.”     “Level 3 is still better than average,” the supervisor said. “I see you are Level 5 in thermionic conversion though. That’s the main reason you’re here and not at a less crucial facility. We lost a thermionic specialist yesterday.”     “Did he find a better job?” Chakotay asked.     “Health problems,” the supervisor said. “Developed some minor radiation poisoning and attacked our Efficiency Monitor.”     “Oh no,” Chakotay said.     “She’s fine, but we gave her the day off. She seemed a bit shaken up by the experience. My own superiors didn’t like it, but I figured a day with the wife and kid would do her some good. She may act like a robot when she’s on the clock, but she’s as fragile as any other sentient.”     The Efficiency Monitor must be Seven of Nine, Chakotay thought, as he happened to glance to his right and see one of the Delaney twins walk right past him without recognizing him. She wasn’t the only Voyager crewmember he’d seen today who didn’t seem to know who either he or Neelix were since they’d arrived last night. He doubted his Talaxian disguise was that good, and none of them seemed to recognize Neelix either. Whatever the Quarrens had done to them was brutally effective. He just hoped it was reversible.     “Someone you know?” the supervisor said.     “No, just, never seen her species before,” he said.     “We have a diverse workforce here. Megan over there is from a species called Human. We got an influx of them a few weeks ago. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a species with so much variety in skin pigmentation. But enough about alien biology. Your workstation is over here.”     “Thank you,” Chakotay said.     “You’ll be required to report your readings to the Controller at regular intervals,” the supervisor said. “Small variations are common, so unless the reading is off by more than one-third of a percent, you can ignore it. Helps save space on the data readers.”     Chakotay was about to respond when he saw Captain Janeway, wearing one of the standard work uniforms, happily going about her own job at a workstation not too far from the one he’d been assigned to.     “Are you listening to me?” the supervisor said, and Chakotay realized that he’d been staring.     Damn, I can’t believe I did that, he thought. I hope I didn’t compromise the mission.     “I’m sorry sir,” he said, “I’m just excited to be here.”     The supervisor looked at Janeway, and back at Chakotay.     “Right. Well, just so you know, we don’t allow fraternizing on work hours. Also, she’s already spoken for, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

    “Oh?” Chakotay said, reflexively, and immediately wished he hadn’t.     “Yeah. Jaffen. Good guy. You’ll like him too. One of the best people we’ve got around here.”

    Chakotay decided to play along, and laugh as though the supervisor had read his reaction to seeing the Captain alive correctly.     “Well, thanks for saving me from embarrassing myself,” he said.     “No problem,” the supervisor said. “This station has been vacant for a few hours now so you’re going to have to work harder than we usually let new hires do, so I’ll get out of your way.”     “I’ll get right on it,” Chakotay said, wondering what his next move was going to be.

---

    Neelix hoped that how weird the situation felt wasn’t showing as his face as talked to Tom Paris at the bar. It was Tom, he’d introduced himself as such, but apart from that and his basic personality, everything about the man was different. Neelix noticed that as they spoke he kept glancing over at B’Elanna Torres, sitting with a couple who apparently were expecting a child of their own at the other side of the establishment.

    “At the end of the day, losing my job at the power plant was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Paris said as he handed drinks to a pair of patrons. “So many rules and regulations. It was like a military operation.”     “I know what you mean,” Neelix said. “Report here, reroute power there; almost like serving aboard a starship.” He put a slight emphasis on the word starship, wondering if that would trigger any memories in Tom, hoping that whatever the Quarrens had done to them wasn’t permanent.     In my experience, the more thorough the brainwashing, the less effective the brainwashed, Neelix had thought to himself earlier, and this was as good a time as any to test that.

    “Have you ever done that?” Tom asked.     “You’re looking at the former captain of his own cargo vessel,” Neelix said.     “Mmm. Must be quite a life,” Tom said.     “You ever work on a ship, Tom?” Neelix said.     Tom scoffed. “Hell no. Space travel makes me sick. I was practically asleep the whole way here.”     “So, do you know most of the people who come in here?” Neelix asked.     “A lot of them,” Tom said, after being briefly distracted by the sound of B’Elanna laughing. “This is a great place to work.”     “Seems like it,” Neelix said.

    “If you’d like I could put in a good for you to my employer,” Tom said. “I’m not sure what it is about you, but you seem like someone comfortable around food or drink.”     “Well, I know a few people that might beg to differ on that,” Neelix said.     “Ah, Neelix,” he heard Chakotay’s voice say, and he turned to see that Chakotay had entered the bar while he and Tom were talking.

    “I was wondering when you’d get here,” Neelix said, “Amal Kotay, this is my new friend, Tom Paris.”     Having to act like they didn’t know any of their crewmates had been easier on him than he’d thought, and so far it looked like Chakotay had been handling it well too, but he doubted they could keep it up forever before one of them slipped up. They needed to find out what had happened and get their people back quickly. He hoped Chakotay had more to go on than he did.     “What can I get ya?” Tom said.     Chakotay pointed at Neelix’s drink. “That looks good.”     “I’ll get you one, Tom said, heading a few feet off and turning around. Neelix leaned in and whispered.     “I was assigned to the primary fusion chamber. Mulcahey and Tal were there too. Neither of them recognized me.”

    “I think at this point we should just assume everyone on the crew has had their memories tampered with,” Chakotay whispered back.     “And they all seem to really love their jobs,” Neelix said.     “It’s like they’ve all been programmed to be happy here,” Chakotay said.     “Here you go,” Tom said, handing a drink to Chakotay.     “Thank you,” Chakotay said.     “Hey there,” a voice Neelix didn’t recognize said. He turned to see Captain Janeway and a man he didn’t know standing behind them. “I’m Jaffen, this is Kathy. You two look like you’re new here.”     “We are,” Chakotay said. I’m Amal Kotay, and this my friend Neelix.”     “Friend?” Tom said. “Figured you two for brothers.”     “Hmm, nah,” Jaffen said, smiling, “I don’t see it.”     “Would you two care to join us?” Kathy said.     “Uh, actually I was hoping we could eat alone tonight,” Jaffen said, gently placing his hands on Janeway’s shoulders.     I wonder if he’s been tampered with like the others, Neelix thought. If he and the Captain became this close after the memory alterations, then maybe we should consider bringing him with us.     “Some other time perhaps,” Chakotay said.     As Jaffen and the Captain walked away, Neelix saw Tom quickly move from behind the bar. He watched as he offered to walk B’Elanna home.     “Apparently,” Neelix whispered to Chakotay, “whatever was done to their memories, they aren’t together. He thinks she’s carrying another man’s baby, someone who walked out on her. In a way, it’s almost like watching their courtship happen all over again. With a lot less arguing this time. Tom doesn’t even realize he’s trying to become a stepdad to his own offspring.”

    “If she’s walking home alone,” Chakotay said, “this could be our chance to get someone back to Voyager. Maybe find some clue as to what happened and develop a treatment for the others.”     “Not going to lie, Commander. I know we’re doing it for the right reasons, but essentially kidnapping a pregnant woman…”     “It feels gross to me too, for what it’s worth,” Chakotay said. “I’ll try to get ahead of her. See if you can be seen following her without looking like you’re trying to be seen.” Without another word, Chakotay headed out, and Neelix followed close behind.

---

    Chakotay had meant what he said to Neelix. Though if pressed, he would admit that calling how he felt about this “gross” was actually an understatement.     Taking short cuts through several alleys, walking at a steady clip when he was sure someone was watching, but running when he was sure they weren’t, he got ahead of B’Elanna quickly enough. He saw her look nervously behind her at a following Neelix.     While looking back, she walked right into Chakotay.     “Oh, excuse me,” B’Elanna said nervously. Not the reaction Chakotay normally expected from her when they got in her way.     “I’m sorry,” Chakotay said.     “It’s.. it’s okay, I should really watch where I’m going.” She watched Neelix walk past her, looking forward, and sighed.     “B’Elanna,” Chakotay said. She turned around.     “How do you know my name?”     “It’s a long story,” Chakotay said. “I just want you to know, that we’re really sorry we have to do this.”     Neelix had come back around while Chakotay had B’Elanna distracted, and wrapped his arms around her. Instead of fighting back like she normally would, which meant Neelix had little trouble holding on despite the fact that were she her regular self he’d be on the ground in severe pain by now, she started screaming for security.     “Voyager, we’ve got B’Elanna,” Chakotay said. “Lock on to Neelix’s signal and beam them to sickbay.”

