#posting this here because why not

[destroyer-of-aglets]

Arise, Sonus Prime (1: The Matrix Flame)

When he first witnessed the evils brought about by the Primacy and the Senate, Soundwave swore he would never serve a Prime. Now, after Optimus Prime's death, he believes finally has a chance to end the Primacy for good- but Primus works in mysterious and irritating ways, and He's been looking everywhere for someone willing to bear such a mighty burden...

(Contains death and dubiously death-seeking behavior.)

Ratchet had been friends with Optimus Prime long enough to know the prophecy by spark. That one day, an Autobot would rise from their ranks, and use the power of the Matrix of Leadership to light their darkest hour. Optimus had believed the story with his whole spark; not surprising, considering that spark was directly connected to the Matrix in question. Ratchet had his doubts, though. Especially now.

Now, the damned picky-choosy artifact seemed content to bring the Autobots their darkest hour yet. Optimus Prime was dead- buried beneath a collapsing power station in the middle of a raging battle, he bled out before anyone could even start digging. The frame they pulled out would have been unidentifiable, if not for the fragging Matrix of Leadership shining and shimmering away without a care in the universe. But, the Autobots were tough. Optimus’ passing hurt like nothing else, but at the same time, his memory gave them strength. They didn’t fall into despair quite yet.

Prowl took charge after Optimus died. He’d been organizing the fight against the Decepticons while the command team tried to find the mech who would become the next Prime. And then? Then, the Autobots started to despair.

Because apparently, the Matrix of Leadership- the Conduit of Primus, the Wisdom of the Primes, the Chooser of the Chosen One, et cetera- was completely slagging unpleasable!

Prowl and Jazz tried first, but it rejected them. Then Blaster tried and failed. Then Ratchet, then Ironhide, then Red Alert, and so on, and so on…

The Ark’s crew were a perceptive bunch, and they spread rumors and gossip at lightspeed. So when each and every Autobot on the ship was brought before the Matrix and rejected, they were quick to cotton on to the truth. Or, one of several ‘truth-inspired’ ideas.

The religious types thought that Primus had forsaken them; Mirage was positively morose as he spun poems about how the war had made their people unsalvageable. More hopeful Autobots, like Bumblebee, took the situation as a sign to adapt; the Primacy had never been perfect, they reasoned, maybe it was time to transition to a democracy or something. The commanders were all left floundering. Leading the Autobots through depression and despair was always Optimus’ job.

Ratchet, for his part, took to wandering the halls near the Matrix’s new holding chamber, deep inside the Ark. He made a circuit around the chamber, again and again and again, and he would wait for an Autobot to come and grieve in person. He wasn’t Optimus; he couldn’t make any grand speeches to soothe the sparks of the masses. But he could offer them an ear or a shoulder or something. That’s what Optimus would have done, at least in spirit.

That made it hurt less, for him.

--- --- ---

Defenses at the Ark had never been weaker. Grieving Autobots slunk through the halls at a technosnail’s pace, giving more attention to shadows in their sparks than shadows in the halls. Those not occupied with lackluster ‘patrols’ or other duties sequestered themselves in habsuites or kept each other company in common rooms, speaking in hushed tones about this or that.

Soundwave moved through all of them carefully, more driven than ever before. He’d be caught eventually, of course. The Autobots- especially grieving and angry Autobots- wouldn’t let him complete this mission and escape alive. That was… fine, really. A worthy sacrifice.

Primus, but he missed his symbiotes. Any one of them could infiltrate the Ark in ways Soundwave himself could only dream of. But the war had taken so much. The battle that had claimed Optimus Prime had also claimed Laserbeak, Soundwave’s last surviving family. As his grief slowly ebbed away, however, Soundwave saw this opportunity for what it was.

The Matrix of Leadership had yet to choose a new Prime. The Autobots it had sequestered away, deep in the Ark with no bearer.

No defender.

