#or try to decrypt what the other person was thinking because I don't know what they know or don't know

[homiro]

[Picture ID: Screenshot of a Twitter post that is a quote tweet of a post by U.S. American user Representative Seth Moulton about railways in China comparing 2008 and 2020 where there are a lot more in 2020, that reads 'If China can do it, so can we. Let's build hashtag High Speed Rail nationwide. And the quote by user BoringStein reads 'I mean, look, I obviously want this but fundamentally, no we can't. The last forty-five years of legislative and regulatory shit-flinging has been with the explicit intent to make something like a new deal level public works program impossible. End ID]

American doomerism needs to be studied

[queen-of-deans-booty]

The Werther Project: Part One

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.5k

Warnings: canon angst and violence, extra angst

Summary: Dean's worst fears come to light when he and Sam mess with something that shouldn't have been messed with in the first place.

Season Ten Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. I love seeing any and all comments <3

x

For the past week, Dean has been trying to practice using your magic. You haven't come back to the Bunker since you left the cabin in Des Moines, and he doesn't really care. You're not here which means he gets to practice without you knowing he has your magic. The best place to do that is in the backyard you made. No one is around to enjoy it so it's become a breeding ground for magic.

Dean looks around the destroyed backyard with a sigh. The basketball net is shredded, Sam's garden looks like a car ran right through it, and the wooden gazebo is in pieces on the ground. If Dean continues this way, he will destroy everything else. Dean creates a ball of blue magic between his hands and tries to hold it but it shoots out of his hand and to the ground. Instead of the ground absorbing it, it bounces back and hits him square in the face.

"Fuck!"

"I take it it's not going well?" Sam asks.

"I don't know how Y/N did this. It's so damn hard!"

Dean conjures a ball of magic again and tries to lift Maryann's playset up but all it does is explode next to the swings, causing bits of hard plastic to go everywhere.

"Great," Dean scoffs.

"Have you tried reading the journals and books about the Sapphire Witch?"

"Yeah, I did. Multiple times. It's completely useless because I don't understand how easily it came to them. God, I wish Y/N was here to help me," he sighs sadly.

"Well, I got a lead on the book." When Sam told Dean he didn't destroy the book, he was pissed but it's the only thing that is going to help you so he's grateful that it's still here. "I'm going to talk to Rowena. She might be able to help."

"I don't like bringing this to her."

"The only other person who can decode it is Y/N but she'll destroy it. So, Rowena is my plan."

"Just go," Dean sighs. "I'll try not to destroy much else."

When Dean is alone again, he thinks back to some of your most magical times, one of them being this backyard. Magic looks easy when you're the one who was doing it. If you can create twelve of you to fight Cas then he can do a simple levitation spell. He doesn't need to be an expert on this, just enough to take you down. He takes a deep breath and tries again.

Rowena agrees to meet Sam at a restaurant only because she wants something. Sam gets there first and takes a seat in the back. Rowena strolls in moments later all doled up like she's going someplace fancy.

"Samuel," she grins and sits across from him.

"Rowena. I know you know we have the book."

"Yes, I do, but my help does not come for free."

"As I suspected. What do you want?"

"There's only one thing you could possibly do for me that I can't, at least presently, do for myself. Kill my son. He's expecting it from me. He already has his stinking minions on high alert. If you're wondering how a mother can get to the point of wanting her own son--"

"No, I'm really not," Sam cuts her off. "I'll do it. I'll kill Crowley. First things first, can you read the book?

"Of course I can. Besides the Scarlet Witch, I'm likely the only witch alive who can understand such old, dark magic. Just not in its present form. Allowing me to look at this book is bold even for you. I'm your mortal enemy. I've tried to kill you, your witch, and your brother as recently as last month. You wouldn't have come to me if I wasn't your last resort. You're desperate. You can stop pretending you're not. Now, I can't read the book in its present form, but there is someone who could. Nadya. Grand Coven witch."

"Where do I find her?"

"You don't. She's dead. Long ago. Murdered for her life's work. Her decryption formulas and her codex are what you can find. Bring me Nadya's codex, and I'll break this text right open and give you your cure."

"Where do I look?"

"If I were you, I'd start at home. Who do you think murdered Nadya and stole the codex in the first place?"

"The Men of Letters. I'll be in touch."

Sam heads back to the Bunker only to find Dean asleep in his room. You're still nowhere to be found but he can't care about that. He knows how hard this has been for Dean so he has to find this cure as fast as he can. You're his best friend. He'd do anything for you. Plus, the longer you go without your soul, the more it's going to hurt when you finally do get it back. Sam finds a bunch of stuff in the storage room that he moves into the library. Inside one of the boxes is an audio tape reel. He doesn't want to wake Dean so he plugs headphones in and listens to it.

"Please, let's come to order. Men of Letters meeting minutes--May 16, 1956. On the matter of Cuthbert Sinclair's expulsion."

"This is hardly your first offense, Cuthbert. You've been cited for disciplinary infractions seven times in the course of your tenure. This enchanted vault of yours, this Werther box has a warding so potent it achieves a theoretical rate of, in your own words, ninety-eight percent lethality."

"Extreme measures were warranted. The Coven is desperate to get the codex back. The Werther box works," Cuthbert explains.

"All too well, I'd say. Working in secret, embarking on this project without oversight left two fellow Men of Letters vulnerable to your most potent magics. Fletcher and Martinez were members in good standing. Fletcher chanced upon the box and died in two hours. Martinez heroically tried to shut it down. We found him dead on the floor beside the box, his wrists cut," Markham says.

"I already apologized for that accident. I refuse to do so again. Why are you all so small-minded? Hmm? We were brought here to do great things, to take risks, and to bring the fight to the monsters of this world. Yet, to a man, you choose instead to molder in these stacks. You are not men. You are NOT men. You're librarians, nothing more."

"Before we rule on what is to be done with you, I'm prepared to give you a chance to secure our leniency. Tell us how to shut it down. The box is still in St. Louis with the codex. It's still a danger."

"Let me tell you what you can do with your leniency, Markham. You know, I saw the writing on the wall. I knew you cowards would shut this project down, which is why I built it the way I did. There is only one way to silence the Werther for good. Let's just say Martinez was on the right track. I doubt you lot have the guts but you're welcome to die trying."

A door slamming sounds and Sam can only imagine Cuthbert left the room.

"Markham, would you have us keep trying?" another man asks.

"The box is to be interred and guarded where it stands, in perpetuity. Bury it."

Sam turns off the tape and looks through the records where he finds the Men of Letters headquarters in St. Louis. He takes out his phone and calls Rowena. It takes three rings but she eventually answers it.

"I was in the middle of taking my nap, Samuel. I'm over three hundred years old. Beauty sleep isn't optional."

"I've been looking into the thing we discussed. I got a lead, but it's guarded by a violent enchantment. I need a spell to break the spell."

"The Cabirian invocation. Easy to obtain. Good all-purpose disenchantment."

"Great. Thanks."

Sam is about to hang up but Rowena speaks again.

"It's not recommended for amateurs. In inexperienced hands, the invocation has a way of fizzling out. I could come. You might need me."

"I'll take my chances. Thanks," Sam says and hangs up.

"What are you taking your chances on?" Dean asks when he walks into the library.

"I got a lead on the codex. Are you up for it?"

"Give me ten."

Sam and Dean travel to St. Louis and pull up to a run-down-looking house. The white paint is chipping on the outside of the house, the yard is overgrown with weeds, and there are piles of newspapers sitting on the front porch.

"So, you want to do this or shall I?"

"Wait here."

Sam gets out of the can and walks up the porch steps, careful for the one step that's bowing in. He doesn't think anyone is living in this place so he doesn't bother knocking. He tries to look into the window on the door but there is a curtain closed so he can't see much. He takes out his lock pick and tries to use it but the barrel of a gun comes out of the letter box and whoever is on the other side is pointing it at his pelvis.

"Bad idea."

"Whoa! I can explain!"

"Yeah, don't bother. You have three choices: get arrested, get your bits blown off, or get back."

"I think I'll get back."

"Attaboy."

He walks back to the car and looks at Dean with wide eyes.

"Yeah, she threatened to shoot me in the dick."

"Really?" Dean chuckles.

"Dude."

"Alright. From what I gathered from Google, this family moves into this long-vacant house. One week later, three of them were dead at their own hands. The whole family was wiped out except for the daughter, Suzie, whose house is still under her name. I'm figuring she's the one who nearly unmanned you back there."

"Yeah, well, this long-vacant home used to be a Men of Letters chapter house. Remember Magnus?"

"You mean the dickwad ex-Men of Letters that tried to make a zoo exhibit out of me and YN? Yeah."

"Before he was expelled, he built Werther, a magical box with a deadly alarm system. Werther is buried somewhere in this house. It was supposed to have been guarded, but I'm guessing that plan went out the window when Abaddon massacred the entire membership in '58. The house stayed in limbo until some lucky family bought it. Werther's a time bomb and it needs to be defused. Not only is this in our wheelhouse, it's our responsibility."

"Our responsibility?"

"We're Men of Letters. It's our legacy."

"Alright. Different plan. She's only seen you. You sneak in the back and find it while I distract her. Think you can manage that?"

"Yeah," Sam rolls his eyes.

Dean walks up the porch steps to the front door and knocks while Sam runs to the back without being seen. He looks down at the letterbox, remembers what Sam said, and covers his dick with his hands as if that will stop a bullet. The door opens and a woman steps out with a gun pointed right at Dean.

"What did I say?" Dean squeaks when he sees the gun and looks at her with wide eyes. She frowns when she sees it's not Sam and looks around. "You're not.... Fella tried to.... What do you want?"

Shit, say something. Anything. Anything will do. Just say words.

"You saw him? Oh, tell me you did. I'm sorry, but my name is Dwight Twilley. I'm with the neighborhood watch. We're looking into a few recent break-ins, and if you saw the guy it would be mighty helpful if you gave a description. If I could--if I could just have a minute of your time?"

Dean steps into her home and squeaks out the word "time" but clears his throat to keep his composure. She looks around and closes the door before joining Dean in the living room.

"Tall, white fella. Pretty hair."

"Right. It's a nice house you have here, uh..."

"Suzie."

"Suzie. Do you live here alone?"

"Just me and Gus."

"Gus?" Suzie raises her gun in response. The kettle begins whistling in the kitchen so Suzie walks over to it with Dean following her. "So, all alone in this big house, huh? Must get lonely even with Gus."

"Yeah, well I'm used to alone."

She pours herself two cups and puts two tea bags in them. She offers a cup to Dean but he shakes his head politely. With her back turned to him, Dean looks at the back door and sees Sam trying to break into the basement door. If he's going to hide something as big as a Werther box, it'll be in the basement. He gets the lock open and gives a thumbs up to Dean.

"No, thank you."

"Been alone here since, uh, '80? After my family died, my Aunt Pauline moved in. She took care of me and raised me for a few years."

Dean hears something move in the basement and he coughs loudly to cover up the noise.

"So, what happened to your aunt?"

"I told her not to go in the basement. No one goes in the basement."

"What's in the basement, Suzie?" She looks out the window with tears in her eyes. She turns back to the kitchen counter and grabs a knife. "Ma'am you okay?"

She immediately turns and points her gun at Dean who backs up in fear.

"Oh! Whoa! Suzie!"

"My social skills may be rusty but I'm no idiot. The doorbell hasn't rung in months, and two visitors in one hour? One breaking in, and the other asking all sorts of questions about..."

"I told you, I was from the neighborhood watch."

"Yeah, yeah, neighborhood watch. Right. Boy, have you seen this house? There's only one thing in here worth getting at, and it sure as hell ain't me. You came for the box. Whoever left that Godforsaken thing down there.... I knew someday, someone would come for it. I swore never to let that happen. He's downstairs isn't he?"

Well, the gig is up.

"He's my brother, and we're here to help you."

"You call him up here. Now! You call him up here! Now!"

"Sam! Sammy!" Dean yells. "She wants you up here, now!"

Suddenly, a loud boom sounds from the basement that terrifies Suzie.

"No... No! Get out! Get out! Out! Out! You bastards!" Suzie rushes Dean toward the front door with her gun trained in front of her. He stops by the front door and looks at her who has tears in her eyes. "You let it out!"

Both he and Suzie look toward the stairs where there is a bright green mist. It flies all around the duo before entering their bodies through their eyes. Both of their eyes are yellow-green as the mist takes control of their minds.

"Dean!" Dean blinks and his eyes return to normal. "Dean!" He sees the gu in Suzie's hands and puts his hands up as he joins his brother's side. "Hey, hey, hey. Take it easy."

"Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Put the gun down. We can talk about this, okay?"

Something passes by the brothers from behind and Suzie's eyes go wide.

"What was that?" She looks at something between the brothers with fear in her eyes. "Oh, my God."

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know."

"Stay back. Stay back!"

"Go!" Sam and Dean jump out of the way just in time for Suzie to shoot her gun at her bookshelf. She must be seeing something that isn't there. "What are you doing, huh? You don't have a plan. You don't have a defense."

"No!" Suzie yells from her office door.

"Suzie!" Sam yells and leaves the living room to head to the office.

x

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[my-white-canvas]

You are my Only Haven

~Sypnosis: A little girl watches over a human that she has waited so long to meet "Will you please wake up? I'm really lonely" she whispers hoping to see your eyes, hear your voice

~warnings: none, I think, it does mention chains and hate and a somewhat dead body

There she waits; waiting for this lifeless mortal body to move, even if it were just a muscle.

The figure in front of her lies on a bed of chains decorated with runes one cannot decipher, even an ancient tongue cannot decrypt them, so the little girl can only hope that the figure will wake.

Why is the little girl so patient with the body that is not even alive? Because it is the only thing she has, she has no family, no friends, no pets, not even an heirloom from her history, she has nothing.

Is it the body of their guardian or someone they cherish? She doesn't know, she only knows she needs them.

How did she meet the body? One night while she was sitting under the stars in her cage, then the stars started to race across the sky, like a stork delivering a baby, the stars carried an empty vessel from another world to Teyvat, as the vessel was still inactive, it was bound by the bygone creator's ancient runes.

But who is the little girl? "... I don't know... who... or what I am" her hoarse voice shaking from the cold as she looked at her hands, they didn't look like her cage mates', in fact, they looked almost nothing alike, other than their form

This makes her even more lonely.

She huddled close to the body for a long time now, but she suddenly felt movement from it; the heart starts to beat, the muscles in the body started to move the blood vessels, and then their eyes finally opened.

"they're beautiful"

The once lifeless body rose from the bed of chains that bound them to the cage with the little girl, they looked around and saw her "who are you?" their voice wretched a hoarse sound from the countless days their body was frozen in time

"Stop... you're not ok" the little girl shot up from her position, her voice startled the person suddenly showing signs of discomfort "what is... wrong?" she asked while moving closer "nothing, you just sound weird" they stated while looking away

"Do...I?" she tilts her head as her hand covers her mouth "yeah, kind of, you sound like a bunch of voices trying to overlap each other's voice" they loudly whisper

The girl's face frowned "I can sound normal!" she yells as her voice shifts to sound like theirs, they look at her in shock and unease "that's weirder" they said as they held one of the chains and brush the runes engraved.

The little girl's cheeks were puffed while she looked away to hide her face "Don't humans say that first impressions would last, was mine that 'weird'?" her face rushed with embarrassment "are they even human? Would they think that?"

The person tried to decipher the runes but to no avail "um... do you know what these are?" they looked at the flustered girl still looking away, she looked to see them looking at her "uh.. right. It took you... while you were... falling" her voice stuttering while also cutting off words "do you always cut off sentences like that?" they raised their brow with a curious look

"I... just don't talk.. that much... to humans" she responded with a look of worry, they look at her arms and other inhuman features "oh, right, I can kinda see it, but you don't have to worry about it tho, you look just fine" their words stammering as they try to not give an insulting guise.

"ah... that is nice.. to hear" she whispers slowly looking back at them "but... can I... ask for your name?" she smiles looking their way "ah... it's *name*" they say while rising from the floor "and you?" they refer to the little lass "Humans call me Teyvat"

"Teyvat?!!" they called in shock "like the... seven elements and archons and stuff?!!" they shouted, the girl was slightly stunned "you know... about that?" her tone sounded slightly worried "a little, only through a game tho, but probably not enough to... you know" "ah"

They chuckled as their face shifted to a confused look "do you know where we are exactly?" they tried to giggle to lighten the mood "we are... in the Mare Jivari" "ohhh"

"Is... there something... wrong?" she draws closer to the person "nothing, just thinking how I'm here when I'm supposed to be in a hospital bed" they sigh while looking out the bars "are you hurt? I can help you... to a human place... where they heal" she shivers holding onto your robes "it's alright, but I do need to find that human place, can you come with me?" they kneel to her height "I can help... but not come" she looks down in guilt "why is that?" you asked while holding her face to yours "the gods... don't like me" she looks away

"That's not fair!! They literally live on you, how could they hate you?!!" their tone became harsh in anger "I don't care what they say, we're leaving this place whether they like it or not" they firmly commanded "yes, but... your chains" she points at their chains "oh right, do you know anything about them" they asked

The little girl leaned close to the runes and chanted things they couldn't understand and the chains fell from their limbs, "I am... Teyvat, I do know" she beamed at you

"let's break those god's rules"

Thank you to @/mondaymelon for the will to write

[sburbian-sage]

A

Ah, no., i

it's just my quirk., t

though you were it seems I can say you were close nonetheless., a

although I cannot explicitly confirm if it was a boss that did it, or if there is in fact a censoring effect on me, but if there were, how might one fight such a being?, w

when one cannot ask others about such a being's weaknesses., d

due to the aforementioned hypothetical censoring effect?, e

especially if such a boss or other being were perhaps too strong to defeat by ordinary means?, o

or isn't a boss at all, and instead is something it would be very very bad to kill?, n

not that I'm saying that it is or isn't., b

because it seems I can't.

I can't believe my ability to sleuth problems and decrypt ciphers is so strong that I arrived at a mostly-correct answer, even using the wrong process.

Anyway, you're telling me that you're being forced to self-censor and be evasive because an entity is forcing you to, and the entity in question is 1) not a boss, 2) too strong to defeat head-on, 3) probably shouldn't be killed. I can only think of a couple of entities which fall under this banner.

A Player. Perhaps one of the Law, Heart, or Rage variety, who has given a sentence/programming/command to not do the thing you shouldn't be doing. They could also be monitoring/brainwashing you with psionic powers, or else just have a bomb collar strapped to you.

Your Sprite. They're usually hardcoded to be friendly to you and guide you and stuff, but it's not impossible that you somehow prototyped a Sprite which is taking a hostile stance against you.