    “Acknowledged,” Harry’s voice replied.     “Help me!” B’Elanna cried out, her face going pale with terror. Chakotay felt as though his guilt were literally punching him in the stomach. Hopefully, once the Doctor fixed whatever had been done to her memories she would focus her anger on the Quarrens, and not on him and Neelix for grabbing her like this.     “Let her go!” A Quarren security guard yelled out, his weapon pointed at the three of them as the transporter beam locked onto Neelix and B’Elanna. The second guard aimed the beam of his flashlight at Chakotay’s face, clearly trying to blind him, but Chakotay was able to avoid it, and he bolted around a corner, not wanting to get shot before they could beam him out too.     “Stop!” the first guard yelled.     “Harry, I need an emergency transport, now!” When the channel opened, Chakotay heard the sound of the red alert klaxons in the background.     “Sorry, Commander,” Harry said. “We’re under attack. I had to raise shields.”     “Dammit,” Chakotay muttered. “All right, get Voyager to safety. I’ll figure something out. Go!” He closed the channel without waiting to hear Harry’s response, and kept running. He ran for several minutes, his breath becoming winded, but the security guards were clearly in better shape than their uniforms had led him to believe. He found himself at an open platform, and swore. Only a railing, and a view of the city ahead of him. The only way down from here without going back the way he came would be a fast but lethal one.     He looked around, and saw a panel that he hoped he could use to sabotage the lights and get past the pursuing guards in the confusion. He found a loose pipe, and used it to smash the panel. Lights went out, and so did a force field around the railing that he hadn’t even realized was there. He wondered if it was always in place as additional accident prevention, or had to put up by security to prevent his escape. He supposed it didn’t matter, and he got into position, waiting for his chance to get past the guards. Maybe he could knock one out and take his weapon.     Here’s hoping their guns have stun settings, he thought.

    A lone guard came up to the platform, flashlight in one hand, weapon in the other. He went up to the railing and put a hand out as if to test to see if the force field was still there. He put down the light, and touched his communicator.     “Alert Emergency Medical, the suspect may have tried to ju-”

    Chakotay grabbed the man and slammed him hard against the wall, causing him to drop his gun. Chakotay took it, and fired at a portion of the wall next to the guard, who reflexively ducked. Chakotay started to head back to the stairwell leading to the platform when a beam of light came out of the cloud of steam that had formed after he destroyed the panel. It struck him the left shoulder and he fell back into, and nearly over, the railing. It hurt, but he pushed past it, and rushed the second guard, who hit his head on the floor grating when Chakotay slammed into him. He groaned, alive, but didn’t get up.     Favoring his injured shoulder, Chakotay started running again. Eventually, he made it back to the bar where Tom had been working. Everyone seemed too involved with whatever they were doing to notice the man with the bleeding shoulder walk in. The wound was small, and the blood hadn’t spread beyond the shoulder pad so far, but he made sure to take a seat in a booth that allowed him to keep that shoulder as out of view of the other patrons as possible.     “Ah, I was hoping I’d see you again,” he heard Captain Janeway’s voice say. He turned to see that, while he was looking at his left hand to make sure he could still move the fingers without difficulty, she had walked up to him. “Are you okay?”     “I’m fine,” Chakotay lied. “Just, tired. First day at a new job.”     “I know how that can be,” Janeway said, smiling. “I just wanted to apologize for earlier. My friend, Jaffen, he was a little rude to you earlier when we asked you and your friend Neelix to join us.”     “That’s okay,” Chakotay said.     “Well, you’re more than welcome to sit with us tonight if you’d like. We’re celebrating.”     “What’s the occasion?” Chakotay said.     “Jaffen and I are moving in together,” Janeway said smiling.     Chakotay felt a pang of regret. Not for himself; while there had been something there once, it had pretty much been lost forever after he’d disobeyed orders and broke the deal with the Borg against Species 8472 almost four years ago. What he was worried about was what would happen with her and Jaffen once, or even if, the Doctor restored all her memories. Despite the Captain’s apologies, he didn’t feel Jaffen had been too rude at all. He seemed nice enough. And even with her memories altered, he could tell this was still his Captain he was talking to. If she trusted Jaffen, he felt he could too. Or at least he hoped he could.

“Congratulations, but I think I’m going to go home,” Chakotay said.     “Okay,” Janeway said. “Have a good night, Amal.”

---

    The bridge shook violently as the Quarren ships attacked. The shields surprisingly held, but Harry Kim doubted that would last.     “I can’t penetrate their shields,” Harry said, now back at tactical once the Doctor returned from sickbay where had Neelix looking over a sedated B’Elanna.     The Doctor, at the helm flying the ship, looked up at the viewscreen.     “Maybe we don’t have to,” he said. “The Battle of Vorkado. It’s in my tactical database. A Romulan captain disabled two attacking vessels by creating a photonic shockwave between the ships.”

    “How’d he do that?” Harry said.

    “Fire a photon torpedo to go between the two Quarren vessels, then fire phasers at the torpedo.”     Harry nodded, smiling. “Good thinking.” Harry did as he was ordered, and the resulting shockwave knocked the pursuing vessels off their course, their shields glowing under the onslaught of energy. “The ships are largely undamaged, but the shockwave seems to have affected their sensors. They’re breaking off.”

    “I don’t think they’ll be bothering us again,” The Doctor said, smugly.

    A proximity alert beeped at Harry, and he looked down at the tactical readout.     “Five more ships on an intercept course,” he said. “What’s your tactical database got for this one Doc?”

    “Transporters are damaged, shields are failing, We have to retreat and come up with a new plan.”     “I was afraid you’d say that,” Harry said.     “Once we’re out of range of Quarren sensors,” The Doctor said, “switch me back to EMH mode. I’ll have access to more treatment options to try and help B’Elanna in the meantime.”     “Is that a good idea?” Harry said. “Your tactical database-”     “Won’t mean anything if we rescue the rest of the crew without a way to change them back. We’ll be outnumbered by approximately 31 to 1 by people who think we’ve kidnapped them, in an enclosed space. I like those odds even less than then the ones against the Quarren ships.”     “Fair point,” Harry said.

---

    A pair of Quarrens, one wearing garb similar to the official Chakotay had spoken to during his initial attempts to contact the crew, and another security guard, entered the bar, Chakotay kept his face turned away from them, trying not to be noticed, and planning for a way to slip out.

    The first man went up to the bar and started speaking to Paris. Chakotay didn’t hear what the first man said, but Tom's response was loud enough that he was able to pick it up, as well as apparently getting the attention of several other patrons.     “We run an honest business,” Tom said.     With some of the other patrons conversations halted, Chakotay was able to hear the rest of the conversation.     “We’re investigating the disappearance of two people who were seen leaving this establishment earlier this evening. One was a young pregnant woman-”     “B’Elanna? What happened to her?” Tom asked, dropping his cleaning rag and sounding concerned.     “You knew her?”     “I’ve been helping her. Her baby’s father’s a deadbeat who bailed, so I was helping her settle in, meet other parents around the city.” Tom sighed, and looked at the floor. “I offered to walk her to her transport, but she insisted she was fine. I should’ve gone with her.”     “Did you think someone was going to try and hurt her?”     “The city is supposed to be safe!” Tom said, sounding angry. The detective, or at least Chakotay assumed he was a detective, actually flinched, but didn’t respond other than to look at his data pad.     “The person with her when she vanished was described as short, with mottled skin and facial hair.”     “That sounds like someone who was in here earlier,” Tom said. “Neelix, I think his name was. Said he was Talaxian.”     “Never heard of them,” the detective said. “Did this Neelix talk to anyone else while he was here?”     Chakotay took that as his cue to slip out. Thankfully, the security guard managed to walk right past him, not seeing his face or his wounded shoulder.     I guess the guards I knocked out never got a good look at me, he thought, grateful that no one seemed to notice him leaving.

