#seat for hoverboards

[radiance1]

A green portal opened in the midst of a Justice League meeting, startling all of those present, before a boy flew out on a hoverboard as the portal closed behind him.

The boy circled around the room before coming to a stop before the Flash, already up from his chair with money in hand. They made an exchange, the boy pulling out multiple boxes of food and giving it to the Flash as he received and counted the money.

"You know, you might be our favorite customer." He mentioned offhandedly, dropping the money in his FannyPack after making sure it was the correct amount. "My parents really like you since you order so much!"

"Good! Because I won't stop." The Flash gave the boy a smile before walking over to his seat, sitting down, and digging in before pausing. He looked up at the rest of the Justice League and shrugged. "What? I was hungry." Then went back to what he was doing.

"Are we in space!?" Came the boy's delighted shout, dragging the League's attention over to the boy who, somehow, managed to find his way to and infiltrate the Watchtower.

"That we are." Wonder Woman answered, and amused smile on her face. Batman turned back to the Flash with narrowed eyes. "Explain."

"What's there to explain?" The Flash shrugged again, already halfway finished with his food. "I was hungry, he's a delivery boy, I ordered, and he delivered."

Superman snickered, before quickly glancing off to the side and playing it off as a cough as Batman glared in his direction.

"So is no one going to question the glowing green portal that opened or will that just be me?" Green Lantern asked, gesturing to the boy. "Cause, you know. Portal!?"

Danny blinked, feeling something at the edges of his senses that formed a simple question. 'Name?' It asked, and he responded back in Ghost Speak, focusing his intent into a simple 'Danny.' The... thoughts? Answered with the equivalent of a nod before receding.

Weird.

[theglamorousferal]

The Anti-Ecto Acts have been repealed.

War with an infinite army of the dead and concepts of existence has been avoided.

Damian was glad. On opposite sides of the battlefield is not where he would have wished to reunite with his twin.

She was stubborn enough to become a ghost.

To have to face her, still so small, because she never had the chance to grow would have wrecked him. To have to explain to the family why he hesitated with that once ghost would have wrecked the rest of them too.

Damian was glad the war was averted. Maybe he could ask the ambassadors for the Infinite Realms to pass along a message to his sister’s spirit? Maybe he could help her find peace?

The five ambassadors were coming to the Watch Tower today, and Damian had convinced his father to let him come. He had agreed mostly because the five appeared to be around Damian’s age. This admittance had made Bruce’s mouth form a thin line of displeasure at the thought of young adults being the party chosen to speak on behalf of an entire dimension. Damian knew the displeasure is at the thought of the responsibility thrust upon the shoulders of ones so young, not at having to face younger people on even footing.

They had zeta’d in earlier that day and Robin was making use of one of the training rooms when Batman came to get him for the meeting. He will admit to himself that he was nervous about this meeting. He wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate to ask to send a message to his sister, but he did want to at least try.

The door to the larger meeting room swished open in front of him and he took a seat to Batman’s right. He sat there trying to collect his thoughts when he felt his hair stand on end more than usual. The temperature dropped and a bright green tear in reality formed at the other end of the room.

White fingered gloves appeared at the center of the tear and seemed to pull it wider, large enough for them to fit through with their armor. They floated about two feet off the ground and stood seven feet higher than that. They cast an eerie white glow and their eyes glowed the same bright green as the edges of the tear. Another being floated from the tear, this one just as tall with bright yellow eyes and a teal glow. Another wore a helmet to prevent anyone from seeing their eyes, but they had a red glow to them as they glided in on a hoverboard, they were still nearly six foot tall. The next was shorter, with a pair of goggles that glowed an unnatural blue and had glowing circuitry with hieroglyphics running along that arms. The last entity stepped out.

Damian knew that face. He had mourned it the last ten years.

Purple eyes, a genetic anomaly, but ones he would never forget. The same dark hair as him, thoughts flowed more like Mother’s. She had gained Father’s complexion, always fit to burn if out for too long.

There was just one thing. That face never reached that age. That face never grew to be a teenager, yet alone an adult. Why was this specter wearing his sister’s face?

[q-gorgeous]

tech hunter, more like friend hunter amiright?

fanfiction

ao3

word count: 5930

Tucker's best friend has gone missing. At least Phantom's been defeated by the Tech Hunter and the ghosts have fled Amity Park. @lavendarlily

been sitting on this one all month

Tucker walked into the school feeling the best he had in a long time. 

He wasn’t woken up last night by his equipment going off all night long. He’d gotten a full night’s sleep for what felt like the first time in forever. All thanks to his victory he’d had over Phantom. 

He’d finally been able to corner Phantom the night before. He’d been distracted by a ghost he was talking to. Tucker walked up behind and landed the best hit he’d ever gotten on Phantom before. It punctured a hole straight through his back and chest and caused Phantom to stumble forward. The ghost he’d been talking to flew away before Tucker could even look at him. 

Phantom turned around to look at him. His eyes widened ever so slightly. 

“Checkmate, ghost.”

Tucker didn’t stay to see what happened. He knew he’d gotten him that time. He pulled his hoverboard out as Phantom fell to the ground and flew away. Phantom didn’t deserve anything more, the ghost scum that he was. 

Heading down the hallway, Tucker saw Sam at her locker.

“Hey, Sam!” He shouted, speeding up in her direction.

When he called her name she looked up as if she had been spooked. Her eyes were wide as they scanned the hallway and finally landed on him. She tried smiling at him but Tucker could see that it was tight. That it was fake.

“Hi, Tucker.” 

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked. “You look like you’ve a ghost. Or something equally terrifying.”

She pushed her locker closed. “I’m fine. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“Oh?” Tucker smirked at her. “Did you finally get some alone time with Danny?”

She shoved him. “Gross, Tucker. No. I just couldn’t sleep. I kept having nightmares.”

He frowned. “That sucks. What were they about?”

The look she gave him was haunting. What could she possibly have dreamt about that was having this kind of effect on her?

“I don’t want to talk about it. It doesn’t matter. It really wasn’t even that bad anyways.” Sam smiled another tight smile at him. “Let’s not be late to class.”

He followed behind her. “Have you seen Danny?”

She shook her head and kept her eyes ahead of her, not looking at him. “No. Not yet.”

Tucker pouted. “He didn’t tell me he was sick today. Unless he’s just sleeping in again. Have you figured out what’s been up with him lately? Why he’s always late and skipping class all the time?”

She shook her head again. “Not a clue.”

Tucker watched as she walked ahead of him into their class. That was weird. She wasn’t quite being standoffish but… She was definitely being avoidant. What was that about?

He followed in behind her and walked to his seat. The bell rang and Mr. Lancer started calling names. 

“Dash Baxter?”

“Here.”

“Danny Fenton?”

Tucker took another look around the classroom. Danny wasn’t in here either. He hoped he wasn’t getting sick. But knowing Danny and his sudden change in attendance, he wasn’t very confident that he was sick anyways. 

The day passed slowly. With Sam acting strange and Danny missing, there was nothing to keep him occupied. 

He was starting to get worried though. Danny didn’t normally skip the whole day if he was going to be late or skip classes. Maybe he was just sick. He couldn’t shake the feeling that was starting to creep up on him though. 

He was glad that the ghosts had disappeared with Phantom’s defeat. It meant that his attendance wasn’t so bad, even if it wasn’t nearly as bad as Danny’s. He wondered where all the ghosts were. It was odd that he hadn’t picked up a single ghost on his scanner yet today. 

He walked into the lunch room and grabbed his food from the lunch line. When he was done, he looked around the cafeteria and saw Sam sitting at their normal table. With Jazz?

They looked to be talking in hushed whispers. He started walking towards them with his lunch tray in hand. Jazz looked up past Sam’s shoulder and whispered one more thing before she smiled at Tucker.

“Hi, Tucker.”

“Hey, Jazz. Is Danny home sick today?”

Jazz shot a look at Sam before her eyes darted back to Tucker. “I’m not sure. I actually haven’t seen him since school got out yesterday.”

Tucker frowned. “Oh. That’s weird.” He placed his tray on the table and sat down to Sam’s right. Her backpack was in her lap and she shuffled it to the left a little bit. “Has he ever done that before?” 

Jazz shook her head. “No. I thought maybe he’d gone to one of your guy’s houses. I was expecting to see him at school today. I’m starting to get worried.” 

“Yeah.” Tucker rested his chest in one of his hands and started picking at his food. “Me too.” 

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

Sam didn’t know what to do.

She’d been walking around with the thermos containing Danny in it all day. She’d been taking her backpack with her everywhere. Even to the bathroom with her. She couldn’t just leave it somewhere. Not with him inside of it, at risk of bleeding to death if he got let out. 

She especially couldn’t let Tucker see it. Couldn’t let him see the contents screen. Couldn’t even let him know she had it.

He knew she didn’t carry the Fenton’s ghost weapons with her. She didn’t endorse them. The ghosts were still beings. She didn’t think it was right to hurt them. It would be suspicious for him to find a partially full thermos in her bag.

She didn’t know what she was going to do, though. Who could she go to? Who could help her? She thought about talking to the Fenton’s. They were the leading ghost experts. Surely they would know what to do.

But she’s heard what they’ve said about Phantom. How they wanted to tear him apart molecule by molecule. Her only saving grace would be that Danny was in his human form when she sucked him up. Would that be enough to convince them that it truly was their son inside of the thermos? She wasn’t sure.

She sat in class, Tucker right behind her, gripping her backpack. She hadn’t been able to focus at all and this was only her first class of the day. She could only imagine how the rest of the day would go. 

She lay her head down on her desk, still clutching her bag close to her. 

Sam had been tailing Phantom for the last couple of minutes. She had a few questions about ghosts that she wanted to ask him and was hidden around the corner while he talked to another ghost. She was hoping she could wait until the other ghost left. She didn’t want to risk getting mauled. 

But before her or the other ghost could do anything, the Tech Hunter flew down into the alleyway Phantom was in. 

She’d never been this close to Tech Hunter before. She always wondered who it was under that mask.

She peeked around the corner just in time to see Tech Hunter’s weapon go off, shooting a hole into Phantom’s back all the way through his chest. 

Phantom stumbled and slowly turned around, clutching the new hole in his chest with his hand.

“Checkmate ghost.”

Sam’s heart stopped. 

No. No no no. It couldn’t be.

She didn’t want it to be true, but his voice was too recognizable. She’d heard it everyday since they met in elementary school. There was no denying this. 

That was Tucker.

Tucker, a cold blooded hunter. A murderer if Phantom’s expression was anything to go by. 

He jumped into the sky on his hoverboard and flew away. Phantom fell to the ground. She finally rounded the corner and walked up to him.

“Phantom!” She shouted and she ran over and knelt on the ground next to him.

His eyes opened slowly and he turned to look at her. “Sam…” 

She stopped for a moment. “You know my name?”

He tried to sit up but she stopped him. “Don’t move. That’s a nasty injury.”

“Sam…” He struggled to lift his arm around to his other side and grabbed the Fenton thermos that he carried around with him. He placed it in her hand that she extended to him.

“Phantom?” She asked quietly. 

“Put me in the thermos.” 

“What? You want me to capture you?”

He took a deep breath. “I’ll… bleed out if I stay here like this. Put me in the thermos. It’ll act as a… stasis of sorts.”

“But-”

A bright ring appeared around Phantom’s waist. It was like nothing she’s ever seen before.

“Put.. me in… the thermos.”

The rings separated and Sam covered her mouth with her free hand.

“Get help.”

The rings disappeared and before her sat her best friend, bleeding out. She stumbled with the thermos in her hand and pressed hard on the button. It sucked him up into it and she pulled it against her chest. 

Shaking, she leaned back against the wall. What was she supposed to do? What if the thermos didn’t actually keep him in a stasis? What if he just bled out inside the thermos instead? She didn’t know how to fix this. 

How did she fix this? 

“Sam.”

A hand grabbed her shoulder and she shot up in her seat. She whipped her head to the side and saw Tucker pulling his hand back. 

“Are you okay?” He asked her, a concerned expression crossing his face. 

She shook her head to try and clear and took a deep breath. “Yeah. I just- I must’ve fallen asleep. I had another nightmare.” 

She stood up and he moved to let her by.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it? Maybe it’ll help you make sense of why you’re having nightmares.” 

Checkmate, ghost. 

She shook her head again. She knew why she was having nightmares. “No, it’s fine. I’m okay. I’m sure they’ll stop happening soon.” 

