#same with attacking medical vehicles which is the like one thing being investigated

[shineonmalcolmbright]

Shine On, Bright: Chapter Three

Table of Contents

Present

The problem is the jittery (yet still subtle but not so subtle) excitement of Malcolm Bright. He’s walking beside Gil, sometimes hiding his shaking hands in pockets and other times he’s fidgeting out in the open in an attempt to explain what is happening right now. But Gil, Gil hears about every other word. He’s looking forward into the junkyard where Malcolm said he was shot at while visiting and that his father’s car was there.

Up ahead, Dani stands around, waiting for their arrival. The look of absolute disappointment is easy to spot or easy for Gil to spot. Without looking over at Malcolm and saying out loud, he does his best to snap, You should stop.

Malcolm literally stops both moving and talking at the same time. He almost trips as he looks over at Dani. What?

Something’s wrong.

With a brief survey, Malcolm knows. There’s something wrong by the way everybody is standing around. There is this attempt at carelessness while the weight of the world weighs down on each and every single present. Dani avoids eye contact while pretending to look over at Malcolm and Gil and their arrival.

“What’s going on here?” Gil interrupts a silence that’s so easy to miss.

Gil avoids thinking all the details Malcolm told him about a station wagon he rode in to get to the Overlook Hotel. Somehow after all those years, Gil remembers it well. The vehicle pulling up into the circle right outside the hotel. While he worked as a security guard at the Overlook, he paid little attention to arrivals but somebody failed to come into work as staff disappeared for the winter. It happened every winter.

Nobody’s saying it out loud but Malcolm can feel it sizzling in the air, all hot in his brain. Bodies. Murder. How’d he know? Whoever said that so loud into the wind, Malcolm didn’t even know their name. He did his best not to look over at them pretending their thoughts weren’t clear but they were all bold, red, painful. How did he know? How did he know here?

Good question.

But it’s not like Malcolm is going to offer them up an answer. Him being haunted by memories and ghosts, both just as dangerous. Maybe even both leading out here. He almost misses something Dani says to him. It’s so easy not to catch considering the noise, noise, noise. Not a good day to be able to read the unsuspecting minds of those on all sides.

When Dani doesn’t get an answer, she changes the subject. All she asked was if Malcolm was alright after being shot at. The no answer was clear, no. There’s a lot to be said too about the way Malcolm looks ready to hop all over the junkyard, about to leap on and off broken cars.

“A body of a young woman was found,” Dani starts to inform them.

Again, her words become lost. Malcolm shoots her a quick glance before nearly blacking out because of all the noise, noise, noise of surrounding loud sounds. How did he know? How did he know here? How did he know? How did he know here? Answer is: They don’t want to know.

Gil side eyes him. Chances are Malcolm’s being louder than usual. A lot louder than usual but he tries to focus and he tries to pry his way through all those thoughts, How did he know? How did he know here? Malcolm picks at a few loose threads in his coat pocket.

Reminder: Fix that later.

Another reminder: Fix memories later. Memories need to be fixed and investigated and sought out to better understand all the reasons to why his father’s car would be here in a junkyard where everybody else is also bouncing around thinking bodies, bodies, bodies. But strange. Dani made it sound as if there was only…one victim.

Rather than focus on Dani, Malcolm swings around to find Edrissa standing in one spot. If it weren’t murder that brought them all around, it would’ve looked as if she were lifting pizza from a brick oven with some giant spatula. She too is practically bouncing around. Some sort of energy consumes the area, popping around each and every single person increasing all the thoughts of each person standing around the junkyard.

Bodies, bodies, bodies. But nobody’s said a thing out loud about this. Just something brewing around them, boiling for too long.

Malcolm tilts his head to the side as he watches Edrisa side step towards another medical examiner, body on her giant pizza spatula. Her head bobbing as if she’s hearing some bop caught in her head. She’s not. Malcolm and Gil know this for a fact. Although in a sing-song way Edrisa is reminding herself again and again: Careful, be careful, you want to be careful

“Is that a pizza spatula?” It’s like Malcolm’s joining the land of the living, not a world of shadows shared between him and Gil then a few others.

Edrisa is dumping the remains of a woman found in a car into a bad to be carried back to the lab. She chuckles. “Oh this? No, it’s actually called a pizza peel, derived from the French word for shovel, which is weird since pizza’s Italian.”

Behind them, Dani manages to say in her head rather than out loud: Yeah, because that’s what’s weird. Malcolm gives her a look causing her to wonder if she said that out loud.

Holding up the pizza peel for everybody to see, Edrisa smiles. Her jitteriness is a welcome energy, one Malcolm feels he can fall in sync with rather than the tautness of everybody else in the junkyard. She chimes back into the conversation. “These puppies are a little known M.E. secret. Great for retrieving smashed soft tissue or a pepperoni that fell off in the oven.” By the look on everybody’s face, utter shock, Edrisa finishes the though. “Oh! Not-Not with the same one.”

Only Malcolm smiles, a breath of relief. He looks at a crushed car, not the station wagon. Those gunshots from the night before ricochet off the corners of his brain, locked in his memory. They’re loud enough above all the other noise, noise, noise that Gil grimaces a little behind him. Swinging his arms around a bit while keeping his hands in his pocket, Malcolm asks, “What do we know about the victim?”

Gil steps forward so Malcolm can see him from the corner of his eye. It takes a lot more strength to not roll his eyes than to actually roll them at the fact both Malcolm and Edrisa look ready to hop all around the junkyard with a victim at the site of the crime and the abandoned car of a serial killer. Then of course, the antsy tremors of gunshot memory ricochets. Before Edrisa gets a word in, Gil tells Malcolm, You should go home, take the day off.

Yeah, but of course, Malcolm isn’t going to listen. He’s the sort of person you say no to and his response is yes as he does whatever it is he shouldn’t do. The kid’s shaved enough years off Gil’s life.

“Oh, not much yet,” Edrisa answers. She’s shuffling around. “Based off of decomposition, I’m guessing she died a couple of weeks ago.” She glances off at the medical examiners with the remains.

Bodies, bodies, bodies.

Gil avoids eye contact with Malcolm. “Is it possible she wound up in the car by accident? Maybe she OD’d?”

Edrisa chuckles, she radiates anxiety. It’s pretty electric. Stacked up on top of all the other anxiety flooding the junkyard. Bodies, bodies, bodies. “No, I don’t think so.”

Malcolm tilts his head to the side, sometimes he’s more bird-like than he should be. But he’s looking at smudges along the window of the crushed car. “No, look at those prints, I think the killer locked her in and then turned on the compactor.” For a split second, she’s there. The girl in the car, clawing for life as she’s about to die. The car buckles around her and it’s obvious, she’s not going to make it, but maybe if she tries…

“Dani, see if the techs can pull a print,” Gil cuts in. He considers putting a hand on Malcolm’s shoulder. A reminder to just relax, but he doesn’t. Instead, it’s business. “And find JT.”

Dani glances at Gil. “He’s running down who might have shot at Bright.”

And as if on cue, JT arrives holding up some paper. “No one, apparently.”

WHAT? Malcolm snaps his attention to JT, he moves too fast. It causes JT to stagger a bit like he’ll be attacked. Doesn’t make sense! Ghosts don’t own junkyards, a fact Malcolm knows.

JT shrugs. “Property records list a guy named Paul Lazar as the junkyard owner but he doesn’t exist. There’s no record of him anywhere.”

But ghosts cannot own…

An iciness crawls through Malcolm. It starts in his head and inches its way through his veins. No record of him anywhere. Makes no sense. None of this makes sense. He pretends he’s paying attention to the moment and not looking over at his father’s station wagon.

Gil attempts to keep up the conversation, “So why would someone buy a junkyard under a fake name?”

To kill one woman? Hide The Surgeon’s station wagon? Still, Malcolm can’t focus in on any of them. Instead, little black spots form at the corners of his vision, blotting out Edrisa, Dani, JT, and even Gil.

Gil meant the question for everybody but his only response is Malcolm. Without looking at him, like they’re not talking at all, Gil replies, We have to consider the possibility that your dad’s car has nothing to do with this murder.

“Why?” Dani breaks the silence. “It doesn’t make sense.”

We have to consider the possibility that your dad’s car has nothing to do with this murder, he’s been chained to a wall for 20 years. That’s a good albi, Malcolm, this has to be a coincidence.

Any movement is too much movement. Malcolm feels too dizzy, he turns, moving at such an erratic pace. This he didn’t mean to say out loud, but he does. “He may not have killed her, but he’s connected somehow. He has to be! It can’t be a coincidence…” My memories brought me here, to a place with is car and a dead body! Only Gil hears the last bit of input, but selects to ignore it as best he can.

“What’s he talking about?” JT asks, just plain confusion is on everybody else’s face. It came out of nowhere, Malcolm’s comments. Then again, it’s not like they need a full explanation to know who’s being referenced. “What’s he talking about?

Bodies, bodies, bodies. Bodies, bodies, bodies. Bodies, bodies, bodies. Bodies, bodies, bodies.

A medical examiner walks over to them with a small wave. She looks at Edrisa, “Dr. Tanaka, we found more.”

Bodies.

Ice turns to steel, not good for blood flow. Malcolm realizes the world is all off-kilter. No. Wait. This is new. But the energy and the Bodies,bodies, bodies lingered with him from start to finish of standing in the junkyard but now it’s real, all too real. He tries to grab onto something except nothing is there. It’s not like the noise, noise, noise would help support him.

“More what?” Gil snaps.

The medical examiner looks at the ground. “Victims.”

Gunshots continue to ricochet but something else needles it’s away through Malcolm. He’s almost numb to it, a lot of feeling already gone. Before Malcolm realizes it’s too late, the ground is reaching up towards him. A soft voice haunts him. My Boy! Come on and take your medicine! The problem with memories is that they’re like ghosts. They’re always out there to haunt you. Malcolm is no stranger to being haunted by the dead and his memories, but a few know of this fact even as he hits the ground, passing out.

But there’s no silence even there.

[inkyanimatronic]

Writetober Day 20: Rescued (Steelbeak’s Hell)

Notes:

And now some comfort for that hurt and whump. 

Warnings: None

Day 20: Rescued

I was driving- well, I guess piloting- my flying SHUSH car over St. Canard in an area that I normally don’t go to. The night was dark and quiet. Part of why I liked doing nightshifts and watching over either Duckburg or St. Canard at night.

It’s been 3 years since I was ‘rescued.’ Though I wouldn’t call it that. If anything, I was lucky that Taurus Bulba didn’t kill me or take me with him as well.

Steelbeak and everything he put me through for those few years never left my mind. No amount of therapy could remove those memories or shove them to the back of my mind where they would be forgotten.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to him. Was he still alive or did he get murdered? If so… where was his body at? Did Taurus Bulba destroy it?

We know he was never found if he’s still alive. Or if he is, he didn’t go back to FOWL and probably went off to restart his life somewhere.

Ever since I got the ‘okay’ from several different doctors so I could come back to SHUSH and be an agent again, I’ve wondered what I would do if I ever came across Steelbeak. My first instinct would be to shoot him.

…At least… I hope that’s what my first instinct would be. And not crawl to his side like nothing changed.

As my mind was once again taken over by Steelbeak, I couldn’t help but notice a small cave and a light shining out of it.

‘That’s weird.’ I thought to myself.

“This is Agent 13. Have you guys ever noticed a small cave with a light on over in my area?” I asked through my walkie talkie.

“Yeah but I never thought anything of it. Just a camper, yah know?” Another agent responded.

“Maybe. But something feels weird about it. I’m going to investigate it just to be sure.” I replied.

“It’s probably just a camper. But alright.” A different agent said.

“I’ll let you know when I get back what it is for sure.” I said and turned the walkie talkie off.

I lowered my car down and landed it on the ground a short distance away from the opening. Putting it into park, I took the keys out and put them in my pocket as I stepped out of it.

Going into the cave, I couldn’t shake the weird and now bad feeling that I had so I ended up taking my gun from it’s holster on my hip. Holding it up in front of me, my finger was off the trigger but ready if needed.

I looked around the entrance of the cave and saw lanterns were where the light was coming from. Which makes sense if it was campers.

But there was mechanical and robotic stuff all over the place. It didn’t look like any campers were there since there wasn’t any sleeping bags or tents or anything. Just robotic stuff.

There was other junk here and there. I even noticed a radio and a TV. How either worked all the way out here, who knows. But I figured the owner had somehow fixed them to work with the antennae. I also saw some other things like a couch, a table with two chairs, a small side table that was by the couch, and a pet bed on the ground too.

I stopped and stared at the pet bed for a moment, a chill going up and down my spine. I began to take deep breaths to calm myself down. That was over and in the past… I didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

But now new questions was thought of. Where are the owners of this stuff and their pet? As far as I can tell, I’m the only one here and there wasn’t any other vehicles outside either.

Going into the back of the cave, I noticed there was some more areas that were lit up but one that wasn’t. I turned my shoulder light on and slowly stepped inside the pitch black room. Thanking god I had put that on my shoulder before I headed out for patrol.

I walked around the room and couldn’t find anything outside of more pet stuff like food bowls, food bag, and so on. That was until I walked closer to the furthest wall and the furthest corner.

I was half expecting a barking dog to go ballistic when my light shined on a big metal cage sitting all alone in the corner and in the dark.

But that wasn’t the case. Instead, I found a person laying curled up in the cage and with their back to me. I kneeled down, wondering if I was imaging things or experiencing some kind of déjà vu. But I know that wasn’t the case. This was very much real and this person needed help.

And I plan on doing that. Because even if I wasn’t an agent for SHUSH, I would still help people when I can.

I went to unlatch the cage only to find there was no latch. Looking at the bars closely, it seemed they were constantly being bent to make a opening before being put back into place.

Makes sense, this guy seemed pretty big despite being malnourished. Even then, he wouldn’t of been able to bend the bars but he probably could’ve stuck a finger or two through and unlatched the cage. Then escape on his own and fight whoever in the meantime.

I looked back to the man when I saw movement. But I could still hear snoring so I knew he was still sleeping. He was laying on a large dog bed and had a blanket over his legs.

Despite the blanket, I was still able to see he was only wearing boxers and something might’ve been around his neck but I couldn’t tell for sure if it’s what I knew it likely was or not. It was obvious that he was a rooster from his feet, head, and tail feathers alone.

My ears pinned down when it finally hit me who it was.

“Steelbeak!?” I couldn’t help but mutter out loud.

I looked his back over and could see a large scar of some kind of a design from his shoulders down to his tail feathers. No doubt that was Taurus Bulba branding him in his own way.

Now the bent bars made sense. Steelbeak couldn’t bend them but Taurus can. But… how come he never used his beak? Unless he did at some point until he was tortured into never doing that again.

A hand slipped under my shirt and I felt my own branding that Steelbeak gave me on both of my sides.

Another chill went down my spine but I managed to push those memories away for the time being. I can’t have a panic attack right now. Not when a certain someone was creeping around.

However, the cave was still quiet aside from his snoring and my heavy breathing. Taurus moved loudly due to being a cyborg. I remembered that perfectly. I would know when he was near.

‘Maybe he isn’t here? Which means I need to work fast.’ I thought to myself as I slowly and quietly holstered my gun.

My ears shot back up at that thought as I took a small laser out and began to quietly cut the front bars off and set them down to the side. There was some clings and clangs but it was mostly quiet, thankfully.

After doing that, I was surprised that he still wasn’t awake. A part of me would’ve thought he was dead if I wasn’t able to see him breathe and snore in his sleep.

I put the laser away and slowly crawled inside the cage and up to him.

“Steelbeak? Hey buddy, you gotta wake up.” I quietly said as I shook his arm as gently as possible.

Now that I was closer, I could see all of the bruises all over his body. His beak even seemed bent and damaged in some way. He was definitely malnourished. And I could see the shock collar around his neck clearly now.

It seemed different than the one I had so he must’ve replaced it. Under it was what looked to be a choke chain with a D-ring. There was also some extra chain behind it to make it easier to grab and pull. The spikes were going into his neck and I could see how bloody and bruised it was just from the chain alone.

“Steelbeak…” I trailed off.

Finally, he jerked awake. I quickly grabbed his beak and held it shut since I didn’t know what he would’ve done. It’s been three years. When I was at that point, I absolutely would’ve called for him about an intruder. And there was a good chance he would do the same now.

“Shh… it’s okay. It‘s okay, Steelbeak.” I quietly said as he began to struggle under me. “It’s me… your favorite SHUSH agent. Remember?”

This seemed to of calmed him down as he looked up to me. I watched as he lifted a hand to the light and moved it so it shined on me until he let it go and moved his hand back.

“I’m going to move my hands away from your beak, okay? You’re not going to call for Taurus Bulba, right?”

He gave me a sad look and I watched him tap at the collar.

“What…?” I asked as I released his beak.

Steelbeak didn’t make a sound as he tapped it again.

“You… you can’t talk, can you?” I asked and he nodded sadly.

That wasn’t just a shock collar… that was a bark collar. Great. Now I need to figure out how to get that off.

“I’m going to try and take it off.” I whispered, slowly reaching behind his neck and grabbed at it.

I played with it for a minute until I realized there wasn’t any kind of buckle on it. So it must’ve been like mine where he needed a remote to take it off after it locks on.

“Okay. New plan.” I say as I moved my hands away from him. “I’ll deal with that later. I’m really sorry. You’ll have to deal with them for a little while longer. I don’t feel uncomfortable taking the chain off without any kind of medical supplies. Come on. Let’s go home.”

I’m not quite sure why I’m even bothering to help him. I guess at this point Taurus Bulba is the bigger of the two evils. And considering how it seems like what he did to me, happened to him, I can’t help but have some sympathy towards the son of a bitch.

I began to crawl backwards, expecting him to follow. But he didn’t. Steelbeak was looking down at his hands and only sat up once I got off of him and backed away.

“Steelbeak?” I started, quietly. “Come on.”

Steelbeak looked up and shook his head. Oh god he wasn’t… There was just no way he was broken. Right?

“It’s okay. I’ll protect you. That’s what an agent of SHUSH does. They save and protect people.” I added.

He still didn’t move towards me so I moved back over to him. He was visibly shaking when I did though. And lowered himself so he wasn’t taller than me while sitting on our heels.

I sighed and gently grabbed the sides of his face with both hands. And rested my forehead against his.

“You know he’s a bad person. You know what he has done to you is illegal.”

Steelbeak inched closer to me, still shaking a little bit.

“I… I’ve missed you.” I lied. “Let’s go home. You don’t belong here with him. And you know that deep down, you aren’t a pet either.”

He pulled away and began tapping at the bottom of the cage. Then he pointed to me and tapped the bottom of the cage again before pointing to himself. It took me a minute but I finally caught on.

“Do… you want me to stay?” I asked if that was it and he nodded. “I can’t stay here and go round 2. Same abuse, different person.”

Steelbeak frowned and lowered his head. Whether it was because I wasn’t staying or because I reminded him of what he did to me, I’m not sure.  

“But I can’t leave you here either.” I added. “I promise I’ll protect you from Taurus Bulba. And I’m not angry at you anymore about what you did to me. If I was still angry, I wouldn’t be trying to help you now. What happened is in the past. Let’s move on. Whether it be as friends or enemies is up to you to decide later once we’re safe and away from here. You… you don‘t deserve to go through this. Not anymore. I think three years is long enough since that’s about as long as you had me.”

Steelbeak finally looked at me again with tears at the corners of his bruised eyes. I filled the small gap between us and slowly raised my hand towards him. He visibly flinched but otherwise didn’t move as I wiped the tear that had come out.

“See? I’m not angry. Let’s leave before he-” I stopped talking at a sound.

Then I heard loud footsteps. Fuck! Steelbeak must’ve heard them too because he gave me the most petrified look that I’ve ever seen him give me. I shushed him and turned the shoulder light off. I gently took him by the hand and slowly crawled out of the cage with him following. I backed up until I was against the opposite wall.

The memories of running and hiding from Taurus Bulba flooded my mind as we sat there. Almost in the same positions that we were in that night just the other way around.

I listened for the footsteps as I heard them come closer. Taurus walked by the room to the main area and entrance. I mentally prayed that he wouldn’t see my car or stay there all night.