---

    Shortly after managing to land Voyager in the crater of a moon with a paramagnetic core to hide the ship’s energy signature from the sensors of any Quarren ship that might come looking for them, the Doctor got up to head to sickbay to begin working on fixing B’Elanna.     “Good hiding place, Doc,” Harry said, “but if any of their ships get close enough to the crater all someone would have to do is look out a viewport.”     “As far as the Quarrens know, Mister Kim,” The Doctor said, “we haven’t returned to this system after warping away from our original pursuers. If they can find us here, they’ve earned that. Now, if you would be so kind as to switch me back to EMH mode. When I’m an ECH the only medical procedures I can do are one’s I’ve performed before and are in my memory database.”

    “Got it,” Harry said, touching a few buttons on the tactical console. The Doctor's uniform changed from red back to blue, and he nodded.     “Thank you,” he said. “I’ll be in sickbay.”

    The Doctor quickly made his way there, where Neelix still stood by the side of B’Elanna’s bio-bed, as if worried someone might try to take her away again.     The Doctor did his scans, and figuring it would be simpler to just tell Neelix what was happening rather than asking him to leave, which rarely worked anytime in the past,.     “The scan on the left,” he said, pointing to a monitor showing two brain scans, “was performed during B’Elanna’s last physical. The one on the right is from the one you saw me perform. The memory centers of her brain have been dramatically altered.”     “That fits with what the Commander and I saw when we down there,” Neelix said. “But some of the crew members I talked to down there seemed to remember parts of their real lives. Things like what planet they were born on, their names. Why not just change everything?”     “I don’t know,” The Doctor admitted, using the most disliked phrase in his entire vocabulary apart from ‘I did all I could.’ “Whoever did this was very sophisticated though. Selectively manipulating memory engrams takes much more work than just doing a complete mind wipe. Perhaps the Quarrens felt that erasing everything would make them less efficient as workers.”

    “Can you undo the damage?” Neelix asked.     “I believe so, but it will take some time.”     “I wish there was something I could do to help,” Neelix said.     The Doctor thought about it for a moment. “Maybe you can.”     “Doctor?”     “She’ll require several treatments,” The Doctor said. “In between, you could expose her to familiar sites, surroundings. Take her to her quarters, show her engineering, pictures of those on the crew she was closest to. Just don’t rush it. This is going to be very traumatic for her.”     “Understood,” Neelix said.

---

    Doctor Ravoc read off the list of symptoms the patient named Tuvok had to his superior, Doctor Kadan.     “Anxiety, acute depression, and when I interviewed him he insisted that he’s not who he’s supposed to be. Says that we’ve stolen his...” Ravoc looked at his note. “His katra, whatever that is.”

    “Conclusions?” Kadan said. His cold demeanor concerned Ravoc somewhat. Of course, some detachment was required as a physician, lest the empathy for the sick become overwhelming, rendering you unable to function. But Tuvok wasn’t dying, that was clear. Yet Kadan spoke of him as he were a cadaver and this was medical school.     “Tri-lobe regression complex? Polar-affective disorder maybe?”

    “Neuropsychiatry isn’t a guessing game, Doctor Ravoc,” Kadan said.     Ravoc knew what Kadan wanted to hear. “Dysphoria syndrome.”     “You have been studying my research,” Kadan said, smiling. That smile unnerved Ravoc no end but he had no idea why.     “According to your work, the condition is very rare,” Ravoc said.     “It is. I’ve treated this man before,” Kadan said. “Apparently he’s suffered a relapse. Recommended treatment.” The last statement was spoken like a demand. Ravoc hated being talked to like he was still at a teaching infirmary, but he didn’t want to lose his position here.     “Engramatic resequencing is typically indicated,” he said.     “You seem skeptical,” Kadan said.     Ravoc sighed, annoyed with himself for not hiding it better. “Resequencing is a radical procedure, Doctor Kadan.”     Kadan stepped forward, as if trying to intimidate Ravoc. “If he had a malignant tumor would you be afraid to cut it out.     “No, of course not.”     “This syndrome is just as insidious,” Kadan continued. “It requires aggressive treatment. Get started.” Without another word, Kadan turned around and left. Once he was sure Kadan was out of earshot, Ravoc groaned.     “This is a hospital, not an authoritarian dictatorship,” he muttered.     Tuvok, who Ravoc had thought had been asleep this whole time tried to get up, straining against the straps that held him to the bed. “Please, help me.”     Ravoc sighed as he filled an injector. “That’s what we’re here to do,” he said, beginning the treatment despite the nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him that he shouldn’t trust Kadan.

---

    Annika Hansen shook her head to clear the latest vision, this one tinted green as if looking through some kind of liquor bottle, and seeing a massive structure, filled with cyborgs like her, but all with much more technology embedded in their bodies, and their skin pale as if dead. The phrase ‘cyborg zombies’ entered her mind briefly and she almost laughed at how silly the term sounded.

    She couldn’t shake the concerns though. This had all started when Tuvok had touched her. She went to see the supervisor, but decided to keep it vague. She couldn’t risk being fired, not when her family had really settled into their new apartment.     “I want to know the status of Employee #8583,” she said.

    “Good morning to you as well. Efficiency Monitor Hansen,” the supervisor said.

    “I apologize for my directness,” Annika said. “There is simply some concern amongst the other workers that his condition is contagious.”     The supervisor worked his console. “Ah, the man removed by security the other day. He has been hospitalized, yes. But you can tell anyone concerned that-”     The supervisor was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and another man stepping into the office. “Pardon me, am I intruding?”     “Not at all, Investigator,” the supervisor said.     “My name is Yerid,” the investigator said, “and I’m looking into the disappearance of two your employees. Names of Neelix and Torres.”

    “Both of them failed to report for work today,” Annika said.     “What about this man?” Yerid said, tapping a few button on his data pad and handing it to Annika, who held it so the supervisor could look at the image on it as well.     “Employee #9363. Amal Kotay. He didn’t report for work either,” Annika said.     “I’d like to see his personnel file,” Yerid said, “and I’ll need to interview anyone who may know where he is.”     “Of course,” the supervisor said. “Though for the sake of my other employees I’ll need a court order first. I don’t want my people concerned for their privacy while they’re keeping this place running, I hope you understand.”     “As a formality?” Yerid said, though Annika detected a bit of annoyance in his voice.     “Of course. I’ll have the file ready for you well before the order arrives,” the supervisor said.

---

    Janeway went back to her apartment one last time. It was exciting, but also mildly amusing to her that she hadn’t even gotten used to this place yet before moving to another one. She had never felt the way she felt about Jaffen with anyone before. Not even Mark, the man she’d left when she decided that Earth wasn’t for her. She didn’t hold it against him that he’d wanted to stay where he was born, but it had still hurt her to see the look in his eyes when she’d returned his ring.     “What the hell?” she said when she opened the door and found it dark. It was daytime, but the window covers were closed. “Lights,” she said. They didn’t come on.     “Well, glad I already have a new place,” she said out loud. “Saves me the trouble of having to call maintenance.” She looked for her last pair of boxes, when she saw the rag on the floor. She knelt down to look at it and saw blood. Red, like hers.     “Kathryn,” a voice said, and she gasped, nearly falling over. Leaning against the wall behind her, out of sight from the front door, was Amal Kotay, the man everyone had been looking for ever since two of her co-workers had vanished last night. He was holding a weapon, but looked like he was about to pass out.     “What do you want?” she said.     “You told me you were moving out,” Amal said. “I needed a place to hide.” He winced as he struggled to his feet.     “Jaffen knows where I am. He’ll come looking for me,” she said.     “I don’t doubt that,” Amal said. “He seems like a good man.”     “He is,” Kathy said, surprised at how little fear she felt despite a wanted man pointing a gun at her. “They say you had something to do with the disappearance of a pregnant woman.”     “I did,” Amal said. “Her name’s B’Elanna. She was brought to this planet against her will, and her memories were tampered with.”

