#practical espionage anybody

[jaratedeguadalupe]

hey guys i forgot to post so have this

[where-is-caithe]

Does anybody wanna read the 6 pages of Eon's backstory I've written down? No? Yeah you do, here goes.

No one is gonna come after me for inaccurate Fractal lore. You're not gonna say anything about inaccurate Fractal lore.

-

Eon is an Ash Legion charr who never knew their parents and started out as a pretty basic thief. Their specialty was smoke and invisibility, disorienting and blinding enemies and sneaking in for the kill. As they grew up, their magic abilities grew and it became obvious from other charr that they have some relation to a Flame Legion smoke shaman, starting with their talent for smoke and thief magic and showing in the horns growing from their shoulders. It never really bothered them, they always thought the horns on their shoulders were kind of cool, and while knowing that how they looked would probably prevent them from climbing ranks, they were content taking orders. 

In the early years, they were the picture-perfect soldier, not questioning anything and following orders perfectly. Their warband, the Shear warband, consisted of Maverick, Dinky, Clawspur, Euryale, Reeva, and Howl, their Legionnaire. The seven of them were tight-knit like any warband, and each would defend the others with their lives. They were a good warband, and right out of the fahrar they proved their worth in a seek and kill mission in Fireheart Rise, deep in Flame Legion territory. They were a trusted ‘band, often getting orders straight from Malice, instead of a Tribune. Within a few years of being out of the fahrar, they were one of the top warbands of the Ash Legion, and Howl had been promoted to Centurion. Put simply, the Shear warband is to Malice, what Ryland’s Steel warband is to Bangar.

Eon had a good relationship with each member of their warband, they were family after all, but their most trusted friend was Maverick, who they would spend a lot of time sparring and joking around with, they both had terrific egos and always thought the other was the worse fighter/sidekick. Maverick, Eon, Reeva, Dinky and Howl would spend a lot of time sparring together during downtime. Clawspur and Eon were both thieves, and they would both train each other by sneaking up on the other, as well as sitting together in silence. They were the two who would sneak the warband into places, taking turns throwing invisibility spells and smoke. Eon would also use their stealth to sneak up on and bother Euryale, teasing her and getting her temper flaring, it was good practice to dodge an elementalist. Joking and butting heads (literally) with Reeva was another pastime of theirs. 

Sometime between 1320 and 1325, the Shear warband was given new orders to investigate an intriguing new discovery that Ash Legion spies had heard about, the Fractals of the Mists. It was currently an ongoing investigation and the Ash Legion was curious to see how it could benefit the Legions, whether this discovery could be a new training ground or something similar. The operation had been planned months in advance, and the goal was to be the defense team for a group of asura researchers venturing into the Fractals and uncover what their potential is. It was a pretty standard set-up, a protection mission that doubled as espionage, and their cover was a Blood Legion warband. Once they reached the research team in Lion’s Arch, Howl did all of the talking and the operation had a smooth start. It was only once the team had entered through an unstable portal in Fort Mariner that it went to shit.

The group consisted of ten asura, a small golem with equipment, and the warband of seven charr. It was a pretty large group, but the warband was confident and trusted in their Imperator’s intel. The intel turned out to be slightly flawed, as they were under the impression that there had been multiple excursions already into the Fractals and there was a base currently set up. This was not the case, it turned out that there had only been one or two krewes sent in and neither had made it back out. The base as well was still in the early stages of development, meaning they didn’t even have a stable means to get to it and hadn’t begun construction. This was all revealed during the first Fractal they stumbled into.

Howl led the team through the entrance portal and immediately into a firefight. He was killed before anyone knew what was happening. It was a dark cavern swarming with Destroyers, a Fractal of an Asuran underground city being overrun. Ignoring their fallen Legionnaire, the warband fought off the Destroyers and retreated into a tunnel, away from the main cavern and away from the remnants of the lost asura city. Two of the researchers were killed during the fight, and with the warband at six members, their group was down to fourteen and a golem.

Out of the fighting for the moment, the asura revealed a bit more detail on the Fractals. From the data collected from previous krewes (posthumously), it was believed that to leave a Fractal, you had to “stabilize” it, playing out what was happening by continuing a fight, ending it, or resolving whatever the Fractal was doing. The original plan was to go into a Fractal and leave it by this method while taking as many readings as possible using the equipment brought by the researchers stored in the golem. Technically still the plan, but with less people. Had to see the bigger picture.

With no time to mourn, the warband unanimously gave leadership to Maverick, and his first command was to follow the directions of the asura krewe, complete the Fractal, and get the hell out.

The rest of the Fractal went fine, now that they knew what was going on, but the completion of it did not let them out. Transported to another time, another place, the group felt any hope they held of leaving die with the comrades they left in the Asuran city.

The only way was forward. None of them knew how long it had been, no one knew if it was over months, days, or even years that they were trapped there. Sometimes the Fractals would be fought easily, they would finish one and be sent straight into another, and sometimes they wouldn’t be sent to another. Occasionally they would be trapped in one Fractal for days. With every completion, it would restart. There were bad ones. Losses.

Reeva was the next of the warband to die. As they were retreating away from a swarm of Grawl, shielded by Dinky’s guardian magic, Reeva sacrificed herself to distract them. She was never seen again, and Euryale was never the same.

In a particularly bad Fractal, one that pushed the warband to their limits, they lost more than half of the remaining asura, the golem, as well as Clawspur, Euryale, and Dinky. The enemy was a creature from the depths of the Jade Sea, something none of them had ever even heard of before, and its attacks went right through Dinky’s shield as he tried desperately to protect his comrades. Only Maverick and Eon remained after that, and they both did their best to keep each other afloat while mourning their brothers and sisters, and protect their charges.

It was like that for weeks. Maverick and Eon leading the asura team through Fractal after Fractal, hoping they would somehow be sent back home through one of them. Neither of them slept much during this time, and food was scarce, they scavenged whatever they could find in the Fractals and packed bags with any food they could carry. Sometimes they’d be in a Fractal with plenty of resources, and they would make the decision to stay for a while, until they were attacked again and had to fight their way through it.

During this time, Eon’s abilities were evolving. Possibly due to their exposure to the unstable magics around them, but it wasn’t affecting Maverick as much, despite him improving his fighting style as well. Eon began to use mesmer-like magical abilities. Their invisibility was more stable, and as they improved, they began to slightly manipulate time and space. Weaving portals and teleporting, invisibility and summoning weapons, being in this environment was giving them a boost to a magic they’d been born with. It made traversing the Fractals that much easier. Maverick’s new fighting as well, through a bit of training in a Fractal in Elona, he had discovered abilities to counteract magical attacks. They became a good team and they didn’t lose anyone for a long time because of it.

In a Fractal fighting against humans in Ascalon, Eon was splashed across the face with hot oil, Maverick dragged them away screaming while two of the asura watched their backs. One of them didn’t make it, but the other helped wrap the wound and with Eon blindfolded, the four fought through the Fractal to its completion. For days after that, Eon would be virtually blind, using their sense of smell and touch as well as various illusions and tips from Maverick and the asura. As they healed it became clear that the scar was starting to look like a rift of space. Once it was fully healed, it was much clearer. It worried all of them. There was no way of knowing what was happening to them, but it was obvious the constant exposure to the chaos of the Fractals was affecting them. They’d run across beings within the Fractals that were made entirely of space and all of them secretly wondered if that would eventually be them too.

It was maybe another month, no one really knows, time is strange in the Fractals and they have no real frame of reference, before everything went to shit again.

Maverick was killed, and with him, the remaining asura. There was a demon. That was all Eon knew. They killed it. The Fractal stabilized. Eon picked up their brother’s broken sword as the world changed again and continued alone.

It’s unknown how long they were alone. They stopped keeping track. 

Fractal after Fractal they fought, determined to reach the end of it. To reach home eventually.

They were tired. Their family was dead. Everything they’d ever known was gone. They were trapped and they could never go home. They laid down in a dry cave, holding their brother’s sword close, and they went to sleep.

“He-hello? Are you there?”

Eon’s eyes shot open.

“You’re... an anomaly? You’re not supposed to be in this Fractal. I’ve been studying it for weeks.”

They sat up fully, clutching the sword close, “yes.” Their voice was hoarse and scratchy from lack of use.

“I think I can pull you out. Stand by.”

They felt the familiar feeling of going through a portal, and suddenly they were met with a dark sky full of stars, a rock formation floating in the middle of space, asura lab equipment and golems. The voice they heard called out to them and they looked up to see an asura with large eyes and braided hair.

“How long were you in there?”

Eon wasn’t listening. They saw the pink of a portal shimmering behind her at the edge of the rocky cliffside. They stepped over the asura, not even bothering looking in her direction, let alone answering her question, and they sprinted for the portal. They were faster than the golem that began to chase, and they felt vertigo for a moment as they went through.

They knew they were out the moment their feet hit the cobblestone of Fort Mariner, the unfamiliar smell of Lion’s Arch with the salty breeze and the sound of the low waves lapping against stone, they knew they were out. They fell to the ground on their hands and knees, breathing heavily and shaking, choking on a sob as their vision blurred with tears.

 The feeling of the Mists was gone.

They sat on the shore in Lion’s Arch for hours, sifting through their thoughts. Sifting through what happened. Everything was different now. They felt nothing but rage for the Legions. They felt guilty for being the sole survivor, but they ultimately blamed the Legions. They had to go back and tell them what happened. They didn’t even know how long they’d been gone. The team was supposed to be back in a matter of hours, or days at most. Eon doesn’t even know how long they were in there.

The journey to the Black Citadel was uneventful, but when they reached the Ash Tribune’s office in the Core, the air in the room was thick and silent. Eon knew they looked like hell, but as the sole remaining member of one of the top warbands, they knew they were recognized.

They gave their report to Tribunes Torga and Makk.

They were informed that a few weeks after the warband had departed, they came across more intel about the group they’d been sent with. They were an Inquest asura krewe, not part of the official Lion’s Arch or Consortium team studying how to utilize Fractals. The Inquest were attempting their own way into them for study and experimentation, which is why it went downhill so quickly. They weren’t using the safe channels to go through them, they were cutting corners, and it cost Eon’s entire warband.

Eon left the Black Citadel after this. The Tribunes informed them that it had only been six months since they’d left, and that they would be expecting a full written report and they would be contacting Eon again to do missions for the Legion. They would not be doing that.

They went to the Durmand Priory, needing to be as far away from the Legions as they could be, and wanting to study what had happened to them in the Mists, what their new magic was and to hone their abilities further. The Priory was interested in their experiences and gave them membership. Eon remains a member to this day. (These events cause Eon to skip the levels 10-30 personal story missions and are immediately thrown into the 40+ story missions, leading to them becoming the Commander).

[nichtschwertart]

Earth is the stage of many conflicts big and small, miraculous and mundane, grand and petty. It is, perhaps most notably, one of the main battlegrounds of the Bellum Magnum. But Earth is also the site of an ongoing struggle that is notable only in its peculiarity: the Sierpiński War.

Its history begins with the rise of Cold War espionage agencies. As the various spy networks of the world constructed, confabulated and investigated all manner of plots and conspiracies, a number of cells all over the world found a strange pattern in their collected data. They found certain sets of code names, shell corporations and false government divisions that could not with any amount of work be resolved down to anything real, but kept popping up in otherwise totally unrelated documents. This bizarre pattern came to be known as the Sierpiński conspiracy. No agent that ever tried has managed to unravel it. There would always be further clues to find, but following them was less like tightening the noose around the neck of a grand conspirator and more like falling endlessly down into a fractal hole of deceit and hidden meaning. To those who fail to cut their losses it becomes the ultimate mystery: A picture that seems to consistently become clearer and sharper without ever fully resolving. Surely there must be an end to its complexity! Surely Sierpiński cannot be everywhere, involved in everything, manipulating absolutely everybody. Surely the end is just out of reach. Surely you've nearly got it. You're so close. So close you can feel its edges on your throat. All major modern intelligence agencies forbid research into Sierpiński at this point. The patterns are identifiable enough to allow supervisors to effectively warn would-be obsessives away, but around a dozen rogue cells of compromised operatives seek the truth to this day, all hot on the heels of this mastermind conspiracy. The truth is of course, that the patterns lead them in circles and so they are mainly tracking, ambushing, raiding and fighting one another. Funding, scarce and largely funneled into these outfits from the black budgets of the richest nations by mysterious means, is augmented by the tried and true spy methods of fraud and con artistry. Police actions against all parties still involved in this Sierpiński War fall prey to the fractal patterns just as surely as any investigation into the conspiracy at its heart and so the struggle continues, a shadow war of immeasurable cost and unknowable purpose.

The ultimate truth, however is surprisingly simple: The Sierpiński conspiracy does not exist. It is a mere dream of the void; a pattern from the unfathomable systems of correspondence, misdirection and implied meaning within the Ineffable Bureau of Ninuan. It was never meant for Creation. It fits itself snugly into the code-word-riddled, massively redacted and highly temporary practices of non-documentation and communication of Earth's Espionage and Counter-Espionage communities. It constructs itself in the paperwork to always present the tantalizing lure of deeper truth. But it's ultimately nothing at all, doesn't actually make any sense or have a resolution.

If anybody had the means to tally up the actual funds held by all belligerents in the Sierpiński War over time, they would find that a portion of untraceable lost assets totals a number perfectly matching the income on a Swiss bank account owned by one Ildinia Kills-With-Words.

[dye-it-rouge-et-noir]

I started worldbuilding a mathematically based fantasy for fun then put Brosnan era characters in it! The concept I have is written under the cut. Any mathematical terminology links you to its respective Wikipedia page! It covers Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies but I do intend to think about the later half of films!

General Worldbuilding

In this world, there are skills that are focused on using a certain mathematical concept to manipulate the world around them. For example, someone focused on geometry may learn how to translate objects to move them.

The vast majority of people only know how to do rudimentary arts for the sake of practical use. Though, any skill can be learnt with enough practice and time. However, some skills are riskier than others such as anything dealing with higher spatial dimensions or manipulations of probability. (There are restrictions in place for such skills as well)

Anybody who is at a more advanced level tends to have a specific focus in mind as well.

Double Oh Division

I created a connection between the definition of division as in a particular section and the division in reference to mathematics. That led me to the notion of "dividing by 0" which is known to be a rather problematic case in mathematics.

Thus, being given a double oh designation allows access to augments that help learn riskier skills. (Example: Q Branch created simulations of viewing the world akin to a fourth dimensional being) Moreover, restrictions on learning such skills are lifted to an extent. (Just don't go rogue)

Agent 006, Alec Trevelyan and Agent 007, James Bond

It is common for those in the 00 Division to choose learning how to view the world through the eyes of a higher dimensional being. Through dimensional analogy, a fourth dimensional being would be able to see inside a 3D shape akin to how we would be able to see inside a 2D being. (Like they would be able to see a sphere inside of a box) Thus, this makes this skill practical for espionage.

Anything higher than that such as actually traversing through the fourth dimension is much more dangerous. (For reference, orbits in higher dimensions would generally be much more unstable)

Both Bond and Alec have opted to learn how to perceive the world in this manner. However, Alec secretly learned how to actually traverse through the fourth dimension for a period of time. Following the start of Goldeneye, he intended to travel through fourth dimensional space as a part of his betrayal.

Elliot Carver

Elliot Carver predominantly focuses on homothety and his skill would be akin to a pantograph. Essentially, he's capable of projecting an image of an object to a much larger scale by using himself as a homothetic center. I felt like this would be fitting for him as he would be able to utilize this to project things for presentations.

Then his skill would be able to be used to take "snapshots" of a particular setting and have an image of them in his hands. (Instead of enlargement, this would be minimizing) This can be later saved and transferred on special Carver Brand paper like a photograph. It has been rumored that he has gathered snapshots to blackmail people but he says they're all simple lies.

Wai Lin

It makes sense that other countries may implement their own systems for particular skills. Wai Lin decided to become incredibly skilled in translating herself through space, meaning that she appears to seemingly "teleport." I got inspired by how she snuck into the CMGN party for this!

At her skill level, she's capable of warping into areas and moving quickly. This holds various effective applications for combat and espionage that make her job easier. However, she can't necessarily travel that far at a time (let's say... she can travel a few meters at most?) Thus, if she wants to solely use her skill to travel, she needs to "warp" around a lot to her destination. Moreover, she can't enter a space if she can't visualize it well.

[exeggcute]

for the sake of consistency I feel compelled to point this out: I feel like I'm seeing a warped false dichotomy-ish thing spring up where people are responding to the "tiktok is a national security threat to america" hysteria with a counter that american software companies collect data about users, largely for advertising purposes, which is true!

but some of this seems to wrap around to an assumption that tiktok doesn't engage in garden-variety data collection for any reason at all... except they very much do lol. because tiktok is also an advertising platform at its core, to the tune of $11B of revenue in 2022. which I'm not trying to offer as a gotcha, just that I wouldn't be all "well you gotta hand it to them" about data collection practices in the same breath that you lampoon american companies' practices because tiktok's functionally not much different from any other advertising-supported platform in that regard.

WHICH, IMPORTANT CAVEAT, is a completely neutral statement on my part. not only am I famously pretty lukewarm on the privacy threat posed by advertising data, but also what I'm trying to get at here is that tiktok's data collection serves the exact same purpose as any other big platform's data collection, which is Making Money. it's all the same. you could even argue that the big monolithic publishers like tiktok/reddit/facebook/google who source their own buyers are less leaky (and therefore less problematic in general) because their supply chains don't include a million third-party ad platforms per auction, and those third-party middlemen are often the ones who sell shit to data brokers, so tiktok's closed advertising ecosystem is actually better than some of these publishers with miles-long ads.txt files who'll do business with anybody.

but like, for example: pixel tracking is a common way to track ad conversions by measuring how many users click on ads and do stuff on the website that the ad leads to. facebook has the facebook meta pixel, reddit has the reddit pixel, tiktok has the tiktok pixel... exact same tech. exact same reason. no espionage, just ads for those mobile games where you're trying to solve a weird maze thing before some guy drowns in lava

[theoakandthemistletoe]

Second

It seemed logical, at first. He knew the layout of the manor from his previous life, knew the holes in the perimeter and the route to the rubbish heap behind the kitchens, and if anybody could afford to waste decent food during the shortages, it would be a noble family. Why scrape around anywhere else? The penalty for getting caught would be higher, true, but that was unlikely to happen in ratshape, and Morris also knew that House Skullduggan kept few guards. They preferred a more hands-on approach.

He wished, as a hand closed around his squirming, furry middle, that he had thought about that a bit more.

'Bloody rats. Get out of here.'

At least he didn't have much time to worry about his situation before he was sent tumbling through the air, launched with disgust at the wall of the manor. For a moment he had the joy of feeling his bones crunch against each other with the impact, before the tiny body gave way and the human form came flooding back. It did not make it any less painful. Bones and muscle erupted into the space, the bruises stretched, the pain magnified and swelled through his body.

He lay where he fell. Any movement felt as if it might dislodge something vital before his human body reasserted itself. Conveniently, it also meant not having to look his would-be murderer in the eyes, although there was no ignoring the steady footsteps. A pair of boots came to rest beside Morris's head, disdainfully kicking a rotten potato towards his face.

'Oh. Interesting.'

In time, Morris would come to know that tone of voice for what it was. For now he was simply relieved not to face an immediate interrogation. He rolled gingerly to one side, enough to see the face towering above him but not trusting his limbs enough to stand.

What he saw seemed oddly familiar, despite the light from the kitchen door casting a shadow over them. Morris knew from his time as a ratcatcher that the Skullduggans all looked similar, but this was more than that. Wine and good food had filled out the silken blouse with more of a paunch than before, the heeled boots had been swapped for something rather more practical on a person about to face the onslaught of middle age, and the face showed its first lines, but the grin hadn't changed. Morris was as sure as he could be that this was the same Skullduggan he had met years before, the one who called themself the Marquis.

There wasn't much time for study. Marquis or not, they were definitely a Skullduggan, and therefore unlikely to take kindly to a peasant showing up on their property half-buried in potato. Morris couldn't scrabble away before they reached out.

'Get up.'