An Other. Technically not a boss, immensely strong, and it's not that killing them is bad, only that fighting them is innately dangerous.

The Debug NPC.

If it's the Player, then it might be worth it to send messages to your coplayers implying and insinuating that some weird abusive stuff is going on. If you think there's monitoring going on, or otherwise feel like online comms can't work, maybe try to meet up in person. As for "fighting", direct fights are indeed risky (putting aside Titles and such), and PKs are probably not desirable, unless you feel this is a prelude to a PK. In any case doing something like (hypothetically) waiting until they're asleep and active on the Dream Moon, finding their physical body, throwing a weighted net on top of them, splashing ice cold water on them, and then hitting them with a bat or other hard-but-not-deadly object while screaming at them to stop putting a censor lock on you, I dunno it could work. It'd be best to get back-up first though, or otherwise let your more communicative players help.

If it's the Sprite, I have no idea what you prototyped it with that it's hostile and has mind-control powers. If it has to come to it, I wouldn't be too worried about destroying the thing. The Sprites don't really contribute much anyway to people who already know how to play the game, outside of sentimental value (which a rogue sprite is definitionally not doing). Just toss in something contrary to its nature, and it might self-delete (only a euphemism in that it doesn't just zip out of existence, it explodes). Or maybe just throw something in that makes it less hostile? If that's not an option though, because it's double-prototyped, then just progress through the game. Every Sprite will eventually give you your Sprite Pendant, and soon after fuck off permanently. This is a mostly inevitable event, and once it leaves, any negative effects might also auto-dispel.

If it's an Other, I can only assume this was your fault because you made a deal with it. Hopefully you can try to find a loophole in whatever contract you made to get your ability to talk back, or else you'll have to make a second deal. And don't think this will wear off once the Session ends, any deal you make with an Other is persistent. Similarly persistent is your ability to communicate with that specific Other in the future.

If it's the Debug NPC, I can't help you. The fact that the Debug NPC is doing anything of consequence means things are going horribly off-rails, such that I literally wouldn't be able to provide you any relevant information or advice. So you'll just have to rely on your own problem-solving skills. Good luck!

[glamourstories]

JD Space

I saw the ping across my dash, someone was trying to contact me. I pinged back to get a look at them, know what I'm dealing with. A low res image of the ship popped up on screen, a small black ship, single person, probably a fighter. No colour meant they liked to hide in space and no livery meant they were independent. Could be a pirate, more likely a bounty hunter given how they hadn't fired yet.

I answered the call, a voice crackled through my headset. "What's your JD?" She said, blunt and to the point.

"Pinging you now." I replied in comms, tapping my console to give her access to my Jurisditial Designation code. I didn't make small talk, Bounty Hunters weren't the patient sort and itchy on the trigger if you didn’t give them what they wanted. I was also just happy to get moving anyway, I had a delivery to make.

I saw my console light up while her system connected to mine and we waited a minute as she pinged the local jurisdiction for decryption and verification.

"D&Vs clear, on your way." She said cutting comms, clearly not looking to chat. I saw her ship light up, thrusters glowing blue against the blackness of space as she flew over my cockpit. She didn’t need to fly that close, she had the whole sky she could’ve used. No, she was making a point; ‘Don’t mess with me’ she was saying. Now all bounty hunters had an ego, but this felt different, piracy and smuggling wasn’t uncommon this far away from the hypergate network, but I had a feeling she was looking for someone specific and was pissed I wasn’t it.

Except I had a feeling I actually was.

My JD code was actually a legal one. Just that it didn't belong to me or this ship. JDs are near impossible to forge so it was easiest to just duplicate one. Lucky for me Bounty Hunters aren't the patient sort, she just cared that it was real and didn't stick around till the JD ping got back to its home jurisdiction. If she had waited then she would have found out the JD I used didn't match my ship, she also didn't stop to wonder why a trader was halfway across the galaxy from their jurisdiction.

But I figured she'd get a notification in the next hour after the ping had made its way around the galaxy, so best I got out of there. I had a delivery to make after all. I made a silent prayer that someone at Corridian XIV would be able to get me a new JD and a paintjob, but I still had to get there first. My truck was a bit old at this point, a banged up mid-class freighter, so even if I did already have a head start on the bounty hunter, her ship was newer and sleeker so would easily be able to catch up if the ping came back sooner rather than later.

I burned excess to get there faster, I could have coasted and still got there with time to spare and I wasn't going to be happy with the extra fuel costs later, but better that than no payday and a year in prison. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to get pinged so soon, I'd barely been out in this cluster a week, just having enough time to score a decent smuggling job (recommendations go a long way, even in black markets), so either this cargo was tainted or someone had set me up.

I'd have to add it to the list of worries along with my now compromised JD, but a job is a job and I'm sure the people of Corridian XIV needed whatever was in those crates.

This far from the hypergates supplies weren’t regular and the law was mostly left for people for people to sort out amongst themselves. So here we were; a bunch of pirates and bounty hunters stuck in a loop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tentatively calling this JD Space, just because it sounds fun and rolls off the tongue. Don't know if I could make it into a full story but I wanted to try my hand at worldbuilding, or galaxy-building I guess and I started with a small concept and wanted to include slang, I just like the phrase "What's your JD?" Others include "Off-Map" I.E. Having no JD Code so you aren't on the JD Map.

I think there's a fun story in this concept somewhere but it's weird; I usually start off with a short story then build the world around that as it makes sense, so this is backwards for me. But also interesting that I've basically come up with a universe based around bureacracy and I'd be curious if I could turn that into something interesting.

[casspurrjoybell-22]

Master - Chapter 5a

*Warning: Adult Content*  

"I don't quite understand why you're pulling me since I'm following you freely," Malcolm whines, protesting against my firm grip on his arm while I pull him away from the Elf's prying ears. "I know how to walk Linc."

"Malcolm," I say with a sigh of exhaustion which only makes him huff a little before falling into a comfortable silence.

I pull him into a forgotten room which once was an office, a room Malcolm never really used, even in the height of his fame amongst the humans. 

I shut the doors behind us and follow Malcolm into the webbed room, standing over him while he sat on a small cushion within the window seal.

"Alright, what is it?" Malcolm says, gesturing lazily for me to begin while crossing his legs.

"Diablos sent about fifty men and women to my castle, to take Kalem back," I explain and frown slightly when he barely reacts, eyes only widening a small fraction.

"Oh," he says, soundly mildly surprised.

"You're not surprised," I state and he nods. "Did you know he was coming?"

"No, I haven't spoken to Diablos in centuries," he says waving me off. "But I did expect as much to happen eventually. You took one of his slaves, his most valuable of the night in front of a sector of the community. I take it, word has spread and he is facing harsh criticism for being so vulnerable and weak. Retaliating is the only option in a position like that."

"It's hard to remember how idiotic you truly are when you actually use your brain on rare occasions such as these," I admit after listening to his explanation.

I'd never really gotten along with my own kind, didn't understand their ways of thinking but Malcolm was different because he wasn't like them. 

He didn't want what the other vampires wanted, well not in the same form that their needs took. 

It was one of the reasons he understood me better than most, that and he was annoyingly persistent in trying to become my friend for four decades straight.

"He knew they wouldn't succeed, knew he was sending his people to their deaths," Malcolm continues, ignoring my comment. "It was probably a warning if nothing else."

"There was a letter, the last one standing handed it to me before pulling his own heart out," I reveal and smile a little at the way Malcolm grimaced. "He wants me to give Kalem back and if I do not comply, he's threatening to start a war."

"Are you going to comply?" Malcolm asks, knowing damn well how even hinting at me to fall under Diablos' demands only urged me to do the complete opposite.

"Kalem isn't something to just give and take, he is a person," I grind out, using words all too similar to the ones I'd only just spoken to Kalem earlier today.

"Says the man who literally stole him away," Malcolm mumbles in response, continuing before I could argue. "I'd say the simple solution is to just give the man the fee which you owe."

"I am not going to pay for him and treat him like a slave."

"So you'd rather keep your pride than appease the fucker with what is probably spare change to you? Hmm?" Malcolm questions, standing to look me in my eyes with serious intent. "You'd rather let the boy suffer through blood and deaths for an unknown length of time, so you don't have to go against your unwavering values?"

An uncomfortable quiet falls between us as Malcolm pierces me with his gaze, showing no remorse for his words. 

I lock my jaw, letting my teeth grind together to keep me steady.

"I am not going to support these disgusting practices in any way," I grind out slowly. "I will not do that to myself or to Kalem."

Malcolm stares at me, eyes narrowing his eyes to decrypting slits before his stance loosens and he flops back onto his cushion. 

He rests his head against the peeling wall paint and crosses his legs.

"So what's the plan and my exact role in it?" Malcolm asks, defeated and utterly onboard despite his fruitless protests.

"I'm going to kill him," I say simply and Malcolm only laughs. "He won't stop until he's made an example out of me, which could never happen, so I must kill him."

"Don't make it sound like such a chore, we both know how long you've wanted to rip the bastards head from his body," Malcolm replies with a deep grin. "And how long I've wanted to watch."

‘And this is why you're my best friend.’

"Although, knowing Diablos, he's probably prepared for an attack on some sort," Malcolm offers while thinking deeply. "By the time we cut through his barricades, he'd be behind yet another."

"I need him to face me, need to draw him out of his little hiding spots," I agree, trying to remember pieces of the man I'd long broken apart from my memories.

"I'll think of something, reach out to a few contacts and make the necessary preparations," Malcolm says while letting one of his legs jump a little.

"Thank you, Malcom."

"Think of this as my form of repayment for Arias," he says hopefully, in reference to the one million he sent flying out of the fucking window.

"Think of this as a favor, you still owe me one million," I deadpan and smirk at the childish groan he releases with a disappointed thump of his foot.

"Okay, whatever. Be a pellagric," he grumbles angrily. "While I'm performing my 'favor' you bring down all his little strongholds we know about. Corner him to act out of anger rather than intelligence."

"Sounds good."

[respectable-username]

🔐 Why You (Probably) Don't Need A VPN

A rant by a software engineer sick of VPN ads from her favourite YouTubers

TL;DR:

Here are some legitimate reasons the average internet user might want to use a VPN:

To connect to their company's internal network

To bypass the Great Firewall of China (or other types of website blocks at country or organisation level)

To watch Netflix etc as if you were in another country

Here are absolutely rubbish reasons to use a VPN:

Privacy

And today, I'll tell you why.

Hang on, won't a VPN stop hackers from stealing my passwords?

I mean, it does encrypt the web traffic coming from your device.

You know what else encrypts web traffic coming from your device? Your browser.

Yes, in the year 2021, pretty much all websites on the internet are accessed over HTTPS. The "S" stands for "secure", as in "your request will be securely encrypted". If your browser is using HTTPS, nobody can capture the data you're sending over the internet. More detail in the "I like too much detail" section at the bottom of this post.

It's very easy to check if you are using HTTPS by looking at your URL bar. In most browsers, it will have a lock on it if secure:

(From top left to bottom right: Chrome on iOS, Safari on iOS, Chrome on Windows, Edge on Windows, Firefox on Windows, and Safari on Mac. Screenshots reflect the UI at the time this post was written. Oh gosh this has taken over 4 hours to write.)

But isn't moar encryption better? What if somebody breaks HTTPS?

For starters, nobody's breaking your HTTPS, and there isn't any benefit from double encrypting. This is because of the maths behind encryption/decryption!

Encryption works kinda like a lock and key, except the lock is maths and the key is a special number only known to the person allowed to unlock the information.

The important thing is, without the key, all the locked data looks like complete and utter garbage. Completely unusable. Barely distinguishable from random noise. There's absolutely no way to tell what the original data was.

The other important thing is that the key is nearly unguessable. As in, with current technology, will generally take more than the lifetime of the universe to guess by chance. And when technology gets faster, we just make the numbers bigger again until they're once again secure.

For any major website you use, they will use a strong encryption algorithm (ie lock) with big numbers so your keys will be strong enough to withstand an attack. This means your data is safe as long as that lock icon is in your URL bar.

A VPN will not make the existing garble any more garbled. The extra $10/month or whatever you're paying for does not buy you any extra protection.

If you want to know more about how encryption and HTTPS in particular work, see the "I like too much detail" section at the end of this post.

Something something viruses

How's a VPN going to stop viruses? It controls the path your internet traffic takes, not the content that gets sent down that path. I guess it could block some known virus-giving hosts? But if it's known to the VPN provider, it's probably also known to the built-in antivirus on your computer who can block it for you.

(Oh yeah, 3rd party antivirus is another thing that's not worth paying for these days. Microsoft's built-in Windows Defender is as good as the third party options, and something something Macs don't get viruses easily because of how they're architected.)

Honestly though, keep your software up to date, don't click on anything suspicious, don't open files from sources you don't trust, and you'll be right most of the time.

And keep your software up to date. Then update your software. Hey, did I mention keeping your stuff updated? Update! Now! It only takes a few minutes. Please update to the latest version of your software I'm begging you. It's the number 1 way to protect yourself from viruses and other malware. Most major software attacks could have been prevented if people just updated their damn software!

But my ISP is spying on me!

Ok, it is true that there are TWO bits of data that HTTPS can't and won't hide. Those are:

The source of a request (your IP)

What website that request is going to (the website's IP)

These are the bits of information that routers use to know where to send your data, so of course they can't be hidden as the data is moving across the internet. And people can see that information very easily if they want to.

Note: this will show which website you're going to, but not which page you're looking at, and not the content of that page. So it will show that you were on Tumblr, but will not show anyone that you're still reading SuperWhoLock content in 2021.

It's this source/destination information that VPNs hide, which is why they can be used to bypass website blocks and region locks.

By using a VPN, those sniffing traffic on your side of the VPN will just show you connecting to the VPN, not the actual website you want. That means you can read AO3 at work/school without your boss/teachers knowing (unless they look over your shoulder of course).

As for those sniffing on the websites end, including the website itself, they will see the VPN as the source of the connection, not you. So if you're in the US and using a VPN node in the UK, Netflix will see you as being in the UK and show you their British library rather than the American one.

If this is what you're using a VPN for and you think the price is fair, then by all means keep doing it! This is 100% what VPNs are good for.

HOWEVER, and this is a big "however", if it's your ISP you're trying to hide your internet traffic from, then you will want to think twice before using a VPN.

Let me put it this way. Without a VPN, your ISP knows every website you connect to and when. With a VPN, do you know who has that exact same information? The VPN provider. Sure, many claim to not keep logs, but do you really trust the people asking for you to send them all your data for a fee to not just turn around and sell your data on for a profit, or worse?

In effect, you're trading one snooper for another. One snooper is heavily regulated, in many jurisdictions must obey net neutrality, and is already getting a big fee from you regardless of where you browse. The other isn't. Again, it's all a matter of who you trust more.

For me personally, I trust my ISP more than a random VPN provider, if for no other reason than my ISP is an old enough company with enough inertia and incompetence that I don't think they could organise to sell my data even if they wanted to. And with the amount of money I'm paying them per month, they've only got everything to lose if they broke consumer trust by on-selling that data. So yeah, I trust my ISP more with my privacy than the random VPN company.

But my VPN comes with a password manager!

Password managers are great. I 100% recommend you use a password manager. If there's one thing you could do right now to improve your security (other than updating your software, speaking of, have you updated yet?), it's getting and using a password manager.

Password managers also come for free.

I'm currently using LastPass free, but am planning to switch after they did a bad capitalism and only let their free accounts access either laptop or mobile but not both now. I personally am planning to move to Bitwarden on friends' recommendation since it's not only free but open source and available across devices. I also have friends who use passbolt and enjoy it, which is also free and open source, but it's also a bit DIY to set up. Great if you like tinkering though! And there are probably many other options out there if you do a bit of googling.

So, yeah, please use a password manager, but don't pay for it unless you actually have use for the extra features.

No I really need to hide my internet activity from everybody for reasons

In this case, you're probably looking for TOR. TOR is basically untraceable. It's also a terrible user experience for the most part because of this, so I'd only recommend it if you need it, such as if you're trying to escape the Great Firewall. But please don't use it for Bad Crimes. I am not to be held liable for any crime committed using information learned from this post.

Further reading viewing

If you want to know more about why you don't need a VPN, see Tom Scott's amazing video on the subject. It's honestly a great intro for beginners.

I like too much detail

Ahhh, so you're the type of person who doesn't get turned off by long explanations I see. Well, here's a little more info on the stuff I oversimplified in the main post about encryption. Uhh, words get bigger and more jargony in this section.

So first oversimplification: the assumption that all web traffic is either HTTP or HTTPS. This isn't exactly true. There are many other application layer internet standards out there, such as ssh, ftp, websockets, and all the proprietary standards certain companies use for stuff such as streaming and video conferencing. Some of these are secure, using TLS or some other security algorithm under the hood, and some of them aren't.

But most of the web requests you care about are HTTP/HTTPS calls. As for the rest, if they come from a company of a decent size that hasn't been hacked off the face of the planet already, they're probably also secure. In other words, you don't need to worry about it.

Next, we've already said that encryption works as a lock and a key, where the lock is a maths formula and the key is a number. But how do we get that key to lock and unlock the data?

Well, to answer that, we first need to talk about the two different types of encryption: symmetric and asymmetric. Symmetric encryption such as AES uses the same key to both encrypt and decrypt data, whereas asymmetric encryption such as RSA uses a different key to encode and decode.

For the sake of my writing, we're going to call the person encrypting Alice, the person decrypting Bob, and the eavesdropper trying to break our communications Eve from now on. These are standard names in crypto FYI. Also, crypto is short for cryptography not cryptocurrencies. Get your Bitcoin and Etherium outta here!

Sorry if things start getting incoherent. I'm tired. It's after 1am now.

So first, how do we get the key from symmetric crypto? This is probably the easier place to start. Well, you need a number, any number of sufficient size, that both Alice and Bob know. There are many ways you could share this number. They could decide it when they meet in person. They could send it to each other using carrier pigeons. Or they could radio it via morse code. But those aren't convenient, and somebody could intercept the number and use it to read all their messages.

So what we use instead is a super clever algorithm called Diffie-Hellman, which uses maths and, in particular, the fact it's really hard to factor large numbers (probably NP Hard to be specific, but there's no actual proof of that). The Wikipedia page for this is surprisingly easy to read, so I'll just direct you there to read all about it because I've been writing for too long. This algorithm allows Alice and Bob to agree on a secret number, despite Eve being able to read everything they send each other.

Now Alice and Bob have this secret number key, they can talk in private. Alice puts her message and the key into the encryption algorithm and out pops what looks like a load of garbage. She can then send this garbage to Bob without worrying about Eve being able to read it. Bob can then put the garbage and the key into the decryption algorithm to undo the scrambling and get the original message out telling him where the good donuts are. Voila, they're done!