He stopped prodding at her after that and they made their way to their next class. 

Sam felt like she couldn’t breathe and like she was suffocating all through class until their third hour came around. They separated and walked opposite directions down the hallway and she finally felt like she could relax. Like she wasn’t in danger. 

She was still tired and was still nodding off in class but without Tucker sitting behind her she was able to focus on class a little more. She still held her backpack in her lap for safe keeping though. 

She was on her way to lunch when she bumped into Jazz in the hallway. 

“Hey, Sam, have you seen Danny?”

Sam’s heart jumped into her throat and she tried to swallow back the tremble in her voice. “Danny?”

“Yeah. He never came home last night. I’m worried. I was hoping you or Tucker had seen him today.” 

Sam swallowed and swung her backpack around to her front. “I have to tell you something.”

Jazz frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t do this alone. Maybe you’ll have some ideas.”

Sam opened her backpack and pulled the thermos out a little. Jazz’s eyes opened wider. 

“Yesterday- yesterday I saw something. Tech Hunter had ambushed Phantom and hurt him real bad. Phantom told me to pull him into the thermos but he transformed before I could do that.”

Jazz raised a hand to cover her mouth. 

“When he transformed back, he turned into-”

“Danny.” Jazz whispered. Sam looked up at her, shocked. 

“He told you?”

Jazz shook her head and met Sam’s eyes. “I found out during the whole Spectra thing. He doesn’t know I figured it out.” 

Sam nodded. “But there’s something else.” She looked around them and pushed the thermos back into her backpack. “Tucker is Tech Hunter.” 

Jazz pulled back, her eyes wide and a hand over her chest. “Are you sure? Tucker didn’t really seem like the type to-”

Sam nodded again more vigorously. “I’m sure. He had a helmet on but I’d recognize his voice anywhere. I’m sure it was him.” 

Jazz started walking towards the cafeteria. Sam followed beside her. “What are we going to do? Did Danny say anything to you besides to get him into the thermos?”

“No.” Sam shook her head. “Just that it would put him into a stasis and to get help. There wasn’t time for him to say anything else. He was too badly hurt.” 

They got to the cafeteria just as Jazz closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They paused outside the doors for a moment before Jazz pushed her way in. 

“What do we do?” 

They walked to the food line and grabbed trays and grabbed food to set on it. Jazz sighed. “I don’t know. We might have to do some research on some stuff before we decide. This is the most scared I’ve ever felt.”

“Me too.” Sam whispered. 

Sam walked them to her usual table and Jazz followed suit and sat down across the table from her. 

“What about your parents?” Sam asked, leaning across the table. “They might know how to help him.” 

Jazz grimaced. “They might be too biased to see past the fact that he’s Phantom. They talk about what they’d do if they ever got him all the time and I don’t want any of it to become a reality. But worse comes to worse-”

Jazz paused as she looked over Sam’s shoulder. She leaned forward to whisper at her.

“We’ll do our own research first. Then we’ll try my parents. Tucker’s coming.” 

Jazz looked back up and smiled at the boy who was walking up behind Sam. Sam tensed up and she was afraid to look behind her. 

“Hi, Tucker.” 

“Hey, Jazz. Is Danny home sick today?” 

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

It’d been a week. It’d been a week since Danny went missing. 

No one had seen him since he left school that day. Not a single person. How did no one see him at all? Where could he have gone?

Tucker had even done a few searches of his own. He’d flown around town on his board, looking for any sign of Danny. He was lucky that the ghosts were still gone, otherwise it would pull from him time searching. 

And Sam was still acting weird. He could understand that she was upset about Danny missing but… It was different than that. Any time he saw the haunted look in her eyes he tried to comfort her about Danny. Tell her that they would find him. It  took her a moment to process it, like she had to remember that he was in fact missing. 

School was ending and Tucker had to struggle to find Sam outside in front of the school. He had to look for a few seconds before he saw her already all the way across the grass, walking down the road. 

“Hey, Sam, wait up!” He waved his hand in the air. 

She didn’t turn to face him and Tucker frowned. He jogged up to her and grabbed onto the handle on her backpack and pulled. He must have caught her off guard because her backpack started sliding off her shoulders and she whipped around, pulling it out of his hands and to her chest. 

“Sam, are you okay?” He asked.

“I’m fine.” She said.

He frowned at her again. Then it dawned on him. 

“Are you walking around with contraband in your backpack?” He smirked at her. 

“What?” 

He made grabby motions at her bag again. “What is it? Drugs? Weed?” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Condoms?” 

Sam hugged her backpack close to her.

“Tucker, stop.”

“What?” He smiled at her. “What do you have in there?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why don’t you want me to look at it so badly?” He raised his eyebrows at her. “Is it a secret? What kind of secret?”

“There’s no secret, Tucker.”

He frowned. “Seriously?” He reached forward and grabbed the front of her backpack and pulled. 

She held on tight and pulled back.

Something was seriously up. He pulled hard and the top of the backpack opened, sending a Fenton thermos rolling across the ground.

Before he could even think about anything beyond the lit up contents screen Sam was shoving him as hard as she could. It knocked him to the ground and she scooped up the thermos and backed away from him.

“What the hell, Sam?” He said as he rubbed his behind. 

“Have you ever heard of respecting someone’s privacy?” She shot back at him as she held the thermos to her chest. 

His mind slowed when he saw how she was holding it. 

“Sam. Why do you have that?”

“Danny gave it to me.”

Tucker shook his head. “His parents offered you one and you refused. Why do you have it?”

“It’s none of your business Tucker.”

He stood back up and took a step toward her.

“Who’s inside the thermos, Sam?”

She took a step back. She looked like she was afraid of him.

He darted forward and tried grabbing the device from her hands. She stepped out of the way and kicked out her heavy combat boot, catching his feet and sending him towards the ground again.

He groaned and pushed himself back up. “Give me the thermos.”

“No.”

“What are you going to do with a ghost anyways?” He turned to face her. “Aren’t you against hurting the ghosts and holding them hostage? What if you let it out and it hurts you? A ghost doesn’t deserve the safety you’re giving it right now.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She leveled him with a cold, hate filled stare. Her expression took Tucker aback. He barked out a laugh.

“What ghost could possibly be in there that you feel this strongly about?” He took another step towards her, followed by her taking a step back. “Ember? An ecto-puss? That dog that ruined Valerie’s life? What ghost is worth this?”

“Why should I tell you?!” Sam shouted at him. “You’re a cold hearted murderer that’s okay with ending a sentient being’s life! How awful do you have to be to want to kill someone?”

Tucker leveled a look at her. How did she get a hold of him? “He’s already dead, Sam.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“You’re right. He doesn’t matter. Give me the thermos.”

“No.”

“Why are you so insistent on-” Tucker started but pulled back as Sam started screaming at him.

“You didn’t see what I saw!” Tears were streaming down her face now. “I saw you shoot him. One of my best friends became a murderer. And then I went to go help him. All he asked me to do was put him in the thermos. I didn’t understand and he transformed back before I understood.”

“He transformed back?” Tucker asked, confused. That wasn’t something he was aware Phantom could do. Did he have shapeshifting abilities?

“I don’t think Phantom is just a ghost.” Sam whispered. 

“Ha. Yeah, what else would he be?”

“Our best friend.”

Tucker’s heart stuttered in his chest. “No. That can’t be possible.”

“It is.” She nodded her head frantically. “I saw it with my own eyes. He transformed from Phantom to Danny. It was some bright white ring that appeared around his waist. It’s not like anything I’ve seen another ghost do before. He went from bleeding ectoplasm to bleeding blood after he transformed.”

Tucker’s ears were ringing now. “How? How is he both alive and a ghost?”

“I don’t know.” He could hardly hear her whisper. “I don’t know what to do.”

“He’s just in there?” Tucker gestured at the thermos. “Dying?”

“He said he’d be in a stasis if he was in the thermos. That’s why he asked me to put him in there. He asked me to get help. But anyone that could possibly help wants to kill him.”

Tucker’s vision warped and spun. He staggered where he stood and he could feel bile rising up in his throat. 

He tried to kill his best friend. He probably actually killed him. That was the nastiest injury he’s ever seen Phantom get. Phantom never had to go into stasis before. He could always regenerate and heal himself before. 

Tucker leaned to the side and threw up. 

He killed his best friend. His best friend was going to die and it was all his fault. 

“What are we going to do Tucker?” Sam asked him. “You’ve got ghost stuff. Do you know someone who can help him?”

Vlad Masters flashed through his brain. He supplied Tucker with everything he needed to fight ghosts. And for some reason he didn’t understand until now, Danny absolutely despised him. 

“I- No. I don’t have anything that can help him.” Tucker whispered. “I’ve killed him.”

He looked back at her and she was shaking her head as tears welled up in her eyes. “Don’t say that. We have to believe there’s something we can do. If there’s nothing-” 

“He’ll be gone.”

They stood there in silence for a few moments. 

“We need to go talk to Jazz.” She said quietly. 

“Jazz?” 

Sam nodded. “I already told her everything. If we have no one else that can help us, we need to figure out how to talk to their parents. They’re our last option.” 

The pit in Tucker’s stomach grew even bigger. How could he admit to his best friend’s parents that he killed him?

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

Tucker sat with Sam and Jazz in the Fenton’s living room. They were trying to figure out how to break the news to the Fenton’s about the situation with Danny.

“Do I just walk up to them like ‘hey, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, second parents to me, I killed your son because he’s also that Phantom menace that we both hated?”

Sam shuffled in her spot. “We just need to start with he’s Phantom and injured in the thermos and that we need their help.”

“They don’t need to know it was you, Tucker.” Jazz said softly.

“Danny knew it was me. That whole time. He absolutely knew it was me.” Tucker shook his head. “Shouldn’t I owe it to his parents to tell them the whole truth? I deserve their anger.” 

“You didn’t know it was him, though.” Sam said. “None of us did. None of us would have been able to tell. Who’s gonna think a dead kid is their living best friend?”

“I-”

“Hey, kids.” Maddie walked into the living. The three of them jumped at the sound. She smiled sadly. “Jumpy today, are we?”

Jazz nodded. “We’re just worried about Danny.”

Maddie’s smile fell. “Me too.” 

Jazz looked up at her mom. “Actually, Mom, can you go get Dad? We have something we need to talk to you guys about?” 

Maddie looked between the three of them concerned, but nodded and went to go get Jack.

“We haven’t figured out what we’re going to say to them yet though!” Tucker whispered. “What are we going to tell them?”

“Just let Sam and I handle it.” Jazz shushed him. “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but we need to get it over with. The longer we stall the harder it’ll be.” 

Maddie walked back into the living room with Jack trailing behind her. They sat on the couch that was facing them from the opposite side of the room. 

Jazz took a deep breath. “We know where Danny’s been.”

“What?” Jack and Maddie exclaimed together.

“Why haven’t you told us? Where is he?” Maddie asked. 

“He’s…” Jazz started but petered off.

Sam looked at her and picked up where she left off. “He’s Phantom. He’s somehow a ghost human hybrid. He was shot and he’s hurt really badly.” 

Maddie pulled back. “What do you mean he’s Phantom?” 

“I saw him transform with my very own eyes.” Sam pleaded. “You have to believe us. He’s hurt and we didn’t know who else we could turn to.” 

“Where is he?” Jack asked quietly. 

“He’s in here.” Sam pulled the thermos out of her backpack and held it up in her hands for them to see. 

“He’s in the thermos?” Jack asked, shocked. “How is that possible?” 

“You have Phantom in the thermos?” Maddie stood up.

“It’s Danny in the thermos. Phantom is Danny.” 

“What do you mean that’s Danny? That can’t be Danny.” Maddie stepped forward and reached out a hand. “Give us the thermos.” 

“You have to believe us.” Sam pleaded. 

Tucker raised his arm in front of Sam to stop her. “Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, I didn’t believe Sam at first either. I thought it would be impossible for Danny to be Phantom. But the more I thought about it the more it made sense.”

He took a deep breath. “I’m Tech Hunter. I was the one that shot him.”

Maddie inhaled a sharp breath and pulled her hand back like she’d been burned. 

“I hated him.” Tucker whispered. “I thought ghosts like him were the scum of the earth. But looking back… He never retaliated against me. He always played on the defense and I never thought anything of it. I thought he was a bad shot. He’d joke around with me like he’d known me all his life.”