There might have been more weight behind their arms, but they were no less strong as they hauled Morris off the ground, holding a fistful of his rags and bringing him to eye level. After a few seconds they dropped him. He staggered briefly, caught himself against the wall, and paused. No strike was forthcoming. There was also, he now noticed, the remains of a perfectly good, if stale, half-eaten honey roll at his feet. He remained bent double a few seconds longer than necessary, long enough to stash it in a pocket, before raising his head. Skullduggan was sneering, but they didn't seem to have noticed the disappearing food.

'Are you a druid, or did you just get polymorphed?'

'Druid.'

'You chose to turn into a rat?'

The sneer was bad. The grin on the edge of laughter was worse. Morris chose not to answer that particular question.

'Don't you want to ask what I'm doing here?' he asked instead. Skullduggan folded their arms, but the gesture was more thoughtful than challenging.

'Not really.'

'Are you going to kill me?'

'Maybe later,' they said. 'First, though, you're going to do me a favour. I need someone to find me some blackmail material on House Tooke, and a druid would do nicely.'

A curl of potato peel slithered out of Morris's hair as he contemplated the request to engage in high level political espionage. He caught it and added it to the honey roll in his pocket. This was not how he had foreseen his evening going, and it was taking some time to adjust.

'House Tooke?' he asked. 'In Dwylionn?'

'Yeah.'

'Why?'

'Because someone with a bloody great sword and the entire Scrantz militia at their disposal asked you to. I thought druids were supposed to be wise?'

'What if I don't?'

'I send the militia to catch the person seen trespassing on Skullduggan property and have you brought before the Court on charges of treason. I'll tell Tirynn you were practising witchcraft, too. Have you heard of the Cauldron?'

Morris shuddered. Everyone knew about the Cauldron. It was enough of an answer for Skullduggan, whose grin returned in full.

'Great. Now, are you going to help me, or am I going to call everyone else out so we can hunt you for sport?'

'I could tell House Tooke.'

'Yeah? And I could deny ever seeing you before in my life, and offer to make a public example of what happens to people who wrongly accuse House Skullduggan.' Satisfied that the silence meant their order had been accepted, Skullduggan unfolded their arms and examined their fingers. 'I'll give you a month, until the Court next convenes. If I don't hear from you I'll assume you want to be arrested and executed.'

Something rattled and light flooded the grounds.

'Cuz! Are you out here?'

'They said they wanted some air.'

'I definitely heard them talking. Cuz! Who are you talking to?'

Skullduggan met Morris's eyes.

'Just the rats,' they called, and dismissed him with a flick of their hand. Morris didn't need telling twice. He sank back into the shadows, pausing only to grab a handful of apple cores, and was already hurrying around the wall as two more Skullduggans appeared from the square of light.

'Hey, Cher, they're over here. Gods, maybe you did overdo it with that vintage. They only had two glasses and now they're talking to the vermin.'

'Come on, we'll get you to bed.'

'I'll grab their hands, you get their legs.'

'I'm not-- would you get off? Let go! Stop it, you deranged brats…'

Along the wall, through the gap rose bushes, and Morris was free, leaving the voices behind. He unhooked the last of the thorns from his clothes and headed towards the cloud of lamplight which marked out the town. Before long, the darkness on the road began to move, became thick with tiny shadows broken by the flash of eyes in torchlight. Morris sat down at the roadside. Rats immediately clambered across his ankles, knees, elbows, sniffing through his pockets for whatever prizes he had secured in the manor grounds. He tossed them the apples and potato peel before splitting the honey roll in half and offering the larger chunk to Fishstinky, who took pride of place on his shoulder.

While he ate his own portion, he considered his options. There was no doubt that Skullduggan was serious in their threats. The question was whether they would keep to their promise of waiting a month, or whether they would get bored and decide to chase him down after all, and given his luck so far, Morris didn't fancy his chances on that front. Making a beeline for Dwylionn or smuggling aboard the next ship to leave the harbour were his only options.

The unholy storm. Bodies pressed together. A slender beam of moonlight on the rising, writhing bones.

No. Not another ship. He sprinkled a few more crumbs on the ground, soon lost under a swarm of starving rats.

'Should we go to Dwylionn?' he asked. Fishstinky stared at him with a mouthful of pastry. Morris barely needed Speak With Animals to understand what that meant. It was the only question the rats had asked him recently.

Will there be more food there?

'Probably. Everyone there is rich.'

Rich. Lots of gold. People said even the bedsheets were made of it in Dwylionn. It sounded terribly uncomfortable, in Morris's opinion, but he wouldn't turn down the chance to find out for himself.

He forced down the last dry morsel of honey roll and settled himself on the dust. If he was going to find a carriage to Dwylionn, he would need some rest. Right now, hungry and exhausted, he doubted he could summon the energy even for a cantrip, and there was a long day ahead tomorrow. The rats snuggled into the crooks of his knees and arms and soon, despite the open night sky above and the looming threat of House Skullduggan, Morris fell asleep.

[msclaritea]

Caroline Kennedy sees possibility of ‘resolution’ in Assange case | The Hill

"U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy said there “could be a resolution” in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who was arrested in 2019 over his publishing of classified materials and has since fought in British court to avoid being extradited to the U.S. 

Assange, an Australian citizen, was arrested by British authorities on behalf of the U.S. in 2019 and expelled from the Ecuadorian Embassy after almost seven years in asylum there. Since then, he has spent the past four years in a London prison fighting against extradition. 

Asked by the Sydney Morning Herald if the U.S. and Australia could reach a diplomatic outcome with regards to Assange’s extradition, Kennedy said it was an “ongoing case,” being handled by the Department of Justice.

“So it’s not really a diplomatic issue, but I think there absolutely could be a resolution,” Kennedy said. 

Assange faces 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. American prosecutors allege he conspired to hack a government computer in connection with WikiLeaks’s publishing of sensitive government files in 2010. With the help of former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, Assange allegedly obtained and published Afghanistan and Iraq war logs as well as secret diplomatic cables. 

During Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Australia earlier this month, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who will be visiting the U.S. in October, said his government stands firm against the U.S. prosecution of Assange. Blinken rebuked that position, noting Assange is accused of “very serious criminal conduct.”

Kennedy reportedly pointed to Blinken’s comments and said, “But there is a way to resolve it,” adding, “You can read the [newspapers] just like I can.”

Court sides with kids who sued Montana over climate changeCalifornia secures settlement with SoCalGas over ‘misleading’ claims that natural gas is ‘renewable’

The Morning Herald asked the ambassador whether U.S. authorities could come to a plea deal agreement with Assange, and she repeated that the case is “up to the Justice Department.” 

Earlier this year, a group of Democrats sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on him to drop the case against Assange, arguing that the charges “pose a grave and unprecedented threat” to journalism practices and the First Amendment. The lawmakers referenced a separate letter from a group of news organizations published last year that also called for the dismissal of Assange’s charges."

Those were not real Democrats, but Leftists. If Australia didn't want Julian Assange convicted, they shouldn't have harbored the cults that helped build him. Anybody who keeps a diary is a journalist. Assange is not. He is a Chaos agent, sent to fuck up America's national security and international standing, just in time for the black president's run. What he did was extremely serious and a danger to US. I want Julian Assange convicted.

[secretswiftymarvelfan]

The Demigod From Asgard - Steve Rogers x Reader (Part 52)

Summary: What should have been a simple mission in Lagos goes horribly wrong, with devestating impacts

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence! Language! Major disaster! Major Angst! PTSD!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics​

Series Masterlist / Masterlist

Chapter 52: Your Buddy, Your Bucky

It took until May to get a solid lead on Rumlow and his gang. As soon as you got word that he was going to attack a police station in Lagos, Nigeria you sprung into action.

You placed Nat and Wanda down on Street level undercover at a small cafe. Sam was stationed up on the roof while you and Steve kept watch from a small hotel room that looked out onto the street below.

“All right, what do you see?” Steve asked looking out of the window.

Wanda had been learning the act of espionage from Nat and you’d learnt from experience that she learnt best in practice. So, Steve took the opportunity to quiz her.

“Standard beat cops, small station, quiet street. It’s a good target” Wanda replies.

“There’s an ATM on the south corner which means?” Steve pushes.

“Cameras” Wanda answers easily.

“Both cross streets are one way” Steve continues.

“So compromised escape routes” Wanda deducts.

“Means our guy doesn’t care about being seen. He isn’t afraid to make a mess on the way out” Steve says glancing over at you as you observed out of an adjacent window.

“You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?” Steve asks turning back to the task at hand.

“Yeah, the red one? It’s cute” Wanda says a smirk evident in her voice.

“It’s also bulletproof, which means private security which means more guns which means more headaches for somebody, probably us,” Nat says filling in the blanks Wanda left.

“You guys know I can move things with my mind right?” Wanda says.

“Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature” Nat reminds her as you look out the window.

“Anybody ever tell you you’re a little paranoid?” Sam asks.

“Not to my face, why? Did you hear something?” Nat says playfully and you chuckle at the pair's banter

“Eyes on target folks” Steve says glancing over at you and making you poke your tongue out at him.

“This is the best lead we’ve had on Rumlow in months, I don’t wanna lose him” Steve continues.

“If he sees us coming, that won’t be a problem he kinda hates us” Sam chuckles

You look back out of the window your attention being caught by cars beeping their horns. Following the direction of the sound, you notice a garbage truck pushing its way through the traffic. Something about it seemed off to you.

“Sam, see that garbage truck? Tag it” you instruct.

Steve furrows his brows moving to stand next to you and looking out the window at the truck.

“That truck’s loaded for max weight and the driver’s armed” Sam reports.

You and Steve exchange a glance when you realise what was happening.

“It’s a battering ram” you mutter remembering the institute for infectious diseases was nearby from the mission briefing.

“Go now” Steve orders turning on his heel and grabbing his helmet from the bed.

“What?” Wanda asks confused as you run out of the hotel room and up the stairs.

“He’s not hitting the police” Steve explains running up the stairs behind you.

Neither of stop running once on the roof “Hang on!” You shout grabbing hold of Steve and taking off towards the institute.

As you approach you see the gang already infiltrating the building, in much larger numbers than you’ve seen before. You literally drop Steve down into the fight. Him using his shield as he lands to knock a gang member down.

He sees you land on the other side of the courtyard, but doesn’t have time to think much about that as more as guns fire towards him. He lifts his shield to protect himself before kicking the car that separated him from the gunman sending him flying back. He then throws his shield taking out a guy who was approaching you from behind while you dealt with two other gang members. Once his shield was back in his hand he ran up the bonnet of the car kicking the gunman off out and to the ground.

“Body armour, AR-15s, I make 7 hostiles,” Steve says glancing down at the gang members on the floor.

Sam then lands on the roof taking out two of the hostiles “I make 5” he reports.

Wanda joins you down on the ground using her power to create a forcefield as one of the gunmen fires at her “Y/N!” She shouts using her powers to throw him towards you.

You make ice grow around your hand slamming it into the guy's head and knocking him out cold “four” you say smirking over at Steve.

The four of you regroup looking up at the building as you worked out the best plan of attack.

“Rumlow’s on the third floor,” Sam tells you.

“Wanda, just like we’ve practised,” Steve says walking over and preparing himself for the jump.

“What about the gas?” She questions.

“Get it out,” you tell her readjusting the cuffs on your suit “ready?” You ask looking over at Steve.

He nods and Wanda uses her powers to send him up and through the window. You follow closely behind him holding your breath just while Wanda works on getting the gas out. As you land in the building Steve grabs hold of one of the merc's masks pulling it loose before kicking him back. You drop down so the merc topples over you before pining him to the ground with ice.

Steve spots a couple more mercs approaching with guns so grabs you and pulls you behind his shield. You both hide behind a pillar for cover, you tried shooting ice at them but couldn’t get a clear shot and didn’t dare use fire with the lingering gas.

Steve glances around and throws his shield bouncing it so that took the gunman out. While he was disorientated you ran out behind him grabbed him by the head and slammed it into the nearby pillar. As you did so Steve attacked the second merc, grabbing him by the leg to tip him to the floor before throwing him into a pillar.

The two of you make your way into the labs which were now completely deserted. You tap Steve on the shoulder when you spot a vial was missing.

“Rumlow has a biological weapon,” Steve says as you start heading back out of the labs.

“I’m on it” Nat responds over the comms.

You and Steve run out onto a balcony, where you spot Nat bursting out of a truck just as it explodes. You quickly jump off of the side and fly down towards her to make sure she was okay.

Just in time too as Rumlow starts firing grenades up towards Steve. Steve holds up his shield but still gets blown back into the building. He quickly gets to his feet as Rumlow continues to fire grenades into the building. One catches Steve off balance sending him flying out of a window.

You looked up just in time to see Steve hit the side of the building closely followed by the side of the truck before finally hitting the floor. You curse to yourself as you run over grabbing his shield which had fallen a short distance from him.

“You okay?” You ask as you help him up.

“Peachy?” He groans taking his shield as you pass it to him.

“Sam, he’s in an AFV heading north,” Steve says into the comms clutching his side.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” You ask him as he takes a couple of steps wincing.

“Just a couple of broken ribs I’m sure, it’ll be fine,” he says earning a look of warning from you “I’ll be careful now c’mon”

You sigh grabbing hold of him and taking off after Rumlow. Spotting the rest of the team making their way towards a small market.

“I’ve got four, they’re splitting up” Sam informs.

“I’ve got the two on the left” Nat says as she runs over the top of parks cars.

You drop Steve down into the market before flying after one of the mercs who was getting away.

“They’ve ditched their gear, it’s a shell game now, one of them has the payload,” Steve says when he spots the discarded gear.

As he glances around he hears something attached to his shield, looking down he spots the small explosive device. Not wasting a second he throws his shield up into the air away from the civilians that surrounded him. As the bomb explodes Steve gets punched in the back sending him flying through one of the market stalls.

“There you are you son of a bitch” Rumlow growls as he stalks towards Steve.

“I’ve been waiting for this!” He shouts punching Steve again before he has a chance to stand upright.

Steve finally got to his feet and started attacking Rumlow. Dodging as many of his attacks as possible, Rumlow forced him to go on the defence meaning he couldn’t get many punching in as he’d like. As he fought he heard over the comms that the payload had been secured so that was one less thing to worry about.

“This is for dropping a building on my face” Rumlow growls when he managed to pin Steve to a wall.

Steve sees a large blade appear from Rumlow’s gauntlet, managing to turn out of the way as he attacks. Steve was able to elbow Rumlow in the face forcing him back and ripping the gauntlet from his arm. Rumlow however produces another blade and continued to attack.

However, being one gauntlet down gave Steve enough of an advantage to land more punches and send Rumlow flying back to the ground. As Steve stalked back over to Rumlow who was on his knees, mask discarded he finally got a look at what the man had become.

“I think I look pretty good all things considered,” Rumlow said as Steve grabbed his collar.

“Who’s your buyer?” Steve demands getting straight to the point.

“You know, he knew you, your pal, your buddy, your Bucky” Rumlow said instantly making Steve freeze, before rage took over him.

“What did you say?” Steve growls glaring down at Rumlow.

“He remembered you, I was there, and he got all weepy about it, till they put his brain back in a blender” Rumlow explains a small smirk on his face.

Steve could feel the bile rising in his throat as he heard what they did to Bucky. Knowing for sure that Bucky remembered him even if just for a moment.

You ran round the corner with Wanda to see Steve glaring down at Rumlow. The expression on his face gave you cause for concern, you didn’t need to hear what Rumlow had said, seeing how shaken Steve looked told you it was related to Bucky.

“He wanted you to know something, he said to me ‘please tell rogers, when you gotta go… you gotta go” Rumlow says before his expression changes “and you’re coming with me,”

You and Steve noticed the detonator in Rumlow’s hand too late. Thankfully Wanda had and used her powers to contain the blast around Rumlow. Protecting Steve from the blast. Both you and Steve watch in shock as she desperately tried to control the blast before sending it up trying to get it clear. However, she wasn’t able to get it high enough and the bomb went off against an office building.

“Oh my…” Steve mutters under his breath, shocked not only at what just happened but how close to death you all just came.

Steve watched as you instantly sprang into action flying up to the blast sight. Flying through the flames using your powers to put the fire out and rescue as many of the survivors as you could.

“Sam…” Steve says into the comms his voice shaking “we need fire and rescue on the south side of the building”

As he ran into the building he had to steady himself, his legs feeling like jello. He braces himself against a wall as his chest suddenly feels tight for the first time since he was a sickly kid. He takes a few deep breaths before steeling himself and ordering himself to get on with the job.

It took hours to put the fires out and evacuate the entire building. Despite the teams and the emergency services' best efforts, you weren’t able to save everyone.

The jet ride back to the compound was completely silent. Wanda sat away from everyone's knees pulled up to her chest. You sat curled up beside Steve, head resting on his shoulders as you slept. You were exhausted having used your powers to put out the fire. Steve was sitting stock still not moving a muscle. His mind ran at a hundred miles an hour. Replaying everything in his head.

He should have noticed the vest. He shouldn’t have gotten distracted when Rumlow brought up Bucky. He shouldn’t have hesitated when the bomb exploded against the building. He glanced over at you, you had jumped straight into action while he stood there floundering.

It was late at night when the team got back. Steve let you go through the bathroom first knowing how tired you were. He sat down on the chair in the corner of the room. Pushing his helmet off and dropping it to the floor beside him. He dropped his head into his hands with a deep and shaky breath. Running his hands up into his hair and his leg began to nervously bounce.

As his mind began to race in the silence of the room his chest felt tight. He felt like he was struggling to breathe like there was a weight on his chest crushing him. His stomach began to flip and he felt the bile rising in his throat.

He launched himself up from the chair and ran into the bathroom. He barely got to the toilet when he began to wretch emptying his stomach contents into the toilet bowl.

“Steve?” You question from the shower having heard him burst into the bathroom.

You stuck your head out of the shower spotting Steve hunched over the toilet. You curse quickly grabbing a towel and jumping out of the shower crouching down beside Steve.

You rubbed his back as he wretched. Once he stopped you passed him a towel and a glass of water. He accepted the glass of water gulping half of it down before wiping his mouth. He shook his head as tears fell down his face, completely slumping against the wall.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” he stuttered through the tears.

“Hey, hey it’s okay, you don’t need to apologise,” you tell him squeezing his shoulder.

“No, no I do, it’s my fault it’s all my fault” he cries burying his head in his hands.

You sigh sadly instantly knowing exactly what he meant. You’d seen how shaken he was by what Rumlow had said. You had heard the wobble in his voice when you were putting out the fires.

“Steve it wasn’t your fault, none of it was your fault,” you tell him pulling his hands from his face.

“The only person at fault is that bastard Rumlow, none of us noticed the vest until it was too late, we tried to save as many of them as possible” you continue but he interrupts.

“I didn’t, I froze I couldn’t do anything, while you and everyone else got in there, rescued people, put out the fires,” Steve says shaking his head, disgusted with himself.

“Stop that, stop it, it’s okay that you froze it’s completely normal, nobody could expect you to jump into action after what you heard,” you say cupping his cheeks and making him look at you.

Your heart broke when you saw how defeated and destroyed he looked. You moved wrapping your arms around him and pulling him close. Hugging him tightly his arms wrapping around you as he burying his head in your shoulder.

“It’s a terrible, terrible thing that happened and if we could we’d go back and do a million things differently but we can’t, we did our best as we could at that moment and that’s all we can do,” you tell him rubbing his back soothingly.

“I just feel like I failed all those people” he sniffles wiping away his tears.

“You didn’t, I promise you did all you could, it sucks that we can’t save everyone but if we let this stop us nobody gets saved the next time,” you tell him.

He sighs nodding his head in agreement “thank you doll, I don’t know what I’d do without you” he says taking your hand and kissing it.

“It’s nothing, I’d do anything for you, through thick and thin remember,” you tell him with a reassuring smile.

“Through thick and thin” he sighs giving you a small smile.

“Now it’s very late and we both still need to shower so come on and let’s get you cleaned up,” you say standing up and pulling him with you.

You held him get out of his suit before the both of you step back in the shower. You grab the shampoo and start massaging it into his scalp. You smiled when his shoulders relaxed and he let out a deep breath as his eyes shut.