But how does Alice know that she's sending her message to Bob and not Eve? Eve could pretend to be Bob so that Alice does the Diffie-Hellman dance with her instead and sends her the secret location of the good donuts instead.

This is where asymmetric crypto comes in! This is the one with private and public keys, and the one that uses prime numbers.

I'm not 100% across the maths on this one TBH, but it has something to do with group theory. Anyway, just like Diffie-Hellman, it relies on the fact that prime factorisation is hard, and so it does some magic with semi-primes, ie numbers with only 2 prime factors other than 1. Google it if you want to know more. I kinda zoned out of this bit in my security courses. Maths hard

But the effect of that maths is easier to explain: things that are encoded with one of the keys can only be decoded with the other key. This means that one of those keys can be well-known to the public and the other is known only to the person it belongs to.

If Alice wants to send a message to Bob and just Bob, no Eve allowed, she can first look up Bob's public key and encrypt a beginning message with that. Once Bob receives the message, he can decrypt it with his private key and read the contents. Eve can't read the contents though because, even though she has Bob's public key, she doesn't know his private key.

This public key information is what the lock in your browser is all about BTW. It's saying that the website is legit based on the public key they provide.

So why do we need symmetric crypto when we have asymmetric crypto? Seems a lot less hassle to exchange keys with asymmetric crypto.

Well, it's because asymmetric crypto is slooooow. So, in TLS, the security algorithm that puts the "S" in "HTTPS", asymmetric RSA is used to establish the initial connection and figure out what symmetric key to use, and then the rest of the session uses AES symmetric encryption using the agreed secret key.

And there you have it! Crypto in slightly-less-short-but-still-high-enough-level-that-I-hope-you-understand.

Just realised how long this section is. Well, I did call it "too much detail" for a reason.

Now, next question is what exactly is and isn't encrypted using HTTPS.

Well, as I said earlier, it's basically just the source IP:port and the destination IP:port. In fact, this information is actually communicated on the logical layer below the application layer HTTPS is on, known as the transport layer. Again, as I said before, you can't really encrypt this unless you don't want your data to reach the place you want at all.

Also, DNS is unencrypted. A DNS request is a request that turns a domain name, such as tumblr.com, into an IP address, by asking a special server called a Domain Name Server where to find the website you're looking for. A DNS request is made before an HTTP(S) request. Anyone who can read your internet traffic can therefore tell you wanted to go to Tumblr.

But importantly, this only shows the domain name, not the full URL. The rest of the URL, the part after the third slash (the first two slashes being part of http://), is stuff that's interpreted by the server itself and so isn't needed during transport. Therefore, it encrypted and completely unreadable, just like all the content on your page.

I was going to show a Wireshark scan of a web request using HTTP and HTTPS to show you the difference, but this has taken long enough to write as it is, so sorry!

I could probably write more, but it's 1:30am and I'm sleepy. I hope you found some of this interesting and think twice before purchasing a VPN subscription. Again, there are legit good uses for a VPN, but they're not the ones primarily being advertised in VPN ads. It's the fact that VPN ads rely so heavily on false advertising that really grinds my gears and made me want to do this rant. It's especially bad when it comes from somebody I'd think of as technologically competent (naming no names here, but if you've worked in tech and still promote VPNs as a way to keep data safe... no). Feel free to ask questions if you want and hopefully I'll get around to answering any that I feel I know enough to answer.

Nighty night Tumblr. Please update your software. And use a (free) password manager. And enable two factor authentication on all your accounts. But mostly just update your software.

[i-need-air]

"Dude" — Bakugou Katsuki x Reader [P.2]

Word count: 6.7k;

[ Part 1 ]; [ Masterlist ]

The new message plastered on your phonescreen earned a small smile from you. After a couple of days of sitting together at the same table due to Mei dumping your lonely ass for her babies, Mina suggested to text just to keep in contact more often. Something you did not expect was to be thrown in a group text with her and her friends.

They were absolutely hilarious; until recently they found out you had decent grades and started asking for your assistance, bugging you to join their study sessions, adding something about Bakugou being an absolute beast whenever he tutors them.

Pinky: Aww sucks that you're not coming! You're missing out Bakugou strangling Kaminari lmfao

You rolled your eyes in amusement. Why of course he'd be doing that.

What a strange little man. He really was; just as you started sitting with them, he'd mainly mind his own business, wearing his normal resting gremlin face and poking his food as if he was practicing murder just for the sake of it. First he orders you to sit with them, then he turns into an antisocial bastard most of the times. Yet, somehow, lunch with them was delightful and you found yourself looking forward to spend time with them, hear about their amusing stories and to top it all, making fun of The Great Bakugou Katsuki turned the whole event into a whole different level of fun.

As you weren't completely oblivious, his wandering eyes were really hard to miss anyway; you'd catch his gaze from time to time and he'd look away, annoyed, grunting like the man-child he actually was. Infuriating; how your heart skipped every single time it happened and how you wanted to have those deep crimson orbs on you again and again.

One thing you did not want to do was to leave Mei to the side; whenever she couldn't hang out she would inform you and you'd find something else to entertain yourself with; in occasions you did march in her workshop and sat your royal ass down without permission. Like as you did today, sitting in silence, you enjoyed the normal machinery sounds and her focused hums as she worked with you by her side. It was calming. The much needed calmness that you craved.

It's been a couple of weeks after the glorious incident and you have been noticing how your classmates, mostly the popular ones, started giving you the stink eye; your spidey-senses very much aware that it had to be Midori's doing yet the girl was keeping a very low profile. The hairs on the back of your neck rising whenever you thought about her next step because this level of radio silence was suspicious.

Between your growing interest into the blond and the dread related to your nemesis, Mei stopped her hard work to frown at you.

"Something's on your mind?" She probed, adjusting her goggles better on her head. "You're awfully quiet~"

Through a small giggle, you nodded but took some time to answer. "I guess?"

"Let me rephrase that." She cleared her throat dramatically "Someone's on your mind?"

A sharp gasp left your lips, realization kicking in; you had Hatsume Mei's full attention for the first time ever. In the workshop. Where her babies were! About to point it out, she narrowed her eyes at you, zooming onto you.

"[Y/N]." It's all she needed to say before you looked down, mind on one person in particular, not noticing how your friend smiled fondly to herself as she placed her hands on her hips; she chuckled lightly.

"Mind sharing what's funny with the class, Mei?" You asked trying to decrypt her expression still locked on you. She shrugged and shook her head, her wild pink locks moving wildly.

"OI, WERD—" the brash voice interrupted itself in reconsideration. The owner of said voice clicked his tongue and entered her workspace with indifference, looking around. "My gauntlets fixed?" He asked, curiously checking the lone couch in the corner, then turning his glare at her.

Ignoring his question, Mei's inquisitive gaze locked on him. "Are you looking for someone?"

It was as if she pressed a Total Destruction button because even the hairs on his head spiked up more than normally as he threw her a bloodshot glare.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD I LOOK FOR [Y/N]?! I DON'T EVEN CARE WHERE—"

"I didn't mention [Y/N] at all though." she cheerily retorted, seeing his position stiffen even more.

"WHAT— WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT— WHO EVEN IS [Y/N]?!" Word-vomit took over; he was shaking at this point, panicked and cringing at his own mistake. "I'm SO FUCKING DONE with people giving me SHIT about that dumbass!" he kicked a table trying to prove a point but the girl was unimpressed.

"So you do know [Y/N]."

"YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK YOU, GOGGLES! Fucking bothersome assholes always buttin' in—" his voice started fading into the distance as he walked out, fuming with nerves.

She blinked before screaming "What about your gauntlets?" through a smile.

"OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE, GIVE ME—" he appeared once again, agitated.

A wave of lava filled your chest as she told you casually, even trying to copy the way he talked, making you laugh in exchange. You shouldn't feel that way, shouldn't you? It was ridiculous since he truly only insulted you and screamed in your general direction; well, it seems he screamed in every direction but it wasn't the point. The point was the warmth in your chest only gave you hope and the still functioning part of your brain begged to differ.

"He's a good guy." You whispered, suddently shy under Mei's knowing gaze.

And he called her Goggles too. You giggled fondly.

—

A few days later, wild gutural screams made you jolt from your desk in panic. You would've recognized that voice anywhere by now so you rushed towards the infirmary door just to find professor Aizawa and two cocoons made of his scarf behind him. His eyebrow was twitching and had a dark aura around him, eyes glowing menacingly but not directed to you.

"I'll fucking kill you—"

"But Kaccha—"

"Silence." The irritated and tired looking man said entering the room, dragging said cocoons behind him, knocking one in the door and pulling harder. You cringed, sure thinking he wasn't having a good day.

"OOF— What the shit was that?" The bundle started to shake uncontrollably which made you giggle. It stopped; halted and froze in place listening attentively as you tried to hide your laughter, trying not to annoy the teacher that seriously gave off a whole Done with life aura.

"You must be [L/N]." he pointed out, undoing one of the cocoons, a big fluffy broccoli like head appearing, big green eyes trying to focus.

"Yes, sir."

"They're beaten. Broken leg and broken rib. Can you heal them or should we wait for Recovery Girl?" The dark haired man went straight to business.

"I can handle that so no need to wait for her."

"Good. I'll leave them in your care." With a nod, he also released the blond, making him tumble and fall on his face. The poor guy groaned but bolted up with a raised fist.

"Behave." The older man said walking away, not really caring about Bakugou's heated muttering. The door shut gently and you found yourself looking at two boys; one fuming and avoiding your eyes, the other on the floor, staring up at you. His leg looked wonky so you fought back a face of discomfort before going to his aid.

"You." You pointed at Bakugou then at the bed. "Sit." A grin spread on your face as you used his words, meanwhile you leaned down to help Midoriya Izuku.

His eyes were absolutely intimidating, as if the boy tried to search within your soul as you helped him up.

"My name is [L/N] [Y/N] and I'm going to heal you today." He returned your smile with ease and nodded, his fluffy green hair shaking through the action.

"I'm—"

"Midoriya Izuku, yes. You're pretty popular, you know?" His face went all red, taken back by the fact.

Curses could be heard behind both; your hand was supporting Midoriya's weight as he only hopped ahead with his good leg, leaded towards a bed. Shuffling sounded too, still accompanied with another round of indistinguishable curses and grunts.

When the green-haired boy was securely placed, you turned towards the other, finding him sitting on the edge of the bed furthest away from Midoriya, pouting adorably.

"So you've got a broken rib, right?"

"What's it to you?" It was his turn to be a petty little shit and copy your words, still not looking up. His leg was shaking and his posture looked uncomfortable so it was not the time to get into your usual bickering.

"Lay down." He tsk-ed sharply. "Please." You pleaded, pursing your lips at his childish attitude. He finally snapped his eyes on you, just slightly widened in what could be surprise but you couldn't tell. All that mattered was that he ended up doing what you said. Though with more huffing, as if it bothered him immensely.

"Ya happy now?" He snapped.

"Very! Now—" you're taken back yet again by the intensity of those green eyes that looked between you and Bakugou with interest. "I'm gonna have to give you an anesthesic and adjust your leg back in place before healing you—"

Like a working bee, you ran around the infirmary getting your syringe ready, a little bit too nervous as two pair of eyes burned into your back.

"Where do you know each other from, Kacchan?" Izuku asked. Even if his leg hurt like a bitch, he couldn't help but be curious about the person Kacchan has been having lunch with for the past weeks; but what type of response could you get from the one and only?

"Mind your own damned fucking business!"

You sighed, irritated but the nickname didn't fly above your head. In all means, he shouldn't be screaming. He had a broken rib and he was screeching like an idiot. Didn't it hurt to even breathe?!

"Bakugou, you need to lay low and shut up."

There wasn't any time to play around; Midoriya behaved exemplary, just barely wincing at the syringe probing his knee but did not complain at all. The polar opposite of the blond beds away.

After letting the anesthetic to take effect, you moved towards the guy that's been living rent free in your head. He looked beaten up, had a bloody nose, open-wounded knuckles and shaky hands.

"Okay, I need you to relax." You whispered, trying to lift his tank-top but he stopped your wrist.

"The fuck yOu doing?!" his voice cracked momentarily while hyperventilating.

"Dude, take slow, steady breaths. In order to heal you I need to touch the skin closer to the wound." It wasn't entirely true but not exactly a lie either. After a pause for consideration he nodded but his eyes remained wary. "You've seen me do it before! Now show me where it hurts."

You needed concentration, focus, steady hands, rock-hard abs and tanned skin— Nooooo, [Y/N]!

All your might; all of it to act nonchalant and professional, to not fucking stare like a degenerate because he was absolutely built. But you couldn't help it. You couldn't help placing your palm on his ribs gently, instead of just the tip of your fingers as you normally would've needed. His sigh of relief made you incredibly giddy, feeling accomplished and fulfilled knowing you've done a great job for him. You also couldn't help healing his most visible wounds one by one instead of doing it all together in one single touch.

Were you flustered? Definitely and his attention only made it worse. You picked one of his hands and he spasmed away but ultimately gave in with a choked grunt; then grabbed the other and channeled your energy into his body.

Your heads were tilted downwards, both staring at how his knuckles healed slowly. What neither him or you noticed was how all his scratches and bruises all over him healed too, or the prying eyes of a third wheel that was already taking notes of your quirk.

"Okay." You whispered, not really wanting to let go. Your brain screamed Dishonor! but your heart skipped a beat, then another, then exploded when you lifted your gaze.

Crimson eyes looked at you in awe, wide and never this clear. They were shining too and you couldn't help but give his strong hands a squeeze, feeling in the calloused skin of his palm and wondered which one of you was shaking... He blushed then and opened his mouth, yet his brows furrowed as his focus shifted behind you.

"THE FUCK YOU STARING AT, PUNK?!"

Oh, yeah. Your other patient.

In a heartbeat you were by Midoriya's side and got to work, chest heavy and no words coming out of you. No snappy or cheeky retorts either, just trembling hands and warm cheeks. Only with murmurs you guided him through the procedure before healing him completely.

Dizziness overtook you; the downside of your quirk and something you've been training with Recovery Girl for the whole semester.

"That was amazing, [L/N]-san! Thank you!" The boy cheered, staring down at his leg in utter disbelief. His compliment made you grin, full and proud.

"Of course it was!" Your normal self surfaced.

"Fucking woo-hoo." Nevermind. Mood dropped and your face did too.

"Well, since you've been a good patient—" you start and ruffle through your bag "You get a lollipop!" Said candy was thrown in Midoriya's lap and he stared at it baffled. Meanwhile you turned towards the bane of your existence and raised a brow, shaking another lollipop in your hand. "You don't. This one is mine because I deserve it."

His angry, stupid and scandalized expression was everything you were looking for. Did you get out of your way to buy lollipops knowing Bakugou would end up in the infirmary sooner or later? Maybe. Was it worth it?

"What the fuck does that mean, dammit— I—" words caught in his throat as he choked with air, looking at the candy in your fingers with murderous intentions. Definitely worth it.

"Thank you?" Broccoli Boy asked but started unwrapping it, probably not to insult your kindness, and the whole interaction fueled Bakugou's anger. He snapped out of the bed and so did Midoriya, but one was marching towards you while the other just wanted to run away in fear, direction Exit.

"Gimme that shit!" He tried to grab it out of your grasp, but you moved away, laughing at his face.

"Midoriya has been nice and thanked me for the healing—" at this point he was boiling. "Say Thank you, [Y/N], you're amazing and awesome and—"

"LIKE FUCKING HELL IMMA SAY THAT, DUMBASS!" he was so sweet, the guy you liked; yeah, your sudden realization hit as he looked like a tomato ready to bite your head off and the only thing you could think was how adorable and sweet he was. All gurgling in rage, spitting cussed words left and right; dreamy, he was dreamy. He caught the lollipop from your hands, his scowl turning into a full blown victorious grin. So shiny... so bright... God, he was so handsome...

You're suddently falling in his arms in slow-motion, the world around you twisting and turning with him in the center of it all. Warmth engulfed your frame as you hit the most comfortable pillow of your life. His chest.

"Oi, [Y/—" he cursed, taking no time to place you on the bed with ease. "You okay?"

"W-What happened? Is she okay?" It seemed the famous Deku decided to remain for the spectacle.

"Get lost!"

Even if you wanted to pass out, his snaps wouldn't let you and with that thought you chuckled breathlessly. "I'm fine, I just need a nap after healing this much..." you assured into the air.

"Will you be okay, [Y/N]-san?" You turned your head until you spotted him and nodded through a smile but someone else answered for you.

"I see you took matters in your own hands." The sweet, gentle voice of your mentor put you to ease but scared poor Midoriya to the core as she appeared behind him at the door. Bakugou was still hovering over you in bed, not really knowing what to do. "You should leave [L/N] rest, boys." With tiny steps she walked around, not really paying any more attention to the scene.

The blond gave you a glance and pursed his lip, analyzing the candy in his hand. Through half-lidded eyes you saw him secure it in his fist and give you a nod. At this point everything was blurry.

"Thanks... or whatever." He didn't waste any time to bolt towards the door, his broad uncovered shoulders were the last thing you saw before closing your eyes in contempt.

"Kacchan, is [Y/N]-san your—?"

"MIND YOUR GODDAM—" the door shut close, making the room tremble and you giggled like a drunk fool.

—

Bakugou walked with his hands in his pockets, looking around with little interest as Dunce Face and Racoon Eyes blabbered without pause to breathe. Fuck, he was exhausted and the concept of shoving food down his throat sounded fucking fantastic. His insides turned and twisted knowing you'd be meeting them soon.

"Yo, isn't that [Y/N]?" Like a flash, his head bolted in the direction Denki pointed at and before he spotted you, the blond already wanted to punch himself in the jaw. Why the fuck is he acting like that? The answer faded in his mind as the scene unfolded in front of him.

—

"You're such a fucking bitch, you know that, [Y/N]?" Arms crossed, you placated the poor first year that was whispering behind you.

"Wow, Midori, so original." With a dead tone and rolling eyes from you, the white haired demon only twisted her face in disgust. "My feelings are hurt."

"Who do you think you are? You're a fucking nobody, [Y/N]! You think you're doing any good here? Go kill yourself!"

"And give you the satisfaction? No, not happening, you fork-tongued lizard." Your nails looked interesting.

Her pale purple eyes got ignited and her diminute frame puffed, like a rabid little mole-rat ready to bite someone. And just like that, she took a deep breath and started yapping and barking. "YOU'RE BETTER DEAD ANYWAY, YOU WHORE! YOU RUIN EVERYTHING! NOW EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT ME! ABOUT HOW YOU STOLE HIM FROM ME! DIE ALREADY!"