    “Why should I believe that?” Kathy said, though inwardly she found that she actually did. Why are you taking his word for it? she thought.

    “Honestly, you shouldn’t,” Amal said. “I wouldn’t, if I were in your position. But she’s not the only one in this city I’m trying to help get home. I need you to trust me, so…”     Amal, breathing heavily as he did so, leaned down and put the gun on the floor. He tried to kick it over to her but was too weak so it was too far away for either of them to grab.     Kathy could’ve called for security right then and there, but she didn’t, surprising even herself.     “You can report me if you want,” Amal said, “but all I’m asking for is a place to stay until my friends come back for me.”

    After a long silence, Kathy stepped forward. “We’re going to have to do something about that arm.” She opened one of the boxes, grateful that she had not already taken her towels to Jaffen’s place.

---

    “The waiter?” B’Elanna said, holding the picture that Neelix had given her. “From the tavern?”     Neelix nodded, having found a picture of the two of them at their wedding, each holding a champagne glass, smiling as they looked in each other’s eyes. It wasn’t the best photo of the couple ever taken, but Neelix figured that a better looking one might be easier to dismiss as doctored.     “Lieutenant Tom Paris, our pilot, and B'Elanna Torres, our chief engineer. On their wedding day,” Neelix said.

    “Wedding? He’s my husband? Does that mean…” she looked down at her stomach.     “You’re having a girl,” Neelix said.     B’Elanna lowered the picture, but still held it, as she walked around her and Tom’s quarters, slowly touching all the replicated 20th-century era items that Tom kept as decoration and the bat’leth on the wall that had been gifted to her by Kohlar.

    Neelix hoped the fact that she had not outright rejected any of this as real was a sign that the first treatment had gone well. An object up against one of the walls seemed to have caught her focus, and Neelix looked where she was looking.     “A replica of a device called a television,” Neelix said. “You gave it to Tom as a gift.”

    “He watches cartoons,” B’Elanna said. Neelix smiled.     “Yes,” he said.     “How do I know that?” B’Elanna said.     “Because you’re starting to remember,” Neelix said.     B’Elanna kept looking around, stopping when she saw what was going to be her baby’s crib. She gently touched the mobile above it, first the tiny Klingon Bird of Prey, and the tiny Voyager.     “I’d wondered why he was so protective of me,” she said.     “I’ll be outside if you need me,” Neelix said, heading out into the hall.

---

    Kathy snuck into the plant, and opened a panel on a side wall, looking for a ‘dermal regenerator’ as Amal Kotay, or Chakotay as he’d started insisting he be called, had called it. She’d heard it referred to as a ‘wound sealer’ during training, but didn’t want to argue semantics. When she closed the panel she almost jumped when she saw Annika Hansen standing there.     “Your shift ended three hours ago,” she said.     “I know,” Kathy said. “My friend, Jaffen employee 1326, he cut himself, and he’s too stubborn to go to the infirmary.”     “Removing property from these premises is not permitted, Cap-” Hansen looked confused briefly. “Miss Janeway,” she corrected.     Was she about to call me Captain? Kathy thought.     “I promise I’ll have it back first thing in the morning,” she said. Hansen looked like she was about to tell Kathy to put it back, but then she seemed to get distracted by something she saw at the other end of the work floor.     “Be sure that you do,” she said, before unceremoniously heading in that direction.

---

Annika noticed that the supervisor had left his office while she was speaking to the employee Kathy Janeway. Figuring this was her chance to find out what was going on, she ignored her instinct and allowed Janeway to take the wound sealer, much to the other woman’s visible confusion, and headed towards the stairs to the supervisor’s office.     She began manipulating controls on the supervisor's console.     “Display the personnel file for Employee #8583,” she said.     “Access restricted,” the computer’s electronic voice replied. She finished the work she’d started before even making the request, and only a second later the same voice said, “Security clearance verified.”     The data filled the screen in the blank space next to Tuvok’s picture, first left to right then right to left, but Annika was used to reading Quarren by now.     “Display all medical and historical data for the employee's species,” she said.     “Data unavailable.”     “List all files accessed by this employee since he’s been here,” she said.     “Personnel files. Employee 8582, Nozawa, Kashimuro. Employee #8584, Janeway, Kathryn. Employee #8585, McKenzie, William.”

She looked at the pictures on the screen. Most of them were human, including herself, but she also saw the missing pregnant woman, Torres, as well as blue-skinned alien with a bifurcated face, among others. The only common thread was that all had arrived on Quarra at roughly the same time. She almost gasped when she saw the face of a teenage boy who was listed not as an employee, but as attending a special school in another city for talented youths. The teenager was the one from her first vision, the one from Naomi’s dream.     “Icheb,” the computer said his name was.

“What the hell is going on here?” she said to herself.

---

“You need a doctor,” Kathy said to Chakotay as she sealed the wound on his arm. She wondered if there was something wrong with the device as his skin seemed to get darker as it healed, but she realized that it could be something to do with his physiology.     “That’ll have to wait ‘til I’m back on Voyager,” Chakotay said.     “That’s the name of your ship?” she said.     “For almost seven years,” Chakotay said.     “You’re its captain?” Kathy said.

“First officer,” Chakotay said, looking Kathy in the eyes in a way that made her uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as she felt she should be. “My captain is one of the people in this city whose memories have been altered.”     “Hmm,” Kathy said. “Well good luck finding him.”     “Her,” Chakotay said.     “Sorry,” she said.     “Quite alright,” Chakotay said. “So, you monitor power coils at the planet?”

“That’s right,” Kathy said. “You already know that though so what’s your point?”     “You’re obviously very capable,” he said. “You could probably run that plant.”     “Why would I want all that responsibility?” she said.     Before Chakotay could respond, there was a broken chirping sound coming from his hand.     “What’s that?” she said.     “My people are trying to contact me,” he said to Kathy. “Chakotay here,” he said into his hand.     “Are you okay, Commander?” a voice responded.     “For the time being. Can you get me out of here?”     “No, sir. We’re eight light years away.”

“How were you able to transmit that far without the signal being detected?”     “A triaxilating frequency on a covariant subspace band. B’Elanna’s idea,” the voice on the other end said.     The pregannt woman they kidnapped? Kathy thought. Maybe he was telling the truth all along. Though if I doubted it, why was I still willing to help?     “I take it she’s feeling better then,” Chakotay said.

“The Doctor says she’s been responding very well to the treatment.”     “Good to hear, Harry.”     “Have you located anyone else from the crew?” the man named Harry said.     “As a matter of fact,” Chakotay said, looking Kathy in the eyes. “I’m sitting with Captain Janeway right now.     “What?!” Kathy said, bolting upright and nearly tripping over herself as she stepped back.     “Judging from what I just heard,” Harry’s voice said, “she doesn’t remember who she is.”

“She’s understandably skeptical,” Chakotay said. “How soon can you get back into transporter range?”     “We’ll need another day or so to finish repairs,” Harry said. “Quarren orbital defense gave us a bit of a beating after we got B’Elanna back. Nothing major, but neither the Doctor nor I think we should risk going back until we’re at 100%.”

“Good call,” Chakotay said, smiling. “I can see both of you making Captain once we get back to the Alpha Quadrant.”   

“I won’t tell the Doctor you said that,” Harry replied. “His ego’s big enough as it is.”     Chakotay laughed.     “Okay. Let’s maintain radio silence until I contact you. I’ve got an idea about shutting down the shield grid, but I want to make sure it’s plausible. Chakotay out.”     Kathy didn’t know why she let the conversation play out before she started yelling at Chakotay, but she was more ready to start ranting.     “What you’re saying is absurd,” she said. “Why did you call me Captain? Are you trying to tell me my memories have been messed with too? How can we possibly have served together, we’re not even the same species.”     “More than a hundred races make up the Federation,” Chakotay said. “Your oldest friend, Tuvok, is Vulcan.”     “Tuvok? The man who went nuts at the plant the other day?”     “You were there when his youngest child was born,” Chakotay said. “When he went missing seven years ago, before we met, you promised his wife you’d bring him home.”