When you start rubbing soap over his back you could feel how tense he was. So using the techniques learnt from your time in Seychelles you began massaging his back. Steve let out an appreciative moan.

Once you were done Steve turned around grabbed your shampoo and massage it into your hair. You’d looked after him so well he was desperate to return the favour one way or another.

Once he was done his eyes met yours and he moved to cup your cheeks. His thumb brushed over your cheeks as you smiled up at him placing your hands over his.

Once out of the shower the two of you continued to get ready for bed together. As you stepped out of the bathroom Steve grabbed your hand pulling you into his embrace. He held onto you tightly, eternally grateful that he had you in his life.

“I love you so much,” Steve says when you look up at him.

“I love you too” you smile up at him.

He smiles back before leaning down for a languid kiss. Resting his forehead against yours when you parted. When you climbed into bed Steve pulled you close to him, burying his head in your shoulder.

He knew the nightmares would come, it was inevitable. But having you there beside him reminded him that he’d get through it.

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Series Masterlist / Masterlist

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[helloalycia]

secret relationship // wanda maximoff

summary: you're the daughter of the famous Black Widow, which comes with its own set of hurdles such as revealing to her that you're dating the newest Avenger that she also happens to be mentoring – Wanda Maximoff. What could go wrong?

warning/s: minor (implied) violence and injury

author's note: okay so the request was the reader is Natasha's daughter and is struggling to tell Natasha that she's dating Wanda. All I know is I got excited (as usual) and this happened so yeah, enjoy! Also, Wanda’s age is always a mystery to me since it’s interpreted differently with everyone, so I tried my best to explain the age gap between you and natasha so things made sense.

masterlist | wattpad

"Did you know red onion and red cabbage is called 'red' instead of 'purple' because back in the old days, they didn't have enough words for colours so anything purple was defined as red?"

"The mission, Y/N," my mum, Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, scolded.

I sighed, my attention still focused on my surroundings and my gun directed ahead. "I know, I know. But did you know that the most common internet password is '123456'?"

"Y/N," Wanda, my girlfriend and teammate said with a laugh. "Stop it."

"Yeah, please, quit it," my mum added with an eye roll.

I smiled at Wanda, admiring how beautiful she looked when she hid her laugh. My mum wasn't aware we were dating, so I settled for sending her a playful wink before looking ahead.

I knew I had to focus on the mission – scouting out this abandoned HYDRA den – but it was boring. And it was obviously empty of any threats, so talking was my only pastime.

"Did you know the inventor of Pringles is buried in a Pringles can?" I said after a moment of silence, making my mum stop walking abruptly.

"Okay, you know what? New plan," she said, looking between Wanda and I. "Everyone split up. Take a look around. Stay alert. Keep in contact. Sound good?"

I quirked a brow. "You trying to get rid of me?"

She narrowed her eyes my way. "Yes."

I frowned, making Wanda crack a smile and nudge me in the shoulder.

"You need to learn to have an off button sometimes," she joked, her Sokovian accent shining through despite the voice lessons my mum was giving her. Honestly, I preferred her Sokovian accent to her American one.

"You love it," I teased, giving her a knowing smile, my mother completely unaware of the double meaning.

"Just do as I said," my mum said, already shooing me away. "Wanda, you know what to do. If you see or hear anything suspicious, use your comms."

"Yes, Miss Romanoff," Wanda said obediently, and I tried so hard to hold in laughter at her seriousness. I mean, it was great that she was respectful of my mother and her mentor, but God it was funny to witness.

"Once again, Wanda, you can just call me Nat," my mum said with a wince, trying to be polite. "Go on."

Wanda nodded and walked off, her gun raised as she'd practiced. I grinned at my mum, noticing the way she massaged her temple with mild agitation before her gaze fell to mine.

"Go. Now." She pointed behind me, and I stifled a laugh.

"Bet you love babysitting duty," I joked.

"It's not babysitting if I'm your mother," she pointed out. "Though sometimes, you make me regret not picking the baby instead of you."

"That baby would have been six years old now," I informed her. "If anything, I spared you the whole diaper thing and the outgrowing clothes thing and the– oh yeah! Not being able to speak thing!"

"At least they wouldn't be annoying me with stupid facts," she retorted, hand on her hip. "Now be a good agent and do your job."

I rolled my eyes playfully, knowing she was kidding. Whenever I annoyed her, she'd bring up the story of how it was between twelve year old me and a six-month old baby at the adoption centre. She was worried I'd view her as an older sister or something, hence her choice of adopting the baby instead. But I never did, as she was always way more mature than any twenty-seven year old I'd met or seen at the time. And maybe, I guess, I was really desperate to have a motherly figure, and she just happened to fit the bill.

"Aye, aye, Miss Romanoff," I saluted, making her raise an eyebrow threateningly. "Okay, geez, I'm going."

I wandered off, exploring the dishevelled HYDRA den with full focus. The brief clearly stated it was an abandoned site, but I stayed on alert anyway in case there were stragglers. As usual, I only got given half the facts because of my clearance level, so I knew we were looking for a hard drive, but I had no idea what was on it.

Being a seventeen year old working in S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't exactly how I saw my life going when I grew up in an orphanage. I honestly never thought I'd get adopted, as rumours spread quite quickly through the orphanage that once you hit double digits, nobody wanted you. So, when the beautiful, red-headed Natasha Romanoff came in, looking for an addition to her family, I felt like the luckiest kid in the world because she chose me of all the kids there.

I definitely didn't expect her to be the Black Widow, nor to teach me everything she knew about espionage, stealth, hand-to-hand combat and much more. She ensured I was multi-lingual like her, preparing me for the many S.H.I.E.L.D. missions I would have to go on. There were times when I absolutely despised her, particularly when she overtrained me or stopped me from seeing my friends. And there were times when I wished she'd never adopted me, hating that I couldn't have a normal teenage experience.

But when it came down to it, I knew I couldn't have asked for a more caring, considerate and compassionate mother. I learnt early on into our relationship that she was unable to have kids of her own, hence her interest in adoption. And honestly speaking? That was probably the worst thing in the world because if anybody deserved a child of their own, it was Natasha Romanoff. I guess, in that sense, I was lucky to have all of her love to myself.

Now that I was older, I came to appreciate how awesome she was, especially when we got to go on missions together and I saw her awesomeness upfront. The only thing was, she was extremely overprotective, so it was difficult to get sent on the dangerous missions. Though, I guess, whenever I did, she was always there to have my back and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Her overprotectiveness was also a reason why she didn't know about Wanda and I's relationship. Wanda had joined the Avengers a year ago after losing her brother in the battle against Ultron. She was a year older than me, so naturally we were drawn to each other, and before I knew it, our friendship became more. But of course, my mother could never know that. At least not yet.

"Empty here," I mumbled, rounding a corner into an empty room. As I looked through the rubbish on the desk, I continued, "Empty here... and here... and oh, look, here, too. What a surprise!"

"Y/N, I love you, but God help me I will kill you if you don't turn your damn mic off," my mother's voice came through my comms piece in my ear.

For once, I wasn't trying to piss her off, so I smiled sheepishly to myself and replied, "Sorry. Love you."

I could imagine the eye roll she was giving me in response, so continued to look around for the hard drive I saw on the brief. Still, there was nothing here.

My searching was interrupted when I heard a loud crash from a nearby room, like the sound of bricks tumbling against one another. I spun around, eyes widening with concern.

"Y/N? Wanda? What happened?" my mum's voice came through my ear, slightly reassuring me as it wasn't her who was caught up in anything. But then that meant–

"Wanda! What happened?" I replied worriedly, already rushing out of the room and to the source of the sound.

"I'm okay," Wanda's shaky voice came through my ear, which did nothing to ease my concern.

I found the room Wanda was in quite quickly, seeing her sat on the floor as if she'd been pushed. She had a deep cut on her forehead and looked visibly distressed. Running to her side, I kneeled down beside her and cupped her face, studying her head.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" The words tumbled from my mouth so quickly I wasn't sure if it was understandable.

She nodded slowly, accepting my hand and holding it for reassurance. I followed her gaze, seeing a hole in the wall ahead, bricks crumbling and dust beginning to settle. Laying on the floor through the hole and into the next room was a HYDRA soldier, clearly dead from the impact of hitting the bricks.

Wanda's power was magnificent, but hard to control. A year later and she was still learning its limits, but sometimes slip-ups like this happened. I was, admittedly, in awe of her actions.

"I'm sorry, I should have kept him alive like Miss Ro– Nat said," Wanda apologised suddenly, and I looked back at her to see her shaking her head. "He just– he startled me and I didn't know what I was doing until it happened. I thought–"

"Don't apologise," I cut her off, squeezing her hand gently, before looking back to the cut on her forehead. "I'm just glad you're okay. You did good."

Despite my words, I bit my lower lip to contain a frown, worried about her cut.

"Damn."

Wanda and I both turned to the doorway to see my mum, who stopped and took in the sight of the hole in the wall with partial surprise and partial amazement.

"Mum, we need to get her back to the quinjet," I said, pulling her attention away from the wall. She approached me as I said, "She needs medical assistance."

I didn't let go of Wanda's hand as I moved to the side for my mum to take a look. Gently guiding Wanda's chin to the side, she took a closer look at the gash on her forehead, expression showing nothing as usual.

"You'll be okay, honey," she reassured, letting go. Her eyes drifted to our connected hands briefly, but I figured she wouldn't piece anything together, so I didn't let go. She continued, "Let's get out of here. There's no hard drive anyway."

Wanda nodded and my mum and I helped her to stand up, me still not letting go of her hand.

"The hard drive is on him," Wanda spoke suddenly, nodding to the dead HYDRA agent. "I heard his thoughts before I– yeah."

My mum raised her brows with surprise. "Oh. Perfect. Y/N get the drive and let's go."

I pursed my lips, glancing at Wanda with concerned eyes. She gave me a small, reassuring smile, squeezing my hand subtly before letting go.

"Right, yeah," I said, swallowing hard.

I looked back to my mum, who seemed to be studying my expression, so I cleared my throat and left to get the drive. When I retrieved it, I jogged after Wanda and my mum, checking in on her with a small smile, before leading the way to the quinjet.

When we boarded the plane, I hung around Wanda and my mum as she helped the brunette to take a seat in the back. I noticed Wanda's momentary dizziness as she sat down and felt my chest tighten.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked, kneeling before her as my mum got the first aid kit.

Wanda gave me an endearing smile as I swiped at the blood dripping down her forehead.

"I'll be alright," she said, holding my gaze with comforting green eyes before they flickered to behind me.

"Okay, Y/N, stop hanging about and start the plane whilst I stitch Wanda up," my mum said, appearing from behind me and kneeling beside me.

I nodded, glancing between the needle, thread and disinfectant in her hands and Wanda's head. Reluctantly, I got up and left them both to it as I started up the plane and got us in the air. Once we were in the clear, I flicked on autopilot before heading back to Wanda and my mum to see how things were going.

"We'll have someone look at it properly when we get back to the tower," my mum was saying to Wanda, who was now stitched up and wearing a small bandage, "but it'll hold up for now." With a playful smile, she added, "You're not dying on me just yet."

Wanda cracked a smile and whilst I appreciated how lovely it was to see their closeness in a way I never usually saw, I was still troubled by her injury. Logically, I knew she'd be okay, but it never felt good to see her injured.

"Plane is on autopilot," I announced, making my presence known. My eyes never left Wanda's bandage as I asked, "Everything okay here?"

"You need to calm down," my mum joked, making me look her way. "It's not that serious. Just some stitches."

I smiled awkwardly, but I knew it was much more than that.

"Yeah, relax, it's not a big deal," Wanda added playfully.

Her eyes met mine and I knew she was communicating the same thing through her gaze, holding a seriousness that wasn't able to be shared verbally because of my mum's presence. I tilted my head, giving her a knowing look; she knew I was aware of how big a deal it was. All I wanted to do was give her a hug and kiss and not leave her side until she felt better. And she knew that.

"I'm gonna go fly the plane," my mum said suddenly, and I almost forgot she was standing there until she spoke up. "We'll get back to base quicker..."

I glanced at her, mildly confused at her sudden change of expression. She headed to the front of the quinjet, leaving Wanda and I alone.

"Seriously though, you should relax," Wanda said, sounding like she did when it was just her and I and nobody else. She had an amused smile on her lips as she watched me worry. "I'm fine. All stitched up."

I licked my lips, sulking, as I dragged myself over to the seat beside her. She laced our fingers together, pressing a kiss to the top of my hand before facing me with an easygoing smile.

"I'm fine," she repeated gently, lovingly, sweetly.

I offered her a small smile, before leaning forward to press a kiss to her bandage. "I know. Just don't worry me like that. Especially in front of my mum. I can't take it."

"It's cute," she noted, amusement returning. "It means a lot to know someone cares."

My shoulders relaxed. "I care too much. So, please don't test that."

She laughed and I felt my heart flutter in my chest, never getting used to the sound.

"I promise not to," she said, looking up at me through her lashes.

I leaned my head on her shoulder and kept ahold of her hand, staying with her until we arrived back at base. My mum flew us the whole way back, only coming to get us once we landed. I knew I should have left Wanda's side as to not raise suspicion with my mum, but I couldn't find it in myself to do so. I just hoped she would interpret it as two concerned friends rather than her daughter having a secret girlfriend.

"You should head to the medical wing to get checked out properly," my mum said once we were back at the tower, looking to Wanda.

"Yeah," I agreed a little too eagerly. "I'll go with you."

My mum gave me a curious look. "I mean, that's not necessary."

Wanda must have sensed my eagerness, as she said, "I'd appreciate the company, actually. I don't mind."

She shot me a subtle smile, eyes bright with reassurance.

"I'm happy to accompany you, Wanda," my mum offered, and I felt my mouth go dry.

"It's okay, mum," I said suddenly, making her look to me with pursed lips. "You can go debrief and I'll make sure Wanda is cool with everything."

Glancing between us, my mum finally nodded. "I see. I guess I'll see you both later then." She paused, looking between us once more, before adding, "You did good today. Both of you."

I looked down to my shoes as Wanda shot her a grateful smile. She walked away, leaving us be, and I immediately intertwined my fingers with Wanda's as the two of us headed to the medical wing.

"You may as well write desperate on your forehead," she teased with a beautiful smile.

"So funny," I said sarcastically, though a smile of my own was present. "Let's just get you checked out."

"If it means you'll stop pouting, then sure."

"Real jokester you are. Hilarious, honestly."

Her laughter surrounded me like a warm hug and I could have listened to it forever.

—

Since our mission together, I noticed the distance my mum was putting between her and I, and I had no idea why. I thought I was overthinking it and seeing things that weren't there, so I didn't follow up with it until one evening.

It was a rare occurrence for all of the Avengers to be at the tower at once, so when they were, we'd all have a 'family' dinner for some normalcy. Only, this time, I noticed how strange my mum was acting whenever I spoke to her. She'd either act super dismissive or give one word answers to my questions – once again, I wasn't sure if I was seeing things.

After dinner, everyone went their separate ways and Wanda and I stayed in the living-area to watch some TV. Though it was playing, the volume was lowered and neither of us were watching it. We were just talking about random stuff and enjoying each other's company.

"Okay, how about this one?" I said to Wanda, turning so I was facing her, a grin on my lips. "What did the clock do when it was hungry?"

As with all of my other attempts at making Wanda laugh, she stared at me with an amused smile and a quirked brow.

"Say it...," I encouraged, motioning for her to speak with my hand.

She sighed. "Okay, what did the clock do when it was hungry?" Mumbling, she added, "Even though clocks don't eat..."

I slapped her leg playfully. "Sshhh, you'll ruin the joke. And the answer is, they go back four seconds!"

Wanda didn't laugh, but she seemed entertained as she hid a smile. "Seriously?"

"Because of the number 'four' and the word 'for'," I explained. "C'mon, that's a good one!"

"D'you think you're funny?" she asked, eyeing me playfully. "Because you're not."

I shrugged, playing it off like I wasn't fussed. "I mean, I don't know about that... how about now?"

Before she could question me, I moved forward and began to tickle her sides, watching as she squirmed with laughter.

"Stop it!" she shouted, but her smile was as wide as ever as she was unable to stifle her laughter. "P-please! Y/N!"

"But you said I wasn't funny!" I retorted with a grin, practically straddling her as she attempted to push me off her. "I'm just checking if you still think that!"

Wanda was crying now, tears escaping the corners of her eyes as she continued to laugh. "I'm s-sorry! Y/N, stop!"

Before I could think how to respond, the doors to the living-area opened and in walked Steve Rogers AKA Captain America, a confused expression on his face as he saw me sat on Wanda.

"Hey, ladies," he greeted, raising an eyebrow. "You both good?"

I pulled my hands away from Wanda and breathed out, still smiling as I glanced down at her. She blew a strand of hair from her eyes and glared at me playfully.

"Yeah, just talking," I answered Steve, before being thrown off Wanda and to the floor with a thud.

"Just Y/N harassing me as usual," Wanda corrected, and I sat up to see her sitting up, too, fixing her hair.

Steve chuckled as he headed to the fridge in the connected kitchen. Wanda helped me back onto the couch, nudging me in the side as a response to the tickle fest, before leaning on me and stretching her legs across the couch.

"So, hey, what's up with you and your mum?" Steve asked as I continued to annoy Wanda by flicking her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not looking up as I grinned down at Wanda, watching as her eyes glowed red threateningly.

"Don't make me hurt you," she said teasingly, lifting a hand and summoning her powers, red wisps of energy becoming present.

I stopped flicking her and intertwined her hand in mine, watching as her eyes faded to its usual colour.

"She just seemed distant at dinner," Steve continued.

I looked up and saw he was leaning against the counter with a water bottle in his hand. Wanda continued to stretch, practically on top of me, probably to annoy me as I had been doing with her. I moved her hands out of my face as I nodded to Steve.

"So, you saw it too? She was being off, right?" I asked him, glad I wasn't just imagining things.

He nodded, gulping his water, before saying casually, "Definitely. What did you do? Finally tell her about you and Wanda?"

It took me a second to realise what he'd said, but when I did, my eyes widened and I spluttered out a terrible response. "What– what about Wanda and I?"

I glanced at Wanda as she began to sit up properly. She looked more confused than panicked.

"You know, that you're together," Steve said like it was obvious.

I cleared my throat. "What? Why would you think that?"

Steve smiled with confusion. "Wait, so you're not? But I thought–" He paused, pulling a face. "No, you are! Everybody thinks you are!"

I shrugged it off, though inside I was panicking. "I mean, even if that was the case, why do you think my mum knows?"

Steve nodded knowingly. "She's been off with you all night. And then I caught up with her after dinner and she wasn't in a very talkative mood. Just mumbled something like 'new girl, her age, pretty, nice, should have seen it coming'. I assumed she was talking about Wanda."

Heat crept up my neck with embarrassment and when I looked to Wanda, I saw her cheeks dusting a red colour, similar to the energy she could summon. She looked as flustered as I felt.

"Has your mum been okay with you before today?" Steve asked, trying to be helpful.

I chewed on my lower lip and shook my head. "Not since we got back from our last mission..."

Steve scrunched his face with sympathy. "Oof. You should probably talk to her then. You know how much she hates secrets."

I groaned internally. "Thanks for the reminder."

He saluted playfully, his stupid smile on his stupid face, before leaving Wanda and I alone again.

"Well, looks like she knows," I said to Wanda, sinking into the couch with hopes it would swallow me forever.

"She might not," Wanda tried to make me feel better, resting a hand on my leg. "It could be something else."

I gave her a knowing look. "She has to know. It's the only thing that makes sense. You heard Steve."

Wanda sighed, sinking into the couch beside me. "Yeah..." She glanced at me and I looked at her as she said, "I did tell you to tell her."

I forced a smile. "Gee, Wanda, that was helpful. Thanks."

Wanda rolled her eyes before leaning her head on my shoulder. "Sorry..."

I rested my hand on hers. "It's okay, sorry. I just– she's gonna be really mad that I kept this from her."

"Yeah, why did you do that again?" Wanda asked questioningly.

I massaged the tension between my eyebrows. "Because she's too overprotective. It gets too much to handle sometimes... Take my last boyfriend for example. He was some tool that cheated on me and, oh boy, my mum wanted to kill him. I had to physically restrain her from doing so."