Sadly you didn't have any cookies on since you definitely felt like shoving one in her fanged, venomous mouth and patting her head for the effort. Your lips turned oh, so slowly into a grin, enjoying her reaction way too much.

"That's nice. Now can you like, I don't know, go back to making potions with your coven or some crap? Leave the kid alone—"

"This pathetic little shit was talking about me! ME!" her screech hurt your ears so you covered them before you turned to the kid to just see him standing there, petrified.

"Did you try to summon Satan and she appeared instea—?"

"I'M SO FUCKING DONE WITH YOUR CRAP, YOU—" she pushed you but grasped your uniform, a ripping sound following. "UGLY—" nothing prepared you to get attacked by her. "FAT—" she raised her palm. "WHORE!"

No way in hell you were going to back down, instead you clenched your jaw and got ready to block it and finish the fight. She never remotely attended to hit you in a somewhat public place as she was a careful witch, always brewing something in that rotten brain of hers and making sure to keep her sweet appearance on point for the public.

You blinked.

"That was insane!"

The scenery in front of you suddently changed with that one single blink and a tall blond mass of muscle just popped out of nowhere. It knocked the air out of your lungs for a moment and seeing him staring down at her with such hatred, holding her wrist high in the air made you feel immense relief, much to your own surprise.

Were you that tense before?

"Midori-chan, I didn't know you were this rotten." Kaminari appeared in your field of vision too but got ignored by the girl. Her only goal was to free herself from Bakugou's grip but he wouldn't bulge.

"Y-You got it all wrong, Bakugou-s-san!"

Everyone stood there silent, utterly disgusted with her attempt to even try to twist reality.

"Don't even fucking think about it." He warned and those words rumbled deep, threat held within.

"We heard it all, Midori." You shook in place, twisting to see Mina by the kid's side, patting his back. After being used to seeing her easy-going attitude it was only natural to be amazed by her somber tone and serious manner.

Why were you so relieved? kept creeping in your mind. Why?

He then threw her wrist out of his grasp and bared his teeth in her direction, globes so bloodshot scrutinizing her. He oozed rage and fury and was combusting in place. But he did not scream. Bakugou Katsuki did not scream for once when he started talking, instead he growled his words, each with care and clarity.

"If i ever fucking hear you talking like that to anyone ever again I will— fucking— break you." you could hear his teeth grit, the sound making you shiver both in terror and excitement. "NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FACE! I BETTER NOT FUCKING SEE YOU OR HEAR ABOUT YOU EVER AGAIN!" she yelped, fluttering her tears away and scurrying so fast it could've been comical.

Bakugou then spun to study you, chest raising and falling heavily. You couldn't descypher his appearance at the moment; there was the aggravation, the outrage, the burning flame in his orbs but also... Uncertainty? Guilt? Shame? It wiped off his face before you could figure it out.

"We're taking him to talk to a professor about what happened." Mina's voice faded in the distance. He nodded at Kaminari, who was behind you, and got a nod in response plus a pair of thumbs up, and with that they were gone.

He still tried to control himself, but as soon as you parted your lips to say anything at this point, he snarled into the nothingness. "THAT FUCKING BITCH—"

"Bakugou..."

"FOR HOW LONG?" he then screamed at you, malice gone but tone just as rough and loud.

"For how long what?" You said calmly while also noticing and adjusting the ripped sleeve of your uniform. He ran his palm over his face, eyeing it too.

"For how fucking long has this been going?"

"Oh, her—" there was this pressure to say it out loud, to confirm what it really was, like saying it out loud would give it weight, importance...

"Her bullshit, yeah." he didn't force it either, thankfully.

"Since we were in middle-school." you shrugged, chest and neck aching without an apparent reason. You cleared your throat.

"Stop that— Stop that fucking shit. Don't do that." He got close to you in a single step and you had to look up at him, feeling so small out of a sudden by his side. You smiled, as you taught yourself to do whenever things got tough.

"Do what?" It came out shaky, too shaky for your own taste but he was so close.

"Act like it doesn't fucking matter! Like it's no big fucking deal!" His breath fanned your face.

"I mean..." you started shrugging again but he stopped the action, palms holding your shoulders in place as he gave you a pissed off look. "It doesn't really matt—"

"YES, IT FUCKING DOES!"

His fingers held you in the spot as he inspected your features with a clenched jaw and classic furrowed brow. Flames erupted in your ribcage at his words and you couldn't even breathe anymore.

You licked your lips, not sure if you could say the next words but the fact that he focused on the action too attentively gave you the push needed. "What's it to you?"

His breath hitched, fanning over your face as he stiffened. Deep crimson waved between your own orbs and your lips—

Those flames? The flames that burned your inside? They were spreading throughout your body rapidly, the epicenter at the spot where his thumb caressed your skin at the edge of your shoulder, just touching the start of your collarbone. Even through the layer of fabric you felt it, as tiny as it was, but he did not do anything, just stood there with red tinted cheeks in daze. Much like you were.

"Thank you for saving me today, Bakugou." You whispered and he just nodded, still enthralled with your lips. At least you knew he was somewhat still there with you. Involuntarily, you bit your lower lip, just a little, smiling softly, taking the smallest step towards him; the corner of his lip turned up slightly—

"[Y/N]! Director Nezu wants to talk to you too!"

The spell was broken; you yelped into him, grabbing his shirt for support and checked your surroundings. A waving hand caught your attention; Kaminari was signaling you to go to him then froze and started running away; little did you know someone was sending him a death glare.

You cleared your throat, still warm and fuzzy from head to toe and separared from the blond that caught you in his arms. Bakugou seemed to have noticed the position too because he jerked away a step back and looked completely out of place.

Ridiculous. And hilarious, looking anywhere but you and still made no attempt to move. Neither did you, instead opting to hide a giggle.

Because you felt warm, tingly, all while he was a complete gremlin, sweet in his own personalized way, in which he cared for you, he defended you.

And you're in disbelief because how come this guy, this adorable, blushing porcupine with anger issues made you feel so soft and fragile? How did you end up in this situation and how can you stay in it forever?

"What's so fucking funny, hah?" There wasn't any bite to what could've been an aggressive wording, just hidden tenderness. He fought a smile too and had the audacity to try to act annoyed. Sadly, you had to go, so you shook your head and took a step back.

Bakugou understood, so he nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I'll see how later, ok?" You promised and he glanced at you from the corner of his eye. Now you had his ear in full view for you to see the tips reddened too. You want to melt, even coo at the sight, but you really did have to go. However, you couldn't leave without sending him a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, whatever." His jaw sinked a little in the collar of his shirt as he stomped away too.

—

The whole afternoon was spent talking to a counselor and to the principal himself about a problematic individual. The first year student was encouraged by your new friends to report it as they escorted him to safety and soon an internal investigation started; maybe, possibly because of you.

Why were you so relieved?

Because they listened to you. Because they believed you. Because you didn't have to prepare yourself every single morning to take verbal hits from all directions. Because you've been given a voice, unlike your old school where everything was brushed off; "It's your word against hers" and much more bullshit. No, this time was real and they proved it by listening to every single word you said.

You were dropped at your dorms just before 9 P.M. and it was too late to meet anyone at the point. But it wasn't important; the moment you landed on your bed a smile broke on your face, a few tears fell and you had the best sleep in forever.

—

The air changed. The aura around your class switched. Midori was clearly missing, which instantly turns a bad day into a fantastic one, but it wasn't only that. Students were called, one by one, again and again interrupting class and took hours to come back. Meanwhile the Divas in particular looked concerned, another great view to enjoy now and until the rest of time.

It was obvious why this was happening and you never felt this much peace and satisfaction. Even so, you started to feel overwhelmed because people suddently started greeting you. The people that weren't in Midori's toxic and constricted entourage.

They said your name! Without hatred! The school's goldenboy's name, Kaminari Denki, was dropped again and again too. It seems he just casually started mentioning what he witnessed the day before and you suddently felt the need to hug him tight. Gossip spread like wild fire thanks to him, after all.

Maybe you fell into a parallel universe but you couldn't bring yourself to care, you just waltzed on the hallways after the bell rang, wanting to go get some food, then hide at Mei's workshop for some recharging. Another part of you wanted to meet the explosive boy too, though.

In all honesty, it didn't matter where you ended. You were in an incredible mood.They talked to you and it was exhausting but nice!

Was this what it felt in horror movies when the demon-child with rotating head and projectile vomit was finally exorcized? Was the curse really released for good?

As you floated in the skies, high on life and what-not, you turned the corner just to run nose straight into a wall. Your brain decided to take a break for the day, it seems, and you genuinely hoped nobody saw you march head first into— It wasn't a wall, but a boy that gave you a raised brow and narrowed eyes.

"Watch where the fuck you're going, dumbass."

"Great to see you too!" you chippered, walking around him, knowing for a fact his attitude wouldn't be able to piss you off—

"What's with the idiotic expression?" Nevermind, he can go fuck himself. Yet you smiled because you're a Godsend angel and that's what winged saints do.

"Just really happy." You shrugged, walking away with ease and tried to bite a bigger smile off your face when you noticed him turning to walk with you. "What are you doing on this side of the campus?" You inquired.

"Came to walk you to lunch or whatever." Well, damn, that made you halt in surprise. He's behind you, staring out the window with disinterest but froze when he saw your dumbfounded face. "WHAT? IT WAS IN MY WAY, OK? Want me to leave? I can leave! You can fuck off—" You placated your hands and started laughing.

"No, no—" Your eyes glint. "It's really sweet of you." You said, awaiting his reaction with mischief.

He first choked on air, like one normally does, and then showed the worst allergic reaction to mere words. "SW—! THAT'S NOT— I'M NOT— YOU— I— NO—" in no time you're crackling like a deranged witch, adoring every single second of the show he was pulling. He was basically howling and your laughter actually infuriated him more.

"FUCK OFF!" Your amusement calmed down as you studied him, his puffed cheeks, red eyes avoiding you; with a few stomped steps he placed himself ahead of you but made no attempt to stand you up and go be a hermit somewhere else.

Bakugou Katsuki. Ash blond hair, broad back, pink ears... Swears like a sailor, is all bark and and all bite, except with his friends. Has a big heart...

"Something strange is happening." You find yourself saying.

"Hah?" He glances back.

"People have been acting weird." That stops him.

"They better not be fucking messin' with you—"

"No, on the contrary, they're nice to me..." you assured, voice faint as his comment repeated in your mind and your chest warmed up once again because of him.

They better not be fucking messin' with you.

"Good." He says and you can't bite your tongue.

"You're a good guy, Bakugou."

He gives you a face. "Hah? Now you fucking notice?!" But he's grinning at the end of the sentence, cocky and so full of himself and you'd lie if you said you didn't consider him incredibly handsome. Although it seems he did not get the message.

"No. I mean it for real. You really are a good guy." He grunts like he hurt himself in his own confusion, staring stupidly at you, slightly blushing. "You're gonna be such a great hero too." Mouth agape to try to answer, he just gives you plate eyes and nothing else. On the other hand you genuinely expected more explosive reactions but this seemed to have broken him for some good seconds. He stared and watched and stood there like an idiot in front of you, making you want to both bury yourself in your own embarrassment and laugh at him.

You opted to look up at the ceiling, flustered and amused, yesterday's events suddently washing over you; they never really left your thoughts but now all the feelings decided to come visit once again.

"Oi—" he better not ruin it. "Wh— The fuck you kissing my ass for?!" You breathe out, long and loud for him to understand how stupid he sounded and stalked ahead; only food could save the day he's been actively ruining and that's what you were gonna get. He followed your rushed steps with cusses and questions until he grabbed your wrist to slow your pace. "Slow down, dumbass!"

The issue was that his obnoxiously loud voice caught then attention of some students that were just minding their own business.

"Is that Bakugou Katsuki?" Earning a groan from him as if it wasn't his fault!

"—with [L/N] [Y/N]?"

"Are they holding hands?!"

"So they're really together?" You cringe in embarrassment.

"Is that a confession?!" No, no, absolutely not happening. You rush out of the scene, gut burning, the boy on your toes cursing and mumbling whatevers but you didn't reach far until he talks. At least he had the decency of stopping you at an empty spot before giving you a heart attack.

"This is when you confess— or some fucking— dumb shit like that." Even without seeing him, back turned and absolutely petrified, you heard the cocky vibration in his tone that was sprinkled with some light stuttering.

Son of a bitch. That prinkly ass cocky fuck. That absolutely handful of a sea urchin—

You checked the closest stairway, your nearest exit and pathway to your salvation but something in that attitude of his just made you shake as you covered your face and laugh.

"You're... You're the worst." You mumble in disbelief but the grin that almost broke your face got even bigger as he choked and inhaled sharply.

"Hah?! Wasn't I the fucking best a minute ago?!"

"I did not say tha—"

"Same shit!" He bites when you glanced on him through your fingers. Your skin was burning so hot it would've been mortifying if he didn't look just as rattled. The view managed to calm your nerves and spike them at the same time.

"You're the worst..." Finally uncovering your face, he takes in your grin and visibly calms his fuming yet remains just as discomposed. "—and I like you."

Still, you cover your mouth because the blond in front of you started combusting and it was glorious to watch. Hell, you felt like grabbing a snack and watching him go through all those feelings that slapped his face on repeat. First his eyes widened, the teasing from before forgotten, then his skin, already splashed with red transformed completely into the same color, so deep it in resemblance with his eyes, eyes that were reading into you intensely. He went rigid too and as time passed and passed and he did not move, the only thing left was to break him out of his misery. Yes, break him.

"This is when you say it back."

He snapped. "I— DON'T FUCKING— DON'T FUCKING MAKE ME SAY EMBARRASSING SHIT LIKE THAT!" Birds flew away in one mile radius, windows trembled, your eardrums cried for mercy and you hid your smile because even through deafening volume, Bakugou Katsuki did not deny it. A zoo totally high on crystal meth started a revolution in your insides and the feeling threatened to burst out at any moment.

This is it. This ball of emotional constipation was taking your breath away while cussing you after you confessed and all you wanted to do was to squeal... What have you become?

But you said nothing, just stared with your hand covering your mouth, taking in the boy that looked like he wanted to throw fists with you, bared teeth and all, and also simultaneously die of a stroke.

"I—" he tried, you had to give him credit because he really did try. Like a challenge, like he wasn't going to back down, he gave his best and not without looking like it killed him inside. "F—" cuss word got stuck in his throat when you couldn't help a scoff. Suddently the show comes to an end when he halts, gives you a glare and takes a deep breath. For a moment you feared he'd walk away. Oh, how wrong you were because deep down you had to know he did not back down easily.

"I like— you, too." Beautiful words came out of his mouth, looking like it physically pained him to say them. "THERE, I SAID IT! YOU FUCKING HAPPY NOW?!" He howls indignantly, crossing his arms, trying to hide his clear flustered self yet it takes him one glance at you to return to his self induced stroke. "Don't fucking make that dumb fucking face—" he struggled to exist. "Don't look at me like that, dammit!"

You giggle, relieved and happy and in all honesty about to cry a tiny bit. You couldn't help it, enamored with how blissful this moment was. Bakugou stops his grunts and watches you in awe, small, minuscule grin taking over his face and he clicks his tongue, trying to fight it.

And deflects, as always.

"C'mon. Have to walk you there before you get lost or some shit like that." You breathe in and nod, even thought you were perfectly capable of walking to the cafeteria as you've done it for a year and some now.

"Okay."

"You'd be starving if it weren't for me." You snort and roll your eyes, but beam like a lovestruck idiot.

"Sure thing, dude." It instantly earns a grunt, then a pout, followed by grumbles and heavy feet by your side. You check on him, noticing his shrugged shoulders and tinted nose and you almost trip with your own legs because of it. He doesn't say anything for the longest time, which you didn't mind as you yourself needed some time to shoo away the butterflies and rainbows that floated all around in your very empty head. It wasn't until you almost reached the cafeteria that he stops you by the arm and looks away.

"You— You shouldn't call your boyfriend dude, dumbass."

Remember the butterflies? Now they're radioactive and fluttering around, crazed and disoriented.

"Says the one that calls me a dumbass, Bakugou." You relent, thankful he took the initiative to answer the question that lingered in the air throughout all the walk.

A wild flush takes over him and he refuses to turn toward you, just observing from the corner of his eyes.

"It's— It's Katsuki to you, dumbass." And he drags you inside without giving you a chance to process it. But when you do, you grin like mad and whisper just as you were manhandled through the door, preparing yourself for his explosive gargling and screaming and silently apologizing to everyone in your general proximity.

"Okay, Kacchan~"

Note: Thank you for reading and for any sweet mesages! I read each and every one of them and they make me so incredibly happy!! I would like to point out that the phone editor switches around paragraphs and it's very confusing. I edited some mistakes and for now it's good but I'm scared it wasn't fixed since I edited before too and I encounter the same problem again... If you find something off, could you please let me know? I want the reading to be enjoyable for everyone after all. Thank you again! 💕

[sirthisisa-wendys]

The Enforcers: Part 7.5 (Geto Suguru x Fem!Reader)

wc: 1.2k

tw: none (you'll get some smut next chapter)

masterlist

"Please, just bring our daughter back home."

The TV switches off, and you face your reflection, staring into the sunken cheeks you've come to accept as your own. Your mother and father's faces are burned into your mind's eye, their tear-streaked and ruddy appearance making a perfect picture of an attempt to gain sympathy.

But there's no sympathy for them in your heart. Not with what you know now.

"I would've expected you to try to escape," Suguru mutters, standing from the other side of the metal table and placing his palms on the freezing cold surface. "But you've been incredibly docile. What are you planning?"

"Nothing," you lie, adjusting your position in the metal chair as the handcuff clanks against the arm. "Nothing at all."

"Here's the deal," Suguru starts, holding up the thumb drive. "There are a ton of files on this little stick here. I want you to go through every single one and decrypt the ones that haven't been released. Once you do that, I'll set you free to do as you please."

"No," you answer, lacing your fingers together. "I no longer work for you."

"You don't work for the CSB either."

"Seems I'm an independent contractor now." You hold up the wrist attached to the cuff, metal scraping against metal. "And I have terms that need to be met before I work on anything of yours."

"Tell me," he replies, tilting his head to the side.

"First of all, I want full freedom while I'm here. No oversight, no guards, no nothing."

"I think you might be a little off the mark with your requests," Geto sighs, pursing his lips together. "You're asking me to fully trust you'll do what needs to be done."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," you retort, and Suguru lifts a brow. "So, for now, you're my friend. In addition to no oversight, I want to be able to have input on when and where these files can be released."

"So you want my job?" You shake your head and Suguru crosses his arms.