He stared at the floor, wrapping his arms around himself. “I never thought the reason he’d do that was because he actually had known me all his life. I just thought he was manipulating me.” He choked out a laugh. “It’s like they say. Hindsight is twenty twenty.” 

“If this is true and Danny really is.. In there.” Maddie gestured at the thermos with a shaking hand. “What are we supposed to do? We don’t have anything to help ghosts and an injury of that magnitude might not be able to be helped by us and our medical knowledge.”

“Maybe you could help us find someone in the ghost zone who would know more about how to help him.” Jazz said. “Even if we find someone we’ll need help getting there somehow.” 

Jack and Maddie exchange a glance between them.

“He’s our son, Maddie.” He said quietly. “We have to try, even if he really is Phantom.” 

She turned to look at the thermos in Sam’s hands.

“Okay. We’ll help. Where do we start?”

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

“I was able to hack into Danny’s computer.” Tucker said. “He has files with information about all the ghosts he knows. There are ghosts in the ghost zone in some place called the far frozen that have a lot of medical know-how. They’ve helped him before. Maybe they’d be willing to help him again.”

Maddie nodded. “That might be our best option. We could try to do all we can here, but if that injury is as big as the two of you described it, there might not be much we can actually do ourselves.” 

Tucker printed out the map Danny had made of the ghost zone and handed it to Maddie.

“He’s got this all mapped out already?” Maddie stared at the map with wide eyes. “We haven’t even made a trip into the ghost zone a single time yet.” 

“This must’ve been what he was doing some of the times I thought he was blowing us off.” Tucker sighed and took his glasses on and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me.” 

“We-” Maddie took a deep breath. “If Phantom is really Danny, we’ll both have a lot to make up for.”

Tucker looked up at her. “Are we horrible for not knowing he was Danny?”

Maddie shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I would like to think I’d recognize one of my kids anywhere… That I know them like the back of my hand, but…”

“We just couldn’t see it.”

Maddie nodded. “But getting to his yeti friends is something we can do to make it up to him. Let’s focus on that for now instead.” 

Tucker turned off Danny’s computer and stood up. “I guess you’re right. What do we do now?”

He followed her out of Danny’s room and down the stairs. “We make sure the Specter Speeder is all good for ghost zone travel. Then we’ll prepare for the trip.” 

“I think Danny’s notes said that the far frozen is cold. We should bring our coats and gloves with us.”

Maddie smiled. “That’s good to know. Thank you.” 

They walked into the living room where Sam, Jazz, and Jack were sitting around the table. They were going over what looked like notes from the Fenton’s lab.

“What are you guys working on?” Maddie asked.

“We’re going over your guy’s formula for ecto-dejecto.” Jazz said as she turned over another paper. “That’s one that you guys just kinda scrapped and never fixed. We’re thinking it could help since it made all the ghosts you tested it on get stronger.”

“Once we find the right formula, we’re going to make a couple batches of it.” Jack said. “Aha! Here it is! Did you guys find anything on Danny’s computer?”

“We found some information on a medical center that’s located in the ghost zone somewhere.” Maddie said. “Danny has been mapping out the ghost zone too so we’ll be able to get there without much fuss.” 

“That’s great!” Sam turned to face him. “Way to go, Tucker.”

“Thanks.” he shuffled on his feet. 

“Jack and I are going to go downstairs and work on preparations with the ecto-dejecto and checking the Specter Speeder. You three gather together enough coats, hats, and gloves for everyone. After that you could start preparing some food for the trip.” 

It took them a couple hours to get everything ready, but soon they had gathered enough clothing and food for everyone and made sure the Specter Speeder worked. Jack loaded a crate of ecto-dejecto in the speeder and turned around to face them. 

“We’re ready to go! Let’s get Danny some help!”

They started the Specter Speeder and flew into the green swirl of the ghost portal. 

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

Danny groaned. Everything hurt. Where was he? He could hear a faint beeping. Was he at the hospital? What happened? The last thing he remembered was-

His eyes shot open and he tried to sit up but his chest hurt too much. 

He was in the hospital. What were the doctors told? Who found him? Did his parents know? Did the GIW? He had to-

“Whoa, hey. Don’t move.” 

He turned his head and there standing to his left was Sam.

“Sam? You’re here? Where- My parents-”

She shushed him and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. We’re in the Far Frozen. Tucker found the map on your computer.”

His heart fell and he swallowed. “Tucker?”

She nodded. “He’s been waiting outside. He didn’t want to be in here when you woke up in case you didn’t want to see him.” 

He looked towards the door. “He’s here?”

“Yes. He’s here.” 

How did Tucker find out about him? Why is he even here? Danny thought Tucker wouldn’t want anything to do with him if he ever found out who he was. But he was just waiting outside his room because he was afraid Danny didn’t want to see him? 

“Is anyone else here?” He asked.

“Your parents are talking to Frostbite about all this medical equipment they have here. Jazz is off learning how yeti society works.” 

Danny chuckled, but groaned as it rattled his chest. He laid a hand on top of it gently.

“How long have I been here?” 

Sam’s expression turned sad. “It’s been a little over a month. You were in some pod that Frostbite has in a different room for awhile too. It was supposed to help your ectoplasm repair the hole in your chest. You still have a bit of healing left, but the worst of it is behind you.” 

He let out a deep breath. “Thank you.”

“What?”

“You saved me. You got me the help I needed. I wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you, Sam.”

“Danny, I-”

She stopped at the sound of shuffling outside the door. They both looked towards the doorway and saw Tucker just as he ducked out of the way. Sam looked back at him. 

“Do you want to see him?” She asked softly. 

Danny kept looking at the door. Tucker wouldn’t be here if he was just trying to kill him. He was respecting his boundaries and keeping his distance until Danny asked for him. Would they be able to go back to how things were before? Should Danny want that?

He turned his head back to Sam and nodded. 

“Okay. I’ll go get him.” 

She stood up and walked across the room and through the door. A few moments passed before she walked back in, hand in hand with Tucker as he followed behind her. 

She stopped beside Danny’s bed. Tucker still wasn’t looking at Danny. 

“I can give you two some space to talk. Unless you want me to stay here, Danny.”

Danny looked at Tucker and the shame and guilt in his face. He turned back to Sam and shook his head. “I think we’ll be okay. You should probably let everyone else know that I’m awake.”

She nodded and turned to walk away, shooting one last glance at them before she left. 

His gaze went back to Tucker. He was finally looking at him. Tears were swimming in his eyes and his lips were trembling. 

“Tucker-“ Danny started but Tucker cut him off. 

“No. Don’t forgive me.” Tucker took a shaky breath. “I don’t deserve it. I was so caught up in my hatred with ghosts that I couldn’t see what was right in front of me. I couldn’t tell I was fighting my best friend.” 

Tucker pushed his hands up under glasses and covered his eyes. “You joked around with me. You never tried to hurt me. You were still acting like my best friend and I went and shot you.” 

“Tucker-“ Danny closed his eyes. “No one knew. I didn’t tell anyone and no one could tell it was me.”

“Jazz knew.” Tucker said quietly.

Danny’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead. “She did? How?” 

Tucker shrugged. “She said it had something to do with Ms. Spectra. She didn’t really elaborate much on it because we were focused on getting things figured out with you. 

“Oh.” He looked down at his lap. “I still didn’t tell her though. I didn’t even know she knew.” 

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Tucker whispered. “You could’ve avoided so many things if we had just known.” 

Danny fiddled with his fingers. “I was scared. I didn’t want you guys to think I was a freak or for my parents to think I was a monster. You had already become Tech Hunter by the time I was considering telling you and Sam but you hated me, so I couldn’t. I didn’t know if your hatred would overshadow our friendship.” Danny looked up at Tucker again. “But I can see it didn’t because you’re here now.” 

A sob finally broke its way out of Tucker’s throat. He leaned his arms on the side of Danny’s bed and lay his head on top of them. His sobs wracked his body. Danny lifted an arm up and slowly brought it down on Tucker’s shoulder. His sobs wracked his body harder. 

“It’s okay. I’m okay.” Danny took a deep breath. “We’re okay.”

[greenlightbulbonawire]

Misfits (yeah like the Arcane song)

LII.

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Summary: From the dark musty cell of Stillwater all the way to the very base of Firelights, but where to from there? Guess you'll just have to let fate lead you.

Okay so szn2 arc1 is so cool, but honesty... what? I'm so confused as to whats actually going on lmao. Anywayss, another chapter, like I promised. But now I'm going to be taking my break, expect my return in three weeks or less >:) (also if you're a fan of the owl house and Hunter specifically, may I suggest you check my wattpad account for more x reader content? I have uploaded remastered versions of my oneshots from here :P)

previous chapter: Fifty first chapter

next chapter: -

Masterlist (doesn't work properly)

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You shook your head, forcing yourself to stop dwelling on his words and went into your room, doing exactly what he told you to do. Even if you generally just did what you wanted to do, you could still do as you were told from time to time, especially if it was Ekko telling you what to do. The hoverboard layed neatly on your bed and you took off that cloak you always wore for some reason, changing into a loose shirt and keeping the pants you already had. You turned to go out of your room and where Ekko told you to go, but before you actually did you, you took a few hesitant glances back, remembering Lyras words and grabbing a whiskey bottle Ekko brough you since he felt bad that you spilled the remains of the one you stole a few weeks ago.

The door made a loud noise as you slammed them and ran up the stairs, heading for the leaders balcony, just like he told you to do. Ekko was already waiting for you there, and apparently, he also took his own advice and changed his clothes. Now he wasn’t wearing that ridiculously big green jacket and the metal chest plate and the other metal parts of his outfit, even his gloves were taken off, which wasn’t all that unusual, but it certainly felt rare to you. He still had his white tank top on yet it still was a huge upgrade. You shouldn’t really be judging the leader of Firelights, but in the end, he did the same to you like 10 minutes ago so you felt like it was justified enough. “See? That’s a lot better.” He stated as he spotted you and waved you to come over to him.

“What’s up your ass today?” You retorted back at his comments and sat down near him, leaning your back against the railing as he stood, looking down at you, one hand resting on the top of the balcony's fencing. “Woah, that’s not a way to speak with your leader, be careful with your words.” Ekko’s other hand, the one that wasn’t busy resting on top of the railing, reached out and ruffled your hair, as if to show that this was all in good humour and that he didn’t really mean what he said. You shooed his hand away with yours and began fixing your hair meanwhile he slid down onto the wooden flooring, taking a seat at your side. “Haha, very funny.” Your eyes rolled at him and your expression was somewhat portraying annoyment, but you couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “You say that as if it wasn’t true.” He let out a lighthearted scoff and rested one of his elbows on your shoulder, looking down at your other hand and noticing that you brought the bottle with you. “What’s that, you wanna play more drinking games with me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, I think I had enough of that for a lifetime honestly, I just thought this might be a good time to make use of it.” You shrugged in reply and pushed his arm off, you for sure weren’t going to become his point of balance, plus his elbow was really bony for some reason and it actually hurt as it bore into the skin of your shoulder. “I actually had something else in mind, but if drinking’s what you wanna do, I’m all for it.” “Wait no, now I really wanna know what you had planned, cuz if you planned something, it must be really special.” “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?” Ekko gave you a slightly hurt and pissed off glance, but seeing as you were trying not to laugh again, he just shook his head in disbelief and slowly picked himself up again.

The boy quickly disappeared into his room and emerged a few moments later, pulling some sort of a machine out of it, but what exactly it was you couldn't see, the last sun rays have already left the area and the only few sources of light were the firelight bugs flying in the air and a string of fairy lights here and there. Curiosity got the better of you and you pushed yourself up onto your feet too, stepping closer to him and getting a better look at it. The device looked like nothing you’ve ever seen before, but if you had to guess it could be something like a plate washer? It had this weird trumpet looking tube and something like a long spoon with a needle? Maybe you could, I don't know, ask what it actually was instead of trying to come to that conclusion yourself. “Ekko…?” The boy let go of the device and straightened up, sparing you a few quiet moments and then tilting his head slightly to a side. “Yeah?” “The fuck is that?” He stared at you, his eyes widened a little and then he laughed at your question. “Wait, so you’re telling me you’ve really never seen a gramophone?” “I got no idea what that word means dude.” You replied with a deadpanned expression and a very unamused tone laced your words. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t know what this was, but I didn’t actually think… It plays music.” “Music…?” “You do know what music is right…?” A small chuckle escaped your mouth at his reply and you shook your head. “Of course I know what music is, but why did you bring it here?” “You’ll see, you’ll see.” Ekko said and turned around, disappearing in his room once more, followed by some very concerning noises, before he reappeared, holding a black disc in his hand.