"I don't blame her," Wanda quipped, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

I smiled a little, squeezing her hand. "I know... she ended up slashing his tyres and egging his car without telling me. But instead of egging the outside, she broke into it and egged the inside. A thoughtful take on a classic, I must admit."

Wanda laughed, her whole body shaking with pure amusement as she listened to the story. I couldn't help but smile myself, remembering it like it was yesterday. Definitely a fun time.

"I appreciated it, don't get me wrong," I added, smile fading. "I just didn't want that to happen again. I wanted to enjoy our relationship without anyone spying on us, y'know? But now she's gonna be super angry."

Wanda let go of my hand and rolled on top of me, leaning down on my chest so she could look me in the eyes. I wrapped my arms loosely around her to keep her steady.

"She only wants the best for you," Wanda told me gently. "You have to tell her you're sorry. Explain why you did what you did, but hear her out, too. She's your mum. Caring too much isn't a bad thing."

I groaned, knowing she was right. She smiled reassuringly, patting my chest.

"You get the caring too much thing from her by the way," she added, before leaning forward and pressing a haste kiss to my lips. "It's okay though because I love it."

I smiled, never really seeing it like that. Raising my hand, I brushed my thumb over the small bandage on her head; her injury was still healing, but she didn't let it bother her. Very Wanda-like.

"Thanks," I mumbled, meeting her gaze. "You always say the right thing."

"Which is why I'm going to tell you to get up and go to your mum," she ordered playfully, pushing herself off me and holding out her hand.

I let her pull me up before straightening up and taking a deep breath. Wanda was right. I just needed to be open and explain my piece. It would be fine.

—

So, it wasn't fine.

When I entered my mum's living quarters, she wasn't the happiest to see me. In fact, she actively turned her body to face her TV when I came through the door.

"Hey," I started with a small smile, fighting the nerves in my stomach. "Can we, er, can we talk?"

She grabbed the cushion on the couch next to her, hugging it to her chest. Her eyes didn't leave the TV, but the space next to her was free, so I took that as an opportunity to close the door and sit beside her.

The news was playing on the TV – headlines, I think – and they were talking about a new elected congressman in New York.

"Seriously? The news? Even in your free time?" I asked playfully, hoping it would lighten the mood.

She didn't even glance my way as she muttered, "I like to know what's happening in the world."

Losing my smile, I straightened up and cleared my throat. "Right, right..."

It went quiet as the TV played in the background and my mum said absolutely nothing. I grabbed the other cushion on the couch and hugged it to my chest, similar to her. It was a nervous habit that I picked up from, well, from her.

"You said you wanted to talk?" she reminded me. "So, talk."

Having the Black Widow as your mother wasn't something anyone could get used to. She could be the most caring, loving, protective person in the world, but she could also appear quiet, intimidating and ruthless like the trained assassin she was. Not the greatest combination when trying to open up to her.

"I think I know what you're thinking," I started, pinching my hand to distract from my growing anxiety.

Without hesitation, she bent forward to grab the TV remote and turned it off before turning to me with sad eyes.

"That's where you're wrong," she said calmly, and it was way worse than her yelling. I would have preferred her yelling to be honest. The disappointment in her voice was much worse. "You always assume you know what I'm thinking. What I'm going to say or do."

I avoided her eyes guiltily. "Mum, look, I know that I should have told you the truth. And I know how angry you are, but–"

"I'm not angry, Y/N!" she shouted, finally, standing up off the couch and creating space between us.

I winced. "You sound angry."

She put her hands on her hips, looking down to her feet and taking a breath. Her voice at normal volume, she said, "I'm upset. You– you didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth. Instead, I had to put it together when you acted how you did with Wanda after that mission and..." She paused, sighing. "Forget it."

"No, keep going," I pleaded, the guilt piercing through me sharply. "You're right."

She swallowed hard, glancing at me with glassy eyes. "I wouldn't have done anything. I know I have in the past, but this is Wanda we're talking about. I've been her mentor for a year. I care about her and– and– she's good. And she's good for you."

Okay, I definitely misread this whole thing because now my mum was upset, on the verge of tears, and I was the arsehole responsible for it.

"I'm so sorry," I said, standing up and moving forward to hold her arms. "I should have trusted you. I mean, it wasn't even about trust. I was just scared you'd react badly. But it wrong of me to assume that."

She frowned, looking down to her shoes. "I know I can be tough sometimes, but it's only because I care."

I thought back to Wanda's words and gave her a small smile. "I know. I get it from you."

"I am happy for you, you know," she said, glancing at me petulantly.

My expression softened. "Thank you. That means a lot coming from you."

Without another word, she pulled me in for a motherly hug, making me close my eyes and relax in her arms. I still felt horrible for making her feel like I couldn't trust her when it was anything but that.

"I'm sorry," I repeated quietly into her shoulder.

"I forgive you," she said, before pulling away and giving me a small smile. "Now tell me. You're happy?"

The thought of being with Wanda gave me butterflies and I couldn't help but smile in response. With a nod, I said, "I am."

She nodded, squeezing my shoulders gently before fully letting go. "Good. I'm glad you've got her... I know you can take care of yourself, but she's strong, too. She can look out for you when I'm not around anymore."

I shoved her in the shoulder. "Don't joke about that. She isn't replacing you and you're not going anywhere, you hear me?"

She laughed, nodding. "Not yet anyway. But sure, okay."

I relaxed and gave her a nervous smile. "So, you wanna meet Wanda? Like, as my girlfriend and not your student?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "If I must."

I smiled widely, grabbing her hand and leading her to the door. "She loves you a lot, y'know. She wanted me to tell you about us as soon as we got together. She hated lying to you."

"Yeah because she knows that lying is wrong," she teased me, making me groan loudly. With a chuckle, she added, "I love her, too. She's definitely something."

"Hell yeah she is," I said in agreement, grinning to my mum as I dragged her to the living-area where I last left Wanda.

On the way, we passed Steve in the hall, who took notice of the smiles on our faces and nodded knowingly.

"Glad to see you worked it out," he said supportively.

"Thanks for the heads up," I told him gratefully as we passed him.

When we reached the living-area, I saw Wanda sat on the couch watching TV. When she saw who entered, she straightened up instantly, moving to stand and unsure what else to say or do. It was cute, the respect she had for my mum.

"Did you– I– She told you?" she stumbled over her words, starting to speak to me but eventually looking to my mum.

My mum glanced at me before meeting Wanda's nervous eyes. "She did."

Wanda licked her lips anxiously. "And you're okay with it...? Angry...? Wanna kill me...?"

I watched my mum, nodding encouragingly to her. She sighed before giving Wanda a small smile.

"No killing will be necessary," she reassured my girlfriend. "Unless, of course, you break my daughter's heart. Then in which case, I may have to find you when you're sleeping."

"Mum!" I complained, face falling into my hands with embarrassment.

"I'm just being truthful," my mum said with seriousness, before looking to Wanda expectantly.

Wanda surprisingly took it well, probably used to my mum's personality after training with her for a year. "I understand completely, Nat and I'll hold you to that. I have no intention of breaking Y/N's heart."

A rare, genuine smile appeared on my mother's lips. "I know you don't. Just–" She paused, glancing at me. "Keep her safe, yeah? She's a bit stupid sometimes."

Wanda laughed as my mum smiled with amusement, like it was an inside joke.

"Right here, you know," I reminded them with a wave of my hand.

They only rolled their eyes.

"I will," Wanda promised my mum. "Thank you for being okay with this."

My mum nodded, giving us both a final smile and once over, before saying, "I'll leave you to it. Goodnight."

Wanda and I bid our goodnights, watching her leave before a giant sigh of relief escaped our lips.

"You feel better?" Wanda asked me, grabbing my hand and tugging me to the couch.

She let me fall on her chest easily, snuggling up to her as she wrapped an arm around me and held me close. I inhaled her perfume, a familiar and comforting scent, as my head rested in the crook of her neck.

"I feel better," I answered, closing my eyes and letting her intertwine our fingers.

"I believe this is the part where you say I was right," she prompted, a hint of amusement in her words.

"Don't make me hurt you," I mumbled, making her laugh quietly beneath me.

"You're lucky I love you," she said, kissing the top of my head. "I guess opposites do attract. You're the stupid one and I'm the clever one."

"Wanda?"

"Yeah?"

"Fuck off."

She laughed again, and even though it was at me, I couldn't help the content smile from spreading on my lips.

[syn0vial]

The Official Star Wars Fact File: Zam Wesell

(Unofficial translation by me, syn0vial. Please forgive me for any mistakes, I've studied Spanish for some years but it's definitely not my first language!)

Zam Wesell was an exceptional figure that belonged to an equally exceptional species, the Clawdites. The bounty hunter was an unorthodox and extraordinary being who left a mark with her short life and career.

The Clawdites have always been oppressed and never been trusted. It is something that is accepted as natural in life. Their society arose due to a gene therapy that cured a sickness, but also created a new species, condemned to be exiled from the principle habitable zone of the planet Zolan. All Clawdites can change the color of their skin, but only a few are capable of altering the texture of it, and there are even fewer that can change its shape. Only a small number—very capable beings, dedicated and with great self-control—could take the form of another being for an indefinite period of time.

Shape-shifting results in great pain and discomfort for a Clawdite; they must use oils and ointments to stop their skin from becoming horribly cracked. Yet, in contrast to even the best of her species, Zam Wesell could not only change form with relative speed, but could maintain it while resting.

Combat Training

In Zolan society, those that deviated from the rigid secular norms were persecuted. Clawdite society was less restrictive, but even they showed apprehension about some of Zam Wesell's activities.

In the semi-anarchic society on the Clawdite-dominated continent of Sultur, where Zam was born and raised, the clans were governed by warriors known for their boastfulness. In general, the strongest prevailed, but even the boastful owed loyalty to their clan. Among them all, the best warriors of Zolan were the Mabari knights. They were part of a religious order that would not admit sinners among their novices. The religion of Zolan preached that the untruthful were the worst sinners of all. Despite this, Zam, when she was with them, successfully hid her true nature long enough to reach the third level of mastery in the Mabari martial arts, before being forced to flee Zolan.

Zam relocated to the corporate planet of Denon, where skills like hers were in great demand. The corporate security organizations always needed new employees and with Zam's shape-shifting ability, it didn't take much for her to ascend to the rank of sergeant. Nevertheless, this was only the beginning of her career. She calculated each step with utmost care; in this way, she quickly rose to become a very well-paid corporate bodyguard.

She was a self-proclaimed "progressive" and never forgot her planet and her people. She always sent huge sums of credits to Zolan, to radical Clawdite groups dedicated to the emancipation of their species; it is unknown whether she was truly invested in the situation of her species or if she only wished to provoke unrest.

Outlawed: Zam Wesell's journey before she became a bounty hunter was a winding one. She was denounced on her home-planet, Zolan, for being Clawdite and even more so, for her ability to shape-shift. After learning martial arts in a religious sect of warriors called Mabari, she abandoned her planet.

Clawdite Assassin

Since leaving Zolan for Denon, Zam Wesell had accepted work that provided huge profits and little excitement. Not much happened before she left her job as a bodyguard and sought a change of scenery.

Her experience in the risky world of industrial espionage on Denon had perfected Zam's deadly skills, while also allowing her to develop a web of contacts, financing, and gear to start her career in earnest. Finally, she could establish herself as a bounty hunter. She had adopted as her identity the appearance of a short, attractive female human, as a means of securing more work and hiding her true Clawdite face. With practice, although not without pain, she managed to maintain this appearance even while sleeping. She also adopted a uniform, a purple jumpsuit that could adapt to both her human and Clawdite forms, and that helped protect her skin.

Above the jumpsuit, she wore a flexible armored doublet and a protective skirt. The skirt's connected segments concealed an impact-absorbing system that offered protection against attacks from behind. Her helmet had its own light and incorporated a commlink under the veil that hid her face. In the heat of combat, her true Clawdite face could emerge, which the veil helped hide. Zam's belt had a series of compartments and essential devices for her profession, including the holster for her KYD-21 blaster. In front of her doublet, she carried a small respiratory device. These tubes inserted into Zam's body and allowed the device to function through her lungs if it was required by the atmosphere. The uniform came complete with a certain number of Mabari objects, among them an ancient cape clasp, an emblem on her helmet, and combat gloves. All these objects were ingraved with inscriptions from sacred Mabari texts.

We're bounty hunters, Zam, not heroes: The partnership of Zam and Jango Fett began long ago, long before she was contracted to kill Padme Amidala. The two bounty hunters respected each other. Zam had the honor of knowing the son of Jango, Boba Fett.

Elite Assassin

It was fated that the paths of Zam Wesell and Jango Fett would meet, but it would prove a very dangerous crossing.

Zam Wesell was considered one of the best bounty hunters of her generation, and she believed it. So it was logical that she would come to be known by Jango Fett, considered the number one in their profession.

One of their first encounters [Syn's notes: preceded five years by their true first encounter in the game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter] took place after Antonin Vigo, of the Black Sun, contracted Zam to kill Dreddon the Hutt. She took the form of a red-headed slave and successfully carried out the mission. Just as she was about to take her leave, Jango Fett appeared. Zam discovered that she was not going to be paid, nor was Jango, who had taken out Antonin at the behest of Dreddon.

Zam and Jango both knew of each other's reputations. The mutual respect that they had and their simiar ethics led them to allow one another to go on their way. However, the two would meet again shortly afterwards when a dug named Fernooda contracted Zam.

We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This: Zam and Jango were contracted to recover an ancient artifact. She let him do all the hard work; then ambushed him and made off with the idol.

Jango, you're always complaining about my shapeshifting: The mutant power of a Clawdite was very useful in her work and elongating her arm to grab hold of the idol that both she and Jango Fett were searching for. [Syn's notes: The presentation of this information is a little misleading. Zam catching the idol like this occurred well after this job for Fernooda, when both Zam and Jango were working together to keep Fernooda's boss from using it in a terrorist attack.]

I know that there's a man under that mask: Zam managed to get closer than anybody to the mysterious Jango Fett, with the exception of his son Boba. Even so, she knew that a relationship between them would affect her work, and thus decided not to push it further.

It was an awkward situation, since Fernooda had assigned the job to Jango, but had decided to ensure its success by also contracting the Clawdite. The aforementioned mission involved recovering an idol that had been in the possession of Fernooda's boss. Zam, who knew that Jango had also been contracted, let her rival do the dirty work before springing an ambush. This time, she insisted on seeing the face of the man under the mask. She was so transfixed on him, that she didn't realize there was an enormous insect, the guardian of the idol, about to attack her.

Without knowing why, Jango came to Zam's rescue and, recognizing that she was in his debt, she allowed him to leave with Fernooda's idol. Thus began the strange and exceptional relationship, even friendship, between Jango Fett and Zam Wesell. [Syn's notes: As mentioned earlier, their association truly began with the events of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, but perhaps this is the point things got a little more personal between them.]

Partners: Without a doubt, Zam and Jango worked well as partners. The question was whether they were willing to let their affection become more important than their work.

Mutual Empathy

Although it was nearly inevitable that Zam Wesell and Jango Fett should encounter one another again, the first reunion that occurred between the two bounty hunters did not go as either had expected.

At first glance, the mission seemed simple. It involved an assignment that Vigo Antonin, of Black Sun, had given to Zam Wesell, and the contracts from this organization were always lucrative. Certainly, the jobs offered to bounty hunters of Zam Wesell's level were never easy.

The target was Dreddon the Hutt. It was never a good idea to threaten Black Sun business and Vigo Antonin wanted to make an example of him. Zam used all the resources at her disposal to investigate and infiltrate Dreddon's organization. Her Clawdite powers allowed her to adopt the form of a human dancer that appealed to the Hutt. She needed all her concentration to maintain this form during a prolonged period, but Zam was very good at what she did. The disguise completely fooled Dreddon. Hutts are very difficult to kill.

Poisons and blasters could not guarantee that Dreddon wouldn't have time to call for his guards, so, to end his life, Zam restrained herself to placing a microbomb hidden in one of Dreddon's amphibian snacks when he was about to enjoy a private performance from his favorite dancer. The result was somewhat chaotic, but decisive.

A Private Affair

Just when she was about to leave, Zam heard someone approach. She grabbed her blaster and hid, waiting to see who could be intruding on her mission. She was almost happy to see Jango Fett, the most infamous bounty hunter in the galaxy, next to the corpse of his client.

Zam had successfully completed her mission and would soon receive a rich reward for her troubles. What's more, she could make fun of Jango Fett for the murder of his client. She had him at her mercy, pointing at him with her blaster, knowing who he was and what he was capable of.

Unfortunately, Zam's good humor soon went up in smoke. Jango had returned from completing a contract for Dreddon: killing Vigo Antonin! Thus, neither Zam nor Jango would be paid. Fett took the first opportunity to draw his blaster and with that both bounty hunters were in the same bind.

Zam was the first to lower her blaster, with her trademark style. With a twirl and a grin, she pointed out that the problem was that neither of them wanted to make the first move. She then flounced off, leaving Jango alone with his thoughts.

It's a weird rock: The artifact that Fett and Wesell had to recover was an idol that, as they would discover, bestowed mysterious powers upon its owner. [Syn's notes: ...If "mysterious powers" means "ownership of extremely explosive chunk of rock," then yes, that is correct.]

A New Contract

However, Zam needed work. The matter with Dreddon had left her without anything to show for it. A dug named Fernooda offered a contract shortly after she returned to her base of operations, but he warned her that he had already contracted another bounty hunter for the job in question: Jango Fett.

Zam readily accepted the job, since it seemed simple. Recovering a little statue from the natives of the jungle planet Seylott that had been stolen from Fernooda's boss. She had already decided to let Jango do the dirty work and ambush him at the temple's exit.

Jango's Revenge

It seemed that this time, Zam Wesell had won. She even managed to get Jango to remove his Mandalorian helmet. The scarred face she saw was handsome, if a bit gloomy. Then, a huge carnivorous insect attacked Zam from behind. The other bounty hunter ignored Zam's cries for help, taking the statue and running.

My client offered 50,000 Republic credits: The paths of Wesell and Fett crossed once again when the dug Fernooda contracted them to recover an object that the natives of Seylott had stolen from his boss. Immediately, the instinctive sense of rivalry returned between the two bounty hunters.

Heroes of Coruscant

Zam thought that she was doomed, Jango Fett had taken off, leaving her to be devoured by the enormous monster on Seylott.

While fighting to escape, Zam was surprised to see Jango return. He told her to take out all the explosives that she had on her and prepare to detonate them. Zam didn't have much option but to trust him, although she wasn't sure that he wouldn't get both of them killed. Fortunately, Fett's jetpack got them out of trouble. Zam picked up Jango's helmet from amidst the smoke and the dust left from the creature's destruction, gave it to him, and allowed him to take Fernooda's idol; afterwards, she turned and left, smiling as she told Jango to take care until next time. There would be a next time, Zam assured her rival, although this didn't seem to bother Fett.

However, Wesell wasn't satisfied. She had heard rumors here and there, and soon learned the truth about her mission on Seylott. The idol had been under the power of the Force-sensitive natives. The Annoo-Dat general Ashaar Khorda wanted the idol to use as a weapon capable of generating explosions that could destroy an entire planet. Even worse, Khorda's target was Coruscant.

Zam traveled quickly to Kamino, where she met with Jango and, to her surprise, with his young son Boba. She believed that Boba's mother had been killed and Jango said nothing to the contrary. Instead, he listened impatiently to Zam's story about the idol. Zam ended by saying that, since she and Jango had found the weapon, they owed it to the people of Coruscant to stop Khorda's plan.

Under the Mask: Zam Wesell was one of the few people who could elicit affection from the harsh and implacable Jango Fett

A Matter of Conscience

Jango wasn't interested, since he wouldn't be paid for the work and his son needed him on Kamino, but Zam convinced him that there were countless children that needed him on Coruscant. Jango Fett, an orphan rescued by strangers, softened his position and finally accepted his first time working together with Zam Wesell. [Syn's notes: Again, second time since Star Wars: Bounty Hunter.]