"I want to call the shots alongside you. You brought me into this, I got fucked up because you got sloppy, you're going to do as I ask so I'll help you with your mission. I doubt a single ex-Kitsune down here can do what I do in less than thirty days. That's why you brought me out of my room."

"That's not the only reason why," Geto breathes.

"Stop acting like you have feelings for me, Geto," you scoff, rolling your eyes. "You brought me out of that room - and down here - to help you because no one else is fast enough to do what I do. Otherwise, I would've been put under lock and key for the rest of my life." Suguru doesn't answer you, so you assume it's true. "Finally, I want a nice room to stay in."

"It would be next door to mine."

"That's fine," you shrug. "I won't bother you unless you're fucking... with my sleep."

"Done."

_____________________________________________________________

Your bed is soft and warm when you make it up to your room, and you're given two things - a key and the thumb drive.

An obviously refurbished computer sits in the corner of the room on a small desk, and you sit at it, powering it up. The machine isn't incredibly old, but it is old enough to potentially slow down your decryption of the files.

But that's okay. The main problem right now is just getting used to your new space.

As the computer boots up, you walk around the apartment-style surroundings, checking out the bathroom and modern-looking appliances that look foreign next to the yellow and orange anachronism of a carpet in the bedroom. A small kitchen and living room sit just past the bedroom and down a short hallway, but other than that, nothing.

A check in the closet reveals all sorts of clothes - some ultra-feminine, others gender neutral - and you look at the types of shoes offered to you. It's only then that you realize everything in the closet will not only fit you but are brand new with the tags still on them.

You're still investigating when there's a knock on the door, and you stop mid-search to answer it. Suguru stands in the hallway, sighing when he sees you open it.

"Is the place to your liking?"

"Yeah," you bite out, avoiding his gaze. "What's up?"

"Can I come in?" You consider saying "no" because technically he's still your enemy. But you let him in anyway, stepping back and allowing him to walk past you and into the bedroom.

"What can I help you with?" you wonder, eyeing the computer still revving up in the corner.

"I wanted to apologize. For everything. Using you, lying to you, and holding you hostage - to an extent." You press your lips together and rock back on your heels while holding your breath. "You might not ever forgive me for the things I've done, and that's okay. I just wanted to let you know that every feeling I have for you - friends and otherwise - is real. I couldn't fake my love and care for you if I tried."

"How do I know you're not lying to me right now?" you ask, and Suguru shakes his head.

"You can't. I could swear on everything I hold dear, and still, you would have to make the choice to trust me or not. Which I completely understand if you don't. I'm not here to try to get you to trust me again; I would just hate for you to think that every single time I interacted with you it was for... this." He motions around him, then stands akimbo in the room as you wait for him to finish. "When Toji shot you, I thought I was going to lose you. It frightened me so bad... I--" His voice cracks, and you look away from his crestfallen face as he remembers that day. "I wasn't sure what to do. But just know I won't let a single soul on this planet harm you again to the best of my ability." Your heart stutters, and you look back up at him, feeling rage burn in your stomach.

"And if the person who hurt me was you?" Suguru flinches. "what would you do then?"

"What I'm doing now. I'm going to have to show you that I'm serious, though. That much I know." He steps toward you, but you step back, eyeing him carefully.

"You should go. I'll start decrypting the files when the machine begins to work."

"Sure," Suguru whispers, then starts toward the door. "Don't forget, I'm next door. So if you need me, let me know." As soon as he leaves, the computer goes to the start screen, the image of a tree blossoming on the computer. You stick the thumb drive in and sit down, inhaling before you begin to work on manually decrypting over a thousand files, all for a man you still felt something for, despite your outward appearance.

All for a man who almost got you killed.

All for a man who offered you the truth on a silver platter, and told you to "eat".

_____________________________________________________________

TAGLIST: @missbonekitty @wack0-genius @thankuary @jsqeeut @r-i-m-f-009 @sunfloweroranges @leanne-tamashi @girlruby23 @rein-icu @brownskinnedgirll @chanelmalandro @savantsoulfinder @jibe-gajima @chilledlucifer @amnxsia @kontentious @fuyuko26 @everybodylovescayrayray @flare-on

[revui]

question! i didn't finish listening to the entirety of your foreverlands playlist (it's huge and i have little to no context for most of the songs. bc i know like. 4 characters and a half, not counting the memes. so it mostly feels like trying to decrypt what's written in ancient scripts or something. which is fun!) but i was wondering. what's your favorite song on the playlist and why? (favorite as in. relevant to plot i guess. like one that gives you a very vivid image of something you want to write into the story. or that describes a character so well they might as well have written the song themselves). Or like, maybe you have multiple songs that tie for first place, so feel free to give more if one is not enough. there's no limit. i mean honestly. if you manage to choose only one song. that's incredible. i have character playlists with like 10 songs and i still can't choose less than 3 songs to call my favorites (for the reasons listed above).

FOLKS

FISH IN A BIRDCAGE

First, I am very biased because it's also just my favorite song in general. I found it over the summer and I think it altered my brain chemistry. I added it to the playlist immediately without even waiting for the FL thoughts to kick in.

Second, it's just a crystallized version of the entire story. Every character. No matter who I'm writing, if I put this song on, it immediately becomes their song. Because it's the whole point of the story. Everyone is weird, everyone is "wrong," everyone is stuck. Even if they don't know it.

For example, Perseus Finch, a character I don't believe I've mentioned before. There are eight schools of magic in the Foreverlands, each with a head, considered the very best at that school. Percy is the head of Illusion magic. And he's 12.

That position comes with a lot of responsibilities, so putting a complete child there was beyond controversial, especially since he was 11 when he first got the title, ESPECIALLY since the woman who was the last head of Illusion had died not even a few hours beforehand, ESPECIALLY because that woman was PERCY'S DEAD MOM.

So. Y'know. Objectionable.

And he's already got to worry about, like, puberty. He doesn't have time to teach Illusion or serve the Seraph. And he at least vaguely understands how much this fucking sucks, but he also doesn't have enough time to stew in that since he's too busy being responsible for an entire division of sorcerery. I put this song on while I'm writing Percy, and it's Percy's song.

For a briefer example, Hyacinth. She showed up for a bit as Quin's friend in his chapter. She's a deeply independent person and has all kinds of different ideas for what she could do and who she could be, but she's tied down by her massive family, being the only one consistently able to look after all the younger kids, while also handling a lot of responsibilities at school, and needing to help run her family's casino, the Vermillion Garden. She has barely a second for herself but would feel guilty abandoning any of her duties for her own interests even though her soul is furiously ablaze and screaming of all the things Hyacinth wants to do. I put this song on while I'm writing Hyacinth, and it's Hyacinth's song.

I could keep going through all 14 other examples but for the sake of both our time, I'll leave it at two. You get the point. Song good.

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Finding the freedom' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Finding the freedom"

"You're not trying to hold on for yourself but for her, Yirina....keep living and fight for her !"

Chapter Summary : Thanks to Sonya Kuzmin, Yirina & Park has managed to escape the place they were prisoner by the Perseus Collective but Yirina was wounded during the escape and she passed out soon after the duo arrived back at the CIA safehouse....and in fact, her chance for her freedom was only now....

Link of the Picrew used !

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3200

Taglist : @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

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We did it....me....Park, thanks to Sonya's help....we succeeded into escaping the base that Perseus were using for their operations in Verdansk, giving us an chance to return back to the CIA safehouse we didn't see for almost 2 weeks but....I was unfortunately wounded during the escape...an bullet right into the left shoulder at an few centimeters from my heart that was shot by Freya herself to avoid me to get away. She wanted to keep me and I was going to die because of her, I was dying on the road and when I passed out in that safehouse, I was maybe thinking that I was done, that she killed me....

"Quick, we need support here !"

"We've got an wounded here, help !"

When I opened my eyes, knowing that I was still unconscious, I found myself back into the old safehouse in West-Berlin, dressed in the same clothes....with the same bullet wound at my shoulder despite not feeling it at all and the blood on the white shirt, appearing like out of nowhere in the middle of the main room near Adler's desk, still alone in that empty place, feeling it was an purgatory....mine.

At first, I started to wander around the place but in fact, I was awaiting for someone to come and it could have been Bell, Lazar, Park, anyone....anyone I could make an talk in my head to pass the time until my heart stopped or until they managed to save me out of here, this safehouse now like an waiting room, me as an patient waiting that death is coming to claim them, walking around to take an look at everything, to see how it was 3 years ago.

This was the only I could have done....waiting. I was passing through our old desks, seeing all the paperwork we did, all the files that we have decrypted, that I have decrypted, the numerous pictures inside the Dark Room, hanging around to dry up on the multiple links and seeing the dashboard, still full of intels we gathered : East-Berlin, Ukraine, Moscow and that was it but mainly, I was just waiting.

"She needs to be immediately healed, we can't lose her !"

"I know that, Sims, we don't want that to happen !"

"No one is wanting this, Woods, no fucking one !"

I was continuing to wait, longer, longer.....seems that time in my head and outside in the real world was working differently but it was seeming so long to wait. I couldn't continue to walk all over the safehouse, deciding to sit on the chair near Adler's old desk, my eyes drifting to look at every papers on it but this time, it wasn't no more about the mission, about Perseus but about me, files that were describing the brainwashing that happened to me, half of the papers looking burned.

It was surely representing the fact that the CIA tried to erase me from their records after Solovetsky but I was still here, just to suffer in my head, awaiting for my death or my recovery. I was just trying to hold on but nothing was helping me, sitting on this chair and holding in my hands Adler's sunglasses, not knowing how to feel to have them in my hands....in real life, back in that pocket.

"What are you awaiting for, Yirina ?" I didn't jump scared from hearing that voice in the room that broke the silence, recognizing my own voice....Bell...sounding normal.

"Either my death...." I started in an low voice, not looking around me to see where she was, my head down and my eyes on these sunglasses. "...or my freedom back into the living world." I finished, putting the sunglasses on the desk.

"Are you trying to say that you're losing hope ?" Bell demanded, using an tone that was looking between 2 things without exactly knowing what he could be. "Don't tell me that you lost hope !" She repeated, arriving in front of me on the other side of the desk and I raised my shoulders to her. "What does that mean ?"

"I don't know." I replied, troubled by everything around me. "What can I do now, Bell ?" I asked rhetorically, given the situation I was now. "I'm surely dying in the hands of everyone on the medical table in the middle of the USSR." I said, passing my right hand above my wound.

"And it's not because of it you have to...

"To lose hope ?" I cut her in an gentle way, starting to think that I was kinda accepting my fate right now. "You ain't the one to get shot."

"She didn't want to shot you, I think that it was only an warning shot." She proclaimed but that wasn't possible.

"If it was the case, she would have shot in the air." I stated, putting 2 of my fingers on the wound, trying to see if it was still bleeding.

"Sonya avoided her to maybe kill you but...." She then stopped her to grab an chair at another desk before coming back, having took Sims's old one to sit near me backwards. "Damnit, you can't be like that." She exclaimed, sitting on the chair.

"Yes but I'm lost, you know ?" I said, finally finding the courage to look at her, myself, in the eyes. "I want to live but all of this trauma I've been facing since I woke up, I don't know." I added, removing my hand off my wound, my two fingers with some blood on it. "More I look at myself, more I want to say that I'm better but each day, there's something that told me that how my old life was either good or shitty."

"Yirina, I'm just something that the CIA created, an piece of your life but....shit, I don't know." She expressed, sounding very painful to talk about this and seeing me like this, she was seeing herself because we're the same person. "I did existed for like what ? 3 weeks for real ? Maybe an month ?"

"I can't remember that well." I told her, having only relived an small part of the events of 1981 in my head. "That's my life in one sentence you just said : I can't remember an goddamn thing." I claimed, basically having resumed myself to that sentence.

"And each day, you're trying to find more about who we were." Bell told me, crossing her arms on the back of the chair, her head on them. "And you know well that you're not alone in this, you got Park, Zasha, Portnova and more." She continued as I was feeling tears in my eyes at hearing these names.

"Stop." I pleaded in an low voice to her.

"Stopping what ?" She asked me, worried and troubled on her face.

"Just...don't say those names, please." I snorted, passing my right hand below my eyes to clean up the tears, starting to cry for good. "It's making me sad." I cried, looking away from her in shame.

"No, it's not for making you sad and hopeless." Bell explained, hearing her getting up from her chair to get in my eyes sight. "Yirina, look at me." She ordered as I moved away my head again when she kneeled at where I was looking.

"No." I whispered.

"Yirina, look....at....me !" She ordered again, sounding also sad as me and pleading to make me look at her before I resigned myself. "Those names, you can't forget them." She alleged, putting her hands on my face to make sure that I would not look away. "They're loyal to you because they know how much you will do for them."

"Maybe." I muttered, taking an breath as the tears were still falling on my pale cheeks.

"Not maybe but entirely !" Bell corrected me, her hands going on top of mine on my lap. "You don't realize that if you die, they would never be able to get over it." She told me in an clear voice, slowly starting to think that death isn't an option.

"She's starting to lose more blood, Woods !"

"I fucking saw it, damnit !"

"Come on, Grigoriev, don't let us down !"

"I know that they're warriors, the best people I met." I admitted, smiling about thinking of Park, Zed, Portnova....all of my friends....

"Yes but...they're worried, they need to be protected." Bell proclaimed, getting her hands off me before sitting on Adler's desk, removing some burned-looking papers along the way. "And they need you !" She affirmed, pointing at me.

"Why it has to be me, Bell ?" I spoke up, deciding to go up from my seat and getting behind it, putting my hands on the back of it. "I know that I need them but..."

"Yes, you need them." She cut me out, avoiding me to speak further. "We both know how much you need to have them near you." She added, knowing the true of her words. "Each time Park isn't here near you, you're getting crazy."

"You're right." I whispered.

"Of course, I'm fucking right, Yirina." Bell raised her voice against me, feeling myself not in control of my own mind. "Right now, I'm trying to make sure that YOU...live on !"  She poked at me at my right shoulder where the blood weren't present, my head looking down at the chair, tears still on my face.

"Stop, don't be angry." I ordered in an low voice.

"I'm not angry but I'm trying to make sure that you understand." She exclaimed, using the same tone as before that was anger without been one actually.

"So, please, don't use that tone." I sniffed away, looking at Park's old desk and....I could see her at her seat, working with an headset. "Park." I started to walk in her direction but I was realizing that it was just an simple vision that couldn't speak or see me before he sadly fade away, like particles into thin air. "No..." I snorted before I fall on my knees, getting slowly weak and feeling that wound getting real to me.

"You can't accept your fate and die, you have to continue to fight for you, for Park and for your friends." Bell stepped in, getting in front of me and still up, offering her left gloveless hand. "Come on, take my hand." She suggested before I took it in mine, helping me to get up but the pain in my shoulder was still here.

"You know better than me, how ?" I questioned her as she was going back slowly towards Adler's desk but she wasn't responding directly, causing me to follow her, holding my left shoulder with my right hand.

"Because I'm your conscience, remember ?" She said, peaking her head towards before leaning back on the desk. "I'm making you do the right choices and to make you live."

"Right now, it's mostly surviving that I want to do." I quoted, walking to join Bell on the desk as she was looking deeply at the dashboard, precisely at the younger Perseus picture and next to me, there were Adler's sunglasses that I decided to take back in my hands. "I've got an bullet in me and I'm trying to hold on." I proclaimed, finding that I needed to live, not die but was I the one that could decide it ?

"Blood pressure is doing better but not good enough !"

"I'm just trying to remove that damn bullet of her, stop stressing me, Song !"

"Come on, we're going to do this and she's going to live !"

"That's good." Bell smiled at me before she was looking back at the same picture her eyes was now focused as me, I decided to....put on the sunglasses despite not loving it.

"Looking at this picture for this long is not going to help you with those files." I spoke, mimicking Adler but keeping my normal voice before I removed the glasses in shame of what I just did.

"See that you didn't lost your sense of humor." Bell scoffed, thinking that it was good for me to joke in the middle of the situation I'm facing. I'm dying but I'm joking... "It proves that you don't want to go." She stated, going up from the desk.

"By joking ?" She nodded at me, walking in front of the dashboard and facing me.

"It appease you, it's nice." She grinned at me as I was trying to reciprocate the move until I managed to do it for good, bringing an smile on my face.

"I just want to hold on." I told her, keeping the smile on me, sounding happy.

"That's all I wanted to hear, Yirina." She confided about the situation before I start to see her fading away in thin air like that vision of Park, starting by her legs. "You know that I'm still here."  She proclaimed before she was finally out of my sight, having disappeared in front of me, feeling saddened by that as I was now back alone in here.

"We're losing her, for fuck sake !"

"Park will kill everyone here if we lose her, understand ?"

"Okay, move for the defibrilator....clear !"

I didn't want to die anymore but I was still here in that safehouse, awaiting for me to recover back in the real world. Time were passing, minutes and it was getting long, prompting me to start to remake an walk inside the safehouse but now, each time I was walking near an desk, there were no more thing on them : no more files, no more personals effects....nothing...nothing...

The Dark Room was now sealed off, impossible to get inside like if the safehouse changed during my talk with Bell, feeling that it was like the last time I stepped in that place for real almost 2 months ago, the CIA having packed up everything to close the place down after it was raided by Stitch. This was maybe meaning that my time in that place in my head was coming at its end but I'm still here.

I did like....3 tours around but now, with nothing on the desks, nothing on the dashboard anymore, nothing to make me pass the time, I was now forced to await, going back to lean on Adler's desk, an blank stare towards the empty dashboard, the sunglasses still next to me until I remembered that I've got something else with me too : my mother's ring that Freya gave me back hours before my escape.

I took it out of the pocket it was along with the sunglasses, taking an better & closer look on it, seeing that it didn't change in three years...an simple ring with an diamond on it, it was maybe simple but it was meaning an lot for me, rekindling with an direct object of my past, something that belonged to my mother. My life was maybe going back together and this ring....it was showing it....

"Nice ring, Yirina." I heard footsteps coming towards me from behind and I smiled, just by recognizing the voice that just talked.

"Thanks, Laz'" I said, turning around to see him, dressed in the 'Burger Town' shirt he was always wearing in the first days 3 years ago when Bell was meeting everyone.

"See that Bell managed to make you live." He stated with an laugh, apparently knowing of the situation....we're in my head....."It's good that you're not giving up."

"I made an lot of promises." I whispered, still looking at the ring before putting it on my ring finger at my right hand. "You asked me to take care of Park, I will."

"I know and it's really good." He told me, walking to get next to me but avoiding to lean against Adler's desk.

"I....you had an diary before ?" I asked him as his presence was making me think about that fact : how the Perseus Collective managed to get their hands on his book ?