“Helping you was a mistake,” Kathy said, angry at this man coming into her life, angry at herself for letting him in. She had a good job, a good partner; she didn’t need any of this confusion.     “Listen to me,” Chakotay said, standing up. “There are more than a hundred of Voyager’s crew working around the power plant. Your crew. When our ship gets here I’ll be able to prove it to you.”

“Go to hell,” Kathy said.     “Hand me that dermal regenerator,” Chakotay said. “Let me show you. I’m not Talaxian. I’m human like you. Our Doctor-”     “Gimme a break,” Kathy said, rolling her eyes.     “I can’t remove every change he made with just that,” Chakotay said. “But I can expose enough of my real face that you’ll see I’m telling truth.”     She didn’t believe him, but figured she could at least take out some of her frustration. “Will it hurt?”     “A little,” Chakotay said.     “Then let me do it,” Kathy said, holding the wound sealer, or dermal regenerator as he kept calling it, like a weapon. Chakotay pointed at his forehead.

“Start here,” he said. She did so, taking some pleasure in his wincing, not sure what she expected to happen, but she almost dropped the device when she saw his facial spots vanish, like a racial characteristic shouldn’t from just a healing device. More and more human-like features appeared on his face as she moved it over him.     She hated to admit it, but the evidence was staring her in the face. Literally,

“We’re the same species,” she said.     “We’re more than that,” Chakotay said. “We’re friends.”     “I… I need some air,” Kathy said.     Chakotay made no effort to stop her. A huge risk, seeing as she was tempted to call security as soon as she was in the hallway. Why she didn’t then she had no idea. She just walked to Jaffen’s apartment.     “I was starting to worry,” he said.     Kathy immediately, barely pausing to take a breath, told him everything that had happened after she left here the last time, in as much detail as she could remember, even an aside to Annika Hansen’s odd behavior at the plant.     “Am I hearing this correctly?” Jaffen said. “You’re actually helping this man?”

Kathy nodded.     “He abducted one of the workers,” he said.     “She’s a member of his crew,” Kathy said, not sure why she was so quick to defend him now when mere minutes ago she was ready to turn him in.     Am I starting to believe his story? she thought.     “Right, and you’re the Captain,” Jaffen said.     “No need to be so condescending,” Kathy replied.     “I don’t mean it like that. I bet you’d make a hell of a starship captain if you wanted to be one,” Jaffen said. “I mean that he’s trying to convince you that you’ll have a better life if you go with him. You’ve got a good job here. You have me. Why are you willing to risk-”     “Why would it be a risk?” Kathy said. “Are you saying that if he’s right and I am captain of a starship I can’t take you with me?”     That made Jaffen pause. He sat down.     “I’ve lived on ships before,” he said, much calmer now. “They’re cramped. Even the decent ones hardly have any good viewports to see the stars out of. The food was bland most of the time. I don’t want to go through that again. This Voyager would have to be one hell of a ship for me to even think about it.”

Kathy nodded. Jaffen was right. She had a good life here, and she was putting it on the line for a man who had already clearly lied to her, regardless of his reasons. Why should she risk her relationship and her freedom?     “What’s the name of the lead investigator in B’Elanna’s disappearance?” she said.     “Yerid,” Jaffen said.

---

    Chakotay paced Janeway’s now former apartment, wondering if she’d decided to call security. As much like herself as she seemed to be, she also seemed completely different; afraid of the burdens of command.     He heard the door open and he turned around, to see the detective from the bar, and two armed guards.     “Stay where you are,” the detective said. Chakotay went for his weapon, but he was too slow and was shot in the stomach. He doubled over in pain, a pain worse than the one from the shoulder wound.     He passed out.

---

    “I don’t know them,” Amal Kotay, or whatever his name was, said when Yerid showed him pictures of B’Elanna and the man identified as Neelix. After being treated for his injuries, and having most of his admittedly impressive alien prosthetics removed, Yerid began interrogating him as soon as was possible.

“I think you do,” Yerid said. “And I think you were involved in their disappearance.”

The female doctor scanning Amal Kotay’s body touched Yerid’s shoulder. “I found some kind of communications device embedded in his hand,” she said.     “Remove it,” Yerid said.     “Listen to me,” Amal Kotay said. “You and I have one thing in common.”     “What’s that?” Yerid said, in a mocking tone of voice, wondering what story this suspect was going to spin.     “We’re both investigating disappearances,” Amal said. “If you answer my questions, I’ll answer yours.”     Yerod thought about it for a second, and decided it couldn’t hurt. Even if this man was lying to him entirely, he could still learn useful information from that.     “Okay,” he said, but before Amal could say anything another doctor walked in, flanked by two armed guards.     “I have an order to transfer this patient to Division 6,” he said.     “Division 6?” Yerid said. The second doctor handed the first one a data pad.     “Neuropathology,” she said, sounding as confused as Yerid felt. He didn’t like anyone interfering with an investigation, and this was blatant interference.

“We have reason to believe he’s mentally ill,” the second doctor said.     “”How could they know that?” Amal said, looking at Yerid. “They’ve never examined me.”     “My suspect raises a very good point,” Yerid said, standing up and crossing his arms. “I’m going with him.”     “I’m sorry sir,” the second doctor said. “but my orders are to bring him for immediate treatment.”

“This man is a suspect in a serious crime,” Yerid said, though his instinct was telling him that Amal Kotay might actually be one of the more trustworthy people in this room at the moment. “I’m not letting him out of my sight.”     “If you check the order you’ll see it’s been approved by the Director of Investigations,” the other doctor said.     My own boss is going along with this? Yerid thought. That can’t be right.

“Let me see that, Doctor…”     “Ravoc, sir.”

Yerid took the data pad and looked over it very carefully, and sighed.     “My real name is Chakotay,” the suspect started saying, talking fast as the guards started wheeling his bed out the door. “I’m an officer aboard the Federation starship Voyager. Members of my crew were abducted and their memories were altered and they were put to work here. I can give you names, descriptions-” The door closed, cutting off the rest of what he was going to say.     “That poor man,” the doctor said. Yerid looked at her.     “Yes, but I don’t think he’s lying. Something’s not right here, and I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

---

Back in ECH mode, the Doctor sat at Captain Janeway’s desk in her ready room, while Harry stood across from him.     “I’ve been analyzing the sensor data we recorded about the Quarren ships that attacked us,” he said handing Harry a PADD, “and I think I’ve devised a way to evade their sensors.”

“I’ll implement this plan right away, Sir,” Harry said.     “Sir,” The Doctor repeated. “I think that’s the first time you’ve called me ‘Sir’ since the ECH program was activated. Not sure how I feel about it.”     “You’ve earned it,” Harry said.     “Well, all the same, once we have the crew back it’ll be nice to go back to just being the EMH for awhile. Not that I dislike being in command, mind you…”     “That chair does have a certain appeal to it,” Harry said, smiling.     The Doctor opened his mouth to agree, but the sound of a comm channel opening interrupted him. He and Harry went over to the console on Janeway’s desk. It was Chakotay hailing them, but the signal was weak.     “We’re receiving you sir, go ahead,” Harry said.     “I’m having trouble with my transceiver,” Chakotay said. “This may be the last chance we have to talk.”     Something seemed off in the Commander’s voice. The Doctor looked at Harry, wondering if he picked up on it too, but he didn’t seem to.     “What’s your status?” Harry said.     “I’m almost ready to shut down the shield grid. I’m sending you encrypted instructions. They’ll tell you when and where to enter orbit.”     “We have it, Commander,” Harry said.     “Chakotay, out.” ---

Once the communication line was broken, Kadan had Chakotay put back under sedation.     “Well,” Doctor Kadan said, “now you know where to find Voyager.”     “I’ll have three ships with me,” another alien in the room said. “They won’t get away this time.”     “They’d better not. You should’ve been able to capture their ship last time.”