Zam had seen Khorda's right-hand man, the dug Fernooda. Thus, she took on his appearance in order to discover Khorda's and his lackeys' plans. They found out that Fernooda planned to place the idol in one of the planet's central reactors, where the explosion would cause a chain reaction that would destroy the planet completely.

Jango and Zam, along with a solitary Jedi, found the mad killer, after following the clues that he and his gang had left. Together, the three proceeded to defeat the gang and recover the idol. The Jedi could absorb the Force of the idol and leave it without power once more; although at the cost of his life.

Safe Return: Zam Wesell worked together with Jango Fett to seize a powerful Force artifact and return it to its owners. She managed to convince Jango to accept the mission.

Zam and Jango took the idol back to Seylott, earning them the gratitude of the natives. They were requested not to return ever again, something that the bounty hunters had no intention of doing. Upon returning to Kamino, Zam was not fooled by Jango's complaints of not being paid, since she knew that, deep down, he knew that returning the idol had been the right thing to do. It was the same impulse that had saved her on Seylott. She said goodbye to Jango with a kiss on his scarred cheek, so he wouldn't feel it had all been for nothing. It seemed that Zam had won again.

Altruistic Mission: Zam's desire to prevent the deaths of millions of people in a terrorist attack shows that she had a certain sense of conscience.

The Final Mission

Jango Fett made an atypical decision: subcontract Zam for the most dangerous assignment.

Jango wanted to spend more time with his son Boba. The boy's education was very important to him. However, the most famous bounty hunter in the galaxy had many offers of work. He accepted most of them and the rest he passed on to Zam Wesell. She worked alone most of the time, although they worked together occasionally, to the benefit of both of them.

Assassination Contract

A man that Jango knew as Tyranus, the same that had given him work with the Kaminoans, requested that he accept a special mission. It involved the killing of a high-order politician who had interfered in Tyranus's business. The pay was very good and Jango was happy to be able to pass it on to Zam Wesell. It seemed like a simple job.

The target was a senator dedicated to public life, something that would make her an easy target for an intelligent assassin. However, the target was also a queen of Naboo, friend of the Jedi and a central figure to the supreme Chancellor of the Republic.

Direct Hit: Ostensibly, Zam Wesell had killed the senator Padme Amidala with a bomb on her ship, but the victim ended up being a decoy, making it necessary to take another approach.

Reckless Driving: Zam realized that she was being pursued by Jedi. Her skill at the wheel of a speeder allowed her to traverse the busiest districts of Coruscant, but her pursuers wouldn't give up the chase.

To Kill a Senator

Zam chose the occasion carefully.The target was to return to Coruscant for a crucial vote, and her landing would be predictable enough. Zam used her capacity for shapeshifting to discover the time and place of Senator Padme Amidala's return.

With her usual cunning, Zam managed to place a bomb on the target's landing platform and then left to observe from the heights of a building a kilometer away. From there, she waited for the moment of truth. Amidala's silvery ship landed, flanked by fighters. The senator came down from the ramp and the moment her foot stepped onto the platform, Wesell detonated the explosive. There were few survivors and the news was full of stories and images of Zam's success.

Double Action

Zam Wesell believed she had completed the mission, but her satisfaction was short-lived. Amidala was apparently alive in the rotunda of the Senate at the end of the day, a very irritating outcome. The woman killed on the landing platform was a double. Fett was angry, along with his client. There could be no more mistakes.

Fett spoke with Zam and gave her a glass tube with two kouhuns inside. He cautioned her that they were extremely venomous, since she wasn't an amateur.

The bounty hunters counted on an ASN-121 droid, programmed with the location of Amidala's quarters, to deposit the deadly cargo. Then, Zam sat and waited for the return of the robot.

It was emiting an alert signal. Zam saw through her scope a Jedi holding onto the droid. Not even the droid's destruction could shake the Jedi, and soon she was being pursued through all of Coruscant, with her skills as a pilot put to the test.

Just when she thought she had lost them, one of the Jedi jumped onto her speeder. In the subsequent skirmish, her vehicle was damaged and she was forced to land. She sought refuge in a bar with the Jedi close behind.

Death of a Hunter

Seeing one of the Jedi at the bar, Zam approached as close as she dared, knowing that he could deflect a blaster bolt if warned in time. Unfortunately, the Jedi was much more astute, igniting his lightsaber with a twirl and severing Zam's hand that held her blaster. The pair of Jedi dragged Wesell's wounded body into an alley to interrogate her.

Ground Chase: Zam, without her speeder which had been damaged, had to flee on foot. She got into a bar, where she intended to ambush her pursuers, but Obi-Wan Kenobi attacked her with his lightsaber before she could fire; Wesell was badly injured.

One of them, the younger one, pressed Zam to reveal the name of her client. At first, she resisted, but then, after the Jedi spoke again, began to tell her captors what she knew.

The poison dart that Jango shot ended Zam's life before she could speak a word. She died quickly from the venom's deadly effects; she didn't suffer. This was the last thing that Fett could do for a friend.

[changeinlane]

SCANNING…IDENTIFICATION COMPLETE. ENTER [POPPY LANE], [CHILD] OF [LUCY LANE], CODENAME: [AGENT LANE].  A [20] [FOURTH] YEAR ENROLLED IN THE [AGENT] TRACK. INTEL SHOWS THEY ARE [PERCEPTIVE], BUT CAN ALSO BE [INDECISIVE]. ABILITIES INCLUDE [EXPERT TACTICIAN, HAND TO HAND COMBAT, EXPERT MARKSWOMAN]. FACIAL RECOGNITION MISTAKES THEM FOR [MARLO KELLY].

DEMOGRAPHICS

NAME: Poppy Sarah Lane 

GENDER: Female, she/her

COURSE: Agent

YEAR: Fourth

BIRTHDAY: December 23rd 

AGE: 20

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual 

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good 

HERO/VILLAIN PROFILE

POWER/TALENT: Expert Marksmanship, tactician, hand to hand combat, espionage, grifting 

POWER/TALENT DESCRIPTION: Poppy was taught to shoot a gun by her grandfather General Sam Lane when she was old enough to hold one. She learned watching her mother’s actions as they travelled on the road, eventually becoming part of ‘the pitch’. Lucy started teaching Poppy flexibility and reflexes from a young age through calling it ‘dance practice’. 

WEAKNESSES: Mortality. Though she’s pretty tough, Poppy has no superhuman powers or defenses and could be prone to illness or injury. Poppy also struggles with intimacy and trust issues, due to her upbringing being on the road alongside Lucy. 

HERO/VILLAIN NAME: Agent Lane

COSTUME DESCRIPTION: Black jump suit, black leather jacket with a high rise & combat boots.

WEAPONS: Tasers, guns and darts. A small knife strapped to her leg.

GADGETS/TECH: 

SCHOOL SCHEDULE

MONDAY: CHEERLEADING, FILM CLUB

TUESDAY: ACROBATICS II

WEDNESDAY: SOCIAL, PSYCHOANALYSIS, & HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY: BALLET

THURSDAY: HISTORY OF S.H.I.E.L.D & A.R.G.U.S

FRIDAY: INTERROGATIONS, NEGOTIATIONS & STRATEGY

ORIGIN STORY BULLET POINTS

Raised by Lucy Lane on the road constantly and without having much stability. Often Poppy would lack adult supervision and be left to her own devices.

Occasionally, Lucy would leave her in the care of her father General Sam Lane. He taught Poppy some proper self defense from an early age, and began teaching her how to shoot a gun (Lucy ended up finishing the lessons). 

Other times, Poppy was left in the care of Jimmy Olsen. Lucy’s on and off again relationship (more so off then on, after Poppy was born). It was through Jimmy’s care Poppy had met her uncle and aunt, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. After learning of this, Lucy stopped leaving her with him. 

Lucy would always tell Poppy that everyone else was looking down on them, that they had to prove everybody wrong. You couldn’t trust anybody, not even family. 

She watched her mother go through phases. Sometimes she would be conning people for the challenge of it, sometimes she joined the DEO and was as professional as could be, and sometimes Poppy lived amongst a cult for a year or two because her mother got taken by their ways. Lucy was flighty, and in her flight she took Poppy along. 

By the time she was an adult and free to make her own choices, never settling down took it’s toll upon Poppy. She didn’t know how to make a home, how to make friends, or even feel comfortable anywhere. Everything felt temporary. 

Poppy reached out to her grandfather, who suggested LKU. 

[have-each-others-six]

no more tears to shed, nothing left unsaid

for @the-quiet-winds- love you, j.

Katherine Howard is trying to summon up the courage to knock on Cathy’s bedroom door.

She’s not scared of Cathy- all of the queens have been together now for almost a year, and they’re definitely to the place where they all trust each other more than anyone else. 

But Katherine still has some things that are hard to share, some things that make her feel overexposed and fearful, and the notebook she’s about to show Cathy has almost all of those things written inside of it. Somehow, she finds herself knocking before she really decides to, and the door opens slowly to reveal Cathy, standing in the doorway and stretching. “Why are you always up so early, kid?” the older queen asks with a yawn, leaning on the doorknob, but then she sees the worry in Katherine’s eyes and her posture straightens. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine,” Katherine replies, a little nervously. “I, um- I have something for you.” Cathy’s brow furrows, but she lets Katherine in her room, opening the curtains and making the bed in a few motions as the girl fidgets with the folded pages of the notebook. After Cathy’s done, she gestures to her desk chair, and Katherine takes a seat and shoves the notebook sort of awkwardly towards Cathy.

“I- what is this?” Cathy asks, managing to catch the notebook and looking at the cover, which doesn’t give her any clues as to what’s inside.

“I’ve been writing. Things. Stories. I’ve been writing stories. They might be more journal entries, maybe? And I know you write, and I wanted to-” she sighs, hanging her head and taking a pause before continuing, trying to gather her thoughts. “Could you read the first story in there, please?” she asks quietly. “And tell me if it’s any good?”

Cathy smiles softly at Kit’s request, both out of amusement from the girl’s endearingly worried rambling and out of happiness that she trusts her enough to share something this significant with her. She’s sick of writing, to be completely honest, and she doesn’t really want to read anything at all right now, but that’s not what she says. “Of course I will,” she tells Katherine, setting the notebook carefully in her lap as she sits down on her bed. “Actually- if you can withstand staying, I know how hard it is to be in the room with someone who’s reading your work- I finished a new short story if you want to look over that while I’m reading this.”

“Really?” Katherine says eagerly, turning in the desk chair as her eyes rove over the papers, trying to find the story in question. She always loves reading Cathy’s work. She prefers her fictional works, but she’s read her poetry and her songs and been amazed by those, too. “Yes, really,” Cathy laughs. “Careful, now, kid,” she instructs, still smiling, getting up from her seat on the bed. “Don’t mess up my system.” She lifts a bundle of pages from the desk and centers them in front of Kit, tapping the top with her finger. “I think you’ll like this. It’s sort of a ‘what if’ scenario with our history, told through a different lens.”

Katherine settles in excitedly, opening the first page slowly so she can savor it, but she ends up devouring the writing quickly like she always does. Cathy’s writing is just so rich, layered with characterization that Kit can’t even wrap her head around the magnitude of sometimes and imagery that transports her to places she’s never been.

Cathy is far more methodical in her reading than Katherine is, marking down a few careful criticisms to share with her later, but mostly she finds herself enamored in the girl’s story- it gets wordy at times, certainly, but the plot holds true and the relationships she builds between the characters seem to live and breathe right there on the page. They come up for air from the story-worlds they’ve been inhabiting at the same time, both finished with their respective tales and blinking a little like they’re getting used to the room again. “So-” “I-” Both of them laugh, having started into their effusive reviews at the same time, but Cathy gestures for Katherine to go first. “Okay. Well. I loved it. I always love it, you know that, but this is amazing- every word has a purpose. There’s no extra fluffy bits, it’s just a well-told, well-based perspective of a story. Didn’t hurt that the mother-daughter relationship was really cute, too.” Cathy smiles. “Thanks, kid. I’m glad you liked it- I was actually pretty proud of that one.” She clears her throat and launches into her review, unsure how much she should soften her criticisms, but the pink-haired girl seems to take them pretty well. However, strangely, it’s when Cathy gets into praising Katherine’s rather depressing story where all the characters die that the girl starts to become subdued. She waits for Cathy to finish, and then when Cathy asks her gently what’s wrong Katherine swallows. “I’m never going to be this good,” she murmurs, pointing to the papers in her lap. “I… your style is so incredible. I could never do this! I don’t even know what my writing style is.” “Well, first of all, however ‘incredible’ you think my style is-”-Katherine whacks Cathy’s hand lightly for using air quotes around ‘incredible’-“-you can’t write something in my exact style, kid. No one can. You write the way you write, and it’s unique and amazing in its own right.”

“But I have no idea what the way I write is.” Cathy squints, deep in thought, and a smile flickers across her face once she gets an idea.

“Would you want to write together?” Whatever Katherine was expecting Cathy to say, it wasn’t that. “What… what would we write?” she asks, confused and more than a little nervous- she has no idea if she’ll be able to even keep up with the way Cathy writes. Cathy shrugs. “I don’t know. Anything. We wouldn’t have to share it with anybody if you didn’t want to. It could just be practice for both of us, learning to write collaboratively. Heaven knows we wouldn’t have come anywhere near that chance in our old lives.”

There’s a few moments of long, quiet silence where Katherine thinks about the offer, but then a grin pulls at the corner of her mouth and Cathy knows what the answer will be. “Why not?”

***

The next day, it’s Cathy who knocks on Katherine’s door, holding an unused notebook that Jane had given to her months ago. Katherine looks up from the book she’s reading and smiles when she sees Cathy. “Are we starting?” “Well, if you want to be technical about it, I’ve started,” Cathy says, opening the notebook and pointing to a paragraph written in her slanted scrawl. “Take it whatever direction you like, kid. I’ll be back in a little bit, and then I’ll write some more. Does that sound all right?”

Katherine nods vigorously, already hunched over another piece of paper to group together ideas that sparked in her head once she glanced over Cathy’s section- she’ll read it in more detail later. Cathy waits in the doorway for a moment before leaving, watching the girl write, and she smiles a little bit before heading into the living room, where Jane is playing chess with Anne. She curls up in an empty armchair and turns the television on with a soft volume to watch a mindless show- one can’t be sustained on books and writing alone, not in these modern times. “Katherine’s been in her room for a while,” Anne comments when it isn’t her turn, her gaze flicking over to the hallway where all the queens’ bedrooms are. “Is she all right?” Jane asks, concerned, pausing in the midst of hopping her knight to capture Anne’s bishop. “She’s fine,” Cathy assures them. “She and I are trying something out with our writing- we’re going to see how it works.” “Do we get to know what this very mysterious writing project is?” Jane questions curiously, intrigued now, and Anne’s turned to face Cathy too, her own interest having been piqued.

“Not yet,” Cathy tells her. “And maybe not ever. We’ll see what happens.”

Jane raises her eyebrows, and after Anne manages to checkmate her king somehow, she walks over in gracious defeat to Cathy and kisses her head, half out of affection and half hoping to avoid Anne pleading for another game.

“I’m very excited for a story written by both of you to exist, no matter if I get to read it or not,” Jane says, smiling. “I think it’s a very good idea.”

Katherine walks into the room a while later, and with a shy sort of grin on her face she hands the notebook to Cathy, trying to be surreptitious, clearly enjoying the overdramatic espionage of it all. “Kat, are you going to tell me what’s going on with the notebook?” Jane asks Katherine, batting her eyelashes, and Katherine shakes her head, smiling. “Nope. You heard Cathy, this is top secret.”

Jane shakes her head, pretending to be annoyed with having been foiled, but in actuality this is the most she’s seen either of her girls smile in weeks. 

She gives in to Anne’s request for a rematch, smiling at Cathy writing eagerly on the couch- it’s not an unusual sight to see the sixth queen writing, but it is unusual to see her smile while she does it.

Jane knows that Cathy loves to write, but with the constant demand from historians and journalists for information on their lives and their reincarnations, she’s been burning out, having to churn out a new piece almost daily, and it’s not hard to tell the joy in writing is dying for her.

But this is a return to the old Cathy, the one who would write ideas down on napkins and the back of her hand because she didn’t want to forget a single moment of inspiration that struck her. 

Jane doesn’t say anything, because she’s afraid she’ll ruin it if she speaks, but the corner of her mouth stays in a small smile as she advances upon Anne’s line of pawns.

***

The notebook passes between Katherine and Cathy a few times before they all head to the theater- they become creative, hiding it on shelves and in cabinets and in plant pots to make it a game to find- and by the time they’re all walking down the sidewalk in the cold to get to the show, the notebook has almost six pages filled with two different types of handwriting. They don’t really know where the story is going, but that’s part of the fun of it, taking the thread of the story through their different styles and ideas and seeing where they end up.

Katherine isn’t thinking about how much better Cathy is than her anymore. She knows her own style has its own merits to it, even if she does tend to use five words where just one would have flowed better. She’s practically skipping as she goes down the street, the notebook banging against her hip in her bag. Cathy watches her and smiles, because she’s not buried in words anymore. She’s harnessed them back for herself again, for her joy rather than for work or for explaining something impossible to somebody else. Their happiness spreads to everyone, and then they’re all chattering about absolutely nothing of importance and trying their hardest to make each other laugh, all of them feeling the lightest they have in weeks, which translates to their performance in the show- the audience is immediately on their feet for a standing ovation when the girls all jump together at the end of the last number.

Cathy finds the notebook on her desk at the end of the show, with a full page added by Katherine, pink glitter dotting some parts of the paper. It’s well-written, but it’s long, and after a long show all Cathy really wants to do is shower and sleep. She sighs and promises herself she’ll get to it later. The notebook is put in the depths of her bag and stays there for a few hours, well after they’ve all eaten dinner and most of the queens have gone to bed. “Is the writing paused for tonight?” Jane asks curiously, tapping on Cathy’s doorframe. The woman looks up, in the middle of writing an article, getting back into the rhythm of writing for work. “Katherine’s staying up for something, but she won’t tell me what.” “Oh…” Cathy starts, then trails off, chewing on her lip. She wishes she was more comfortable with twenty-first century expletives, because saying some of them in moments of realization of crisis is more satisfying than any wordy curse from her old life. She writes out a quick paragraph that furthers the plot and allows the girl room to play around, heading to Katherine’s bedroom to apologize and finally hand her the notebook, but when she peeks in the girl is asleep, curled up tight on the bed. Cathy goes to turn around, trying to let the girl sleep, but her foot hits a creaky floorboard and Katherine sits up in a flurry of blankets, exhaustion thick in her eyes when she blinks over at Cathy, who’s almost to the doorway.

“Cathy?” Katherine questions sleepily. “Is that you?”

With a sigh, Cathy lowers herself from her tiptoes to flat feet, forgoing her soft footsteps. “Yes, it’s me,” she mumbles. “I’m sorry for waking you up, kid, I just realized I never gave the notebook back to you and I wanted… I’m sorry.” “You have the notebook?” Katherine asks, perking up slightly, her eyes still foggy with sleep as she holds her hands out for it. “Kid, you should get to sleep,” Cathy reprimands gently. “We’ve got another show tomorrow. I can leave it here on the nightstand, how’s that?” “But I-” “It’ll be waiting here for you tomorrow morning. You need sleep, kid, I can tell.” “I want to write something,” Katherine says. “Please? I’ll sleep better.” Cathy rolls her eyes at the girl’s stubbornness, but then an idea occurs to her and a slow smile spreads across her face. She left her pen in her bedroom, but she takes a green one from Katherine’s desk and scribbles out a quick message, handing it over to the girl. “This just says good night,” Katherine points out sourly, showing Cathy the sentence she wrote that’s accompanied by three green hearts. “That it does. And now it’s your job to respond- that’s how the notebook works. It’s the rules,” Cathy says seriously. She’s probably laying it on a little thick, but it seems to be working. Katherine pouts, but writes a short goodnight as a reply, laying down in bed with a huff. “I’ll see you in the morning,” Cathy says gently. “We’ll write more tomorrow, yeah?” “Yeah,” Katherine echoes, her frustration finally giving way to a small smile. “See you in the morning.” Cathy goes back to her room to work some more on her own piece, but after a few hours Jane pokes her head in on her way to bed. “You should come see this,” she whispers, laughing softly. Cathy’s intrigued, her brow furrowing, so she lets Jane lead her down the hall to Katherine’s room, where the sight is indeed sort of ridiculous. Katherine clearly took the notebook again, as she has fallen asleep facefirst on top of it, and from what Cathy can read on the page around Kit’s head, it’s mostly incoherent. She fights a laugh, and shakes her head as she gently works the pages out from under the girl and sets her back in a more comfortable position with Jane’s help. “Hope you’re sleeping well, kid,” she murmurs, pushing some hair out of her face, and then when Jane kisses Kit’s forehead she smiles in her sleep. The next morning, Katherine will be up before Cathy again, as she always is, and when she looks over the incoherency from last night she’ll giggle a little bit, but that laugh will fade into a smile when she reads what Cathy wrote after it. Good morning! Hope you slept well last night after your little writing adventure- I’m giving you a chance to redo whatever you wrote here, for... well, just read it, and then tell me what you think. It’s going to be a good writing day, I can already tell- love you, kid! Katherine will eagerly begin to write a good morning in reply, and until the back-and-forth writing comes to an end many years later, their stories are peppered with breaks of good nights and good mornings and messages between writers who care about each other. It’s not your typical group of short stories, but it helps Cathy find her love of writing when she’s scared she’ll lose it, and it lets Katherine find her voice and figure out how to utilize it to its full potential.