(i almost published this with the word disc written as dick btw…)

(also for some reason (defo not bcuz i was writing this at 1 am) theres a lot of grammar mistakes so pardon me ToT)

[scarletsaphire]

MADDIE SAM JAZZ AND VALERIE (we were robbed of valerie in girls night out episode 🔪)

"I still think you should try and expand the room inside the thermos," Jazz said from her seat at the kitchen table, rolling a lug nut absentmindedly with her finger.

"And I still think that's a dumb idea." Valerie's voice was muffled by the screw she was currently holding in her mouth. She switched the screwdriver to her off hand, the other screw securely in place, and removed the one in her mouth. She had it in position on her hoverboard, which was laying across her lap, before she continued. "It's not like the thermos being a tight squeeze hurts them. They're ghosts; they can handle a bit of claustrophobia."

"Just because they're ghosts doesn't mean we can ignore their psychological needs!" Jazz protested. "In fact, research shows that a ghost's psychological health is arguably more important then their physical!"

"That's because a ghost's form is connected to their perception of themself and the world around them," Maddie said, not looking up from the pile of parts that had been the Fenton Thermos only an hour ago. "If you hurt their psyche, you hurt their body. Could you pass me the laser cutter, sweetie?"

Jazz handed the tool over. "Which is just another reason that we should focus on trying to make the thermos better for the ghost's mental health!"

"I don't know, Jazz," Sam said. "I think it'd be a lot less funny to soup Danny if the thermos was spacious."

"Sam, we've talked about this," Maddie said, lowering her goggles and switching on the laser cutter. "Don't talk about putting Danny in the thermos."

"Yea, Sam," Valerie said. "If she can hear you talking about it, she'll have to do something about it."

Sam and Valerie snickered as Maddie sat the tool to the side to cast a glare at Valerie. "Valerie!"

"I don't see you denying it, Mrs. F!" Sam said.

"I just didn't think I needed to," Maddie said. The smile on her face was a much more honest answer.

Jazz sighed and shook her head. "Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who cares about Danny's health."

[silverislander]

day 12: ekko

there's a lot that goes into building a community: houses need building, machines need fixing and people need to eat, just to start. things are going well, really well, but every day will always bring a burst pipe or a fever making its way through the daycare, and there will have to be someone to do some diy plumbing or make a medicine run up to topside; that's just the way it is.

luckily, that person is ekko. he prides himself on it, does his best every day, throws himself into learning whatever has to be learned whether it's finding parts for a new hoverboard or babysitting someone's kid, and yeah, it's tiring, it's hard. the work seems to multiply by the day.

it's not like there's anyone else looking out for zaun, though. someone always needs him, so he's always there.

today, though, something isn't right. he wakes up, and he's kind of expecting to feel like shit considering the all-nighter he pulled to work on his latest prototype, but he really feels like shit. he's shivering in the warm air, and his nose is running, to boot.

it takes a second for him to remember the daycare fever last week, how he'd been there to help calm the kids down when they were getting their medication, and when he curses to himself, it hurts to speak.

it wouldn't have been such a big deal- ekko's toughed out worse colds before- but he had shit to do today. he'd promised tez a new pair of glasses, and he wanted to kick himself for leaving the guy to another day of an already year-long headache thanks to his cracked goggles. hell, he was supposed to go up and meet vi for lunch, and if he doesn't show up she's going to worry, and when she worries, whatever part of her brain that had been in charge when they were kids turns on and she goes all bossy older sister on him for weeks after.

there is something left that he can do today, though, and that's work on the new rebreathers for nina and her kids. he manages to drag himself out of bed and heads out for breakfast.

miri's behind the counter, and she squints at him a little as he's grabbing his oatmeal.

"you're not sick, are you? lennie was telling me everyone who was there last week's coming down with something."

"i'm good," he lies. "don't worry. tell lennie the rest of the medicine's with tash- her kids are still getting over it."

he winds up having to leave the mess hall, all the lights and the people giving him a headache on top of everything else. maybe it's for the better: now, he'll get an earlier start on the breathers.

on the way back up to his lab, he runs into miller and asks them to send a message up topside- let vi know he's gonna have to leave her hanging today. they're a good kid, a little too nervous to prove themself, but ekko remembers what that's like; they salute (he keeps trying to tell them not to, but it's clearly not sticking) and run off. ekko keeps heading up.

the bridges are rough, though. when the kids had it last week, the cough had come after the fever, but ekko feels like he's getting hit with it all at once. he finds himself taking a seat on the side for a second, looking down into the firelight tree.

even when he's at his worst, he'll always be proud of this, what they've all made together and the part he's played in it. there are people living here who had been struggling with third-rate prosthetics, and now they had versions they could fix themselves on the rare occasion they ever broke. there are families living together away from the mines, away from shimmer, away from death. there are there are children here who were born in the branches whose skin has no scars at all.

yeah, it's hard work, but he wants to do it all. it's worth it. after all, nobody else is looking out for-

"what are you doing out here?"

ekko turns, still a little lost in his head. an old woman is marching towards him- moved in last week, what was her name? rosie, rosalynd, rosa?

"just taking a break. what do you need?"

"need you to take a damn break," she snorts, then holds out her hand.

when he doesn't take it, she shakes it insistently. "come on. up you get. i have it on good authority we're having soup for lunch, too, and that'll do you some good, shivering like that."

"i'm okay, thanks-"

"you're sick."

"it's not that bad."

"oh, it isn't? then why'd you have my granddaughter on bedrest for the last week when she caught it?"

he starts trying to explain himself, but she cuts him off, clicking her tongue. "come on up, ekko. take the day, we'll survive."

it's clear she won't be taking no for an answer.

the soup is delicious. rosalie- that was her name- gives him a blanket that he feels guilty for taking but that she refuses to let him leave without, then sends him along with strict instructions to rest. on his way back, tash stops him, carrying the twins in tow, and hands him a little glass vial of medication with a sympathetic smile. he thanks her and tries to head on again, but someone else's kid is running up to wave at him, so he-

"i'll deal with her," tash grins, and with no small amount of effort, bends down to talk to the little girl, who seems perfectly happy to talk to anyone at all. as he's walking on, she calls out, "get well soon!"

outside the door to his place, nina stops him to thank him for the respirators. ekko starts to say that he hadn't finished them yet, but someone clears their throat behind him first. he turns to face them and it's lennie standing there, looking like he's still in the thick of the fever and half-covered in engine grease, who gives him a thumbs-up and a wink- he never was the most subtle of the bunch. ekko presses his eyes closed, nods and tells tash she's very welcome.

he gets about an hour-long nap in before he hears his door creaking open. groggily, he sits up-

"sit back down, little man."

"vi?" he manages. sure enough, she's setting a paper bag down on his table.

"miller told me you were sick, so i wanted to check in." mentally, ekko makes a note to talk to miller about oversharing as well as the saluting thing. "i brought you some of the fancy cough syrup. thought it might help."

"can you bring it over to miri's first? her husband-"

"if you don't drink it, i'll make you drink it." it doesn't quite sound like a threat, though, the way she says it.

ekko just sighs and motions for the spoon. vi brings it over and sits on the edge of the bed while he takes it.

"tastes like shit," he manages. "no wonder the kids hate it." vi laughs.

"you're going to rest up, right?" she asks, but it doesn't sound like a question.

ekko grimaces. "i wanted to get some stuff done today, though."

"it's going to have to wait, then. you're sick."

"but what if it can't?" he bursts out. "if people would let me get up, i could- i could do something, at least. i hate sitting here like there's nothing to do when i know there's something i could help with."

when he looks up to vi again, he can't quite read the look on her face, but he knows she's concerned.

"ekko, it's going to be okay. what they need is for you to get better." she takes his hand, squeezing it gently just like she did to comfort him when he got hurt as a kid. "you built all this, and now- now you've got to trust that it can hold. rest up, okay?"

he wants to argue, wants to get up and get started on something. he doesn't have the energy to do either.

after she leaves, he thinks back to the tree. all those people, all the innovations that they've made together. all the lives they've changed. it's been hard to build, but he can see it: all the load-bearing pieces, all the flashing lights and mechanisms that make the firelights work.

can ekko trust that it can hold under his weight?

he thinks, for a minute, of all the people who lean on him.

yeah. yeah, he can.

[bylertruther]

BYLER SPACE OPERA AU MOODBOARD

MIKE WHEELER is a senator's son that fell from grace soon after the forced disappearance of his best friend, Will Byers. All too aware that there would be no justice for his friend, or for any of the other missing persons, Mike eventually took it upon himself to find him, wherever he may be. Having fled with a ship he helped modify for off-the-radar travel, he sails the starry seas tirelessly, year after year, trading his hard-earned skills for any information that may lead him back to the light. And though his mission is to find his friend, he's managed to earn himself quite the reputation in the bounty hunting world, too. Mike may come from a high-seated and affluent family, but make no mistake: he cuts the rot from the rind of every village he passes through, and has an uncanny ability to sniff out all that isn't right. It isn't within him to turn a blind eye to evil or those in need of help. What drives him to search for Will is exactly what drives him to aid others: his heart, his undying belief in a better galaxy, and his contempt for the great many that do nothing. He's allied himself with what remains of the now-disbanded Hellfire Club, but mostly travels alone with only his repurposed astromech droid, DST-1N, to keep him company. It's lonely—this life that he's made for himself. So much so that sometimes he thinks he can hear Will come through on the radio, humming a tune from their childhood to soothe his aching heart. Will never responds, not ever, but that's okay, because Mike's coming. He doesn't care what DST-1N, or Lucas, or anyone says. Will is out there—alive. He just has to find him.

WILL BYERS was the first of many forced disappearances in Hokkins, targeted for reasons that still remain unclear. He doesn't remember much of his home-planet, or that ill-fated night. In fact, he doesn't remember much of anything. The life he'd once had, and what recollection of it may have survived, slips through his fingers like little grains of sand—the same sand that makes up his new home now, and wedges itself into every nook and cranny of his existence. All that Will knows is the blistering sun overhead, the strange girl that begs him in that stern, but endlessly wide-eyed way of hers to not question this life they share, and the rules they're to follow if they wish to see another day. Eleven, he soon finds out, won't tell him the origin of his scars, or even the origin of him himself, but she does tell him about other things—about how to listen to the world around him, how to harness the light that lives within him, and how to keep the dark of night from creeping in (even if, sometimes, she looks at him like he's the dark they need to look out for). In turn, he teaches her how to create things, about the joys of music, and how to make a life of what they've been given. Most days, it's enough. He tells himself that when they manage to barter enough scraps for a piece of fruit to share, or come across a particularly fiery redhead and her much-adored hoverboard. He tells himself that when their shack becomes a home, and when scared strangers become friends, become siblings. Still, he dreams. Somewhere out beyond his reach is a world full of luscious green and bountiful life. A world where there's someone to ruffle his hair and fuss over him; to make room when he climbs into their bed after a nightmare, and encourage him when no one else will; to play and learn and grow with him, and make hushed promises that they never wanted to break. He sees them in the flames sometimes—those someones. Most of the time it's a woman with a worn face and trilling voice, begging him to please talk to her. Other times… it's a man. Freckle-faced, with a dark, unruly mane and a fierce gaze—a gaze that softens and turns watery whenever he feels as time and space bend to bring them together, and their hearts beat in sync to play the same wild drumming song. His sister tells him that it isn't real—that these are illusions meant to trick him and tempt him back to the hell she plucked him from, but—but Will knows them. He knows with heart-shattering clarity that his dreams and the light do not deceive him. He knows that man, and he knows in some inexplicable way that he would never hurt him—that the woman, too, would never in her life hurt him. He knows them, and yet… he hides. Because he knows, too, that there's a reason his sister keeps him hidden from the world. There's a reason she keeps him close to the flames at night, why he remembers nothing, and why it is so important that it stays that way. So, no, Will doesn't reveal himself. Instead, he listens. He hums, and he tugs on the strings which connect them all, and hopes that they'll hear him. I'm here, he says. I'm right here.