"Guy can't have any secret, these days." He replied with an grin, an bit enthusiatic. "You want to know what I write on it ?" He demanded obviously and I nodded but he shake his head. "I'm sorry but.....I'm only in your head."

"Yeah...I....fuck." I cursed, realizing that this Lazar was something that was in my head and he couldn't have all the answers I needed. "I always forgot that."

"Don't need to blame yourself." He expressed his gratitute, making an tap on my right shoulder as the pain of my wound was now gone again for good. "It's normal to feel these sort of things : I know that it's painful for an lot to not see me alive." He added, sadly removing the smile on my face to think about that day.

"No, don't talk about it." I demanded in an sad voice, looking at him clear and he nodded, knowing that the subject can't be talked now, not this close.

"To change the subject...." He started after an few seconds of silence, crossing his arms and still standing up. "I was thinking about that ring."

"What do you want to talk about it ?" I asked curious and showcasing it fully.

"An suggestion." He responded, smiling at me before looking at the direction of Park's old office. "What if you....asked for her hand ?"

"I....uhm....it is...."

"Yes, it's an good idea !" He guessed my words as I was in loss for it, putting his hand back on my shoulder. "You know that it's an chance for you to have an normal life, to have children and to live peacefully."  He exclaimed, wanting to make me believe more about an future where I could live normally.

"If it's an chance..." I whispered, seeing the ring at my finger. "I need to think about it." I confessed, needing an lot of reflection about that subject and with what happened, it will take time until I can talk about this to her..

"I know you will take an good choice." Lazar reassured me before like Bell, he slowly started to vanish into thin air but it was also the surroundings of the safehouse. "You will." He spoke up before him & the old safehouse disappeared, leaving into an black void.

I was now back alone into that strange place, with only Adler's sunglasses in my left hand & my mother's ring back into my right hand. The past....& the future. My burn mark & his sunglasses at my left, the ring and an intact hand meaning the future at my right but I couldn't let go the past because I still need an lot of answers for myself. I was still now awaiting for the moment I will open my eyes back into the real world.

"We need another charge of defibrilator, now !"

"I'm taking it....clear !"

My thoughts were mostly positive when I start to fall on my knees, exhausted by everything including my wound before I fall on my back, looking up at the endless void, an smile on my face as I was finally finding the freedom I needed after that escape from Perseus base, trying to see myself in the future, maybe married....having childrens but now I need to relax and close my eyes, the smile still present on my face when they closed....

This is how I'm feeling my freedom....I want to feel it !

[milasartblog]

Allister: Sakróne tribe?

He looked at Kim confused and puzzled as Kim took place to sit and opened the page.

Kim: I was surprised myself. For long time nobody found an evidence of such tribe's existence. And yet, some notes were found in one place, where right now is village near the forest. Notes were made by anonymous author, and-

Allister: Anonymous author doesn't always mean that it can be a scientist or archeologist. Maybe it's someone's prank to make an urban legend and get a popularity.

Kim: Maybe, but i feel that it can be true.

Allister: And what makes you feel like this?

Kim: Look.

Kim points at the page that was teared apart and instead there was a note, written in unknown language.

Allister: So what? There are a lot of fonts online. Somebody maybe wanted to leave a prank message.

Kim: Al, how can you be so skeptical to such things? If it was not true, people would not write a book about it. Plus, this page was teared appart, so maybe it was important.

Allister: Yeah yeah, whatever. So, do you know what this note says?

Kim: I tried to decrypt this message, and what i got is: "I'm the last of Sakróne, and if you want to get this page back, try to find me. You will recognize me. Like you recognize other people." I'm not sure what was so important in this page, but what surprises me is that nobody noticed the missing page of this book.

Allister: Maybe because people find this book about this "unexisted" tribe as common fantasy story?

Kim: Al, this is serious!

Allister looked at Kim being serious about such things. He knew she would react like this, and yet he didn't mean to make her feel like this. He tried to be on his opinion about it, but with deep sigh he looked at the book.

Allister: Okay, and how will we find this last-of-Sakróne?

Kim was surprised a bit, but smiled as looked at book again.

Kim: This person wrote that we will recognize him, like any common person. Maybe he hides in our city like common person.

Allister: So you want me to look at every person in the city?

Kim: No, it will take too much time. I don't think that it should be done in a hurry. There was no date or time in the note, so i suppose this guy just wants to hide something important to him, something that it's better not to know.

Allister: Alright, so we can start our search when we will have enough things about this person and about this tribe. Is there an internet version of this book?

Kim: Sadly no, so i will try to make copies of it.

Allister: I can pick you up to nearest stationery. But on motobike, if you don't mind.

Kim: It's better like this. So, let's go?

Allister: Yeah

And they went out from library quietly to the outside as they got on bike and drove away from university. A strange person appeared in the city, saying that he is the last of Sakróne tribe. Will our heroes find out who it was, and will they ever meet each other one day?

-----

And this is the part 2 of bonus ending. I was so excited to finally do this^^ I'm so sorry for taking it long, i couldn't find my confidence to do it, even with uni qwq And yet, you showed me that my story is still worth doing it at least for myself, because i do enjoy making stories and drawing my characters^^ So, i hope you will like this ending and hope that you will enjoy next part that i will try to make^^

Allister, Kim and last of Sakróne belong to @wildstarfan and @milasartblog (both me)

[ernmark]

I shrieked when I saw the new vixen fic, but the whole thing is giving me a bad feeling. Those men coming after Peter can't all be Valle's clients, can they? What is Peter involved in? Is Juno in danger? How attached will Juno get before he is betrayed? ( I know you're closed for prompts so you don't need to answer but I'm WORRIED and INVESTED and you need to know )

(I think writers and stock brokers are the only people who get super giddy when they hear the word ‘invested’.) 

I anticipate being open for prompts again by the end of this week, right in time for the beginning of the new season. 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

One of the first things Mag taught me, one of the real first rules of thieving, was a sidewalk shell game. A simple marble, a trio of identical cups, and a bit of sleight of hand. He didn’t teach me with the intention that I would ever use it– a thief of Mag’s caliber would never lower himself to such a crass scam– but because of the principle behind it. No matter how many times the cups are switched around, you always have to know which one holds the marble. Never go so fast that you lose track of the pieces in play. Never get so caught up in the game that you fall for your own con. 

I wonder what Mag would think of me now?

But I haven’t. I’m getting dangerously close to a tipping point, but I haven’t reached it yet. If trouble arises, I can always disappear. I can leave Juno Steel behind at any time.

I just don’t want to, that’s all. And maybe I won’t have to. Maybe I’ll take him with me, once I’m done with Mars and Hyperion City. He could be quite handy to have around, after all. I’ve seen firsthand what he’s willing to do for me. He’s a unique asset– muscle with enough brains to be a detective, but one who won’t ask any inconvenient questions. Besides, it might be nice not to have to travel alone for a while. It’s been too long since I’ve had a partner in crime.  

My darling detective, touch-starved and smitten– I’m sure he would join me if I asked him. Maybe not at first, but after a little persuasion.

After all, I’ve become quite the expert in that field.

The call comes from one of the secretaries at the HCPD. She’s an odd one, but she’s nice– and more importantly, she’s one of the only people on the force who doesn’t have it out for me.

That’s why she calls ahead to warn me. There’s been a string of robberies; the victims can’t give a good description of their attacker, but what bits and pieces they can string together match my description. Rita worries that there’s enough bad blood between me and my old precinct that somebody might try to pin it on me, just out of spite.

Thing is, they wouldn’t have to.

Because there’s something that sets these thieves apart from your average robber. 

It’s always the same: the victim is yanked into a dark alley and beaten within an inch of their lives. But where another mugger might take their wallet or their keys or their jewelry, this one just walks away and leaves them bleeding.

Meanwhile, his accomplice is raiding the victim’s house for more valuable assets, stealing priceless artifacts and top-secret files and key cards to more lucrative locations. But the vic doesn’t notice– usually they’re so distraught from the mugging and the first police report that it takes them days to catch on. Weeks, in some cases. That’s why it’s taken so long for the police to realize the incidents are all related. 

They all follow that pattern– all but one. A top-tier researcher working for HelixCorp. He had a set of files and prototypes stolen from a safe in his office, but the files were encrypted to hell and back again. They were useless without the decryption key, and he carried that on his person at all times in a convenient little memory card.

And then I stunned him, took the card off his unconscious body, and handed it over to Peter– Gray– whoever he is– without a second thought beyond that smile and those bright, beautiful eyes. 

He’s a thief. He’s been using me all this time.

I think I’m supposed to feel shocked or betrayed or something like that, but I don’t.

It feels a whole lot more like the other shoe just dropped. Sure, I was under it when it hit the pavement, but that’s my own damn fault for not getting out of the way when I saw it coming.

Count on Juno Steel to walk right into a trap and think he’s catching a break, right?

God, I’m an idiot.

When he– Silver, Gray, Peter, whoever he is– the next time he calls me, I don’t pick up the comms. When he stops by my place, I pretend I’m not home. I’m actually not home at least once when he comes by, but when I get back home I find a bottle of scotch on my table and miniscule scratches on my lock where it’s been picked.

I should probably do something about this. Deadbolt my windows and install a chain on the door. Turn him in, or at least give his number to the cops. If nothing else, it’ll make him leave me alone.

I should.

I don’t.

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Old talks' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Old talks"

Chapter Summary : After receiving an weird transmission from the MI5, Yirina is, with Park, wondering about who sent it.....until she realizes.......

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3900

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

I couldn't believe it that I was never able to remember properly that today, the May of 8th was the day of my birthday and Park.....well....she remembered it very good. Our trip to get to London, it was just an perfect occasion for her to celebrate my birthday with only the two of us, away from work for just one simple day. We were going to put aside our mission against Perseus & Stone and just be ourselves....maybe finally fullfill that little dream I had to have love in her office, on her desk as it was an perfect occasion. It was like one of the many birthday presents she could have given me to be honest.

But everything can't happen without a little something that will occur like that and that little thing was the knocks on her door, stopping us in our moment alone, getting ourselves back to work and like nothing happened here. However, as I thought to be just an simple transmission that the MI5 was given by their mysterious source that could have given us a lead on Stone....became suddenly too personal for me as their source wished me an 'Happy Birthday'....to me....only me...something wasn't right.

As I was in my seat, having finished to decrypt that transmission and still astonished by that, I looked at the MI5 agent who couldn't know where to go right now.

"Uhmm..." I started, looking pale on my face. "Can I....can you leave the office for an minute ?" I asked him as I wanted just to be alone with Park for the moment. "It's serious." I added in a low voice

"Yes....yes, miss." He agreed, looking a little bit stressed with me acting like that before he stepped out of the office, leaving me & Park alone.

"What the hell ?" I whispered to myself as I redressed myself on my seat, my eyes focused on the two papers that was in front of me. "How it is possible ?" I asked, still to myself.

"What's wrong ?" Park was confused at seeing me like that, she wasn't understanding me at all.

"Someone I don't know wished me happy birthday." I replied, joining my hands together, trembling. "That's the problem, right now."

"And ?" She raised an eyebrow, still not understanding. "It should be good." She added, trying to reassure me.

"You don't understand, Park." I breathed, not angered at all. "Someone INSIDE the Perseus Collective has done it." I insisted on the 'inside' word.

"Shit." She looked away, now realizing my words and my state, feeling so weird right now after I told her that.

"That's means that Perseus and the others know that I'm alive." I said, looking sure of my words. "If Freya & Stone maybe never told an thing.....Stitch did." I added, referring to what I heard from the two when I was dragged into that plane in the Tempelhof Airport.

"I could understand Freya's motives but Stone....." Park whispered, biting the right part of her lips, at hearing  saying that Stone hide the fact that I was alive....and I think she was right about it. "They gave you an target in the back....and I will make sure no one hit that target." She affirmed.

"Maybe but in every encounter I did with them, was it 'Bell' or 'Yirina Grigoriev' who acted ?" I told her, remembering well that it was 'Bell' who was in line when I was facing Freya or Stitch. "They maybe think that I'm sort of.....not myself." I suggested.

"Oh, I see what you mean." She snapped her fingers towards me, her arms posed on her desk. "For you, they're thinking that we did something on you." She was right in her words and I could see the guilty part on her face. "By giving them the illusion that you're Bell, it's actually given you an chance to maybe make Freya defect." I nodded to her idea, been right about it.

"If I can make her slowly realize that I know well of my state, I could try to make her join our side." I continued in her idea, explaining it further. "It will be hard but it can be done." I added, not even sure of it in fact.

"Do you.....do you think that she will accept the fact that you are playing an act with 'Bell' when you will told her about the truth ?" She asked me, looking worried about it.

"She will have to." I replied, putting my arm on the chair's armrest. "Even after she has done to me, I need to try to save her from Perseus madness." I looked down for an second, away from Park "We still have this link as 'sisters', you understand ?" She nodded to me.

"You want to do this because you know that she is forced by Perseus to stay." She supposed and I nodded back.

"It's what I want to believe for." I said, taking an breath before rolling my eyes to the ceilling. "The call I gave her after our raid on that safehouse, it's something I can use to bring her to the right side." I added. It was maybe an dangerous move each time I was going to do that and even if I only did this once, I know that this mean is understandable....Park believe in it too.

"Of course." She breathed in approval.

"But now, I wonder who in the Perseus Collective can send me......" I started before I stop myself, having suddenly an revelation about the transmission "What if this person was no longer from Perseus ?" I got up slowly from my seat, pointing at the papers. "What if.....it was Zasha themselves ?"

"What make you think of that ?" She asked me curious.

"First, it's my code that is used and only me, Zasha & Portnova is able to use it." I responded, raising my right index finger first. "And second, it's always the MI5 who is receiving the transmissions, meaning that it's someone inside the country who is doing it."

"Shit, you're right !" She got up from her seat, looking amazed by me before I decided to walk away from my chair to go outside, prepared to talk to the MI5 agent with the transmission paper in my hand.

"Excuse me, sir ?" I called him out as he was standing next to the door, probably awaiting for the order that he could come back inside.

"Yes ?" He turned around to look at me, getting away from the wall he was leaned on.

"Those tranmissions...." I started, showing him the paper I took. "Did you try to know about the person behind them ?" I asked him fully.

"Well, in fact, I also came here for that." He replied, delighting me before I let him go back inside Park's office to continue this conversation. "We know exactly who is doing all of this for us !"

"You have a name ?" Park questioned him, leaned against her desk, crossing her arms as the man took a file out of his jacket, handing it towards me.

"Yes, name's Remi Baker." He responded as I looked at the file he got out : a false act of birth and an picture from an security camera of Zasha on it, behind an reception desk, giving something to the person in charge of the reception.....they faked their identity to avoid Perseus suspicion. "In fact, this transmission didn't came by usual : they literally gave it to our receptionist at the Thames House." He added, giving me an info about how the picture was taken.

"But why they took that risk to do this instead of the usual way ?" I told him, curious about why Zasha will have done this like that.

"We don't know either but with that, we were able to know who was our mysterious R." He exclaimed, biting his upper part of his lips. "We just discovered that they are living not so far from the MI6's HQ : in the Kennington neighborhood in an apartment complex."

"Shit, that's means they established themselves well in London." Park admitted, looking outside and seeing the city. "What's the situation now ?"

"They have been put under heavy surveillance for the moment." He replied, sounding sure as me, I was panicking in the inside at fearing the worst for Zasha. "We're planning to move on them in the afternoon."

"Wait, we need to be there." I expressed almost loudy about it...I couldn't let Zasha go away like that from the MI5 and it was my only chance to see them. "I know that it must be weird for you but....they're my friend."

"Really ?" I nodded to him.

"Listen, it's been 3 years that Yirina wasn't able to see them and we can try to have them come without any harm." Park defended my opinion to him, making me proud of her again like always. "You have to let us be there." She added, putting her hands on the desk behind her. I could see the agent scratching the back of his head, not sure before he resigned himself.

"Okay, I will talk to my superiors about that." He then start to walk away slowly, waving at us before he left the office behind him, closing the door.

"Damnit." I whispered to myself before I decide to gave Park the file as she didn't really see it. "All this time, Zasha was just nearby." I added as Park looked at the file.

"Seems that they managed to create themselves a new identity." She exclaimed, surprised to see what was in the file. "They're pretty talented."

"Always has been like that." I smiled about it before I pointed to the file. "I know it's maybe dangerous but...maybe that Zasha have to come with us at West-Berlin." I suggested, causing Park to look at me with an raised eyebrow "Maybe it's too hard to ask but while they're with us, the MI6 can put an heavy protection on their brother for the moment."

"Interesting idea." Park put her hand on her chin, trying to think about if it was an good idea or not from me. "It could work." She removed herself from the desk, putting the file on it. "For now, we have to wait that the MI5 allow us to go talk to Zasha in person."

"And what do we do now ?" I raised my shoulders, looking around the office.

"Well, we can eat and....wait." She replied before she moved to take the cake on the plate in her hands. "Hungry ?" I nodded to her as she sit down again on her chair and me, doing the same before we start to eat the cake.

Now, we needed to wait for the MI5's approval to let two MI6 agents to have an talk with 'Remi Baker' aka Zasha Smirnov.....my best friend from my old life. We ate the cake very fast in almost 20 minutes as it was big enough only for 2 persons, meaning me & Park herself. Aftet we finished eating, we were still waiting in her office, trying to find something to do so to pass the time, we decided to try to find some informations in her old boxes and files to see if we didn't miss anything about Perseus, Stone or anyone else in case.

We didn't find anything on them, it was always something that we already know about them or something that wasn't very useful for us. 3 hours after the MI5 agent left us in Park's office, he finally came back to us with great news at the end of the afternoon : we were authorized to participate in the surveillance of Zasha at their apartment in the Kennington neighborhood and maybe to talk to them before he left us again. Once we were prepared, it was time for us to go.

We took Park's car and we decided to directly go to the address where Zasha was living and to be honest, it wasn't very far from Century House meaning that we could have just walk to get there instead of taking the car but it was too late to think about it as we were arrived at destination when I start to think of it.

"So, what's the plan ?" Park asked me as we were in our car, parked in an parking just in front of the apartment complex at the other side of the street, with me stressing in the inside while I was looking at the entrance.

"I think that I need to go alone for the moment." I responded, looking back at her, sure in my voice. "Zasha will maybe panick if they saw me & someone that they don't know." I added as I removed my M1911 from below my jacket.

"You're sure of it ?" I nodded to her, putting the M1911 in the glove box.

"I can tell you when it's good for you to come." I affirmed, pointing at the small device in our ears. It was Park's idea to take them for us in case, staying in contact.

"Okay." I breathed before I started to open the door until I felt Park's hand on my shoulder.