In those pages, they aren’t ‘The Wives of Henry VIII’, with all of that title’s significance and pain- they’re just Cathy and Katherine, finding out a story together. 

And that is enough.

[buckyodinson]

Payment (Mandalorian x fem!Reader)

Request from anon: Mando does a job and his payment is the reader. Ofc he doesn’t want to accept at first but then he lets the reader come along with him once he sees they have nowhere else to go. And then basically just showing hoe hw falls in love with her (nsfw is welcome too)

A/N: I tried my best with the smut at the end, but it is not my strength, and I definitely got carried away with this fic, as you can probably see by the word count! 

Word Count: 4.6k

The Mandalorian landed the Razor Crest on Arkanis. His most recent bounty had taken him to Tatooine, where he had captured an Imperial spy who’d been working in the palace of the Royal Family of Arkanis. He was paid with a little Beskar at the initial meeting and promised a large payout if he was successful. On arrival at the palace with the bounty, he was immediately ushered into the throne room, where he was welcomed by the King and Queen of Arkanis, both of whom looked pleased at the sight of the spy. They thanked him, before having a pair of guards take the spy away. The Mandalorian wondered how violent the punishment was on this planet for espionage.

When it came to payment, they offered two Beskar ingots. The Mandalorian countered that this was not the ‘large payout’ he was promised for the work he completed - very promptly, he also added. While he only needed another thigh plate fashioned from Beskar, he wanted to take more back to the covert for the foundlings, and knew this family were rich enough to provide it. They argued for a little longer, and gave over a further two ingots, but would give no more.

“It’s still not enough. You asked the Guild for me specifically because you know of my capabilities, yet you still pay me a standard rate.” He bit back yet again.

“If you seek more payment, it will no longer be in Beskar.” The King uttered and gestured to a woman in robes stood to the side of the Queen.

“You’re offering me your slave as payment?” Mando was almost in disbelief. He looked at the woman, who shifted her gaze from the ground to his helmet in response.

“We have many more than her, so if the Beskar isn’t enough, take her.” The King replied.

“I can’t.” He couldn’t look away from her, and swore he saw a flash of disappointment across her features at his rejection.

“She is one of the best in our employment, she would make a fine crewmate for you.” The Queen added.

The young woman looked dejected, and Mando felt his heart hammering in his chest, “Fine. I’ll take her.”

“Perfect.” The King smirked and you slowly walked towards the Mandalorian, giving him a shy smile.

The pair of you were escorted out of the palace, and Mando walked you to the Crest. You were sat in the co-pilot seat and didn’t utter a word until the ship was in the air.

“How can I be of help on the ship?” you asked quietly.

“You don’t need to do anything for me. I only said yes because you looked unhappy there. I figured I’d take you, and then drop you off somewhere, your home if you have one?”

Your eyes widened at his admission, and you relaxed a little, but the thought of nobody to work for made you a little uneasy. “I don’t really have a home. My mother worked for the Palace and I was raised to work there too. It’s been a few years since she passed. All my life, I’ve only ever really known the Palace.”

“So you don’t have anywhere to go?” he put the Crest on autopilot and turned to face you.

You shook your head in response, and you heard a deep sigh come from within the helmet, “I couldn’t even name you a planet to take me to, I was never allowed any access to books while I worked for them.”

Mando quietly seethed underneath his helmet, angry he’d worked for this family. Perhaps they did deserve and Imperial spy in their midst after all. He was quiet for a while, before the door to the cockpit opened and the Child waddled in. An idea popped into his head, and he wondered if he was making a sensible decision. You looked down at the child with wonder in your eyes, before your attention was drawn back to Mando when he spoke again.

“Since you have nowhere to go, if you wanted to stay on the ship with me, I wouldn’t mind. The most work you’d have to do would be to watch the kid while I’m out collecting a bounty. But I would pay you greatly for it.” his voice came through softly despite the modulator.

“Really?” your face brightened as you spoke, and Mando felt his heart hammering again at the sight of your smile.

“Yes. As long as you are okay with it?”

“Yes! Thank you. You truly don’t know how much I appreciate this. Nobody has ever treated me with such kindness before.” your smile widened.

“You’re welcome,” he stood and gestured for you to follow him down the ladder, “I’ll show you your quarters.”

“I’ll have my own room?” confusion laced your voice as you spoke.

“It’s only small, just a cot and a small table, but yes.”

“I’ve never had my own room before...” you looked around the tiny room with awe, and Mando’s heart fell, thinking about how awful your life must have been on Arkanis.

“Please feel free to relax down here if you wish, the fresher is just through that door over there if you need it too.” He began to turn around but was stopped by your hand around his wrist. He looked down at your hand before his eyes found yours.

“Thank you. Do you have a name I can call you by?” He was shocked by the question, and he wanted to kick himself for forgetting to ask you for yours earlier.

“.... My name is Din. But you can never speak it in front of others. If we have company, you can call me Mando. And what is yours, and I apologise for not asking earlier.”

“My name is y/n. And it’s okay, nobody has asked me my name in a long time, so you’re not the only person. Thank you again, I am dearly grateful for your kindness.” you pulled him into your embrace, and he tensed at first but quickly melted into your touch, wrapping his arms around your form and giving you a gentle hug.

You pulled back and smiled up at him once again. His heart did yet another flip, and he turned back to the ladder. You watched him walk away, before laying down on your cot. You stared up at the ceiling and let a few tears escape your eyes, still unable to process everything that was happening.

Back in the cockpit, Mando set course for the nearest planet to stop at for a supply run. Another person on board for the foreseeable future meant the ship needed more food, and you wold also need some clothes and personal items.

He landed on Savereen, descended the ladder and knocked on your quarters. The door opened and you were smiling up at him from where you were sat on your bed, “I felt us land, where are you off to?”

“We’re on a planet not far from Arkanis. Just making a supply run in a small town, and then we’ll be far away from that planet for good. Would you like to join me, perhaps find some clothing for yourself, and anything you may need for the fresher?”

“I will join you in the town, but I have no money.”

“That’s okay. I will pay for anything you need or want.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.” He gently placed a hand on your back as you both walked down the ramp of the ship, the child’s crib in tow.

You found a small shop selling some clothes. You picked what you could discern to be the cheapest options, just a top and trousers, and a dress. Mando took note of your size and picked a few more items of clothing, some practical and some he thought you would find pretty, while you moved to another shop selling soaps. While you were distracted, he saw a stall selling books, and he found a few with some history of the galaxy. They contained information about lots of different systems and planets, or about different species found across the galaxy. He bought them and kept them hidden in his bag underneath your clothes. You picked a few items for the fresher, Mando paid for them, and then you walked over to pick up some food portions. You even found a small rattle for the child, and Mando immediately bought it, seeing how happy it made both you and the child.

Mando couldn’t describe the way he was feeling. The awe on your face as he took in all these new sights made his chest tighten. It reminded him of when he first took in the child, who’s wide eyes never dimmed. He took you to a cantina and bought you and the child something to eat and drink, and even though this particular cantina was full of shady patrons, who were simultaneously avoiding his gaze, but trying to sneak glances at him, he enjoyed sitting in this booth with you. Having you there meant he could ignore everything else. He also felt very protective over you almost immediately and would make a point of staring and hovering his hand over his blaster if he caught anybody else staring at you.

After a nice day in the town, the suns were going down, and you all went back to the Crest. He brought the bag of your new things to your room, before heading up the ladder to start the ship. You sorted out all the clothing, folding them and piling them up in the storage space underneath your cot. You noticed some clothes you didn’t pick out yourself. Some of them were just basic things, but you found a beautiful forest green shawl with small embroidered flowers along the edges. Tears brimmed in your eyes as you looked at it, and you folded it up gently and hugged it to your chest for a moment before storing it away.

You saw there was something solid wrapped up at the bottom of the bag and lifted it out. When you unwrapped it, you saw several books about the galaxy. You were stunned at how thoughtful Mando was. Din, you corrected yourself, making an effort to try and remember to call him by his actual name when there was nobody else around. You wondered how often he actually heard it. You opened one book and started to read its contents, completely in awe at the information it contained.

The ship lurched a bit and you almost fell out of your cot but managed to save yourself. A minute later, Din knocked on your door.

“Come in!”

“Sorry if you were jostled about a bit, I put the ship into hyperdrive.” He smiled beneath the helmet when he noticed you were already reading one of the books he’d bought.

“That’s okay. I really don’t know what to say about all this, Din. It’s too much.”

His heart stopped briefly when you spoke his name, “It’s nothing really. This is your home now, if you want it to be, you’re no longer at anybody’s service. I want it to feel like a home.”

You patted the cot next to you, and he hesitated briefly before sitting down carefully next to you.

“I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for all this Din. You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met.”

“You’ve not met many people then.”

You chuckled in reply, “That is true, but I’m sure no matter how many more I meet, nobody will be as kind to me as you have been. Inviting me into your home and making me feel so welcome. It’s... it’s overwhelming. And the way you treat the child, even though it is not your own, only further proves my point.”

He didn’t know what he was doing until he was already doing it, but he reached for your hand and laced your fingers with his gloved ones and wrapped his other hand over your connected ones.

“Speaking of the child, I can already tell he loves you like you’re his own mother.”

“You think so?” your wide eyes expressing such love and curiosity.

“I know so.” He nodded slightly and ran his fingers over your knuckles. You looked down at your hand and smiled at the sight. You leaned to rest your head on his shoulder, and slowly, he rested his helmeted head atop yours, careful not to put its whole weight on you. You had no idea about the life of the Mandalorians, so had no idea of the significance of this small gesture.

You got used to life on the ship very quickly. You loved it, and Din insisted it was your home now as much as it was his. That took you a while to get used to, though. You loved watching and looking after the child while Din went out to collect bounties. Equally, he loved returning to the ship after a bounty, seeing your beaming smile upon his return.

Din realised quickly that he loved you. It was a foreign feeling, but he liked it. He’d never particularly enjoyed a person’s company before you, but soon after joining him, he craved your company, and loved when you would sit in the cockpit with him as he flew the Crest, or when you would join him as he sat in the hull cleaning his weapons. You were the first person he genuinely wanted to talk to and have actual conversations with. Something that struck him was that you weren’t afraid of him, which was a welcome surprise. You seemed so innocent and soft and sweet, and he was cold and hard and frankly, dangerous. But you didn’t seem to mind.

You had fallen for Din too. On the exterior, you could see why people were afraid of him. When he lands the Crest and takes you out to towns for a meal or just for a day of exploring, you noticed the looks on people’s faces when they saw the Beskar-clad Mandalorian, and how people would move out of your way. But you saw what was inside. Not literally, of course. He had told you the ways of the Mandalorians, and how he could never remove his helmet. But somewhere beneath the helmet, you could tell he had a beautiful soul, and that he was not an intimidating person once the armour was off. You’d give anything to see his face, but you knew how much the Mandalorian’s meant to him, and how he lived strictly by their code.

As time went on, the two of you grew closer. Din slowly got used to the lingering touches, and in some instances, sought them out. If you were in a booth in a cantina, he would shuffle just that bit closer to you, so his knee would touch yours, or would brush a hand against yours under the table. In the Crest, you would be down in the hull reading or cleaning, and he would simply come and sit next to you, and you would rest your head on his shoulder and continue whatever it was you were doing, enjoying the simple act of affection.

Once, you stood up to go to your quarters for the night and kissed the top of his helmet before walking away, and his heart stopped. He went bright red underneath the helmet and sat there stunned. Those little acts grew over time, whether it be holding Din’s hand, or hugging him before he left and when he came back. You were testing the waters with what he was comfortable with.

One night, while Din was out on a bounty, you heard some noises out in the hull, and when you left your quarters to welcome Din back, you saw a masked man bent over the child’s crib, and you tried your best to fight the man off, but he overpowered you and tied you to the bottom of the cockpit ladder, and you could only watch helplessly as he pried the crib open, and snatched the sleeping child up and took him out of the ship. You sat there sobbing, and you were so loud that you didn’t hear the skirmish outside as Din killed the man and brought the child back onboard the Crest. He all but sprinted back onto the ship, terrified at what he may find.

He was relieved to see you were only tied up, with a small bruise forming on your cheek. He placed the child back in his crib, and dropped to his knees in front of you, cutting you loose. You immediately lurched into his arms, still sobbing. He held you tightly and waited for you to calm down before bringing you up to stand. His heart broke when he looked down at you, your red eyes staring up at him, tears running down your cheeks. His helmet tilted slightly, and he swiped his thumbs under your eyes and cupped your cheeks as he pressed his helmet against your forehead. This was the closest you’d get to a kiss from Din, you thought to yourself.

He leaned back again, and wrapped a hand around one of yours, and walked you the few steps to your quarters. You laid down and held onto his wrist as he turned to leave.

“Stay... please. I don’t want to be alone.” you whispered, your voice hoarse from the crying. He nodded and slowly removed his gloves, boots and armour, leaving on his underclothes and helmet. You shuffled over until your back touched the wall, and he climbed into bed with you. He laid on his side, still, unsure of what to do. You slowly moved forward again, and wrapped your arms around him, burying your face into his chest, before crying again. He wrapped an arm around you and pressed you tighter against him and rested his other hand on the back of your head, slowly brushing his fingers through your hair until you stopped crying.

Once you calmed down, you looked up at the slits in the Beskar, “I’m sorry, Din.”

“For what?”

“If you didn’t turn up at that exact moment, the kid would be gone. And it’d all be my fault.” tears brimmed in your eyes again, and he was quick to wipe away the one that escaped.

“It’s all okay now. You don’t have to be sorry. This life is dangerous, and I’m sorry I brought you into it.” he cupped your cheek again as he spoke, bare thumb dancing along your skin.

You reached a hand to place on his helmet where his cheek would be. Usually when anybody goes anywhere near his helmet, Din is quick to grab their wrists or push them away, but he let it happen. He knew you wouldn’t try to lift the helmet, but if he was being honest with himself, he would’ve let you if you did.

You got a sudden burst of courage and leaned up to place a soft kiss where you imagined his mouth would be underneath the helmet, “I wish I could kiss you...” you whispered against the Beskar as you pulled away.

It was quiet but you caught his whisper, “Me too...” You smiled in response and tucked yourself against his chest again. He wrapped his arms tightly around you again and you both fell asleep soon after.

This became a semi-regular occurrence. The pair of you holding one another in your quarters until you fell asleep. You always kissed his helmet; it was kind of a routine you couldn’t shake. One night, after a stressful escape from bounty hunters after the child, you were laying in his quarters, him on his back and you tucked into his side, head resting on his shoulder and running your hand over his clothed chest. It had been a while since that first time, but he had been thinking a lot about it.

“I have an idea...” he said slowly, and you moved up to rest on an elbow and look down at him, waiting for him to continue.

“Since that night in your quarters, I haven’t really stopped thinking about it. About how I want to kiss you, properly... Nobody has seen my face since I swore the Creed, but if you couldn’t see me... perhaps that would work as a compromise?” he slowly reached out to a small chest of drawers and pulled out a small strip of fabric.

“You want to blindfold me?” you smiled at him.

“Only if you’re comfortable with it. If not, it’s okay.”

You nodded shyly in response, “I’ll do anything if it means I get to kiss you. It’s pretty much all I’ve thought about since that night too...”

He shifted to lay you down on your back and hover over you as he placed the fabric over your eyes and tied it securely at the back of your head. You heard the hiss of his helmet unlatching, and the clink it made as he placed it on the ground. You slowly lifted your hands up to reach for his face. You were pleasantly surprised to find stubble littering his cheeks, and a little bit of a moustache. Your fingers found his lips, and traced them tentatively, and you smiled when you felt him kiss your fingertips, before feeling him smile against them. Your fingers danced upwards and you felt his hooked nose, which made you smile even brighter. Finally, you threaded your hands through his hair, and your jaw dropped when you felt his long waves. Your movements pulled a small sigh from Din’s lips and you gasped at the sound.

“So... how do I feel?” he spoke, and you almost cried at the sound of his unfiltered voice, and you’re sure you could almost hear his smile in his voice.

“...beautiful.” you managed out before you felt his lips on yours.

His hands came to cup your cheeks again, as he deepened the kiss. You felt all of Din’s love and passion come through this kiss, and you gasped, allowing him access. You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and he lowered his whole body against you, your legs slowly coming to wrap around his waist as the kiss slowly got more heated. You broke away for air and he panted, “Maker, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do that...”

“I think I do...” you breathed out before pulling him back to kiss him once more, tightening your legs around his waist. He pulled away to leave a trail of kisses up your jaw and down your neck before he made his way down your chest, leaving you breathless.

“Din...” you sighed as he continued his trail downwards, kissing you over your clothes.

“Are you sure you want this?” he asked, and you nodded in response. He lifted from you and you whined from the loss of contact before feeling his lips ghost yours, “Use your words, y/n.”

“Yes, please Din. I want this.” you gasped.

He responded by lifting your shirt above your head before kissing his way back down the same trail he just made, though now paying more attention to your breasts on his way down to the waistband of your trousers. He slowly pulled them down, and now you were laying there just in your underwear.

“I want to feel you Din... please.” you sighed. He gladly responded by removing his own shirt and trousers, and you reached out to feel his warm skin under your hands. He shivered at the feeling of your soft hands against his skin, wondering how he got so lucky. He kissed you deeply again and you threaded your fingers through his hair, releasing a beautiful groan from the back of his throat as he moved to leave a mark on your neck, pulling a similar groan from you.

His hands roamed your body, finding all the spots that made you see stars. He slowly ran his fingers over your clit through your underwear, and you moaned at the feeling, feeling Din smile against your neck. These were all new sensations to you, and you were glad to be sharing them with Din. He slowly dragged your underwear down your legs before his hand returned to where you wanted it most. With a thumb pressed against your clit, he slowly worked a finger into you, continuing his ministrations for a while before adding another. His fingers worked magic against you, and he was whispering sweet nothings into your ear, telling you how good you were, and how beautiful you were, and you came undone after almost no time at all.

“Are you okay, my love?” he kissed your jaw as he caressed your cheek.

“That was amazing, Din.” you breathed out.

“We can stop now, if you wish.” he was painfully hard as he spoke but didn’t want to push you.

“No... please. I want you.” you panted.

He shifted so he was hovering above you again, and he braced himself with his elbow resting by your head, before slowly entering you. You gasped and reached out to grip his shoulders, as he slowly pushed himself inside you. He took his time, and the lack of movement was killing him, but he wanted to make sure you were in as little pain as possible. He finally bottomed out, and all but collapsed on top of you at the sensation of being fully buried in you. He looked down at you, watching your chest heave and your face contort at the mix of pain and pleasure. He stayed completely still until you finally choked out a whispered “move”.