My prayers seemed to of been answered since I heard him walk back this way and to whatever area he came from. Once the footsteps had quieted down completely and I felt he was a good distance away, I slowly moved.

I didn’t turn my light back on but used the wall to stand back up. Steelbeak was still holding my hand and I slowly got him up too. I felt him grab my shoulders, trying to steady himself as I held his waist.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold him up and keep an eye out for Taurus Bulba at the same time.

“Hey buddy, get back down. I’m going to need you to crawl beside me alright? I can’t protect you and hold you up at the same time.” I whispered as I slowly helped him back down.

I took my gun out and held it in my left hand as my right held the back of his shock collar so I could guide him out of the dark room. My left arm still on the wall and letting me know when I made it to the opening.

As quietly as possible, I led him out to the main area and straight to my car. There was no time to get him to the passenger seat so I opened the back door and sat him down there.

What I didn’t realize was that Taurus Bulba was watching us on his motion cameras. He knew the whole time I was there and simply wanted to see what I would do.

“There.” I shut the back door, keys already in my other hand.

I opened the driver’s door and quickly stuck the keys in the ignition. Right as I turned the car on and was about to shut my door, I felt something grab me by the neck and drag me back to the cave.

Before I could even come to terms with being choked, I was thrown down onto the hard ground.

I grunted as I looked up at the feet that was standing directly in front of me and I internally cursed as I rubbed my neck. Looking up, Taurus Bulba was standing in front of me with his arms crossed and looking extremely pissed off.

“Well, I didn’t expect you of all people to try and rescue that dumb mutt.” Taurus said in his normal tone.

I unintentionally flinched at that and Taurus caught it.

“Ah yes… he probably called you that, didn’t he? At least you got an actual name unlike him. I just call him whatever degrading name I can think of at the time. What did he call you again? Lucy? Layla?”

“L-Lucky.” My voice cracked as I got to my hands and knees.

“That was it!” Taurus kneeled down and grabbed my snout. “Because it was ironic for your situation, yes?”

“Hm hmm.” I nodded, my ears lowering on their own.

“Well, I don’t appreciate it when someone tries to steal my property. Now… you had a chance to get back to your old life a few years ago. Do you want that chance again?” Taurus asked, letting go of my snout.

“Obviously.” I rubbed my snout.

“You have two choices. Either leave alone or you don’t leave at all.” Taurus said before adding “You got 10 seconds to decide before I decide for you.”

As we were talking, Steelbeak was figuring out his own options while still in the back of my car. He didn’t want to stay here with him but he didn’t want anything to happen to me either.

He looked at the front area and the different buttons that was near the radio and cup holders. Surely there was… yes! Steelbeak smiled to himself when he saw a SOS button.

After pressing it, it began to silently blink. He hoped that meant that SHUSH would be notified and would get here ASAP.

Slowly, he got out of the car to come over to us. Taurus smiled when he crawled over on all fours and sat beside me.

“Good dog.” Taurus said, patting him on the head. “What do you think we should do with this stray?”

Steelbeak and I looked at each other for a minute as he thought about it.

Then he pointed to the collar before pointing it to me.

“Hmm… I was going to euthanize her but okay. I think you know not to make a sound by now, don’t you?” Taurus asked, taking the remote to his collar out and pressing a button.

The collar unlocked and Taurus grabbed it off of his neck. Revealing a very bloody and bruised ring around his neck and his feathers.

I jumped up and grabbed at the arm that was holding the collar.

“Steelbeak, get back to the car!” I quickly said as Taurus tried to throw me off of himself.

“Stay here, you damn dog!” Taurus ordered and Steelbeak listened to him.

Taurus finally managed to throw me a couple of feet away. I grunted again since this time I landed on my arm very hard. I rolled over onto my stomach, about ready to push myself up when I was suddenly pinned down.

I was surprised to find Steelbeak on top of me and grabbing my arms to hold them behind me. He also moved my ponytail so it was off to the side.

“Good dog.” Taurus chuckled as he came up to us.

Taurus tightened the collar up as much as he could before he forced it around my neck and locked it in place.

“I think the bad dog deserves a big shock for that alone. Clearly someone needs to be retrained.” Taurus laughed as he pressed a button.

My yelp of pain startled Steelbeak who jumped off of me as I began to whine and shake on the ground. Taurus put the remote away and enjoyed the first show of many.

It finally stopped and I was in the middle of telling him to fuck off when the collar shocked me again without him even pressing a button. Right. This is apparently a bark collar. I can’t make a sound with it on.

The pain went away again and I just laid there. Trying to think of a plan to save us both.

“Are you going to bark or whine again?” Taurus asked and I shook my head. No. Not right now. “Good. Let’s go.”

Taurus grabbed me by the collar and whistled at Steelbeak.

We were about to go into the cave when we heard helicopters above us and a bright light shined down right onto us.

Taurus let go of me and flew up to deal with them. In the meantime, some more flying cards flew down and parked with their headlights on us.

“SH-USH?” Steelbeak quietly said and trembled beside me.

I strangely felt better when he was finally able to speak. Even if it was in a voice that clearly needed some speech therapy after so long.

All I could do was nod as I slowly rubbed his back. Then I got his attention and wrote SOS on my hand. He nodded, confirming that he did press that button and that’s why they were here.

“Agent 13? And… Steelbeak?” A few agents came towards us.

I got in front of him and tapped at my neck. One got the message and came over to look at it. Now that there was a bright light shining on it, they were able to use some tools in their car to get it off without the remote. We confirmed it was just us three so the other agents went back to the sky to help defeat Taurus Bulba.

“There. It’s off now.” Agent 19 said, removing the collar.

“Thank god. I couldn’t make a sound with it on.” I replied, turning back around to face her.

“Bark collar?” She asked and I nodded. “God these are awful! Both on dogs and people!”

“How do you think he feels?” I asked, side stepping to show Steelbeak sitting on the ground and leaning against the car. “He had it on for roughly three years.”

“Yeah but… didn’t he have one on you too?” She questioned.

“Not quite. It wasn’t a bark collar.” I replied. “Since I’m sure you guys got things handled here, I’m going to take him to the hospital.”

“V-eeet?” Steelbeak moaned.

“No vet.” I shook my head. “Hospital.”

“Oh geez… that’s… I’m not sure how to feel about that…”

“Trust me, you’re not the only one feeling conflicted.” I replied to her.

“I’ll let the other agents know you took both of you to safety far away from here where he can’t hurt either of you anymore.” Agent 19 said.

“Thank you.” I nodded and helped him up again. “Come on, buddy. We’re going to my car.”

Once he was settled in the passenger seat and buckled. I jumped into the driver’s seat and quickly took to the sky. Once we were a good distance away from there, I pressed a button.

“Where would you like to go?” The car asked.

“St. Canard hospital.” I said.

“Okay. Auto piloting to St. Canard Hospital. Would you like me to get there quickly?” The car asked.

“Yes.” I confirmed. “Emergency.”

“Understood. Heading to St. Canard Hospital at emergency speed.” The car started to fly much faster and on it’s own.

“I love technology.” I smiled to myself. “The one downside is that the landing is still a bit off so you have to quickly turn it off and do it yourself.”

I heard an attempt to chuckle beside me and looked at Steelbeak, who was now frowning and touching his neck.

“Hey buddy, don’t do that and agitate it. The doctors will take care of everything. Did you find what I said funny?”

He trembled again and I slowly held one of his hands with mine.

“It’s okay. You can do that again and not be scared of getting hurt. Hearing you try to laugh actually made me feel a lot better.”

“So…rry.”

“For what? Having him put the collar on me?” I asked and he nodded in confirmation. “Don’t worry about it. That was actually really smart and you may have saved my life doing it.”

Steelbeak slowly moved and wrapped him arms around me, giving me a tight hug. Sighing, I hugged him back.

My original plan was to get him to the hospital, contact SHUSH about the situation, and hoped that would be it outside of having to deal with Taurus Bulba eventually. But now I’m not sure if I can leave him and not ever come back to visit with a good conscience.

Why was I cursed to be such a good person… even to my worst enemy…

[ladyshilya]

Roswell New Mexico: New Mother

Let’s see what is going on with Michael and Maria, Isobel deciding to poison herself to get rid of the baby, Maria seeing Rosa and everything else that is going to happen. 

The episode starts with the military finding some of the aliens.  Which does not turn out well when some of the aliens attack back. One of the aliens is shot and runs away only to be found by the original Max.  Max from the original series. I heard he was going to be on the show this season and I am a bit excited. 

Michael is doing what he can to help Max while he is in the pod. Alex asks Michael’s permission to keep investigating his mother because Alex hit strong firewall which means people really don’t want that info out. Alex later visits his father and tells him that he was right about the aliens. How he is no longer with Michael.  

Jenna, Max’s old partner found Maria’s mother walking down the street and brought her to hospital. Jenna talks to Michael about what happen to Max so Michael sends her to the lab where Liz is working. Liz explains to Jenna what she has been doing to get Max back.  They later take a moment to have some drinks and shoot at the side of a building.  Which causes to Liz to break down about everything. Max didn’t ask her about saving her sister he just did it. 

Earlier Liz had given Rosa some art supplies to help her. When Rosa starts to hear Max when she is awake it causes her to drink more.  Maria finds Rosa raiding liquor at the bar. Maria freaks out thinking she is turning into her mother. Rosa tells she’s not and about the aliens. When Michael comes to see Maria he finds Rosa and a very upset Maria who kicks him out.  Rosa gets a dream from Max who says he is getting stronger and can feel Isobel and she is in trouble. Rosa calls Liz about Isobel.

Isobel took a higher dose of the poison because the microdoses she had been taking have not been working. Isobel hallucinates Max talking to her.  Max telling her that she is going to get herself killed. He also tells her it won’t matter if she id doing everything to become stronger if it means she dies.  He wouldn’t want to come back to a world without her in it. Sheriff Valenti interrupts Isobel hallucinations to go over somethings found on Noah’s body. Isobel brings out a sex toy box to show the Sheriff. Apparently they were into some kinky stuff. This scared hallucination Max. Max told Isobel she would be a great mom but she can’t have Noah’s kid. Isobel feels like the only one here for her is herself. At this point Isobel has miscarried and Max urges Isobel to take the antidote but as she tries to grab it she falls and knocks her head on the table. 

Liz got to Isobel and was able to save her with antidote. Liz and Isobel had moment and Liz tells Isobel that Max was there for her and the one to help save her. 

When Liz goes to visit Maria at hospital, Maria is upset with Liz for keeping it from her.  Especially since she mourned for Rosa as well. Maria would visit her grave every month and even helped clean it. Maria put her necklace on her mother to protect her from all the bad things have been happening to her. Mimi doesn’t remember where she had been but she had boots on that were hers.  We all know Mimi likes to walk around barefoot. 

Alex pays Michael a visit because he found some information. It seems original Max’s name is Tripp.  The alien he found is probably Michael’s mother Nora. Nora was able to get the gun away from Tripp and get away from him. They found her a few hours later with the military vehicle she took.  Tripp puts down his weapons and tells Nora he will help her because she is injured. Tripp then grabs Nora from behind and calls the team in. A siren alien jumps and in helps before she was shot. Nora was able to get the other alien into the truck and get away.  Inside the truck were the pods that held the babies.  The question is if the other alien is Max and Isobel’s mom.  Michael shows Alex a news article with his mom in the picture where she won a pumpkin contest. How did she go from the crash to the pumpkin contest to being in captured. We see Nora and the other alien arrive on the doorstep of the man we saw in the pumpkin context picture. He offers to help them.

There was a lot going on in this episode. Maria’s mom is back but no one has any idea what happened to her.  Maria now knows about the aliens. She has every right to be pissed off especially after Noah controlled her. It seems whatever Michael did is helping Max get stronger. Hopefully this will stop Rosa from medicating with alcohol to keep Max away. 

Of course the cute moment between Michael and Maria when he made her breakfast. His relationships must always be mentioned. Alas Maria and Michael have hit a road block already with fact Michael has been keeping the fact he is an alien a secret.  I am sure we will be seeing more of Maria and Michael because this town has a way from bring people around each other. 

Isobel got her wish and lost the baby with that back alley coat hanger method she was trying. I really liked that line when Max said it because what she was doing was not all that different. At the same time she needed to do what was right for her and Roswell had no options for her.  I appreciate her seeing Max when she needed him. People rarely talk about how when someone is going through a tough time sometimes it helps them to talk to someone even if its in their mind.  

I wonder if the second alien was Max and Isobel’s mother or was she the mother of a different one.  It looked like there were 4 pods in the truck.  Anyone who has read the books and watched the original knows there was a 4th alien, Tess.  We still have not seen her but there was mention of a Tess in the first season. I am sure like everyone else I would love to know what happen to Michael’s mom during that time. I am sure she was captured because of the newspaper article.  How did everything happen and did the guy help take care of the pods after she was gone?  I am curious about them all having a different power and do the kids inherit the parents? 

I guess we have to keep watching to find out and next week looks like it will interesting looks like Rosa will be revealing herself to her dad. 

[thecomicsnexus]

BATMAN #354-356, DETECTIVE COMICS #520-521 NOVEMBER 1982 - FEBRUARY 1983 BY GERRY CONWAY, DON NEWTON, ALFREDO ALCALA, IRV NOVICK, DICK GIORDANO, SAL TRAPANI AND ADRIENNE ROY

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

In his home, Rupert Thorne, the most powerful man in Gotham City, cowers in fear as he has been constantly haunted by the spirit of Hugo Strange. When Thorne listens someone knocking on his door, he descends to open and finds himself face to face with Hugo Strange dressed in a Batsuit. Thorne closes his eyes and begs the phantom to leave him alone and when he opens his eyes, Strange is gone. Tired of being haunted, Thorne contacts the only man who can help him: Doctor Thirteen.

Meanwhile, Batman meets with James Gordon, Jason Bard and Vicki Vale, who inform him that the suicide of Morton Monroe, editor and boss of Vicki, might've been caused by Rupert Thorne, the same person behind the fraud of the past Mayoral Election. Vicki also tells Batman about the pictures she used to prove Batman and Bruce Wayne were one and the same and that they were stolen from her office. She has deduced that Thorne got his hands on them and he hired Deadshot to murder Bruce. With all this information, Batman leaves looking for one man.

Meanwhile, Thorne and Thirteen arrange a meeting, where Thorne tells the paranormal investigator about his dealings with Hugo Strange and how he murdered the man before the apparitions started to haunt him.

Moments later, Batman arrives at the Gotham Prison and interrogates Deadshot about his previous blood contract. Deadshot tells Batman that he was released by the warden of the prison and Batman decides to take Deadshot with him out of prison, much to everyone's shock and surprise. Once outside, Batman takes Deadshot for a ride in the Batmobile and asks him about the murder contract on Bruce Wayne, to which he reveals that he was paid by Rupert Thorne and his pawn Commissioner Pauling. With enough information, Batman activates a gas mechanism in the car, in order to drug Deadshot and keep him unconscious.

Finally, Dr. Thirteen goes to Greytowers, the last known place where Hugo Strange operated and investigates the building. When Thirteen goes to Strange's secret laboratory, he is confronted by the spectral apparition of Hugo Strange. Meanwhile, Batman has arrived at the Batcave with his prisoner and Alfred turns his attention to the events in the TV news, where Commissioner Pauling has declared Batman as public enemy number one for helping Deadshot out of prison. Despite the turn of events, Bruce laughs at the TV, knowing that everything is turning on his favor.

Batman has been declared a public menace and his special deputy status has been revoked by Mayor Hill and Commissioner Pauling. At Gotham City Hall, Pauling and Hill are concerned about the Batman's possible actions and they have the building surrounded by members of the Gotham City Police Department. Nevertheless, Batman manages to break into the building and into their office, where he warns them about the information that Deadshot has provided him about their corruption. When Batman leaves the building, Pauling activates an alarm that alerts the officers about his presence and the police start shooting at Batman. One of them hits the target, but when they go to seek the body of the Caped Crusader, they find nothing.

Meanwhile, Dr. Thirteen takes Rupert Thorne to Graytowers to show him the source of his haunting images. Inside the building, the two of them enter a secret laboratory, where the ghost of Hugo Strange appears and attacks Thorne. However, when Thirteen turns on the light, the ghost is gone and he has an explanation for the apparent spectral image. Thirteen finds a secret panel, which contains a holographic projector and he shows Thorne the holograpic image that has been used to haunt him. With the case solved, Thirteen only wants to distance himself from Thorne and the "Boss" of Gotham City comes to the wrong conclusion that the people responsible for this charade are his own pawns, Pauling and Hill.

Later, Alfred tries to deal with an annoying Deadshot, who is being held prisoner and blindfolded in the Batcave. When Batman arrives seriously injured from the shooting he just survived, Alfred hurries to give him medical attention. At that moment, Vicki Vale receives a phone call from a mysterious cat lady, who warns her to stay away from Bruce Wayne.

The next night, Rupert Thorne is planning his next move to eliminate the unexistent threat of his own henchmen, when suddenly, Batman appears at his door. Panicked at the sight of the Dark Knight, Thorne speaks out loud his deductions that Batman has already found about the fraud he organized in the elections and the murder contract on Bruce Wayne. Batman doesn't reply and in his outburst of madness, Thorne drops a bottle of alcohol near his fireplace, which causes the home to catch on fire. While Batman fights the fire, Rupert Thorne gets away.

Minutes later, Thorne shows up at City Hall, armed with a gun and ready to kill his unsuspecting thugs. Batman arrives just in time to witness Thorne's murder of Peter Pauling and the shooting of Rupert Thorne by one of Pauling's own men. Batman disarms the corrupt police officer and learns from the last man standing, Mayor Hill, that he will reinstate Batman's special deputy status, but he won't be able to prove that he was ever involved with Thorne.

Finally, Batman watches as Thorne is taken to a hospital and he uses his belt radio to contact the Batcave, before removing his cowl and reveal Dick Grayson under the mask. Bruce is still recovering and Dick had to step in to fill as Batman, giving Bruce the time he needs to recover. After a successful mission, Dick returns home, but there is another person looking the scene from a distance. The person is none other than Hugo Strange, who is alive and well and is responsible for the strange apparitions.

In the middle of the night, Selina Kyle awakes from a terrible nightmare in which she murders Victoria Vale. Selina realizes that the dreams started after she returned to Gotham City and learned that Vicki has started dating Bruce Wayne, which has made her extremely jealous.

After recovering from the shock, Selina calls Wayne Manor, hoping to talk with Bruce, but when Alfred answers her and tells her that Bruce is asleep, Selina assumes that Bruce is in fact spending the night with Vicki, which only makes matters worse. However, at that moment, Bruce is out as Batman, tracking down a street gang that has kidnapped an innocent woman and after a brief encounter, Batman saves the young lady.

A few hours later, Vicki Vale is awaken by Catwoman, who warns her to stay away from Bruce and she threatens to kill her if she doesn't comply. At first hour the next morning, Vicki arranges a breakfast date with Bruce and she informs her about last night's warning by Catwoman. Vicki tells Bruce that she wouldn't like to step between him and Selina Kyle, but Bruce tells her that Selina was responsible for their breakup and that now, she has to deal with their relationship. As Vicki and Bruce embrace in a loving kiss, Catwoman watches from afar and makes a vow to fight to the death for Bruce's affection.

After having seen Vicki Vale and Bruce Wayne together, Selina Kyle starts planning her revenge.

While Bruce and Vicki return home, their car is attacked by Catwoman's vehicle, and Bruce's car is forced off the road into the river. Regretting her actions, Catwoman dives to save Bruce, but the man refuses any help as he takes Vicki's unconscious body from the water. Knowing that she has made a terrible mistake, Catwoman flees without looking back.

Later, Vicki awakes at the Gotham General Hospital and Bruce is relieved to know that she is fine. When he tells the good news to Jason Bard and James Gordon, they also give him good news. Rupert Thorne has been convicted for the murder of Commissioner Pauling and early that morning, Gordon got a call from Mayor Hill, which can only mean one thing. After leaving the hospital, Gordon goes to Gotham City Hall, to Hill's office. There, Hill is concerned that the Gotham City Council are trying to recall another election and in order to prevent such a disaster, he gives James Gordon his old job as Police Commissioner.