"Be aware, Yiri !" She advised me, looking at me with an grin.

"I will." I said, reciprocating the grin before I managed to get out of the car, ready to go face Zasha after all these years.

I took a deep breath as I started to walk to get to the apartment complex, not stressing at all...stressing a lot in reality....walking through the street before arriving in front of the entrance....trembling. I stayed like it for 2 minutes straight in front of it not moving at all before I finally decided to enter the complex, getting myself into the empty hallway. First thing to do was to go check the mailboxes next to the door. I was looking until I found where Zasha was living under their fake name : at the second floor.

Another deep breath later and I start to get up the stairs, fearing at each time I will make an step the moment where I will see Zasha in front of me and then, I finally arrived in front of their door before I knocked two times, feeling all the stress and discomfort in me. I started to think that maybe Zasha has changed in three years...maybe that they pissed at me because of Portnova's state, I think that it wasn't going to be an easy talk to handle.

I heard some footsteps inside and the door getting unlocked but the door didn't get open after the unlock, leaving me with the urge to open the door by myself slowly. I entered the apartment, seeing it as an modest one but simple to leave in.....until once I had my feets in it, I could feel the cannon of a gun touching the left side behind my neck.

"Who are you ?" It was Zasha themselves, not having apparently seeing my face as I slowly raise my hands.

"Z-....."

"Don't look at me !" They ordered, cutting me as I was going to look at them, turning my head slowly before getting back in front of me. "Tell me who you are ?" They asked again before I took another deep breath, closing my eyes, hearing the door getting closed

"Yirina Grigoriev....been looking for....Zasha Smirnov." I replied in a low voice as I started to feel the gun getting away from my neck, making me look at Zasha again....they didn't change by an lot in three years : still looking the same nice-looking person.

"Yi-......Yirina ?" They were looking stunned to see me and me too. "I....I....." They started to said before they decided to hug me with all their might and then, I do the same.

"It's good to see you too, Zasha." I affirmed before we broke the hug and we could see that we wanted it to last more longer.

"I...I thought you were dead." They looked at me with wide eyes, precisely at the scar where they touched it with their hands. "What happened ?"

"It's....it's a long story." I snorted, breathing hardly from talking about it now to Zasha as they were touching the scar I had, putting my hands on their arm. "You....you might want to sit down, maybe ?" I proposed and they nodded.

"Yeah, sure." They started to move to a seat as I do the same, getting seated in a couch as they sat on an different chair from me. "I can't believe it." They breathed at me, fully seated.

"I can say the same, Zed." I smiled, talking to them with their nickname. "The bullet....deflected....skull's harder than we thought." I taunted, pointing at my scar before I returned back to a normal face, trying to not be sad. "Bad things happened to me." I admitted, biting my lips to it.

"Explain, please." They were sounding willing to hear my story.

"Well, to start....Arash Kadivar....left me for dead in Turkey before I was captured by the CIA..." I started, sniffing to each cut, my voice trying to not crack. "I worked with the CIA to stop Greenlight but....again, I was left for dead by the man who did something bad on me..." I added, putting my hands on my face. "Zed....the CIA has brainwashed me."

"No...." They were more shocked to hear this from me, they were feeling stressed and uncomfortable.

"Because of them, I'm trying to recover all of my memories I have lost." I continued, still my face in my hands before I looked at Zasha, removing my hands. "I spent 3 years in an coma in Moscow."

"3 years ?" They whispered and I nodded.

"Because of the bullet that was supposed to kill me." I pointed at my scar again. "My memories are going well and to say, I feel more better to remember them." I exclaimed, almost trying to smile about it. "What...what about you ?" I asked them as I looked around them "Where's Dedov ?" I added before I could see their face decomposing themselves.

"Dedov....Dedov never actually left the USSR." They replied, sending an feeling of terror and shock in me, Dedov wasn't here with Zasha. "Perseus has, in fact, captured him and the letter of Dedov I had, it wasn't him at all." He continued, making me more sad on my face, holding back my own tears and Zasha too was doing the same. "It was just an trap organized by Perseus...it's been 3 years that I'm alone in here, trying to survive at my best."

"I'm...I'm...I'm sorry, Zasha." I breathed, feeling an tear on my face.

"I don't know how I didn't end my life when I learned that you were dead, that Dedov was captured by Perseus....and that Portnova was never able to come here." They said to me, in the most sadest voice I heard from them. "I've been....surviving alone....for 3 years, Yirina." They added before starting to cry slowly, not moving as I started to move next to their seat.

"We can change that." I told them, putting my hand on theirs. "I need to know : how & why did you start to help the MI5 & the MI6 ?" I asked them.

"Last year, I learned that Perseus was still around...and then, I decided to act on my own, making some travels in England and sending them encrypted transmissions for them to decrypt." They responded, giving me an answer on how they were able to have intels on Perseus. "The first two years....I wasn't able to do an thing."

"Listen, now, I'm working with the MI6 since some weeks." I started, wanting to reassure them. "I've been given an opportunity to redeem myself for what I did." I continued, reflecting to my personal goal I had since I learned the truth on that stretcher. "And for that....I need you to come with me to work with the MI6."

"I...I don't know, Yirina." They said, getting up from their seat to move next to an dresser where an single picture were on : a group picture with....me, them, Dedov, Portnova and even Beans. "I'm maybe fighting Perseus by helping the british but in the inside...."

"I know..." I started again, putting my hand on their shoulder. "I know where's Portnova : still in Moscow." They looked back at me with wide eyes, surprised. "I know that you maybe don't want to go back to Russia but really, I need you."

"You...you need me ?" I nodded to them.

"Zed, you're my friend, I promised to protect you and to fullfill that promise, I need you to stay with me." I fully answered, adding to my nod to them as I looked at the picture. "I promised to protect you all and it's time for me to do it."

"Do you think we can do it ?" They asked and I nodded.

"We are going to do it." I affirmed to them as I could see an smile on their face as an sign of approval. "I wanted to know : did you...did you proposed to Portnova ?" At this moment, they opened an drawer from the dresser, taking an ring with them, meaning an no for me.

"I couldn't do it because I was still shocked by the files we have decrypted." They showed me the ring from up close.

"I think that you need to take it, you might need it." I tapped on their shoulder as an best friend, with an smile on my face. "You want to come ?" They nodded to me.

"If I can see Portnova again....and maybe Dedov." They snorted, looking at the group picture before taking it from it's framing, wanting to take it with them. "We need that for us."

"Yeah." I breathed, approving their idea. "I need you to take everything you want to take and also if you had that....intels about Perseus operations."

"Of course, I will, Yirina." They took a deep breath before they started to walk away to get to another room, getting their things ready. In me, I was feeling so good about having seen Zasha back but also sad about learning of Dedov disappearance. 5 minutes after they left, they came back with an big bags in hands. "Where are we going ?"

"We....well, the team I'm working with has an safehouse....in West-Berlin." I answered, making them look at me with wide eyes. "Yeah, I know, I hate the place too." I added, seeing them rolling their eyes about it.

"Anyway, I know I will be safe." They affirmed before they took their apartment keys in hand from the table just next to them. "Let's go then." They started to walk to the door, leaving the apartment with me behind them.

"Don't worry, I'm staying with you all the time." I reassured them as they were locking the place down.

"Tell me, Yirina." They started as they were finishing to lock the door from outside before they looked with an curious look on their face, knowing that it could be either an serious question or an funny one. "Is the MI6 making a lot of coffee ?" They asked, making me laugh, knowing their love for the coffee.

"Of course, Zed !" I continued to laugh about it as I make some best friends taps on their shoulders as they were also laughing too. I was so happy for them to have an simple laugh just after what I learned and they needed it and me too.....

"I have someone that does them very well !"

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Taking care' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Taking care"

"I'm Yirina Grigoriev, nice to meet you!"

Chapter Summary: 2 days passed since Park has done what Yirina could never think, Yirina is now trying to copple with it while work is reserving some surprises to be learned...

Link of the Picrew used !

To read it on AO3, click here!

Words : +3500

Taglist : @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

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June 27th, after what Park has done two days earlier in the night, I couldn't let her left the apartment like that causing me to stay with her, to comfort her at the maximum I was able to do, and not wanting her to retry again what she did. She was getting better but I was staying cautious in case, she almost gave me a heart attack that day and I didn't want this to happen again. Because of it, I had to call Zasha, asking for them to extend their honeymoon in the south of England for three more days as they were planned to come back on the 25th, and they agreed, explaining the whole truth and saying that it was best for them & Portnova to not see Park like she was now.

Today was different because I left the apartment to go to Century House for work, leaving Park all alone but now knowing that she wasn't going to make anything weird and like I was thinking in fear, the ambiance at work was...silencing...no one to talk with. I stayed alone in her & now my office, all day, only leaving to get something to eat & a coffee, that was it. It was only me in that office, navigating through the multiples papers that we couldn't work for the past two days since we weren't here.

"And one long day soon over..." I spoke to myself as I was sitting on Park's own black chair, having used her office for the afternoon to work, looking at the city through the windows as the sun was setting down on it, and then, knocks were heard through the other side of the door of the office. "Come in!" I ordered as I turned back around, causing the door to get open and reveal Sarah.

"Hi, miss Grigoriev." She started, dressing in the same usual clothes as always: black suit, white shirt, and red tie and she was holding a piece of paper in her hands. "Uhm...is miss Park not here?" She asked, rolling her eyes around the room to look for her.

"No, she's sick, had to stay away for a few days but she will be back tomorrow along with Zasha," I replied, lying about Park's state because I couldn't speak loudly about what happened that night. "You don't have to worry, she's fine," I reassured before gesturing to her to come inside.

"Okay." She breathed as she closes the door behind her and moves to join one of the chairs in front of the desk to sit down. "That's why you two weren't here for the last two days?" She demanded.

"I couldn't let her alone so I stayed with her," I explained briefly, putting my arms on the desk.

"And even if you come back today, we didn't see you at all for the whole day, hearing that you were always in this room, only leaving for eating or taking a coffee." She added, sounding worried about me. "Are you sure that's everything okay?"

"As I said, you don't need to worry," I repeated my words to her, thinking loudly in my words that the subject should change but my mind wasn't reacting this fast for that. "We all have personal problems to deal with and things are hard to tell about." I continued, clenching my fists on the desk?

"But you can tell about them, right?" She told me, insisting in her voice, making me narrow my eyes to her

"Sarah, I ain't going to talk about what happened to me & Park, is that clear?" I made myself clear in my voice to her, raising it a little. "A lot of things that happened to me...it's better that it stays hidden, you understand?" I raised my voice again

"Yeah, yeah." She chuckled, almost in fear of me because of the tone I took.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make my voice this loud." I apologized after I saw the terrified look on her face, putting the palms of my hands against the desk as a sign of appeasement for myself. "It just...I didn't want to be like that, a lot of things happened and it's complicated." I said again to her.

"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude to you about this." She did the same thing as me, looking down at her feet.

"No, it was me who should be sorry," I whispered, slowly starting to tap with my right fingers on the desk, looking at them before putting my eyes back on her. "Anyway, why are you here?" I questioned her, changing the subject.

"Well, I managed to intercept something that could be interesting to see," She responded, handing over on the desk, the piece of paper she got in her hands.

"What is it about?" I asked her as I took the paper in my hands, awaiting an answer to start to check it.

"You remember that message from days earlier talking about KGB agents trying to come in England?" I nodded to her, remembering the moment she talked to me while I got cups of coffee in my hands. "I've got a transmission saying more about it."

"Sounds interesting," I muttered as I start to take a look at it: the message was already decrypted with a written sentence on it, giving the full meaning of the transmission: L.R and I.B, recovering & awaiting for deployment in England and instructions for avenging their boyfriend. "That is really interesting!" I exclaimed, a bit in joy despite the few elements that can help us.

"The thing that is strange is that the code used is yours," Sarah revealed to me, pointing her fingers at the sentence that was encrypted, arrows on each letter that were leading to the decrypted sentence.

"Yeah, that's strange," I whispered, having already found out about it. "That's mean that either the KGB is now using my own code for them or it was Perseus," I suggested, looking at the paper that I put back on the desk.

"It has to be Perseus, the KGB is still using the usual code." She corrected me.

"So, those KGB agents are in fact Perseus ones," I said, leaning in the back of my chair, trying to figure out who could be hiding behind these initials until I remembered something. "Wait, I think I know one of them." I speculated, my fingers on top of the first initials L.R "Lukas Ritter."

"Lukas Ritter?" Sarah whispered that name in a low tone.

"He used to work with the KGB and also for Perseus until we managed to make him an MI6 snitch before disappearing," I told her, thinking that she wasn't knowing the man.

"I heard of him, he proclaimed to have to stay low in Moscow but in fact, he tried to ambush two MI6 agents in a trap before fleeing the city." She spoke up, giving me details about Ritter since the last time we heard of him. "He's now in the wanted list of the MI6."

"And he will be at its reach now that we learned he's going in England but where?" I theorized about where he could go with this I.B, thinking mainly about London. "Listen, you give that transmission to the MI5 and you try to find anything about Lukas Ritter and this I.B."I gave her back the paper in her hands as she got up from her seat.

"I'll do my best," She complied, saluting me before she starts to walk back to the door. "Thank you & have a good day, miss Grigoriev," She exclaimed to me as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

So, this Lukas Ritter is coming back after we dealt with him in Moscow and having escaped the MI6's control on him. He's trying to avenge someone but who...all of this is a big mystery to me and, surely, we will soon find out about what is the cause of his soon-to-be presence in England with that I.B with him. Now, I was back alone in the office, the day almost over and the sun going down on the city as it was 8 PM.

I couldn't leave the office right now however since I had to wait for a call from Woods back in Verdansk or any location he & the others could be for an update about the situation and also about us. For the moment, I needed to stay until that red phone on Park's desk starts to ring and I waited...waited for almost 20 minutes before finally, it rang, causing me to grab the phone instantly at the moment it started to ring.

"Yirina Grigoriev, yes?" I said in a quick instant, my voice sounding surprised & fully relieved.

"Oh, it's you." I heard a female voice through the phone recognizing Song's voice, sounding happy to hear me on the phone. "It's Song." She clarified.

"Hi, Song." I breathed, happy to have her.

"I thought that I was going to have Park but it's you." She muttered in a low voice, hearing scratching something.

"Yeah...Uhm...Park isn't here, she's busy." I lied to Song, not wanting to make Park's state something new to everyone around. "So, I'm the one who picked up the phone," I explained, staying positive in my voice.

"Oh, okay," She bought into my lie. "Woods was the one making the updates to Park but he isn't here for the moment so like you, I'm doing it at his place." She added, making me laugh as we were both replacing someone.

"Guess it's something new to us." I scoffed about it, making her laugh too.

"Yeah, ain't going to be fully perfect but at least, we're doing it." She laughed as I moved back on my seat for the rest of the call.

"So, how're things in Verdansk?" I asked, going directly into the subject of the conversation.

"Well, it's neutral." She replied in a normal voice.

"Neutral? How neutral?" I demanded to her, wondering if it was neutral good or bad because the tone she took for it wasn't helping for me. "Is it good or bad?" I clarified my demand to her

"Perseus operations are still on and increasing, our agents are getting captured & soon rescued at diverse locations, and honestly, we all trying to find out why this city is the target of Perseus." She responded, telling me of everything on their side and me, listening carefully. "We checked the base that you & Park were held but we found nothing, the base was deserted." She added.

"That's typical for Perseus," I whispered away from the phone, likely speaking to myself as it was sure that our escape was going to make them leave quickly from that base. "But still, you're still fighting them."

"Yeah, still." She mumbled, sounding exhausted. "Been having nearly one skirmish every two days with Perseus agents and back at the safehouse, we always got paperwork to do." She sputtered, she was clearly annoyed by doing that.

"At our side, it's basically the same thing if we don't count those skirmishes," I admitted, moving in my seat to look through the window. "How're the others? Woods, Sims, Wolf, and miss Petrov?"

"Woods's doing great while he's getting seduced by Petrov, Sims & Wolf are fine and in great shape as for me, I'm damn exhausted." She answered to me, almost breaking a laugh to learn about Woods's situation, knowing what happened at the moment he & Petrov met. "I also learned that you & Park are going to come back next month."

"Yeah, it ain't official for the moment but we're coming back in July," I told her as our time to be in London was only for a month without any precise amount of days.

"You might need to know that I don't think I will be here for your return," She revealed to me in a sad voice.

"Really?" I was shocked to hear that from her, wondering why she wasn't going to be here.

"As you know, I'm pregnant and I was told that in the middle of July, I should go back home for the rest of my pregnancy," She clarified, making me remember that she told me about it the day, Garrett's body was recovered in Laos... a month ago. "I'll be at 5 months soon and it's better that I comply."

"You're right, it's better that you keep focusing on yourself than on work," I said to her, approving her choice to leave despite it was making me sad that we will not see her for a while now. "I hope that you'll do fine."

"I hope too." She whispered in a good voice, hearing her snort. "If it's a boy, I'll name him Garrett but I don't know for a girl."

"I'm sure that you will find, Song," I reassured her about it, putting my free hand behind my head, trying to think how life could be with something like that in the chest. "Listen, I think it's time to go leave work to get some rest, I've been working nonstop since this morning," I explained, seeing the sun disappear on the horizon.

"I understand, I'm going straight to bed after the call." She exclaimed.

"Before you left, I need something: do you know anyone with the initials I.B?" I asked her as it was something juggling in my brain since the moment I saw them.

"I.B....I.B" I heard her, sounding that she was trying to look through her brain too to find something. "No, I'm sorry, doesn't ring anything in me." She replied in a low voice. "I should ask that to the others in the morning,"

"Yeah, probably better," I suggested, both knowing that it was time to hang out. "Well, I'm leaving you, have some rest & have a good night, Song, say hello from me & Park to the others."

"I'll do it, goodbye, Grigoriev." She snorted before I hang out the phone, cutting the conversation and now, making me back alone in the room.

The day was finally done for me in here, the call was made and it was with Song herself instead of the usual Woods, Park & him having been replaced by me & Song respectively but at least, I was able to make a good conversation with her and knowing details about their status back in Verdansk that was 'neutral' in her words as for us in London, we will soon have to face 2 Perseus agents in England it's surely going to be in London...Lukas Ritter & this I.B....avenging their boyfriend...very strange...

As it was finally over, it was time for me to leave work so I grabbed the black leather jacket on my own chair at my desk before leaving the office, not forgetting before to talk with Zasha's team, wanting to reassure them of everything and about the return of Zasha for next day as I was the 'temporary chief' of the team while they were away and when the talks were done with the team, I was now free to leave Century House.