“If you’d done your job right the first time,” the power plant’s supervisor said, standing on the other side of Chakotay, “we wouldn’t have a problem now.”     “How was I supposed to know their hologram could handle a firefight? Or that they had people off-ship?” the alien captain said, storming off.     As he left, Doctor Ravoc came in, and Kadan inwardly swore. This young man was asking too many questions. He’d hate to have to rewrite his memories too.     “Aren’t there patients you should be taking care of, Ravoc?” Kadan said.     “Uh, yes, sir,” Ravoc said. “But I’ve been thinking, this is the second person we’ve admitted with Dysphoria Syndrome this week, and both worked at the power plant. Witnesses say that this man had no contact with Tuvok, our other patient. Maybe we should issue a health alert-”     “Do you think I’m incompetent?” Kadan said.     “Sir?” Ravoc said, clearly thrown off by Kadan’s sudden anger, which was the goal all along.     “This man,” Kadan said, motioning towards the supervisor. “is in charge of personnel at the power facility. I’ve informed him of the situation.”     “I’ve already taken steps to ensure the safety of the rest of my employees,” the supervisor said.     “I’m sorry to have bothered you,” Ravoc said, looking down.     “No need to apologize,” Kadan said. “You concern for your patients is admirable, but don’t worry. This man is already responding to treatment.”     Ravoc nodded. Kadan could tell though that he still had doubts, but as long as he didn’t ask any questions, he could put off anything more drastic to keep him quiet.

---

    Annika looked around, feeling nervous. At least she’d had the foresight to tell Samantha where she was going, if not why. She didn’t want to worry Sam if she didn’t have to.

    Investigator Yerid sat across from her at the table in the bar.     “Why would this Tuvok be collecting information about his co-workers?” he asked.

    “I don’t know,” Annika said. “But one of the names on that list is B’Elanna Torres; the woman who went missing. They both began working at the plant on the same day, along with over fifty others, also on that list. Over 120 names in total, all arriving on the planet the same day, and being hired within the same week. Myself included.”     Yerid’s facial expression gave it away; he had as many questions about this as she had, if not more. Her initial instinct to trust him with this seemed to be the correct one.     “More than a hundred skilled employees, most of them of the same species, arriving all at once? Could be a coincidence, but…”     “But it happening during a labor shortage?” Annika said.     “Exactly what I was thinking.”     “You’ll also note that every single name on the list passed through the central hospital. Now, it is routine for new arrivals to be examined by quarantine control, but as you can see here, they were processed through-”     “Division 6,” Yerid said.     “Every single one of them.”     “Something is going on,” Yerid said. “And Division 6 is at the center of it.”

    “What do you mean?”     “Had a run in with one of their people yesterday. Took my suspect away from me before I had a chance to do a real interrogation.”

    “What’s more,” Annika said, “even though the records show I came through neuropathology, I have no memory of being there. Neither do my wife, or my daughter.”     Yerid looked around, as though he were as afraid he was being watched as she had been. “What do you expect me to do?”     “You can start by interviewing Mister Tuvok.”

    “I want to,” Yerid said, sighing. “But I can’t.”     “Why not?”

    “I’ve been taken off the case. Happened at the same time Division 6 took Chakotay out of my custody. ‘Relieved of duty’ were my superior’s exact words.”

    “Yerid, there you are,” the bartender, Tom Paris, said, coming up to their table, looking worried. “Have you found anything about B’Elanna?”     “He’s been relieved of duty,” Annika said.     “Oh,” Tom said, looking defeated.     “This man is also in Tuvok’s file,” Annika said, looking at Yerid again.     “What file?” Tom said     “Why don’t you tell him?” Annika said.     “Tell me what?” Tom said, sounding more and more agitated.     “I can’t go back to the hospital and start asking questions,” Yerid said. “I’d be reported. But maybe you could.”

    “Me?” Annika said. “You’re the detective.”     “And that’s what I’m known as around here,” Yerid said. “And that puts me at a disadvantage in a situation like this.”     “Could someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Tom said.     Annika had Tom sit down, and she explained to him everything she knew. Tom seemed to take it all in stride.     “The first time I saw her,” Tom said, “B’Elanna I mean, I felt like I already knew her. If what you’re saying is true, is it possible that I did? What do they do in neuropathology anyway?”     “Treat mental illnesses,” Yerid said. “Or at least that’s the official story.”

---

    Later that day, after further conversation and planning with Tom and Yerid, Annika went to the hospital. She presented herself as having concerns about her health, and a secretary directed her to the office of a Doctor Ravoc.     “What seems to be the problem, Miss Hansen?” he said, sitting down behind his desk.     “Recently, I’ve been…” she said, her practiced concern sounding to her ears as good as she’d hoped.     “I’m a doctor, you can trust me,” Ravoc said. “What seems to be the problem?”

    “I’ve been experiencing some disturbing thoughts,” Annika said. “I don’t believe it’s anything serious, but I would like to speak with someone.”

    “Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Ravoc said. “Let me look up your file.”     She gave him her employee number from the power plant, and her file appeared on the screen behind Ravoc, who turned around to look at it.     “Ah, you have been a patient here before,” he said.     “Yes, when I first arrived.”     Ravoc turned back to look at her, seeming equal parts confused and concerned. “You were treated for Dysphoria Syndrome?”     “I have no recollection of that,” Annika said, which was completely true. She’d never even heard of such an illness.     “These disturbing thoughts you mentioned,” Ravoc said, “would you characterize them as hallucinations?”

    Annika almost flinched. This was getting uncomfortable. But she had to see this through.     “What’s the cause of this syndrome?” she said.     “We’re conducting studies to determine that,” Ravoc said. “Fortunately, we have one of the foremost experts on the condition working here.”     “I’d like to speak with this expert,” Annika said.     “Well, Dr. Kadan’s very busy-”

    “As am I,” Annika said. “Perhaps I should return when he is free.”

    She got up to leave, but Ravoc put up a hand to stop her. “Wait here,” he said. “I’ll find him.” He got up to leave himself, leaving Annika alone in his office while he went to look for this Kadan he’d mentioned.     As soon as the door closed, Annika went to the console he’d been using, and started looking up more information.

---

    Kathy stared out the window towards the river, while Jaffen cooked dinner. The door chime alerting them that someone was outside distracted her from her thoughts. Despite herself, she couldn't help thinking about what Chakotay had said about her being a starship Captain.     She went to open the door.     “I’m Yerid, with Criminal Investigations,” the man outside said.     “Yes,” Kathy said. “I remember you from when that Torres girl went missing.”     She felt Jaffen’s hand on her waist.     “Inspector, come in. Is there anything we can help you with?”

    Yerid kept looking at her, and back at the data pad in his hand.     “You’re Kathryn Janeway, correct?”     “Yes,” Kathy said.     “Do you know this man?” he tapped a few buttons on the pad then showed it to her. An image of an unconscious Chakotay was on it now, more of his disguise removed. He looked more human than ever now.     “No,” Kathy said, not sure why she lied, but knowing she was in too deep to start now.     “I thought maybe you’d met him.”     “Why?” she said.     “He was found in your former living quarters in possession of a wound sealer that you removed from the power plant.”

    “I was the one who helped him,” Jaffen said. Kathy appreciated him trying to cover for her, but she stepped up. She’d been caught in the lie, she had to own it.     “He said he was from a starship,” she said, as she took Jaffen’s arm in her own. “And that members of his crew had been abducted.”     “He was obviously lying,” Jaffen said.     “Maybe not,” Yerid said. “I want to know everything he told you.”     “Hold on,” Jaffen said, “why would you believe-”     “I have my reasons,” Yerid said.     Kathy had a bad feeling about all of this. If the very man who’d arrested Chakotay was leaning toward believing him, what did that say about her refusal to believe it?