[youmaycallmeyourhighness]

WIP Wednesday - Mad Scientist Jinx

Ekko wakes up to the buz of machinery and skull rattling music, he doesn't know where he is. He pretends he's still asleep and gets his bearings. He can't move, his wrists are strapped down and there's intense pain in his side.

His memories are muddy but he remembers getting into a fight and damaging his hoverboard really badly. He had to scrounge up the scraps and limp his way through the shadows. He was too far from base and was losing too much blood so he'd had to take a chance. And that chance had him strapped to a table.

Ekko discreetly turns to the source of the noise and sees Jinx dancing in her seat as she solders something. Ekko glances around at what is clearly a laboratory of malpractice, filled various containers and vials, some of them a distinct violet hue. There are no strung up bodies or people in cages like he expected based on the rumors. Maybe they were just out of sight.

Ekko himself doesn't feel too bad, there's the pain but he's not like, stitched to another person, so that's something. But he is being held captive by his ex-best friend who's rumored to run human experiments, so that's another thing.

[tenebraevesper]

Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Enter The E.G.G.M.A.N. Arc & The Babylon Rogues Arc)

The Enter The E.G.G.M.A.N. Arc

[...]

Meanwhile, Sonic landed right next to Shadow, grinning at the latter. ''How about we finally finish this?''

''I thought you'd be disappointed that the battle is already over,'' Shadow replied in a teasing tone, him and Sonic both turning towards the mech.

''Oh, I am, but I have a feeling this won't be the last one,'' Sonic responded, both getting into a starting position.

The two hedgehogs then rushed towards the mech at a speed of light, leaving only a blue and a black and orange streak behind, going into a spin-dash through each side of the mech's chest. Each of the hedgehogs landed on the opposite buildings, using the momentum to bounce off them and strike right through the mech in an X pattern in perfect sync before landing on the ground, skidding to halt as they now stood next to each other. The Death Egg Robot exploded into tiny pieces, the holographic projection vanishing as Eggman screamed in pure fury.

''I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!''

Sonic and Shadow were joined by the rest of the team, who were cheering in relief that Eggman was finally defeated. Unknown to them, someone was watching their little celebration, standing high above on one of the buildings.

[...]

The Babylon Rogues Arc

[...]

Unknown to Team Neos, Touka and Shadow were at the Solar Stadium the whole time, albeit not in the mood to engage with their fellow teammates. They had observed the whole argument between Team Neos and the Babylon Rogues, their brows furrowed when Team Neos accepted the challenge to participate in a Tag Team Race.

''They don't know what they got themselves into,'' Touka said, her hoverboard leaned against a seat as Lucas, Sonic, Warren, Tails, Lily and Knuckles approached Chase, Jet, Rika, Wave, Arven and Storm, while Minami, Amy, Makoto and Silver sat on the bleachers. A holographic screen appeared above the racing track, allowing them to follow the race between Team Neos and the Babylon Rogues while they were inside the AR Field. Touka glanced at Shadow. ''Do you think that we should've warned them?''

''No,'' Shadow replied curtly, arms folded across his chest. ''If Sonic believes that he can win this, he can try.''

''Don't tell me that you're annoyed that he's racing against Jet,'' Touka said, rising an eyebrow. Shadow scoffed.

''Tch, if I wanted to race against him, I would've done it already,'' Shadow replied, shooting a glare at Touka. ''I'm merely curious about his performance in this kind of race.''

''So, you're actually hoping that he'll win?'' Touka asked, looking intrigued. Shadow didn't answer, focusing on the screen ahead instead, with Touka just shrugging. However, knowing her little brother, even if he didn't want to admit it, she was aware that Shadow was hoping Sonic and his team would win against Jet and the Babylon Rogues, even if the odds were clearly stacked against them.

[...]

Team Neos suddenly looked up, surprised to see Touka and Shadow walking up to them.

''We figured that one out already. You don't have to rub salt in the wound,'' Lucas said bitterly, staring at Touka. Meanwhile, Sonic turned to Shadow, who had his arms folded across his chest.

''Were you guys watching the whole race?'' he asked.

''Yes, and I had expected better from you,'' Shadow said sternly. Sonic's ears were pinned back as his eyes narrowed, staring at Shadow. Both were silent for a moment, appearing to be quite tense.

''I know, and if I get another chance, I would show you and everyone that I can go beyond my own limits,'' Sonic replied, his tone uncharacteristically serious. To his surprise, Shadow smirked.

''I'm certain that you would,'' he said, unfolding his arms, giving his rival a determined gaze. ''That's why I'm challenging you to a race.''

''What?'' Sonic was stunned, his expression matching that of his friends.

''If you manage to beat me, then you'll be able to beat the Babylon Rogues,'' Shadow continued, ignoring the looks everyone was giving him. Sonic stared at him for a moment, wondering what Shadow was trying to accomplish with this, but he then nodded, figuring that his rival must've had a good reason behind this proposal.

''I accept your challenge.''

[...]

''I accept your challenge,'' Sonic said, staring at Shadow with a determined look on his expression. He didn't know why the ebony hedgehog proposed that they race against each other, but he still went along with it, feeling that there was a good reason behind Shadow's actions. He wanted to know what the purpose of this challenge was. ''Which track do you want to race on?''

''You can pick any track you want,'' Shadow replied, extending his hand as an orb of data particles appeared before him, forming into a hoverboard. Sonic picked up his own, but just as he was about to walk over to the holographic screen to select a track, Lucas interrupted them.

''Wait a second, Shadow… What are you trying to do?'' he asked.

''I'm trying to prove a point,'' Shadow replied, with Lucas noting how this wasn't an explanation of what he was up to. He turned to Touka with a questioning look, who shrugged.

''Maybe you should just watch the race,'' she said, beckoning to them to follow her to the bleachers. Meanwhile, Sonic and Shadow prepared themselves for the race, Sonic having selected Tempo City as their racing track and still wondering what Shadow was up to. He trusted his rival, but that didn't mean he didn't have any questions. However, he was confident he would get an answer.

''You said that if I want to beat Jet, I'd have to beat you first,'' Sonic said, stepping on his hoverboard. ''But, last time we raced against each other, we always ended up in a tie. So, where's this confidence coming from?''

''I had some practice since last time,'' Shadow replied, already standing on his hoverboard. Sonic grinned at the idea of having an even bigger challenge. Both looked up at the holographic screen above flashing from red to yellow to green as the AR Field formed.

READY? SET! GO!!

Kicking off, Sonic and Shadow flew right into the AR Field, revealing itself to be an urban area, with tall buildings, archways and towers surrounding them. As this wasn't a Tag Race, there weren't any Power Boxes, meaning they had to rely on their surroundings, rails, accelerators and shortcuts to get the advantage over the other racer. Sonic grinned as he leapt onto an accelerator, getting ahead for a moment, with Shadow being right behind him. He wasn't too worried about losing this one, as he was very familiar with Tempo City's layout.

''You still have to show those skills you've been talking about!'' Sonic shouted as he and Shadow leapt onto a rail as it spiraled into the downtown area. Shadow didn't answer, narrowing his eyes and focusing on his next move. There was a stream of wind just before the end of the rail, with Shadow kicking off and leaping on the stream, getting into a half-crouch as he held onto his hoverboard, with the stream carrying him ahead of Sonic and landing on the ground in front of his rival. Sonic's jaw dropped slightly, as he didn't expect this kind of move. ''Woah, not bad!''

''Hmph!'' Hearing this comment, Shadow briefly turned his head towards Sonic, smirking, then focused back on the track. Meanwhile, outside the track, Team Neos were watching the race between Sonic and Shadow via one of the holographic screens that popped up whenever a track was in use.

''Wait, a minute, I didn't know that you could actually do that!'' Minami said. She and the rest of

''Tch, of course you can,'' Touka replied, drawing everyone's attention. ''However, the issue is that most racers don't think to use that particular shortcut because it can get difficult to time the right moment you'd have to leap onto that wind stream and the landing can be a bit hard if you don't know what you're doing. That's why people usually avoid it.''

Back on the track, Sonic and Shadow were racing through a street that had its walls decorated in graffiti. Shadow was still ahead of Sonic, but the cobalt hedgehog smirked as he knew that there were several curves at this track along with rails he could grind on to pass by Shadow. He was slowly getting closer and closer, boosting ahead of Shadow when he slowed down at one curve and leapt onto one of the rails and accelerating. Grinning, he looked back, spotting Shadow right behind him.

''Seems like I had managed to get ahead of you,'' he said.

''You're still not focused,'' Shadow told him, his eyes flicking to the side. He smirked, grabbing onto the side of his hoverboard and leaping off the rail, much to Sonic's confusion. He looked around, wondering where Shadow went to, only to realize that the ebony hedgehog had managed to get onto one of the walls that surrounded this part of the track. He was still slower than Sonic, but this was quickly made up by the walls curving up and having accelerators plastered all over. While Sonic had to leap off the rail first to get on the accelerator, Shadow simply sped down the wall, boosting ahead and getting the lead.

''Woah!'' Sonic had to admit that this was an impressive move as they entered a tunnel. He managed to gain some slight speed, but he just couldn't surpass Shadow.

''Hmph.'' Shadow briefly glanced back, slowly down slightly so he and Sonic were racing roughly at the same speed, with Sonic rising his eyebrow as Shadow addressed him, ''Why have you accepted the Babylon Rogues' challenge? What was your plan for beating them?''

''Huh?'' Sonic blinked at first, saying the first thing that came to his mind, ''Well, I was trying to outspeed them? Isn't that the point of a race?''

''Maybe in a Solo Race, but not in a Tag Team Race,'' Shadow replied, kicking off and using one of the accelerator to the side to gain more speed. Sonic followed him, his eyes narrowing as his attention was fully on his rival, who had a holographic screen opened next to him. ''Think about it! How did you manage to win your previous battles? How did you defeat Dr. Eggman?''

Sonic gave Shadow a confused look, wondering why the ebony hedgehog was asking him that, but then thought about it for a moment. ''It wasn't just me… We all fought Eggman together and…'' He grinned. ''I had my friends supporting me.''

''Then, do you understand why you lost in a Tag Team Race?'' Shadow asked, with Sonic rolling his eyes.

''Yeah, I do. Thanks for the lesson, Shads,'' Sonic replied, the latter bit being slightly sarcastic. Both of them then used another stream of wind to exit the tunnel.

Meanwhile, back at the bleachers, Touka had a holographic screen open in front of her, allowing for the whole group to hear the conversation. She noticed the looks of discomfort on Warren, Tails and Lily's expressions; Knuckles just stared ahead blankly, being deep in thought; while Lucas just sighed as he felt a strong sense of embarressement. He felt that he should've realized this earlier, as looking back on the race, they weren't exactly working together, being focused on just trying to outspeed Chase and Jet.

''Going by your expressions, you never had a clear strategy when going into this race,'' Touka said, crossing her arms across the chest. ''Have you ever participated at a Tag Team Race before?''

''…No,'' Lucas admitted, with Warren, Tails, Lily and Knuckles shaking their heads. ''This was our first time.''

''Hmph, I guess we can talk about that once Shadow and Sonic join us,'' Touka said, turning her attention back to the screen.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Shadow have entered the last part of their race, speeding down the street, with platforms floating above them. At this point, they were both going at the same speed, with Shadow drawing Sonic's attention by asking another question, ''What do you plan to do now?''

''First of all, I'm going to beat you!'' Sonic replied as he leapt onto an accelerator, boosting away. He was confident that he could defeat Shadow in this race, but to his surprise, the ebony hedgehog started weaving behind him, gaining momentum and using a nearby wall as a ramp to leap onto the platforms above them, then quickly boost down right in front of Sonic, once again taking the lead.

''Hey!'' Sonic yelled, but Shadow turned back to him with a smug smirk.

''Only because you have learned your lesson doesn't mean I'm going to let you win!'' he replied, the two passing only a few seconds later through the finish line, the AR Field behind them vanishing and both of them finding themselves back at the Solar Stadium; with Shadow being the clear winner.

Despite losing, Sonic didn't feel bad about it, as this was a race he had been looking for and he actually really enjoyed it. He turned to Shadow, who got off his hoverboard, holding up his hand curled into a fist. Shadow gave it an uncertain look at first, but then went along with the fist-bump.

''That was a great race! Thanks for the challenge!'' Sonic said, with Shadow just nodding in response. They were approached by the rest of the group, with Sonic noticing that Lucas was mulling over something. ''I know that look. What's your plan?''

[...]