He started slowly, pulling almost all the way out before sliding back in. He wanted to savour every moment of this, and make the most of it, but when you wrapped your legs around his waist, and pulled his lips to your own, he quickened the pace until he set a bruising pace. While he leaned on the one arm for support, his other hand gripped your hip so tightly, there would definitely be bruises there the next morning, but neither of you cared in the moment. He stretched you so perfectly, and in that moment you thought you were made for each other in this way. His kisses made you breathless and you wondered how much longer the pair of you would last.

He moved his hand up to your chest and gave your nipples some attention. You gasped into the kiss and he knew he was doing something right. He dragged his lips across your jaw once more and you tilted your head to give him better access. He continued at this for some time before dragging his hand slowly down to where you met, and started rubbing slow circles on your clit, and you bit down on his shoulder as you came, seeing stars through the blindfold. Din wasn’t far behind you, his thrusts slowly becoming more frantic, and you pull him even closer when he finally does come, your name escaping his lips. He collapses onto you, and you hold him tightly for a few minutes before he slowly lifts himself off you. He kisses you softly and you hear the door hiss open, and before you know, he’s back with a damp cloth, cleaning you up.

He leaves again, and you roll onto your side, and once he’s laying behind you he removes the blindfold and you open your eyes, only to see the same blackness, “I didn’t want to put the helmet back on just yet, so I turned the power off to keep us in the dark just that bit longer, so I can enjoy this while it lasts.” you smile as you feel him speak against the skin of your shoulder. He presses his chest against your back, covers you both with the sheets and you fall asleep to the feeling of his fingers rubbing small patterns into your thigh.

[anangelicday-mrwolf]

Wolfsbane : Noblesse Fanfic (post-ending)

(previous chapter)

Chapter 48 – Much More Dangerous Than They Had Envisioned

“Welcome.”

The doctor greeted Tao and M-21 as soon as their shoes tapped past KSA’s front door.

The two men were donned in their signature black suit, the uniform of school guards and RK.

Yet unlike before, their shoulders were heavy with frigid atmosphere oh-so-visible-and-tangible.

The doctor felt nothing, although the situation was more than enough to make him feel disappointed that they are being icy to him.

He knew he was in no position to throw such emotional tantrum.

As for Tao and M-21, they could see.

They could see from the doctor’s superficially well-mannered attitude that he was very inclined to greet them with Taesik as well but could not.

It is late night, with most personnel of KSA back at home. However, words will surely spread once even a single soul spots how both KSA’s director and doctor are groveling at someone at the door, and it would be only a matter of time until every soul figures out that something is going on in their nest.

As much as they are ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-percent sure what the circumstances are all about, they did not want the lesser people to find out before the remaining 0.01% is completely mapped.

Also, in consideration of the weight of the circumstances, it was only natural for them to remain cautious until the very last moment.

“Would you like to go there now...?”

Usually he would have been referring to the director’s office. But this time he meant otherwise, and they did not need to exchange words to know that.

The purpose of Tao and M-21’s visit lay in Yuhyung’s lab.

Tao insisted they search the place before its owner returns to Korea, which gave them only a night to carry out the task.

For that reason the doctor did not wait for their response, although he did ask for it.

Which is why the waiting time inside the ascending elevator could not possibly be more awkward and stifling.

Which was only natural for the doctor to try to let in some air to the murky atmosphere expected only at the runway towards the battlefield.

“Uh... By the way, is there something up with Mr. Takio?”

M-21 started upon the name of his teammate, and Tao followed suit by rolling his eyes in a curious fashion.

Takio was tending to his duty outside during the time they were unveiling most of Yuhyung’s secret at company of Lunark.

When they decided they should head to KSA, he did not hesitate to volunteer as well.

To their concern and puzzlement, he was nowhere to be seen, but they could not afford to wait for him.

At last they made it to Yuhyung’s lab, enclosed by a new alloy door that replaced the one that Yeonsu stomped on.

The doctor unlocked the room with his employee key card, and Tao and M-21 held their breath as they directed their scrutinizing gaze into the dark lab.

Overall, it was basically a replica of the scenes the two men had familiarized themselves with during their times at Union.

But of course, there was a difference in size and magnificence, probably because of difference in resources.

Soon enough their hands got busy as they committed themselves in heated search through desks, drawers, and bookshelves for what they could spy with their eyes.

Which did not surrender anything, to nobody’s surprise.

“Yes, this happens to be an official research content we are running at the moment.”

They wasted their time asking for doctor’s confirmation with the documents, graphs, and printed screenshots they could pick up, to ultimately return them to their original places.

Naturally their eyes were drawn to the computer in slumber.

“Do you think he left something if anything in there? Based on the series of testaments, he may be a hopeless clown in daily life, but even you admit that he is no ordinary person when it comes to research.”

“He must have. Computer-friendly’s that practically treat computers as equal to their flesh and bones – yes, the sort like me – tend to leave in one way or another the most important data inside their computers. Partially because our pride depends on how well we build the firewalls and vaccine programs against potential thefts or leaks.”

Tao quoted with a voice close to desperation than confidence.

After he pushed the button to awaken the computer, they came to think that perhaps Yuhyung added a feature that automatically detonates his computer when it is turned on during his absence.

Which is why for the 3 seconds of waiting their heads whirred with thousands of scenarios, of which none was brought into reality, to their mild astonishment.

Notwithstanding, the very first screen that welcomed them froze them in their shoes.

“Password...?”

They could not understand how they could forget.

Even outside the industry of espionage or secret intelligence, in modern world personal information is held as valuable as a common gold mine, and it is only customary for people to lock their computers with personal passwords.

The fact that they were staring at none other than Yuhyung’s computer fanned their anxiety.

“...I think I’ve seen the similar kit at Union. No, this isn’t a repertoire exclusive to the Union. You know, the data are all blown up if anything other than the set password is input.”

M-21 diverted his enlightenment-seeking eyes towards Tao.

“I can dissect this thing if I want to. But in the meantime, he might receive an automated notification on the infiltration attempt on his ser...”

“Excuse me. One moment.”

The doctor finally broke his silence to step in.

Without even glancing at Tao, who was shoved to the side before he knew it, the doctor typed in three letters strange to Tao’s and M-21’s eyes.

The monitor blinked to give way to the screen plastered with a variety of icons, to Tao’s delight.

“How did you know what the password is?”

“...I chose the name of the colleague who used to be closest to Yuhyung. He was sacrificed during massive city destruction, the inception of Yuhyung’s dark ambition.”

The atmosphere sunk into the dark faster than light, and Tao warmed up the joints of his fingers and in less than a breath opened the file Yuhyung had most frequently rummaged.

“What in the...?!”

Tao moaned, skimming and comprehension over as anticipated from an expert, and the doctor and M-21 madly wiped the monitor with their eyes, to not long after unhinge their jaws in mimicry of Tao’s expression.

“...Why don’t we talk to the director now? I don’t think this is something we can handle by ourselves.”

“...Very well. This way.”

The three humans trotted across the hallway, their movements so swift and forceful that anybody could have seen that nothing could stop them.

They soon came face-to-face with Taesik, his facial profile petrified to maximum due to the fact that they entered before the sound of their knocks was completely gone.

“So, what did you find?”

Prior to their visit, he was already notified of the contents they deduced with Lunark.

And of course, his mind fried by utmost fluster, he appealed how much he did not want to believe them.

Which did not last long, given that they were from the RK and Lunark herself.

Nevertheless, it was obvious he could not throw away the last glimmer of hope, made so very pronounced by his fingers clutching the edge of his desk like a falcon, gaze precariously ghosting over their faces, and body crooked forward like a hunchback.

Feeling slightly guilty at how he must totally annihilate his meaningless hopes, Tao unzipped his lips for the testimony.

“Please listen carefully, sir. I am terribly sorry to say this, but... It looks like Mr. Jang has been in secret alliance with the Union.”

At then Tao and M-21 got to learn how a rapid cancer patient diagnosed with less than a day to survive would appear, seemingly every shadow and shade in the universe transported onto his face, his lips abruptly stupefied and unable to demand if they can swear.

The doctor, who had also seen through the change with his boss, added with a voice barely free from a quake.

“It’s true, sir. It’s more than a presumption. We just found from his computer contents available only once one comes in contact with the Union.”

“I-is that true? Just what did you find...?”

“We already heard from Ms. Lunark what Mr. Jang had gone through during destruction of Seoul. And this ideology he has come to harbor ever since.”

Taesik gave a tense nod, reminded of Yuhyung’s idea of mandatory body modification for all incoming agents, which never fail to give chills to every piece of his spine whenever his memories are refreshed.

“And Mr. Jang had not aborted his idea. He’s been proceeding with a secret study, based on his major and his specialty in KSA, with help from the data from Union.”

“S-so... What is this data from the Union...?”

“Simply put, it’s... It’s rapid body modification. Or should I say, rapid pseudo-body modification?”

“What do you mean...?”

“As you’d know, the amount of resources required for body modification is beyond any human imagination. Especially time. Even perfectly modified humans would often take time to stay under observations or experiments or sign up for multiple modifications. Personally, I’d say time is the most essential resource in body modification.”

Taesik kept attendance to Tao’s words, his countenance full of inquiries.

“Which is why Union in the past studied a way to shorten the amount of time needed for body modification. It happened before I found myself at the Union. And before the M-series project, of which M-21 was part. The Union wanted to find a way to induce rapid physical changes that will temporarily yield power somewhat reminiscent of those from modified humans prepared from lab tables and tanks.”

“Is it safe to assume it’s a mechanism related to how DA-5 used to enhance physical qualities with pills?”

“Precisely. In fact, D that DA-5 used to ingest is what Aris refined from this project after it was canceled. I figured it out while hacking Union’s past data for fun. The purpose of this project was to provide weapon for humans whose bodies are clean from modifications to exercise superhuman power, no matter how small.”

“Listening to you, there’s no doubt it’s a useful technique. But is there a reason why this project was canceled?”

“As Union agents formed this unofficial caste system among them that separated the modified from the unmodified, voices against blessing ordinary humans with powers of modified humans became dominant. Not to mention how causing physical changes begotten solely through body modification on unmodified humans as well was extremely unstable and full of side effects. So it was only logical for the researchers to shred and burn their papers and charts. No one before Aris managed to see the light in this study.”

“...I see. That reminds me of this gas that Mr. Jang had once been developing.”

Tao, M-21, and the doctor flinched as soon as Taesik nodded and quoted.

“...Actually, we have something to tell you regarding that weapon.”

“We found traces that prove he had been handling the file on that weapon until the moment he left for Lukedonia. And we found traces of edit and copy from the files on research on implanting artificial bodies with artificial intelligence.”

Taesik’s face turned pale, other faces just as pallid.

A Union study that sought a way to imbue unmodified humans with powers on par with those of the least qualified modified humans.

A study on a weapon that will work only on designated targets, from none other than a person who advocated obligatory body modification for prospective KSA agents.

The data on the former was discovered inside the computer that belongs to a person who pursued the latter.

To top it off, Yuhyung’s research files on artificial intelligence was edited and copied, when they all remember that Rael and werewolves had violent contact with Union weapons against heads of clans.

So there was no more reason for them to stick to suspicions.

“If only I had examined his USB... It turned out that the reason why QuadraNet failed to come to life lay in Mr. Jang’s USB, which was revealed to be the secret USB once used by the Union. There was network hacking program hidden inside, and I’m sure he planted the program himself as he was working at Lukedonia and the werewolf realm. A secret USB can bypass most of vaccine programs utilized nowadays because it’s too outdated. Though it’s partly because I trusted him too much and deemed usual check-up useless.”

“It’s not your fault, sir. We should have been more careful with...”

Nothing will change even if they exchange apologies and forgiveness; the best they can do right now is to prevent something that might happen very soon.

With conclusion drawn in gloomy acceptance, Taesik bobbed his head.

“Can you get him now?”

“We should. We must.”

“We’ll be counting on you two.”

Just like that, Tao and M-21 turned on their heels, to catch the man who turned out to be much more dangerous than they had envisioned.

*****

As KSA was staging a moment as fatal and vicious as the moment a bomb is about to fall onto ice, Yuhyung finally made it.

Once again riding Rael’s back in a comical way, his face however was not at all comical.

His shaking hand was grasping his personal device that was playing the footage sent from his lab, equipped with cameras that had been working just a minute ago.

(next chapter)

The rapid pseudo-body modification is my creation, of course. But I’d say it wouldn’t be strange to find out Union actually had such technology, given that DA-5 could enhance their physical capabilities by ingesting the D. Actually, I had forgotten about the DA-5 when I began composing this chapter, and I remembered what DA-5 could do in the middle of my composition lol. Anyways, now the RK know, and Yuhyung knows as well. All that’s left is for them to capture and pummel the cause of all this, but as you’d know, it won’t be easy. Yes, I’m saying the RK and their allies would have a really hard time following this chapter. Sorry, my beloved characters. :’(  I hope you’d stay tuned for more!

[freefallingup13]

Toni AU; The Organization pt. 4

Okay so apparently this is Chapter 2, and it doesn’t make sense for me to split it up, so this one will be long!

TW: Gun violence, Death by gun (unnamed, NPC-like characters), Witnessing a panic attack (twice in this piece), Gunshot wound, Death Threats

Part 1 here Part 2 here Part 3 here

Part 5 here

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

Besides the small hiccup regarding Derek's relationship status, the plan that his father set up was a success. Toni and Derek began hand-to-hand combat training and learned military tactics. They spent hours learning how to use every gun, blade, and explosive that passed through their compound. Toni was especially attentive to the lessons about espionage. Derek was interested in it, but he didn't take it very seriously. 

As for Derek and Toni's relationship, they carried on as normally as they could. Toni was a little curt for a while, but after a couple of weeks they went into a regular rhythm. Wake up. Breakfast. Lessons. Lunch. Work. Dinner. Sleep. Repeat. It was hard to avoid each other in their small apartment, and not talking to each other didn't work when they had to collaborate with each other on projects for class. Derek wasn't too sure about what she thought of him. He'd been absolutely terrible about the entire thing, after all. But she was soon back to her normal self. 'Master Derek' this, and 'Master Derek' that. Usually, it bothered the hell out of him, but he found it a welcome greeting after the complete silence she'd given him for days.

She honestly didn't mean to be so quiet. She apologized profusely for being so rude every time he brought it up. Derek could never figure out why she was silent, of course. That would be unprofessional of her, and it would worry him. Honestly, though, she didn't really know herself. Those few days after the dinner were a numb blur, every single thought in her head uncertain. It was always a mix of half-sentences and words jumbled in her head, never a finished sentence, never a complete thought. She couldn't remember a single bit of it, only that overall she felt nothing at all.

It was about a year later that they were out and about on one of Derek's day trips. Today they were driving and hiking through a nature park in Washington. It had an ulterior purpose, considering Derek's father. They were to take notes on the local fauna and determine whether they were knowledgeable enough about foraging to both survive and not poison themselves.

The trip also became an exercise in parkour.

"Here, here! Stay down!" Derek told her as he slid under a fallen log, propped on top of some giant tree roots. "Get down!"

"Obviously!" Toni seethed as she dove in headfirst, intending to provide cover from the other side. Slipping her backpack off of one arm, she unzipped the side pocket and pulled out a pistol. As she pulled out two magazines and put them in her left jacket pocket, she glanced at Derek, who was fumbling to do the same. She dug her heel into his side, and he turned to protest when a bullet shot into the bark above his head, making him yelp and scurry backwards. "Derek, focus! We're dead unless you do!"

"Alright, alright! Jesus,." His grip tightened on the pistol in his hand. Nobody should die today. He found himself thinking. It's just not fair.

He kept a watchful eye and kept ready to fire. He couldn't see anybody in all these ferns. This was nothing like target practice or their paintball sessions. It was literally impossible to see from this angle.

A tug on his pant leg drew his attention. "Turn around. There's a clear path to my left. We'll have to run, they've gotta be closing in."

Toni shielded her eyes from the bits of bark shattering above her face. She was having just as much trouble as Derek seeing anything but plants, but whoever these assailants were, they were clumsy. They'd moved the plant leaves with their guns as they swept the area to find where they were, and she saw black sleeves peeking out from the trees. They were set like a dotted line in front of her, but there was a gap that was very big, big enough for them to run through. If they stayed here, they'd get pinned, right? Who knows what these people were trying to do, or who they were. it definitely seemed like they were trying to kill them.

She kept her eyes on the assailants as Derek clumsily turned himself around to face the same direction. "I'll go first. You need to be right behind me, okay? If I go first, it'll draw their fire." She ordered as she cast a glance at him. His eyes were wide and darting around more than hers were. His pale skin was beginning to get a thin sheen of sweat. His lips were parted and panting. Too agitated. Too panicked. She nudged his arm, and his head jerked towards her. "Derek, calm down. We're fine. We just have to get out of here. You're okay. You gotta focus."

It wasn't working. He was panicking more. his breath was getting faster, and his head jerked away at the sound of more gunfire. He wasn't listening to her anymore.

"Derek? Derek!?" She reached out to put a hand on his back. "Derek, listen to me, come on, we have to g-"

He put his head down against the ground and screamed. It was too late. He was having a panic attack.

The gunfire was ruthless now. They were hidden under the log, but now that he was screaming, they knew exactly where he was. All of the bullets were landing in the wood above his head.

Something snapped in Toni. She'd protected him before, but nothing like this. Never like this.

She wrenched the pistol out of his hands and turned him onto his side, pulling him further under the fallen tree. He curled up into a ball on his side, still screaming, hands clawing into his skull. Toni stayed bent over him, stroking his head softly and whispering to him as she grabbed the magazines out of his pocket and shoved them into her own. 

Assess. Over one shoulder, behind them. She couldn't see anybody there. Maybe they were unevenly trained? Over the other shoulder, in front of them. Still as clumsy, still giving away their position.

This was too obvious. They were being directed that way. But what choice did they have?

There was a pause in gunfire. Two of the five, the ones on the left that had left the gap. She could see their arms. reaching to their sides. They were reloading.

Act.

Pushing off with her knee, she scrambled out of the hiding place and ran for the plants, tumbling in. The assailants started shooting at her, reacting to the movement. She crawled closer and closer, then took aim.

First gunman down.

She took a sharp breath and froze. Her hand started to shake. Memories of blood and bullets crept into the back of her mind, threatening to overtake her.

Don't remember them. Don't get compromised now. Finish it.

'finish him off’

Her fists clenched, and her face contorted monstrously. Not now. She knew what was most important about that memory, and he was right there under a tree, about to get shot unless she did something now. 

She stood up and took the gunman's place behind the tree. They were arranged in a half circle, and they had apparently arranged themselves so they could see each other. The other gunman that was reloading had finished, and was shouting as he aimed his rifle at her.

Second gunman down. She took his place again, stumbling backwards as a bullet hit the tree trunk beside her face. Stepped a bit too far. Don't be clumsy now. She raised her arms. 

Once. Miss. Twice.

Third gunman down. She scrambled to the next tree, falling into the ferns. She saw the next one jump in surprise, then they both quickly pointed their guns at each other.

Fourth gunman down.

The fifth gunman backed up, stumbling backwards into the foliage. She was parallel to the tree trunk now. Derek's screaming was beginning to quiet down. I'll give him honey later. For his throat.

"Derek, come on." She dragged him by his shoulders out into the open and onto his feet. "It's clear. Let's go. Come on."

He was sobbing now as she pulled him behind her. When he stumbled, she pushed him in front of her. The forest sounded so quiet now with only half the guns as before. She was able to lay a bit of covering fire as the assailants moved towards them, disturbing the foliage. She got one or two of them. The fewer, the better. Derek was shambling. His head must have been a mess, honestly. He wasn't ready for anything like this. All the training in the world wouldn't help him right now.

They reached a road. Toni stood behind him, gun at the ready and aimed for the trees behind them. The guns behind them had stopped. Judging by the cars passing on the road, either they didn't want to hit any civilians, or they didn't want anybody to know of their presence. Probably both.

"H-Hey, Do you think we could go in there?"

She spared a few seconds to glance. Across the road was a gas station. It wasn't getting any traffic at the moment. It would be a public enough place for them to lay low while she called for an extraction.