---

    “How could she just walk out?” Kadan yelled, slamming a fist on Ravoc’s desk.     “She was a voluntary patient,” Ravoc said, understanding where this anger was coming from. “There was no reason for Security to stop her.” Ravoc went over to the console that Annika Hansen had hacked into. “She accessed 64 restricted files. All of them for people diagnosed with Dysphoria Syndrome.”

    Ravoc looked deeper into the files.     “According to the records all these patients arrived on the same day,” he said. He suddenly realized that Kadan was slowly moving towards him, as if getting ready to ambush him.     “You’re listed as attending physician in every case,“ Ravoc said. “If there was an outbreak, how didn’t I hear about it?”     “Does it matter? I treated them all, and they were all discharged.”     “It says they were all discharged to the main power facility,” Ravoc said, continuing to face the monitor and hoping Kadan couldn’t see his nervousness. Something was going on that he didn’t know about, and his superior was involved. That scared him. “That supervisor you were talking to yesterday, that’s where he worked.”     “I explained that to you,” Kadan said. “I was informing him of a potential health threat.”     “That man you had me transfer out of Criminal Investigation,” Ravoc said, pulling up another file, “he claimed that his friends had been abducted, had their memories altered, and were put to work.”     “What are you implying?” Kadan said, defensively. Ravoc’s suspicions were being confirmed as he was forming them.     Ravoc knew that Kadan didn’t have a weapon, so he took a deep breath and tried not to look worried.     “You’re making false diagnoses,” he said, “selectively changing what people remember so they think they came here willingly to pick up work during our labor shortage.”     Kadan’s face betrayed his mixed emotions. He looked almost as proud as he did angry.

    “Very good, Doctor Ravoc,” he said. “But a more gifted physician would be able to see this in the larger context.”     “What context could possibly make brainwashing people acceptable? Including,” Ravoc glanced back at his console. “Two children?”     “The real public health threat on Quarra isn’t Dysphoria Syndrome. You’ve already figured out we made that up. The threat is the labor shortage. The only cure? More skilled workers.”     “We’re doctors,” Ravoc said. “We help patients, not break them. What you’re doing, it’s wrong. I don’t care about your reasons.”     “We’re helping them lead happy, productive lives,” Kadan said.     “By altering their memories?”     “The treatment I provide improves their lives,” Kadan said. Ravoc could tell he was being pitched to. Kadan wanted to bring him in on this conspiracy. He wondered if he should reject it outright, or pretend to go along to try and bring it down from the inside. “And makes them better workers. In turn, our economy improves.”     “You’re profiting from this, aren’t you?” Ravoc asked.     “Doesn’t a physician deserve to be compensated for his services?”     “Obviously I don’t think doctors should live in poverty,” Ravoc said, thinking of his own above-average sized apartment in the outskirts of the city. “But getting rich off of messing with people’s heads? Lying about diseases? I’ll report you.”     “To whom?” Kadan said. “My research is funded by the Ministry of Health.”

    “Criminal Investigations then.”     “The department whose director signed the order transferring Mister Chakotay, or Amal Kotay, or whatever name he uses, to our hospital,” Kadan said.

    “Am I the only one who didn’t know about this?” Ravoc said.     “No,” Kadan said. “But I think it best for everyone that I not tell you how many people are involved in total. In case you get any ideas about exposing us. You never know who you might be trying to expose this to.”

---

    “She’s considered dangerous,” one of two Quarren guards said, showing an image of Annika Hansen to Tom Paris.     “She’s never been in here,” Tom said as he went about the work of closing the bar for the night.     “You’re sure?” The other guard said.     “I think I’d remember meeting a cyborg,” Tom said.     “If you do see her, report it immediately,” the first guard said. “She needs to be hospitalized.”     “I’ll let you know if I do,” Tom said, closing and locking the door behind the guards as they left.     “It’s safe now,” Tom said. Annika, Kathy Janeway, Jaffen, and Yerid all came out from the back room into the dimly lit bar.     “Thank you,” Annika said.

    “Well if you really wanna thank me,” Tom said as everyone started taking seats around a table, “you can tell me what’s going on.”

    “It appears this Chakotay was telling the truth,” Annika said.     “So, everyone at the plant has had their memories altered?” Jaffen said.     “I do not believe so,” Annika said. “Not every arrival since the labor shortage began has been through Division 6.”     “Well, that’s something at least,” Jaffen said. “I’d hate to think that I was secretly a father of three or something like that.”     “You’re Norvalian, remember?” Kathy said, playfully poking Jaffen in the arm.

    “Am I really?” Jaffen said with a smirk.     “Can you do that some other time, please?” Yerid said, sounding annoyed.     “Your name was not in Dr. Kadan’s files,” Anika said to Jaffen. “You are likely exactly who you believe you are.     “Shouldn’t we report this to the authorities?” Tom said, surprised at himself for taking this new information in stride. You’d think this wasn’t my first time having my memories messed with, he thought.     “I’d need more evidence before making any accusations,” Yerid said. “And seeing as the director of CI is likely in on it, that means I’d need to know who I can trust before making any accusations.”

    “Chakotay said he had more proof of my real identity,” Kathy said. “Aboard a ship called Voyager.”

    “How do we locate it?” Annika said.     “When they contacted him,” Kathy said, “they were using... What was it? A triaxilating frequency on a covariant subspace band?”     “Are those real words?” Tom said.     “Ssh,” Yerid said.     “There’s a subspace transponder at the power plant,” Annika said.     “Kathy and I aren’t on the run,” Jaffen said. “We should go. Annika, what about your wife? Does she know what’s going on?”     Annika sighed, and lowered her head. “I didn’t get the chance to tell her anything before I left for work this morning. She must be scared.”     “Don’t try to contact her,” Yerid said. “The guards will be watching your place. And if there’s a big conspiracy going on I wouldn’t put it past whoever’s involved to try to use them as leverage against you.”

    “Perhaps,” Annika said, “if I were to return to the hospital with you, in your custody, we can use that as an opportunity to help Chakotay and Tuvok.”     “Could work,” Tom said. “No one’s been asking around about Yerid. Far as anyone involved knows he’s holed up in his apartment complaining about being taken off an important case.”     Yerid nodded.     “I’ll go with you two,” Tom said to Jaffen and Kathy. “I don’t know how much I can help, but it’s better than sitting around and waiting.” ---

    Annika listened closely while pretending to be unconscious as Yerid spoke to Doctor Kadan.

    “I had to sedate her,” Yerid said. “She wouldn’t come voluntarily.”     “Her condition has obviously worsened,” Kadan said, scanning Annika. “I’ll treat her right away.     “There are some other patients I’d like to interview, Yerid said.     “These people can’t be disturbed,” Kadan said. Annika heard the sound of Yerid pulling his sidearm from his holster. Annika partially opened one eye, and saw Kadan going for something on the wall by him, presumably an alarm of some kind. She bolted up and grabbed his arm.     “I suggest you comply,” she said.

---

    Kathy wondered just how Jaffen had learned how to break into secure buildings so easily as the door to the power plant opened.     “Be careful,” he said, staying just outside to stand watch. She gently touched his shoulder as she went in, Tom Paris close behind her. The two of them made their way to the supervisor’s office, Tom staying outside that door to provide additional cover, and began manipulating the controls, trying to contact Voyager.

    The screen changed, and she saw what looked like a large room. She saw Neelix, and another human, fairly clearly despite some minor static.     “Captain?” the human said, and she recognized his voice as the one Chakotay called Harry.     “So I’m told,” Kathy said. “Just, call me Kathy for now.”     There was a brief pause.     “Yeah, I’m not doing that,” Harry said. “Where’s the Commander?”     “Chakotay’s been hospitalized. He told me you had proof of who some of us really are.”     “We do,” a woman’s voice said, and the missing pregnant woman, now wearing a uniform like Harry’s stepped into view.