''You can read it if you want, but the gist of it is that the Babylon Rogues had won the Tag Team Hoverboard Racing Tournament held in Mikado City two months ago, despite having participated at it for the first time,'' Touka added, folding her arms across her chest. ''Unless you kept up with the news, you couldn't have known that you were going against professionals.''

''That explains a lot,'' Knuckles said in a dry tone. His teammates' confidence started to falter slightly, with Sonic suddenly turning towards Touka and Shadow.

''Hey, if you two knew this the whole time, why didn't you warn us?'' Sonic asked, placing his hands on his hips, his gaze being mainly directed towards Shadow.

''We had figured that someone like you would know what you were getting yourself into,'' Shadow replied, then shrugged. ''I guess we were wrong.''

Sonic was mildly irked, glaring at Shadow, but he did figure that he probably should've thought this one through.

''What are you guys going to do now?'' Silver asked. ''You guys did agree to another race.''

''If you want, Shadow and I could train you for it,'' Touka suggested, getting some surprised looks from her teammates. She rose an eyebrow. ''Why are you staring at me like that?''

''We just didn't expect you to offer us help. Usually, you guys just avoid any social interactions,'' Minami pointed out.

''We'll make an exception for this case,'' Shadow replied, only for his ears to twitch when he heard Sonic whistling.

''Wow, and I thought you'd only join us during world-ending scenarios,'' Sonic said sarcastically, elbowing Shadow.

''We merely decided to spare you from further embarrassement,'' Shadow responded, with the two just staring at each other intensely. After a moment of awkward silence, which seemed to last an eternity, Amy got between the two, turning to Shadow.

[...]

''We'll definitely prove them wrong,'' Sonic said confidently.

''Just don't get too cocky. You have yet to win a race,'' Shadow told him.

''Don't worry about that Shads. Even if I can't beat you, I'm sure I can beat Jet,'' Sonic replied. Shadow just snorted.

''I guess I'll never understand how you can be this optimistic,'' he muttered under his breath, quiet enough for only Sonic to hear him.

Sonic just grinned back in response.

Links:

#Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Memories of The Past Arc)

#Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Final Haunt Arc)

#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[pyxis-deliveryservices]

The Grand Shipment to Xavier's

*Pyxis was currently in the long, long, LONG process of triple checking their big-rig, panting a bit as they went through their check list* "Alright. For Aranza. New paint supplies, an easel, some other painting supplies, and hedgehog care supplies. Check." *They moved on to the next items* "Deanne, medical textbooks, new jewelry, a new laptop, and sports equipment. Check... Molly, new fairytale books, 150 jellycat plush animals, club room materials, a megaphone, winter clothing, Halloween decorations, a clipboard, a Polaroid camera, and an inflatable hamster ball... check. Megan, a new bag, stationary, Sanrio items, and wing warmers. Check. Sativa, beads, wing warmers, some new dresses and accessories. Check." *They moved onto the next section for the non-student union staff, but the folks at the mansion* "Reaper is gettin cat toys n a new skateboard... check. Nod is gettin office decorations, check. Mister Summers is gettin top of tha line brand new kitchen utensils, wood carvin supplies, n 50 cases of water... check. Mihai, a PlayStation 5 n a new laptop... check. Mister Wagner, new gymnasium equipment, check. Miss Rogue's gettin new romance novels n heavy duty cat toys, check... Teenage Warhead's gettin two 12 foot skeletons with costumes n a giant Kuromi plushie, check. Yukio is gettin a giant Hello Kitty plushie, n a ton of limited edition hard ta find Sanrio merch... yeup. Eel's gettin a yacht n a hoverboard wheelchair... yup, gonna hafta make a secondary trip fer tha yacht... Mister Howlett is gettin a brand new motorcycle with a helmet. Yup, all here... Forget-Me-Not is gettin new baking supplies n equipment. Lina has new bass strings, Miss Frost has new lipstick, Phantom has a Broadway year pass n new compression gloves, n ta tie it up, Miss Howlett has 50 sets of winter clothing to give ta kids." *Pyxis lets out a sigh of relief once everything is accounted for. Everything else for the order was packed into their mail-van to deliver separately* *They soon climbed into the driver's seat and started making their way towards Xavier's. And for the first time in their 102 years on Earth, they were sweating from their intense labor of loading the truck, and braced themselves to offload the truck upon arrival, their forklift sitting in the back of the truck since most things were on crates* @xaviers-student-union

[l-sincline]

Cybernetics - Chapter 27

Amy Rose is a mechanic, plain and simple. But aside from that, she feels utterly alone in a cruel world where she makes just enough to scrape by. One night she’s visited by a mysterious Cyborg that needs his arm fixed, little does she know this repair will change her life.

Flung from the confines of her normal life, Amy finds herself working with Anarchists set on creating a new life for themselves and the poor people of Mobius. The only downside? Seeing who she thought was her best friend fight against her.

AO3 Tags:  Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Amy Rose/Shadow the Hedgehog, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Amy Rose (Sonic the Hedgehog), Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles “Tails” Prower, Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik, Rouge the Bat, Whisper the Wolf, Cream the Rabbit, Knuckles the Echidna, Badnik (Sonic the Hedgehog), E-123 Omega, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Angst, Slow Burn, Partners in Crime

AO3 Link

Previous/Next

Amy had taken a precarious seat on the back of one of the offroaders, hoverboard clutched in hand and hammer-turned-bag slung over her shoulder. She could hear Rouge and Omega flying a little behind them. Shadow had disappeared as soon as they had all started to move out- despite his begrudging going along with the plan- it was clear he was upset. 

She found herself worried- though it wasn’t completely out of character for him to just up and disappear, she’d felt that previous times he’d been at least a bit more neutral mentally. Now that he was clearly stewing in some anger she worried they’d touch base in the inner ring and he’d still be nowhere to be found. 

Regardless of her worries, the offroader trudged on, kicking up dirt as it turned corners. At the front of the pack Blaze seemed to have her focus on the Blue Blur and his crew. The echidna android- Knuckles as she’d learned- had also opted to hitch a ride on one of the offroaders, while Sonic ran ahead with Tails flying overhead. 

Despite her heart somewhat yearning for her friendship with Tails, this whole interaction had shown her some colors she wasn't ready for. Maybe a part of her had hoped that Tails would see her and return to taking her side, to being her friend. But the other part of her remembered the initial attack on her; how Tails had lured her away for Sonic to grab, and finally she came to terms with the fact that their relationship could never quite be the same. 

He was so different now. In a way she felt like Tails had died and been reborn- reborn as someone much more confident and loud and unabashed. Sonic had changed him. No longer was he her quiet friend, her smart little confidant. Sonic had helped him grow- she wondered suddenly if he felt the same way about her. 

Amy realized she was no longer as timid as she used to be. She looked up to Rouge- there was a part of her that wanted to be like the android. Confident and fun, but smart and calculated. Even more than that; she wanted to be friends. When it came to Shadow… she wasn’t sure she’d ever been able to put this much trust in someone before. The amount of times that Shadow had saved her- perhaps physically and metaphorically- had caused her to understand that she could rely on others again after Tails. She hoped- wished- that he felt the same way, she knew this now as the anxiety over his disappearance sat heavy in her stomach. 

Amy looked back to Tails- she didn’t want to chase his friendship anymore. Maybe they would work together for as long as this lasted, but he wasn’t home to her. Not anymore. When all this was over she would wave goodbye and go back to Rouge and Shadow and Omega, because those were the Mobians that had been there for her, the ones that had helped her grow. 

In that moment she smiled slightly. She never would’ve imagined doing this, and yet here she was. And she felt better for it. 

-

You could hear a pin drop in the resistance headquarters as Blaze paced back and forth, planning their next move. Shadow was still nowhere to be seen, Amy chewed her bottom lip. Omega sat idly in a corner- Knuckles sat next to him, staring up at the large bot in wonder. Tails and Sonic had disappeared as well as Rouge. Amy chose to follow suit just then, realizing that Blaze’s pacing was stressing her out even more. 

The door creaked open and shut behind her. The halls were just as quiet as the room had been, but she let out a sigh of relief anyways and moved on. The lights flickered dimly and the floorboards creaked beneath her feet. This was the kind of situation she remembered before the base. 

Just then, she jumped. A door next to her opened quietly. 

“Oh,” She breathed out, “Rouge.” 

The bat stared at her.

“I haven’t heard anything from Shadow.” She said promptly.

“I figured.” Amy chuckled nervously, silence fell on them. After a moment she looked back to Rouge, “How are you?” 

Rouge looked surprised, she leaned on the doorway.

“I feel like I should be asking you that. A few hours ago we were using you as bait.” 

“Ah- I’m fine. Everything worked out.”

“But if it didn’t you…” Rouge stopped, looking to the ground, “I don’t know what I’d have done if I did that to you.” 

“You didn’t do anything, Rouge.” Amy spoke as softly as she could, “It was a group decision and I agreed to it. Nothing that could’ve happened would’ve been your fault.” 

“I know I just-” Rouge stopped herself and looked up again, “After we got kidnapped, and you were hurt up there, I felt so bad that I didn’t do more. You can handle yourself but you’re not like me or Shadow or Omega. You’re…” 

“A plain ole’ Mobian?” Amy cut in with a slight laugh. Then, a sigh, “I know.”

They looked at each other for a moment. 

“Sometimes I wish I was like you guys. It seems like I could be more helpful if I was.” A pause, “But at the same time, I think maybe you guys needed someone like me- and you didn’t even realize it.” 

Rouge stepped out of the doorframe.

“Come in.” 

So she stepped in.

The room seemed to be a random, unused one that Rouge had opted to step into. There was a dusty couch and coffee table by the center and some bookshelves lining the walls. Cobwebs littered the corners and an unused broom leaned against the wall next to the door. Rouge sat down in the dusty armchair diagonal to the couch- Amy took her seat on said couch, coughing slightly when the dust kicked up. 

“I was the one who found you, you know.” 

“Really?” Amy asked, she’d always assumed Shadow had done it on his own.

“He walked around with that broken arm for a week. It was a bad run in with Sonic after a heist. We didn’t have Omega to tank all those kicks, so Shadow took the front to let me get away. He tried that entire week to fix it himself while I looked for underground mechanics that would be easy to not get tangled up with. I actually thought it would be you and Tails looking at it, so we were kind of reluctant at first. Two people is a crowd, you know.” 

“But he went anyways?” 

“No.” Rouge shook her head, “I did some reconnaissance on the building and figured out it was just you. So we decided you were the best option.” 

Amy was silent. She had no idea she’d been watched. Would she be smarter now? She hoped so. 

“So you guys really didn’t mean for all this to happen to me?” 

“No way.” Rouge let out a breathy laugh, “It was a weird sweet spot we found you in. We didn’t know Sonic had a sidekick at that point, so there was no way for us to know it was Tails- let alone the same one you were friends with.” 

“Were is a pretty key word there.” Amy scoffed. 

“Figured you weren’t friends anymore.”

Amy was silent for a moment, wringing her hands. 

“I don’t know. Every day he was gone I missed him. His ignoring me affected me so much, it made me feel so awful. I thought that meant I just really missed him and his company but… I think it was always one sided. He was never as close to me as I was to him. He always had bigger and better things going for him and I was the alley girl without any parents he took pity on. I’m grateful for everything he taught me but…” 

“But?”

“... I’m much happier where I am now. With you guys.” She smiled. 

Rouge nodded proudly and leaned back in her seat. 

“Can I ask you something?” Amy started.

“Shoot.” 

“How did you get involved with all of this?” 

Rouge was silent, her grin faded into a frown and her brows furrowed.  

“There's a red light district in the middle ring.” Rouge glanced up to see the shock on Amy’s face and laughed bitterly, “Yeah. I figured you didn’t know. Most people outside of the inner ring don’t. Even the middle ring was pretty deaf to it. It was just populated with rich people with too much time on their hands, poor people that were at their last straw, and androids like me.” 

“Like you?”

“I was made specifically for… that line of work. Some genius scumbag wanted to make some more money and he figured modifying androids was the perfect way to do it. He poured some of his own cash in to start the business with some new models, but then he would take donations from his customers to modify.”

“Then do you know…?”

“No. I have no clue which group I’m a part of. He would wipe the memories of the donated models. I could be either. I don’t think I’d want to know, anyways.” 