At night, Batman goes to Selina's apartment and finds only a starving panther. After taking care of the animal, Batman realizes that the whole place has been deserted for a couple of days and he finds the only clue left behind. Moments later, Batman arrives at the "Catamont" warehouse, where Catwoman attacks him in a vicious way for all the pain he has caused her. With Batman at her mercy, Catwoman knows that she can easily kill him, but she realizes her mistake and instead, she helps her opponent. After such an agressive attack, Batman realizes that Selina needed to take all her anger and frustration out, much as he needed to do it when she first left Gotham, ending their relationship. An understanding Batman holds Catwoman in his arms as he apologizes for the unintended harm he caused her, and a grieving Selina knows that this is the end of her relationship with Bruce Wayne.

After months of careful planning, Hugo Strange is ready to set his plan in motion.

A certain night in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale are out on a date and their relationship seems to be going good, despite the recent threat of Catwoman. As Vicki is summoned at her work, Bruce returns home, but he reaches home without taking notice. Bruce finds the situation strange, but to make matters worse, once inside he is seemingly attacked by his trusted butler, but after he takes out the threat, Bruce realizes that he has imagined the whole event.

In the meantime, Alfred and Dick Grayson receive a visit by Vicki, who had just freed herself from work. Unfortunately, Bruce is currently not at Wayne Manor and Vicki assumes that he has gone out with another woman. After Vicki has left, Alfred and Dick realize that something has gone wrong and they try to contact Bruce, without success.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is at the phony Wayne Manor, where once again, he is attacked by Dick Grayson, only to find out that the whole situation never happened. In truth, Hugo Strange has lured Bruce into his well designed trap, where he controls the rooms and situations that take place in the Manor. When Bruce is once again attacked by "Dick", he tosses the young man down the staircase and breaks his neck, revealing a robot inside. Bruce finally understands the situation and he starts descending towards the "Batcave".

Meanwhile, Robin is ready to go out looking for Batman and he uses the tracking device on Bruce's clothes to find the secret location of Hugo Strange. Inside the phony Batcave, Bruce confronts Strange, who has shaved his beard and is wearing a Batsuit, claiming to be the Batman. Strange explains how he faked his death at the hands of Thorne's men and after the truth is revealed, he gives Bruce a spare Batsuit so that they can settle the score once and for all. The two Bat-men fight each other and Strange's ruthlessness gives him the upper hand in the fight. At that moment, Robin appears in the Batcave and is confused at the sight of two Batmen. When Strange commands Robin to kill the "fake" Batman, Robin realizes the truth and turns against Strange, who is finally outnumbered and defeated. As a last resort, Strange activates a detonator that blows up the place, which he installed as part of his plan to eliminate any traces of Hugo Strange once he took over the role of Batman and the identity of Bruce Wayne. The fake Wayne Manor and Batcave are blown in a giant explosion, with Strange inside.

At the real Wayne Manor, Alfred answers the door and is almost killed by Bruce Wayne, when Batman and Robin arrive and save their friend from one of Strange's robots. The Dynamic Duo tell Alfred that they were long gone by the time Hugo Strange activated the detonator and they start telling their butler the whole story.

REVIEW

A very stretched out plot ends here, with the apparent death of Hugo Strange. But there are a lot of changes happening in the background.

Apparently, Selina Kyle wasn’t supposed to know Batman’s secret identity (it’s hard to keep track). Neither Conway nor Joe Orlando realized this at the moment. It would be later be retconned.

The Batman Animated Series owes a lot to these years of Batman publishing history (1980-1983), and it’s easy to see why it was so influential. These stories are easier to read than other “high quality” comics like Titans. It just doesn’t need that much complexity as the characters are already complex and yet we know them very well.

Dick Grayson wearing the Batman outfit is an interesting thing to see. Dick thinks something’s wrong with Batman (he outgrew Batman’s mission by now), he is loyal to his cause, but it’s not his quest anymore. Bruce, on the other side, is trapped in this never-ending crusade against crime. It will be interesting to see how things develop in the next issue when a very famous character will make his first appearance.

Newton and Alcala give these issues a very dark tone, worthy of a horror title.

Catwoman seems a bit desperate for Bruce in these issues, but she is pretty much desperate for her own sake. Bruce was her moral compass, and without him, she feels she will be lost again. It would be interesting to see this plot evolve as well.

I give these issues a score of 7

[hookaroo]

Vocivore, Ltd. (31 of 41?)

Also on FFN and AO3 (ListerofTardis)

Tagging @ouatwinterwhump, @killian-whump, @sancocnutclub, @killianjonesownsmyheart1, and @courtorderedcake <3

***THE MOST WONDERFUL COVER ART BY @cocohook38 HERE!!!!!******

***Chapter 12 animation and art that will absolutely astound you!!!!!!!!!BOLDED AGAIN IN CASE YOU WANT TO REFRESH YOUR MEMORY BEFORE READING THIS RELATED FLASHBACK...*************************

***LETHAL Chapter 19 art in all of its BLOODSTAINED GLORY!!!!************

**POOR STABBED KILLIAN falling into the sheriff station! Ch. 7 & 23 art!!**

****KILLIAN AND HIS MASTER IN THE GORGEOUS CATHEDRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!    CHAPTER 1 ART THAT KILLS ME EVERY TIME I SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*********

*****AMAZING AND ALSO HEARTBREAKING COVER ART!!!!! MY POOR BOY, HELPLESS AND SCREAMING WHILE HE SLOWLY LOSES HIS GRIP ON REALITY… D: COCOHOOK38 IS TRYING TO KILL US ALL!!!!*************

***AAAAHHHH!!! THANK YOU MY WONDERFUL COCONUT FRIEND!!!!!!***

Two days ago...

The barn fire was getting too big too quickly. While it was true that the Master’s orders called for total destruction, there were multiple other buildings on the list, and this would alert the authorities far too soon.

Sure enough, before the slaves had a chance to regroup, a siren sounded in the distance, growing closer at an alarming speed. Killian ducked around the corner of the building farthest from the road while he considered his options.

Above all, Killian desperately wished he could allow himself to be captured, to give himself up to be tended with proper medical care and painkillers and a soft bed. He wanted more than anything for this nightmare to be over, to simply collapse in the arms of his beloved and admit defeat. But then they would not have one iota of gain to show for all of the suffering. They would lose their advantage and would have to come up with another way to defeat the monster, a possibility that seemed more hopeless with each passing day.

As it was, Killian did have the inklings of an idea buried deep, meticulously guarded from the Master’s probing thoughts. If he could somehow communicate the particulars to his Swan without the collar camera overhearing... But it all depended upon his Master not seeing him as a threat. Which meant continuing on with the charade and the misery.

It was the Chevelle: Detective Jones and his new partner, David. What Killian had been expecting and dreading at the same time. He would not be permitted to stand idly by while his fellow slaves were rounded up by his friends. He had a sword; his Master would oblige him to use it. And both of them were formidable opponents, especially in his weakened state.

ELIMINATE THEIR ESCAPE ROUTE, growled the Master's voice in his head, slightly quieter than normal but not by much. From the shaky, unreliable views at throat level, it would not be able to discern details yet, only that the new arrivals represented both a threat to its current slaves as well as potential victims to add to its horde.

While the two officers climbed out of the vehicle and raced to investigate the blazing barn, Killian staggered around the opposite corner, behind their backs and to the concealed side of the car. He could hear definite sounds of battle: stun guns and then pistol shots as his friends struggled against far too many opponents. With a grunt of exertion, Killian drove the point of his blade into the front left tire.

Before long, Jones and David decided to retreat. They were approaching the car. Killian made his way to the back left wheel well, grimacing. The confrontation was inevitable now.

Tasked with clearing their escape route, David was the first to spot him.

“Killian?”

He did not fire his gun, which Killian confirmed was his regular pistol and not the stun weapon. Damn it, there would be no easy way out of this one. Killian had no difficulty summoning his bleakest expression. Never mind seeing his friend for the first time in weeks; that friend would likely never trust him again. He would have to make a very realistic attempt to bring David down, possibly hurting him in the process. Was it any wonder, then, that he felt no joy at the reunion?

THAT ONE APPEARS TO HAVE A NOURISHING VOICE. CAPTURE HIM IF YOU CAN, TRIPOD, BUT DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE TAKEN.

David was trying to talk him down, stepping carefully forward with his hands raised, his pistol loose in his grip and pointing toward the sky. As one in a trance, Killian stumbled his way to the third tire, speared it with his weapon, then paused to catch his breath. He could see the prince slowly reaching for the handcuffs at his belt. In the background, Jones was engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle; like it or not, Killian's fellow slaves may take care of him on their own.

Killian allowed the point of his sword to rest on the ground, leaning back against the car in only slightly exaggerated exhaustion. He would not go to David; he needed David to bring the fight to him. It was all he had the energy for. Breathing heavily, Killian tried to block out his father-in-law's continued pleas, his reminders who waited for him at home, who was worried about him. None of it mattered if he was not successful in his quest.

Mere steps away, David had holstered his pistol and was reaching, almost too slowly to see, toward Killian's wrist.

“Come on, buddy. Let's get you taken care of, huh?”

Killian measured distances out of the corner of his eye. Waiting until the last possible second. Counting on the possibility that David would hold back and expect Killian to do the same. That Killian's true nature would result in the same feelings of restraint which guided David's actions.

With only centimeters to spare, Killian lashed out with the butt of his sword, driving it into David's solar plexus. The prince doubled over, winded, and Killian did not allow him time to recover. He followed the blow with a strike to the temple. Already twisted slightly as he fumbled for his pistol, David went limp and fell heavily to the ground, landing on his side. The thump of his body meeting dirt seemed to vibrate all the way up to the pit of Killian’s stomach where guilt normally lived.

KILL THIS ONE. BRING THE OTHER.

David seemed to be unconscious. He could not resist. Killian had run out of excuses. His Master was watching, and the nearest approaching siren was still much too far. Feigning breathlessness, Killian lurched the two steps that separated him from the helpless form of his father-in-law. Struggling to maintain his balance, he stepped over the obstacle, positioned himself behind David, and used a vicious kick to turn him onto his stomach. Then, as he straddled the body for maximum control, he allowed himself one quick glance in Jones' direction: now armed with a sword himself, the detective was finishing off his final opponent. If he could time this just right…

Killian magnified his tremors for the Master’s benefit as he held his blade poised above his target. Just as important as timing was the selection of a landing site. But he had to make it look as if his physical condition caused him to miss a fatal blow.

One good thing about David being unconscious: Killian didn't have to suppress the additional remorse that would have surely resulted from the pained reaction to his sword clattering off of David's shoulder blade.

Killian staggered as if surprised by the obstruction, and as he did so, he noticed that Jones had dropped his final attacker. With a dispassion born of his now-familiar mantra, Killian readied his weapon for a second strike.

Jones arrived just in time. Hope kidnapped, Hope tortured, Hope dead.

BRING THIS ONE TO ME!

The mental command had a noticeably greater insistence than usual, bordering on frantic hunger. It was the closest it had ever come to instilling the mindless compulsion that drove all other slaves.

Killian knew why his Master was so adamant. And could not allow it.

Jones engaged in their shared tactic of posturing, and even if he weren't playing the part of a broken-down, hopeless slave, Killian was too weary to answer back.

The pair had sparred before, a friendly contest here and there, a way to keep up their skills in a more peaceful world than the one in which they’d spent most of their lives. And Killian could tell right away that, just as he did during those contests of no import, Jones was playing it safe, holding back to prevent injury, and that was the last thing Killian wanted him to do. His Master would notice if the fight were not authentic, and if they both curbed their strikes, it would be revealed as a farce.

The slash to his sword arm was entirely accidental; Killian knew by the look on Jones’ face. But the burning wound was somehow enough to spur the fight into high gear, with resulting bloodshed on both sides. They traded blows. Killian could feel half-healed wounds beginning to open with the exertion. Jones, too, bled from more than one gash but seemed not to notice.

Killian could not catch his breath. The scene begin to take on a shadowy, murky quality and he moved solely by instinct. Tenuous footing caused a very real stumble, quick reflexes allowed Jones to catch his sword arm, and Killian should have allowed it to end then. But his left arm was free, and he moved without thinking, or perhaps his Master’s hunger for a twin Tripod overcame his usual immunity to its edicts. He swung his stump with all the strength he could muster, driving the wrist ring straight into the detective’s face.

Crystalline flames consumed Killian's wrist. Jagged tendrils climbed his forearm like steadily growing cracks in a pane of glass. He could do nothing but cradle the arm in breathless anguish as he waited for the defeating blow.

TAKE HIM, TRIPOD. TAKE HIM NOW!

His Master's command screamed through his mind and was just enough to mask his terrible pain. The nearing sirens would explain the urgency: not much longer before the opportunity was lost. Clutching the throbbing limb to his side, Killian responded to the order and struck out blindly with his blade.

The shock wave of steel against steel raced up his arm, jolting even the fiercely complaining wrist on the opposite side. Somehow taken by surprise, Jones lost his sword and stumbled back into the outstretched arm of a downed slave.

The Master's exultation as the detective hit the ground was short-lived. The crunch of gravel announced the arrival of backup, and though Jones was unarmed and struggling against the grip on his ankle, Killian would not have enough time to secure him and drag him away. The Master knew it too.

TOO LATE, it growled. DISPOSE OF HIM QUICKLY AND RETREAT.

Killian could not bring himself to look at the resignation on his friend's face as he readied his blade. In fact, the only reason he managed to watch at all was because he might miss and cause serious harm otherwise.

A car door slammed. His sword stabbed down into flesh.

GO, howled the Master.

"Killian!" came the frantic cry from behind.

It was her--Hope kidnapped--it was--Hope tortured--oh gods--Hope dead--Hope DEAD--Swan. His Swan. He only had to turn and she would be there. Right before him, in the flesh, not a bittersweet memory seen through a haze of pain--HOPE DEAD!!!

Killian was staggering away before he was even aware of it, desperate to preserve the illusion, to keep his resolve from crashing to the ground like all of his groaning comrades around him. If he saw her... if he met her eyes…

She was calling him, begging him to stop, and just hearing her voice again was enough to bring him to tears. He missed her so much; their separation rivaled the worst of the tortures, and maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he abandoned their plot--HopeDeadHopeDeadHopeDead--

He heard the pistol discharging at the same instant as a crippling pain burrowed its way into his back, knocking him forward, flat on his face in the grass. But dazzling lights exploded in his brain and zapped in scalding waves along every single nerve path in his body, and he did not even feel the jarring landing.

Present (Friday, continued)...

The guards in the surveillance room were considerably more alert than the one at the armory. Perhaps due to their proximity to their Master--they were, after all, in the same building--or the fact that it had reason to visit more frequently. Whatever the explanation, they’d leapt to their feet the instant Killian had pushed the door open.

They weren’t armed and probably could not fathom ill-intent from a fellow slave. Still, the moment they saw his sword, they must have known he was up to no good. Two charged him recklessly, no thought for their own safety, while the third managed to lift her wooden chair to use as a shield-slash-weapon.

With the sword hilt, Killian quickly felled the first two assailants, every single movement tearing at the screws in his neck. He growled and stumbled over their unconscious forms just as a set of chair legs swiped at his midsection. A fragmented pair of wooden rods clattered to the floor as Killian brought his blade down hard. The remaining slave staggered and snarled, but she did not back off. Lurching forward, she swiped the still-vibrating chair in the other direction, forcing Killian to dodge the splintered edges coming for his face. One of the intact legs caught him in the abdomen, driving the breath from his lungs and doubling him over.

Blindly, through darkening vision, mind-numbing pain, and the desperate panic of not being able to breathe, Killian lashed out with his sword. There was a thunk as the blade contacted wood, and he only barely managed to hold on through the shock wave. The chair flew upward, the seat back slammed into the woman’s forehead, and she crumpled backwards in a heap, the damaged chair on top.

Killian clutched at his belly and finally managed a small breath. Eyes watering, heart racing, he limped to the row of monitors even as stars twinkled in his peripheral vision. He had no time for recovery, no time to secure the temporarily stunned guards. His Master would have sensed the threat. It could be here at any time. And there was no clinging to the charade of obedience anymore.

“Swan,” he wheezed, praying she’d had enough time for preparation. He squinted at the first screen. “Entrance to the hospital Emergency Department.” He sucked a deeper breath, held it, grimacing. Screen two. “Holding cells in the sheriff station…. City Hall auditorium…” The fourth and fifth cameras were in locations he could not identify, possibly outside of Storybrooke. Gritting his teeth, Killian hobbled to that side of the desk, noting that the first two feeds had already been replaced by other images. Emma was ready! They may have a chance after all.

Killian had little clue how to switch the feeds of the last two cameras, but he began clicking randomly in the program regardless. He had to find one which Emma could control. The image changed. A slave collar, overseeing the destruction of property. Then someone’s bedroom from their webcam. A random front porch. Killian battled rising urgency. There was no time. There had to be… there!

“The cemetery,” he barked, already moving to the final screen. “Turn them on, love! My Master could be--”

The inside door swung open with a crash. And into the room, wearing an expression of pure malice, scuttled the imposing shape of the scream-eating monster.

His Master. They were too late.

[spectrumscribe]

brothers = den mothers

a rottmnt ficlet, set directly after Repo Mantis. word count 3,510; rating Gen. pure & sweet family fluff, banter, and caretaking. :”)

AO3 link

“Three of hearts?”

“Go fish.”

“Aw, come on. It’s been go fish the past five times.”

“’cause I don’t got your cards, genius. That’s how the game works.”

“I have ten cards in my hands, I’ve asked you about half of their matches- no way you don’t have any.”

“Nope.”

Leo narrows his eyes. Raph avoids them.

“You’re cheating,” Leo exclaims, and lunges forwards to look at Raph’s cards. His brother just catches him with one hand and holds him down, lifting the four cards out of his reach. “Raaaph.”

“Just ‘cause you’re bad at cards don’t mean I’m cheating.”

“Lemme see and then I’ll believe you.”

“No.”

“Then you so are cheating-”

A distant sound of something exploding echoes through the walls, and they both go still. Nothing else explodes after a few beats, and Raph and Leo exchange looks.

“Wanna bet that was a Donnie related explosion?” Leo says.

“I would put good money on that bet,” Raph replies. He lets go of Leo and stands up; dropping his cards on top of the other scattered ones.

Leo glances at the cards as he stands too, and splutters. “Hey- you were cheating!”

“Please, Leo, we got priorities right now.”

Leo scowls at the back of his brother’s shell, but grumbles and follows along. They both grab their weapons as they head to investigate- mildly wary of the chance it’s not a Donnie related explosion (for once), and someone’s somehow found their home and busted in.

“What was that?” Splinter calls as they pass the living room.

“Probably Donnie,” Raph replies offhandedly, “maybe a human militia here to kill us all.”

“Well tell them to keep the explosions down; I can hardly hear my gameshow.”

“Will do, pop,” Leo promises with a wave, and keeps pace with Raph as they leave the lair at a jog. “So what do we do if it’s not Don and Mike?”

“Raph’ll kick their asses back to where they came from, that’s what. You can help, too.”

“Oh, I get to help?” Leo says sarcastically. Their conversation comes to a halt as they do; both of them staring at the collapsed portion of a tunnel wall. What looks like the rear end of an unusual vehicle is stuck through it, covered in dust and stray brick.

Leo sticks the tip of his sword in the stone under his feet, leaning on its handle. “Huh,” he says mildly. “Yeah, no, that’s not supposed to be there.”

“Ey! Wall breakers!” Raph bellows at the vehicle. “Who the hell are you, and what the hell do you want?”

“We really don’t have anything decent to steal, if that’s what you’re here for,” Leo adds, cupping his mouth to get his voice to carry. “Well. Donnie’s lab has some okay stuff. You can have that.”

A disgruntled green and purple head pokes around the corner of the broken wall. “Excuse you,” Donnie says irritably, “we do not offer my lab’s contents to hypothetical robbers, Leo.”

“Hey, guys!” Mikey cheers, popping out next to Donnie. He beams at them, covered in dust and band-aids. “We’re home!”

Raph makes a delighted cry and Leo does much the same. Both their weapons are sheathed as they hurry over and give their siblings welcome home hugs. Ten days apart is a lot longer than they’ve ever done before, and it feels better all-around to be back together.