This was Soundwave’s chance to destroy the accursed artifact that had caused so much pain and suffering for the Cybertronian people. He could rid Cybertron of the Primacy, now and forever; finally making good on the oath he had sworn to the Decepticons so many years ago.

Even now, you believe the Primes to be evil?

Soundwave shook his helm as he moved deeper into the ship, trying to clear himself of his second thoughts. The Primes were evil; either by intention or ignorance, the Primes had done more harm to Cybertron than good. Even Optimus Prime, who claimed to hold the freedom of all sentient beings in high regard, waged war to defend a system that would strip that freedom from his own people.

And does Megatron defend the freedom of his own people?

Soundwave was venting hard, now. He was growing closer to where he knew the Matrix to be held, and the temperature in the Ark only seemed to climb and climb. Yes,he pushed back at his own mutinous thoughts. Soundwave did not always agree with Megatron’s interpretation of the Decepticon cause, but his writings were almost single-handedly responsible for starting the Decepticon movement. He had to believe in his own writings. He had to. 

Soundwave cursed to himself as he nearly bumbled into an Autobot. He was letting the turmoil in his processor distract him. It was normal to have second thoughts on such a blatantly suicidal mission, but really. He was supposed to be a professional. 

You would put your spark on the line for this mission? 

Soundwave fought to stay standing as another blast of almighty heat washed over him. He knew the forward decks of the Ark got hot- it was lodged into an active volcano after all- but didn’t the Autobots have heat shielding on their ships? Or air conditioning? Soundwave was fully willing to die for this, but he thought it would be at the hands of an Autobot, not overheating.

He needed to get to the Matrix before he succumbed. The idea beat through his spark and brain with sublime intention. Get to the Matrix. Get to the Matrix.

His own life would be such a small price to pay in comparison. His symbiotes were all dead now. He had no one who needed his protection, no one who really needed him alive like they did. He could die confident in the knowledge that he had prevented another generation of Cybertronians from falling to such a corrupt system. They would be free- free from functionism and the caste system and everything else- in a way they never had been before. 

The Decepticons would honor him for this, he knew. Megatron would honor this sacrifice. Even the Autobots would grow to understand why he did this, in time. Once the Primacy was truly gone, and they held the power to shape their own future, they would understand.

You would sacrifice your life for the freedom of your people.

What? Where had that thought come from?

It was true, Soundwave supposed- that was exactly what he was doing. But the thought… resonated strangely, in a way he couldn’t really describe. 

The temperature was culprit number one. Overheating had a way of sneaking up on you, or so Soundwave had heard. He pinged his sensor net for a more accurate temperature analysis.

Ambient Temperature: 33°C, it provided dutifully, Systems temperature: Nominal.

That didn’t make any sense. Or, actually, it made perfect sense; that’s about how hot the front of the Ark would be on any other day. The Autobots’ human allies often whined about it, but it was perfectly comfortable to the average Cybertronian.

So why did Soundwave feel as if he was going to melt?

You would work to correct the evils of the past.

Soundwave didn’t realize he had reached his destination until the brilliant light of the Matrix burst through the open doorway, consuming everything before him. 

Belatedly, he realized he wasn’t having second thoughts.

You would claim all Cybertronians as your people.

Because these weren’t his thoughts at all.

He should have destroyed it. That’s what he came here for. But the Matrix pulled him in, yanked him forward, and the thought of destroying it was… inconceivable. The security measures Soundwave had developed painstaking plans to breach and circumvent slid away and deactivated, like they were never there. 

Soundwave reached for the Matrix of Leadership. To claim it, or to destroy it? He didn’t know, couldn’t tell.

Nearby, someone was shouting. He couldn’t tell who or why.

You would be perfect.

And Soundwave was consumed by the heat.

--- --- ---

More chapters are up right now on AO3! Tell me if you want more here on tumblr, also.