    “You’re the woman who was abducted,” Kathy muttered.     “Chakotay was supposed to deactivate the shield grid,” B’Elanna Torres said. “So we can transport you and the others to safety. If you could find a way to shut down main power, the shield grid will go down too.”     “Will you help us?” Harry said.     Before she could answer the image on the screen shook, and the lights on Voyager's bridge dimmed.     “We’re under attack,” a voice from off-screen said. “Three ships. Not Quarren ones this time. They’re the same ships that planted the subspace mines.”     “Please,” Harry said to Kathy. “Shut down the shield g-” The signal cut out.     Tom slid into the supervisor’s office.     “We got company,” he said. Kathy looked and saw the supervisor, followed by two armed guards coming towards them from one direction, and a lone, but much larger guard coming down another.     “Either your boyfriend sold us out,” Tom said, “or he’d triggered an alarm and didn't realize it.”     “Stay where you are,” the large man said, not seeing Jaffen come up behind him and zap him in the neck with the same tool he’d used to open the door.     “Stop!” the supervisor yelled as Jaffen grabbed the fallen guard’s weapon and fired towards them, hitting one guard, and sending the other guard and the supervisor scattering for cover.”

“I saw them coming,” Jaffen said, “so I let them slip past so I could get the drop on them. I’ve never been a combat guy, so they ought to be embarrassed with themselves for letting me get away with that.”     Kathy gave Jaffen a big kiss, and took his hand and headed for the door. She didn’t need to tell Tom to follow.

---

    “So much for evading their sensors,” Harry said.     “We should’ve asked exactly when Chakotay was hospitalized,” The Doctor said from tactical. “This was probably a trap. If they knew exactly where we’d be…”

    He didn’t need to finish the thought. Harry realized he was probably right. The ship shuddered after another volley from the ships attacking them.     “Transporters are off-line,” B’Elanna said.     “Of course they are,” Harry said.

---

    Annika, Yerid, and Kadan, the latter with Yerid’s gun pressed into his back, entered the room where two nurses worked on Chakotay and Tuvok, one each.     “Tell them to give us some privacy,” Yerid said quietly.     “You’re dismissed,” Kadan said to the nurses. If they had any questions, they kept it to themselves as they walked out.

    “Disconnect them,” Yerid said to Kadan.     Annika saw a third occupied bed, and a man with the same technology over his head as Tuvok and Chakotay.     “Doctor Ravoc? What is this man doing here?”     “Dysphoria Syndrome,” Kadan said, casually, as he disconnected Chakotay.

---

    “We’re losing shields,” Neelix said after another volley. So far firing back had done nothing, the enemy ships having learned from their first encounter with Voyager what her phasers were capable of. They weren’t getting in as many shots as they could’ve, but the trade off had worked for them, unfortunately.     “Any ideas from your tactical database?” Harry said.     “Nothing that would help us in this situation,” The Doctor said.     The same ships that took the crew… Harry thought.     “How many escape pods do we have left?” he said.     “Five,” B’Elanna said.     “Prepare to eject three,” Harry said.     “I don’t think abandoning ship is a good idea,” The Doctor said.

“Neither do I. Can you create a dampening field around the briefing room to mask our life signs?”     “I believe so. Why? Oh, wait. I see. Very clever, Lieutenant.”     “Thanks, Doc. B’Elanna, Neelix, follow me to the briefing room. Doc, once the pods are launched, put up the dampening field.”     “And then detonate the explosives that will be in the escape pods,” The Doctor said, smiling.  

---

As the pods being launched were the ones closest to the bridge, it didn’t take long for Harry and the others to rig them. As they worked, The Doctor picked up signs that the Quarren shield grid had gone down. That was one less thing to worry about.     Once the door to the briefing room closed, The Doctor jettisoned the pods and activated the dampening field. Within seconds the pursuing ships had grabbed them in their tractor beams, one pod per ship, just as hoped.     The Doctor saw he was being hailed, and he sat in the Captain’s Chair before answering the hail, smiling.

“Well, hologram,” the captain of the hailing ship said. It was, in fact, the same man who The Doctor had beaten before and who had abducted his crewmates. “Your crew has abandoned you again. I suggest you surrender your vessel.”     “You should realize by now that I’m not programmed to do that,” The Doctor said, tapping a button on the chair’s arm. The viewscreen switched back to a view of the attacking ships. The Doctor pushed another button, and the escape pods exploded, the shockwave knocking them back, and disabling the tractor beams in the process. He worried for a moment they might start attacking again, but instead, as the ship’s righted themselves, they turned and warped away.     “Looks like the Quarrens are going to be in the market for new pirates,” The Doctor said, smiling, then realizing that no one was around to hear his one-liner. The door to the briefing room opened, and Harry, Neelix, and B’Elanna filed out.     “B’Elanna, we’ll be needing those transporters,” The Doctor said.     “On it,” B’Elanna said.

---

"ECH log, supplemental. All the crew have been transported back to Voyager, and thanks to my experience with Lieutenant Torres, their treatment is proceeding rapidly. While they're recovering, I still have a few command duties left to perform."

“If it weren’t for your efforts,” the Quarren Ambassador said to Yerid as the two of them sat across from The Doctor, Neelix, and Harry Kim, “this whole conspiracy might never have been uncovered.”

“I’m just glad it wasn’t as many people as I feared,” Yerid said.     The Doctor suppressed the urge to point out that had the conspiracy been that large it would’ve been statistically impossible to keep it a secret for as long as it had been.     “What’ll happen to the workers?” Harry asked.

“Well,” the Ambassador said, “we’ve identified several thousand of Kadan’s patients. Once treated, they’ll be repatriated. Thank you for sharing your notes with us, Doctor.”

“No thanks necessary,” The Doctor said. “It was the right thing to do.”     “I apologize once more on behalf of my government,” the Ambassador said. “But if you’ll excuse us, there are some of Kadan’s co-conspirators currently in hiding, and I imagine Investigator Yerid here would very much like to get to work on catching them.     “Gentlemen,” Neelix said, “I can escort you to the transporter room.”

---

    “There is something I do not understand,” Icheb said, as he stepped into his alcove.     “Just one?” Samantha said as she was helping put Naomi to bed.     Seven chuckled.     “Go ahead, Icheb,” she said.     “Why was your marriage to Ensign Wildman left in place,” Icheb said, “but not that of Lieutenants Paris and Torres?”     The cargo bay got quiet. Seven and Samantha looked at each other, the “I don’t know, do you?” unspoken between them.     “Does it really matter?” Naomi said.     “Well, no,” Seven said.     “But now I really wanna know,” Sam said. “This is gonna drive me nuts, isn’t it?”

    “We may never know the reasoning,” Seven said, “but perhaps you would settle for plausible possibility?”     “Sure. You have one?”     “I’ll let you know when I do,” Seven said.

---

Janeway felt both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time in her uniform. Her old memories had been restored, but the new ones were still there too. At least this time she wasn’t getting PTSD out of the deal, but the mixed emotions were still unpleasant.     She was walking around her quarters, re-familiarizing herself with all her belongings, when the door to her quarters opened. Jaffen walked in, a Starflet security guard behind him.     “You can wait outside,” Janeway said to the guard.     “Yes ma’am,” he said.     “I can see why you’d rather live here,” Jaffen said.     “I’d offer you a position,” Janeway said. “We could always use another skilled engineer. But as a Captain, it wouldn’t really be appropriate for me to fraternize with another member of the crew.”

“Well, that’s understandable. At least my memories weren’t tampered with. Annika, or I guess I should call her Seven, was right. I really did come to Quarra looking for a better life. And since I’ve been offered a promotion, I guess I found it.”     “Promotion?”     “They had to replace our shift supervisor,” Jaffen said. “Something about acquiring shift workers illegally.”

Janeway chuckled. “Well, you’ve earned it.” Jaffen nodded. “So, I guess I should take it. I mean, unless…”   

“Well,” Janeway said, moving closer to Jaffen. “I did say it’s inappropriate for a Captain to fraternize with a member of her crew.”     “But?”     “But we’re 30,000 light years from home,” Janeway said “If Starfleet doesn’t like it they can’t exactly fire me.”

Jaffen smiled. “I was hoping you’d say something like that.”

Captain Janeway and Jaffen embraced, and didn’t stop for a good long while.