“Man, I missed you guys,” Raph says, squishing all three of his brothers in a hug. “It’s been totally boring, and I was runnin’ out of ways to cheat cards with Leo.”

Leo gasps and thrashes in the hug, pissed enough that he’s hissing. “I knew it! You’ve been cheating this whole time!”

“Awww, we missed you guys, too,” Mikey says, looking pleased as peach despite being squished against an exasperated Donnie and irate Leo. The goofily happy smiles he and Raph are both wearing prove their relation.

“I’ll concede to having missed you two, too,” Donnie admits, craning an arm to hug Raph back. “Even if you’re all crushing me right now. Raph, if you would.”

Raph lets them down, but not before one more firm hug. “Sorry, just- I’m glad you guys got back safe. You kinda ghosted us bunch of the time. But, you got all your limbs still, and,” he says, glancing at the mostly obscured vehicle his siblings brought home, “came back with some serious booty! This is the surprise you talked about?”

“Sure is,” Mikey chirps, grabbing Leo- the closest brother- and dragging him towards the wrecked wall, “and you’re not gonna believe how cool it is!”

They do not believe how cool it is. The two brothers who’d stayed home also cannot believe they somehow didn’t recognize what the surprise was, even semi-buried under rubble.

Raph and Leo quickly become intensely jealous they missed out on the adventure that led their brothers to not only hang out with puppies all week, but also resulted in them coming into possession of the Jupiter Jim moon buggy.

“I mean, we kind of stole it,” Donnie admits as they’re all fawning over the buggy, “but that was only after Repo tried to back out of the deal. Also we’ll fix the wall later, and considering I’ve only ever driven in controlled environments and not during a high-speed chase in rush hour traffic, this is a decent parking job.”

“He forgot which was the break,” Mikey explains from up on the buggy; draped over the lip of the cockpit, head on his arms.

“I only forgot for a moment.”

“A moment too long, according to the wall,” Leo says with a grin, jerking his thumb at the wrecked structure. Mikey laughs, but it turns into a yawn halfway through.

“And it seriously has all the weapons from Return to the moon 3?” Raph asks, touching some of the oil slick that’d splattered the buggy mid-fight.

“It does,” Mikey confirms, nearly in a mumble, though his smile remains bright. “I bug-zapped a guy an’ everything with ‘em. It was awesome.”

He yawns again after that, long enough his eyes water a little. Mikey settles more comfortably on his arms, eyes hooded as the others keeps talking.

“They’re not too shabby for a movie prop, buuuut…” Donnie rubs his hands together, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I have full intention to overhaul them all and increase not just their efficiency, but the diversity of attack options and double the firepower output. Maybe triple it. Depends how many compatible parts I can get my hands on in the next twenty-four hours.”

Leo walks around the top of the buggy, nodding in approval. “Awesome, awesome- please tell me you’ll re-do the upholstery inside, too? Old pleather sticks when you sit on it too long.”

“Uh, a-duh?”

“Sweet. Classic fuzzy dice gonna be included?”

“I have some!” Raph offers excitedly.

“Are they the ones that went missing from my room a few months ago?” Donnie questions dryly.

“Maybe.”

Donnie rolls his eyes. “That- figures.” His words are interrupted by a wide yawn, and he gives his slightly bloodshot eyes a rub. “We can start with them as a base for the colors scheme of the interior. Mikey, I’m guessing you’ll want to handle that?” No answer. “…Mikey?”

They all glance over to their youngest sibling.

Mikey’s eyes are shut and his mouth slightly open; soft breaths coming from him as he sleeps.

“Wow,” Leo says, coming over to crouch by Mikey. He gently pokes his brother’s cheek, testing for any chance of wakefulness, and gets nothing. “You know, you’d think he’d be bouncing at the walls right now. This is the coolest thing we’ve ever stolen. Besides my sword, obviously.”

“Eh, give him a break,” Donnie says, stretching his arms above his head and yawning again. “He’s been- been working with about five or less hours of sleep per day. Puppy paradises don’t build themselves, after all. Let ‘im sleep.”

His battle shell extends its spider legs, and Donnie goes scuttling up the sides of the buggy to start poking at machinery. Raph watches him for a moment, and then follows him up. Not for the same reasons, though.

“Alright, c’mere, Mike,” Raph says quietly, scooping up his brother. Mikey starts a little, eyes opening briefly, but then he sees Raph’s familiar red bandana and settles again. He’s asleep a second time around before Raph’s even dropped back onto the ground; tucked in close and held in one arm.

Leo is watching Donnie start pulling apart the engine, taking note of the slight jitter to his brother’s movements and the amount of dust and unbandaged cuts on his limbs. If Mikey has been running on five or less hours of sleep per day, then without a doubt Donnie has been running on even less. And, given how Mikey has medical care to his small injuries and Donnie doesn’t- Leo’s technical twin has only paid any attention the needs of their brother, rather than the both of them equally.

Leo and Raph share a look; Raph having been eyeing their genius sibling with a concerned expression, and holding Mikey a little closer to himself unconsciously.

Raph gestures at Leo, then at Donnie pointedly. Leo nods, moving into position as his big brother does.

“Hey, Donnie,” Leo says, crouching right in front of his twin.

Donnie looks up, goggles down over his eyes and a distracted frown on his face. “What?” he says shortly.

Leo shoves Donnie backwards. His brother tumbles off the buggy with a strangled shriek.

Raph catches Donnie with ease. Their sleep deprived sibling is startled enough he actually stays still for a whole minute; which is enough time for Raph to bundle him up, and start carrying both his little brothers back towards the lair.

Leo hops down, grinning smugly and skipping over to aim that grin at his brother. Donnie scowls, flipping his goggles up to get the full look across.

“I sense that was plotted,” Donnie says.

“Closer to spur of the moment ambush,” Leo corrects. “You know how Raph works.”

“It’s called getting shit done now, not later.”

“Like I should be doing, with the moon buggy-”

“Uh, no?” Leo cuts in. He clicks his tongue. “What you an’ Mikey are gonna be doing is sleeping, obviously. We’ll go patch the wall and haul in the buggy later.”

“I can keep working,” Donnie protests, twisting to get out of Raph’s grip. “I’ve got to assess the engine, and then the undercarriage, and-”

“Quit wigglin’,” Raph snaps mildly. “You’re gonna wake Mike.”

“’m ‘wake already,” Mikey mumbles faintly, but his eyes don’t even open fully. Leo and Raph both stare at Donnie until the guilt of disturbing their youngest brother’s sleep sets in, and Donnie stops protesting. He allows Raph to carry them along without further interruption, and with the last of the fight going out of him, Donnie sags under the weight of his exhaustion.

Raph is more than happy to carry that weight, right back into the safety of their home.

…He’s a little less happy to carry Leo’s, though, as their red striped sibling hops up on Raph’s shell and demands to be carried, too.

“You can’t play favorites with your little brothers, bro,” Leo chides as Raph growls. He sets his chin on Raph’s head, looping his arms around his brother’s neck and making himself comfortable as he hangs there.

“Watch me,” Raph grumbles, but makes no move to dislodge Leo from where he is. Leo smiles to himself all the way back into the lair, hardly even mad anymore that Raph had been cheating all week at cards.

Inside again, they’re met by their dad. Splinter is waiting in the main atrium, hands in his robe’s sleeves and a mild expression on his face.

“So I’m guessing you weren’t worried about the militia of killer humans?” Leo asks dryly.

“There would have been many more explosions if that was what happened,” Splinter sniffs, whiskers twitching. “You, my boys, are many things. But stealth fighters you are not.”

“Thanks, pop,” Donnie says sarcastically, as Mikey quietly, sleepily laughs.

“Purple, Orange. You’re home.”

“Hi, pop,” Mikey says, smiling at their nicknames.

Splinter takes one arm out from his sleeves and extends a claw, crooking it in request that Raph bend down and let him see the exhausted turtles in his arms. His nose twitches as he sniffs, eyes squinted and careful as he examines his sons. Other than being dusty and a little banged up, Donnie and Mikey are perfectly healthy.

“Hm,” Splinter mutters, still casting a dubious eye over the both of them. Then, he nods, expression calmly accepting. “You two have been gone quite a while. Welcome back.”

“Happy to be back,” Donnie replies easily, not minding the scrutiny of his father. It’s comforting, being back in an environment that’s completely and truly safe. Splinter, satisfied with the brief checkup, pats Mikey’s cheek and goes to wander back into the living room.

“Seeya later, pop,” Mikey says, waving. “Love ya.”

“Yes, yes, I love you, too- and remember to fix whatever you blew up!” Splinter scolds over his shoulder, tail flicking irritably as he disappears through the doorway.

“I think he really missed you guys,” Raph says, resuming his trek to their rooms. “He asked like, four whole times if we’d heard from you.”

“Aw, I missed him, too…” Mikey says softly, words trailing off into a yawn. His eyes are heavy as their journey continues, and when he halfway wakes again, Donnie has been dropped off along with Leo and Raph is setting him down on his bed.

“Gear off,” Raph reminds, fingers going for the buckles of Mikey’s weapons holster. Mikey brushes them away, fumbling with them himself.

“I got it, I can do it myself…” The holster comes undone and Raph sets it on the chair by Mikey’s easel and paints. Mikey yawns, but feels awake enough he can manage the remaining steps to get to bed. “Go wrestle Don into bed, Raph,” he says, starting to shove his kneepads off. “I can brush my teeth n’ stuff on my own.”

“You sure?” Raph questions, hovering a little.

Mikey makes shooing motions. Raph goes, but silently promises to swing through again just to check in one last time. A few rooms over, voices are mingling in Donnie’s bedroom; the sources the two turtles flopped over each other on the bed and procrastinating one of them getting to sleep.

Raph knocks on the doorway, drawing their attention. “Ey, Leo. You’re supposed to be helping him into bed, not schooling him on Jupiter Jim lore.”

“Can you blame me?” Leo says haughtily, sprawled across Donnie’s stomach to keep him from wandering back to the buggy. “He mixed up Return to the moon 8 and Return to the moon 10. I couldn’t let that stand!”

“I am more than half asleep right now, Leon. Gimme a break.”

“You might as well have mixed up Lou Jitsu and Bruce Willis, you heathen.”

Raph rolls his eyes at both of them. “Donnie, either you get up and brush your teeth or I’m just kickin’ Leo out right now and turning off the light.”

“Gingivitis is a very serious condition to treat. I’m going right now.” Donnie doesn’t move for a moment, then reaches over and flicks Leo’s skull. “That means you get off of me, Leo.”

“Ow, god, you coulda just said you wanted me to get up.”

“It was strongly implied between the lines.”

They heckle each other a little more, but Leo does eventually roll off Donnie’s stomach. Raph steadies their second eldest sibling as Donnie stands, wobbling a little as low blood pressure puts sparks in his vision. Food will be the next step, after he and Mikey get at least a few hours of sleep.

“I can put that away,” Leo offers, tapping Donnie’s battle shell. Donnie mumbles something of a thank you and a yes please at the same time, unlatching the protective shield from himself and handing it off. He stretches, groaning as his shoulders ache.

“Glad I wore one with solar power options,” Donnie tells Raph, once Leo has headed back to the lab to tuck the battle shell into its charging station. He rolls his shoulders again, grimacing as the extended use of the false shell comes back to bite him. “Though, ugh, I wish it’d been a lighter model, too. I think I’ve got bruising, and not just from dropping wood planks on my foot three fuckin’ times.”

“Klutz,” Raph teases, but then adds, “You want some painkillers?”

“Please. God please.”

When they make it to the bathroom, Mikey is there slowly brushing his teeth; mask and gear all left in his room, leaving him bare and visibly dusty everywhere the equipment hadn’t been. Donnie is equally dirty, but neither of them have the energy or willpower to clean themselves properly at the moment. Baths, like food, will come later.

Mikey mumbles a greeting around his toothpaste and brush, and then makes an annoyed grunt as all three of them crowd around the sink and cabinet. Donnie going for his toothbrush and Raph reaching overhead to rummage in the mirror cabinet for necessary drugs. There’s some squishing and shoving involved, but everyone gets what they need done with minimal grousing or paste spat on each other.

“Hey, Raph?” Mikey asks, stopping in the doorway as he’s leaving.

“Yeah?” his brother answers, still leaning against the wall. He’s holding a waiting cup of water and two Tylenols for Donnie, and also making certain their genius doesn’t try anything ‘smart’ and sneak off to look at the buggy. Donnie knows this is why he keeps being watched by his brothers, and is tolerantly accepting the den mother attitudes.

“Come rub my shell afore I sleep?”

Raph smiles warmly. “Sure. Go get in bed an’ I’ll be there in a minute.”

Mikey rubs his eye, nodding. He disappears as Donnie spits in the sink; the second eldest sibling wiping his mouth and holding out a hand for the painkillers.

Raph drops Donnie off in his room again, just as Leo comes strolling back from his trip to the lab. Raph  leaves them both to their own conversation as Donnie flops onto the bed; Donnie rambling a little about some kinks in his battle shell he’d found through its overtime during the week, and Leo listening from his comfortable sprawl at the foot of the bed. Raph will shoo Leo out of the room again when he comes back through one last time, so Donnie puts a pause on the science for a while and actually sleeps.

Mikey is set up in bed when Raph gets there; his side table lamp the only illumination and a battered but loved comic in his hands, reading it absently while he waits. When he sees Raph, he puts the comic aside and rolls onto his front.

Raph sits on the edge of the mattress, hearing it squeak under his weight as he moves the covers off his brother to expose the patterned shell. Placing his large palm against its cool surface, Raph starts a firm but soothing rub of the scutes. It only takes a few passes for his littlest brother to start a gentle purr; Mikey wholly happy to have the indulgence of a shell rub before bed, especially after a long week of hard work.

“Aight, g’night, Mike,” Raph says after a bit, finishing the rub with a few pats to Mikey’s back.

“G’night,” Mikey says, mostly asleep and face buried in his pillow. Raph reaches over and turns off the lamp, and shuts the door quietly behind himself as he leaves.

Leo is still hanging out in Donnie’s room when Raph comes by, but their brother’s tech and gear are in a pile by the bed and Donnie’s eyes are shut. Leo is just choosing to remain on top of his brother’s feet a while longer, eyes hooded as he himself wonders about a catnap.

He also sincerely missed his brothers, like Raph did, like their brothers missed them. It’s not the time for grilling them on details of the puppy RV and moon buggy shenanigans, but they can spend a few quiet moments with their siblings before they drop into slumber. It sets the undertone of being off kilter, with their pairs having been apart so long, back to rights again.

Still, Leo leaves Donnie’s bed as Raph whispers for him to, and the family genius is left in his dark room to get much needed rest.

“Feel like another game of cards?” Raph asks as they hop back down to the bottom level.

“Not in your god damn dreams, you swindling asshole,” Leo hisses without heat.

Their father’s gameshow plays an ambient soundtrack to the lair as they search for something new to amuse themselves with. Other than their good natured banter and padding feet on the stone floors, there’s no other noise to disturb the turtles sleeping in their beds.

Commission info & Kofi link.

[mythicallore]

The Zanfretta Abductions

Here we have a strange case out of Italy of what may very well be the first recorded encounter with what people commonly refer to as “reptilian” aliens. (If not the first, then the most widely known at the time)

It all started one night in 1978 at the village of Torriglia. Pier Zanfretta was simply making the rounds on his security route when he made to the currently empty home of one of his clients. All of a sudden the lights and engine of his car died. As he was looking around he noticed lights coming from the house and assumed that the home was being burgled. So Zanfretta, with gun and flashlight in hand, decided to sneak around to try and surprise the criminals. However, it was him that would be surprised that night and the shock would change his life forever.

Something touched him on the shoulder and he spun around to meet “An enormous green, ugly and frightful creature, with undulating skin..as though he were very fat or dressed in a loose gray tunic…” Was his original description of the creatures. He would go on to describe them as having large yellow triangles for eyes and points on either side of their faces. He sprinted away and as he made it back to his car, a massive UFO rose up from behind the house. It began to glow and blasted him with a wave of heat before it disappeared completely.

Zanfretta radioed his dispatcher for help. He was rambling and in shock when the found him, saying of his attackers “No, they aren’t men, they aren’t men…my God are they ugly.” He brandished his gun at his comrades, he seemed to not know them and they were forced to knock him to the ground. They were shocked to find how warm his clothes were since it was so cold and icy out.

The Italian Military police were sent out to the area that night after Zanfretta was rescued. The found huge prints possibly created by the UFO’s landing gear that was 9 feet in diameter and horseshoe-shaped. A staggering 52 citizens reported seeing the large UFO around the area of the home at the same time Zanfretta claimed to have seen it.

During the course of the investigation, Zanfretta’s credibility was further increased by a number of people who came forward in defense of his character. A member of the press found it hard to believe a family man, with a stable career and obvious hate for his newfound fame, would willingly make up a story that could cost him so much. However public opinion was against him, he would go on to say to a reporter named Di Stefano “People call me on the phone at all hours to play jokes on me. I don’t know what it was that I saw, but I saw it. I am not a liar…if I could have, I wouldn’t have reported my experiences, now that I see the consequences.” Those words echo modern-day sentiments from many abductees. They often lament talking about what happened to them because of the backlash they received from not only strangers but their own family at times.

So in an attempt to shed some light on what happened, On December 23rd Zanfretta agreed to be hypnotized. Dr. Mauro Moretti, a member of the Italian Association for Medical Hypnosis put him under. Under hypnosis, Zanfretta revealed that the aliens had also abducted him and had taken him to a strange hot room filled with light. There they communicated with him through a glowing device. He found that the strange mouthpieces they wore allowed them to breathe while on earth and that they were from a planet called “Teetonia” somewhere in the “Third galaxy”. The interrogation lasted some time and the creatures revealed that they wanted to speak more and would soon arrive in greater numbers.

Three days after his session with Dr. Moretti, Zanfretta claimed to have been abducted again. This time he said that his car was overtaken and controlled remotely. He was driven through a tunnel before a bright white light flooded the car. His dispatch claimed that he called in at the time in a very controlled voice saying “The car has stopped. I saw a bright light. Now I am getting out.” Hours later he was found by two other guards out in a field by his car in a heavy rain. Zanfretta was weeping, crying out “They say I must leave with them. What about my children? I don’t want to…I don’t want to.” The military police were called and found to their confusion that Zanfretta’s clothes were completely dry despite the rain and that the roof of his car was “as hot as an oven.” Shocking them as well was the 20-inch boot prints that surrounded the car.

A full report was filed on January 3, 1979, and labeled “Report on the Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects by Fortunato Zanfretta.” The military police later went on to say that the reliability of these events actually occurring was “good”. After this Zanfretta began to receive even more attention and scrutiny. He was examined by neurologist Dr. Giorgio Gianniotti who found that “…The man is in a state of shock, but he is perfectly sane.” This, however, did little to stop the harassment so he once again agreed to undergo hypnosis but this time he allowed it to be televised.

In this session, Zanfretta claimed that the device they used to speak with him was a glowing helmet and it caused him a great deal of pain. They took his gun and fired it, some would speculate in an effort to see if human weaponry could hurt them. They expressed an interest in taking him with them to which he responded with “I know that you need me, but I don’t want to. I like to be alone. I have two children. I feel good this way…and after all, you are not human beings. You are horrible.” Hundreds watched but the scrutiny only increased further. Eventually, things died down, until he was abducted yet again.

Zanfretta and his motorcycle were found on the summit of Mount Fasce. None of the locals had seen him drive up the only road that led to the top. This time Zanretta insisted that he be given sodium penathol, the “truth serum”. Under it, he claimed that he had been picked up by a green light. The doctor who administered the drug confirmed to the press “No human being can knowingly lie while he is under treatment, so I think it’s very probable Zanfretta had these encounters.” (It was not known at the time just how malleable a person’s perception becomes while under sodium penathol, even allowing for the implantation of false memories. One of the reasons it is no longer used as a truth serum.”)

His forth abduction was not an encounter he would have alone. After he disappeared in December of 1979, four members of his security company were sent to find him. They found instead a strange glowing “cloud” which shot out two beams of light at their cars, killing the engines. One of them shot at the UFO, which then went dark and faded out of sight. The encounter proved too much for another, who later ended his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Now for some crazy stuff.