[wings-of-flying]

The Lift

by yours truly :3

Doors like a biting jaw

Mouth of tempting doom

Quiet uplifting melodies

Discordant to the gloom

Down, down, down

The numbers drop like flies

Stare into the second maw

It shudders its replies

Fear the sudden halt

Down, down, down

The belly of the beast

Digestion, mind's suggestion

Further, deeper, lower, slower

A haunting, taunting question

Here? No.

Down, down, down

Rumbles, unmistakable

Still the unending throat

Swallowed, helpless, suffocating

Doomed to acid, doomed to float

Still, down, down

A journey to death's doorway

A doorway to new fear

Desperate situation. Grey

Then light

Jaw– door trembles open

Teeth part in mercy

One step to freedom

"See? It's all alright"

[realjoehours]

drew a really rough kitty for me and my friend’s thing which now has its own side blog now (@theepicallycooltriplemblog)

[gibbearish]

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

[lemon-lace]

Watching my first watch through of SPN ever. I’m on season 9 and as someone who has been on tumblr since ancient times but didn’t actually get in to it, I think everyone DOWNPLAYED how crazy Destiel is. How did veterans survive that….. It’s just. What. What am I watching. Why does Deans voice get SOFT when he talks to Cas particularly??? Why did Dean ditch Sam to watch Cas at the supermarket???? I think because of the meme I was convinced it was cas who was the one obviously in love but. No. It’s Dean. And it’s embarrassing for him. This is crazy but Destiel fans weren’t crazy y’all were on to something all this time…..

[forgettable-au]

I think about this call so much

[brainrotcharacters]

the easy grip on the knife. the leg over the seat. the hand over the other seat. the sassy "come get it" move. you know the bitch is smiling behind that mask even as he said the line.

[opikiquu]

iknow my comics are ugly please just hear me out

[demigods-posts]

thinking of a scene idea in season three when the gang encounters aphrodite. and one of the experienced half-bloods like thalia or zoe or grover are explaining to bianca how aphrodite's physical form is unique for each person. beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. and the camera just pans over to percy whose overhearing this conversation and staring at aphrodite. and its revealed that aphrodite has taken the form of annabeth in percy's eyes. confirmation for the audience and for percy that his feelings for annabeth are a little ways past friendship.

[captain-krow-drozdov]

Danny Is An Alternate Version Of Ra's Al Ghul And Flash Already Called Dibs On Adopting Him

Danny In All His Sleep Deprived Slightly Scuffed Up From A Fight Glory Is On His Way To Clockworks Tower To Hopefully Get A Nap And Maybe Some Homework Done When A Natural Portal Opens Up In Front Of Him And Proceeds To Unceremoniously Drop Him In The DC Verse Just Outside Of Central City Before Promptly Closing Leaving A Tired Danny Behind In A Run Down Abandoned Parking Lot.

It's Times Like This When Danny Regrets Putting Off Learning How To Make His Own Portals, Cause Now He Is Very Much Stuck For The Foreseeable Future And He Has No Idea Where Or When He Is. Luckily For Him However Central City Isn't Too Far Away, Unlucky For Him However Is That Once In The City He Realizes This Isn't His Dimension. He's Pretty Sure He'd Remember Something Called The Justice League.

So What Do You Do When Supernatural Bullshit Fails You? You Fall Back On Your Mad Scientist Roots And You Make A Portal Gun. So That's Exactly What Danny Plans To Do.

Unfortunately Staying Alive And Building Questionably Safe Portal Technology Requires Money And Supplies, So He Ends Up Wandering From City To City Doing Odd Jobs/Fixing Up Busted Tech For Cash Or Unwanted Electronics For His "Operation: Get Home" Needs. This Obviously Ends In A Few Superhero Encounter Shenanigans.

Though He Always Ends Up Back Near Central City, Both On The Off Chance The Natural Portal Will Open Up Again And Because Out Of All The Superheroes That Apparently Exist In This Universe The Speedsters Are His Favorite (Red Robin Is Solidly His Second Favorite Ever Since The Gotham Vigilante Gave Him A Large Coffee Filled With Enough Caffeine To Kill A Man).