Walking back in the streets to join the apartment was like this morning: I was keeping my head down, not wanting to make any eyes contacts with anyone around, making me believe that I was fearing slowly about getting into the open like that. Maybe I was paranoid but I couldn't help myself to not look at the innocent bystanders as if I was still ashamed of the scar on my head but anyway, I managed to get back to the apartment after that struggle.

"Here I am!" I exclaimed after I unlocked the front door of the apartment, entering it and my first thing to do was to find Park.

"Here you are." She whispered, finding her on the couch with a blanket on her lap as she was watching TV. "How was work?" She asked me in a low voice.

"Well, very silent & strange without you," I replied sincerely as I was locking back the front door, feeling the pain of not having talked to her for a large part of the day. "I almost not talked for the day, only leaving the office for necessity," I added, moving away from the door to remove my black leather jacket from me.

"I'm sorry, Yiri," Park apologized, looking at me as I was putting the jacket on the coat hanger near the dresser that was next to the entrance.

"You don't have to be, Park," I said. "Even if you were maybe okay, I couldn't let you leave the apartment and I didn't want anyone to know what happened to you," I told her, turning back to her. "Nothing wrong happened?" I demanded as I walk to get next to the couch.

"No, I didn't throw up or anything else." She responded, sitting next to her and pulling for a quick kiss on the lips. "Any news from work?"

"To start, it seems that Lukas Ritter is back to work with Perseus, he's going to enter England in the following days with a certain I.B," I started, moving my right arm behind her neck, installing myself comfy on the couch. I was like sounding like a husband coming back from work with my voice. "Don't this means anything to you? Someone with the initials I.B?" She shook her head.

"Not at my knowledge." She responded after a few seconds of reflection on her side. "I thought that Ritter became one of us a month ago." She chuckled, sounding surprised as me when Sarah told me that.

"Sarah told me that he faked to 'stay low' before trying to ambush two MI6 agents, and then, fleeing away from Moscow," I explained to her as Sarah did to me. "It was said that he and this I.B were coming here to...avenge their boyfriend," I added.

"Their boyfriend?" She looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that, I don't know what its actual meaning is." I protested, seeing her eyes narrowing thinking that I was joking to her about that. "Maybe that guy was their ex-boyfriend or anything like that," I suggested.

"Yeah, must be that." She raised her shoulder before she nudged me a little at my own.

"Good to see you like that." I smiled at her after that, looking at her with a great face, finally thinking that she was back to her normal state but still taking care of her. "So, did you already eat?" I questioned her.

"No, I was waiting for you to do it." She responded, putting her right hand above my chest before she looked at the TV.

"What were you watching?" I asked her, watching the TV and hearing french voices.

"A french movie called 'Flic ou Voyou' [Cop or Hood]" She replied instantly, making me curious about this movie, having never heard of it. "It came out two years ago with that actor, Jean-Paul Belmondo." She added, giving me more details about the movie.

"Oh, I know that name, isn't he the biggest french movie actor?" I demanded, Park, raising an eyebrow at me, maybe wondering how I know that name. "What? I can't know names, now?"

"Of course, you can, love." She reassured me, wrapping her other arm around my back. "I was just curious about how you know him." She continued, making me wonder how I was able to know that name if I don't remember anything from him...was it something from my memories that I don't have to recover?..."Comme quoi, on peut toujours être surprise.[Like what, we can always be surprised.]" Park spoke up in french

"Je ne peux rien, mon amour![I can't do anything, my love!]" I told her in perfect french, remembering the last time I did it...and it was during an interrogation. "Tu sais, je trouve ton accent français assez...sexy, Park.[You know, I found your french accent very...sexy, Park.]"

"Oh, et toi? Tu parles comme si tu as été française toute ta vie. [Oh, and you? You spoke like if you were french all of your life.]" She proclaimed before she took me for a kiss on the lips, feeling like a french kiss for me as she put her hands on my face for a long & tender. "Yirina, tu es parfaite, je t'aime! [Yirina, you're perfect, I love you!]" She whispered, passing her left hand in my redhead's hair before feeling it along my scar. "Tout est parfait, même ça.[Everything's perfect, even this.]" She pointed out at my scar

"Toi aussi.[You too.]" I grinned, putting my hand on her neck, my fingers getting along her scar, keeping a smile on her. "I should prepare something to eat for us," I suggested, going back to English and she slowly nodded.

"Of course and if we want, we can eat while watching this movie." She proposed and I nodded too as she left her arms off me, making me free and able to go up. "I love this moment, Yiri, you're so good to me." She smiled at me, taking my hands in her own.

"Because I love you, Park," I whispered, giving her my whole love, loving her so much as we both look at our hands, happy and with a smile on our faces, probably thinking about us...only us...

"Je veux rester avec toi...prendre soin de toi...pour toujours! [I want to stay with you...taking care of you...for always!]"

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Only time' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Only time"

"There's nothing that could beat these beautiful eyes of yours, Park !"

Chapter Summary : Yirina, Park & Zasha are still at Portnova's house, talking to her about the future......

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3200

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It was hard to do....to tell Portnova herself about my whole life that did became an mess and I didn't tell everything but only the essentials : Arash Kadivar shooting 3 bullets in me on that airstrip, the CIA finding me....and brainwashing me because I wasn't speaking, working for them as 'Bell', finding the truth by Adler and again, left for dead by him before finally awakening up after 3 years of coma to continue my mission and to fullfill my new goals....and the old ones I gave to myself before Adler decide to clean the 'loose ends' on that cliff.

After explaining all of that to her, we could finally explain the reasons of why we were here and what we needed for us and like we hoped to, she agreed to help us.....to help us enter the Lubyanka again because the intels that could tell us where's Stone are in there. In all of the places of the world, it has to be the main KGB headquarters in Moscow...seriously, this life is going to kill me before I could live free....really. Since it was our only option and our only lead to know of Stone's whereabouts, guess that we have to do this...bloody hell.

Now that we know that Portnova will help us for that and will leave the country, we were all relieved but instead of directly leaving her house to return to the safehouse with the others, we decided to stay for the day, giving to her more details about the operations we did make on Stone and also about the recents days. Of course, she gave to us the full expectations of what will happen to her after we're leaving the country as we expect an lot of things to happen...it will not go easy to be sure.

"So, we have an deal ?" Portnova asked to Park as we were talking with everyone about of what will be her status once everything in here will be done in the middle of the afternoon. Me & Zasha were a little silent, leaving Park to do as she was the one in charge.

"Of course we have !" Park replied, sure of her words as she was sit next to me while Portnova was at her seat and Zasha, they were still on their couch, not having move at all from the day from it. "You will be protected by the MI6 and we will make sure that the KGB think that you're dead and will leave you alone." She added, putting her arm along the backrest.

"Good, that's all I want to hear." Portnova affirmed, sounding more relieved to hear that from Park before she start to look around. "I did spent my life in here and to say that I'm going to leave it to go live in England."

"Portnova, it's for your good we're doing this." I told her with an reassuring voice.

"I know but...." She started, looking to an specific place : an drawer with an picture on it....her in an KGB uniform. "I lived in the Soviet Union for all my life, believing in the Party and I'm going to leave it behind me like that....like if it never existed at all." She breathed, getting her hand behind her head.

"Yirina...." Zasha breathed in an low voice, breaking the silence as they didn't speak an lot the last hours, probably fearing about Portnova herself. "It's for your good." They repeated, trying to smile, looking at Portnova who grinned an little to them.

"They're right !" I spoke up, making Portnova sure that we were telling the truth. "Listen, like I told you, we're here to fix the mistakes of the past and...." I didn't have the chances to finish that I was cut off by the sound of an ringing phone in the room, causing Portnova to jump off her seat to get to it, gesturing to us to be quiet.

"Okay." She whispered before she took the phone in hands, keeping an eye on us as we were pretty curious. "Comrade Portnova !" She started in an normal voice. "Oh...comrade Kravchenko, it's surprising." She said sounding an bit troubled and me....hearing that name and I could see again the bald tough man that tried to do something on me when we beat those guys in that memory. "Yeah, sure...I will be there soon, dasvidania (Goodbye) !" She then hung up the phone quickly, stressed.

"What's happening ?" I asked her worried about her.

"I wasn't supposed to work today but Kravchenko ordered me to go to an meeting with the Central Comitee at the Lubyanka." She replied, joining her hands together as she start to move to an coat hanger. "Didn't tell me why but I have no choices." She then look at us an bit sad. "I might think that you will have to go to return to the place you're hiding, I think that I will be requested all day." She suggested and she was kinda right, we couldn't stay here indefinitely as the KGB could start to watch the place too.

"So we can call you on the phone ?" Zasha demanded, curious but Portnova shook her head.

"No, the KGB isn't watching me but they are listening to me, that call was listened, that's why I asked you to be quiet." She responded, putting her jacket on her as me, Park & Zasha got up from the couchs.

"And how will we know about when you will have our entrance ready ?" I questioned Portnova as no means of communications is going to be problematic.

"Since I'm not watched, you can come back here to check if things are done." She told us, sure of her words as I was reputting my jacket along with Park. "Trust me, I will have your uniforms and badges, the rest will be seen in details when the time will come."

"We need to talk about this to the others, to see if they can help." Park suggested and I nodded to her, it's true that we weren't going to just go like that, the three of us without any help from the outside. "Well, we will come back in one day or two." She added as I start to walk with her to the entrance before we could see Portnova & Zasha, looking at each other with sadness.

"I...Yiri....I'm sorry." Zasha said, taking gently one of Portnova's hand in their ones.

"Zasha..." Portnova was sounding low as Zasha was trying to rekindle their relationship but Portnova looked away. "I need time for that, you know ?"

"Time ?" They breathed and she nodded.

"Yeah, don't be sad but...let me think about it and I'll tell when it's good but not now, I can't." She exclaimed with an little grin, moving her hands on top of Zasha's ones before she removed her hands. "Go & don't worry, I'm still there." She continued as Zasha start to slowly walk towards us, still having their sad face before we waved at Portnova to say goodbye before leaving the house.

"Zed, it's okay." I whispered as I could see some tears on their face, causing me to go next to them as we were walking to the car. "Park, you're driving, I'm going to stay with Zasha on the backseats." I proposed.

"Understood." Park agreed as we got to the car with me installing myself with Zasha on the backseats, staying with them to recomfort them an lot before we drove off the place to go back to the safehouse.

During all the way back to the safehouse, I was holding Zasha in my arms, trying to make them feel secure with me and to reassure them about Portnova. Honestly, I was thinking that the two of us, along with Park were trying their bests to stay alive in this world....I don't want to see Zasha suffering the same fate as me to be honest....it would be too much for me....and too traumatizing. We didn't speak at all during the drive, preferring the silence as Park was sometimes peaking her head throught the mirror to see if we were fine.

We arrived back at the safehouse and we were surprised to see that we were the only person present here, meaning that the others should have been gone to one of their missions like they told us yesterday before going to sleep...not even the Egghead that was apparently visiting contacts in the city.... I decided to go back to work with Park on decrypting the few transmissions we were intercepting, letting Zasha to rest a little and to say...what we got weren't going to help : Ritter just told us that he had to keep an low profile and he had to end his transmissions with us because of the KGB great suspicions on him, meaning that we can't do an thing right now.

The other tranmissions we managed to got ? It was things that wasn't even linked to what we are looking and nothing helpful and then, we weren't able to catch anymore transmissions from the KGB, having apparently going into radio silence and leaving us with nothing and the only persons that could work here was Woods and his team. Speaking of them, they came back 5 minutes after we were done in the beginning of the evening and with them here, it was time for us to tell them of our attempt.

"Everyone !" Park gestured with her hand, moving to get to Woods's team dashboard, getting everyone attention towards us as I was staying next to Park, Zasha staying on the couch. "We need to tell you of something ?"

"What do you got ?" Woods asked at his desk that was just next to us, crossing his arms.

"You were able to have something from your mission outside the city ?" Garrett demanded as he remember that Park told him that we were out of the city, we couldn't lie now.

"In fact, we weren't out of the city." I said, looking at him that was just next to Song with Greta a few steps from them and my words did make everyone curious.

"So where were you then ?" He told me as I looked down at my feets.

"We did go to Portnova's house !" I fully replied making everyone's eyes except Park & Zasha goes wide at me.

"Wait, the person you've been tracking down ?" Song questioned and me & Park nodded.

"It's thanks to Zasha we were able to find her." I turned around to look at Zasha who were an little grinning to me despite their sadness in them.

"How did it goes ?" Greta asked.

"Good." Zasha was the one to reply even if their voice was sounding low and not wanting to talk further.

"Portnova is going to help you willingly and we're going to help her flee." Park added to their response, looking at Garrett.

"And I presume that's good to hear." Garrett said, sounding relieved for an bit before looking at her face. "What's wrong ?"

"Let's just say that she told us about where we could find importants intels about Stone." I scratched the back of my head, my voice trying to not go down.

"We're going to break inside the Lubyanka !" Park directly told them like that.

"YOU WHAT ?" Everyone exclaimed, astonished to hear that and that was an reaction we were going to have for real. Greta, Garrett & Song got all their eyes widely open while Woods & Mason were taken aback

"Wait, you're kidding ?" Woods wanted to laugh more about us until he saw that we were saying the truth "Nope, you're not kidding." He whispered to himself.

"But that's dangerous !" Mason proclaimed, stepping inside the conversation and he was right. "And...Yirina, it's too dangerous for you." He added, sounding worried for me.

"Maybe but it's worth the risk." I stated, looking at him while I wasn't very sure of my words. "It's not only dangerous for me, Mason but for me, Park and Zasha." I continued as Zasha slowly got up from their couch to get next to me.

"Who's going inside, you three ?" We nodded to Song's question who looked at us with great curiosity. "It's dangerous but I suppose that like you said, you know the risk." She persisted on it before acknowledging that we know well of it.

"If I think right, you might need some help." Garrett suggested, his hand under his chin, holding his head.

"Well, Portnova is going to help us with uniforms to get inside but we got nothing if someone can bring their help outside." I told him, making him right and me relieved that he's maybe going too help us.

"So, in the inside, you got Portnova but you can have Belikov too." Woods proposed to us before me & Park looked at each other, kinda mixed of it. We really forget that Belikov was still there inside the KGB, working as an mole with the CIA.

"Uhm...It's grateful but I don't think that too much noise is something we want." Park gently rejected Woods's proposal, making him raise an eyebrow.

"Belikov making too much noises, you're joking right ?" He scoffed, almost laughing.

"Last time that I did this with Belikov and Adler, we almost started World War III, Woods !" I called him out, thinking of the events that happened that day....why we had to always have an shootout. "We literally did an bloodbath in the most secured building of the whole East and I'm not willing to do that again."

"Yeah, she's right, Frank." Mason said, turning around on his chair to face his friend. "Remember that the CIA did have to do an lot of things to not make things escalate after that day !" He added as Woods breath, having realized of our words.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes around, decrossing his arms. "So, it's just going to be the MI6 & the BND on it ?" He questioned.

"I can give you an hand for that." Song proposed.

"Any help is welcome." Park nodded to her before looking back at Woods. "It's better that this mission is done by us....no offense to you, of course." She gestured at him, reassuring him an bit.

"Well, if you can avoid an slaughter, I'm okay." Woods proclaimed, leaning against his desk and looking at us.

"For the plan, we will have to wait that Portnova got us everything until we can make an perfect one." I said, looking at Garrett, Greta and also Song. "It's only an matter of time before we can act...about 2 days."

"That's sounding good for me." Greta told us, taking an look at Garrett.

"Yeah, we're trying to neutralize the Perseus agents and when it will be time, we will help you." He affirmed to us as Park took an deep breath.

"Then, I think that this briefing is over, dismissed then." Park ordered in an low voice before she start to walk away back to our desk as everyone was going back to their respectives workplace. A few instants later, we joined Park at the desk with Zasha. "Now, we just have to wait." She said to us after we come back.

"With Ritter that can't longer give us intels with his transmissions and no contact with Portnova possible, we're kinda blocked." I whispered, thinking that we were really in the void, trying to find an little thing on Stone. "Right now, we have to wait 2 long days before we can come back to Portnova." I added, leaning myself against the desk.

"We can maybe help Woods ?" Zasha proposed but I shook my head.

"No, bad idea, we can't show our faces around in town." I said, rethinking of that me & Zasha can be like wanted person in here. "And with now that soon-to-be infiltration inside the Lubyanka, it's better that the three of us keep an low profile."

"You're right, we need to stay here." Park added to me as I could understand Zasha's idea.

"Maybe but...this place, it's kinda choking me around and sleeping in that couch, it's going to freak me out." They exclaimed, sounding a bit angry and on the verge of storming out. "With nothing to help us, I'm not going to stay on an couch doing nothing."

"Even if we got you coffee ?" I slowly raised an eyebrow to them.

"Even with that !" They responded, stunning me even if I know that they were also hating the place except for the coffee. "I hate to be here and that Hudson...is kinda creepy." They continued, making me almost laugh about hearing them talking about Hudson.

"He IS creepy, Zasha." I tapped at Zasha's shoulder as an sign of making them sure that we were all thinking the same. "Always has been."

"So now, it's waiting then." Park breathed before I got myself into my thoughts, letting the two discuss of it again as I heard.

I don't know but I was thinking of an lot of things right now : my old apartment used now by Freya, the fact that we were in Moscow for 5 days almost, that the CIA wasn't going to whack me down at the instant Hudson saw me but then, it was getting more personal as I could myself reliving the day where me & Zasha did go to my old place in Ukraine to search about my father's hideout, finding my origins and with that, I got an idea......

"How much time for an drive between Moscow and Donetsk ?" I asked like that, stopping the conversation between Park & Zasha as the two start to look at me with very curious eyes.

"Wait, what ?" Park started.

"I'm asking about how much time it will take to get to Donetsk from here." I said again as I looked to Zasha who was understanding what I was meaning.

"You...you want to go to your old house in that abandoned village ?" I nodded to them with an little smile.

"I was thinking of it and since we have 2 days, we can profit of it that we're in the USSR." I suggested, looking at Park who did realize that too, having make the link.

"That's sound good to be honest !" She affirmed, getting up from her chair. "To answer, must be....an half of an day between here and that city."  She finally replied to my former question. "Is this about your father ?"

"Since I remember that me & Zed got everything hidden, we can try to look to see if it's still there." I told her, making her smile to me. "I want to know who was my father and I'm sure that it's better to do it now." I wanted to know who was 'James Doyle', my father...my british father and I needed to know

"I'm with you, Yiri." She stated, making me smile too before she took an look around the place and then, she look back at us with an great smile before landing an little kiss on my cheek.....

"Well, guess that we will have an trip in Ukraine then !"