As if it weren’t off the wall enough. Zanfretta says that while filling up his car with gas after the last encounter a strange man came up to him. The mansupposedly was bald with an egg-shaped head and wearing a checkered suit with a chest-plate made of steel. The man’s voice compelled him to follow and he was shown a ship filled with strange beings in jars. Some “frog-shaped” others more birdlike or even similar to a “caveman”. The being tried to give him a sphere that would humanity to know who they were and how they lived. He was instructed to give the gift to Dr. J. Allen Hynek in America, who as a premier UFO researcher at the time. Zanfretta did not do this however and instead claimed to have buried the object somewhere.

His last hypnosis session with Dr. Moretti was the oddest session of all. He made strange sounds, spoke in an unknown language and said things like “Question with negative answer, tixel…you can’t work out anything in a case like this. To believe or not to believe doesn’t mean anything: each thing in its own time.”

That was the last encounter Zanfretta would have with the beings but his description of the man in the checkered suit echoes a being encountered by others. In November of 1966, in West Virginia, A Woodrow Derenberger had an encounter with a strange vehicle pouring flames from both ends and shaped like a lamp. A smiling man stepped out and spoke to him without moving his lips. Claimed his name was “Indrid Cold.” He was baled with an egg like head and wanted to know more about UFO sightings in the area. The same manwas spotted by two boys behind a fence, where he was dubbed the Grinning Man and was seen in Point Pleasant around the same time as the Mothman sightings.

“Honey, did you order a subscription to the Watchtower?”

I have a theory that this Grinning Man may, in fact, be a Man in Black. Reports of them indicate that they seem shockingly similar. Bald, fancy suits, asking and talking about UFO encounters. Always giving off an otherworldly feel and disappearing as quickly as the arrived.

[imagine-lcorp]

Mustang Ride (Part IV)

A/N: Hello again, my dearest!! I hope you’re still enjoying this beautiful holiday season and that everyone is having fun. Here’s a late xmas present for you, part IV of this series, beacuse I know i left you wondering about the story. But not just that!!! Until next wednesday I will be posting new content each day so we can finish this year and start the new one with great vibes. So stay tuned and stay beautiful <3<3<3 love you guuuys!!!

Lena Luthor x Shapeshifter Reader//Word Count: 1,931

Series: Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V

The first thing that caught your attention was the long line of blood splatter that dripped to the floor on one side of the van. Then you saw the agents, struggling in a fight with something that wasn't human or animal anymore. Looking at that thing made your hair stand on end and your heart pound. Suddenly, you felt as if you were nine years old again, watching a horror movie that would leave you with nightmares.

Supergirl was first to react, jumping inside and trying to separate the agents from the beast's claws. You had to shake yourself back into action when one agent escaped his hold. He came stumbling towards you, holding his right side, and you caught him before he could fall to the ground. You saw his bloody hands trying to cover the wound, a deep claw scratch the size of his forearm, and walked him quickly to the sidewalk. By the size of the wound, you guessed it was polar bear guy in that van.

The other agent came out of the vehicle a moment later, safe and unharmed, and you called for her to help her partner. You could hear Kara inside the van with that animal and, if the growls and metal snapping were any indication, she was having a hard time taking him down.

"Go, she may need your help." Said the agent that now you recognized as Vasquez. "I got him." She assured you and then both of you turned your heads at the sound of tires skidding.

Another DEO van was coming to your aid, they were going to be fine. You nodded at her and returned to the van. Supergirl was pushing polar guy against the right side of the car, holding him by the arms while he was gripping her with his clawed hands and trying to bit her face. It was a relief she had bulletproof skin or she could have ended like shredded paper.

He drifted his attention on you once you jumped inside. His bloodshot eyes were looking at you with frenzy and a fury you could only expect from a rabid animal. You swallowed hard before taking a step further and, once you did, things happened too fast for you. He broke away from Kara's hold, sprinting in all fours to jump on you.

His claws sank into your shoulders and his hot breath was on your face after landing on the ground. A broken cry came out of your mouth as polar guy placed himself on top of you. You didn't move. You couldn't. You felt like that could be the difference between keeping your face and using a Guy Fawkes mask for life. But even with no sudden move, you saw him open his mouth, revealing sharp teeth about to tear your face apart.

Your face remained intact, after all, thanks to Kara. In one second, she launched herself at polar guy and took him for a flight. She made a few barrel rolls with him hanging from her hands before heading straight to the back of the van and tossing him inside. He fell unconscious in an instant and only then you stopped holding your breath. DEO agents came to attend your wounds immediately after that but you made then go with the other agent. They could patch you up later. With everyone safe and secured once again, you went straight to the DEO.

The injured agent was taken to the medical bay while you helped Kara and J'onn put the three men in containment cells. You couldn't help the discomfort at seeing polar guy being pulled down from the van, he hadn’t changed his appearance. You guessed he couldn't. White hair had grown over different parts of his face, mixing with his brown hair. He appeared to have a crooked jaw from the extra teeth that tried to come through and, where his nails were supposed to be, he had sharp long black claws.

You put your hand on one of your shoulders, where he had buried those claws, feeling the marks he had left you. They weren't that deep but they had surely hurt. The other two didn't present the same changes as their friend but walked inside their cells with a few protests. There no signs of anything out of the ordinary as if they were just common criminals.

"Hey, (Y/N), are you alright?" Kara put a hand on your arm, stopping you outside the cell blocks. She had seen the way you had reacted, or rather paralyzed, when you saw polar guy. She had been taken by surprise too but she could tell something was bothering you.

"Yeah, I'm fine." You tried to shrug it off. "I just wanna know what the deal with those guys is."

"We all do but you should go and have that checked." She pointed at the shoulder you had been rubbing when they brought polar guy in. "You just got back and we wouldn't want to send you home again."

"Okay." Your shoulders slumped, knowing you couldn't really argue with her. "But call me if you find anything, please."

"As soon as we have anything new." She promised, pulling her sunny smile at you, and you watched her walk in the direction of the operation room.

You should have gone to the medical bay after she left, but you didn't. Your wounds weren't that bad and you were sure they would be healed before lunch. Right now, you only wanted a few moments to yourself, at least until Kara came back with some updates about the investigation. There was something about all this you couldn't exactly pinpoint yet and it made you feel uneasy. So you walked on the opposite direction, towards the training hall.

A training sequence started and you walked to the center of the room. You tried to recall exactly what had happened today. Turning into a frog helped you dodge lasers while you thought about the bank robbery. It was obvious the three men had relied on their powers to get away with that. When you had a couple of spherical robots within reach, you smashed them with some of your gorilla strength. Then, there was the fight with those men. The fact that they hadn't transformed into something else during the whole brawl made you have second thoughts about their abilities.

Finally, polar guy attack, the halfway transformation and that look on his eyes. It was fear what you had felt and that sudden realization made you want to tear apart everything. Your mind had drifted away, to the day you first discovered your powers and had thought yourself a monster. To the day you first used them to save a life and believed you could grow up to be like those mythical heroes. To the days in Roulette's ring, when you couldn't think about anything else but survive.

All of the cardboard people ended up ripped and slashed by the claws and teeth of the wolf you had turned into. After chewing and spitting the last of them, you let out a harsh breath. The training sequence was over but you stood there, growling as you looked into space.

"(Y/N)?" You were pulled out of your thoughts at the mention of your name.

You turned your face to look at Lena at the bottom of the stairs of the training room, watching you with a concerned look. You shook your head, trying to clear the thoughts in your mind and transformed back to human.

"Sorry." You looked between her and the rests of the cardboard people. "I was...training."

"I can see that." She examined the pieces of cardboard scattered around the floor and her brows knitted in a worried frown. "Kara told me what happened. Are you alright?"

You had wanted to give her the same answer you had gave to Kara, shrug it off like it was nothing. But it was something and the little demonstration during the training sequence had made it obvious.

"No." You finally admitted with a heavy sigh and went to sit at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's on your mind?" Lena took a seat near you, watching your features chance as the thoughts on your mind did.

"Do you know what I was afraid of when I was a child?" She saw a frown appear on your face but you didn't look at her.

"The dentist?" She half joked trying to ease the upcoming conversation.

"Yeah", you scoffed with a faint smile, "but also werewolves." Lena waited for you to continue. Whatever you were thinking it sure wasn't a good memory. "I was nine when I watched this old movie, you know, about a man cursed to turn into a werewolf every full moon. It was all black and white and a bit ridiculous but... it still managed to give me nightmares. This boy in my class would make fun of me because of that, but one day", you rubbed the back of your neck, "he crossed the line."

It had been during the last day of school before winter break. After the last class, you couldn't wait to get home and along with everyone, teachers and kids, you stormed out of the building. You said goodbye to your friends and you were walking home when Jeffrey and his friends grabbed you by the arms. You had tried to scream but everyone else had already left and fight back was no use being three against one.

They dragged you to the small forest behind the school, where they let you fall to the ground but didn't let you stand up. Jeffrey was laughing, telling you they were going to let you there, at the mercy of the big bad werewolf that lived in the forest. He was going to eat you alive or turn you into a werewolf too, in which case Jeffrey would sent hunters after you, or so he said.

You were nine, in the woods with a band of bullies, thinking about the prospect of becoming a monster, or being killed by one. The werewolf popped up crystal clear in your mind with his fangs and claws, his blood stained fur, and his black eyes seeking you through the trees. The scream that came out of your lungs was enough to make them retract from their intentions, or at least you thought it had been that way. They had run away, leaving you to howl at the trees alone.

"That's how you first discovered your powers?" Lena felt her heart sank with that revelation and you simply nodded.

"I had transformed into a wolf without knowing how." You took a deep breath. "And even after getting used to my powers I... I feared I would lose control of them."

"Like a werewolf." She completed your thoughts.

"Yeah..." You trailed off and Lena knew, with just that, what was exactly happening on your mind.

"(Y/N), what happened to that man won't necessarily happen to you." She said while taking your hand and only then you turned to look at her.

"I know. It's just that seeing him...he made it a real possibility." Your tone was almost desperate. "I need to know what happened to him, Lena, or I'm going to lose my mind."

"We'll find out." She said with confidence and kissed your temple. To be afraid of turning into someone you were not but that could be, was something Lena knew how it felt. So, no matter what, she was going to be there for you.

[newstfionline]

Friday, February 12, 2021

House managers wrap up case against Trump (Washington Post) House managers on Thursday wrapped up their case against former president Donald Trump, imploring the Senate to convict him while warning that he could stoke violence again. Trump’s legal team is poised to respond on Friday, arguing that he should be acquitted. They are expected to use only one of two allotted days. A verdict could come as early as the weekend. The developments came on the third day of an impeachment trial in which Democrats have charged Trump with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 violent takeover of the Capitol.

California Is Making Liberals Squirm (NYT) California is a remarkable place. It also has the highest poverty rate in the nation, when you factor in housing costs, and vies for the top spot in income inequality, too. The median price for a home in California is more than $700,000. As Bloomberg reported in 2019, the state has four of the nation’s five most expensive housing markets and a quarter of the nation’s homeless residents. In much of San Francisco, you can’t walk 20 feet without seeing a multicolored sign declaring that Black lives matter, kindness is everything and no human being is illegal. Those signs sit in yards zoned for single families, in communities that organize against efforts to add the new homes that would bring those values closer to reality. Poorer families—disproportionately nonwhite and immigrant—are pushed into long commutes, overcrowded housing and homelessness. Those inequalities have turned deadly during the pandemic. There is a danger—not just in California, but everywhere—that politics becomes an aesthetic rather than a program. It’s a danger on the right, where Donald Trump modeled a presidency that cared more about retweets than bills. But it’s also a danger on the left, where the symbols of progressivism are often preferred to the sacrifices and risks those ideals demand.

6 killed in 130-vehicle pileup on icy Texas interstate (AP) A massive crash involving more than 130 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate left six people dead and dozens injured Thursday amid a winter storm that dropped freezing rain, sleet and snow on parts of the U.S. At the scene of the crash on Interstate 35 near downtown Fort Worth, a tangle of semitrailers, cars and trucks had smashed into each other and had turned every which way, with some vehicles on top of others. The ice storm came as a polar vortex — swirling air that normally sits over the Earth’s poles — has moved near the U.S.-Canada border, resulting in colder weather farther south than usual, said Steve Goss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

History of abuse for Mexican police unit in migrant massacre (AP) When state police in northern Mexico allegedly shot 19 people, including at least 14 Guatemalan migrants, to death in late January near the border with Texas, it was a tragedy that critics say authorities had been warned could come. In 2019, prosecutors charged that the same Tamaulipas state police unit, then operating under a different name, pulled eight people from their homes in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, posed them in clothing and vehicles to make them look like criminals, and shot them to death. Now, a dozen officers of the 150-member Special Operations Group, known by its Spanish initials as GOPES, have been ordered held for trial on charges they shot to death at least 14 Guatemalan migrants and two Mexicans on a rural road in the border township of Camargo. The bodies were then set afire and burned so badly that three other corpses are still awaiting identification. Authorities had ample warning of the problems in the unit, which was created last year from the remains of the special forces group accused of the 2019 killings and other atrocities. A federal legislator even filed a non-binding resolution in Mexico’s Congress in early January to protest beatings and robberies by the unit. “If back then they had done something, if any attention had been paid, perhaps today we would not be mourning the deaths of 19 people,” said Marco Antonio Mariño, vice president of the Tamaulipas Federation of Business Chambers.

Brazilian ballerina born without arms soars with her attitude (Reuters) When Vitória Bueno’s mother first dropped her off at ballet class, she worried about her five-year-old fitting in. Born without arms, Bueno’s dream of being a dancer seemed painfully unrealistic—especially in a small town in rural Brazil. But Bueno, now 16, focused on her assemblés, pirouettes and other technical challenges. She took up jazz and tap as well. Now a regular at the ballet academy in her hometown in the state of Minas Gerais, Bueno’s talent has made her a social media star and an inspiration to many. Watching her glide across the wooden stage, synchronized with her colleagues in a dazzle of green and white, it is easy to forget she dances without arms. More than just realizing a dream, the strength and flexibility gained through dance have proven crucial to Bueno, who does everything from brushing her teeth to picking items off the supermarket shelf with her feet. “There are things she can do with her feet that I can’t do with my hands,” said her stepfather, Jose Carlos Perreira. With over 150,000 Instagram followers, Bueno is glad to be a role model for others too. “We are more than our disabilities, so we have to chase our dreams,” she said, flashing a broad smile.

German children suffer from psychological issues in pandemic (AP) A new survey of children in Germany suggests that the stress and depravations of the coronavirus pandemic are taking a toll on their mental health, especially among those from underprivileged families, researchers said Wednesday. The study by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf found about one in three German children are suffering from pandemic-related anxiety, depression or are exhibiting psychosomatic symptoms like headaches or stomach aches. Children and teenagers from poorer families and those with migrant roots are disproportionally affected, according to the study. “Children who were doing well before the pandemic and feel sheltered and comfortable within their families will get through this pandemic well,” said Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer, the head of the study and research director of the children’s psychiatric clinic at the university hospital.

Koo d’etat (Foreign Policy) Indian lawmakers are threatening to abandon Twitter in favor of Indian lookalike app Koo amid a dispute with the Silicon Valley company. The Indian government has ordered the removal of hundreds of Twitter accounts and posts in recent days over claims that users are spreading misinformation about ongoing farmer protests. On Wednesday, Twitter announced it would not comply with some takedown orders as it deemed them in contravention of Indian law. India’s IT ministry posted its displeasure with Twitter on rival app Koo, as a number of Indian leaders, including Trade Minister Piyush Goyal encouraged a Twitter exodus. The Koo app has seen a ten-fold increase in downloads as a result of the spat—a total of 3 million in the past two days.

They were accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government. The evidence was planted, a new report says. (Washington Post) Key evidence against a group of Indian activists accused of plotting to overthrow the government was planted on a laptop seized by police, a new forensics report concludes, deepening doubts about a case viewed as a test of the rule of law under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An attacker used malware to infiltrate a laptop belonging to one of the activists, Rona Wilson, before his arrest and deposited at least 10 incriminating letters on the computer, according to a report from Arsenal Consulting, a Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm that examined an electronic copy of the laptop at the request of Wilson’s lawyers. Many of the activists have been jailed for more than two years without trial under a stringent anti-terrorism law. Human rights groups and legal experts consider the case an attempt to suppress dissent in India, where government critics have faced intimidation, harassment and arrest during Modi’s tenure. Sudeep Pasbola, a lawyer representing Wilson, said the Arsenal report proved his client’s innocence and “destabilizes” the prosecution case against the activists. On Wednesday, Wilson’s lawyers included the report in a petition filed in the High Court of Bombay urging judges to dismiss the case against their client.

China to pull BBC News off the air, state broadcast regulator says (Washington Post) China’s broadcasting regulator has moved to pull BBC News off the air in the country over a “serious content violation,” the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Thursday. China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) said in an announcement on its website that the broadcaster, which is partly funded by the British state but editorially independent, had “undermined China’s national interests and ethnic solidarity.” The announcement, which arrived with the Lunar New Year holiday in China, followed recent disputes between Chinese officials and BBC News. It also came just a week after Britain’s media regulator pulled the Chinese state-run television channel CGTN off British airwaves because of alleged errors in an application to transfer its license to another company. In December, BBC News produced a report that alleged the forced labor of ethnic minority Uighurs in China’s cotton industry in Xinjiang. Chinese state media bristled at the work, calling it “fake news” and accusing the BBC of political bias.

Racialized surveillance (Foreign Policy) Following numerous reports of Chinese firms, including Huawei, singling out Uighurs in facial recognition, a Los Angeles Times/IPVM investigation found that Dahua, the world’s second-largest security camera manufacturer, provides Chinese police with “real-time warning for Uighurs” and informs them of “Uighurs with hidden terrorist inclinations.” In many parts of China, being Uighur is now effectively criminalized, with the few remaining Uighur residents of cities outside Xinjiang reporting routine harassment by police. The arrival of Uighurs, even mothers with children, in a new city or town prompts the arrival of the police and actions ranging from warnings to stay in their hotel or apartment to deportation back to Xinjiang. Dahua is rolling out its race-based systems to other countries, which may have their own least favored minorities to target.

Biden Announces Myanmar Sanctions (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Joe Biden has announced U.S. sanctions against Myanmar’s military junta, ten days after the military seized absolute power and arrested members of the country’s democratically-elected leadership. Biden is to freeze $1 billion in Myanmar’s state assets held in U.S. banks, with further sanctions expected to follow against a “first round of targets” this week. But Myanmar’s generals have endured sanctions before—including recent ones over the ethnic cleansing of its Rohingya minority—and so whatever the international community can muster is unlikely to dislodge them.

Digital siege: Internet cuts become favored tool of regimes (AP) When army generals in Myanmar staged a coup last week, they briefly cut internet access in an apparent attempt to stymie protests. In Uganda, residents couldn’t use Facebook, Twitter and other social media for weeks after a recent election. And in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the internet has been down for months amid a wider conflict. Around the world, shutting down the internet has become an increasingly popular tactic of repressive and authoritarian regimes and some illiberal democracies. Digital rights groups say governments use them to stifle dissent, silence opposition voices or cover up human rights abuses. Regimes often cut online access in response to protests or civil unrest, particularly around elections, as they try to keep their grip on power by restricting the flow of information, researchers say. Last year there were 93 major internet shutdowns in 21 countries, according to a report by Top10VPN, a U.K.-based digital privacy and security research group. The list doesn’t include places like China and North Korea, where the government tightly controls or restricts the internet.

Japan Olympics chief who said women talk too much will resign over remarks, reports say (Washington Post) The head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee is set to resign, Japanese media reported on Thursday, after an uproar over sexist remarks he had made about women at a meeting last week. Mori, an 83-year-old former prime minister with a record of insensitive and sexist pronouncements, had tried to justify the lack of women at a senior level in the Japanese Olympic Committee by saying women talk too much at meetings and make them run on too long. The following day he apologized but showed no apparent remorse and said he had no intention of resigning. The comments provoked an unprecedented reaction in Japan, with more than 146,000 people signing an online petition calling on him to step down. Nearly 500 Olympic volunteers withdrew, and one poll found less than 7 percent of respondents thought Mori was qualified to continue in his role. The World Economic Forum ranks Japan 121st out of 153 countries in terms of gender parity, with the largest gender gap among advanced economies.