Unbeknownst To Danny However Is That Every Hero/Vigilante He Has Encountered Has Come To At Least One Of The Following Conclusions; 1. Run Away Meta Who Is In Desperate Need Of A Good Meal/Adoption Bait. 2. Possibly Red Robin/Tim Drake Clone 3. A Good Kid But Could Possibly Be A Future Rouge If Left Unsupervised. 4. Did Bats Get A New Kid And Why Is He Here?

All Flash Knows Is That He Saw The Kid First And Therefore Has Dibs. Suck It Bruce.

Fast-forward A Few Months And Danny Gets Hurt During A Rogue Attack While Trying To Help Some Civilians Get To Safety (Old Hero Habits Die Hard (Ha Die Hard) And All That Jazz) And He Nopes Out Once Everyone Is Safe And When The Paramedics Are Busy With Other People Unaware He Left A Blood Sample Behind.

One DNA Test Brought To You By Paranoid Bat Concerns Of A Possible Red Robin Clone Later And They Find Out That Dannys DNA Matches One Ra's Al Ghul.

They Now Think Danny Is An Escaped Ra's Al Ghul Clone.

Memes For The Vibes:

[sanguinesmi1e]

A Round Door Like a Porthole, Lazarus Green Pt. 1 (you're here) Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4

Wayne Enterprises didn’t really need a small business specializing in “ecto-weapons” invented by self-purported ghost hunters, but S.T.A.R. Labs tipped Lucius Fox off that Lex Luthor was trying to buy an obscure little company in Illinois, and thwarting Luthor was always worthwhile. Now Tim just had to figure out what to do with all the equipment and the concerningly large arsenal of guns and things that looked like normal household items but seemed to have other, horrific purposes. He would have laughed at the way they slapped “Fenton” in front of every invention name (do ghost hunters really need a Fenton thermos? Won’t a normal thermos keep their coffee hot just as well? Are ghosts like trout, to be caught with a Fenton Ghost Fisher which just looks like a normal fishing rod but glow-in-the-dark. And what the fuck even is a Fenton Peeler!?), but he thought with some chagrin about the batarangs, batmobile, and everything else that had “bat” as a prefix in the batcave. 

However, of all the things Tim hadn’t expected to find when he flew out to do an inventory of assets after they bought the business sight-unseen, a portal generating a Lazarus Pit in gaseous form was probably at the top of his list. He didn’t even know that Lazarus water could change states from a liquid to a gas like that. Maybe there actually was something to the whole ghost thing. He supposed that it made sense for ghosts to exist, after all Deadman was part of Justice League Dark. Speaking of. . . he should see if Bruce could call in someone from JLD to assess things. He was feeling decidedly out of his depth.

John Constantine did not like to consult for mega corporations like Wayne Enterprises, but Batman had specifically requested he go check something out and he figured, where's the harm? 

There. 

There’s the harm. 

It turned out the “thing” he’d been called in to look at is a machine that can tear open a stable portal into the Infinite Realms. That is not something that should be possible. That is not something technology should be capable of achieving. That is definitely not something that should exist. Bloody hell, what had the Bats roped him into!?

This really should have been Zatana’s job. Or Deadman’s. Hell, Raven or Secret would be preferable. Because John would prefer not to be dealing with this. In fact, he would prefer to be back in literal Hell than deal with the crazy shit in the Infinite Realms. Could John handle demons, archangels, and even gods? Yeah. He can bind or exorcize most supernatural threats. Does that mean he relishes the idea of going toe to toe with heavy hitters from the Infinite Realms? Absolutely not. 

Some beings who lived there were just little blob ghosts made from ectoplasm and emotion. Some were the restless undead who could not or would not cross over to their afterlives. And some were the embodiments of concepts like nature, destructive weather, and dreams. He wasn’t sure where Death fit into the Realms, whether she ruled or visited, or if it was actually just an extension of her, but he didn’t really want to find out. There were many things John could defeat. Death wasn’t one of them. And now he was looking at a portal into a realm where the living were not meant to be. 