“Eventually I managed to get out of that building. I hightailed it down those streets, but I stood out like a sore thumb. Half naked white bat android with heavy makeup- everyone knew where I was from. It was like every hand on that street was reaching for me, and I couldn’t be sure if they wanted to take me back or if they just wanted me for themselves. Eventually someone pulled me around a corner and just… kept pulling. Until I’d gotten away from the hoard of mobians chasing me.” 

“Shadow?” Amy asked.

“Yeah.” Rouge responded, “He gave me his cloak and asked what was going on. I told him I’d broken out and begged and pleaded for him not to send me back. He didn’t send me back, and when I told him I had nowhere to go he took me with him. Back then the base was just a skeleton of an old building. He was sleeping on a ratty blanket on the ground in some bushes. Certainly needed a woman’s touch.” 

“But Rouge,” Amy stopped her, “Are you… okay? After all that?” 

Rouge smiled- it was bittersweet. 

“Okay as I’ll ever be. Now that I’ve been out for a few years all I see is myself. It used to be like an out of body experience when I’d look in the mirror. Like that couldn’t possibly be me. But now I really do love myself- even if that sounds cheesy. I’m powerful and I’m doing something good with my time. And eventually I’ll break all those other Mobians out of there, too. I’ll burn that district to the ground. After all this is over… I want to make a program for them, to help get them all on their feet. To find homes for them.”

Amy smiled. 

“I hope you’ll let me help with that, too.”

Rouge smiled back, genuine, bright, a shining star.

“I’m sure a mechanic’s touch will be needed.” 

AUTHORS NOTE FROM AO3 CHAPTER:

Haha okay hello. Sorry, its been a second. TLDR: Updates every other week for now, might switch to once a month

So hi, life has been hectic lol. I graduated from College earlier this year and meant to get back to Cybernetics so I could keep in line with my previous hiatus pattern but... life got me. Generally my idea was that I'd finish writing the story and then go back to updating but I just couldn't quite get there. I kept hitting walls, writing other things instead (hence Girlish Whimsy... shout out to my new longfic lol) but at the end of the day I do really want to finish this- so I'm pushing on! I asked on tumblr what the general consensus was for how I should keep going with this and the feedback I got was that people wanted stuff now so: here it is! Some of these chapters were written at the beginning of this year, others were written closer to now, but they've all generally been in safe keeping waiting for the hiatus to end. So for now I'm going to do updates every other week, but if I start to catch up with myself again I'll switch to once a month.

Anyways, sorry for leaving you all in the dust for so long! just for some updates if you're interested in my (sonic) writing: I was recently a part of a Shadow the Hedgehog zine called 'Never Turn Back' which is available to you until January 15th on the @ neverturnbackzine tumblr! I recommend checking it out, there's a lot of cool stuff in there from a lot of cool people! I also wrote a prequel short story to Cybernetics earlier this year (specifically to apply for that zine, actually lol) and you can find it on my AO3 under the title 'Reluctant Hero'! Not necessary to understand Cybernetics at all, but it is a kind of nice character exploration of Shadow, who admittedly gets less screen time in comparison to Amy here lol.

Long winded author's note aside, thank you to everyone who stuck around (and hello if there happens to be anyone new). Thanks for not losing faith and I promise that I will chip away at this story even if it kills me lol- you WILL see the end of Cybernetics, promise!

[utapri-translations-uuuu]

7th Stage Special Interview - Kimura Ryohei (Translation)

"I hope to spend enough time together to live up to your expectations."

Please do not repost/retranslate.

Click read more for the full interview.

What did you think about the shooting for this pamphlet?

The theme was “carnival”, but there was a lively party atmosphere. Even though it was a formal suit, I wanted to bring out Yamato’s style in some way, so I decided to dress it down. I hope I was able to achieve that result.

How did you feel when you first heard about the 7th STAGE?

Since I had watched the movie version, I wondered “What the heck, how are we going to do that!?” so I was a little anxious, but I knew it would be fun. However, when I was at the MetLife Dome last April for another project I could see my breath, so I just hope everyone will be dressed warmly.

Please tell us your impressions of "Uta no☆Prince-sama! Maji LOVE Kingdom" after having watched the completed film.

I received the video and watched it while I was working, and I found myself getting absorbed in it. At the time of recording the voice lines, the images had not yet been fully created and I hardly knew what was going on, so I was surprised when I saw the finished animation. It felt like I was watching a real live performance rather than a movie version of the anime. Since the series has been running for such a long time, it would normally be difficult to casually tell people who don't know about it to watch it, but the elaborate production throughout the entire show was so entertaining that even first-time viewers are sure to fall in love with "Uta☆Pri" at once.

How was the performance of the special unit song "Kaleidoscope" in which Yamato participated?

I have always been interested in futuristic performances such as those using Segways, so the transition from roller shoes to flying hoverboards was really cool. I also liked the blast at the moment of flight that gives the impression of a mixture of colors, which fits the song “Kaleidoscope”. When I perform live at a large venue, I think, "What should I do to make sure everyone can enjoy the performance from any seat?" It is not something that can be duplicated, but I was impressed by the spirit of the three performers as they left the center stage and ran around the whole venue to please the audience.

The integrants of the group consisted of 2 ST☆RISH members and 1 HE★VENS member. What kind of things did you feel through the songs and drama parts?

First of all, when I thought about the cast, I felt very secure in the fact that I would be working with two people who have been involved in the series for a long time. However, I think that Yamato would not only want to create something good together but would also want to show that "HE★VENS is here!” While valuing such core elements, if we get the chance to perform this song, I hope to convey the colorful joy of the three of us. As for the drama part, I think Yamato must have been happy to have the two of them accompany him on his training. I'm sure it's not that the two of them don't work out regularly, but even so, they're still going "Eh!?” at the amount of exercise. I wonder if you have to go that far to control that hoverboard (laughs). Being an idol is certainly not easy.

Yamato is a quarrelsome person, but once he approves of someone, he shows his happy and agreeable side. What do you think are the qualities that make Yamato like someone?

It's just my guess, but I think Yamato probably comes to like someone when he thinks, "This guy's got a lot of passion.” Of course, he probably felt it through ST☆RISH’s performances, but I think he saw it more through the training and rehearsals they did together. I think Tokiya and Cecil were all the more interesting because they are people who do not have that side of them easily visible on the surface. I don't think Yamato is the kind of guy who would hug them or do something like that just for the sake of performance. At that moment, I thought, "He must have come to like them a lot, and they must have had a good time together”.

By the way, what is Kimura-san's image of the "strongest" idol?

I think the only people who can call themselves "the strongest" are those who do everything they can. Whether it's studying or working, there are times when you find yourself thinking, "Ah, I could have done a little more”, right? What is amazing about Yamato is that he is able to work hard to the point where he has no regrets without needing to be encouraged by others. I believe it can be motivating to have such members in a group.

What was the most memorable part about the performance of the group songs?

HE★VENS is interesting, cool, and has a bit of a "chūnibyō" feel to it, but I think the bond between the members is real when they can share that. The structure of the live performance also makes me feel that after gaining experience in the special unit, they are coming back to the group and its true essence. “GIRA×2★SEVEN" is really fun to sing, so I hope people will join me in shouting out the "Girax4" part.

In addition, do you have any favorite “fanchants”?

The "I love you" part of "Ai wo Sasageyo ~The Secret Shangri-La~" is for you to shout your love as loud as you can. There is no pitch or anything, so even if you are not good at singing, don't worry. HE★VENS will entertain all of our spectators.

All the costumes were unique, but were there any that caught your attention?

I would like Yamato to show off his muscles in either a shirtless outfit or a shirtless suit, and the costumes for "Egoistic" would also suit him well. I also really like it when artists perform in various glittering costumes and then change into T-shirts for the encore. Why is that? I wonder if it’s because they look more relaxed and it gives a feeling of intimacy. When I saw the three groups wearing the same T-shirts at the end of the concert, I felt that we had all worked together to create one live, and it made me feel many different emotions.

What were the most memorable moments from the 6th STAGE, the first "Uta☆Pri" live performance you made an appearance in?

Terashii (Takuma Terashima) was always smiling and I thought it was cute. I'm sure it's because Otoya, played by Terashii, is cute. Also, when I saw (Uchida) Yuma's performance, I could feel that he really loves to sing and dance on stage. As someone who has known him since before he made it big as an actor, I was very happy. As for myself, well... High places are something else (laughs). Being that my duet partner (Shimono-san) was a pioneer in this field, I was able to fly as a sign of respect, and I am glad I was able to do something Yamato-like as a result.

What do you want to say right now to the idol who will be your partner in the live performance?

“Yamato, lend me your strength!” I hope I’m excused for not following Yamato’s workout routine but I will prepare in my own way so as not to lose to the size of the venue.

Finally, a message to "Uta☆Pri" fans who purchased this pamphlet!

The movie version of "Uta☆Pri" will be hard for us to top, but I hope to spend enough time together to live up to your expectations. To do so, we need…. the passion of you all. Please have a good time at the live concert!

[daisiesonafield-blog]

Info for Faith In The Future World Tour LOS ANGELES, CA - JUN 30 2023

With special guests THE SNUTS & ANDREW CUSHIN!

Important Times:

5:30 PM - Doors Open

7:00 PM - Andrew Cushin

8:00 PM - The Snuts

9:00 PM - Louis Tomlinson

Times are all approximate and subject to change.

General admission (pit tickets):

OVERNIGHT CAMPING IS NOT ALLOWED AT THE VENUE!

Guests can begin lining up no earlier than 8AM on the day of show, June 30.

Sequentially numbered wristbands will be put on GA guests’ wrists starting at 9AM on a first come, first served basis

Guests must have a valid ticket to receive a wristband, and all guests in a party must be present to receive a wristband.

Any guests that have camped overnight or arrived before 8AM will not be given wristbands and will be sent to the back of the line.

You may leave after you receive your wristband.

You may return at 3PM to queue for General Admission entry.

Security will honor wristbands from 3PM – 4PM.

After 4PM, guests will join the line on a first come, first served basis.

Loss, removal or tampering with a wristband will result in loss of place in the GA line.

Guests are not permitted to hold places in line. Please be respectful and courteous to all other guests in line.

Have your mobile tickets open and ready to scan to expedite entry upon doors opening at 5:30PM.

This policy is subject to updates & changes! PLEASE check back and check the venue’s socials and website for updates!

⚠️ HYDRATION ADVISORY ⚠️

Hydrate before the show, while waiting in line and during the show

For optimal hydration drink something with electrolytes such as Gatorade or LiquidIV

Eat well!

Here are important things to know:

The venue is OUTDOORS!

Most of the venue is cashless! Pay with card or mobile pay!

Shuttles: shuttles are available to take you to and from the Hollywood Bowl from allover LA County ($6-7) info here and buy here.

Parking: parking is limited at the Hollywood Bowl. Closer lots sold out. Currently available lots $20, buy here, info and map here. No overnight parking. You may need to walk a lot, wear comfortable shoes.

ADA info here 

Text “BOWL” to our Courtesy Concern Line on 69050 for onsite assistance & reporting

Cameras: No cameras with detachable or extended lenses. No forms of camera stand (including monopods). No selfie sticks. No GoPros or audio/video recording devices. No drones.

Water: You can bring your own water and beverage bottles. There are 3 water stations throughout the Hollywood Bowl.

Food & drink: You’re welcome to bring your own food and drink to the Hollywood Bowl.

Alcohol: Feel free to bring wine bottles, wine glasses and beer bottles inside

All containers, picnic baskets and coolers must be able to fit under your seats or within your box. Containers, picnic baskets, and coolers measuring more than 15 inches wide, 15 inches high, or 22 inches long won’t be allowed past the ticket gates.

Food and beverage info and menus here.

NO tailgating in any of the parking lots.

NO kegs of any kind.

NO vending or vendor village.

NO trailers or campers.

NO Marijuana or any cannabis products

NO drugs

NO smoking in the bowl except in outside designated areas, map here.

NO chairs

NO laser pointers or glow sticks

NO umbrellas

NO Fireworks, explosives and aerosols

NO knives, firearms, Brass knuckles, Tasers & mace/pepper spray, razor blades, box cutters, scissors and unsafe personal accessories or any other weapons of any kind

NO throwable items of any kind such as frisbees, balls, or beach balls.

NO electronic devices such as iPads, tablets, and laptops.

NO Bicycles, scooters, Segways, hoverboards, skateboards and roller blades

Reentry allowed, must show ticket for reentry.