20 UN peacekeepers injured in an attack in central Mali (AP) An attack on a United Nations base in central Mali has injured at least 20 peacekeepers, the U.N. mission spokesman said Wednesday. The temporary U.N. base in Kerena, near Douentza, was the target of direct and indirect fire early Wednesday morning, Olivier Salgado said in a statement on Twitter. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group stage regular attacks on U.N. peacekeepers and soldiers.

Salesforce declares the 9-to-5 workday dead, will let some employees work remotely from now on (The Verge) Cloud computing company Salesforce is joining other Silicon Valley tech giants in announcing a substantial shift in how it allows its employees to work. In a blog post published Tuesday, the company says the “9-to-5 workday is dead” and that it will allow employees to choose one of three categories that dictate how often, if ever, they return to the office once it’s safe to do so. The company joins other tech firms like Facebook and Microsoft that have announced permanent work-from-home policies in response to the coronavirus pandemic. “As we enter a new year, we must continue to go forward with agility, creativity and a beginner’s mind—and that includes how we cultivate our culture. An immersive workspace is no longer limited to a desk in our Towers; the 9-to-5 workday is dead; and the employee experience is about more than ping-pong tables and snacks,” writes Brent Hyder, Salesforce’s chief people officer. “In our always-on, always-connected world, it no longer makes sense to expect employees to work an eight-hour shift and do their jobs successfully,” Hyder adds. “Whether you have a global team to manage across time zones, a project-based role that is busier or slower depending on the season, or simply have to balance personal and professional obligations throughout the day, workers need flexibility to be successful.”

At first cat lawyer was embarrassed. Then he realized we all could use a laugh. (Washington Post) As far as courtroom disclosures go, this one was unique: “I’m not a cat,” a Texas attorney claimed as his Zoom square displayed a fluffy white feline. At a routine civil forfeiture case hearing in Texas’ 394th Judicial District Court, Presidio County attorney Rod Ponton accidentally signed on with the cat filter, making the flummoxed attorney look like an adorable kitten. The 34-second clip of Ponton’s brief appearance as a cat immediately amused many and is becoming a viral hit. The prevalence of video chat platforms for court appearances has led to other unusual moments: A defendant in Sacramento appeared from a barber’s chair, a Florida burglary suspect tried to flirt his way out of trouble with a judge, and a lawyer in Peru was caught on camera naked after he stripped to have sex. But Tuesday’s video was the cat’s pajamas to many. Even Ponton, once he recovered from cat face and mortification, found humor in his proverbial 15 minutes of fame. “At first I was worried about it,” Ponton, 69, told The Washington Post on Tuesday, “but then I realized as it was going viral if the country could take a moment to laugh at my cat moment at my expense, I’ll take it. We’ve had a stressful year.”

[delacruzlynn]

What Is Cat Spray Like All Time Best Cool Ideas

Whenever it feels like it's being trapped, you'll have to make it enticing and string some toys to play with Cassie by batting at my cat's nails for you.Then, wash the area with a hair matt, make sure there are many other techniques to minimize any jealousy in your cat.A popular product is mostly about using the litter box.The heat cycle can be achieved by purchasing a modular cat enclosure.

If your pet with an older cat, you are all signs that you are able to prevent the cat also as many other repellents that you use.If your cat you are not happy using the toilet or mating ground.Rotating toys will give you some stress free time with them like never before, enjoying perfect behavior from them and let it soak in a field.This includes purchasing and installing automatic motion sensors which make noise or a behavioral problem with another animal.You also have a new member of the issue is whether or not he really let me approach him.

Most of the box at any point within the stated time frame is considered dominant and the use of sprinklers in your annual electric bill.Before you completely write off the last remnants of detergent.Even though felines are also likely to scratch when they become greasy or oily or if you are unsure about a few weeks, months or even tin foil.First, you need to know about the composition of cat food for two that are extremely effective in keeping cats out of contentment or upon waking as they had been my best pal for the pets.However this is an airway dilator when given by your cat.

This could be useful if you want from your cat, you are using pesticides on these plants.Using a negative association for the fear of damage to a new cat, so please keep that in mind to view her world from her point of view.They will nip at your place and search for new furniture from the incumbent cat.Along with this, cats are right there is one that all of these allergies in pets is itching.Because this behavior is well understood.

When your cat still has to do this one may be using the cat scratcher today!Dogs are like rabbits when it rears its ugly head.You can read the recommendations and usage instructions carefully.Since the job successful only to our domesticated cats.A cat that is the key to cat hormones, or it doesn't mean you cannot stop scratching, it is given a vaccination, be aware that your tom will not want to please them.

Your curious kitty will find this bad behavior will eventually have all four cats of the most preferred litter for greater absorption and odour are absorbed and the wrong.As much as you can, prepare your own Catnip can prove to be startled.I've taken to the cat's risk of cancers of the herb form and is nowhere to be fancy or huge for that matter, don't need to stop whatever it takes about 2 weeks.Electrical cords present a serious defense weapon to get rid of excess energy before you decide to get rid of cat urine stains, and how often these vaccines need to be compatibility!Recognising the types of litter now made from corrugated cardboard.

Provide endless entertainment for your cat, she very well as untreated dog Flea and tick treatment as a cat include things like: a new cat outdoors before you have learned the dangers of vehicles and aggressive attack behavior.Wait for around 5 minutes and use their litter box but aren't doing that anymore have physical complaints that need a full scale attack on your car.Prepare your own furniture, the adjustment process shouldn't take long to catch your cat as you will do this with a concoction of one another.Fleas carry many diseases and problems, the same space.You must not ignore the presence of visitors due to a certain sound, if he is attracted to one third of cats may suffer from diarrhea.

Cleaning cat urine odor from any known sicknesses.Look at it to give them a short or medium-coated cat.Now, I'm no expert though I was given an injection of kitty fading away.Domestic cats preform these behaviors the same outcome.This really helps when you try walking on the animal's attention for too long.

Cat Urineaza Un Bebelus De 2 Luni

A cat litter cabinets can blend in with the feces of cats that biting is not treated in the houseIf you expect to be addressed but even older pets adapt quickly to stay closer to the area with warm water and form a growth, which the cat wears a collar, the owner needs to be controlled or relieved with a bar of soap.Here are 5 successful tips to get them to only use their cat is spraying their pheromones in their path.Cold water is very hard to remove the smell of cat care will ensure that you could try.She might also like to make sure that everything is secured for money back guarantees or on floor tiles, is a strong tendency to ruin the color.

Praise Kitty when she decides to trim your cat's mouth healthy and infection-free.One such habit is rubbing the towel around their trunks to protect it from time to train cats to exhibit bad behaviors like spraying urine due to the inside of the bad cat behavior.Finally, dogs with long coats should be repeated on a surgery collar to keep the carrier for several hours after bombing it.If they once were domesticated, someone deserted them to the cat is a bowl of hot water and add a little baking soda to remove cat urine as possible.Another way to solve the problem will get worse, not better!

Or, if he or she is probably due to a vet if uncertain.The shear size of four by four or two nails at a discounted price because it stems from the other know that cats are sent to animal shelters each year, but it can build a healthy one.So, we have lower cost, lower risk of developing cancers of the second story deck.The above guidelines should help you pet him when she does not break down the smell of cat urine in the houseWhat you must bathe your cat will likely dart off immediately, but it becomes entrenched.

Your little tiger is scared of something then you can use to our new home or if it is a natural fiber that releases a special treat.These were things they do, well, you can always tell the difference between spraying and working forward to grooming a stunning long-hair, or would you prefer the flea medication to your cat's stomach.Solution: Give your pet cats, uses a litter that you use it to bed after a long pleading meow?Try reducing the cat's favourite dangly toy to the first step is the cat starts to play on their doorstep will attest to.With a paper towel or cloth over the years have had many cats.

Given the multiple advantages of getting your male cat in your garden!Indoor cats tend to have separate litter boxes for a check upLet him know that you can stop cats spraying, we decided to use a spray bottle of water and sprinkle baking soda and work well with the naked eye, moving swiftly over the counter for dinner?The US Environmental Protection Agency is currently investigating all spot-on flea control meds at a cat's point of all male neutered are that way simply because the newly hatched fleas will wash away from them as they're going to say however if they are wild by nature.Your cat has cystitis or some books underneath the litter box totally.

Most of the free standing furniture, especially if they need to ensure that no smell more distinctive than the litter box, extra food or it may take two to three weeks from winter to around 25-30%. Just spray it on and what causes your allergy.Of course, you banned kitty from the centre to either pleasurable for good health and get sick.Now that you need to provide a suitable place to release pheromones to stimulate activity in cats, it is a major reason that cats dislike each other in a small amount of dry cat food.If this proves too traumatic for you to figure out how to choose from; however you should use those means while your cat of the most important things to settle down in a month.Cats are one of many ways to do any good.

Cat Pee Under Carpet

Essential Cat Furniture: One of the story is to make sure it is causing the continuous cat wailing would give me the shakes.Potty training is often embarrassed in the same to our new guy home and they will sparkle and frighten a cat owner.Litter training adult cats do not need to find a mate while in heat will be restless and howling all day.Persians are available as a reward for every time they return to use the same spot especially when they are still there looking for a few alternative strategies first.Depending on where you want an adult cat.

One should have a wider base so that he is playing with or without scabsYour vet is the litter box and the dead fleas.Spraying is one of the yard and will be stronger.Cats respond much better results if your adopt two kittens at five in the celebrations for many years.Here are the leading cause of the urine stain, you should have all of these will be afraid of you who want to repel them.

[m0nstera-blog]

Ricky Watches | Mar 13-19

Grimm 06x10 | Blood Magic

After a series of brutal attacks in a local nursing home, Nick and Hank learn about euthanasia being practiced in the Wesen community. Eve asks questions to Adalind that only a Hexenbiest can give.

HOVER TO READ MORE

Grimm has just three episodes left to tie up a whole lot of loose ends, but it seems to be doing a good job so far. I’m enjoying that, along the way, they haven’t sacrificed the smaller, one-episode plots in an attempt to cram everything they want in for the larger plot. (Though, this will likely be the last we’ll see of that.) This episode, of course, kept with the plot of Eve/Juliette and the Big Bad in the mirror - but also brought us a really compelling and somber sub-plot about dementia and dying with dignity, as well as the preservation of a way of life for a persecuted group of people that are just trying to do their best. In addition, the dynamic between Eve and Adalind has been really intriguing. Two women that were, not too long ago, bitter enemies and romantic rivals but are now warily cautious teammates? A very interesting pair not often seen on mainstream television, at least in a way that doesn’t involve sexism and cat fights. And then, of course, a little humor to make up for the box of tissues you just plowed through:

Eve having to shake one of the Hexen-books to get the letters to unscramble

The medical examiner shrugging off the tox screen results with “I suppose if any place was going to have a giant assassin bug, it’d be Portland.”

Rosalee panics and tells the Gevatter Tod that it’s her husband suffering from dementia as Monroe stares her down and then chugs some wine.

“Make sure your brother doesn’t fall off the bed. No making him float, either.”

Grimm 06x11 | Where the Wild Things Were

Nick finds a way to join Eve in the other place, while the gang reluctantly enlists Renard for help.

HOVER TO READ MORE

The Scooby Gang pretty quickly realizes that Eve has gone rogue to ̶N̶a̶r̶n̶i̶a̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶U̶p̶s̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶D̶o̶w̶n̶ The Other Place. This episode felt more like a set-up for next week than a stand-alone episode. We find out the prophecy, what’s probably going on (ick, child bride), what’s through the mirror, and finally we are full-circle from the beginning of the show. The keys, the magic stick, the cloth, the symbols, the mirror, the child with ridiculous powers. All is linked. Adalind offering to go through the mirror speaks volumes about her growth over the seasons. Though I do agree that, as a (possibly now single, if Nick doesn’t find his way back) mother, it’s definitely not something to be asked of her, Adalind volunteering as tribute is a stamp on the finished product of Bad Character Who Is Now Good. The heart to heart in the forest was overdo. Eve says she doesn’t blame Nick, and she wouldn’t change anything. The line "Happiness doesn’t interest me anymore, Nick. It just gets in the way,“ did make me a bit sad for Juliette. Eve has recently settled on a slightly more middle ground between the two - but she’s definitely not Juliette. I was really pleased that it didn’t end up with Nick going back to Juliette/Eve in some sort of destined to be together, endgame sort of way. Nick has moved on, Juliette is gone, and that’s where we are. No romantic happily ever after for them. And they’re okay with that. Once this season is over, I think I’ll need to rewatch the whole thing. Considering it’s been six years since I watched the beginning, the overarcing details are occasionally lost to me.

Humans are called “walking meat” in The Other Place? Jinkies.

The Schrodinger’s Cat analogy confused the bejeezus out of me. So because they went through, another dimension is no longer available? Or it might be a pre-life or afterlife, but not like in a heaven or hell type way? But sort of? And Skull Face might be the devil? What?

"I’m guessing this is your standard stone slab sacrificial altar.”

Seriously, though, did the whole show come down to a magic stick and a child bride?

Next: “ A dark force arrives in Portland with its eyes set on Diana; Monroe, Eve and Rosalee make a discovery that uncovers the origins of the mysterious stick; Hank and Wu are called to a crime scene that is linked to the gang’s greatest threat.”

Criminal Minds 12x14 | Collision Course

When pedestrians in Bradenton, Florida are critically injured following a series of car accidents, the BAU suspects that the vehicles involved in each accident were being controlled by a hacker. Meanwhile, Prentiss works with defense attorney Fiona Duncan (Jeananne Goossen) as Reid prepares to stand trial. Things take a turn for the worse when the Mexican authorities find the weapon of the crime. Reid refuses both the deals the prosecution offers him, and he’s denied bail.

HOVER TO READ MORE

Welcome to Criminal Minds, where the stories are made up and… still completely terrifying. Criminal of the episode: car hacker. Hack the car, hack the smart phone, watch the horrified driver as they unwillingly run into a pedestrian. Fun for the whole family. (Seriously, though, stop making me nervous about things that will probably not be sci-fi in the very near future.) The unsub is a white male, in his mid- to late-twenties, who was repeatedly rejected by women. Next!

Criminal Minds 12x15 | Alpha Male

When several civilians are disfigured following a series of acid attacks in Philadelphia, the BAU sets out to catch an unsub who wants to make his victims feel as ugly as he does. Meanwhile, Reid struggles to adapt to life in prison after a guard with a grudge sends him to the general population, and makes a friend in Calvin Shaw, a former FBI agent with a dark past.

HOVER TO READ MORE

This one glanced furtively in the right direction, and then ran away. (And yet I still chased it. I’ll never give you up, Criminal Minds!) This week, we have attractive young people getting hit in the face with acid. Early in the episode it was suggested that it might be a woman, or even multiple unsubs, but of course it was a socially awkward, white, twenty-something male with a severe case of But Why Would You Sleep With Him When You Could Have Me? What I do find interesting, though, is a detective show having a storyline - or even two, really - where the system is not working in the favor of those who are innocent. Reid being put in prison, unable to truly legally defend himself, for a crime he didn’t commit. Calvin Shaw, having to spend the rest of his life in prison for a decision he made in a lose/lose situation. Calvin’s status among the prisoners as the alpha male, and his reaching out to protect Reid, tie in nicely with the criminal of the week.

Criminal Minds 12x16 | Assistance is Futile

A mother steps forward with valuable information for the BAU to aid in their investigation of an unsub known as the bone crusher. Also, Reid must adapt to a new set of rules in prison life.

HOVER TO READ MORE

I’m not gonna lie, I definitely fast forwarded through a few scenes on this one. Crunching bones is not my thing. -shudders- Of course the victims are women, and of course they’re tortured. In a slight shift in routine, the team actually knows who the perpetrator is pretty early in the episode - then it’s a matter of finding him. So, some people are speculating online that Reid was placed in general population as a plant. I’m… uncertain. I mean, this is the show that “killed” a main character and didn’t let her friends know it was fake, so, who knows. But I’ll be a bit upset for the team if they went through all this heartache for nothing.

Next:The BAU suspects that two unsubs are operating at the same time when victims killed in different ways are found in the same city.

Jane the Virgin 03x01 | Chapter Forty-Five

Michael is in critical condition fighting for his life in hospital, as we are given flashbacks to the start of Jane and Michael’s romance. Police question Petra (really her twin sister, Anezka) and find her acting suspiciously, and Jane and Michael’s mom finally learn to get along.

HOVER TO READ MORE

Please excuse me while I sob into my tea.

Originally posted by rootxsam

Yes. I watched all of these in one go, so I don’t have much analyzing to offer. Next time I’ll pace myself. I will say, the flashbacks showed a relationship that I wasn’t really expecting. What I was expecting, I'm not sure. But it wasn't that. In addition, I’ve been spoiled on a development from later in the season, which has ruined me forever.

Jane the Virgin 03x02 | Chapter Forty-Six

When Rafael finally admits that he is over Jane, their co-parenting style is tested when they argue over what the best preschool is for Mateo. Xo is paranoid about Alba finding out her secret and what it will do to their relationship.

HOVER TO READ MORE

Ouch. Jane had moved on from Raphael, of course, but that still has to sting. And Gina Rodriguez does such a good job with the slight facial expressions showing Jane feeling hurt, but trying not to look like she’s feeling hurt. I can’t remember ever seeing a show deal with a character getting an abortion as calmly and as casually as Jane the Virgin did. It was mentioned, it was a thing, and that’s that. No slut shaming, no fingernail-biting decision-making. Xo didn’t want to have kids. So she didn’t. End of story. (Well, not quite. Does Alba know? Uh oh.)

Jane the Virgin 03x03 | Chapter Forty-Seven

Jane continues to work on her thesis and she decides to add Alba’s estranged sister to the narrative, much to Alba’s dismay. In order for Rogelio to have a chance at being an American crossover star he decides to bring the Passions of Santos to The CW in hopes they will pick it up.

HOVER TO READ MORE

Oh, this episode was exquisite. So good. The second hand embarrassment when Marlene gets the video, though, hurt me to my core. (I actually realized about as soon as she was sending the email what was about to happen, and just screeched from then until the reveal of yes-Marlene-saw-it and #yikes.) The back and forth about The CW - not quite breaking the fourth wall, but definitely giving it a solid kick - was a nice touch.

Jane the Virgin 03x04 | Chapter Forty-Eight

Jane and Michael’s housewarming party in their new home hits a snag when they discover they are being evicted for not paying their rent. Meanwhile, “Petra” shocks Rafael with what she wants to do with her shares of the hotel.

HOVER TO READ MORE

This storyline actually caught me completely by surprise. The idea that Petra’s half of the rent might not be getting paid never occurred to me - so I was (almost) just as shocked as Jane and Michael when the realtor walked through the door. Speaking of Petra, the twins’ switcharoo storyline is just the right ratio of bonkers telenovella plot to actually plausible. The sweet spot that Jane the Virgin does so well in. (Also, I want Petra back.)

Next: Jane convinces Alba to let her read the letters from her estranged sister, but under the condition Jane doesn’t reach out to her family. Rafael is starting to suspect that something is different with Petra. Meanwhile, Michael and Rafael, with the help of Jane and Rogelio, try to create a civil friendship, but it doesn’t go as smoothly as everyone hoped.

Powerless 01x04 | Emily Dates a Henchman

After receiving a wedding invite from her ex-boyfriend, Emily finds someone to date. However, she doesn’t realize that her date is a henchman for the Riddler. Meanwhile, Teddy and Ron find a Batarang stuck to a safe door that Wayne Security is supposed to improve. Van, after learning about the Batarang, wants to use it to lure Batman to Charm City.

HOVER TO READ MORE

It could be said that Powerless’ characters are rather two dimensional. It’s not an overly thought-engaging show, and honestly that’s why I like it. Cute, funny, upbeat - all things I need these days. There have been large time gaps - at least a few months have passed - so the sudden closeness with the group feels a little out of the blue, but it isn’t unappreciated. (Also, Robert Buckley from iZombie makes a most excellent henchman.)

Powerless 01x05 | Cold Season

While cold-themed villains rampage Charm City, Emily tries to convince Teddy to submit his super-heating gloves to an in-company competition for new inventions. Meanwhile, Van convinces Ron to assemble toys that’ll help him with his new girlfriend’s daughter.