Danny hadn’t returned to Fenton Works since graduating high school. It turned out that he was less anxious when he was not living with people who fantasized about “tearing him apart molecule by molecule” and thought that discussing their plans to dissect him (although he maintained that it would be a vivisection since he’s only half dead) made for fascinating dinner conversation. Who would have thought that his constant stress, anxiety, and insomnia were caused by environmental factors? He’d been unpacking things with a very nice therapist his sister helped him find, and seen great improvements in his mental health. It really helped that she was dead too, and unlike Spectra she didn’t feed off the misery of her patients.

Danny hadn’t intended to ever return to Fenton Works, but when Jazz told him that Jack and Maddie sold their life's work to Wayne Enterprises and a multibillionaire playboy was about to have unfettered access to the Ghost Zone, he was. . . concerned. To say the least. And that was why he was in the middle of doing some light sabotage when Tim Drake-Wayne and a guy in a trenchcoat who reeked of cigarette smoke entered the basement lab. It’s why he was hiding under the Specter Speeder removing the ecto-engine, and there to overhear the conversation that followed.

“So, am I right in thinking that’s a Lazarus Pit?” Tim asked Constantine.

The older man stared at the portal, then at Tim, then at the portal for an uncomfortably long time. Then he pulled out a flask and drained half its contents before saying, “Yes and no. That is basically the same substance as the pits, but I think that this does something else entirely. It seems like this machine basically functions as a summoning circle, but instead of pulling one entity from one side to the other, this is just an open doorway that is perpetually pulling in anything or anyone who gets within its sphere of influence.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good thing, John.”

“It’s really not,” 

“So what does that mean, is it like a blown hatch in space causing rapid depressurization?” Tim felt a little ill at the thought. “What is it even pulling into our world?”

“No, no. Nothing so dramatic as that. It’s more like, hm, so the way summoning circles work is they invite or compel a specific entity to manifest, by basically making a one-way magical portal for them. This portal is kinda like an invitational summoning, which entices, but doesn’t force anyone to enter. Usually a summoning will have a purpose though, and the being you summon will be offered a deal. If this is doing what I think it is and pulling citizens of the Infinite Realms through and leaving them on this side without a contract or direction, they’re probably getting pretty frustrated and causing havoc. It’s like offering someone a job in another country so they have to get a visa and uproot everything, only to get off the plane and find an empty office, no housing, and no paycheck.” John lit up a cigarette and took a drag.

Tim wrinkled his nose, but knew from long experience that it wasn’t worth it to argue about American tobacco restrictions in the workplace with Constantine, especially while the man was doing him a favor. Also, the man looked like he really needed either a cigarette or another drink, and he’d prefer second hand smoke to a drunk sorcerer. “So then why hasn’t this town been overrun by these beings from the Infinite Realms?”

“Good question kid, but what I really want to know is how is this portal staying open? Really, how was it opened in the first place is the most pressing issue.” John mused.

Tim had already located the blueprints for the portal while waiting for Constantine, but either the Fentons had intentionally falsified the documents to seem plausible just long enough to make off with the money, or he just didn’t understand enough of the interaction between physics and the occult to comprehend how the portal could possibly function. 

He flipped back through the blueprints while the blond man sat cross legged in front of the swirling green portal and his low, distracted mutterings took on the cadence of a chant. The curl of smoke from his lit cigarette unfurled into some kind of spell array, and began to glow. Huh, maybe Tim shouldn't be too quick to judge him for tobacco misuse. Tim triple checked the flat file for any more information about the portal, and came up empty handed.

John, meanwhile, kept chanting as the magical array grew and spread to encompass the entire entrance to the portal. At last he stopped speaking and stood up, stepping back to double check his work. “Alright, Drake. You might wanna close your eyes for this one. It’s gonna be bright,” he said, popping his cigarette back between his lips. Then he stepped forward and blew a mouthful of smoke on the center of the array. The smoke caught against the softly glowing lines, pushing them until they floated back and collided with the nebulous green swirls and, despite Tim closing his eyes, flashed so incandescently white he could see them through his eyelids.