VIEW VENUE MAP 

VIEW SEAT MAP

*This list is not exhaustive. Items not appearing on the list may still be prohibited at the discretion of Security

For more details click here

Bag Policy:

All bags must be smaller than 15 inches wide, 15 inches high, or 22 inches long

Banners, signs and flag policy:

NO signs

Small flags allowed

No poles, sticks or spikes

Contact:

For additional questions please call the venue at 323.850.2000. You can also access their website. Email: information@laphil.org. Check their twitter here and IG here for updates. Address: Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90068

[marvus-xoloto]

I was looking at the background art for volume 11 again bc like. The room is the eyes to the soul and all that. Haha definitely not back on my hyperfixed game.

Anyway, I'm overanalyzing mallek's background art benath the cut.

GOD I always forget how much of a slob he is. Mallek self shippers are so strong. From left to right:

The SEVERAL husk towers, now being either discarded or repurposed. So Mallek does buy / reroute new tech pretty frequently. Note how his couch is falling apart: he does not care for the finer things regarding comfort, only his hobby.

WAIT LMAO NOTE WHAT APPEARS TO BE TISSUES ON THE COUCH?? AND SOCKS ALL OVER??? Either the man is crying in this room or.... 😳😳😳

On that note why are there socks on his floating shelves. Mallek doesn't do laundry confirmed: the hoodie he gives you must be musky as hell.

Not only does he hoverboard, he LONGBOARDS. Very cool B)

Swim trunks on the floor implies Mallek knows how to swim, and he likely swims in the sewer thing beneath his hive.

His workspace and shelves are actually reasonably tidy?? Wait a second....

Amogus......

Some sort of grubs on the floor in the pile of trash by his coon- likely game grubs or food, I'm guessing, since they're white. OR?? Mallek terrible father confirmed?? /j

I'm sorry but I would not get in that musty ass crusty slime coon. So much bacteria that the coon itself is growing legs so it can clean itself.

His limo! It's important to note that this limo background gets reused in Marvus's route, but Mallek's came first.

Note the camera above the TV and gamer controller (which is so hilarious: a joystick and one button. It's 100% a minecraft controller then). Could this imply that Mallek is a streamer?? He's always come across as rather private to me (side note: steaming in his coparatively tidy limo really hits my funny bone). Comprimise: Mallek is a streamer with one of those AI sprites instead of his face, ykwim?? Idk what they're called.

Mallek either canonically drinks alcohol, or the drinks just come with the limo.

He's drinking that same juice that Xefros does. For the life of me, I can't remember what it is/does, but iirc isn't it supposed to be good for psychic ability? Mallek is implied not to be psychic, however. Maybe it's just troll monster. Idr....

LMFAO i noted this when I deep dived into Marvus's limo, but I love the chair by the mini fridge having TWO seatbelts and what appears to be a booster seat?? Manlet Marvus move over, it's Manlet Malleks turn lmao.

SHAG RUG!!! So disgusting, you know that thing has dirt and crumbs in it.

More slobbery -_-'

So desperate for clean silverware that he pulled the whole drawer out. My man you are RICH just hire a cleaning service. Please.

He does not have a kitchen table. It's kind of implied he either sits in one of those (rocking??? lmfao) chairs or eats while sitting on the floor (on the random yellow mat).

I noted this detail a few years ago, but it's my favorite: Mallek keeps houseplants (possibly implied to be recently watered?).

Mallek keeps fruit in his hive, but it looks like he doesn't actually eat it. I wonder if it's wax fruit.

I'm sorry but looking at this image, I can not imagine Mallek actually cooks. He eats cereal and gets delivery and he's gotten grub sauce EVERYWHERE. There is no stove in his kitchen. Hell, no microwave either.

WHOSE LUSUSES ARE THOSE?? Kinda cute ngl. Does this imply ceruleans can also have semi aquaric and/or water loving lususes?

Speaking of parallels: so it's not just purplebloods who litter.

Other bluebloods come down here, I wonder if they're friends with mallek?? Also note the cerulean sign being tagged in indigo. Inchresting...

The graffiti reads "suck my nook" and the yellow caution sign reads "do not block." In case you were curious.

I like the idea that mallek comes down here when he can't sleep: you can see that light gets filtered, so I wonder if he could be safe from the sun down here? Irradation nonwithstanding...

That's all! I am insane, so I enjoy deep diving into stuff like this.

[greenlightbulbonawire]

Misfits (yeah like the Arcane song)

L.

______________________________________________________________

Summary: From the dark musty cell of Stillwater all the way to the very base of Firelights, but where to from there? Guess you'll just have to let fate lead you.

Author's note: I'm back again with another chapter!! Just a preemptive warning tho, I'll be posting one more and then taking a break to process the events of season 2 cuz it's just around the corner and I need to figure out if I'm gonna add it to the fic or ignore it and continue with my own cannon! Anyways I hopa yall are as exited as I am for it!! :]

previous chapter: Fourty ninth chapter

next chapter: Fifty first chapter

Masterlist

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“What do you think you’re doing! Stir it!” “Oh right! Sorry, sorry!” “You better be!” Lyra rolled with her eyes, but let out a chuckle, before smacking you over your head. “HEY!” “When you’re cooking, you have to pay attention! Don’t daydream or get distracted! Food is a delicate art and it requires careful handling.” “You sure don’t mess around do you?” Lyras lips turned into a small proud smile and she nodded. “I want everyone in here to have a good time at least once a day, and I can do that with my cooking! I know I don’t have the best personality when it comes to comforting people and stuff, but I can give them a good time by making food. I mean, you know the saying, food brings us all together, or something.” “I’m not sure that’s a saying but hey, I was stuck in a prison for most of my life so what do I know?”

The pot filled with food was held tightly in your hands as Lyra smacked some kitchen utensil hard against a pipe near the dining table. “Everyone! Dinner’s ready!” You placed the pot onto the table and turned back to go grab plates and the cutlery while the other Firelight members gathered around the table and took their seats. Lyra helped you give everyone their plates and once the table was fully set, they started to put the food you two, though mostly Lyra, prepared. After some time, Ekko came to join the dinner too. He looked tired and his face was dirtied up, his face paint smudged and carrying a wrench in hand still. The board he was fixing must’ve been really messed up this time, okay, noted, don’t let Fae touch the hoverboards again.

“Hey everyone, have a good day?” The leader said and sat down too, putting some food on his plate like everyone else, while sparing a smile towards your way and then fully focused on his food. Lyra closed the distance between her and you and poked your side with their elbow. When you turned your face towards her, her lips were turned into a sly smirk and they raised their eyebrows at you. You let out a sight and rolled your eyes, but your face changed its shade to red in the subtlest way possible. “You’re not gonna eat? We, well, I worked so hard on it!!” “What? No, I’m gonna eat, I just, well, you’re still standing too.” “Oh yeah good point, let’s sit down.” Lyra grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards an empty place, getting plates for the both of you. “You better stuff your face with my food!”

… “Don’t worry ‘bout it! I’ll clean up with the kids, you go have fun! And you better not be a coward ya hear me?” Lyra pierced you with her eyes and shoved you away. “Uh huh, yeah sure, I’ll try.” “Well then why are you just standing around here, you’re in the way! And that goes for you too kiddos, you ate and now it’s time to clean up!” You scoffed with a smile at Lyras intensity and started walking away, waving at the kids now stuck cleaning up. The light of the day was slowly but surely disappearing as the night took its place, maybe a little night rooftop stroll could be nice? But then again, you haven’t taken up any tasks in a while from the place that Felix showed you. Oh maybe hanging out with him could be fun too! “And I thought I’d be bored today, I never realised there was so much to do!” You whispered to yourself and continued strolling around the Firelight hideout, your eyes fixed onto the ground.

“Hey [reader], you with us or have you travelled into outer space?” A familiar voice rang through the air, making you snap out of your head and return to reality. “Oh Ekko… Hiiii.” You said and looked up to meet his gaze, reminding yourself how messy of a state he was currently in. Maybe the hoverboards shouldn’t be destroyed on a weekly basis. “Promise to not ruin your board for at least three weeks okay?” “Oh yeah that, I’m sorry.” Heat rose into your face, next only because you felt really bad for putting more onto this poor boy's plate, and you shifted your gaze back towards the ground, ashamed. “Nah it’s aight, but ya know, I’d prefer to spend my time differently to be honest.” “Yeah I know, Lyra chewed me up for it already.” “That’s good, at least I don’t have to ey?” Ekko replied and rested his elbow on your shoulder.

“So, any plans for tonight?” The boy asked you, while you two walked back to his work room so you could pick up your board again. “No, not yet that is. But probably nothing using the boards though. You?” “Yeah, that checks out. Well I don’t really have a plan either, but I’m probably gonna just take some time to relax.” Ekko opened the door and pushed you in, following right behind you. The events of your past interactions and talks with other members however made you extremely aware of each time this boy touched you in any way. And you felt yourself heat up again. Why is this happening?!

[scarletsaphire]

OH OH GRAY GHOST AND 26??

The chilly late autumn air bit through Valerie's coat, the wind whipping around her hat's tassels. It was about as late into apple picking season as they could physically go. Neither her or Danny were interested in being crowded around by other people on the same apple picking tour.

Their plan had worked. The only other soul possibly on the entire orchard were the farmers who ran that place, who were tucked into the barn converted to a bakery and shop front. If anyone was out here in the 35 degree weather (25 with wind chill), wandering around the orchard with nothing but their coat and a basket to store the handful of apples still left on the trees, Valerie would call them crazy. Unfortunately for Valerie, she was the only one here, which made her the crazy one.

Danny was fine, of course. His coat was thin, much more of a jacket than a coat, more suited to warm spring days and early fall, not a few weeks out from winter. Even that jacket was more for show than anything; he'd told her as much when he'd thrown it into the back seat of their car.

"I think I see one up there," Danny said, knocking Valerie out of her though and forcing her to emerge from her hunched up warmth saving position. "Near the top. Do you see it?"

Valerie lifted one arm to shield her eyes from the sun and nodded. "Yea, I think I do. It looks like a good one."

Danny grinned at her. "Help me get it?"

"And how, exactly, do you want me to do that?" Valerie asked. She'd normally put her hands on her hips and cock her brow at him, but that would require her to lose even more warmth, and that wasn't happening.

"Let me climb on your shoulders."

Valerie took a deep breath, the cold air burning her nose. "How would that help?"

"Well, I'm certainly not tall enough to reach it, and I don't think you'd be able to either," Danny said. "But with our powers combined..."

Valerie sighed and smiled, but crouched to the ground. "All aboard."

Danny fist pumped the air before hurrying over to Valerie and sitting on her shoulders, her head between his legs. She grabbed his ankles to provide a bit more stability, and straightened to her full height. It was no problem; she was strong, and Danny was very light.

"Onward trusty steed!" Danny said.

"I can and will drop you," Valerie said.

"Onward, my darling girlfriend who I love so very much?" Danny amended.

"That's better."

Valerie walked forwards towards the tree, her eyes turned to the sky. She wanted to avoid hitting Danny with any branches that might hurt too much, and needed to line him up with the apple so he could grab it. It was pretty high in the tree. Just a couple more feet and...

What she thought was the ground rolled out from under her feet. If she'd just been standing, she would've been able to catch her balance, but with the extra weight of Danny on her shoulders, they both went careening backwards.

Just before they were about to hit the ground, Danny caught them, keeping Valerie's head and his own body hovering barely an inch off of the ground. He lowered them both that last inch.

Valerie let out the breath she ended up holding, and turned herself around to look at Danny. "That could've been really bad," Valerie said.

"Yea," Danny said, sounding equally breathless. "It's a good thing I can fly."

"Yea," Valerie said. Then she paused. "Danny."

"Hm?" he said.

"You can fly. We can both fly," she said, letting her hoverboard materialize for just a second to prove her point.

"Yeah, I've figured that out by now," Danny said. "What's your point?"

"Why didn't we just fly to get the apple?"

Danny inhaled sharply, looking up at the apple and then back down at Valerie, who was basically laying in his lap. He started laughing, and Valerie followed suit, both of them devolving into giggling messes. "We are so dumb."

"It's ok, I still love you," Valerie said, moving up and pulling Danny into a kiss. It was awkward, with them still laughing, and quick, but she wanted to kiss him, and that's what mattered.

"I love you too," he said.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get off the ground. It's fucking freezing." Valerie stood up, and Danny laughed harder.