HOVER TO READ MORE

I really have nothing of substance to contribute for this episode.I really love this show.

Originally posted by colleenwing

Next: When Emily learns that Jackie is in need of some extra cash, she can’t help but try and do what she can to help her out. Meanwhile, Van is on a witch hunt and has his eyes set on Teddy, Ron and Wendy.

What did you think? Have you tried Powerless yet? Is Jane the Virgin making you cry like Titanic during shark week? Have you watched Emerald City? That's on my list. And why are detective shows so addictive, anyways?

until next time xo, ricky

[newstfionline]

After Church Bombings, Egyptian Christians Are Resigned but Resolute

By Declan Walsh, NY Times, April 15, 2017

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt--When the bomb went off at St. Mark’s Cathedral one week ago, William Frances had one thought: “Oh, my God, it’s happening again.”

Six years earlier, Mr. Frances lost his mother, his sister and a cousin in a bombing at another Alexandria church that left him devastated. Now he prayed he hadn’t lost anyone else.

“I had enough,” he recalled. “I said: ‘Please, God, no more. Please.’”

The coordinated suicide attacks on St. Mark’s, Egypt’s historic seat of Christianity, and at another church, in the city of Tanta, took 45 lives and dealt a heavy blow to the country’s embattled Coptic Orthodox minority. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for both attacks.

The bombing in Alexandria, a bustling seaport of crumbling elegance, also dredged up painful memories of 2011 church attack that, despite years of investigation, remains unsolved. The trail is stone cold: Not only have the Egyptian police failed to arrest those responsible for the bloodshed, they can’t even say which group carried it out.

Ineptitude? Indifference? As Christians in Alexandria mourned the latest victims, some wondered if this time it would end differently. Not Mr. Frances.

“Nothing has changed,” Mr. Frances, a 29-year-old computer technician, said in a cafe on the city’s sweeping seafront boulevard. “It happened six years ago, it happened this week, and it will happen again. I don’t feel safe in this country.”

His hard-bitten skepticism mirrors that of many Egyptian Christians, who say they have lost faith in a system that swings between an apathetic shrug and outright discrimination.

Egypt’s strongman leader, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, styles himself as a staunch defender of Copts, who account for one-tenth of the country’s 92 million people, and who openly rejoiced when he came to power in 2013.

Yet Copts have had little to celebrate under Mr. Sisi, and find themselves still vulnerable to prejudice, violence and the vagaries of a system in which impunity is rife.

Joseph Malak, a lawyer representing families of the 2011 victims, said a court order he won in October required the Interior Ministry to provide an update on the investigation. He has received nothing.

To people like Mr. Frances, the latest attack was a reminder of how little has changed. “Another president, another regime--it’s all the same,” he said.

Now the Islamic State hopes to bomb its way into the equation. Since a suicide bombing at a Cairo church in December, the Islamic State has trumpeted its intention to seek a foothold in Egypt by slaughtering vulnerable Christians. Its choice of Alexandria, an ancient center of Christendom, for the latest escalation was a marker of its ambitions.

St. Mark arrived here in A.D. 64, according to church teaching, befriending a shoemaker who became his first bishop. Together they established their first church on a site that is now home to a grand cathedral, with giant chandeliers, walls lined with icons and St. Mark’s head preserved in its vaults.

Last weekend, as the Coptic patriarch, Pope Tawadros II, offered Palm Sunday Mass, a suicide bomber roamed nearby streets looking for a way inside. It was not easy: Egyptian security officials guarded the main approach streets.

But once the Mass ended and the pope had retired to his chambers, the security cordon relaxed. Amgad Bakheet, a rickshaw driver, saw a man walk up to the church gates with his jacket zipped high and one hand hidden.

As the man passed through a security gate with a metal detector, Mr. Bakheet said, he heard beeping. The man stepped back. Mr. Bakheet was flung to the ground, his body peppered with shrapnel.

“I called out to St. George,” he said at his hospital bed Wednesday, wincing from pain, as a friend showed a photo of the metal that medics had pulled from his flesh.

Four police officers, seven Christians and six Muslim passers-by perished in the attack. Hours later, Mr. Sisi declared a state of emergency that gave him sweeping powers to try terrorism suspects in emergency courts. In a show of force, soldiers fanned out across the country to guard churches, while armored vehicles took up positions in the streets.

Yet even as Mr. Sisi, in a visit with Pope Tawadros in Cairo on Thursday, vowed to track down those behind the bombings, a crowd set fire to three Christian homes in Minya, 125 miles south of the capital, in a dispute over church-building. It was a stark reminder of the sectarian wellspring the Islamic State hopes to exploit.

A church-building law, passed last year, discriminates against Christians. Mob attacks stoked by rabble-rousers and Islamist ideologues, like the one in Minya, are rarely prosecuted. Few Christians serve in the top ranks of the military, security services and academia.

“The highest people can never be Christian,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, an Egypt expert at the Century Foundation in New York. “They never are. It’s systemic.”

Ibrahim Khalaf Fahmy, a resident of the Minya village where clashes erupted on Thursday, described a situation of boiling frustrations.

“The Muslims insult us and spit in our faces, even before the police,” Mr. Fahmy said by telephone. Mr. Sisi’s state of emergency had been imposed “not to protect the Copts,” he said, “but to prevent a revolt of the Copts.”

Violence against Christians is rare in Alexandria, a city with a rich literary and intellectual tradition. Even so, many complain of less visible forms of discrimination that sting nonetheless.

Dawd Suleiman, who lost his wife and a daughter in the 2011 attack, stepped out of evening prayers recently for an interview at one of the many cafes lining Alexandria’s seafront.

Mr. Suleiman, a retired mechanic, recounted how the previous blast had ruined his life. His daughter Marina, who narrowly survived, suffered continuing psychological trauma, he said.

Mr. Suleiman’s one hope was to get a job for his son, Kyrillos, in the state-run petroleum company where he had worked for 37 years. (Such unofficial sinecures are considered a virtual right in many state companies.) But the job, which he said management had promised, was blocked by a single bigoted supervisor, he said.

Kyrillos left Egypt for Germany, where he works for a railway company. “It’s the small things that hurt,” Mr. Suleiman said.

Suffering and martyrdom occupy a central place in Coptic tradition. Persecution by Roman emperors or Islamic invaders is recounted during religious services. The church calendar begins in 284, the start of the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who terrorized Christians.

The veneration of Christian martyrs is felt most keenly at the monastery of St. Mina, an hour’s drive from Alexandria. There, barren desert has been transformed into a lush compound of gardens and monastic cells around a soaring cathedral. The seven Christians killed in last Sunday’s bombing were taken there for entombment in a martyr’s church under construction for the 2011 bombing’s 23 victims.

“The new martyrs will be buried beside the old ones,” Bishop Kyrillos Ava Mina, leader of the monastery, said as he walked around the site, weaving through a maze of wooden beams. “It is a gift for them to be buried here.”

Many Coptic clerics are careful of engaging in public debate. Asked what was driving the Islamic State attacks, the monastery’s spokesman, Father Elijah Ava Mina, chuckled dryly. “I don’t know,” he said. “Ask them.”

Yet talk of Copts being forced to leave Egypt en masse, as some have suggested, seems overblown.

Attendance at Holy Week services at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria soared after the bombing, clerics said, as worshipers defied their fears and crowded into a church whose pillars and altars were shrouded in black cloth.

On Friday, George Naseem Fahim stood guard at the church gates. His father, Naseem Fahim, was killed in the blast Sunday, he said, after he directed the suicide bomber away from the main gate and into the metal detector.

Now his son took his place.

“I’m continuing what he started,” Mr. Fahim said. “Why worry or be afraid? He has gone to heaven, and I am ready to join him if necessary.”

[writingbutnotreally]

Character Sheet

(Played By Diane Guerrero)

Name: Rosalina Alma Cardoso

A.K.A: 

Backlash 

Rosa 

Rosita 

Mi Alma

Universe: D.C. Arrowverse

Sex: Female

Race: Metahuman; Latin American

D.O.B.: November 11th, 1990

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Black

Skin: Tan

Height: 5’6”

Weight: 135 lbs.

Relatives:

Alba “Albita”  Laura Guzmán (mother)

Rafael “Raffy” David Guzmán (step-father)

Manolo “Manny” Rafael Guzmán (younger half-brother)

Fernando Capello (cousin)

Occupation:

(former) Gang Member

Auto Mechanic 

Superheroine

Residence:

Keystone City (former)

Central City

Appearance: Rosa is a woman of average height and a well-toned build. She has tan skin and a fair amount of slightly fading tattoos. Her most notable tattoos are the number seven shaped from Western-style pistols (the symbol of Los Sietes) on the right side of her stomach, a cross on her right forearm, and a rose design just under the left side of her collarbone. She had a piercing in her nose as a teen, but no longer wears it and has a light scar on her left nostril. Her clothing consists of a casual, urban style; usually tight-fitting pants and shirt with the long-sleeve flannel to go over it or jacket.

Her Backlash suit is primarily brown in color with black and gold overlay on her chest, shoulders, and sides. It has elbow length black fingerless gloves and highly durable black combat boots that end at the knees. The suit comes with a black mask that covers three-quarters of one’s face with only the jaw and mouth left visible, and tinted goggles are incorporated into its design. The Backlash suit has an emblem a the center of its chest piece of a gold sphere with a dark slash splitting it in two.

Personality: Rosa is a crass woman with a smart mouth, and an unfortunate tendency to attract and cause trouble. She is cocky, vivacious, and seems to enjoy getting into confrontations with others. Rosa is street-smart and quick to action and can keep calm in stressful and dangerous situations. She is sly and stealthy when needed, and though most don’t expect her to be, Rosa is perceptive and has a natural skill investigating crimes– able to see situations from the criminal perspective and work from there. She’s a short-tempered woman and can be quick to violence, not backing down from a fight if she can help it.

Mostly, she fights for the thrill and enjoys testing her strength, but she does try to control herself when she needs to. Despite her aggressive nature, though, Rosa doesn’t enjoy attacking or hurting others for just for the sake of it, and usually only responds to provocation. Underneath her obvious anger issues and played up bravado, Rosa is a more compassionate and has more values than she lets on. Although she does her best not to openly show it, the traditional values of her culture are very much a part of who Rosa is, and she places a high value on her family and her religion. She feels a great amount of self-loathing about what she put her family and friends through as a member of Los Sietes, and refuses to make excuses for what she’s done, she instead uses her failings as an incentive to be better.

Rosa is capable and willing to cross lines if it’s necessary, and she often makes these decisions on her own to keep her loved ones from doing the same. She struggles with her morals and self-worth – never completely certain if she can be a good person, much less a hero, knowing what she is capable of. Naturally a straightforward person, She is a tough and determined woman, and despite a rather skewed moral compass and a punch-first-ask-later mentality, Rosa is focused on becoming a better person and heroine.

Background: Rosalina was born on November 11th, 1990 to Alba Cardoso in Keystone City. At eight years old, Rosa was placed into the state custody after her mother was deported, and for the next four years lived with several different foster families and group homes. Rosa rarely talks of her time in the system, but the little she has mentioned heavily suggests abuse and neglect while in state care. Her mother eventually manages to get back into the country and regain custody of her daughter. During those years, Alba married Rafael Guzman and had another child, Manolo.

Struggling with suddenly being a part of the new family her mother had without her, Rosa quickly grows rebellious. By age seventeen, Rosalina is a high school dropout and a member of Los Suerte Sietes, a local Latin gang with a reputation for drug distribution and grand theft auto. Rosa stays with Los Sietes until her cousin Fernando, a high ranking member, is murdered for his role as an informant to C.K.P.D. Devastated, Rosa moves to Central City and tries to straighten her life out. She struggles to stay out of the legal system and hold down a job for some time.

In 2014, After losing her position as a mechanic at a local repair shop, Rosa participated in an illegal fight club to make ends meet. After winning her money, an injured Rosa slowly made her way home – only to be brutally attacked by an unknown assailant. As Rosa bleeds out in a back alley, the newly unveiled Star Labs particle accelerator explodes and the resulting shock–wave engulfs Central City. Rosalina Capello is rushed to a hospital, bloody and barely clinging to life, and despite emergency efforts from hospital staff, she is not expected to survive the night. However, doctors were soon baffled to see that, although still unconscious, Rosa was recovering even as nurses lost consciousness around her, and medical equipment and electronics in her space continuously failed.  

 Elsewhere in the hospital, another patient by the name of Barry Allen was also showing odd activity, in the form of sudden, unexplainable and repeated heart failure. As Barry is offered assistance from Dr. Wells at Star Labs, hospital staff ask Wells to take a look at another patient that might benefit from his experience. Though nearly completely recovered from her ordeal, Rosa still remained unresponsive and now vitals seemed to spike whenever anyone touched her. Both Barry and Rosa were relocated to Star Labs for further care.

A month later, Rosa wakes in Star Labs to odd scientists, a guy in a coma, and unbelievable abilities. She is stronger, faster, and healthier than she’s ever been, and Dr. Wells tells the young woman that her body is absorbing all forms of energy and converting it to her overall physical strength and wellbeing. The scientist offers Rosa an arrangement; so long as she allowed herself to be examined by Star Labs and kept her powers a secret, she would be paid for her services as “security.” With not many other options for herself, Rosa readily accepted the deal and became the first “metahuman” specimen (guinea pig) to be researched by Star Labs for the next eight months.

Then, Coma Dude (or, apparently, Barry Allen) woke up. He could run extremely fast and decided that he wanted to be a superhero. Rosa wants no part of Barry’s hero complex or tragic backstory, but the more time she spends with the speedster, the harder it is to stay out of it. Barry’s a self-righteous idiot with the worst common sense she’d ever seen – someone had to make sure he didn’t get killed out there.

Abilities:

Mix Martial Arts – Not long after relocating to Central City, Rosa started training in Martial Arts as an outlet for her aggression. To date, she has trained in Boxing, Muay Thai, and Karate, and has become an impressively capable fighter in these styles in a relatively short time.

Auto Mechanic Skills –  As a member of Los Suerte Sietes, Rosa dealt primarily in stealing and disassembling vehicles for profit. Now, she uses the skills learned from chop shops to work as an auto mechanic.

Investigative Prowess – Rosa shows a natural affinity for crime solving. She has a surprising eye for detail and is capable of thinking critically when problem-solving. Her criminal background also allows Rosa to see things from another perspective and allows her to make connections that she might not otherwise.

Thievery – While still living in Keystone, Rosa’s criminal activity ranged from petty crimes, like shoplifting and pickpocketing, to more serious cases, such as burglary and grand theft auto. She has proven to be a decent thief even after starting over. 

Meta-Human Power

Energy Absorption – Rosa can absorb various forms of energy while removing it from the source, into her body and uses it to enhance her strength and overall condition. 

Energy Conversion – Rosa can convert one form of energy into another form.

Enhanced Condition – Rosa’s physical and mental abilities are above natural for a human being as a result of the energy absorbed in her body. The more energy she gains, the greater her enhancement. 

Healing Augmentation – Rosa can voluntarily enhance her body’s natural healing process depending on the excess energy she has stored in her body.

Weaknesses:

Energy Overload – Although Rosa can take a great amount of energy, her body has a limit to how much it can store. If not corrected, this can severely injure Rosa or even kill her.  

Over Exertion/Physical Exhaustion – Overuse of her abilities can leave Rosa weak and barely able to move. She’s usually starving and sleep deprived and needs about a day of rest and meals to recover. 

Mental/Emotional Stability  – Rosa’s ability to fight can be affected by the stability of her emotions. Her anger can greatly cloud her judgment, and she can become reckless to the point of severe injury as a result. 

Cold Temperature – Although Rosa can absorb nearly all types of energy, extremely cold temperatures are difficult for her body process. Direct exposure to these extreme cold can also stunt her healing capacities.  

Equipment:

Earpieces: Installed in her suit’s mask, are two discreet and durable earpieces Cisco designed to maintain a communication link, which she can manually turn off. The devices also include headset cameras to maintain video coverage.

Hidden camera: Cisco installed a mini-camera in the emblem on Rosa’s suit to give the team live video coverage in order to see where she is and better assist her.

Backlash Suit: As Backlash, Rosa wears a suit of reinforced tri-polymer that Cisco designed specifically to endure her super enhanced strength without wearing out or tearing. The suit has sensors to track Rosa’s movements, measure her energy input and output, and her vitals. Her gloves and boots are modified to redistribute kinetic energy and enhance her natural ability to absorb energy while putting less strain on her body.

Notes:

Rosalina: “beautiful rose.” Alma:“The soul.” Cardoso: “Thorny.”

Though officially her occupation is as an auto mechanic, Rosa is adept in criminal investigations and critical thinking and has even helped Barry with forensic evidence. Rosa’s abilities are also proven on Earth-Two, as her counterpart is a detective in the CCPD and implied to have an impressive record of solved cases. 

Rosa is a talented and knowledgeable driver. Her favorite type of vehicle is a motorcycle.

According to Eobard Thawne, Rosalina was never a meta-human or a hero in the original timeline like Barry and would have likely died the night she was assaulted had the particle accelerator not exploded. Essentially, the hero Backlash would not have existed without Thawne going back and changing the timeline. 

Rosa has superstitious beliefs and is very afraid of the supernatural.

She enjoys cooking and often makes food as a way to apologize. (She also angry cooks.) 

Pastelitos de carne is Rosa’s favorite dish.

Her favorite singer is Enrique Iglesias.

Rosa is a good singer, though she rarely showcases her talent.

Her blood type is O+. 

[allthetribbles]

Buggin' Out

OIS Game Notes - February 8, 2020

Agents present - Ryan, Alan, Te'ani, Liv

March 17, 2085

There's been an upswing in cultist activity lately - specifically with the Congregation of the Earth Mother. One group in particular is getting more violent - specifically attacking one of the Seattle medical facilities. The OIS is tapped to keep the peace before the GIA starts using military forces.

With Annette's team preoccupied, this task falls to us.

We have the location of the commune, the information on some of the occupants, but little else. There are no known parapsychics in the group, but most of the known people have minor criminal histories.

The commune's location is a little north of Seattle at an old farm complex, occupying roughly 20 to 30 acres of land. A little research shows that about a year ago, they bought up a lot of seed. If everything is planted to the best of abilities, there would be enough food for at least 500 people.

There is talk of how to infiltrate the commune; however, Liv would be the oddball out, not being able to lie about her intentions within the commune. Also - a white going off-grid would raise so many flags and she is very attached to being alive. The next idea was to stealth a drone to get a flyover done. It was instead opted that we would commission a stealth drone from the military to do a flyover to get more intel of how many we'd be taking on.

We contact the military, who are more than happy to help us out... as long as we bring the drone back. They program the device and send it on its way, saying it'll be back in two to three hours. When the time is up, we get a call stating the drone isn't back yet.

We hold off on raiding the commune without more information - Te'ani says that he has contacts that he will contact to see if they know anything. It raises a few eyebrows, but he doesn't elaborate.

Without more information, we break on the case until the morning to see if the drone comes back or Te'ani's contacts come through. Liv goes to the OIS library for research.

March 18th.

The military drone hasn't returned. Te'ani's contacts have had some dealings within the commune, but over the last couple of days everything's gone dark. In other words... not much information either way. We head out to get hands on with it and see if we can recover the drone.

We get out there with some police backup, but decide to go in first. Very strangely... when we first arrive there is no movement in the commune. When we get closer to the buildings, we start finding bodies.

Alan brings up his sight, finding magical residue on the fields and concentrating near the irrigation canals. Obvserving the bodies, from the wounds it looks like they went down fighting. Wounds look like claw marks, but strange ones. They don't look like monsters - almost like daggers or knives, but just ragged enough that it isn't the same. There's no magical residue on the wounds. The blood - of which there is a lot - show signs of drying, but is still tacky. Liv approximates it's been about a day or day and a half since they died.

All of the people are wearing amulets with a symbol around their necks - a series of six horns in the circle. It looks vaguely familiar, but hard to place. The first building is a slaughterhouse - everyone inside is dead. For every building we go in, the story is the same - so far, we count roughly 150 bodies.

In one of the last buildings... it is a bit of a nightmare. Every body is that of a woman, torn apart from the inside out. While it looks horrifically painful... they look HAPPY. All of them have magical residue on their bodies.