“OW! Fuck!!” John clutched his face, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. “I’m doubling my consulting fee,” he grumbled under his breath.

“You alright?” Tim asked, blinking spots out of his vision.

“Yeah, yeah. Just give me a sec.” He too was blinking now. “That was not supposed to be so bright.”

“I’m assuming it worked though.”

“It had bloody well better ’ave worked.” The older man squinted at the slightly dimmer lines which still shone painfully bright against the green. “Oh. Yeah, that worked. Fuck. . .”

“What?” Tim looked on in alarm as Constantine pressed a hand over his mouth. 

“Oh man. What wanker did you say created this portal?”

“Presumably Drs. Madeline and Jack Fenton. Why?” He drew the last syllable out skeptically. 

“Because, they opened this portal with a child sacrifice, and bound his death and all the lost life potential to their bloody machine to create a perpetual gateway to the Infinite Realms.”

[originalartblog]

Apparently much-needed reminder that reposting artists' art (by saving the images or screenshotting them and reuploading them yourself) on other platforms without the artists' expressed permission and without credit is theft and an insult to their passion and craft. You are profiting (in views, in attention, in feedback) from someone else's work and ideas, who do not get that feedback for sharing their creation.

If you are an art reposter, you are a thief and I have no respect for you.

[radiance1]

Damian: [brushing his teeth]

The shadow hanging over his shoulder: [Gets its teeth dangerously close to Damian's shoulder]

Damian: [Shoves a toothbrush into said shadow move and starts brush]

The shadow: [Pauses before starting to let out a contented purr]

Damian then spits out the foam and washes out his mouth, then makes the shadow do the same and then picks out pjs.

Damian: [Currently decided if he should go with the cat, dog, or knife imprinted one]

The shadow: [Starts getting dangerously close to Damian with, toxic green spirals it calls eyes]

Damian: [Throws the dog imprinted one behind him at the shadow and takes the cat imprinted one for himself and tells the shadow to put it on]

The shadow: [Stares at the clothes before hesitantly putting them on before letting out a noise of distress]

Damian: [Turning around to find the shadow somehow stuck in the pjs, lets out a sigh, then starts to help them fit]

Damian then moves over to the bed, he points to one side and tells the shadow to go there. The shadow listens, laying down as Damian also lays down, grabbing the sheets and covering them both.

It barely took a few seconds for the shadow to fall asleep, and Damian stared at it. Damian wasn't quite sure why the shadow of his dead twin was following him, nor why it was even able to and seemed to hide itself from anyone who isn't Damian.

Nobody besides him knew about it, and Damian decided that he liked it. This could have been his younger brother, if the other had survived, and they would have probably been told to fight to the death to decide an heir.

At the very least, that won't ever happen.

Even if his brother was slightly unusual.

===

Danny did not remember much of the before, he remembered people with blurred faces and features, blurred colors. He remembered a lot of colors, then red, then white, then pain.

He doesn't like pain, he believes.

Then he remembered going to sleep, and then he woke up. It was dark and slimy and cramped when he woke up, especially when he realized someone else was in their with him.

Then he fell asleep again, then woke up to that same dark and slimy place, then fell asleep again, all in some weird cycle. Then, moving, and pain.

It hurt, and he was sluggish when it eventually stopped. Then came pain again, and he was asleep.

Then he woke up, again.

He didn't know what was happening, wasn't really aware of too. But he woke up next to the other who was in that dark and slimy with him, and decided he wanted to stay with them.

He wasn't aware enough for most of the things that happened when Damian grew up, but he still stayed regardless, and hide from everyone else.

Danny loves his brother, and he thinks his brother loves him too. Even if he was slightly unusual.

[arsenicflame]

Bonus round! Do you use a queue tag?

[forgettable-au]

Lab things

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Tis but a flesh wound!

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