With a nod, she gestured for him to go first. She stayed for a few moments, her grip on the gun tightening as she scanned for any enemies. For all their sloppiness, they seemed to have disappeared. Tucking her gun into the back of her belt, she jogged after Derek, who was waiting on the other side of the road. He was staring at the ground, shifting on his feet, only looking up when he heard her approach. "Master, are you crazy? Never mind, come on, we've got to go inside.” She grabbed his arm and guided him in.

The door rang a tinny bell as they walked inside, Derek first and Toni soon after. A girl at the counter looked up, her head in her hands, then sighed and sat up. “Welcome to Johnny's Fuel. Anything I can help you with today?”

Toni shook her head at her with a tight smile, walking Derek out of sight of the cashier before turning him to face her. “Derek, are you alright?”

He was looking at the ground again. She tapped his shoulder a bit to make sure he wasn't unresponsive. “Derek?”

Derek jumped, stepping back a bit. His hands were held up in defense, but once he saw Toni's face, he started to understand what was happening. “T.... Toni...” His voice caught in his throat, and he shook his head. “I... I-I can't do this anymore, Toni... god...”

No. Was he going to rebel again?... It was the same thing he said before, isn't it? But, no... the way he was saying it... this was different. This was new. She'd never seen him like this before.

With a sigh, she cradled his face in her hands tenderly. “Derek...”

Something's moved. There's more than one cashier? Was her first thought. The bathroom door had opened, and heavy boots thudded against the floor. It could have been anyone. It was anyone.

All she saw was the face of a man in rage and a gun.

“Derek!” In one quick movement, she went from embracing Derek to shoving him to the side, throwing herself behind her master.

One shot. A shriek. Her shoulder suddenly became warm – she knew she wouldn't be able to use her arm anymore.

It didn't matter – she had to get Derek out of the way. There were objects crashing to the floor, and Derek was screaming her name as she shoved him into an aisle with her bad shoulder. The pain hadn't kicked in yet, and she was too on edge to care even if it had.

The both of them collapsed to the floor, and Toni scrambled for the gun in the small of her back. No time, there wasn't enough time-

“Get up, Alvar!” The man bellowed as he cocked his gun, storming towards their aisle. “You destroyed my family, and I'll make sure you never do it again!”

“Derek, get my gun, I can't get it,” Toni ordered firmly as she slipped her backpack off her shoulders.

“What the hell – Toni, what the hell-”

“Get it!”

“Alvar! Come out!”

“Get it!”

“I-I'm trying! You have to get up!”

With a cry, she rolled onto her right arm and grabbed wildly at her back. Her hand collided with Derek's clawing madly for a grip. He was getting closer. 

“I've got it! He-”

There was no time. She snatched it out of his hand, whipping it out in front of her just as the man came around the corner. Both of her hands clenched into fists as she pulled the trigger. When he didn't fall down, she pulled the trigger even more until the gun clicked empty several times.

The gun stayed in the air for a few moments before falling to the floor, and Toni's chest heaved as she rolled onto her back.

“Toni, you got shot... Oh my god...”She felt a pressure on her shoulder, and Derek pulled her to sit up against him. Her gaze drifted to the pressure, and she saw that her green jacket now had a dark growing stain underneath his hand. Toni's entire body tensed in his grasp, and she looked up at him with fearful eyes and a strangled cry.

Derek was completely dumbfounded. Everything had happened so fast – the gunmen had appeared out of nowhere, an attempted assasination. He stared in front of them at the body on the floor. Who was that man? What did Derek do?

Suddenly, a new pair of feet appeared. Again? He looked up and saw another gun pointed at his face. It was a teenager behind this one, hair red as fire and jade green eyes. This kid couldn't be any older than Derek and Toni. “Who are you and what the hell just happened?” The stranger demanded, shoving the gun at them for emphasis.

Toni's head shot up at the new voice, and at the sight of the gun, she gasped, jerking her arm up to shoot again. The stranger shouted and took a step back, his grip tightening on the gun in his own hand. “It's empty!” Derek shouted, holding his hand out at the stranger. “I-It's empty! It's okay! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!”

The stranger growled as his eyes narrowed in suspicion, and Derek pulled Toni as close to him as he could, pulling the gun from her hand. She stared at her hand in confusion as it was torn away from her, and Derek set it down on a shelf. “See? It's fine. Don't shoot, please. Please.”

His words seemed to set off a switch in Toni, and she whimpered, turning to bury her face in Derek's shirt. She clutched at him and pushed at the ground with her legs. All he could do was hold her tightly as he gulped and stared at the person in front of him. “Please... Look, she's scared... she didn't mean it, honest... she's scared...”

“Ryan? Is everyone alright?”

He cast a glance over his shoulder, but her arms weren't raised. No gun. Still, as he turned his head around, something about her voice prompted him to turn back to see her better. She paused at this, but returned his gaze in confusion.

Platinum blonde hair, almost white. Her cheeks sloped smoothly into the softest lips he'd ever seen. And her eyes! Blue eyes, baby blue on the inside becoming cobalt on the rim. It felt like he was staring into a galaxy, beauty and bewilderment creeping into his heart and taking a firm hold.

“Hey! I'm talking to you!”

Derek's attention was snapped back to the red-haired boy. “What the hell happened?”

“There's – okay, there's people trying to kill us, okay? I don't know why, something's going wrong, we were just out here for a trip in the park, and people started shooting at us –“ His eyes flicked to the gun, and he shook his head desperately. “Please, for the love of god, can you just put the gun down?”

“Give me any reason why I should,” the stranger – Ryan – scoffed. “You two just walked in and murdered somebody!”

Toni screamed at the stranger's voice, curling up into Derek. “He's gonna kill us, he's gonna kill us, Derek... Derek...” She was starting to sob into his chest, clutching him close.

“Stop! Come on, look at her! She's scared, we have no idea what's going on!” Derek shouted. “That guy tried to kill us first, he shot her! We were just trying to protect ourselves!”

“He shot her?” The girl's voice behind him again drew another glance from him. Well worth it, in his opinion. “Where did he shoot her?”

“Her shoulder. I-It's bleeding,” Derek said quickly, adjusting himself to sit Toni up so the girl could see. “I need to get her help.

”Please, please help. She's scared. We don't know what's going on, she's scared,” Derek pleaded, turning back to Ryan, who had lowered his gun a little out of uncertainty.  “Please. Nobody else has to die today. Please.”

They all sat like that for a while in silence, Derek’s heart pounding in his ears. He thought he would go deaf, but the girl scoffed and walked towards them. “Ryan, put that thing away. They need help, stop it.”

Ryan looked at her in confusion, but lowered his gun. “Cora, this is dangerous...”

Cora. Her name was Cora. Derek found himself whispering it under his breath as Cora approached them. It was soft, and beautiful. Just like her.

“Who cares? The gun is empty. They're scared. Just stop,” Cora told Ryan as she kneeled down next to the pair. “Is she okay? Does she need bandages?”

“No, we've got some. We've got bags... Our bags...” He reached out for the one that Toni dropped in her panic, and Cora reached for the same one. Their fingers touched, and Derek gasped a little from the sudden rush of dopamine in his system. It felt like somebody had stroked his skull and spine in soft fabric or water. It was a wonderful sensation.

... Awh, hell...

“Oh! I'm sorry!” Cora drew her hand back. “I-I didn't mean to startle you.”

Derek shook his head and blinked. “No, you're... You're fine.” He mumbled as he grabbed the bag, opening it. He rummaged around inside for the first aid kit, but his fingers came into contact with something a lot heavier. When he pulled it out, he was staring at the burner phone that his father always sent with them on trips. “Oh, thank god...” He sighed in relief as he flipped it open, starting to dial a number. Then he realized what he was doing, and looked up at Ryan and Cora. “You guys... You guys need to go. Now.”

“What? You better not be pulling anything funny, call the cops with that thing.” Ryan warned, pointing the gun at the phone as he kneeled in front of them. “She needs an ambulance.”

“No, you don't understand, that's not what this is for,” Derek said as he pulled the first aid kit from the bag and snapped it open. It was a little difficult with Toni grabbing at his arms, trying to hide beneath them, but he was able to get the gauze and pads. “This is for calling back-up. It's protocol for them to kill all witnesses. You guys need to leave before I call, and that means you need to leave now.”

“Back-up?” Cora glanced at Ryan with concern in her eyes, and Ryan's grip tightened on the gun as he spoke. “Excuse me?”

“Ryan for the love of god, put that stupid gun away!” she said, pushing the gun so that it pointed at the shelf. Ryan looked at her incredulously, and Cora looked apologetically at Derek. “I'm so sorry, we got robbed last month, and ever since then, Ryan's been carrying around this stupid water gun, it's not real.”

“What- Cora!”

“Shut up! They're fine, they need help!”

“Hey...” Derek put a hand on Cora's arm, and she looked at him. Her eyes held concern, confusion. “Look, you have to go. The cops might come, but you can't tell them about us. Our back up is going to take the body and make it look like an armed robbery. I-I don't know what to tell the cops – tell them you guys were on break, or blew off the rest of the shift. But nobody can know that you guys were here when this happened, or you're going to die. They'll kill you.”

The two gas station workers looked at each other, obviously disturbed by the notion. Ryan opened his mouth to ask a question, but Cora shushed him. “I... I think it's better we don't ask.” She noted, looking at Derek again. “This sounds bad.”

Ryan looked frustrated, but nodded. “I'll get the car.” He said before walking out stiffly. The jingle of the bell made Derek relax a bit, and he focused on flipping Toni onto her back. “It's okay... It's okay... Shhh....”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Asked Cora, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I wish I could have stopped this from happening...”

Derek shook his head. “It... It comes with the business, I guess...” He mumbled as he unrolled the gauze. He didn't think anything of the note until he looked up at Cora and saw the sadness in her expression. “I- D-Don't worry about it. Look...” 

He put a hand on hers and looked her in the eyes. “Please. The best thing you can do now is go home and stay safe. Don't tell anybody about me and Toni. I…” He shook his head. “No more people should die today. Nobody should have. I don't want anybody else to get hurt. Please go home.”

They stared at each other for a while, and Derek lost himself for those few moments. Neither of them seemed to know what to do, but no words felt like they needed to be said.

“Derek...”

His attention was called away from Cora as Toni put her hand on his elbow, pulling his arm down to drape over her. “Derek...”

“Car's ready.” Ryan had come back in, and stared down at the three of them. Toni, who seemed to have calmed down from her panic, turned away from his gaze and pulled Derek's arm to cover her. She felt vulnerable, just lying with her head on Derek's lap like this.

Derek and Cora's hands shot back to their own laps, and Derek gestured with his head as he picked up the gauze again. “Go. You gotta go. I gotta make this call. Go.”

Cora nodded and stood up, and Derek heard their whispers as he dialed the phone.

“Do you think we can trust him?”

“Do you really want to die?”

“Ugh... fine...”

He laughed a bit to himself, then cleared his throat as he put the phone to his ear. As the dial tone rang, he thought to himself, hoping the consequences wouldn't be too severe when they returned to the compound. Toni's breathing was steady beneath him as he took her jacket off and started to bandage the wound. 

Everything felt so lonely all of a sudden. It was peaceful, but without Cora here, it all felt lacking. He had the feeling it would stay that way for a while.

“Second, what's your status? Everything alright?”

Derek shook his head, securing the wrap on Toni's shoulder. “No. We've been attacked. Third is injured. We require immediate extraction. We're at a gas station on the highway called Johnny's Fuel...”

[benjikarofsky]

Say A Little Prayer || Para

WHO: Benji Karofsky (@benjikarofsky) and Topher Pierce (@topherxpierce​). Mentions Franco Del Rio ( @southsidefranco )

WHERE: The NS Synagogue 

WHEN: 11th May 2019

NOTES: In need of his best friend (and some holy guidance), Benji invites Topher to the Synagogue to discuss his new engagement with Franco--leading both boys to finally come clean.

TRIGGERS: Religious themes; ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ mentions of the following: (non-explicit) self-harm, drug abuse/benders

BOLD: Benji

ITALIC: Topher

WORD COUNT: 1946

"Humor me and wear this while we're inside, okay?" Benji whispered, jutting a kippah, much like his own, out to Topher as he pushed open the doors and walked the two inside. He walked slowly up the aisle to the front of the house of worship and knelt down, his hands in his lap. "...Franco asked me to marry him," he whispered, his voice tired from all the worry. "...I was so worried he'd run off and start using again that I said yes. And now I can't get out of it because then he'll really start using again." 

 He swallowed hard, finally turning to look at his best friend, tears forming in his eyes. "...I don't want to marry Franc. I can't marry Franc. ...Not while I still lov--" he stopped short and dropped his head to his chest, starting to cry.

It took a few moments, but Topher eventually remembered the kippah's proper placement as he followed Benji's lead. But the moment he caught up with his best friend, none of the possibilities that dashed through his mind could have prepared him for the truth. He aimed to carefully rest a hand on Benji's shoulder as his attention switched to considering potential solutions. "I would say that it's a sticky situation, but that would be an understatement," he remarked under his breath. 

"But listen to me when I say that this isn't impossible, okay? You and I, when we put our minds together, we're capable of fantastic things," the former Serpent stated. "We could get somebody to object. It would be a last minute rescue type of deal, but it could work," he added when something else dawned on him. "Wait a minute, you're in love with someone else?"

"Jewish weddings don't work like that. That's a Christian thing..." he whispered, wiping his eyes; he refused to look up. He couldn't bare the image of Topher's face right now, but, more importantly, he couldn't bare the idea of looking around the house of worship knowing that he'd be getting married to Franc here soon. Officially giving his life away to one person while he still deeply loved another... it felt like blasphemy. He couldn't do this to himself. His faith and his connection with YHWH felt like the only thing he hadn't sacrificed somehow at this point. He needed to keep it whole. 

"I am..." Benji whispered, still staring at his hands. He couldn't lie anymore--not here. "I love Franco. I really, really do. But... I love this other person too. And I've loved them for so long. And... I don't know if you can love two people at once. Maybe there's something wrong with me, I don't know. But... until I clear my conscience, I can't marry Franc." He swallowed. "If I could get this other guy out my head, I could at least not feel as guilty about marrying Franc, but... I don't think he's leaving my mind anytime soon."

Topher gave a light hum as he filed away the fact about objections then focused on Benji once again. "Personally, I don't think it's too wild or wrong at all to be polyamorous. Also known as loving two or more people at once. But disclaimer once again, those are just my opinions," he rattled off as his free hand fiddled with the makeshift necklace that his apartment key was part of. 

Another few moments of quiet consideration passed as he glanced around the synagogue, as if hoping all the potential solutions to this obnoxiously difficult situation would reveal themselves here. "Then I would be upfront with both parties about it. Both whoever you're in love with and Franco. The former first then the latter," Topher evenly answered. Then his mind started to drift and focus on his wandering thoughts instead, secret hopes among them. It took a split second for him to snap back to reality. "I'll be right by your side if you want. But just out of curiosity and so there are no surprises, who are you in love with? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"...You," Benji replied, his voice barely above a whisper. 

"The day we met at ePlay. I had never had someone almost beat me in DDR before. By the time we became friends, I had already fallen in love with you." He sniffled, feeling a few tears fall and land on the floor below them. "Seven years. I've been trying to get you out of my mind for seven years, and I just couldn't do it. I... I can't do it. And I'm sorry."

That very statement sent shockwaves directly to Topher's heart. It was a sensation that he never grew used to. How could anybody get used to it? But he remained next to Benji because this was where he needed to be and honestly, he wouldn't dream of leaving anyone's side in a similar situation. Regardless of whatever bombshell they'd just dropped. 

 "You have nothing to apologize for," the former Serpent managed in a quiet tone. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you. Because I haven't been able to get you out of my mind recently and all I could bring myself to do was deny it," he added then closed his eyes for a beat or two. "It's honestly hilarious how I managed to get away with asking you for advice. Maybe I should see if there are any openings in the espionage job sector."

Benji looked up, wiping away the tears in his eyes as he did. "You... you mean the guy you were talking about the other day? You... you were talking about romantic feelings? ...And you were talking about me?" He sniffled, turning so he could face his friend better. "Really?"

It took all of Topher's inner strength to not lie and deny, to instead nod as his gaze flicked to the floor. Anything and everything he wanted to say immediately died in his throat as he worried his bottom lip. He couldn't believe that he'd just admitted this out loud despite all of the built up worries related to what could go wrong. The 18 year old drew in a shaky breath as he nodded once again in confirmation even though every fiber of his body practically screeched at him to do the opposite.

Benji smiled shakily and held out his hand for Topher to take; even though he had dreamed for years for this one day, he couldn't cheat on Franco by giving Topher a kiss--especially not in a place of worship. "...All this time hiding from each other and we've been thinking similar things." He gave an exhausted laugh, his body shaking again. "...What do we do now?"

A few chuckles escaped before Topher had the chance to stop himself then carefully took Benji's offered hand. "The universe works in mysterious ways sometimes," he stated as he finally glanced up at the other once again. "I may have an idea or two about how to handle this. Both are kind of a doozy if I'm being honest though, so you better prepare yourself mentally."

Benji stared at Topher, his eyes a great tell of how emotionally exhausted he was. "...After the week I've had, I don't think there's anything that's too much of a 'doozy' for me, Toph," he admitted. "If it's something that'll allow me to keep both of you happy, healthy, and sober, I'm willing to hear it."

"Idea one is that we approach Franco and basically tell him how you feel. Just go in there and tell him the truth," Topher replied. He worried his bottom lip just a hint more as he considered how best to phrase idea two. "Then the second one would require us telling him anyway, but if he turns it down or whatever, we offer to continue assisting him on the road to recovery yet also put in the request to postpone the wedding indefinitely slash cancel it while the three of us figure out what course of action to take next."

Benji let go of Topher's hand and looked back down, trying to process what his best friend had suggested. "...I can't tell him the truth, Toph," he whispered, wiping away the last of his tears. "If I tell him the truth and he runs off and gets high, I'd never forgive myself. ...Or, HaShem, what if he did something even more stupid like try to hurt himself? I wouldn't be able to take it." 

He swallowed hard, looking back up. "You should've seen the way he looked at me. The way he looked at the ring. He was in the middle of a rampage at the time--he had literally thrown over my dresser. But then he saw the ring and just... stopped. Like it was the only thing keeping him even the smallest bit sane... I can't tell him the truth, Toph. It'd break him, and I can't live with that."

Topher's now free hand went back to messing with the key as he considered everything that Benji had just told him. "I'd feel the same way if I were in your shoes. But let me take care of the most difficult parts, okay? Name them and all of those problems will be swept away faster than you can blink," he responded. 

"People will lock on to whoever or whatever they can in times of severe stress, but that could just be my experience. I've certainly locked onto you and my family in the past then I haven't been able to put my guitar or a controller down recently because of the mental olympics that is denial. Maybe we need to help Franco find something more positive to lock onto."

Benji bit his lip, taking a moment to think. "I... I can't tell him right now. Not until I know this isn't gonna end in him relapsing. Promise me that you won't tell him or anyone else that I don't want this. You're the only person who knows, and if it gets back to Franc, I'm never gonna forgive you." He took a shaky breath. 

"But... maybe we can work on the second part of the plan for now. Let's find him something else to lock on to. Something that doesn't involve me. And... then we can thin about what else to do after that." He sniffled, trying to keep new tears from falling; he just couldn't believe he has gotten himself into another mess like this. "Deal?"

"My lips are eternally zipped unless you give me permission to say something," Topher answered as he placed his hand over his heart. "Swear on my dad's grave." He then nodded at the prospect of working on the plan's second part and almost immediately got a jump start on it when he remembered who he was with. 

"C'mere and let me give you a hug. I think we could both use it after all this emotional drama," the 18 year old remarked then lightly tapped Benji's shoulder. "Unless you say the word, then I'm not leaving your side anytime soon, alright? You've been there for me countless times. Only fair and right that I return the favor."

Benji nodded and stood up, hugging Topher with all his might. "I'm sorry you're an accessory in all this... I love you..." he whispered, not caring if Topher knew anymore.

"It's alright Benji," Topher whispered as he returned the hug. "I love you too and wherever you go, I'll follow. Whatever decision you make, I'll support. As long as I can count on you, then you can count on me too."