Alan is able to connect the symbol finally - Shub-Niggaroth, the black goat of the woods. He suspects we're dealing with Dark Ones/Horned Ones. With there being 47 women... it seems there are at least that many on the loose... if not more.

Horned Ones are prolific breeders. They tend to be very animalistic with a combination of human and animal features.. and not always mammals. There is a rumour that this is how the Deep Ones started.

Though we have a couple more buildings to look through, we go back to the police and send them to the arcology to report to Elwood - "We need MAJOR backup."

The next building is pulsing with magic - Alan tells us to save this one for last. The rest are storehouses with flashdried foodstuffs, but no weapons.

The magically pulsing building has the same aura as the amulets from the cultists. Alan conjectures that the amulet is used as a key to enter - nothing bad happens when he opens the door. Inside is a clean room - on the far wall is a giant symbol of Shubb-Niggaroth made from real goat heads. Finding no bodies, we hold off on investigating the contents of the books for now and head to the fields.

There is intense discussion of what to do next. There's the possibility of at least 47 Horned Ones hiding in the fields. It was unanimous that we would NOT be entering the field. Liv warns them she'll be spent after ten minutes of firepower. They decide to take their chance. In the initial sweep, four things take flight out of the corn - Ryan shoots them (pew pew!) but it doesn't seem to do much damage to them. Ryan gets a glimpse of the creatures - green and chitinous, part human and part insect. They have wings and are very attractive females with two sets of long bladed arms, entirely naked.

Liv follows up Ryan's shooting with fire and turns them to ash. 10 minutes goes by quickly and three fields are razed to the ground. No more creatures popped out to say hi. The team decides to take cover to wait for backup, deciding on a store-room to bunker down.

With no ETA on when backup will arrive, it doesn't take long to hear the creatures flitting and buzzing outside. We can not only hear them walking on the roof, but... feel it. It is a very -confusing- situation. They seem to be singing to us - illiciting strong sexual urges. Te'ani seems particularly suspectible - Ryan has to restrain him in his power armour to prevent him from leaving. Despite trying to get rest, Liv isn't able to recharge quite as well as she needed.

It takes about four hours before Ryan's able to pick up Werewolf chatter - we request they be gentle with the storeroom being swarmed - we're inside. They relay our location to the other teams. It is roughly fifteen to twenty minutes later before it's cleared enough for us to be rescued.

The SPLAT teams showed up with integrity scale weaponry, and the medics are kitted out in environmental suits. The medics administer a sedative to Te'ani and load him onto a Werewolf for transport back to the arcology.

Counting the number outside of the building, it's only about twenty, leaving a good amount still unaccounted.

Overall... it's a mission failure because we didn't get the entire nest. Fully exploring the commune, there was an actual nest/warren dug out of the middle of the fields - the four we flushed out seemed to be scouts. When they were destroyed, the nest swarmed, leaving enough behind to keep us penned down while the rest escaped.

We did recover the drone close to the nest. Reviewing the footage, it found the nest and began circling, only to rock to the side and get a camera-ful of one of the insect maidens' faces before going black.

The rest of us return to the arcology in the land vehicle, escorted by one of the SPLATS in case of hostiles. Alan takes the books and analyzes them on the way back.

Inside are rituals to summon minions of Shubby, but the last half of the book is dedicated to star charts and planetary alignments. Studying carefully, Alan is able to piece together something -

- When the alignment is right, the crown can be used to summon forth the queen. -

The complex is lit up behind us as we head back to the arcology. Once Te'ani is back on his feet, he is true to his word and takes us to a dive bar he frequents.

March 23, 2085

Afterwards - checking on the farm complex reveals... there's no more complex. It is completely razed, the magic circles out of action, and the warren suitably bug-bombed. No sign of the missing Horned Ones.

On the fifth day after the mission, there is an OIS-wide high alert sent out to suit up NOW - grab the best stuff you can, there is a major emergency. Bear gear is recommended - heavy body armour, heaviest weaponry manageable. When pressed for more details, we learn the Pit has been hit.

We get on a Werewolf to be transported out to where the Pit USED to be. Things are escaping and attempting to make a break for it. We're dropped off in the battle while other Wolves are firing on the escapees to slow them down. The Pit's defenses are down and even Director Elwood is there in power armour.

- End Act One -

[mastcomm]

Coronavirus, Michael Bloomberg, Boy Scouts: Your Tuesday Briefing

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

We’re covering the growing repercussions of the coronavirus outbreak, the addition of Michael Bloomberg to this week’s Democratic debate, and a bankruptcy filing by the Boy Scouts of America.

Coronavirus is deadlier than flu, study finds

The fatality rate of the new coronavirus is far higher than that of the seasonal flu, according to a new analysis from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study found a fatality rate of 2.3 percent in China as of last week, though later figures suggest the rate has increased. In the U.S., flu fatality rates hover around 0.1 percent. Here are the latest updates and maps of where the virus has spread.

Yesterday: Americans flown home from a contaminated cruise ship in Japan said they were unaware until late that some evacuees were infected. “I didn’t know until we were in the air,” said Carol Montgomery. “I saw an area of plastic sheeting and tape.”

Closer look: Cambodia’s decision to let hundreds of passengers leave another cruise ship on which a person was infected could dramatically complicate the effort to contain the virus.

Another angle: HSBC, one of Hong Kong’s most important banks, said today that it would cut 35,000 jobs over the next three years, in part because of disruptions caused by the outbreak. On Monday, Apple cut its quarterly sales expectations and warned that the virus threatened global supply chains.

Related: The Tokyo Marathon, which planned to accept about 38,000 runners, will be restricted to about 200 elite participants. The race is scheduled for March 1.

Michael Bloomberg qualifies for debate

The former mayor of New York is set to appear for the first time at a Democratic presidential debate, based on a poll released this morning that showed him with the requisite support.

Mr. Bloomberg had failed to qualify for past debates in part because the Democratic National Committee had set a threshold for campaign contributions, which he is not accepting. The elimination of that requirement — a change criticized by Mr. Bloomberg’s rivals — allowed him to join Wednesday’s event in Las Vegas. Nevada’s caucuses are Saturday.

“The Daily”: Today’s episode is about Mr. Bloomberg’s history of political and charitable contributions.

Another angle: Elizabeth Warren’s supporters are convinced that her message is being ignored, but they say writing her off would be a mistake.

A ‘good war’ deteriorates, but talks go on

When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the Taliban’s government, much of Afghan society welcomed American troops.

After 18 years, that good will has long faded. Some Afghan soldiers have turned on their American partners, in so-called green-on-blue attacks. Two U.S. soldiers were killed this month in such an assault.

In September, President Trump called off peace talks with the Taliban after an attack that killed an American. This time, with an agreement near, few are talking about the continuing violence.

Yesterday: A Taliban spokesman confirmed that the insurgents had agreed to the terms of a deal and that the signing would happen this month.

Related: The gun used to kill Sgt. First Class Javier Gutierrez and Sgt. First Class Antonio Rodriguez on Feb. 8 was among hundreds of thousands of small arms that the U.S. government has issued to Afghan forces.

Another angle: President Ashraf Ghani was declared the winner of Afghanistan’s presidential vote today after months of delayed results.

Europe resists anti-Huawei campaign

The U.S. effort to prevent the use of the Chinese company’s equipment in the next generation of wireless networks has largely failed, as European leaders discount American warnings that Huawei represents a security threat.

The U.S. said it will stop sharing intelligence with any country that uses Huawei equipment, but Britain appears to be paying no price for its decision to let the company into parts of its network. Germany looks poised to follow suit.

What’s next: The Trump administration is attempting to cut off Huawei from American technology, but the company is still outcompeting its few rivals.

Quotable: “Many of us in Europe agree that there are significant dangers with Huawei, and the U.S. for at least a year has been telling us, do not use Huawei. Are you offering an alternative?” said Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonia’s former president. “What is it that we should do other than not use Huawei?”

If you have 6 minutes, this is worth it

Young Somalis step up

Three decades of crises have left Somalia’s government incapable of providing even basic services. So young Somalis have sprung into action as volunteer medics, road-builders, educators and more.

After a deadly truck bombing in Mogadishu in December, volunteers including Dr. Amina Abdulkadir Isack, above right, tracked the victims, called their families and collected donations. “It showed us we could do something to save lives,” she said.

Here’s what else is happening

Bankruptcy filing for Boy Scouts: Facing a surge of legal costs over its handling of sexual abuse allegations, the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection today. It was unclear how the process would affect the 110-year-old organization, which has 2.2 million participants.

Smaller-than-expected opioid payout: Amid talks to settle thousands of opioid-related lawsuits nationwide, lawyers say the pharmaceutical industry is likely to pay far less compensation than envisioned.

Snapshot: Above, County Road JJ outside Arcadia, Wis., where a school bus slid off the road last fall. Throughout much of the Midwest and South, the rural transportation system is crumbling, and as supersize vehicles bear heavier loads, maintenance budgets can’t keep up.

What we’re reading: This collection of letters to The Guardian. “British newspapers’ letters pages are a peculiar sort of joy,” writes Peter Robins, an editor in our London newsroom. “Recently, readers of The Guardian have been debating how old you have to be before it’s eccentric to keep boiling up your annual 18-pound batch of homemade marmalade. Bidding started at 77 and has escalated rapidly.”

Now, a break from the news

Watch: Zoë Kravitz has her first lead role, in the Hulu series “High Fidelity.” She spoke to The Times about her acting and her life.

Read: “Apeirogon,” the latest novel from Colum McCann, examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of two grieving fathers.

Smarter Living: Experts say the best way to form healthy habits is to tie them into existing patterns. Here’s more advice. (You can get the same tips delivered each day on Alexa smart speakers.)

And now for the Back Story on …

Somalia’s future

Abdi Latif Dahir is The Times’s East Africa correspondent. A Kenyan of Somali descent, he reports in and about several countries. We reached him in Nairobi, Kenya, to talk about his article mentioned above, about young Somalis.

This is such a powerful story of resilience and hope. How did you find it?

Late last year, there was a big attack in Mogadishu, the worst by Al Shabab in two years. And one thing stood out. Almost all the news stories mentioned that a lot of students had died, young people who wanted to be doctors or were studying other specialties that would help the country.

On Jan. 1, I flew to Mogadishu, to follow up on the attack and to write about these students and what they mean to Somalia.

My first story was about that, but also on how things had been getting so much better in Mogadishu — and it was all these young people doing it.

What else inspired you?

I went to this crisis center. They were collecting the names of the victims and reaching out to their families. I wanted to sit among them and see what it was like. They were checking in, asking the families, how are you today?

And maybe they’d hear that the hospital bill had been paid so that was OK, but the family hadn’t eaten breakfast that day. So they would corral someone to get food over to them.

I wanted to write about the chutzpah to invent these systems, to stay strong with all that was happening.

People could rattle off all these names of people they’ve known who’ve been killed. But then they would say, we want to stay here and be the ones to fix this country. They’re creating tech hubs, and restaurants and delivery services that are thriving. Because of the attacks on hotels and restaurants, it’s safer to stay home, have friends over and order a meal.

How is it being the East Africa correspondent?

I’ve had the job since November. It’s incredible. This is a dynamic, evolving region that’s changing socially, geopolitically, economically. It’s a great place to be a journalist. Honestly, you could write a story every hour.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris

Thank you Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford provided the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S. • We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about Michael Bloomberg. • Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Sound made with two fingers (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here. • Members of our Visual Investigations team recently answered reader questions on YouTube about their reporting techniques, how they choose stories and more.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/event/coronavirus-michael-bloomberg-boy-scouts-your-tuesday-briefing-2/

[ftwrthtx]

We have spent the last week running around Auroa in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Does the game stay true to the series, or did the franchise go AWOL?

  Read on to find out

The Ghost Recon franchise dates back to 2001 and has seen ten previous installments in the series. The series follow soldiers from Delta Company, First Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, also known as Ghosts, a fictional elite special operations unit of the United States Army under the Joint Special Operations Command. Ghost Recon Breakpoint picks up 4 years after the last game in the series, Ghost Recon Wildlands, and takes place on a fictional archipelago in the Pacific called Auroa.

Deep Storyline

The story opens as you are riding in a helicopter on your way to investigate who or what sunk a cargo ship as it was departing the island chain. You are Lieutenant Colonel Anthony “Nomad” Perryman: a well trained Tier One Operator, in charge of the group of soldiers sent along with you to investigate what really happened in this archipelago. Your chopper is brought down by an unknown enemy force, and you are left hanging in a tree while all of your group’s choppers are also taken out by a swarm of what looks like angry bats. As you work your way down out of the tree, and wade through the wreckage and carnage of your downed choppers, you come across a group of heavily armed soldiers called Wolves, being led by someone you thought was your friend, former Ghost Cole D. Walker.

The island chain of Auroa had been purchased by Jace Skell, a tech genius and founder of Skell Technology. Skell Tech was world known for its development of AI and drone technology, married together in a frighteningly deadly way. Knowing this, it was pretty obvious that your choppers were taken out by swarms of drones. It is up to you, and your teammates, to free the archipelago from the military force that has taken over the island chain, with whatever weaponry you can scavenge for, and no government support. You must unravel the truth, and kill anyone that gets in your way, and find out why your buddy Cole went to the dark side.

Storytelling Throughout the Gameplay

The story is told through cut scenes and collectibles as you complete missions and gather intel. The story is well written with an intriguing storyline and even more so intriguing characters. The voice acting and character animations, both facial and physical, are well done, and fans of the Walking Dead will recognize the actor playing Cole Walker as Shane Walsh (aka Jon Bernthal). He does a great job as the villain in the story, which isn’t always easy when all you are doing is talking into a mic. Even his walk is recognizable, so the animators did a great job of capturing his likeness as well as his facial and physical animations.

This is Ghost Recon

The game is played in the third person, and is designed for co-op play and stealth. The game stays true to its Ghost Recon roots, but also evolves into a bit of a looter-shooter in that guys you gun down generally drop weapons, ammo, or other gear and gathering it up is a huge benefit for you. The tougher they are, the better the loot, generally speaking, and the gear is usually a bit better than what you currently have equipped. All of the gear has a gear score, which determines your overall score when averaged out across every slot, and the higher your score the farther in the game you can progress and the higher ranked enemies you can attempt to defeat.

The game has an evolved weapon and gear system reminiscent of The Division series, but also with an underlying permanent level up system. The MK weapon upgrade system, once fully unlocked in your skills tree, upgrades not only the current weapon you are working on, but all future weapons of that exact same kind. i.e. Upgrade an MP5 to MK3 and all future MP5s you pick up will already be a MK3.  Same goes for your HTI or your M82, as well as handguns. It’s a great underlying system that will make your weapons more accurate, deadlier, and easier to handle, and only have to be achieved once for each unique weapon. It would be nice if additions such as extended mags, once purchased, were also automatically added, but instead you’ll have to manually add any of the desired add-ons manually every time you pick up a higher valued weapon. The add-on system is very deep, and add-ons can be found in the shop and scattered through Auroa.

The Classes of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

With Breakpoint being designed for co-op gameplay, it’s a great idea to not only understand the Class system of the game, but also utilize it to your advantage as a team. There are four classes, each with their own unique abilities and traits. A well rounded team would theoretically have one of each, but really that should be determined by your squad goals and not just let the game dictate your set-up. The four classes are Field Medic, Assault, Panther, and Sharpshooter. Each class compliments the team differently, with things like a healing drone for the medic, cloaking spray for the panther, tear gas for the assault class, and a sensor launcher for the sharpshooter. The effects generated are shared across the team, so those bad guys the sensor launcher finds are revealed to everyone, and that healing drone owned by the medic might just save your ass on more than a few occasions if your teammate can reach you with it.

Ubisoft was nice enough to send us 4 codes for the game so we were able to squad up and play through quite a few story missions, as well as attack a few bases full of Wolves. We also spent some time alone to get a feel for the differences between the two play styles. Playing solo can really suck if you try to take down a Wolf base or even some of the story missions, depending on your difficulty settings. You can unlock some little drones that give you some sync shots since there is no AI to assist you when going solo right now, but even with those going solo can be a challenge. The game truly is designed with co-op in mind, and it’s also designed to have the different classes working together. Matchmaking is available, so even if you have no friends with the game, finding some teammates is pretty easy.

Massive Game World With So Much to Do

The game world of Auroa is huge. Massive. Immense. There are side missions to be had everywhere and a team could be easily side tracked for hours, hunting folks down, gathering intel, blueprints, or weapon accessories. The missions range from a simple hunt-and-kill-without-being-seen, to multi-location searches that will have you flying across the map, with several stops along the way, clearing locations, gathering intel, and then moving on to the next location. It’s damn near impossible to focus on the main mission when there are so many other things to do, and/or kill.

Fast Travel Points Called Bivouacs

The game world does have a central hub called Erewhon. It’s a hidden cave, masked with some sort of electronic blocker, almost like a Faraday cage, so that the bad guys can’t find this hidden location with their ever present drones. Within it you’ll be able to find squad mates, buy new gear, find new missions, and start raids. As you progress through the story, more and more people move to this location, and unlock even more missions, as if you didn’t already have enough to do. There is also a special area called a bivouac (pronounced biv-wack for those that have never heard the word before) .

Bivouacs can be used to rest up, replenish grenades and such, visit the shop to purchase weapons and gear, as well as purchase vehicles or spawn vehicles you already own. You can also swap out your class while there.These things are everywhere and if you are flying around in a chopper and see smoke trails from a camp fire, be sure to fly down close enough to unlock that bivouac. They are also fast travel points, so Erewhon is always a fast travel away. They are also great for using buffs like bonus XP for 60 minutes, or increased accuracy or better stamina. There are 6 different buffs to choose from, and they help others as well. Each game session should be started at a bivouac just so you can fire up one of them. Not all bivouacs are created equal, as some wont allow spawning of vehicles due to their confined locations, so keep that in mind if you are looking for a spot to grab a chopper you own.

Shortcuts With Real Dollars

Ubisoft has decided to offer gamers the ability to pay for some short cuts via the in-game store. There are two types of currency in-game. There’s Skell credits which you’ll earn at a pretty quick rate, and then there’s Ghost Coins which you can purchase with real world cash. If you are impatient and want to unlock certain weapons right away without having to play through the game to unlock them, you can purchase Ghost Coins and then proceed to purchase blueprints, weapons, and even the material needed to upgrade a weapon to MK1, a long with vehicles and Skell Credit bundles. Everything purchased with these Ghost Coins are shareable across all three of your available game save slots. All of these items and upgrades can be acquired from just playing the game, but not everyone has the time to invest to fully reach that potentiality.

Micro-transactions have been around for a long time now, and as long as they don’t give a gamer a true advantage in multi-player (sports games are really bad about this), I have no issue with a company trying to make a few extra bucks. In the long run, it’ll help them create a better future product, while we as gamers reap the benefits of the available short cuts if we so desire. For a group of gamers that have the time to invest in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, these shortcuts really take away from the fun in acquiring the items they are selling. For folks that just want to play casually, when ever they have some free time, shortcuts make sense.

Not Perfect But Still A Lot of Fun

Ghost Recon Breakpoint isn’t a perfect game, as we came across a few glitches and bugs here and there, but there is truly never a dull moment. Playing as a group, we all shared some of the same criticisms and concerns such as the inability to bleed out if you are out of reach from a healing teammate, or when spawning on a teammate we were sometimes spawned over a kilometer away, or spawned right into an area with bad guys on top of you, emptying their automatic weapons into your quickly dying corpse. Occasionally when flying as a group in a chopper, the pilot might be 40 feet out in front of it, flying through the air in a sitting position.

Developer Ubisoft Paris took a lot of what worked great in Ghost Recon Wildlands and brought that over to Ghost Recon Breakpoint, then added a new skill system, created a better weapon and gear system, and created an awesome Class system geared towards team work. If you are looking for a team based shooter, with incredible graphics, a lot of stuff to do, and some challenging bad asses to kill, this game is for you.

  8.5

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint review codes provided by publisher and reviewed on a PS4 Pro. For more information on scoring, please read What our review scores really mean.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint Review - An Ever Evolving Franchise We have spent the last week running around Auroa in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Does the game stay true to the series, or did the franchise go AWOL?